Towers of Heaven

by Cameron Milan

  Ashley took out a furled brown scroll and handed it over to Jason. He wasn’t able to store it in his inventory, so he tucked it in between his pants and belt. Ashley gave him a strange look. “Do you need some gear as well?”

  Jason shook his head. “I’m good as is.”

  “Are you sure?” Ashley gave a disbelieving look.

  Seeing that Jason didn’t respond, she frowned. “You better not lose.”

  Jason assuaged her worries. “My reputation is on the line here; besides, I can’t take your equipment, remember? I’m undergoing the trial of a guild.”

  She thought it over and could only sigh in response. “Fine, fine. Do what you want. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Just as she was about to walk off, she remembered something. “Oh, right. The competition is a five versus five.”

  “No problem.” Jason said confidently.

  Ashley’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance at Jason’s arrogance. Only when she remembered that he had easily dodged her and Richard’s spell did she drop the subject and leave.

  Jason chuckled at her attitude. She was worrying for nothing. The only thing that might be a problem was the outsider. If he recalled correctly, Purity had lost the competition due to the unexpected outsider. He was an archer named Victor and he would later go on to join the Unrivalled guild, one of the top guilds in the world.

  Jason started to think about what he would do with the gold coin. Around this time, a gold coin was still quite valuable. If sold to the outside, it would be worth around ten thousand dollars. With it, he could buy a decent weapon and shield at a merchant guild.

  Chapter 9

  Goblins were not to be underestimated. The ones that spawned on the first three floors were the lowest dregs of the goblin species. They had little to no skills, possessed no magic, had little combat experience, and were cowards at heart. By the time ascenders reached the fourth floor, they had become accustomed to slaying such goblins. This lulled them into a false sense of security when they reached the fourth floor.

  Unlike the first three floors which were underground, the fourth floor was in the middle of a large ravine. A complex web of caves was dug into each side. The ravine was devoid of plants except for brown weeds. Numerous large boulders that towered twenty feet high littered the ravine floor. The sun was at its peak at all times; the concept of night didn’t exist on this floor.

  When entering the fourth floor, you would start on one end of the ravine and make your way to the other end, which was where the portal to the fifth floor was located. Jason appeared on the fourth floor and inspected his surroundings. The first wall, huh?

  The major difference starting from the fourth floor onward was that monsters started to possess skills and spells. Skills used stamina, and spells used mana. This increased the difficulty several times over, and as such the fourth floor was called the first wall.

  The caves on each side of the ravine were filled with numerous goblins and ascender parties. Similar to the third floor, caves were valued differently depending on how much profit one could make farming inside. Now that monsters started to possess skills and spells, they would start to drop skill books and spell books. Whenever one would drop, a celebration was to be had. Rich tycoons in the outside world bought these books for outrageous prices.

  The thoughts of these tycoons were simple. Why would they have to risk their lives to become superhuman when they could just buy up skills and spells with money? Even paying for powerleveling was possible. The world currently didn’t know how powerful these tycoons were, but Jason was different. He even knew which tycoons were backing certain guilds, which was private information.

  This was why guilds valued farming spots so highly. Instead of using the equipment, skills, and spells that dropped from monsters for themselves, they sold it to make a profit. This caused their strength to stagnate. As a result, there were two types of ascenders: farmers and climbers.

  Unlike farmers, climbers were ascenders whose sole goal was to climb the tower. Some wanted to increase their strength as much as possible. Some wanted to unlock powerful magic. Others were adventurers at heart. And even rarer were those who loved carnage and battle.

  All of these thoughts flashed through Jason’s head as he made his way through the ravine. Suddenly, a group of goblins appeared from around a large boulder. Three wielded swords, and one a staff. These goblins were just as small as the earlier goblins, but their muscles were more defined and their gear a notch better.

  Goblin Warrior - Level 15

  Health: 200/200

  Goblin Shaman - Level 15

  Health: 150/150

  Jason had made sure to acquire another set of goblin equipment from the third floor before making his way here. He held a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left. When he spotted the group of goblins, before they could react, he rushed forward. Taking the initiative was a skill a tank like Jason had long since mastered.

  The distance between them was just a few feet to begin with, so by the time the goblins finally reacted, Jason had already swung his sword. The chop skill activated, covering his weapon in a layer of grey energy. His sword felt no resistance as a goblin head flew through the air.

  -200 Critical!

  The three remaining goblins were stunned silly. They didn’t expect that the shabby-looking human before them would be so strong. Jason didn’t let this chance go to waste. Before they recovered, he decapitated another goblin with chop. The skill is strong, but my stats are superior to theirs. With a critical attack, it's no wonder I’m one-shotting them.

