My Overpowered Bunny Girls

Chapter 20: 20. Tower of Beginnings (2)

Cold air hit Nathan’s face as the teleportation light faded.

He stood in a narrow stone corridor with walls pressing close on either side. Ancient art covered the stone, carvings of humanoid figures battling creatures Nathan didn’t recognize, their summons beside them. The ceiling arched high overhead, lost in shadow and the only light came from faintly glowing runes set into the floor at regular intervals.

Behind him, the entrance was gone. No door. No gate. Just seamless stone where the way back should have been.

[Ding! Tower of Beginnings: Floor 1]

[Objective: Defeat all enemies.]

[Party Size: 1]

[Difficulty: Adjusted for solo Climber.]

Nathan drew his bow. The familiar weight settled into his grip, grounding him. Twenty physical arrows rested in his quiver...

"Mirko."

She materialized beside him in bunny form, green fur almost glowing in the dim rune-light.

’This place smells old, Master. And dusty. Very dusty.’

Nathan activated [Hunter’s Insight].

The world sharpened. Mana flow patterns became visible, thin streams of energy running through the walls like veins. The reliefs on the stone seemed to shift slightly in his enhanced perception, though he couldn’t tell if that was the skill or his imagination.

There was movement ahead, Three heat signatures. Small and Quadrupedal.

"There we go..." he murmured.

The Stone Rats emerged from the shadows. Each was the size of a medium dog, with grey hide that glittered faintly where torchlight caught mineral deposits in their skin. Their eyes were dull and mindless, driven by the Tower’s programming rather than genuine hunger.

WHOOSH!. Nathan fired.

A [Mana Arrow] shot through the corridor, blue-white energy condensed into a projectile. It struck the lead rat between the eyes, and the creature shattered... literally shattered, its body breaking apart into chunks of inert stone before dissolving into light.

[Ding! Xp Gained!]

The remaining two rats charged.

Nathan’s [Hunter’s Insight] mapped their trajectories instantly. One would reach him in four seconds. The other would flank from the right. Simple and Predictable.

"Mirko, right side. Delay."

’On it!’

She shot forward in a green blur, [Quick Reflex] carrying her low across the stone floor. The right-side rat lunged and found nothing but air as Mirko bounced off the wall and landed behind it. The creature spun, confused.

Nathan used the opening.

[Focus Shot]. Five seconds of charge. The mana arrow glowed brighter, denser, until it hummed with contained force then be Release.

BOOM! freewebnøvel.coɱ

The charged projectile tore through the left-side rat’s torso and continued down the corridor before dissipating. The creature didn’t just shatter... it detonated, stone fragments peppering the walls.

[Ding! Xp gained!]

Mirko’s target turned toward the noise. Nathan put a [Mana Arrow] through its skull before it could act on the distraction.

[Ding! Xp Gained!]

Silence returned to the corridor.

Nathan lowered his bow, breathing steady. Fifteen seconds. Three kills. No damage taken.

"Status check?"

’Uninjured. Bored, even. These creatures are barely worth warming up on.’

"They’re not supposed to be hard. They’re supposed to teach you how the Tower works."

’Ah. Like the tutorial realm’s first goblins.’

"Exactly."

They moved forward. The corridor branched twice, each path leading to more Stone Rats in slightly larger numbers. Nathan experimented with different approaches... using only physical arrows for one group, testing how [Mana Arrow] penetration compared to passive [Piercing Shot] on another, letting Mirko handle an entire pack alone to gauge her bunny-form combat efficiency.

The rats never posed a real threat. They were designed not to.

But Nathan noticed the timer in the corner of his system interface, ticking upward with every passing second.

He quickened his pace.

The final chamber of Floor 1 held eight Stone Rats and a single larger variant... a Stone Rat Alpha, roughly twice the size of the others, with mineral deposits forming crude armor plates across its back.

Nathan didn’t slow down.

[Mana Arrow] eliminated two rats before the pack registered his presence. Mirko darted between legs and tails, [Headbutt] cracking stone joints and creating chaos. Nathan used [Hunter’s Insight] to track the Alpha’s charge pattern... slow on the turn, heavy on the front legs, vulnerable when it reared.

When it reared, he fired a half-charged [Focus Shot] directly into the exposed joint where its neck met its armored skull.

CRACK.

The Alpha collapsed and the remaining rats fell in seconds.

[Ding! Tower of Beginnings: Floor 1 Cleared!]

[Time: 7 minutes 32 seconds.]

[Clear Rank: B]

[Floor Clear Reward: Minor Mana Potion x5]

Nathan stared at the notification, frowning slightly.

"B-Rank. Seven and a half minutes." He had been efficient but Not fast. The Stone Alpha had slowed him down more than he had realized. "If I had ignored the smaller rats and focused the Alpha immediately..."

’Then you would have been surrounded and forced to fight defensively,’ Mirko said, hopping onto a fallen chunk of stone. ’You made the correct tactical choice, Master. B-Rank is respectable for a first floor.’

"It’s not about respectable. The rank affects rewards. Better rewards make later floors easier. It’s a compounding system."

’Ah. Like your "interest rates" from Earth?’

Nathan glanced at her. "How do you know about interest rates?"

’You explained them to Lucy last week when she asked about saving her allowance. I was listening.’ Mirko’s ears twitched smugly. ’I am always listening.’ ƒreewebɳovel.com

"Hmm...Noted."

Ahead, the far wall of the chamber rippled like disturbed water. The stone dissolved into a shimmering portal as the gate to Floor 2 appeared.

Nathan gathered the five mana potions that had materialized on a small pedestal and secured them in his pouch. Then he stepped through to...

Floor 2: The Sunken Archive