Gardener of Eden

Chapter 208: Chapter 208: Pushing for Floor 20

The colossal monolith of the Tower loomed above them, its ancient stone walls cutting high into the clouds like a spear thrust into the sky. Around the sprawling lower entrance plaza, hundreds of mercenary guilds and adventurer squads milled about, but Squad 07 drew more than a few lingering glares.

Barney stood tall in his freshly forged B-Grade heavy plate armor, his broad shoulders gleaming under the sun, while Seraphina subtly adjusted a reinforced belt lined with crystal vials of high-vitality ginseng brews.

Mirei, her twin daggers loosely resting at her hips, offered Caelen a dry, amused smirk. ”Try not to exhaust yourself on Floor 12, Caelen. Some of us actually plan on making it through Floor 20 without needing an emergency stamina potion every three rooms.”

”Hey! That was one time on Floor 8!” Caelen shot back defensively, cracking his knuckles as his broadsword hummed with a light coat of aura. ”Besides, look at us! We’ve got custom B-Grade gear from Barney, elite elixirs from Seraphina, and Rowan sitting pretty at Level 30! If we don’t sprint through these floors now, we’ll never catch up!”

Rowan chuckled softly, resting the haft of the Hoe of the World-Tiller over his shoulder while tapping the brim of his straw hat with a thumb.

”Eight floors in one run is a solid goal,” Rowan said with a grounded, easy confidence that instantly calmed the group’s pre-raid nervous energy. ”Floor 12 to 20 is where the environment hazards really start scaling up—rock golems, subterranean serpents, and high-density mana swamps. But with Barney’s gear and Seraphina’s elixirs, your damage output and recovery will easily handle the curve.”

”You heard the boss,” Barney rumbled with a deep, booming laugh, clapping a heavy, iron-clad hand onto Caelen’s back that nearly knocked the breath out of him. ”Don’t go dulling my fine ironwork out there!”

”Right, right... let me breathe first,” Caelen wheezed, shaking off the blow with a wide grin.

As the team crossed the massive, glowing blue threshold of the Tower’s main portal arch, the noisy chatter of the outdoor plaza instantly vanished, replaced by the heavy, humming resonance of ancient spatial magic.

They materialized on Floor 12—a vast, dark subterranean canyon where glowing crystal veins snaked along jagged limestone cliffs, and the air smelled heavily of damp earth and thick, raw mana.

The moment Rowan’s boots touched the rocky soil, his newly upgraded Level 30 Origin Earth passive flared to life. His perception unfolded outward like a living map, mapping every subterranean tremor, every hidden monster burrow, and every pulse of ley-line energy within a two-mile radius.

”Hold up,” Rowan said softly, holding up a single hand as the rest of the squad immediately halted, falling into tight combat formation.

Mirei rested a hand on her daggers, her eyes narrowing. ”Monster pack ahead?”

Rowan frowned slightly, gazing down at a faint crack in the stone near his feet. Deep beneath the natural earthiness of the floor, his enhanced sense caught a strange, unnatural lingering chill—a faint, almost imperceptible taint of cold, pitch-black rot that felt entirely alien to the Tower’s natural mana.

”Not a monster pack,” Rowan murmured, his eyes sharpening under his straw hat before his casual grin returned. ”Just an old trail. Stay sharp, everyone. Caelen, Barney, take the vanguard. Let’s see how fast you two can reach Level 30.”

***

Supported by Barney’s reinforced B-Grade armor and Seraphina’s potent ginseng brews, Caelen and Mirei moved like an unstoppable storm across the cavernous floors of the Tower.

Room after room, floor after floor, the squad carved through swarms of subterranean dread-beasts, magma golems, and armored cavern crawlers with ruthless, clinical precision.

Caelen was a whirlwind of sheer destruction on the vanguard. His broadsword, coated in a searing layer of concentrated aura, sheared through heavy monster chitin and reinforced stone hides as if they were warm butter. With every broad sweep, he cleaved through entire mob lines, his movements fluid and untiring thanks to the constant trickle of stamina provided by Seraphina’s high-vitality brews.

Right behind him, Mirei provided flawless backline support. Drawing back the glowing string of her Breeze-Striker Longbow, she loosed streams of wind-infused arrows that whickered through the dark caverns. Her shots pinned fast-moving flankers to stone walls, pierced weak points in boss armor plates, and detonated clustered monster packs with gale-force pressure waves before they could ever crowd Caelen.

Rowan walked casually behind them, the Hoe of the World-Tiller resting over his shoulder like a simple farm tool. Yet, beneath his calm demeanor, his Level 30 mastery over the earth transformed the battlefield into a personalized training ground for his team. With a subtle pulse of his mana, stone pillars sprouted to block enemy charges, soft earth caved under boss legs to disrupt their heavy attacks, and living vine roots burst from floor fissures to bind flying beasts—setting up effortless targets for Mirei’s arrows and Caelen’s heavy downward slashes.

By the time they cleared the final guardian of Floor 19—a massive, crystal-armored Subterranean Behemoth—the creature shattered into a mountain of glowing mana crystals and high-tier drop materials.

A pair of bright, golden light pillars suddenly erupted beneath Caelen and Mirei, swirling around their bodies in resonant harmony with the Tower’s spatial magic.

[Level Up!] Caelen has reached Level 30! Mirei has reached Level 30!

Caelen threw his head back with an ecstatic shout, driving his broadsword into the cracked cavern floor as the surging golden energy settled into his limbs. His muscle density tightened, his mana core expanded, and a radiant grin broke across his dirt-streaked face.

”Thirty! Finally Level 30!” Caelen yelled, flexing his arms as his aura flared with a brilliant, newly refined luster. ”Did you see that clean decapitation on the Floor 18 boss, Mirei? Pure skill!”

Mirei smoothly lowered her Breeze-Striker Longbow, twirling a glowing arrow between her fingers before stowing it in her quiver. She exhaled a light breath, her eyes shimmering with the refined glow of her own Level 30 breakthrough.

”I saw you almost trip over a stalagmite on Floor 16,” Mirei replied with a sly, affectionate smirk. ”Though I suppose your sword arm did most of the work for once.”

”Hey! That stone moved on its own!” Caelen protested, laughing off her ribbing as he turned to look back at Rowan, Seraphina, and Barney.

”Solid work, both of you,” Barney rumbled, stepping forward to pat his chestplate, checking for any stress fractures. The B-Grade plate was barely scratched. ”Gear held up like a charm, too.”

”You two fought brilliantly,” Seraphina added, handing out fresh crystal vials of cold ginseng water to flush away their lingering fatigue. ”Your mana control stabilized significantly after Floor 15.”

Rowan stepped past the pile of shattered boss loot, looking toward the heavy, towering adamantine doors at the far end of the chamber—the gateway leading directly to Floor 20.

”Congratulations on hitting Level 30,” Rowan said with a warm, approving nod to Caelen and Mirei. ”You’ve earned a breather. But keep your guards up... Floor 20 is the start of the Tower’s mid-tier zone.”