Before leaving the quiet of my apartment, I opened my Skill interface. I figured it was time to streamline my luck-based abilities.
"[Activating The Exclusive Skill, 'Fusion'!]"
"[Fusing the A-Rank Skill 'Tyche's Wheel Of Fate' and the C-Rank Skill 'Favor of the Stars'...]"
"[Congratulations! You have obtained the A-Rank Skill, 'Monopoly' Lvl 1!]"
"[Info: Automatically secures the best available outcome in probability-based systems.]"
Perfect. No more wasting mana on two separate activations just to tip the scales.
For the next few days, I stayed low. I took the time to introduce my growing "family" to one another inside the subspace. Melchior had reverted to his teenage appearance, looking more like a moody noble student than a bloodthirsty Patriarch; he spent most of his time napping against Cero's soft fur. Leo, the resident battle-maniac, was having the time of his life. He finally had a sparring partner who could match his stamina in the S-Rank Wilong. Occasionally, Cero would intervene when their dueling got too noisy, sending a blast of frost their way before lazily walking off.
Outside, the news was in a frenzy. The 7th S-Rank, Zang Wilong, was officially declared "missing." The 'Reaper' Guild was putting on a grand show of searching for him, a facade to hide the fact that they'd tried to sacrifice him. They probably thought he was dead. They'd likely lose their minds if they knew he was currently running around a pocket dimension, shirtless and having fun.
By the third day, a sudden realization dawned on me. I had been so consumed by the Tower, the Vampires, and my past-life knowledge that I had completely neglected my actual family. If the Tower appeared everywhere, my rural home village wouldn't have been spared.
I tried calling. Unreachable. Every single number.
With nearly 60 days until the next floor, I packed light and headed for the airport. Using my S-Rank Status felt different this time. I was escorted to a private government jet, treated like a deity in a suit. If I had known the VIP treatment was this seamless, I wouldn't have spent so much time skulking in my room. But looking at the smiling flight attendants and the peaceful clouds, I felt a pang of bitterness. None of them knew how fragile this "peace" truly was.
Upon landing in the regional branch, I was greeted by a sea of RMB staffs. The rural landscape I remembered was gone. In its place was a burgeoning urban center, built rapidly around the massive Tower that now sat in the village square.
I moved through the formalities as quickly as possible, but the reporters were like sharks. Despite the RMB's privacy protection for S-Ranks, my background was being dug up in real-time. I slipped away in the afternoon, heading toward the coordinates of my childhood home.
But the wooden house was gone. In its place stood a cold, sterile Research Center for Rankers.
"The people who lived here?" the staff member I questioned looked at me with pity. "The 'Tutorial Phase' was... particularly hard on this sector before the RMB arrived. Check the south point of the village. The Memorial."
The Memorial?
I walked to the southern edge of the town. There, a massive stone pillar stood against the sky.
[Memorial of the Lost Souls]
I scanned the list of names carved into the stone. Names of neighbors. Friends. And there, around the corner, were the names of my parents and my siblings.
The world seemed to tilt. Shock, followed by a searing, white-hot agony, surged through my chest. Then came the rage. My 'Mana' began to leak out in violent, jagged waves. The memorial stone, reinforced by high-level magic spells to withstand the elements, began to groan and crack under the sheer pressure of my presence.
"[Activating The Exclusive Skill, 'Blessings of the Stars: Song of the Saints' Lvl 1!]"
A golden hue enveloped me, the holy melody forcing my heart rate down and my mind into a cold, rational state. The emotional storm didn't vanish though, it was simply locked behind a wall of logic.
I stared at the names. I was an S-Rank with the memories of a world-beater. I could have protected them. If I had rushed here instead of fixating on the Tower's efficiency, they might still be breathing. I had sought to conquer the Tower to save humanity, yet I had let my own world crumble while I wasn't looking.
I was a fool. A pathetic fool.