SSS Ranked Awakening: All My Skills Are at Level 100 Chapter 567: The Door in the Mirror

Chapter 567: The Door in the Mirror

Leon looked back at what remained of the Covetous Reflection.

His spatial perception had noticed a small inconsistency behind the shattered core. There was no energy there, no spiritual presence, only a tiny gap in the surrounding metal where something seemed to be missing from reality.

He crouched beside the fallen construct and pried the hidden object free with two fingers.

Another black fragment lay in his palm.

It matched the first piece. The surface was smooth and impossibly deep, swallowing light without giving back even the faintest reflection. An unfinished pattern ran across one side.

The Tower displayed nothing.

The Cosmic System stayed silent too.

Leon took out the first fragment and held the two pieces close together.

The broken edges pulled toward one another.

He loosened his fingers and let them shift. They aligned on their own, and the partial lines across both fragments joined into a larger section of the same unknown symbol.

The pieces did not fuse.

Leon drew them apart without effort, then brought them close again. Each time, they returned to exactly the same position.

Even together, they revealed only part of the design. Several lines reached the fractured edges and stopped, making it obvious that additional pieces were missing.

He had no way to tell whether the fragments formed half the symbol or only a small fraction of it.

Still, finding a second one proved something.

Other optional guardians might be carrying more.

Leon stored both pieces together.

Something shifted in the mirror behind him.

He turned.

For less than a heartbeat, the panel no longer showed his reflection. A circular chamber of stone appeared inside it instead.

The black door stood there, recognizable at once by its flawless surface and the complete absence of reflected light.

This time, the door was open.

There was nothing beyond it except darkness.

Leon’s hand went toward his sword, but the image vanished before he could move. His reflection returned, alone in the polished chamber.

He watched the mirror.

Nothing else changed.

The black door had reacted to the fragments. Whether that brief vision had been a warning, an invitation, or simply an acknowledgment was impossible to know.

Whatever waited beyond it was aware that he was getting closer.

Leon left the chamber with two Epic treasures and two pieces of a mystery the Tower refused to recognize.

The silver corridor brought him back to the central intersection.

Bronze paths, silver paths, and unmarked routes surrounded him. He had already claimed two optional rewards without finding even one Tower Key. The Gatekeeper had gained Spatial Resistance and Technique Mimicry because of those choices.

Before making it stronger again, Leon wanted to see what the required paths demanded.

He chose a nearby bronze arch engraved with the image of a key.

Beyond it, a broad passage sloped downward. Long, shallow steps vanished into the dark.

Leon stepped through.

A seam split open in the floor behind him.

A bronze chain burst from the stone and wrapped around his left wrist. Before he could pull back, the final links fused into a solid band.

The rest of the chain dropped into the floor.

Tower messages appeared.

[Mandatory Key Trial: Burden of Possession]

[Reach the Key Chamber while bearing the weight of what you have claimed.]

[The burden increases with every optional treasure acquired.]

[The chain cannot be removed until the trial is completed or abandoned.]

[Burden calibrated to challenger.]

[Recovery from burden-inflicted strain is suspended while the chain remains sealed.]

Leon tried to lift his bound arm.

It barely rose.

Leon increased his physical reinforcement.

The chain grew heavier with him.

That explained the calibration. The Tower was not asking him to drag a fixed amount of bronze that his current body could throw through a wall. The burden scales against his usable strength, always claiming a punishing share of it. His mythical armor could spread the load. It could not make the trial forget how strong he was.

More concerning was the suppression spreading from the bronze band around his wrist. His mana circulation slowed. Energy that normally flowed through him freely now pushed through his channels like thick liquid. Life and holy energy still answered elsewhere, but anything he directed into the bound arm dispersed beneath the band before it could repair the accumulating strain.

The space around him felt resistant as well.

Leon attempted a minor fold, intending only to bring a few links closer.

The chain reacted at once.

Its weight doubled.

Suppression clamped down around his energy channels, and pain stabbed through his wrist. Leon released the technique and allowed space to settle back into place.

The burden slowly returned to its previous level.

Spatial displacement would probably trigger the same response. Elemental Surge or a larger reinforcement would only give the chain more strength to measure and more weight to return.

