"Floor one... I am finally here again, but this time not as a Porter but as a Sinner..." Azekiel muttered as he observed his surroundings.
Even though he had traveled through this place once in the past when he was selected as a Porter, he still felt that this entire place was new to him. It was like he was standing in something he hadn't seen before.
The floor... It was massive, but it wasn't empty. The Floor had over a million bookshelves, and each of those shelves was filled with books. Azekiel didn't know how many books this place had in total, but he had a feeling it was over a billion.
Even though this Floor was a floor in the Tower of Sin, it appeared more like a massive library instead. However, Azekiel knew that this wasn't a simple library. Because of his future knowledge, he had some information about the floors that were cleared. He knew it was also a challenging floor.
There was a portal at the end of the floor that could lead someone to the second floor, but he couldn't go through it without clearing this floor first. Only when a person cleared a floor could he get access to the next floor.
It didn't matter if the Floor had been cleared many times before. Every new person had to clear it again. That's why everyone wanted to be the first to clear floors. Since they had to clear it in any case, it was better to be first and get control of the floor.
The only way for someone to pass through the floor without clearing it was to be at a party with the ones who cleared the floor at the time of clearing. That's how many weak Lord of Sins had managed to pass through this floor as well.
"Ruler of Floor, a title that is received by the person who first clears the floor. The title seems nice, doesn't it? Should I take it?" Azekiel asked Raphael.
"Can you take it? You said the title is given to the person who clears the Floor first. The floor has already been cleared. Can you still take the title?" Raphael asked as he knitted his eyebrows.
"Of course, it's possible. At this point in time, no one knows how to do it, but as I told you before, I'm from a few years in the future. I know some secrets that no one knows yet." Azekiel smiled.
"Floor Seventh... It was cleared by the King of Pride first; however, the Ruler of that floor will be the King of Wrath," he further added.
"How?" Raphael inquired.
"Although it's true that whoever clears a floor first gets the title, what others don't know at this point is that there is a way to snatch that title from the one who cleared the floor first. You just need to clear the floor in half the time that the person who cleared it first took," Azekiel explained.
"For the first six floors, no one knew of this secret because it had never happened since no one could clear a floor in half the time. However, shocking even the King of Pride, King of Wrath cleared the Seventh floor in half the time that Michael took and snatched the title. That's when everyone found out about this secret to snatch the title," he further added.
Letting out a deep sigh, he continued, "However, it's not easy, so it only happened once. All Kings give their best when clearing a floor, so being able to clear the floor in half the time of others isn't easy. You need a lot of skill. That's why it only happened once in ten floors that were cleared."
"So if we can clear this floor before the King of Pride, you'll be the ruler of this floor." Raphael nodded. "That's good. We should try."
"Not try; we must do it," Azekiel firmly stated. "Michael might come here personally to kill me. Since he is the Ruler of this Floor, his strength would be boosted while my strength would be weaker. We can't face him in that condition, so we must clear this floor, and not only that, we must snatch the control of this floor."
"In that case, when Michael comes, he would be in for a great surprise. I will have the floor boost; meanwhile, he will be weaker. There are also more advantages of being the Ruler of a Floor."
"What other advantages?"
"Every person who passes through a floor you control, they need to give some amount of experience to pass through it every time. Even some of my exp has been deducted as soon as I stepped here," Azekiel explained. "This exp goes to the Ruler of the Floor."
"Since the first floor is something that everyone must pass through to get to floor zero, this can be a good source of a passive experience growth, isn't that right?" he added. "That's why we must absolutely snatch the control of this floor."
As he talked, Azekiel kept walking through the library, observing the books in the surrounding area. His fingers kept touching the books, but he didn't pick any.
"The First Floor, Library of Sins, one of the most complicated challenges for the Sinners, especially since it's just the first one they face," Azekiel muttered.
He stopped before a green book. "If I'm not wrong, Michael picked this book last time."
"Picked this book, meaning?" Raphael asked, confused.
"You don't know about the Library of Sins?" Azekiel asked, slightly surprised.
Raphael shook his head.
"This is the Library of Sin. Each book in this library contains a story of a Sinner... It contains the tragic Stories of Sins and how they destroyed lives. However, these books also contain something more."
"To clear the floor, you must select one of these books. Whichever book you select, you'll be shoved into that world. As long as you clear the mission given to you in that world, you are considered to have cleared this floor, and you're back here," Azekiel explained.
"Michael took two days to clear this floor, so we must finish it in under two days; that's why our selection needs to be accurate."
"What was his mission?" Raphael asked. "The mission of the King of Pride which took him two days…."
Azekiel smiled as he took a few steps back. He picked up the green book, which was selected by Michael, and opened it. "Let me show you."
A screen opened before him as soon as he opened the book.
[Title: The Prideful Beggar]
[Description: A beggar was arrested for being too prideful when he refused to pick up coins that were tossed on the ground before him by a Royal. Considered to have insulted the Royalty with his actions, the beggar was declared a public death sentence that was to take place in one week.]
[Mission: Help the beggar be free and get the King to apologize to him]
[Time Limit: 7 days]
[Do you accept the mission? If yes, you'll be sent to the world of Sinner]
[Yes] [No]
