CHAPTER 172: WEEKS?

But still, despite the illogical words of the young man, Seraphina believed him. After all, his record-breaking in the tower was as bizarre as his words.

The impossibility of his achievements lent credibility to statements that would have seemed absurd from anyone else. When someone accomplished the impossible constantly, their casual dismissal of legendary challenges carried weight that rational skepticism couldn’t dismiss.

"Getting bored," Seraphina murmured under her breath while processing implications that challenged her fundamental understanding of motivation. "Who achieves Saint-rank power and considers it boredom?"

Magnus studied the young man’s posture, noting the complete absence of excitement or satisfaction that should accompany such overwhelming advancement. Stone-cold assessment where others would display pride or ambition.

The other observers exchanged glances that spoke of shared confusion. Every one of them had sacrificed everything to reach their current power levels—decades of careful development, countless resources, endless risk and struggle. The idea of treating such advancement as boring challenged their entire worldview.

Seraphina’s silver eyes narrowed.

Someone who views Saint-rank advancement as mundane...is an interesting person to say the least.

Her mind recognised the implications. If Ethan truly considered the floor twenty-four completion routine rather than exceptional, his actual capabilities probably exceeded his demonstrated achievements by substantial margins. The tower had been testing someone whose potential remained largely untapped.

"Floor twenty-five and beyond," she whispered with growing certainty. "He might actually be exploring the higher floors."

Ethan turned toward them with an expression that suggested the conversation had reached its natural conclusion. "I will see you later, if you are still alive. Bye."

Without waiting for responses, he activated his speed talent and simply vanished.

To those under diamond rank, who were scattered around the tower’s base, he had disappeared entirely, a velocity that exceeded their senses by orders of magnitude. One moment present, the next moment gone without visible transition.

But to Lord Magnus and Seraphina, his movement appeared as a controlled blur. As saint-rank awakeners themselves, they were able to perceive his speed.

"A speed talent," Seraphina noted with growing appreciation for the complexity of his advancement. "But speed alone wouldn’t enable floor twenty-four completion. He must possess capabilities that transcend such single-aspect enhancement."

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Magnus nodded grimly while processing implications that extended beyond personal achievement. "You are right, that talent alone wouldn’t make him reach the twenty-fourth floor. Which means he has another talent in him, his ace card,"

"We need to reconsider our assumptions about human potential," Seraphina concluded while watching the distant point where enhanced perception lost tracking capability. "His achievements suggest that the limits we thought were the pinnacle were actually conservative estimates rather than absolute boundaries."

Magnus nodded. "Indeed, it seems like there is most likely a rank above saint-rank."

Ethan made his way back to his territorial base with velocity that compressed distance into negligible intervals. His speed carried him across terrain that should have required hours of travel, while his vitality eliminated fatigue from sustained high-velocity movement.

The base came into view within minutes rather than the extended journey such distance had previously required. Home appeared to be much more developed than he’d left it—organised activity suggesting his subjects had maintained operational efficiency during his brief absence.

He wanted to take a quick break, enjoy some quality food, and perhaps distribute equipment he no longer needed to enhance his territorial capabilities. Several Tier 6 and Tier 7 items had accumulated in dimensional storage while his advancement had rendered them redundant.

Arriving at the territorial center, his subjects didn’t have a chance to react before they spotted them in the base. But their enhanced senses immediately detected something fundamentally different about their Lord’s presence.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Vice-Lord Vance, who had been reviewing administrative reports near the Town Hall, felt immense pressure radiating from Ethan’s enhanced aura. The power signature exceeded everything he’d previously experienced—not just Platinum rank, not even the Diamond classification he’d theorised about, but something that challenged comprehension entirely.

"How," Vance thought with growing amazement. "Just how did he get so strong? It’s only been a few weeks."

His mind struggled to process advancement rates that defied every established principle about power development. Platinum-rank achievement typically requires decades of effort rather than weeks of concentrated activity, but his boss had gone far beyond that.

Marcus approached with obvious relief mixed with concerned confusion. "My Lord! We were worried about your extended absence. The territorial operations continued successfully, but your departure duration exceeded all previous expeditions."

Ethan frowned with genuine puzzlement. "Why are you worried? It’s only been a few hours since I left for the tower."

His subjects exchanged glances that spoke of shared concern about their Lord’s perception of time passage. Elena stepped forward with careful tone that suggested delicate information delivery.

"My Lord," she said gently, "your departure occurred three weeks ago. We’ve maintained territorial security and continued development, but your absence duration has been... not a few hours."

Ethan’s intelligence processed the implications immediately.

Naturally, he didn’t lose his mind, which meant that there was time dilation within the tower.

What felt like seconds of challenge completion had been hours of external time passage. The dimensional space operated on accelerated temporal frameworks that compressed extended activities into compressed subjective experience.

"Time dilation," he realised with growing understanding. "The tower’s internal time mechanics operate independently of external reality. Weeks outside equals minutes inside. This means that the tower isn’t actually connected to this reality. So...this tower might really allow people to return to their world once they were done."

"Three weeks," he murmured.

Elena watched him scan the surroundings, then spoke. "Master, much has happened during your absence. We now have nearly a hundred Tier 5 and 6 herbs—it’s been incredible. Everyone has been progressing rapidly.

All the silver-ranked awakeners in our base have advanced to gold, and Vice-Lord Vance has even reached low platinum. During your absence, we continued following your plan of improving the base whilst sending scouting teams all around us. We found several territories in the two-hundred-kilometre range.

They appeared to be much weaker than our current power; we didn’t attack or alert them. Waiting for your decision first."

Ethan nodded. "Well done, everyone. Call back everyone, let’s all eat and relax for the day. Work will never run out, let’s enjoy ourselves."