READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 4: Welcome to the Tower of Ascendance
The sun shone brightly in the sky as it climbed higher, nearing its peak. It was almost noon.
Nathan stood in his apartment, his eyes locked on the slip in his hand. Even now, he found himself torn, debating whether to proceed or hold back.
As he replayed the conversation from the day before, the hidden pieces began to fall into place. There were things he had missed or perhaps had been unable to notice at the time. His thoughts had been clouded, tangled with the image of the mysterious woman. Only now, with space and clarity, could he begin to connect the dots.
Firstly, the woman had a way of enchanting him, or any person. Nathan was a composed man, he knew his strengths and weaknesses well. yet, he couldn't understand how he could embarrass him so much in a single exchange.
Secondly, He hadn't dozed off during their talk. When he stood up, he had dusted off a speck of carpet wool. But that shouldn't be possible as he had made sure to clean his face and hair after eating.
Both observations pointed to one conclusion. He had been hypnotized or manipulated in some way. There were other things as well that he had noticed, but failed to recall as he got a severe headache whenever he thought too hard about her.
Nathan's instinct screamed at him to flee, to escape whatever web Hestia and the Yanis Corporation were spinning around him.
'Are they making some hypnotic game like the Black Whale?'
He didn't want to know. But it didn't matter. He was already trapped. Hestia's final words had been commanding, not a request or an offer.
She had thrown money at him, stripping away his freedom, or perhaps, buying him outright.
Nathan understood there was no way out. Whatever awaited him, whether it was a death game like shown in 'The Squids' web series or something worse, he would face it head-on.
At worst, Only death awaited him, and he was no longer scared of it.
In the morning, he had wired the money to his father's account, attaching a note of apology for all his wrongdoings.
Whatever came next, he just had to make sure his family would remain untouched. That the consequences of failure would fall solely on him.
He mentally prepared himself for the upcoming ordeal.
As he was meditating, His mobile device buzzed, the alarm he had set for the time had come at last.
He held the black slip which he had inspected the entire night, yet he found nothing. No chip, No GPS, It was just plain paper from every angle.
He sighed as if tired, ' What am I even thinking? It is just a paper, not a bomb. Just tear it and my job is done, whether they come to pick me or not is up to them'
He closed his eyes and swiftly moved his hands back and forth as the paper made the cracking noise.
He opened one eye to gaze at the paper and found nothing changed, A sigh of relief escaped his mouth as he sat down.
But just then he heard a voice in his head,
{ WELCOME TO THE TOWER OF ASCENDANCE, YOU WILL BE TELEPORTED SHORTLY }
"What???"
The voice was transmitted straight to his head which jolted him from his seat as he looked around in panic and confusion.
Right then, a hollow green sphere appeared inside him which instantly grew larger engulfing Nathan as a whole. He wasn't even given time to scream as he closed his eyes.
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I thought nothing in this world would surprise me, but now as I open my eyes, I find myself standing in a vast barren wasteland. The sky was filled with black clouds as strong gusts of winds brushed past me.
"Achooo!"
The place was very cold and I sneezed while shivering. I wasn't prepared for this. My gaze scanned the people around me, There were at least 100 or maybe more people spread widely across the place.
I wanted to ask them what was going on, but I found myself unable to move as If locked in space. The only parts of my body that I could move were my head and neck.
I tilted my head, observing the crowd. Some of them sent a shiver down my spine, not because of their actions, but because they weren't human, at least not in appearance.
'Is this a VR game?'
The thought crossed my mind, and as if in response, a small holographic screen flickered into view.
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-{ STATUS }-
Name: Nathaniel Owen (Human)
Title: NONE
Rank: Unranked
[Blessings]:
{Sacred Flame (Locked)}
{Avarice of Greed (Locked)}
[Bank]: 100 G
Attributes: (AP: 0)
-> STR: F-
-> END: F-
->SPD: F-
-> INT: F+
-> CHAKRA: 0th Stage
-> NP: (Locked)
-> LUCK: E-
[Traits]:
->Innate:
->Acquired: NONE
[Bond]: NONE
[Armaments]: NONE
--------------------------
Yep, this had to be a VR game. How else could there be people with strange skin tones, towering heights, and wings? My eyes froze on one figure, a beautiful woman with sharp, angular features and pointed ears.
'Wait... is that an elf?'
Her beauty was otherworldly, and as if sensing my gaze, she turned to look at me. Her piercing eyes narrowed in a scowl before she turned away.
'Oh, come on, even I could look like a god if I could edit my avatar,' I thought. But something felt off. Even if VR is so advanced, How could I feel the cold to such an extent that it the feeling felt real? Would I feel pain too?
To test my theory, I bit my tongue.
The sharp sting confirmed it.
It hurt, and that was enough to make me reconsider everything. This couldn't be a game. It had to be something else. I tried to remember the strange voice that had spoken to me earlier, 'Welcome to the Tower of Ascendance', It said before whatever entity teleported me here.
Everything felt so unreal, being transported here in the same clothes I had been wearing. And then, as if to confirm my suspicions, a loud voice echoed across the wasteland, shaking the very air around me. The dark clouds above split open, revealing a burst of light.
"Welcome to the path of ascension, my young ascenders, I am Buer."
As the voice reverberated through the land, the strange force that had been holding us in place lifted. We all turned our gazes upward, and a single figure appeared, floating in the sky, bathed in the light.
The man, Buer, looked human, but with onyx horns protruding from his head. He wore a flowing cape and mythical armor that gleamed as if he were a hero straight out of a fairy tale.
"Tsk, a Daemon. Why are these disgusting creatures given the chance to guide and supervise me?" One of the people, a man with white wings, spat curses at the flying man in a low voice.
