The day before the announcement was to be made, who would be given the Quest was a busy day for all six of the heroes. While Shammus was deep within the tower, entrapped on Floor 40’s desert, the other five were simply awaiting the announcement with bated breath.
Bariton’s sleep was swell, for it was one of the first times he’d booked an inn within the capital, one of the few times he was looking forward to something. Bariton’s room was full of music, the lyre playing a tune of anxiety and hope.
Sornid’s sleep was filled with anxiety. He had been worried that his standing would be taken away; the Quest would select him and he’d no longer be there for his parents. The Quest would work away at his very soul and leave him a former husk of what he once was.
Clara’s sleep was regular, for she had been busy the day before. She was well aware of the quest, but it wasn’t a problem yet. She was certain someone else would be chosen for such a grand journey, especially since she was still needed in Forsivo.
Judine’s sleep was one of wrath. She had gotten so close to ruining the noble’s grip on the law, and now she had a one in millions chance to be chosen for a Quest that would foil her plans.
Pallad’s sleep was one of joy. He had assumed his place as a paladin, but he would finally be free from being a mere cog in a machine; even if he wasn’t chosen for the Quest. They were all simply awaiting The Grand Sage’s words.
The day of was just as busy, but the assignment was actually held in the Academy for Adventurers. The only stuff that was told about said Quest was that those chosen had no choice but to go off into a dungeon, and that the Quest would take years.
The Grand Sage spoke to the crowd, with hundreds of people awaiting to hear the words. The entire capital practically dropped everything, with everyone from the sanctuary in the crowd, everyone in the Court’s mages, and even everyone from the academy.
The few people that weren’t there were the few civilians and doctors who still had lives to save, and the people outside the city of Lanostiv. The statue of the First Adventurer stood tall above the Grand Sage before his words rang out among the crowd.
Sornid and Clara never heard them; too busy watching with bated breath for the names to be rang out. The number of those chosen was said to be five, but some people had doubts, especially since it was the Grand Sage doing all the speaking.
Judine and Pallad were busy controlling the crowd to hear the Grand Sage’s starting words, and Bariton was late. It was odd how they were the only ones to miss the starting words seemingly, especially since the Grand Sage slowly called them all up.
The order of them being called up was as follows; Pallad, Clara, Judine, Sornid, and Bariton. Nobody was expecting that line up, nobody except the people on the stage. They all knew they’re own level was far too high for anyone else to be called up; other than the ten SSR++.
The system gave them all a quest as they were sent to the tower of far too many titles. The quest was terrifying to see, especially since it revealed the stakes, something previously hidden for all of them.
[Quest Gained!]
[Complete Floor 100 of the Tower]
[Condition: Complete the one hundredth floor of the tower, alongside every other floor whether through Floor Skip Passes, Completing the Secret Requirement, or Breaking the Floor.]
[Rewards: Divinity upon the first 4 on Floor 100, Immortality, +10,000 Levels, +1 Mythical Item.]
[Time Limit: 9 Years, 352 Days, 4 Hours, 10 Minutes]
[Failure: Destroyment of World 392ae311, otherwise called Earth by inhabitants]
And it left Sornid with an indescribable pit in his stomach. Maybe he could figure out the secrets to magic while in there, but even then the stakes were far too high to try and abandon it. This dungeon would destroy the entire earth had they failed it.
He felt selfish for his original wish- For his original wish of a peaceful life in this hellish world run by the System. But he also felt proud. That the world would choose him over everyone else to save itself.
Bariton felt the same surge of pride, the failed bard not so failed any longer. The bard would be able to save the world and leave a lasting mark on this world; being a saviour even if not a god.
Pallad felt more pride than anyone else. Being promoted from a mere paladin to someone capable of saving the world. The importance of the life he built beforehand was practically cast to the wind, and yet all the self pity was alongside it.
Clara and Judine however simply just understood the stakes of what they were chosen to do. They knew they were probably bound to be sent here with their grand appearance on Earth, but they still despised the system for tearing them away from their important work.