So much for avoiding the weight.

The chain represented the two optional treasures he had taken. Had he claimed more before entering a key route, the calibrated share would have been worse.

The Gatekeeper was the final cost of greed.

This trial collected payment before he ever reached it.

Leon started down the corridor.

As he moved, fresh links rose from the floor behind him while those farther back sank into the stone. The chain kept the same length and pull no matter how far he traveled.

He stopped and examined it.

The chain was not fixed to the entrance. Its real anchor moved beneath the floor with him, ensuring that he could neither leave it behind nor reach its source.

Abandoning the trial would presumably remove it.

Leon had not entered with any intention of turning back.

He rolled his shoulder, adjusted his grip on his sword, and looked down the descending passage.

He had chosen to take the treasures.

Now the Tower intended to make him carry them.

Leon continued downward.

At first, the route was only steep.

He leaned into the descent and let his strengthened legs absorb the strain. Bronze links continued rising behind him and vanishing once he passed.

The weight never changed.

Each step pulled at his left shoulder, while the band around his wrist kept slowing his energy. His conscious armor thickened around the joint, spreading part of the pressure across his chest and back.

That support kept the arm usable.

The chain adjusted and preserved the burden.

The steps moved beneath him.

His instincts caught the shift before the entire staircase tilted sharply to the left. Leon dropped his center of gravity as the chain pulled him toward the edge.

A deep pit opened beside the stairs.

He planted his feet and let the armor around his knees and hips harden into a stronger frame. His boots scraped across the stone, but he held his position until the staircase returned to level.

Pain ran from his wrist into his shoulder.

The Tower gave him almost no time to recover.

Ahead, the corridor narrowed. Rotating bronze pillars filled the path, each fitted with blunt projections that swept through the available space at different heights. Brief gaps opened between them, then vanished.

Without the chain, Leon could have crossed the obstacle in seconds.

He watched the pattern twice before moving.

Leon slipped past the first pillar and dragged the chain after him. Several trailing links caught around one of the projections.

The next pillar turned toward his ribs while the snagged chain jerked his left arm backward.

Instead of fighting the pull, Leon rotated with it.

The motion carried him close enough to slash at the base of the projection. His sword severed the joint, and the bronze bar crashed to the floor.

He pulled the chain free and moved before the next pillar reached him.

A second snag almost dragged him beneath a rotating column. Leon let the chain pull his arm behind him, ducked under the sweeping bar, and used the momentum to carry himself into the next safe gap.

He passed through the final opening just as two pillars closed behind him.

Sweat gathered beneath his armor.

Feeling had begun to fade from his left hand.

The route continued along a thin ledge overlooking another pit with no visible bottom. There was barely enough space for both boots, and the chain hung from the side nearest the drop.

Its weight pulled straight down.

Leon pressed his right shoulder against the wall and advanced one careful step at a time. His armor reinforced his ankles, knees, and hips while his instincts managed the constant shifts in balance.

A section of ledge broke beneath his leading foot.

He withdrew before putting his full weight on it.

The chain used the moment to drag him toward the pit.

Leon drove his sword into a crack in the wall and caught himself with his right arm.

Fragments of stone fell into the darkness.

No sound came back.

He waited until his balance returned, pulled the sword free, and moved on.

The chain fought him with every step. His left shoulder scraped against the wall as he leaned away from the drop, and the muscles around the joint began to tremble despite the armor supporting them.

Near the middle, the ledge became even narrower.

Leon turned sideways and moved one foot at a time.

A sudden pulse traveled through the chain, sharply increasing its downward pull.

His boot slipped.

His sharp instincts drove his hips toward the wall before his conscious thoughts caught up. Leon dropped to one knee, gripped the ledge with his right hand, and endured the added weight until the pulse faded.

Then he stood and kept moving.

By the time he reached the far side, his chained arm was shaking.

Leon allowed himself three breaths.

No more.

Two bronze sentinels unfolded from alcoves ahead.

They stood shorter than Leon, but each was nearly twice his width. Heavy armor covered their bodies. Neither carried a weapon.

Their oversized fists were enough.

The first sentinel charged.