Retcon: 152:

  Changed wording about acknowledgements.

  Those feats, those actions, weren’t anything too special in Amber’s eyes. At least, she didn’t openly recognize herself until recently with her Special Class Advancement. But even if her circumstances were special, and she was special, she didn’t quite understand the…

  Praise she was receiving from the Primordial Spirit before her.

  Retcon: 153:

  Added specifics to how much her lifespan has and some small changes

  Coupled with the fact that she’d either have to use levels, and Arkara’s Pendant to survive, or she’d die, it was quite the predicament. But at the same time, that didn’t necessarily anger her, after all. Even if she was bound to die soon, she still had a whole damn decade before that happened. What actually bothered her was something else, something that was a lot simpler.

  Chapter: 154.

  As a god, the Primordial Spirit of the Shattered Tower had seen many things throughout his life. He had seen monsters that could speak, curses evolve, demons transcend their nature, and of course, he had seen many humans. Thousands if not tens of thousands. There was a saying he had heard once in the past in regards to them:

  ‘Each human is unique.’

  He had once agreed with it, but after going through so many experiences with them, he had changed his mind. Since immemorial he had interacted with the species, before the System was granted to them to help them with monsters, and humans largely remained the same. They were greedy, selfish, and disgusting. They only cared for themselves, and more than anything, they would fold to absolute power.

  Confronted with a god, they would ultimately let go of any schemes they had.

  ‘I-I’m sorry your grace, I didn’t know!’ said the man that tried to keep all the artifacts he had given to a town for himself.

  They were disgusting.

  ‘I-If I had known that was what you wanted, I wouldn’t have?—’ said the man who had killed the sacrifice given to him.

  They were untrustworthy.

  ‘I-I didn’t mean to try to trick you!’ said the woman that promised him an artifact he was interested in.

  In the end, regardless of their selfish desires they were also weak. Even when knowing they’d be spared, they wasted no effort in trying to gain his favor. Even if he wasn’t threatening their lives, they sucked up to him. All because they saw him as kind. Which is why…

  He hated humans.

  They were two faced, they were weak and dependent on him, yet didn’t hesitate to take advantage of his kindness before regretting it later. That was why he always kept that in mind, why he left humans without options. When they were driven to a corner they would comply, too afraid to defy him.

  And that was also, when he waited for Amber he took the exact same approach. Perhaps she was considered unique, but at the end of the day, she was a human. Even if her race had changed slightly, it didn’t change her nature. Which meant that given enough time, she would fold like all others before her and those that would come after her.

  Except…

  She didn’t?—

  The Primordial Spirit of the Shattered Tower, broke through numerous walls. The attack hadn’t hurt, but his mind was reeling. Had this human gone insane? What was she even trying to accomplish? Did she even know that by doing this he wouldn’t give her any of the rewards he had promised now?

  Moreover, her body was absolutely ruined from fighting the hydra, straining her core further would certainly cause her death, so… why?

  He gritted his teeth and chose to warn her, but the woman?— the crazy person?— appeared above him and swung, not allowing him to speak. The impact barely even hurt, but the same couldn’t be said about the tower as multiple floors shattered.

  He didn’t understand, was her entire strategy to drive him insane by destroying the tower? To just spite him? Humans were petty, after all, a last stand wasn’t uncommon. Was this just her lame attempt at revenge? No, it couldn’t be, she had been too confident for that. So, then why was she doing this? It clearly wasn’t an irrational action. And she clearly wasn’t planning to die at her own hands from overexertion.

  Could it be?

  His eyes widened.

  This human isn’t scared of?— the human arrived, electricity crackling on the Dragon Slayer Blade, and she swung using Essence.

  “Storm of Destruction!”

  A storm of electricity, exploded. Hundreds of bolts of lightning went off at once as the Primordial Spirit felt pain. It was closer to a prickle, but the fact that it had actually done damage was insanity. Wasn’t she supposed to be weakened?

  The storm wreaked havoc to the surroundings as he teleported away, and regained his composure. Which made him feel a deep anger, one filled with bloodlust which emanated from his words.

  “If you stop now, I’ll forgive your transgressions, human.”