They knew something else though. The both of their plans would keep on as long as the world was turning. Judine had taught plenty to her junior judges before this day, and the Saintess taught plenty to every junior doctor as well.
All of them entered the tower with one thing on their mind. If they failed, nothing good would ever come of it, and nothing decent could come from it. The tower doors closed behind the five heroes, as the importance of their lives finally led them into the open maw of the system.
60 - Control
The whole of the party were standing in front of the melted mountain range, watching it cool into glass from the intense heat generated from all five of them stopping. The new glass desert went on for hundreds of kilometers and went well beyond the horizon.
“Alright, so most of you have a higher power stat than your agility, and those who don’t have a higher power do have a higher constitution.” Kishtan watches over all five of them at that. They were successful in not stopping between the mountain range, and it’d seem Kishtan wanted them to move on to something else.
“Therefore, you should all be able to contain the shockwave of stopping, or deflect it somewhere less…” The pause Kishtan made as he looked at what used to be a mountain range let them think for a singular moment of what he was implying.
Pallad nodded in solemnity. “While yes, we should be capable of that, we don’t have the knowledge nor the practice behind it. We don’t even know the maximums of our magic or constitution stats other than the health and mana statistics.”
Pallad’s words seemed to hit Kishtan as he turned to face Pallad. The silence that followed was accompanied by the wind of the area, changed drastically from the sudden lack of mountains.
“Yes, indeed. Therefore, I want you guys to ensure you can actually stop before you need to.” He looks at the opposite side of the mountain bowl, and simply nodded. “You shall stop before hitting the mountains by ten meters this time.”
Pallad took a step back, and Shammus coughed at this new request. Pallad began to speak up, but Bariton stopped him with his own speech, “Well; that’s quite a jump in specifics. Went from up to 5 kilometers in possible change, to what, a meter?”
“I’ll allow it to be up to half a meter off in all 10 directions.” Kishtan answered as he turned to face the other mountain range. “We’ll worry about destruction after you are able to control where to stop to an extreme level.”
Kishtan gave them the signal to move, and Pallad cracked his neck. It always felt good to release pressure in such a way, before he shot off across the floor. The air burning against his skin was just as flawless.
He was able to feel every moment; the air dissolving, the vacuum behind him expanding further making him like a meteor flying through the sky. His party was gliding along with him, and he watched carefully as the mountain range got closer and closer.
It was only a few seconds away, but he could feel the passage of time so well that he just had to ensure that everything was just right. Pallad made sure that he stopped slightly late, allowing the vacuum to pull him into place.
He could tell he made it for the most part; before the five shockwaves of the stop completely vaporized the mountains. The five of them all stopped around the same way, allowing the vacuum that built up behind them to partially pull them back in, and the mountain range was further destroyed.
The land they passed over was also slightly carved from the heat of the ionized air. It was truly curious; how thoroughly they destroyed the land. Shammus was shaking looking at the destruction he wrought about.
Pallad was confused at this. The destruction was proof that they were there. Proof they were still living. Of course, Kishtan simply flew over to them, and was yelling at them to do something.
Suddenly, Pallad felt something pull him off his feet; as he was pulled into the newly created valley of glass. The rest of the party was pulled in as well, and Kishtan followed after them.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The system message confused him, as everything faded to dark.
[Quest Gained!]
[Halfway there!]
[Condition: Complete the fiftieth floor of the tower, through the intended path. You cannot use Floor Skip Passes, nor Break the Floor. Those will cause the floor to restart.]
[Rewards: 5 Legendary Items, 5 Legendary Skills, 2 Legendary Traits, Level 5 skills instantly to Level 99, Kishtan allowed back home.]
[Time Limit: 4 Days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes]
[Failure: Death of every Awakened with the [Complete Floor 100 of the Tower] Quest.]
******
Bariton had a pretty tough landing on Floor 50, but it was probably much better than landing into the molten rock that the party had made. The way the dirt piled up against Bariton’s back was absurd, and the other four dirt piles were just as.
Kishtan flew down gracefully like a dove, if only that dove were a kilometer long, so not all too graceful in the landing. But, now the party found themselves in a forest. A grand one, and there was no odd geography separating where they were.
