The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns: An OP Xianxia Returnee LitRPG

Chapter 48: The Deal With The Second Floor

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A weary black-haired man entered the first floor’s adventurer guild, carrying with him a large bag full of the pieces of many monsters he had slain. They ranged from measly E-Rank monsters all the way to A-Rank monsters and even the horn of an S- Rank monster, the golden-horned blazing bear king.

Both of his eyes looked fierce and exhausted. One of them was of his natural color, a clear green, while the other had become completely gray, its irises shaped strangely, resembling the arrows of a clock.

“W-Welcome… Did you hunt all of that, sir?” Asked a receptionist.

“Please confirm the kills and give me the rewards.” The man said he had no time to waste, quickly drinking a yellow-colored potion and recovering his energies.

“Y-Yes!” The girl quickly took care of things while he rested. He looked into his status, noticing his Level had already reached two hundred.

“This damned Class max level is 999; I am not getting anywhere close to a Class Rank Up. The extra stats are good though, but this won’t do.”

As he analyzed his stats, he quickly started browsing through his inventory and then used his Alchemy Skill, obtained through an Alchemy Skill Book he spent half his savings accumulated from hunting back on Earth to get.

“{Synthesis}”

He combined the second horn of the bear he hunted, the exoskeleton of the shadow ants, the skeleton of the sunshine lions, the innards of the lesser frost wyverns, and the heart of the giant mole into a single concoction of powerful essence.

Ding!

[You have synthesized the [Vigorous Awakening Elixir (SS Grade)] x1!]

[You have consumed the [Vigorous Awakening Elixir (SS Grade)] x1!]

[All your Stats have increased! You unlocked the Martial Power Stat!]

[Your Meridians have awakened. You can now begin Cultivating your Physique.]

As he drank the elixir, a smirk appeared on his face.

“Good.” He smiled. “With the Martial Power Stat unlocked, I can begin using the Cultivation Techniques I learned from the Tenth Floor and get a Physique, that will be really useful. I need as much power as if I ever wanted to defy the Challenge of the Second Floor and enter those ruins to get that precious item. It’ll be the key to my growth later on. And perhaps the only way for me to surpass my former self.”

Although the regressor seemed to exude confidence and had clear goals in mind, he still couldn’t help but feel a slight uneasiness. From having obtained the Eye of Time, to having regressed, and also the most worrying thing of all...

Bing Xue.

He had learned she had already become a celebrity on Earth and had shown prowess and abilities without parallel, even the power to revive dead people, something that was only obtained by the Saintess, a Hunter that will appear two years from now with the ability to absolutely heal and revive people that recently died.

The most worrying thing wasn’t her abilities; it was that in the timeline he remembers, she didn’t exist. There was no such thing as a Returnee named Bing Xue!

And above all, he felt something—a gaze. It wasn’t the Grandfather of Time, though; it was something else. Some could call it an intuition, a premonition, or perhaps just “a feeling”.

But something was watching—something glancing at the Tower, its worlds, and even Earth.

A threat was approaching, and every second that passed felt like things would only get worse.

This timeline might only become even more chaotic from now on.

After taking his rewards, he quickly walked away. Seth set his gaze into the faraway forests, where he would begin hunting S-Rank monsters.

“I have to hurry."

Before entering the Second Floor, he wants to be as high-level as possible.

However, if he were to learn that Bing Xue was already tapping into powers he would have given his two arms to get, he would probably die of envy.

…

The same gaze he felt before continuing to watch. The cosmos swirls around their endlessly expanding prowess.

The nine heavens swirled together; eyes resembling stars watched the events unfold.

Distortions in space opened.

Dimensions were breached.

Realities were being broken apart, and their cracks connected together.

How long will it take for its influence to reach her?

The “order” of the Tower might not last much longer.

“I’ve found you, my dear.”

.

.

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(Bing Xue’s POV)

“Spiritual Heart?” Urbosa wondered as the Elder nodded.

“Yes, I’ve read that in the ancient tales, the scrolls we’ve kept saved within our small library.” The Elder spoke with a loud and wise voice. “Spiritual Hearts were the special organ that our ancient warriors had; they were called the Spirit Callers, capable of tapping into the spiritual energy to grow stronger. The Spiritual Heart is capable of growing larger and obtaining even more spiritual energy over time.”

“I didn’t know we had the talent to get that!” Merkite complained.

“Even I who paid attention to the tales, haven’t heard such things.” Urbosa nodded.

“Well, it is something that is only specified in the older, harder-to-read tales.” Spoke to the elder. "Unfortunately, not many people can read the old runic writing system of our home world. So such things have remained known by the elders.”

“This is all quite interesting…” I said. “So the Divine Beast Spirits I saw the other day are your Ancestors, is it not?”

“Yes.” The Elder nodded.

“And then they left you this Spirit Tree to awaken your Spirit powers,” I said. “Okay, I get it now. However, I wonder now, what happened to that Ancient Spirit Tree your entire tribe had?”

“Ah…” The Elder sighed.

I suddenly noticed Urbosa, Merkite, and Ashen doing similar expressions; it was like a combination of frustration and sorrow. I’ve been mostly trying not to talk about this, but I think it was about time they addressed what happened on the second floor.

“Can you tell me what has happened in your world?” I asked them. “I know it might be a delicate thing to speak about, but I plan to climb the tower with my family, so we’ll eventually go there. I need to know, if you were that world’s inhabitants, what forced you to come to the first floor?”