  “You still want me to be your vessel.” The woman appeared on his back, holding the sword before his neck. “So, I won’t stop.”

  And she, choked. The sword made an awful screeching sound as it was pulled with all her strength into his neck, and the Primordial Spirit gritted his teeth..

  This level of disrespect was something he wouldn’t tolerate. Why did the human think she could just one-sidedly attack him in the first place?!

  He grunted and teleported away, raising his hand.

  “Stop.”

  He flicked his fingers and the woman appeared before him, bound with green energy. Finally, he met her gaze.

  “That was a good attempt, but I think I’ll just choose to keep you like this.”

  The woman frowned and then tried to move. Her muscles twitched as her face contorted, causing the Primordial Spirit to raise a brow, and point out the obvious.

  “That’s not going to do anything.”

  “It hurts,” she finally said as she continued twitching.

  “What?”

  She moved more as blood started to flow out of her mouth as she continued to twitch. Then, she spoke coldly, and almost as if it were a fact.

  “You’re hurting me, Great Primordial.”

  His eyes widened. This was ridiculous, it didn’t even make any sense. She was hurting herself. And what was she going to achieve with that?

  “That’s not going to??—”

  And she vomited blood, screaming. “Agh!”

  That’s when he finally realized what she was trying to do. This human dares to do such a ploy?! He felt anger. She dares to try to use my contract conditions against me? That won’t work. He stared at the woman as she coughed to blood, and finally she looked up with fake hurt in her eyes.

  “Make it stop.”

  Disgusting, he thought and— sharp pain erupted within him. He kneeled and clutched at his chest, as he groaned.

  Impossible…

  The binding he placed on the woman came undone as she wiped her mouth, her demeanor returning to normal as she stepped before him, looking down on him raising the Dragon Slayer Sword now in bright blue flames.

  “Anyway as I was saying, I won’t stop.”

  The pain went away and the Primordial Spirit glared at her. This human had dared to exploit him in such a ridiculous, disgraceful and blatant manner. Such filth!

  “You’ll pay?—”

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  And she swung at his nose, using Essence as a blue explosion engulfed multiple floors. His vision became white, and for just a moment he had respite. And the anger he had felt, had turned into… disbelief.

  For the first time in thousands upon thousands of years a human was standing up to him, and it was… unbelievable. She clearly didn’t fear him, not at all, and while she was very much emboldened by the fact that he couldn’t kill her, it was still impressive. Other humans with such an advantage had never dared to do that. Yet, this person, Amber, didn’t care if he hated her afterwards, or if he did anything to her after.

  A ridiculous notion. His tower could be rebuilt, he could always acquire more artifacts, but what about his sullied pride? This human had walked all over it, and he wanted to make her pay. But… how?

  He couldn’t touch her, he couldn’t harm her, he couldn’t even trap her. That said, she had a limited lifespan, so the answer was quite obvious actually. She thinks this strategy was going to do it for her, but the real fact was.

  Human minds are quite fragile. That’s right. Even if she had an inexhaustible well of energy, one thing was certain. She was bound to grow tired of him, and eventually, given enough time, he would outlast her.

  Sure, maybe she could keep going for days, or weeks, or even months, but what about years?

  The white cleared and he touched his nose, wiping a small droplet of blood. She couldn’t kill him, even if it was impressive she could cause his nose to bleed for a brief moment, it wasn’t as if he had any protective skills going on. And not like he could, lest the girl would hurt herself with a barrier and trigger the contract that had been forced onto him.

  Of course, the contract covered more than just Amber, but the only relevant fact to him was the human right now. Finally, he resolved himself as the human appeared before him, swinging into his clavicle.

  “You really are something, I’ll give you that, Amber,” he hissed.

  The woman stabbed him from behind, not doing more than cause a small prickle on him.

  “However, if you think your one sided beating is anything for me to care about, you are wrong.”

  And she punched into his mouth as he simply grinned, showing his pearly whites.

  “So let’s see who outlasts?—”

  She shoved the sword tip into his mouth as he teleported away, scoffing at the sheer attempt to annoy him. Regardless, it was now time to see if she truly had what it took to best him. After all, what was a human to a god?

  * * *

  Finally.