And the quest too. Terrifying to think that they had 5 days to complete this otherwise everyone who had seen the tower would perish. But it also reminded Bariton about the quest that linked everyone who saw the tower together.
And so he opened up the quest.
[Quest Gained!]
[Complete Floor 100 of the Tower]
[Condition: Complete the one hundredth floor of the tower, alongside every other floor whether through Floor Skip Passes, Completing the Secret Requirement, or Breaking the Floor.]
[Rewards: Divinity upon the first 4 on Floor 100, Immortality, +10,000 Levels, +1 Mythical Item.]
[Time Limit: 8 Years, 131 Days, 1 Hours, 7 Minutes]
[Failure: Destroyment of World 392ae311, otherwise called Earth by inhabitants]
He took note of the time passed before helping his party members clamber back up. Few needed it, but all were grateful of Bariton helping them up. And Kishtan looked over the floor. He sighed ever so slightly.
“So we were kicked out of floor 49 for destroying it to a point that the mana of the dungeon grew unstable.” Kishtan began speaking, and Bariton looked at the forest. It reminded him of the one just north-west of Lanostiv.
And so Bariton looked around it and found a pathway he was expecting. “It’s another copy of Forsivo.” He stated while looking up in the sky to find the sun. Based on how he was in the shadow of Kishtan, he looked in that direction to determine where the sun was being blocked.
Kishtan’s head sure was big, but not large enough to block out the largest celestial object in the sky during the day, technically only equal to the moon due to its existence being 400 times smaller and 400 times as close.
Bariton looked past the neck, therefore based off the colors of the sky and positioning of the sun, he concluded that way was East. Much tougher to tell when the only clue you have for the time of day is a good guess.
This also meant they were on the path towards the capital. Bariton shared his findings with his allies and they began to formulate a genuine plan. Kishtan simply returned to his human state.
The dragon offered little insight, and let the party figure it out themselves; especially since Bariton was so certain the location. Something in his very soul told it to him after all. And as that feeling only grew stronger, everything fell to gray, and the door was standing tall.
As everything fell still; the door was the only thing with color other than Bariton. It was a familiar sight, and Bariton knew that the system was going to tell him something terrible. The gut feeling was proven right as he opened the door to not the classroom Bariton had grown familiar to.
Bariton was instead brought into a hallway with a singular prison cell. It was beyond any prison the bard had usually seen; with glass instead of metal bars, and tiles of some crystalline stone instead of bricks of igneous stone.
It reminded Bariton of Marble, but there was no way that was true. There were odd symbols on each doorpanel, reminding the Bard of the writing of Linyue. And Bariton finally reached the only room in the prison, with something other than the jagged lines of the System awaiting outside.
And sitting inside was the System, laying atop a bed in this prison. It was more clearly a prison when Bariton saw what was inside of it. A tile was misplaced, and the System simply sat up.
“Welcome Bariton, to my humble abode.” The System looked at Bariton through the glass pane. It wasn’t even one sided. What an odd prison, and it looked like the System both didn’t and did want to be here.
“But, I’m sure you have a question as to what I am to warn you of now.” The System tilted its head to face Bariton more clearly. “It’s simplistic honestly. Relates to the quest reward. I’m sure I don’t need to speak any more?”
Bariton glared at the system as it spoke, and the pit in his stomach only grew. But the system could clearly read it on his face; and ignored it anyways. “So, I’m correct. You can tell precisely what you must do.”
The System was going to say something else, but it was more than likely missed to the bard. The wind pulled the bard right back where he belonged, and the lens shattered once more as the world regained color.
******
Clara looked at Bariton visibly flinch. She was slightly worried at that, but the plan was quite simple. They were to go to the capital, and ask about any events, or maybe even find a copy of the newspaper.
With that, they could figure out why the tower’d made this floor the nation of Forsivo. And so they marched on. Pallad wasn’t the one to lead, instead it was Shammus. The words he spoke led the party to follow them, “This nation didn’t change its capital once in those thousand years I made.”
