Author: Machine
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Tower
Climb
I was unable to move even a single inch of my body.
Live
I could feel my veins burning as the poison coursed through them.
Slay
The serpent slithered towards me, its lower half bleeding after I had cut it.
Climb
I didn't want this to end.
Live
However, I wasn't the judge.
Slay
I had expended all the available points needed to use Skills.
Climb
My mana pool was completely dried up, even if I wanted to burn my lifespan to squeeze some drops of mana, I was simply far too exhausted to try something like that.
Live
My leather armor had already been reduced to scraps by those wolves.
Slay
What use was it anyway? Whether I lived or died.
Climb
My debts back home have only been increasing ever since I left for the 'Grand Prospect'.
Live
My mother's illness has only gotten worse from what I've heard from my brother.
Slay
The deals I've made with the man in Silver hang above me like the Sword of Damocles.
Climb
Since my soul is damned, why struggle?
Live
It's all because of this damned tower.
Slay
If it wasn't for it, I wouldn't be in this situation.
Climb
If there were no tower, then I wouldn't have had to sign that contract.
Live
Because of this tower, mother was rendered into a coma.
Slay
All my suffering.
Climb
All my pain.
Live
All my life.
Slay
Everything because of this fucking tower.
Climb
It seemed as if the serpent had heard my thoughts and, infuriated by such scandalous beliefs, lunged at me.
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The day it descended was a day I could never forget.
We were all going about our lives.
Some of us rushed to catch the train.
Some of us rushed to grab food.
Some of us rushed to start our day.
Yet, we all knew the end result.
Missing the train and having to enter the next one which is five minutes late.
The horrible food that made one want to throw up.
The late arrival was encrusted by the boss's curses.
However, even with this we continued with our day.
We squeezed ourselves into the train.
We swallowed down the disgusting food.
We apologized profusely to the boss.
That was simply how it went.
That was life.
Until the tower came.
That day, all of our fates were shaken as that gigantic monolith descended on the surface of the Earth.
It was larger than all the stars and planets, and yet it didn't eclipse us.
It was heavier than any object that could've existed however, it didn't crush us.
It was the greatest object in Existence and was also the meekest.
It hovered above us like an All Seeing God, its presence resulting in the First Coming of Insanity.
All who had faith went mad.
Groups formed that molded their pre established beliefs to fit the tower.
Some saw it as the Second Coming of the Messiah.
Some saw it as Providence from The Man Above.
Some believed it to be the beginning of the Apocalypse.
And all of these radical thoughts resulted in even more radical people.
If the end had truly arrived then what need was there to conform?
Thus they killed.
All those of a different faith.
All that who were of a different race.
A few were killed just because they thought that since their sins were irredeemable.
And nothing could be done about it.
All the governments went radio silent in the first few hours of the tower descending.
The lower ranking authorities mostly saw this as them giving up on the rest, and so they followed suit and gave up as well.
Society was what died on the first day.
The next day, reason died.
Murder for no apparent reason began.
All forms of heinous crimes were committed by the once law-abiding citizen.
Such was the nature of my kind.
However, I wasn't exempt from this madness.
In fact, I indulged in it.
I killed over and over again.
Tore.
Burned.
Ate.
I was no different than the rest.
Then on the Third day, the tower acted.
All that remained was bestowed upon a message.
The world would be destroyed in three days.
To escape this fate, enter the tower.
However, only a hundred could enter it.
And what followed was chaos on a scale larger than ever.
All the governments immediately got to work.
That night, I was woken up by the light of a million suns.
The world was destroyed.
No place remained that was safe from that light.
The Earth was vaporised.
The seas disappeared.
Life erased.
The top in their anxiety to make sure that they fit the quota of the tower, destroyed everything.
Perhaps it was the act of only a single group.
But that was enough.
They all died.
But I didn't.
Mother didn't.
Brother didn't.
We all lived.
Why?
I don't know.
The light that exterminated all others spared us.
We at first were overjoyed.
However, we soon found out that living in that world had become far too harsh.
The Earth was a gigantic pit of magma.
The sun had been shrouded by everlasting clouds.
The poison in the air made us cough out our flesh.
We were dying.
I was scared.
Brother was scared.