  Amber stared at the god who was finally regarding her properly. It seemed he finally was taking this seriously. As he should have since the start, because she was just now getting started. After all, she was here for the long run, and this was just the starting line. While, she didn’t have this thought at first, it was now blaring in her mind.

  For how long could she keep beating the Primordial Spirit up at the same intensity? Obviously the potions were bound to run out eventually, but their effects in the description quoted days, and also… she had more than just the potions she had used. A lot more. Meaning that this was the perfect scenario to push herself.

  She couldn’t wait.

  Of course, she had just fought the hydra not even twelve hours ago, therefore there were limits to how far she could push herself. But even then, she was so damn excited to see how far she could go.

  While she got to experience that with the hydra. That fight was something she unexpectedly ended up in, and was a struggle for her life. This, however, was on her own terms, and more than anything it wasn’t really a fight. It was a testing ground, and now, now it had become a battle of wills.

  Comparing her will to a god’s… it was exciting. And at the same time, she wondered how she stacked up. However, one thing was for certain, regardless of outcome she was going to ensure the primordial changed his mind, after all, she didn’t have all the time in the world. Let alone ten years, she didn’t want to spend even a year in this place.

  While his plan was to just exhaust her until she had no choice but to accept, Amber knew that by the end of things, the spirit would have no other choice but to accept her terms. Right now, she truly was in control of things. Which meant, she could go wild.

  A cackle left her and she lunged for the Primordial Spirit, who teleported away but obviously, that wouldn’t do anything because? — she used the Bracelet of Companionship ?— she could just teleport to him.

  Without cooldown.

  Amber appeared, grinning over the spirit as he turned to her, his expression neutral. She was honestly hesitant to do a few things, like using Primordial Exertion, but that would come with time. For now, this was just a warmup, after all, since her body was actually at its limit from fighting the hydra, it was best to start lightly first.

  Or well, as lightly as she had started. Which wasn’t light at all.

  Amber raised the Dragon Slayer Sword which quickly gained a bright blue light, and with all her strength she swung down, using a concentrated Primordial Blazing Bolt on the blade.

  A roaring explosion went off that tore apart whatever room she had been in, and this was just the start. She reached for Essence once more, light around her body wisping wildly; right now, it might as well have been inexhaustible. All thanks to the potions she had acquired. While normally this would’ve been a terrible idea due to the condition her body was in, right now it caused no strain.

  So, with a wide smile she reached for the Primordial Spirit and poked his eyes with the Dragon Slayer Sword, causing him to snort and teleport away. Naturally, she chased.

  This was just the beginning. The beginning of a long, and grueling test of patience, but at the same time, she truly wanted to see how far she could go.

  Sadly, I don’t have all the time in the world for this, Amber lamented.

  But at least, right now, this was just the beginning.

  * * *

  The Primordial Spirit of the Shattered Tower had seen many warriors or mages that had enjoyed fighting. Many of whom had long met their downfall, few living to their old age. It was a law of the world that those reckless ones were like a falling star, shining brightly for a moment before vanishing to the sands of time.

  He believed Amber was one of such cases, which was why he expected her to grow tired eventually. People like her, were bound to lose interest from constantly hitting a wall. Which is why he did his best to show as little reaction to the stuff that was being done to him. Yes, it stung, but it was closer to an ant incessantly biting someone.

  While it was annoying, the Primordial Spirit of the Shattered Tower had been alive since immemorial, he had a vast wealth of life experience, so knowing how close he was to his reward he did not falter. This amount of time was nothing in comparison to the time he had been alive. He expected Amber to throw in the towel any time now, from the constant repetition, from the lack of reaction, from the constant experience of failure.

  Could she truly keep up a decade of this?

  The answer was no. Granted, he had changed the flow of time in the tower marginally now, he couldn’t afford to let time pass outside for too long. So it had eventually become a hundred to one. One hundred days in this space of the tower, would be roughly a day to the outside world. This meant that, in just over a month, a decade within the tower would have passed, and Amber would have no choice but to resign.

  He couldn’t wait as the days counted down, even though the berserker was just as eager as when she had just begun, he knew that in no time, she would give up. Let alone a year, she wouldn’t make a month in.

