The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 120: An Ending

The warping started from a small corner inside the room. Light started to spread from the small spot, creating a larger patch with each passing second. Within no time, the entire room was covered, and the chains that held Noel began to crumble down and dissipate into ashes upon touching the bright lights.

Aria was too confused by her mental state. She noticed the change later on, but kept her attention on Noel, whose tears were starting to drip everywhere on her clothes. Noel did not let out sounds, but Aria could somehow feel a harmony that was incited between them.

Aria stayed still until she no longer felt any motions coming from Noel. At first, she thought that the man jsut fell asleep, but upon giving a closer notice, she realized that Noel was no longer breathing. Shocked, Aria shook Noel's body and called out his name with worry.

However, not only did the man not wake up, his body also started to disappear. Turning into ashes. Aria observed the man, and she could see a faint smile plastered on his face, which had been stained with tears.

Aria was scared of losing the man, even though she knew that Noel shouldn't even live to this day in the first place. God knows how many years had passed since they last met, and Noel would be incapable of living this long organically unless something forced him.

Was it the Tower? Was the Tower the sole reason why Noel was able to hold on to this day? If so, wouldn't clearing this floor consequently mean the end of Noel forever?

"Noel...?" Aria was at a loss as she could no longer hold Noel's physical body. He was turning transparent, and Aria couldn't get a good grasp on him. He disappeared just like his chains, fading into the brightness and leaving Aria alone in the space.

Aria fell down to her knees, an overwhelming sense of loss covering her state of mind as she zoned out. While she was doing that, several notifications from the System rang out, finally taking her attention back on the matter.

[Congratulations. You have successfully passed the First Trial.]

[The First Trial has been cleared. Moving on to the second layer. Initializing <Player> data into the Tower...]

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[Initialization done. <Player> Aria Schreiner has successfully became the second <Player> to clear the first layer. For the first three, there will be benefits given by the System. The gifts will be sent to you in a short minute as the System confirms your victory details. Please wait a moment.]

"First trial.." Aria read the text and was distraught at the situation. Noel's disappearance made the notification come to existence. Then, it meant that Noel truly was the enemy, the thing she needed to resolve in order to be able to progress.

Aria's eyes trembled and she found it hard to focus on the notification. The short and bitter reunion that she went through. Why was it so fleeting? If it was this painful in the end, she would have rather not reunited with Noel at all.

She screamed. It was unknown whether it was because of sadness and pain, or whether it was because she was incapable of understanding her own emotions and felt like she was going to go crazy.

Throughout Aria's descent to madness, the System kept spawning notifications  that announced her victory and glory. She was unable to feel the happiness that she was supposed to bear after she finished this hellish quest that provoked her emotions to the seventh heaven.

In the end, all she got as a physical reward was a damned gem. A small gem that had a bluish hue covering its surface.

"This is... what kind of gem is this?" Aria scrutinized the tiny object as she calmed herself down and tried to stay rational. It was so tiny that Aria felt like she could lose it in a matter of seconds. If she just took her eyes off the thing, it would roll away7 from her palm and disappear just like Noel. "This is the only reward? No... there's something different about myself as well,"

Aria was very sensitive to the changes within her own body, so she could tell that she got considerably stronger, at least, she progressed from before she first entered this Tower. It was like a multiplier was placed on her stats. She could tell that the gift wasn't something that improved her fighting base, but rather just her stats.

And her predictions were correct, because as she opened up her status, she found out that all of her stats were now raised to be above fifty five points. Originally, before coming here, she was Level 30 and had her stats in the higher forties all across the board except for the Strength option, which she raised to be higher in order to gain brute force.

In total, the amount that was added to her status amounted to twenty eight across the five status options.

"That's equivalent to five to six levels," Aria gasped. Perhaps it was because she hadn't recovered from the full brunt force of the trial yet, her sense were not as perfect as in normal times. She found it hard to adjust, and the points' effects hadn't kicked in yet.

After being both mentally and physically exhausted from the trial, Aria sighed as she sat down on the now empty room. A key was laid down in front of her, and she picked it up with a tired spirit. She looked upwards, and found that there was no ceiling, only an infinite space masked by the light. A never ending route. She did not know where she was right now, but she understood one thing.

The quest had something to do with pacifying Noel. Right before he faded away, he showed a smile- something that was regularly shown to her back then. Upon her arrival to this level, Noel did not act amicably towards her and even wanted to be hostile. However, after she apologized and embraced him, he began to cry, and that was what triggered the room's change.

"If so, then the illusion that I went through.. Noel should have been there as well," Aria concluded. If that child hadn't been there with her, then he wouldn't be so shaken up by her apology?

Was the Tower going to show more things that she left unresolved in the past from now on?

Noel was the first one to be revealed. Next, who would it be?

[Victory confirmed. The second layer has been unlocked. <Player> Life Guarantee for one floor has been given as a starter kit. For one floor, no matter how badly the <Player> gets harmed or killed, they may choose to use the Life Guarantee to gain a saving grace and come back from the gates of death.]

"Oh, so the previous one was like a tutorial, huh? That's fair," Aria hummed. She  walked around the space and found that there was really nothing in this place anymore.

Like all the previous floors below this, this type of space would not only have to be maintained by and absurd amount of magic, but it was also impossible to make using the spells that Aria knew as of now.

The Tower, the Gates, and the System's creator. As much as she hated to admit it, those three pesky things that infiltrated the modern world should be related in one way or another, driving the world into chaos in unforeseeable ways.

"Will there be a day when I can confront them? To ask.. the answers to my questions," Aria clenched her fists, letting her nails dig into her palm as she sighed in distress.

Aria was troubled. There were so many questions that sprouted inside her head. First, this entire fiasco was as if it was centered around her. Like she was a main character that had to undergo harsh trials to no end. Too little details were revealed to her. She was just riding with the flow, accepting the new information that was revealed to her.

She sighed. She now had Alena Croft, a powerful information provider by her side. If the little girl was to be cultivated properly, there was a high chance of her powerful evolving just like how it did with Aria's powers. If that happens, then could it be that she could find out the truth through Alena's way?

Although the chances were not known, Aria wanted to start somewhere.

First, she understood why the world changed as the Tower appeared. It was because the Tower did not yield her with status rewards except for the tenth, and perhaps twentieth and so on. Thus, in order for someone like Aria to progress, she needed to clear and abundant amount of dungeons. In order to balance the distribution in the world, the other nations that did not host Aria also needed to suffer as a result of it.