  Jason was honestly quite hesitant about the fourth floor. When he had first come here, he’d suffered numerous difficulties. Only after several months had he grown strong enough to handle the floor. At first he had lacked confidence facing these goblins. Only now did he realize that he was no longer like his past self. Each of Jason’s movements were smooth and had a purpose. There was no wasted movement, no openings, nothing. With his stats being similar to someone at level twenty-six, he easily finished off the group of goblins. The goblin shaman was unable to cast a single spell and died with regret.

  As luck would have it, along with some copper coins, a short sword dropped.

  (Basic) Iron Short Sword

  Damage: 20

  Requirements: 10 Strength, Level 5

  Just as he was about to toss the crude rusty short sword away, he was reminded of battle energy. I wonder how much battle energy a crude grade weapon will give me?

  Jason stared at the old rusty sword in his hand and thought about extracting battle energy. As per his command, a screen popped up.

  Do you want to extract the battle energy from this weapon? The weapon will be destroyed as a result.

  Yes / No

  I figured as much. Jason accepted without hesitation. The rusty iron sword crumbled into dust and dispersed into the air. A grey mote of light was left behind. It flew into Jason’s body as a screen popped up.

  0.01 Battle Energy has been successfully extracted.

  Jason’s eyebrow twitched when he read the pitiful amount he extracted. He hadn’t expected much but it seemed that even his cautious hope had been too optimistic. A battle physique was incredibly powerful. How could it be so easy to upgrade? Battle energy wasn’t some random piece of crap that could be cultivated as easy as breathing. A crude grade weapon was barely considered a weapon at all and it was already a miracle that it possessed battle energy.

  Money, money, money. Even if he had a vast sum of money, it would take an extraordinary amount of time to buy weapons from every store. A better use of his time would be establishing a relationship with a big merchant guild. Of course, if word got out that such a weakling was rich with no backing, he would become a target of the dark guilds. He wasn’t prepared to fight against them yet.

  Just thinking about all of this caused Jason to get a headache. One step at a time, one step at a time. A plan started to form in his mind. His first obstacle was fighting Vi
ctor. The survival of humanity was at hand; he couldn’t make a single mistake. He had to be as prepared as possible.

  Jason slaughtered every goblin on the fourth floor. When he ran out of battle energy, he switched to using basic attacks. Occasionally he would run into a large group of goblins, but they couldn’t break past his earth armor. With earth armor as a trump card, he wouldn’t take any damage from this floor as long as he wasn’t careless. He could even stand still if he wanted to, though he would never do so. That would dull his combat sense.

  As the hours passed, he acquired a piece of gear here and there. Before he knew it, it was time for the competition.

  Chapter 10

  Twenty years ago, six towers appeared on earth. One on the east coast of the United States, one in Brazil, one in Germany, one in Egypt, one in India, and one in China. The layout of each tower was the same, but none were connected. If someone entered China’s tower at the same time as someone entered the United States’ tower, they would exist in different spaces.

  As soon as the value of the towers was recognized, the countries in which the towers appeared immediately declared them as their personal property. Everyone worried that proxy wars would be carried out between the different militaries inside the towers, but because they weren’t connected, this concern was unsubstantiated. Five years ago, when ascenders reached the thirtieth floor, everything changed. From the thirtieth floor on, each tower was connected to the others.

  The thirtieth floor was the largest floor by far, around the size of Texas or Spain. Six kingdoms, inhabited by residents of the tower, were situated in different locations of the floor. In the United States tower, the portal on the twenty-ninth floor would teleport someone to the central square of the Vistar kingdom. The other towers’ twenty-ninth floor portals led to different kingdoms.

  To make matters worse, each kingdom was locked in constant warfare. All six kingdoms vied for supremacy. The might of each kingdom was about equal, so each battle resulted in a draw. As soon as ascenders arrived on the thirtieth floor, the scales of battle were sure to tip.

  Now that five years had passed since the thirtieth floor was discovered, things had changed dramatically. War between countries hadn’t officially been declared, but the thousands of deaths inside the towers would say otherwise. Threatened by the close relationship between the United States and Europe, China allied itself with Russia and India. South America was unlike the other countries in that there was no local power strong enough to take the tower for themselves, so it was basically up for grabs.

  When the United States sent a military force to occupy the tower in Brazil, it was to their shock that they found Chinese forces already inside. The first to twenty-ninth floors in Brazil’s tower was bloody indeed. None of this had anything to do with Jason, at least for now. He was just too weak to deal with the powers that ruled Earth.

  In the Vistar kingdom, a tan colosseum stood tall. It was reminiscent of the ancient colosseum in Rome. Surrounding the colosseum were numerous pubs and inns. In a pub called the Lone Warrior, Jason sat at a table eating his fill. Not long ago, he had used the scroll to teleport to the thirtieth floor before making his way to the colosseum. He fought for a whole day without food, so he got a bite to eat before the competition.