Shammus stepped onward through the path of the forest. The forest slowly thinned out as they came across a small village. It was a simplistic one, but it was empty too. Clara felt the lack of life in it, even vegetation was minimal.
There was an old church atop a hill. And there was where the life had been gathered. Clara’s eyes were locked onto it, and Judine had silently followed her gaze. “There are many fates that end at that church.”
Shammus’s look on the church wound up a scowl. And Bariton stopped walking as he looked at the church as well. “Too many tales end there.” Bariton says as he walked towards it, only to be caught at the cuff of his neck by Shammus.
Pallad slams his fists together. “But there’s also a fight to be held there.” Pallad steps to match all of them, staring up at the church. And Kishtan simply flew off. “But, we are too strong. Now that we know our maximum, I don’t think we can just turn it down.”
Clara spoke up next, “All life within this small village is within that church, they aren’t dead yet, and I don’t think this floor wants us to destroy this threat…” Clara took in a deep breath, her words unsteady, “or, rather… we don’t want to kill all the people that we don’t have to.”
Pallad nods in response, it seemed he didn’t truly believe Clara, but understood her wishes. Clara sighed to ready herself. She walked up the hill, followed by her closest friends; Bariton, Judine, Pallad, and Shammus.
She knew these lot would save her if anything terrible occurred, no matter how many innocents had to perish to do so. And she felt guilty for it. She wouldn’t do the same, and she let the horror of that lead her into danger.
Because she’d be able to accept the losses to save her. She was too selfish to save someone properly. And she knocked on the door. It opened slowly, showing them a man dressed well; and impossibly thin with red hair.
“Ah, hello and welcome to the church… we have a party in four nights from now, would you like to stay here?” The thin man smiled lightly, the impossibly red hair looking messily cut. Along with the scars, everything looked off, and the… divine energy he emitted.
It was terrifyingly dense, but also felt familiar to something weaker. “Well? Are you going to answer or just keep staring at me?” The thin man kept talking after a long pause. The next pause was interrupted by someone else.
“Ah, yes, apologies for our rudeness.” Shammus stared at the divine being with the same readiness he did Kishtan to begin with. “Yes, we would like to stay ‘till then. Talk to the guests.” Shammus’s words were kind, covered in honey to hide the sneaky works beneath.
“Ah, then please do come in. Let me show you to your personal rooms.” The divine being bowed down slightly and walked inside. The church was empty of pews, and the cobwebs in the highest parts implied it was abandoned.
The stars seemed to align as they were led to one of the branching areas, the eastern wing of the church seemed to be rebuilt entirely just for this ‘party’. Clara was next to ask a question, “Well, kind sir, may I ask what god this church was originally for, and what may your name be?”
The god kept walking as they answered, their well groomed suit simply reflecting how impossibly clean this hallway was. There wasn’t even the light film of life of bacteria or similar. It was… unnatural.
“Well, the name’s Insani-” The god flinched, before continuing to speak, “No, that’s inaccurate. Just call me Linore. And this was a church to the God of the Sun. It is now being used to provide for-”
Linore was about to say something else, but they reached the room. It was clearly used as a smaller church room, with stained glass portraying the god of the sun cooking for four faceless figures, the glass not defaced but rather they were facing the God of the Sun.
Truly the most shiny of the gods, and one of the few that avoided having a humanoid body. It was rearranged to have five beds, all framed by the pews. This room seemed perfect for the heroes, and Clara’s alarm bells were all ringing, but so was her body ringing out to sleep. Didn’t help that the sun was shining down the western window, clearly showing that it was evening.
“Damn, I was wrong about my guess of the directions…” Bariton said looking at the sunset. “Makes sense why none of us recognize this village.” He shrugs as he plops down on a bed. “I think we’ll probably have to take this slow. Figure things out, Judine style.”
Judine simply laid down upon a bed as well, placing her cloak with the twin ribbons streaming out the back upon a coat rack within the room. “At least this floor we don’t have to share a bed.”
The way both Bariton and Shammus reddened at that made Clara give out a little chuckle. It was quite nice to be a part of a team like this. She fell asleep on her own bed, and the ebbs of life seemed to follow.
******