  So he bade his time, and as a week passed Amber?— sped up. The fatigue to her body had recovered substantially, and it was as if she had used that as permission to go out even further.

  It was… impressive.

  But surely, she was bound to lose momentum any time. Humans, even if they were creatures of habit, hated boredom. Something as repetitive as this, was bound to get to her. That he was sure of.

  However, by the second week, he wasn’t so sure.

  It was almost as if the previous week was a warm up…

  And by the third, he felt as if something was increasingly wrong. After all, at this point Amber was using every single buff she had access to, including stabbing herself and using curses on herself to increase her power.

  Not only that, but there were times where her power increased enough to actually bruise him. It only happened twice at this point, but he was beginning to dread what was about to come if she kept it up for months on end. After all, who wanted to willingly feel pain from an insect they could stop at any time?

  However, his mind didn’t falter. Surely, she was bound to get tired any second. His previous experiences told him that, Amber, at the end of the day, was human. No?— she was a living and breathing being, even a Primordial Spirit was bound to get tired of something like this after a few years of doing it, let alone a human whose lifespan and lived experience was a fraction of that.

  Which is why, he held on, and the next day?—

  It happened.

  She suddenly stopped attacking with a frown, as she fiddled with the now obviously chipped Dragon Slayer Sword. Something that made the Primordial Spirit feel a small relief.

  “Are you considering my offer, now?” he asked, making sure to not tease her.

  After all, if she threw a fit of rage it would extend the time of this self inflicted pain of his. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, the toil of these past weeks had been much more than he had ever expected. Who would’ve known that this underleveled human could hit as hard as level 400 if she tried?

  The primordial stared at Amber expectantly, waiting for her reply. But she simply ignored him as she seemed to be thinking for a few minutes before she finally nodded.

  “I’ll be right back,” she finally said.

  With those words, she teleported to the treasury. Something that the Primordial Spirit didn’t quite understand. But as he decided to observe at her, he couldn’t help but pale as he realized that she had swept all of the potions available in the treasury. He didn’t even think of eliminating them, and now that they were within her storage ring it was too late to do anything about it.

  Or maybe he could have never done anything about them knowing the girl’s cunning tricks in regards to his contract…

  Soon, she returned as she grinned. The first thing she did was fix the now battered sword she had been wielding.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t make you wait long,” she mused. “Or well, I don’t know if you care or not. After all, you’re just waiting for me to drop dead or beg.”

  That was accurate. But in spite of knowing his plan quite well, the human showed no negative feelings. Instead, what the spirit sensed was confidence.

  Pure and unbridled confidence. It was something he would’ve brushed off three weeks ago, but now it carried an ominous feeling to him. How many humans had spoken like that and had been able to back it up?

  In his time of living, there were very few. Fewer than ten probably. And all of them had gone on to be extraordinary. While Amber was unique, it had never crossed his mind she could be like those people. But now… he could see it. Of course, those people had never abused his kindness in the first place.

  But did that make a difference?

  The human before him clearly didn’t even care.

  The Primordial Spirit stared as Amber uncorked a potion and drank it. Finally, she began, as if recounting a discovery.

  “You know, I had been wondering how disappointing it’d be if I ran out of potions when I was finally getting into it,” she said, drinking another one, a hint of sadness spreading through her voice. “After all, I don’t know what I would’ve done if it got interrupted at the best moment. Maybe I’d get angry, maybe I’d lose my mind, maybe even I’d go and accept your offer.”

  The last part sounded almost mocking, but she continued as she kept on drinking.

  “Which is why, I made the wise decision to stop, and seeing how you still look at me in that way.” She met his gaze. “I think I made the right decision.”

  In what way? Moreover, she was enjoying… his gaze? That didn’t make sense. But before he could think anything further, she readied herself.

  “Now, I can truly go all out without worries.”

  Then, she grinned, her muscles tensing with explosive power.

  “Thank you for waiting, shall we continue?”

  At that moment, as he heard the palpable excitement in her voice, he had an important realization about Amber. One he hadn’t considered all this time. One that made him let out a breath as his eyes went wide.

  Ah, she is insane.

  And the whole room exploded with explosive power.

  NOTE: Also let me know if i missed an important detail in world building.