Upon seeing the countdown, Jason had a premonition, which only increased when he began to calculate the numbers of floors.
Looking upwards, he tried to gauge its height but he couldn't see the tip of the tower, not even with the use of his Emperor Eyes.
This caused him to gulp nervously as he muttered in frustration.
"Just how long will it take until I pass the first trial?!? Months...years?"
How could he know that the joke he told to calm himself was, in fact, not far from the truth?
Conquering the Dungeon of the Primordial Descendant was not to be taken lightly, and the dangers involved were extremely high.
As such, Jason had to be careful with every step he took.
Initially, he had hoped to be able to alter the soul energy cycle in his sub-area before solidifying his second prismarine crystal, but that didn't seem to be as easy as he had expected.
Jason was also not sure where the other dungeon conquerors were because it was unlikely that they had to conquer the same tower as him.
Yet, he doubted that they would be too far away because they were likely to be able to procure the same inheritance as him...or so he thought.
'Descendant of the Primordial...just what exactly is the Primordial?' Jason wondered, not exactly sure if the name had something to do with his Celestia bloodline, or something else.
Being a candidate of the Primordial Descendant sounded intriguing, but at the same time, Jason couldn't help but feel a little bit worried. This was because the difficulty of his trials would exceed the limits which the artificial intelligence had, forcing it to create a new one.
That was bad, to put it simply, and he became extremely vigilant as he opened the gigantic gate.
Stepping through it, he entered the tower while his mind eased up with a single thought.
'If I cannot pass it, and am about to die, I can still give up and let the time run out!'
Jason was not someone who gave up easily, and he would rather accept severe injuries, but he could tell if he would succumb to his injuries or survive.
Fighting against several dozen beings at the Peak Prismar stage, for example, would be his death sentence, and Jason would rather survive than obtain any kind of inheritance.
Yet, at the same time, Jason was intrigued by the Dungeon of the Primordial Descendant, which was also the reason for him to feel like trying it out, even if it could take years to advance through the trials.
He was not bothered by this, rather, it made everything even more interesting than before.
Kinra island might submerge any time in the following months, but somehow, Jason didn't think that it would affect him.
As such, he decided to give his utmost effort to pass the trials, starting with the tower!
Taking a deep breath, Jason saw Byakur emerge in his hand, while Petri entered his mana core, amplifying his strength further.
Yet, what he saw once the gate closed behind him, was bright light that dazzled him for a moment, followed by the scent of lush grass and the flourishing nature that hit his nostrils.
This astonished Jason, and the moment his eyes adjusted to the bright light that slowly dimmed down, he couldn't help but feel as if he had entered an entirely new dimension.
What he saw was an entire plain full of verdant grass with nature at its finest. The most impressive thing was that he couldn't even see the walls encircling the tower!
Even after he inserted mana into the Emperor Eyes which solely enhanced his eyesight, seeing everything in a radius of more than two kilometers in detail, he couldn't get a clear view.
The plain didn't have many elevations, and Jason was able to see even further without the detailed view, but even after that, the tower's walls were still not visible to his eyes.
Turning around, he wanted to walk along the walls that should have been behind him, trying to gauge the first floor's size, only to see that both the gate and wall had vanished.
'Was I teleported away without even noticing it?!' Jason almost exclaimed, barely holding back from creating loud noises that would attract others.
Shocked about the realisation that he had been teleported away without realising it, goosebumps sprang up on his entire skin.
Yet, a moment later, he had been forced to accept reality because he saw a group of more than dozens of beasts approaching him.
Through the Emperor Eyes, he could immediately detect that they were Pryr beasts at the Prismar stage's first threshold.
This was a good sign, and from the outlines of the primordial energy they released, he could clearly see their appearance.
However, only a moment later, he saw them properly with his bare eyes too, allowing him to witness the batch of 10 Velociraptors that had between one to six solidified prismarine crystals each.
Jason was confident of defeating them in a fight, but there was one thing that bothered him.
"My first trial is to conquer the tower...and I just need to advance to the first floor...doesn't that mean I have completed this task already? Or is this floor just the tutorial...or ground floor?"
It was confusing, but the same count as the question, whether he was supposed to conquer the tower by killing beasts or just by finding the portal that leads towards the first floor.
There were too many questions and not a single answer Jason could come up with.
As such, he was a little bit helpless which made him make an important decision.
'Once I have to kill in order to advance, I will do it, otherwise, I will just kill those that desire to do the same to me first!'
He didn't like to be ordered to do anything, but Jason was too selfish to care about the lives of beasts in his current situation.
Because of that, he could only make a compromise he had in mind- killing those that wanted to kill him. As long as that was fine, Jason would be too.
Weirdly enough, the Velociraptors saw him, but instead of being bothered by his presence, they ran past him, minding their own business.
Only a few moments later, he heard them issuing unique noises which caused Jason to turn around as he saw a family of Triceratops that seemed to have been attacked.
"I'm...not in Jurassic Park, right?!"
Recalling the scenes from ancient movies that replicated the world before the mana outbreak and world bridge's emergence, on Argos, Jason couldn't help but smile.
He didn't have his vision at that time, but his mother had used mana to make him visualise the prehistoric animals that had reemerged on Argos with the appearance of the world bridges.
Jason had already seen many prehistoric beasts during the last few years, but witnessing how the group of Velociraptors was hunting their prey made him feel odd. They were tactically attacking the triceratops, slowly injuring them, before letting them succumb to their fate.
'Did they ignore me because I can't feed them, or because they're afraid of me?' He suddenly asked himself.
However, it was just a moment later that he shook his head.
'I should search for the portal towards the first floor...otherwise, I will be expelled from the dungeon before I can even enter it officially.'
He may already be inside the dungeon, but one could also say that he was just in the tutorial and that this didn't count.
For Jason, this was the case, and looking at the surrounding beast's strength, he didn't feel that intimidated anymore.
Confident about his own capabilities, he turned around. There was one particular hope in his mind, and if that was truly the case, many things would change!!
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