“It’s… Well, I suppose it can be explained first with the Spirit Tree.” Said the Elder. “In the ancient scrolls, we’ve learned many things. One such thing is the birth of our God. Yes, not the Divine Beast Spirits. But the God of the second floor is the God of our world. And unlike this world’s gods, there was only one. A tyrant, a warmongering monster. A god of battle and bloodshed, of calamity and barbaric disaster.”

“A what…? Can there be such an evil god out there?” My sister asked.

“It can. And the most surprising part is that it is the second-floor god.” Said Urbosa. “He’s the reason why we descended the tower and moved to a more peaceful land.”

“That God, he’s known as the {Battle-Loving Barbarian King}.” The Elder said. “Pretty straightforward, right? He was born roughly over a hundred thousand years ago. And he was the one that destroyed the Ancient Spirit Tree from our world and stopped the Divine Beast Spirits from giving us their blessings.”

“How did this God appear?” I asked, trying to keep myself calm. “Seeing how monstrous he was and his name... Was he really born out of your belief?”

“No, well, not really.” Sighed the Elder. “From what I’ve read, he was something different. You see, in our world, named Elios, there are many tribes. Our Beast Tribes were but half of them all. The Orcs composed almost the entirety of the other half. Unlike us beast people who only wish to live with nature and by ourselves, Orcs have always been warmongering; they love battling and bloodshed, and since eons, they’ve hunted one another and… our tribes as well.”

“Orcs…” I said, imagining a few from fantasy media would probably not do them justice. “So you think…?”

“That God might not have been born out of our belief, but of the belief of our rivals and enemies, the warmongering orcs.” Said the Elder. “Although there are many that have separated themselves from their orc ancestry and descended into the first floor or even into your world to be normal civilians, the tribes of Orcs remain the strongest. Using the strength and powers of their God, they were able to bring our once large union of tribes into a few, meager, and very small tribes scattered across the endless grasslands of our world.”

“Though we don’t really know their origin or something, we just know that the Barbarian God is someone almost every Orc Tribe praises as their one and only divine king,” Urbosa said. “I’ve heard from some Elders, those that have passed already, that it was said the Barbarian God was once an Orc like the rest, the strongest of them all, someone that reached the pinnacle. Like Leviathan, the snake you made into this world’s new god. But somehow, he acquired a Divine Throne and became a God.”

So what happened with Leviathan wasn’t unique to me; it can actually happen in other worlds as well. A Mortal whose Level reaches a certain number, and once they fulfill certain conditions, can be given a Divine Throne in a godless world!

Perhaps the Tower or the System didn’t include the Divine Beast Spirits as Gods because their origins were from another dimension, and therefore they never held any throne over the people of that world.

“So you escaped because of the attacks of the Orcs?” My mother asked. “I always wondered why there were so many orcs there. I’ve visited the second floor a couple of times myself, but never involved myself in the Trial you need to do to get to the third floor, unfortunately.”

“Me neither.” Juan sighed. “It is way too troublesome. Only very strong people ever dare to get involved in that Trial. It is one of the biggest walls that stops most hunters from climbing higher.”

“What Trial is it?” I asked.

“Well, you see, in the second floor Trial, you need to ###### and ##### or #####.” My mother started explaining to me, but I could only hear a loud, buzzing sound whenever she spoke about the trial. The system that had taken over her soul was censoring her words.

“I can’t understand anything you’re saying, mother…” I sighed. “It seems the Tower itself censors your words.”

“What?!” My mother gasped. “Wait, Ruby, did you hear something?”

“N-No, you were talking like very loud buzzing sounds; it was creepy as hell!” Ruby cried.

“That’s… I guess it can’t be helped. If you want to know what you need to do there, you’ll have to climb yourself, Katherine.” My mother seemed slightly sad.

“It’s fine. I’ll go there in a couple of days. We might have to delay the visit to Earth for now. If possible, I would prefer to solve whatever problem is happening there quickly.” I said. “As the home world of my two mates and her tribe, I feel it is my responsibility.”

“Huh? But what about your own home world, dear?” Urbosa asked me. “You don’t need to give yourself such responsibility; we’ve left that world long ago. The first floor is our home now!”

“Yeah, yeah! What she said.” Merkite nodded. “Please don’t feel pressured to take any responsibility.”

“It is fine.” I smiled. “I have the strength to do so without breaking a sweat; why shouldn’t I bother?” I giggled. “I am not truly being humble; I am simply rather curious and... quite vengeful. I hate people who abuse their power to kill innocents. I might put some people in their place using mine; I might even kill those who attack me first. And I may even reeducate some insolent fools, but I would never go to such lengths myself. I find it despicable, and it only makes me frustrated to know there are people incapable of doing a thing against such ill fates.”

“I can see within you; there’s the wrath of the righteous.” The elder spoke. “Bing Xue, would you truly help liberate our world from that tyrant?”

“I can’t say I will kill the orcs. I believe they might have been brainwashed by such a God. But yes, I promise you that in a couple of days, Elios will no longer have such a barbarian as its only God.”

My mind was set; I had found yet another purpose. But I suppose it is nothing but a stepping stone across the many I’ll have to kick out of my path to reach my goal.

[Your Connection with the God of Eclipse has given you a large quantity of Faith.]

[You earned +500 Faith.]

[You earned +1100 Faith.]

[You earned +200 Faith.]

[You earned +1300 Faith.]

[You earned +600 Faith.]

[You earned +330 Faith.]

[…]

Oh, it seems Leviathan has already begun his job officially.

He is earning decently well, I must say.

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