Chapter 3- The Opportunity to Walk on The Path Once Again
In the darkness, a young man laid on the ground with his eyes closed. There was nothing from his motions except for his beating heart.
Suddenly, his body jolted and his eyes opened, showing a pair of deep and extremely dark eyes that could make one immersed into them.
"What… is this? Am I alive?" The young man said to himself with a tone of surprise.
He sat up as he immediately witnessed something that shocked him. His hands were not wrinkled and atrophied, rather they felt soft and youthful like they were in his younger days.
"Is this reincarnation or is this… the underworld?" He wondered as he observed the surrounding area.
He found himself in a dark hallway with only a trail light lighting up the hallway. When he traced it with his eyes, he saw the trail of light was originated exactly across the hallway.
'Am I supposed to follow this light trail? Whatever… it's the only way and I can't stay in here forever.' He thought.
He walked away following the trail of light until the trail of light finally merged with its source as he stopped in a big hall. The hall was spacious and designed like those in the ancient temples with many kinds of paintings, from humans to various mystical fishlike creatures.
"Well… well… seems I have a guest, it has been a while." A voice suddenly sounded from the dark, unilluminated corner of the hall. Footsteps sounds echoed as the speaker stepped into the illuminated part and revealed their figure.
A human, no… a bipedal white-colored humanlike creature with rabbit-like ears and an odd head. There was a black slit in the middle of his face that stretched from his snout to both half sides of his head. He carried a staff on one of his hands with a blue crystal ball at both ends.
"Who! A beastman?!" The young man startled and exclaimed.
"Hmmm, what's a beastman? Anyway, I don't know what is it, and I am not a "beastman", child. You can call me Headon, the guardian of the lowest floor of the tower." The humanlike rabbit said casually.
"It's been a very long time since someone has opened and entered the tower through the gate… I welcome you to the tower, child." He walked in front of the young man as he twirled his unique staff.
The young man was stunned at this development. His mind worked beyond its normal capacity to process the information that was just given by the white rabbit humanoid.
"Tower?! What is the tower? Is it where I am standing now?" The young man responded with a barrage of questions, courtesy of the ridiculousness of the state he found himself in.
"The tower is the place to find everything a person can wish for… money, glory, authority, and absolute power. If you seek abilities and answers which are magical, head to the top. All of the universe's wisdom, glory, and happiness… all of them have always been placed at the top. The tower is such a place." The rabbit man explained as the black slit on his face morphed to a grin.
Hearing the long explanation, the young man fell into deep contemplation. He thought about the moment he woke up until now. He apparently wasn't in the underworld, rather he was inside some sort of tower that could grant any wishes if what the guardian said could be trusted.
It lasted for a minute before he looked at Headon and spoke. "Absolute power and magical abilities… is what you said true that I can obtain absolute power!?" He spoke quickly with a clear doubt in his voice.
"Hold on child, you are eager, aren't you? Why don't you tell me your name first?" Headon spoke lightly, however, he emanated something that compelled the young man to answer him.
The young man stopped in motion as his intuition warned him of something dangerous. He felt a terrifying feeling far beyond his imagination as the black slit of the guardian stared at him.
"Alright... my name is Liu Guanyi." He let out a sigh as he answered Headon.
His intuition that had been honed for years told him that if he didn't answer truthfully, something really dangerous would happen and he didn't want to test it, especially in a foreign land when he barely knew anything.
"Good then, now Liu Guanyi, it is true that you can have anything you wish up here… if you are worthy enough to climb the tower, that is." Said Headon as he pointed his staff to the ceiling.
He stopped as his row of teeth curled into a terrifying grin. "To determine whether you are qualified or not to climb the tower, we, administrators, will hold a test on each floor. The test difficulty will increase every time you go up a floor. As the guardian of the first floor, I will be the one to test you if you want to proceed to the next level."
He nodded as he pondered over Headon's words for a moment, careful as to not miss or misunderstand anything. "So, this is the first floor of the tower? And I must pass a test to be worthy to go to the upper level? And on the upper floor, I could get whatever I wish for?"
"Aha, you are a quick learner aren't you Guanyi? Yes, as long as you continue to climb the tower everything you wish will be realized. As for the test, it is very simple, now look!" Headon exclaimed.
Headon waved his staff, and suddenly, the dead-end wall vanished.
A huge entrance made of iron bars appeared replacing the wall, behind it, there was an area filled with what seemed to be blue water similar to the sea, yet felt different somehow. However, those details were easily overlooked because of the existence of a creature inside it.
A white, long eel-like creature with red hues on some parts of its body. A pair of long, bull-like horns protruded on its head and with a long beak full with rows of big sharp teeth in both of its sides, its appearance was truly monstrous.
"That's!" Liu Guanyi exclaimed out of shock at seeing the monstrosity.
"That monster is a kind of divine fish, for your information, its name is "White Steel Eel". It lives in the sacred waters inside the tower. Generally, it is very mild-mannered but… it hasn't eaten anything for months so it's easy to imagine how starving it is."
"Your test is very simple, you only have to defeat or survive against the eel for ten minutes." Said Headon with a smile.
Listening to Headon's words, he stared at the monster in the water. He pondered a while and thought that the difficulty of the test was too ridiculous. No matter what, a young man like him cannot ever hope to stand against such a behemoth.
However, he remembered the guardian's words and witnessed how he magically changed the wall… maybe it wasn't impossible, it was just not possible… yet.
Seeing that he was unresponsively staring at the monster, Headon spoke coolly. "Are you afraid? That's too bad, you can't climb the tower if you don't pass the test."
"No, it's not that, rather the chances of passing it are too negligible. Can you change it, o great guardian?" Liu Guanyi tried to speak smoothly to persuade him.
"Hoo, you are quite a smooth talker, aren't you? It might work on girls, but unfortunately for you kid, I cannot give you any special treatment." Headon shrugged his head.
"I don't have to do it right now, do I?" Liu Guanyi let out a sigh and asked, and then sat down in a meditative position.
"Hmm, not really… what are you doing?" Seeing this Headon scrunched up his "brows" in wonder.
Ignoring the guardian, Liu Guanyi closed his eyes as he purged any useless thoughts and turned his complete focus onto his body. What he was trying was to sense the "inner energy" inside his body to awaken it.
Every disciple needed to accomplish this by themselves to be able to become warriors, if someone helped in the process it would damage their potential, limiting their future achievement but if they failed, it would be damaging as well. Hence, without long training and proper guidance, a disciple would never attempt it.
However, for Liu Guanyi this was just as easy as drinking water. Since he was very familiar with the process, even more with the "inner energy" itself.
'Unfortunately, my body is not strong yet, so I cannot go beyond "Initiate Warrior". Hopefully, this will be enough for me to survive against this gigantic eel. It doesn't matter, how can I improve without any obstacles in the Martial Path?' Liu Guanyi thought as he steeled his resolve again.