Floor 2 was called the Proving Grounds, and it lived up to its name.
The transition through the gate dumped them into a landscape that made Floor 1 look like a vacation resort: jagged mountains in every direction, sparse vegetation clinging to rocky outcrops, and a cold wind that cut straight through the thin clothes most candidates were wearing.
[floor 2: the proving grounds]
[objective: survive 7 days]
[secondary objective: reach the exit gate]
[additional challenges: active]
"Additional challenges?" someone muttered while pulling their jacket tighter. "What does that mean?"
He knew exactly what it meant. Floor 2 had hidden objectives scattered throughout the terrain, quests that rewarded those who knew where to look with permanent stat buffs and rare equipment. Most climbers stumbled across one or two by accident. In the original timeline he didn't find any until his second run through the floor, years later, when he was already strong enough that the rewards barely mattered. This time would be different.
Adrian wasted no time organizing the survivors into a proper group, assigning roles and responsibilities with the efficiency of someone who did this before. Watch rotations, supply management, scouting parties. All the things a good leader would think of, delivered with that perfect smile and those empty eyes.
"We should stick together," Adrian announced to the assembled candidates while gesturing at the harsh landscape around them. "Larger groups have better survival rates, and we can tackle the challenges more effectively as a unit."
Heads nodded. People who just survived Floor 1 were desperate for leadership, for someone to tell them what to do and where to go and how to not die horribly in this frozen hellscape.
He stood at the edge of the crowd with Ravenna at his side and waited for Adrian to finish his speech.
"What about you?" Adrian turned his attention toward them while that smile stayed firmly in place. "Joining the group proper this time?"
'No, I'm taking my half-demon companion to a hidden cave three kilometers northeast where a permanent stat buff is waiting to be claimed.'
"We work better alone," he said while keeping his posture relaxed. "Small team, fast movement. We'll meet you at the exit gate."
Something flickered in Adrian's eyes, gone almost before it appeared. Displeasure, maybe, or suspicion. Either way he masked it with understanding.
"Your choice. Stay safe out there."
'You too, for now.'
---
They left the main group within the hour, and he led Ravenna through terrain he memorized years ago in a timeline that no longer existed. She followed without complaint, trusting him completely despite having no reason to, and he tried not to think too hard about what that trust meant.
"Where are we going?" she asked after the first kilometer while her breath misted in the cold air. "You seem like you have a destination in mind."
"There's a cave system northeast of here, hidden and hard to find if you don't know what to look for." He picked his way over a patch of loose rocks before continuing. "There's something valuable inside."
"How do you know that?" She climbed over the same rocks, using her tail for balance.
'Because I found it on Floor 60 in my original timeline, heard rumors about it from a dying climber who wished he knew sooner. One of a hundred regrets I'm going to fix this time around.'
"I heard a rumor," he said instead while scanning the ridgeline ahead. "Could be nothing. Worth checking."
She accepted the explanation with a nod, not because she believed it but because she decided to trust him regardless. He wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse.
The terrain grew more treacherous as they climbed, loose rocks and hidden crevasses that would have killed anyone who didn't know exactly where to step. He moved with confidence and Ravenna followed in his footsteps, her natural agility helping her keep pace despite her lack of experience.
They reached the cave entrance three hours later, a crack in the mountainside barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through. From the outside it looked like nothing special, just another gap in the rock among hundreds of others, but he knew exactly what was waiting inside.
"Stay close," he said while drawing his knife, and then slipped through the gap.
---
The cave opened up almost immediately into a proper chamber, rough walls giving way to smooth stone that showed signs of intentional shaping. Someone built this place long before humans ever entered the Tower, and whatever they left behind was still here.
[hidden location discovered: the proving hollow]
[quest initiated: claim the heartstone]
[warning: guardian active]
"What is this place?" Ravenna's voice was hushed while she ran her fingers along the wall, awed by the ancient architecture that surrounded them. Crystals embedded in the stone gave off a soft blue glow, illuminating carvings that depicted scenes he didn't recognize.
"Old, probably older than the Tower." He moved deeper into the chamber while his eyes scanned for threats. "The prize is at the center, and so is the thing guarding it."
"What kind of thing?" She moved closer to him, her tail tightening around her leg.
As if in answer, the ground shook.
A section of the far wall separated from the rest and stood up, revealing itself to be not wall at all but a creature made of living stone. It towered over them, easily twelve feet tall, its body carved with the same symbols as the walls around them.
[guardian awakened: stone sentinel]
[threat level: high]
[recommendation: exercise caution]
"That kind," he said while shifting into a combat stance, and drew his knife.
The sentinel's first attack was a sweep of its massive arm, slow but powerful enough to shatter stone. He ducked under it and closed the distance while looking for weak points in its construction. Joints, cracks, anywhere the stone wasn't solid.
The knee had a gap between segments, and he drove his knife into it and twisted, prying at the magical bonds holding the construct together until the sentinel stumbled with its leg buckling while he was already moving toward the next target.
"Ravenna! The carvings on its chest, can you hit them with fire?"
"I can try!" She planted her feet and raised her hands, flame building in her palms with the unsteady flicker of someone still learning their power.
The fire that launched toward the sentinel was weak by any standard, barely more than a glorified torch, but it hit the carvings dead center.
The sentinel screamed, not with a voice but with a sound like grinding boulders, a vibration that shook the entire chamber. The fire spread across its chest, eating into the magical symbols that animated it, and he used the distraction to climb the construct's back.
He found the core embedded in its skull, a glowing crystal that pulsed with the same energy as the walls around them. His knife wasn't strong enough to crack it, but he didn't need to crack it. He just needed to cut the connections.
Three precise strikes severed the channels feeding power to the crystal, and the sentinel went still.
[guardian defeated: stone sentinel]
[system points: +300]
[quest progress: 1/1]
He slid down the construct's back as it crumbled, landing in a crouch next to Ravenna. She was breathing hard with her hands still smoking slightly, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"We did it?" Her voice cracked on the question.
"You did it." He gestured toward the scorch marks on the sentinel's chest. "That fire hit exactly where it needed to. Nice shot."
She stared at him like he spoke a foreign language, then looked down at her hands like she was seeing them for the first time.
"Nobody's ever told me that before," she said quietly while flexing her fingers. "That I did something right."
'Get used to it because you're going to hear it a lot more from now on.'
But he didn't say that out loud, and instead he just walked toward the altar at the center of the chamber where a palm-sized crystal pulsed with soft green light.
The Heartstone. Permanent stat enhancement, applicable to any core attribute. One of the hidden treasures of Floor 2, missed by ninety-nine percent of climbers who didn't know it existed.
He picked it up and turned to Ravenna while holding it out toward her.
"This is for you."