  The pub was packed with ascenders of all ages. Old, young, male, female, it didn’t matter. Anyone could become an ascender, as long as you had the will. A pub was a place of gossip, and this one was no different.

  “Hey,” a middle-aged man spoke to his companion, “why don’t we go watch some of the competitions today?”

  His companion drank from his mug before responding. “Hmph, I’m only interested in the battles between mid-tier guilds or higher.”

  The middle-aged man rolled his eyes. “As am I, but those bastards make the competitions private. No one can watch them!”

  “They don’t want to make their abilities known. I’d do the same.”

  “You two, I wouldn’t dismiss the low-tier guilds so easily,” a thin young man said from a nearby table.

  “Why’s that?” The middle-aged man raised his brow.

  The thin young man leaned in. “I have some inside information. The top two low-tier guilds are battling today.”

  The middle-aged man rubbed his chin. “If I recall, aren’t they named Purity and Farcry? I hear they’re pretty close to becoming a mid-tier guild.”

  “That’s right. They’re only a bit away from becoming a mid-tier guild,” the young man agreed.

  The middle-aged man’s companion snorted. “So what? What’s special about them?”

  The young man grinned. “As luck would have it, I happened to overhear Farcry’s guild master talking to a teenage boy. You know Farcry’s leader, Henry, right?”

  The middle-aged man and his companion grew solemn. “Yeah, I hear he’s quite ruthless.”

  “Even I would avoid that crazy bastard.”

  The young man continued. “What was strange about their conversation was that Henry was respectful as he talked to the teenager.”

  “Huh?” The middle-aged man widened his eyes as he heard this.

  “That Henry?”

  “Right, right!” The young man nodded repeatedly. “I found it so strange that I did a bit of asking around, and what I found was shocking!”

  The middle-aged man and his companion leaned in. “What did you find?”

  “Quickly, spit it out!”

  The young man lowered his voice. “The teenager’s name was Victor. He’s a natural-born!”

  “What?!” The middle-aged man recoiled in shock.

  “A natural-born? Are you serious?”

  The young man nodded slowly. “Yes, it should be correct. Otherwise why would Henry treat that teenager so respectfully?”

  The middle-aged man recovered from his shock. “Do you know who his parents are?”

  “That, I don’t.” The young man shook his head. “But we can find out his strength by watching his battle at the competition. He’s been recruited by Farcry’s team to battle today!”

  “Waiter, bill please!” the middle-aged man shouted excitedly.

  The three men left the pub, followed by a bunch of other ascenders who had listened in. Only a few people were left, with Jason being one of them. His face was grim. I can’t believe it. How come I didn’t hear of this before?

  Jason had been listening to the nearby gossip as he ate. His opponent, Victor, was actually a natural-born? This was terrible news. It had to be known that natural-borns varied in strength. It depended on how strong their parents were when they were born.

  The tower was a magical place. Ascenders were able to become superhuman and learn all sorts of abilities. What would happen if two ascenders had a child? Would the child be a normal human, or would they inherit their parent’s abilities? The answer was the latter.

  A natural-born was someone whose two parents became ascenders before they were born. They inherited a part of their stats, skills, and spells. Even skill and spell grades were inherited! Thus, a natural-born’s strength depended on how strong their parents were. But a natural-born could grow stronger as well. Because only twenty years had passed since the tower had appeared, there was only a small number of natural-borns. Most were under ten, with only a few being teenagers. The oldest was nineteen years old.

  Looks like I have to take this seriously. Jason stood up and walked out of the pub. The entrance to the colosseum was packed every day, so he had trouble finding Purity’s group. Suddenly, someone tapped his shoulder. “You’re just on time.”

  Jason turned and found Ashley. “Hello.”

  “Follow me.” Ashley dragged Jason by his arm towards the colosseum. “By the way, I never asked you for your name.”

  “Jason.”

  “Nice to meet you, Jason. I’m Ashley.” She smiled slightly.

  He figured it would be best to tell her what he learned. “Did you know Victor is a natural-born?”

  Ashley stiffened s
lightly. “We learned not too long ago.”

  Jason asked solemnly. “Do you know what abilities he has?”

  Ashley shook her head. “No, Farcry paid the additional fee to make their match private. No one can watch it.”

  The colosseum was special in that thousands of matches could occur simultaneously. Each match would occur in an independent space. You had to pay a small fee to set up a match, and they were normally available to the public, though you could pay an additional fee to make it private. The main reason why guilds chose to use the colosseum for settling competitions was that nobody could be killed during a match. As soon as your health dropped to 0, you would be kicked out of the match and healed to full health.