EX-Grade Ability Card: Tower Ascension with My Absolute Restoration-Chapter 33: Stronger Than Expected

Now walking along the main street of the city, Azrael couldn't help but marvel at the fact that at some point in his life, he would still manage to reach the next floor despite the challenges that his ability gave him, fighting monsters that is way beyond the actual capability of any person in the same floor of the tower.

Taking in the view of the night life here, the young man recognizes that there's a lot more happening here when compared to the first floor, the first one being the fact that there are a lot more ascenders in the second floor, giving the city a lively atmosphere far beyond the oftentimes nervous and uncertain one of the first floor, mainly from the beginners who just entered the tower in hopes of changing their fate for the better when compared to the outside.

'I guess this is what happens when someone manages to conquer a single floor of the tower...' recalling just how hard the actual quest to ascend the first floor is, Azrael couldn't help but think to himself, recalling those good old days of adventuring he has in the company of fellow ascenders that he recognizes as friends, fellow ascenders who had go on and reached floors of the tower far higher than where he currently is now.

Catching himself reminiscing about the past once again, the young man then laughs to himself, catching the attention of the people around him as they start to wonder why this young man just suddenly starts laughing out of nowhere, making most of them who are startled by him wonder whether he is right in the mind or not.

'Maybe some sort of lunatic who couldn't progress on the main quest...'

'Yep, definitely one of those people who realizes they can't reach higher floors of the tower anymore, I'm different from him though, I will reach where those six great masters stand, someday, eventually...'

'What is this man... is he crazy?'

All sorts of thoughts are directed to the young man laughing himself out in the open, with some of them shaking their head in pity thinking that he had already lost his mind due to some sort of pressure regarding his ascension one way or another, but their thoughts on this young man doesn't last long as they all have their own lives to live, returning to their businesses after taking a short moment to observe the still laughing young man.

'Hahaha, I can't believe I had become this sentimental, what the fuck am I? an old man?' thinking of this to himself as he finally recovers from his amusement, Azrael said with a hint of pain in his voice, realizing that he is really approaching that age where he could be considered an old man, reaching his mid-twenties and all.

'Fuck, those kids are definitely going to call me uncle sooner or later...' recalling the fact that there are a lot of beginner ascenders who are aged at their mid or even early teens, the young man's previously amused and laughing face scrunched into one that appears to bear a lot of problem, clicking his tongue as he shrugged off these thoughts in his mind, his action being observed by the ones who were startled by his laughter previously, said action just further cementing in these people's mind that this young man is not in the right mind, one way or another.

Should Azrael were to hear their thoughts, he would definitely agree with them, after all, being stuck in the lowest floor of the tower needing to beat a monster far beyond his strength to ascend, being beaten to pulp by this said monster for almost a decade straight, would definitely grant quite the significant, if not devastating damage to anyone else's mind.

This doesn't come off as too much of a concern for him though as the moment that he felt himself getting stronger once he managed to defeat that Fortress Golem guarding the greatest treasure of the first floor, he felt that all those years of suffering are worth its weight in gold or something of even greater value, having set a foundation for himself to be capable of fighting against monstrosities that he will face collecting the greatest treasures from of each floor from this point onwards.

'Although I don't think these skills will be enough to fight against whatever it is that is guarding the treasure of the second floor...' looking at the particular skills that he obtained after defeating the Fortress Golem and completing the quest tied to it, Azrael thought to himself, not really feeling disappointed of the skills, in fact, he is already extremely satisfied of them, however, he just knows that if he wants to continue climbing the tower, then these skills would just be a drop in the ocean of what he needs.

[Stone Transformation (Active)]

[Grants the user a significant improvement in their defensive capabilities. Turns the skin as hard as stone and prevents damage from cold weapons up to a certain degree.]

[Effects: Increase Defense by ten percent and decrease damage from cold weapons by five percent]

[Duration: 5 minutes]

[Cooldown: 1 hour]

[Fortress Golem's Might (Active)]

[Grants the user the immense might of a fortress golem, significantly improving strength and stamina. This boost allows the user to break through the limit of the current floor within its duration.

[Effects: Increases strength by fifty percent and doubles the stamina]

[Duration: 2 minutes]

[Cooldown: 6 hours]

'Come to think of it, I also have this as well...' checking the titles that he received the moment that he steps onto the second floor of the tower, he couldn't help but smile as he checked out the effects of one of these titles.

[Cross-Level Combatant]

[The possessor of this title clearly demonstrates their ability to fight and triumph over an enemy whose actual level is way beyond theirs. This is the proof of an ascender's overwhelming combat talent as well as their unyielding will to face even enemies far stronger than themselves.

[Effects: If the stats of the enemy the possessor of this title is fighting is more than five times of theirs, bridge the gap by doubling the possessor's stats, the increase is directly proportional to the gap between the enemy and the ability's possessor. This effect is applied and usable even if the possessor already surpasses the limit of the floor they are currently on.

[Duration: Until the ability possessor defeats the enemy increasing their stats]

'I should be able to handle some pretty stronger monsters right?' realizing that his ascension might actually made him far stronger than he initially thought, the young man said to himself with an excited look on his face, already looking forward to what sort of things he can do the next day once he starts hunting outside again.