Conquering the Tower Even Regressors Couldn’t

Wow. What is this?

A strange, almost alien sense swept over me. It felt like something inside of me had connected. As I perceived the connection, Soulbound twitched. However, I hadn’t used mana, divinity, or causality; I couldn’t even if I wanted to.

Within my inner world, Soulbound remained buried blade-first into the ground.

I steadied my thoughts. The moment I resolved to lift it in earnest, the axe shuddered and rose into the air with a gleam of blue-golden light. I willed it left and right. Though I couldn’t physically grasp it, the weapon moved in exact accordance with my intent.

Hmm?

Another odd sensation fluttered through my mind, as if Soulbound was trying to speak. I didn’t hear a specific voice, nor did I comprehend what was being said, but I felt undeniably linked to it. I wasn’t sure why, but my mind wandered back to the first floor. I recalled facing goblins and instinctively guided Soulbound through those motions once more.

Of course, I wasn’t repeating the exact same clumsy strikes from back then.

I have grown since then.

Each swing was as if I had returned to that first trial with Soulbound in hand, with the techniques I had learned up to today. The goblins fell, and after them the orcs. I cleared the second floor, the sixth, the seventh, the eleventh, and onward.

I commanded Soulbound as I traveled through every memory, every moment I had raised a weapon as I ascended the tower. The more it moved in this inner world, the stronger the tether between us became.

It felt as if Soulbound and I were merging into one. The cord that bound us deepened, and stray thoughts faded away.

For a time, there was nothing.