Mother wasn't.
She with her feeble body, went out to search for the tower.
For the time she was gone, brother and I starved.
I hated my mother.
Why leave us alone?
Why not give us a piece of her so we could eat?
Why was she so selfish?
I wished to kill.
Brother opposed this.
But even he hesitated to stop me.
Madness had infiltrated all our minds; we weren't able to put a stop to it.
We embraced it wholeheartedly.
It allowed us to do whatever we wanted.
Why suppress such a magnificent thing?
How wrong I was.
When mother returned, her body was belated and filled with pus, I lashed out.
A single punch from a malnutritioned was all it took to knock her out.
I made plans then.
I would avenge myself.
I had to!
It was the right of the new age.
Who was I to oppose it?
Yet right then, a shred of reason touched my mind as I looked on at the pitiful state of mother.
The tower.
I had forgotten about it.
This madness had made me forget the source of it all.
I quickly woke mother up and asked her if she had found anything.
She had.
The tower was in the center of our city.
Therefore, its entrance was also there.
We, in our ignorance had forgotten such a simple fact.
We marched out quickly.
The poison attacked us however we persevered.
Then we saw the gate.
It was a far too simple one for such a glorious object.
Just a wooden door.
As we stepped through it with the last of our strength, the world died.
It seemed that three days had indeed passed.
Thus on the sixth day, we entered the tower.
All our ailments quickly healed as we grew stronger.
Along with it came knowledge.
Knowledge of the tower.
Where we were
And of our fate.
The tower is the Universe.
No, that's a bit wrong.
It's more like the totality of all worlds.
My world was just one of the infinite.
As it turned out, the tower's descent heralded the coming of the next step of progression for a civilization of a world.
And the tower didn't ask.
All had to enter the tower.
If they didn't, then they wouldn't survive in the world outside.
What happened to my world has happened, is happening, and will happen to an uncountable number of worlds.
Nobody could escape from it.
It simply was the Will of God.
However, not everything was bad.
Entering the tower meant initializing the evolution of one's self.
Just clear one of the nine levels and bam, you just got a tale for use.
What are tales?
I don't have a damn clue.
Well, aside from the description that the tower gives which lacks creativity, that is.
But it really doesn't matter.
What actually matters are the floors or levels of the tower.
Since the tower has access to an infinite number of worlds, it occasionally selects a few of them to become floors for the sole purpose of allowing us climbers to harvest tales from it.
Anything you do could manifest to become a tale.
They, from my personal experience are based on what the people of the world think about you and what they observe you doing.
Established the first Demonic Sect? You got yourself the tale of The Martial Demon Ancestor.
Created a new weapon of mass destruction? Tale of Calamity's Forger is at your hands.
Became the Emperor of a Star System? Tale of the Star Emperor at your hands.
Now these were the better ones. When I say that anything you do gives you a tale, I mean everything.
Did someone catch you pissing on the side of the road? Tale of the Roadside Defiler.
And if someone saw your little brother, then consider having been handed the Tale of Indecent Exposure
I remember well on my first day on the first floor when I was blessed by the Tale of Unhygienic Monkey.
I was quite dumbfounded at first, but as time passed, I slowly adapted.
I had quite a good reason for beginning the climb.
The tower promised everything if one were to clear all nine floors and reach the tenth.
Why shouldn't I be tempted?
Aside from that mother's condition was peculiar; even though she was healed by the tower, she remained in a comatose state.
All I could do was leave her and brother on the only safe floor of the tower—the zeroth floor.
Since each floor was its own world, it was also governed by its own set of laws, although there wasn't much of a difference between them.
What was different however and also surprising was that unlike my world, each world was supernatural at its base.
Whether that be a magic world or a martial arts world.
It was one of the few constants of the floors.
When I stepped foot into the first floor I thought perhaps that it wouldn't be that hard, after all it was the first.
How wrong I was.
Due to such arrogance on my part, I nearly died more than twenty times and in the end had to resort to signing a contract with one of the Gods.
I would receive the gifts of instant flame casting and shadow warp and in exchange for such I would be giving over my soul to that God.
It was quite a good deal, as long as I didn't die, I wouldn't have to go to hell.