It didn't seem like a wise thing to do, as Buer, who heard him despite the large distance between us, tilted his head to stare down at him. His expression remained neutral as he spoke.
"I may have been a Daemon in the past, but right now, I am a Toverian. Do you intend to insult a Toverian, young Seraph?"
Though his tone was calm, there was an edge to it as if he were daring the young man to speak a word against him.
At his question, the Seraph began sweating as he thought about what to say. "I only respect those who have earned it, and you are still a daemon in appearance," he said.
The next instant, a loud voice rang in my ears, I quickly covered them, but I wasn't prepared for the massive flash that suddenly fell on everyone, blinding us all.
the man with white wings, the young Seraph, was struck by a bolt of lightning from the sky, he was pulverized, gone, and erased from existence, just like that.
Those words were far from wise, I thought, as the weight of their consequences sank in.
I had no intention of crossing that Buer guy. A deep, primal fear gripped me, not the fear of death, but something more visceral. Fearing him, the most powerful being in this place, felt like the natural order of things.
Yet, despite the fear that consumed me, a surge of greed jolted through me. I wondered what it would be like to stand in his place, looking down on us all like a god.
I wanted that power, that position, at any cost. My gaze lingered on the spot where the arrogant seraph had stood.
I had never witnessed something so brutal, if it could even be called that. There was no trace of him left, not even a whisper of his existence. It wasn't just death, it was an absolute end. No bones, no remains, nothing left of him to bury.
"I hope this becomes a lesson and a warning to not disrespect the toverians."
His expression remained polite, as if he hadn't just killed a man, but had merely given us a swimming lesson. He scanned the entire area, and the silence that followed was thick. Everyone knew better than to speak, understanding that no words would go unheard. After sensing no complaints, he continued.
"We are this Tower's Government, the law enforcers, and preservers of peace in all realms. Should you show disrespect to any of us in any regard, we have full authority to kill you and send you to hell. Remember that if you want to climb higher and live a good life."
Buer started explaining some of the basic rules of the tower so that no one breaks any rules, Everyone listened intently and to summarize them, it was like this:
Rule 1: The Toverians are guides and Proctors to the quests for each floor in the tower, You cannot harm them in any way while they are on duty, or the tower will erase them from reality.
Rule 2: Every ascender must pay tax to the tower at the end of each month, the tax is calculated based on the ascender rank:
1. Infant Ranker: 1 G
2. Elementary Ranker: 10 G
3. Low Ranker: 100 G
4. Junior Ranker: 1000 G
5. Mid-Ranker 10,000 G
For Senior Ranker and beyond, Tax remains the same, and tax exemptions occur.
Rule 3: Completing Floor Quest can earn you great rewards like Grand (G), Arnaments, Anima Cores, and Anima Arts. But there is no penalty for failure other than a ban from taking floor ascension quest for a set period. However, for Private and Special Quests, the implications may differ.
Rule 4: ...
...
...
...
Rule 9: If a party member kills another party member, the killer will be sent to the Hell of their corresponding Realm. (A realm is a space that expands to 10 floors, First 10 floors have the First Hell [The first underworld], the next 10 floors will have the second Hell underneath them an so on.)
Rule 10: .....
The other rules were not as imposing as the first two rules and Rule 9. I also understood that the name of this floor is the
It all felt new, yet a strange feeling of excitement washed over me. Despite not being a game, this was addicting as I learned more from the [Ascender starter guide], a book I bought from the
It had all the essential information one needed to survive. And just like me, everyone was focused on reading the instructions on it.
Though this book only cost 10 G, how you spent your G was crucial, as it could sometimes be the deciding factor in our Quest. G was the global Tower currency, and without it, we couldn't even buy a piece of bread.
The tower's system features are also included without taxes, and with every rank up, we get an improved system with better options to buy from.
I opened the
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-{ TOWER SHOP }-
[Potions]
-> Low Grade Healing Potion [Lv.1] (x5 Nos) - 15 G.
-> Low Grade Antitode potion [Lv.1] (x5 Nos) - 20 G.
-> Low Grade Strength Potion [Lv.1] (x1 Nos) - 10 G
-> ....
[Arnaments]
-> Kuma Leather Crest (Copper grade) - 30 G
-> Kuma Leather Pants (Copper grade) - 20 G
-> ...
-> Arachic Spear ( Copper grade ) - 50 G
->....
....
-> Butcherer's Knife ( Copper grade ) - 10 G
[Other]
-> Ascender starter guide - 10 G ( Sold / Out Of Stock )
[Bank]: 90 G
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There were so many good things to buy, which I considered for a long time.
I wanted to buy everything as each had its use and benefit, Yet it turns out I couldn't access its benefit until I unlocked my Nexus Core which was also one of the requirements of our
I shook my head in disappointment, Right now, with the money I had, I also needed to look for an Inn and buy food for my stay, there would be a 90-day time limit to complete this quest. So I needed to be careful with my spending and navigate carefully. I decided to take a view at the Floor Quest after being done with the
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-{ FLOOR QUEST }-
Floor Name:
Time Limit: 89 Days 23 Hrs.
Requirements(0/2):
-> 1. Complete your Awakening and become an Infant Ranker (Incomplete)
-> 2. Complete any 5 Private Quests across the Floor from the Inhabitants (0/5)
Rewards:
-> + 500 G
-> AP x2
-> + 2 Arnament coupon ( Copper grade )
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"Hmm..."
I muttered to myself, finishing my inspection of the quest when a commotion in the distance caught my attention.
I moved toward the crowd, curious, and that's when I saw someone I never expected to meet here.
"Huh?"
"Why the hell are you here?"