Query

"It would appear we've suddenly become enemies..." remarked Himmel, his tone relaxed as he materialized a broad-bladed sword with a golden crossguard and a long, royal blue handle. A large, oval-shaped, sapphire-blue gemstone was embedded near the blade's base, and when infused with Mana, the entire blade emitted a faint golden light.

"I prefer the term rivals," countered Vahn, holding up his hands, a pair of black and gold gauntlets materializing around them as he remarked, "We could also team up or part ways to find other oppon—"

Before Vahn could finish speaking, a powerful tremor spread through the ground like a subterranean pulse before the entire floor appeared to begin shaking. Some of the people who had been invited to the newly anointed Tower of Ascension were among the greatest figures in anime, manga, or fiction as a whole, so even though the floor was larger than the continent of Australia and exceedingly durable, it wasn't impervious to being shaken by their power.

With the trembling only becoming stronger, Vahn spread a pair of angelic wings and took to the sky. To his surprise, Himmel did the same. However, instead of manifesting a pair of angelic wings, tiny, fairy-like wings formed of light appeared at his ankles.

Functionally ignoring each other, Vahn and Himmel watched as the terrain beneath them began collapsing and visibly undulating as if it formed from a bunch of rings. Himmel had no idea what this was, but Vahn recognized it almost immediately, his throat tightening, his eyes wide in awe, and his smile cramping as he asked Sis, 'I'm guessing Whitebeard was one of the people who accepted our invitation...?'

[Indeed.] responded Sis, her voice calm and to the point as she added, [But the tremors should stop relatively soon.]

As if punctuating Sis's words, a visible shockwave emanated from beyond the horizon, seemingly rippling through the entire floor as it sent Vahn and Himmel reeling from the wind pressure alone.

[That would be Saitama.] stated Sis, fairly confident as she asserted, [*I estimate he has a 99.492% of securing and holding the top position in this particular batch of invitees.]

'Saitama? As in the main character of One Punch Man...?' asked Vahn, his skin, particularly his palms, feeling clammy and his stomach heavy, almost like he had swallowed a large lead weight.

[I intend to use him as a Benchmark to determine the difficulty of higher floors.] explained Sis, appending [*His power might appear extreme now, but it will be the standard to surpass the 50th floor.*]

"I believe I may have overestimated my capabilities or underestimated the power of other worlds..." remarked Himmel, still sporting a smile but with a bead of sweat trickling down the left side of his face.

"It may take a while, but you can become just as strong if you work hard and continue upward," responded Vahn, pointing to the seemingly empty sky overhead.

"I will climb..." confirmed Himmel, offering a firm, determined nod before adopting a more relaxed expression and asking, "But are you sure it's wise to grant such power and opportunity to others? I simply desire the power to ensure my world's liberation from the Demon King's tyranny, but others may not be as reserved in their pursuits..."

"There are failsafes in place to prevent that," responded Vahn, his ears perked and gaze fixed in the direction of multiple air-tearing shockwaves and explosions as he revealed, "Each person and the world they originate from is assigned a letter grade that denotes their potential in comparison to other worlds. If someone attains power that significantly exceeds that of their world of origin or the floor they're on, they would be subjected to a seal that severely limits their actions."

"I see..." hummed Himmel, caressing his chin thoughtfully. The Tower of Ascension was turning out to be even more of a fantastical place than he realized, and since he had the fortune of appearing next to Vahn, he was in a better position than most.

"Tell me, Vahn...is it true that this Tower exists outside the standard flow of causality? Do we really not age or die for as long as we remain here...?" asked Himmel.

"It's more accurate to say that you age slower as you move higher up the Tower," responded Vahn, explaining, "True, unchanging immorality inhibits growth, so unless you surpass the 50th floor, you would reach the end of your life or lose the will to live within ten to twenty thousand years. As far as dying within the trials is concerned, there are a ton of failsafes in place, but no system is perfect. But as a general rule, you can't perish within the Tower so long as you remain alive in your original world. Inversely, anyone who passes in their original world could continue living here, but from that moment on, you become susceptible to true death."

"In other words, if we perish in our original worlds and then die here, that's the end of the line..." hummed Himmel, curious to know what Vahn meant by true death but deciding not to inundate him with every question that popped into his head. There was one thing he had to know, however, compelling him to ask, "One final question before we part...is it possible to invite others from our world into the Tower?"

Nodding, Vahn revealed, "There is a possibility they could be invited here naturally, but if you want to invite someone here as a guest, there are day and even permanent passes you can obtain from the Tower Shop. Guests can't participate in the trials to ascend to higher floors, but they could live and work in the regions designated as safe zones."

"Tower Shop...?" questioned Himmel, unable to restrain his curiosity. His instincts were telling him that he and Vahn should probably relocate, but since death would presumably just transport them to a lounge where they could continue chatting, he did his best to suppress it.