So with those two gifts, I traversed from floor to floor.
Since the power of the floors didn't carry from one to another, only those gifts and skills would help me.
Although I was still almost always near death.
Skills weren't usable in the floors and could be used in the Great Wire, whereas Gifts could be used in the floors but couldn't be used outside.
Back then, I presumed that since I would be spending most of my time on the floors it wouldn't make sense to have powerful Skills that couldn't be used when you needed them.
So I played it safe and came out with extremely average Tales but I didn't mind it.
As long as I had strong Gifts.
And at first, I really did have powerful ones.
Whether they be the ability to see a few seconds into the future or having a very durable weapon at hand from the moment you step onto a floor.
I thought I was truly the main character.
Quite wrong that was.
You see the Gods only bestow such Gifts onto mortals for only two reasons.
Either the mortal was very exceptional and thus the Gods were interested in them or simply because they were bored and wanted to see what would happen what an average mortal with no specialities would do with such powerful Gifts.
I was without doubt the latter.
As I entered the fourth floor, I felt all my gifts disappearing except for those that I obtained from the Man in Silver.
I thought I had lost everything.
So in my desperation, I made another deal with that Man.
I gave him half my soul and in return I wanted a more powerful Gift to offset my losses.
However, the Man in Silver merely took what I gave it and returned nothing.
I had already sold my soul to it thus giving it half of it at present was just giving a portion of something already his a bit earlier.
This time, I had truly lost everything.
With only half my soul, there was simply no way to channel my preexisting Gifts to their complete extent without damaging myself.
Even if I didn't, my torn soul acted like cancer; every moment a part of me was dying.
In the end, I sought out other methods.
And I found one.
By sacrificing millions to the One Adorned in Blood, I was able to stabilize my situation and also use my skills, although the skills required skill points, which could only be obtained from more sacrifices, and their power was meagre.
But it was enough to clear the fourth floor.
I thought that with these new Gifts, I would be able to protect myself a bit more safely and perhaps even reach the ninth floor.
But I had miscalculated.
The moment I stepped out of the fourth floor and into the Great Wire, swarms of climbers assaulted me.
The Great Wire was a part of the tower and more specifically could be said to be like the zeroth floor but it was artificially made by the Gods.
Since it was made by them, they had immense influence over it, even though they were never present there.
Anyone could live in the Great Wire but if they wished to have a hospitable time there they had to pledge allegiance to one of the Gods or their churches. In return, they would also be given Gifts and so the climbers would happily agree regardless of which God it was.
Now, the churches had quite a rivalry towards each other and disdain.
However, there was something that they all equally hated.
Churches of mass sacrifice.
And as it turns out, when I showed up, being someone who had a Gift from the One Clothed in Blood who was known to be a horrifying figure even amongst mass sacrificial churches, they all put aside their rivalries to kill me.
I hadn't even healed when I had to flee the Great Wire and enter the fifth floor.
Following that, misfortune hung around me as even with all my Gifts.
Several events occurred, and all of those led to this moment.
My pitiful death in a place nobody has heard of, and where my corpse would probably remain for the next decade or so.
Wait a minute.
Why haven't I died yet?
I moved my eyes to see the serpent nowhere to be found and instead a starry expanse.
In front, sitting on a throne of bones, was a figure cloaked in vibrant red cloth.
Seeing him at once, I realised who it was.
"Greetings Lord!" I immediately spat out in worship.
Before me was my current patron, He who is adorned in Blood.
Without 'Him', I would've died a long time ago.
So I greeted him out of reverence and happiness but also with fear.
This was a God.
A climber couldn't simply have claimed to have met with a God, after all only the Apostles of a God could see them.
Wait, does that mean I'm an Apostle?
'No you aren't.' A voice echoed within my mind, causing it to shake.
"Wh-what do you mean Lord?"
'You shall not be my Apostle however, instead you shall become my investiture. I shall help your grow until you become a God and then must fulfill a favor of mine.'
Me? A God? Could it be that I have died and am in hell? Else, how could I become an investment of a God who wants me to become one as well?
'Everything that you are currently experiencing is quite real.'
This time the voice felt different; it was far more horrifying as visions leapt into my mind.
They were of destruction on unimaginable scales.
