The boy stood alone in a dark void. His thin frame was visible through a dirty, torn white shirt. Suddenly, a sharp chime broke the silence. A glowing, translucent screen appeared in the darkness.
[Player, the Tower has watched you for a very long time…]
A woman's voice whispered from the air—
[It knows the boy who slept on freezing stone while the world turned its back. You have endured years of hunger and the weight of endless discrimination without breaking… Your spirit did not survive on bread, but on the burning desire to destroy those who killed your mother.]
The boy did not move a single muscle as the voice continued its judgment.
[The void inside you can no longer be satisfied by simple sustenance or the blood of beasts. You are not just hungry for a meal; you are starving for the ultimate retribution.]
[Your hatred has become a physical law that the System must now acknowledge and name. To the world, you were a beggar, but to the Tower, you are a disaster waiting to happen.]
The screen flashed a deep, bloody crimson as the final words appeared.
[The System grants you a Unique Title: The Starved.]
[Title Effect: Predatory Starvation. You gain nothing from monsters or ordinary sources. Your strength grows only by defeating other players, absorbing their essence and increasing your stats.]
The boy stared at the floating text with eyes that looked like empty voids. He did not scream or celebrate the sudden gift of power. Instead, he clenched his bony fists until his knuckles turned a ghostly white.
"Everything I do from this moment is for my mother," he whispered. "I will find every single one of them and I will kill them all."
Outside this dark void, the year 2055 had changed the meaning of entertainment forever. The world's largest gaming company had finally launched a fully immersive virtual environment. This was not a game played with controllers or simple avatars. Players entered the world as themselves, using their own physical bodies and real life abilities to survive.
A major TV network partnered with the creators to broadcast every moment of the journey. Cameras and magical sensors tracked every drop of blood and every clever strategy for the viewers at home. Fans watched live, sending support items and placing massive bets on their favorite players. Everyone wanted to see who would eventually be crowned as the next legendary… CONQUEROR.
The phenomenon was known as the FANTASY TOWER, a massive gauntlet featuring a hundred floors of terror. It was filled with deadly monsters, traps, and trials designed to break the human mind. People from every corner of the country lined up for a chance to challenge the impossible climb. They were not just looking for fame or a sense of grand adventure.
At the very top of the hundredth floor waited a prize that defied imagination. The winner would claim…
ONE BILLION DOLLARS.
In cold, hard cash. That amount of money was enough to change a life, a family or even the fate of an entire nation. The same question echoed across every screen and every street in the world:
"Are you brave enough to climb the Fantasy Tower?"