Nodding a second time, Vahn revealed, "This will be explained in detail later, but there are blessed regions known as Checkpoints that serve as safe zones, residential areas, and respawn points for those attempting to challenge the Tower. You need to be within a Checkpoint to return to your original world, and while there, you'll have access to various facilities that require Tower Points, the Tower's principal currency. The Tower Shop has virtually anything you can imagine within its stock, but if you want to buy a planet or personalized pocket dimension, you'll need quite a few points."

"Am I correct in assuming we acquire Tower Points by performing well in the trials and defeating monsters...?" asked Himmel, noticing a giant boar and several other monsters fleeing across the devastated plains beneath him and Vahn.

"That's right," confirmed Vahn. "But, to prevent certain individuals from devastating entire floors to farm points, you need to retrieve and trade in destructible and consumable magic crystals that disappear within an hour of being left unattended. Also, if you kill too many monsters too quickly, a powerful monster known as a Bouncer will appear to send you to the next floor."

Raising his brows, Himmel asked, "Does that mean it's possible to skip the trials entirely if you defeat enough monsters?"

"Yes, but that's easier said than done, as the power of monsters increases exponentially as you rise," explained Vahn, further revealing, "The force of gravity and density of mana also increases, so it's best to take things slow and acclimate to your current floor before—"

Sensing someone enter his domain, the world around Vahn appeared to darken, all sounds replaced by a pervasive, warbling hum. Attempting to turn his head created a rainbow-hued filter that caused everything in the direction he was turning to invert as if he was looking at them through a black light. At the same time, everything in the direction he was turning away from became almost neon green in hue, the two extremes separated by bands of color ranging from impenetrable violet to a dull, dark crimson.

Unfortunately, though his domain gave him relativistic perception and the capacity to react near-autonomously, Vahn barely had time to twitch his eyes before a silvery-white blade erupted from his chest, having pierced his back and heart.

"Sorry, kiddo...nothing personal..." said a deep, feminine voice, somehow piercing through the all-encompassing hum before Vahn got a glimpse of the backside of the person who had eliminated him and Himmel in quick succession, a petite and well-endowed beauty with dark skin, dark purple hair fixed into a ponytail, an orange top, and form-fitting, yoga-like pants that left very little to the imagination...

'I never thought I would get killed by one of my former crushes...' thought Vahn, recognizing the woman as Shihouin Yoruichi from one of his favorite anime and manga, Bleach. And though he had put a stopper on expanding his harem, Vahn couldn't help finding the dark-skinned beauty's round and exceptionally toned backside exceedingly tantalizing as darkness claimed his vision and a feeling of weightlessness overtook his body...

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Accompanied by the feeling of landing on something soft, Vahn opened his eyes to find himself in a large and comfortable room, approximately 10x11m with a ten-meter-high ceiling, an attached bath and toilet, a small kitchenette, and a terminal where those who knew how to use them could access all kinds of useful information.

Closing his eyes and exhaling from his nose, Vahn reminded himself that the odds of him securing the top spot in the event were near zero before throwing his legs off the bed and rising to leave the room. Exiting via the wide, nearly eight-meter-tall door brought him into a spacious, off-white corridor with gently glowing blue arrows and lights directing him to what looked like a large elevator but was the entrance to an atmospheric, red-carpeted lounge. The walls were sleek and sound-absorbant to prevent reverberations, large, slightly tilted holographic displays lined the ceiling, and since it was meant to be welcoming for a wide array of people, there was a self-service bar, heated tables with a variety of different foods in a buffet-style format, and furniture of various shapes and sizes.

Before Vahn could even think to get comfortable or make himself known to the room's occupants, his attention was drawn to a chaotic scene that would be impossible to witness under conventional circumstances: Luffy from One Piece and Natsu from Fairy Tail screaming and beating the crap out of one another at the buffet as characters from a plethora of fictional universes watched or egged them on, including a mountain of a man with a prominent, nearly crescent white mustache, a black bandana, and a tall, muscular build that allowed him to stand several meters taller than nearly everyone else present.

"If you're thinking of going over, I would advise against it."

Hearing the familiar voice, Vahn was both surprised but not to turn and find Nami, yet another character from One Piece, approaching to offer him a pint-sized glass mug of frothy, ostensibly carbonated brown liquid. He was able to prevent his gaze from wandering, but she cut a striking figure in a pastel teal crop top that exposed her navel, a yellow skirt that barely covered more than a third of her thighs, and banded, beige-brown, high-heeled sandals. With his domain, he could also tell she was wearing blue and white striped panties, but he did his best not to focus on them within his mind's eye...

"Thanks," said Vahn, offering his best smile as he accepted the offered drink and downed it without hesitation, discovering it was a type of root beer rather than alcohol.

"You're either really confident in yourself or absurdly trusting to accept a drink from a stranger..." remarked Nami, modeling a smile of her own as she crossed her arms and made a show of eyeing Vahn from head to toe. He was unmistakably handsome, but the thing that caught her attention from the moment he entered the room was the quality of his clothes, his solid gold accessories, and the fact he didn't appear to have his guard up in the slightest. Put simply, he looked like an exceptionally easy mark...

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