So much blood was spilt that a Cosmos could form out of it.
And in the center of this World of Blood was a behemoth I couldn't even hope to comprehend. I could only glimpse a faint shadow but it was more than enough to break my fantasy of being dead.
I was quite alive, and I knew without doubt that in front of me was truly a God.
"What do you need me to do Lord?" I asked.
'Nothing, just sacrifice enough to create a conduit to bestow Gifts upon you, what I wish of you will be known if you reach the tenth floor.'
The starry expanse rapidly dissipated as in its place was the cave in which I was destined to die.
But now I have a new lease on life.
Now I could go further without fear.
And I would.
With that belief, I walked out of that cave.
–
With the Gifts of my patron, I easily cleared the fifth floor with the formation of a powerful Tale of The Lord of Chaos.
Soon afterwards, I went into the Great Wire and slaughtered a few climbers before entering the sixth floor.
The Gifts only became more powerful as I grew in power with my Tales.
In the sixth, I obtained the Tale of The Unfettered King due to the establishment of a kingdom while also going around and inciting chaos every living moment.
In the seventh, I was known as The Demon of The Heavenly Secrets.
In the eighth, they revered me as The Sage of Void and Infinity.
Lastly, in the ninth, I was The One who stood at World's End.
With all this newfound power, I easily slaughtered the Great Wire and conquered it.
The Gods seemingly didn't care about my actions as long as I didn't restrict the church, and thus under my hand came the entirety of the Great Wire.
I was able to heal my mother and wake her up properly.
I established a grand palace for her with servants to cater to every possible need she could have.
The same went for brother who created a Harem consisting of Millions.
However, it was meagre considering my status as the Lord of The Great Wire.
If I so much as wished, then I could've done everything they had done but a thousand times greater and a million times over.
But I didn't care for it all.
I was only interested in becoming a God and fulfilling the favour of my patron.
Thus in the Year 2679 of my reign, I stepped into the tenth floor and became a God.
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The first thing I did after the ascension as the God of Metaphysical Existence was to remodel the Great Wire, dividing it into ten portions of equal area.
Next, I crowned Myself as the Deus Imperator and founded the Empire of Gods, establishing Myself as its sole and supreme ruler.
Afterward, I forbade the other Gods from supporting their churches — an act that led to the decline of the latter.
Finally, I executed the Man in Silver and shattered His divinity.
I was free at last and had achieved everything I could've ever wanted.
As the possessor of the Divinity of Metaphysical Existence, no God could dare challenge me and thus I was truly almighty.
It was all so great.
All so beautiful.
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The rat tried to run from me but couldn't.
It begged me continuously for mercy as I slowly entrenched upon his damaged Divinity.
However, all such worthless pleas were paused as I destroyed him.
The Gods of this iteration were quite weaker than I calculated, however that is to be expected after all, the Era is still ongoing.
However, to think that my seed would actually revolt by waking me up.
Interesting, it seems that they fathom a rebellion against me.
Very well then.
I waved my hand, disintegrating the corpse of the God of Metaphysical Existence and plucking out his divinity.
As expected, when I assimilated his divinity, it was far weaker than the last Era's.
Truly a loss on my side.
However, I'll eventually offset them.
But first, I have to clean this up.
Saying such, The Scarlet Immortal would proceed to eradicate all traces of The Great Wire as well as the influence of the Gods.
The tower would become desolate with no climber being able to enter until The Scarlet Immortal permitted them entry.
It didn't take much time for all to be done and The Scarlet Immortal to sleep once again.
When he woke up, he hoped that perhaps there would be a challenging foe for him.
After all, only in such a scenario could he harvest properly.
It would take time for the tower to create a doorway to a world for climbers, it could take hundreds or even thousands to even start the process.
But that didn't matter to The Scarlet Immortal, who had witnessed hundreds of Eras, tens of Yugas and had crossed from one Kalpa to another.
Let's see how well this rebellious seed of mine can nurture.
Thus The Scarlet Immortal slept, waiting.
Just as it always had been.
Perhaps the seed would fail and The Scarlet Immortal would once again suffer a loss.
But it only needed for a success to occur once.
Just a single one out of millions.
After all, what was time before an Immortal?