The Warden's remains finished dissolving, it dissolved quietly as possible with no dramatic sounds and it just simply ended.
The massive body that just woke and dominated this floor faded into countless pieces of dim light, each particle lingering for a half a second before vanishing entirely. The oppressive pressure that had weighed down Kael's chest since the start of the fight lifted at once leaving behind a hollow ringing silence.
Kael stood there for several seconds not moving any of his muscles and head.
His breathing was shallow, his heart still pounded too fast.
"It's really over...." he said at last his voice became hoarse full of tiredness.
He waited something to happen thinking that author will do some more plot twists.
But nothing attacked him and no emergency warning appeared and the tower did not announce another test.
Only then did Kael's gaze drop to the center of the forest where the warden disappeared.
Something remained.
Floating just above the surface of the floor was a translucent slab of light which was rectangular and perfectly smooth like a sheet of crystal glass. Thin lines ran across its surface hundreds of them intersecting, branching, diverging, reconnecting in patterns too deliberate to be decorative.
They looked less like runes, not the type like glyph, they looked more like diagrams.
Kael swallowed.
"So that's it, this dropped something from the wardens body, it has some strange diagrams on it"
He didn't approach immediately, experience had taught him better than that.
Instead he leaned against a broken pillar and exhaled slowly letting the shaking in his legs subside.
His hands still tingled faintly residual mana from the Line sword technique buzzing under his skin.
"You know.... for something that hadn't shown up in decades you hit way harder than advertised" still waiting for something to happen.
Kael sighed and straightened and raised his hand to tap the dropped item.
The familiar ripple spread outward but this time more than ever and its ripples spread outward and reality briefly responding to his intent.
[Architect Record]
[Status: Not Accessible]
[Reason: Authority Insufficient]
[Requirement: Architect chosen class]
Kael stared at the floating text.
"Architect Record, hmmm I'm hearing this architect multiple time, who is this architect and what it is related to this tower and the planet eater?"
But "Seems like it this warden was protecting something, but this feels not a weapon or a treasure but something like documentation"
The slab of light remained silent.
Kael lowered his hand eyes narrowing slightly.
Something about the rejection felt restrained.
He was not allowed to open the record just giving a simple statement not accessible.
"This time its different, when the tower doesn't want me somewhere it usually makes that very clear"
He took a step closer.
The sir around the record felt heavy like standing near a massive machine humming quietly beneath the surface.
Kael thought for a moment.
Then sighed..
"Alright" rubbing the back of his neck "Let's not pretend I don't see the pattern here".
He focused inward.
On the sensation he'd grown familiar with ever since the boss fight.
The way his lines no longer felt like foreign constructs but extension of intent.
The way Eraser no longer lashed out unpredictably instead humming quietly in the background like a restrained blade.
He lifted his hand again.
Tapping the record, this time the response was immediate.
The lines etched into the slab rearranged themselves flowing like a liquid geometry. New intersections formed and then stabilized.
[Architect Record]
[Status: Access Granted]
[Conditions Met:
-> Delimiter class authority verified]
-> Conceptual Boundary Delimited Edge confirmed]
Kael froze, he read it once again, then again "Its been granted by tapping once again, maybe the 2nd time was the charm, but it felt I thing my class has to something to do with it".
He shook his head slowly.
"You were waiting for someone who could cross the right line".
The record brightened faintly as if acknowledging the statement.
Information brushed against Kael's perception.
The huge amount of information is been is been dumped and not forced and had offered to him.
It showed blueprints, but what are those blueprints I don't understand anything.
It showed Structural concepts but still cant make out any.
Fragments of intent left behind by something or someone that had existed before the towers ranking system ever solidified.
Kael staggered back a step gripping the pillar behind him.
"Okay stop stop that's enough, I get it its important but I'm still fragile"
The flow ceased at once.
The slab dimmed sealing itself again.
But this time it felt different.
"For now lets keep this in my inventory, maybe I'll understand something in the future"
"And I will actually understand when I come back about what I'm looking at it".
A faint metallic clink echoed from the the upper left of the ruins placed from hundred from here.
Kael's head snapped up.
"What was that?".
He turned toward the sound just as loose rubble shifted near a collapsed section of a wall. A chunk of stone slid aside revealing the corner of something angular and unmistakably artificial.
Its the chest a golden one at that.
It was half buried.
Kael blinked and then stared at the chest.
"Yess this is what adventuring feels like it, more treasures and more rewards".
He approached cautiously brushing debris aside until the chest was fully visible. Its surface gleamed faintly despite the dust mana lines pulsing lazily along its edges.
[Gold Rank Chest Detected]
Kael crouched in front of it, resting his elbows on his knees.
"So let me get this straight, an ancient monster that hasn't appeared in decades, a hidden architect record and now a golden chest tucked behind the rubble like an afterthought"
He placed a hand on the lid of the chest.
The lid creaked open releasing a soft shining of mana that spilled into the air like mist.
Inside lay several neatly arranged items.
[Adaptive Reinforced Armour (Unbound)]
[Weapon Enhancement Stone]
[Sealed Artifact Shard (Unidentified)]
[Hidden Map Fragment from floors 5 to 7]
Kael let out a low whistle.
"Wow, that's good amount of rewards from the gold chest, this feels like almost dying feel slightly less unfair haha".
He carefully transferred each item into his inventory and his expression growing thoughtful as he glanced back toward the Architect Record.
"A Record that waits for the right authority and the chest hidden behind the ancient monster that only wakes up when conditions align"
His lips pressed into a thin line.
"....Someone planned this"
Not the tower, the tower enforced rules but this felt like something else.
Kael straightened stretching his sore shoulders.
"I'm done for today. If I keep going, I'm either going to pass out or accidentally erase something important".
He turned and made his way out of the forest.
But outside the world something else was taking place
The Global announcement replayed endlessly across the tower all around the world.
[Floor 4 Dormant Entity The Warden of Silence Unique Boss - Eliminated]
Guild halls erupted into noise.
"Floor four, wasn't that monster a myth, that thing hasn't spawned since early era"
"Solo clear? That's crazy.. But no party data".
Analysts argued, Veterans Frowned. Speculation exploded.
"No ID tag and no guild registration?" Someone muttered.
"So either a hidden genius monster" another said slowly. "And this climber doesn't want to be seen"
In Eclipse guild command center the silvered haired woman stared at the display.
"There are names and records have found of every person entered the tower but who is it"
Her gaze sharpened.
"Which means whoever did this knows how to stay invisible"
Kael didn't see any of it.
He exited the tower quietly blending into the evening crowd like any other person exhausted climber.
The city lights felt too brigght after the dim floors below.
He headed home.
His body ached. His mind felt overloaded.
But beneath the fatigue something steady had taken root.
The tower wasn't just testing him.
It was waiting.
And now for the first time since awakening Kael Ardent knew he wasn't just climbing.
He was reading the structure itself.