Five of them.
Once comrades.
Now recycled and rewritten as Tower-native NPCs — scattered across different floors, each altered, memory-erased, and repurposed for the Tower's cruel logic.
But the Tower cannot fully suppress them.
And so it does not erase.
It waits.
And lets Wang Ling find them, one by one — not as punishment…
But as a choice.
📜 SYSTEM ARCHIVE – DELETION DENIED
Subset: Ascender-class Deletion Exceptions
Status: Recycled
Intent: Repurposed
Observation: Memory Integrity < 12%
Recovery Probability: > Rising
The Tower should have purged them.
But instead, it converted them into new tools — assigning them to floors where their original strengths could be manipulated to torment new players… or serve as tools for Wang Ling's judgment.
Here are the five.
❶ Hyun-Ae, the Oracle
Now: ✤ "Sister Yuun"
Location: Floor 41 – Sanctuary of Fractured Truth
Role: False Prophet NPC
Mechanics: Delivers randomized visions to mislead players
Status: Emotionally unstable. Suffers from echo-dreams of "the Cold" breaking her voice.
Traits:
• Laughs during prayer
• Claims "he walked past me once" when no one's listening
Protocol Status: ⚠️ Unstable
Cold God Interaction: "Let her see clearly before she dies."
❷ Jinrei, the Last Sunblade
Now: ✤ "Warden Vel"
Location: Floor 60 – Prison of Eternal Duel
Role: Combat Instructor & Death Trial Keeper
Mechanics: Slaughters all players who fail the one-strike trial
Status: Displays aggression toward "blank-eyed opponents" without provocation
Traits:
• Cannot hold eye contact with Wang Ling clones
• Left arm trembles when asked about "Final Gates"
Protocol Status: STABLE
Cold God Interaction: "He must not remember. Let the sword break first."
❸ Raekel, the Warden of Aether
Now: ✤ "Echo-Stone #199A"
Location: Floor 77 – Time-Frozen Zone
Role: Living Architecture / Sentient Gatekeeper
Mechanics: Only speaks when players are about to die
Status: Exists as a semi-conscious floor construct. Feels time differently.
Traits:
• Whispers "I shouldn't have followed them" into collapsing tunnels
• Has a failsafe to freeze if Wang Ling speaks his former name
Protocol Status: IMMOBILE
Cold God Interaction: "Allow confrontation only if Wang Ling chooses to wait."
❹ Liora, the Saint of Echoes
Now: ✤ "Aira of the Glimmering Vow"
Location: Floor 24 – Trial of Mercy
Role: Faithbreaker NPC
Previously detailed.
Status: ✦ NullTrigger Approaching
Protocol Status: MONITORED
Cold God Interaction: "Let her ache before she speaks."
❺ Kane, the Shadowborn General
Now: ✤ "Master Kael"
Location: Floor 35 – Vault Strategist
Role: Tactical Consultant / Survival Quest Handler
Previously detailed.
Protocol Status: DORMANT CONSCIOUSNESS
Cold God Interaction: "Let him understand what he planned."
🔒 [SYSTEM NOTE: This cluster of NPCs is marked as "Forgone Cycle Echoes"]
✦ If Cold God chooses to kill them — permit.
✦ If Cold God chooses to ignore them — silence them forever.
✦ If Cold God chooses to use them — rebind them under his class tree.
They do not know what they did.
But their souls remember the shape of the betrayal.
They remember his silence.
They remember his stillness.
They remember a moment just before the Gate—
Where he said nothing.
And they all knew they were wrong.
Now they live again.
Scattered.
Serving.
Waiting.
And as Wang Ling ascends again, one by one…
They will see him.
And feel what the Tower worked so hard to erase:
Shame.