The tower

Its been a day or two and I had to admit everything was going smoothly. I was running the numbers for the small business Dionysus owned and I had to admit it was perfect for my plans.

Again and Again everything seemed to perfect. I had a feeling this was do to one of my skills. I just couldn't put a finger on which, statistically the fact that the Artem girl summon me? Truly astronomical, unless it had something to do with me.

"We are here My lady!"

I stepped out and looked over the unshapely ivory looking tower. It was just like the one I entered on earth. There were a bunch of kiosk and a small entry zone.

"Enna will you be joining me?"

She shook her head, "Not today. Good luck Lady Dionysus!"

I nodded and walked away from the car. Enna closed it behind me and saw me off. Enna was an awakened, but she wasn't that high level so I assume she didn't want to drag me down. Since the Tower if entered as a party, the person with the lowest exploration score sets the floor entry.

Basically it meant if I had a floor 50, and Enna had floor 25. We'd have to start on floor 25. However in my case... Well, I'd wait until I enter the tower to see. I stepped up to the entry point.

The receptionist smiled, "Are you a party or going solo?"

I would be going solo, but I didn't really trust receptionists at checkpoints like these. So I spiced my response up a bit, "I will be entering solo, but I'll be meeting up with my party inside the tower."

She blinked then nodded. She made a small note and handed me a small card. She waved me off and I walked away. I didn't inspect the card until I was away from people. The card was simple and just used to buy things from the vending machines placed next to the tower.

They seemed out of placed compared to the thing, but they had some useful stuff like potions and extra rations. What caught my eye about the whole thing was it was branded. The vending machines had the same logo as the card. The company was called Freefoam.

I committed it to memory since it was interesting and I hadn't actually seen anything like it. After placing it to the back of my mind I walked up to the glowing arch.

With a flash I ended up in a blank grassy field. The scene didn't surprise me, everyone who enters the tower would see this meadow once. However never again once you started climbing. Well... Or so I thought.

<Welcome to the Tower_5 of Terra! Soul Recognized, You have climbed to Floor 107 of Tower_3 of Earth. Would you like to resume or start a new climb using the layout of Tower_5 of Terra. Be mindful starting from the bottom will exactly the same as your previous climb with the exception of worldly influences.>

I read the message back again and nodded. My theory was right, though I expected I would just have to restart entirely. The fact I could resume my climb on a Earth tower surprised me though. The last sentence was also a joke. The reason the climb would be in its words exactly the same would be because its the tutorial.

The first 50 was the tutorial, and the highest floor on Terra was currently 73 at the current tower rankings. I blinked and a sinister grin plastered across my face. I checked the tower ranking of earth and surprise, surprise! Providence was still number 1 on the rankings. However a few new names appeared and old names vanished.

The Tower took in account if someone was dead and would erase their name from the rankings. Unless you wanted it otherwise, I had to admit it was a good system. I paused and then searched for my name on the rankings. My smile only widened.

My name was greyed out meaning I was counted among the dead. With my score of 107 I also wasn't very high on the rankings. In fact I wasn't on it at all technically. With an insane placement just under a million. Everyone at that rank had greyed out names.

This gave me all the info I wanted about Earth right now though. I could scheme another day. For now I'd restart from the bottom. I paused, sighed, and then spoke aloud. "What will be the name I enter ranking as?"

The meadow glitched. A sign the tower was formulating a response I assume. In my past life Providence revealed it only glitched when he asked something of great importance during an interview of his secrets.

With a ping a system box appeared.

<Welcome to the Tower_5 of Terra! Soul Recognized, You have climbed to Floor 107 of Tower_3 of Earth. Would you like to resume or start a new climb using the layout of Tower_5 of Terra. Be mindful you can also climb the tower under your previous alias Dionysus Athea, starting at floor 47.>

My eyebrows raised, "Now that's interesting."

I shrugged it off, "Enter as alias Alistar, from the beginning."

<Good luck, and if you wish to switch your climb just ask.>

A door appeared and opened. Just like the first time I ever entered the tower. I cracked my neck. It was time to start to climb like a mad man.

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I breathed in the fresh air of floor 48. A forest scenario, where you would defend a village. However I just breathed in the air as it was nice after the 14 previous floors that were caves and swamps.

The tutorial levels didn't have many secrets and the ones I knew were already discovered. The tutorial levels were all specific instances within the tower you were in. Which meant if you were skilled to find a secret in one, you could go to a different tower and get the same secret. Beyond the tutorials however it was only ever one chance for each secret. Specially if you are climbing the tower solo.

I got up and dusted myself off and walked to the village. The village chief greeted me instantly. He ran up and grabbed my shoulders, "TRAVELER! Thank the gods you are here! We need yo-"

I stabbed him and the npc like man stumbled back. "Why?"

I rolled my eyes and slit his throat. Since the tutorials were all the same instances it meant once you learn something they were exactly the same. I remembered the 48th floor.

I responded to the village chief, "I am here on behalf of the goblin king. You stole his son. Prepare to die."

He backed away and clutched his throat. Before he had the chance to run I grabbed him and cracked his skull. The npc men burst out of their homes with pitchforks and scythes. Soon the women would come out with pots and pans and their was no children in the village except the goblin king's son.

This was the secret of floor 48, You had to normally defend the village from increasingly difficult waves of goblins. Until the goblin king shows up and so on. You didn't have to win to get rewards and climb the tower. However if you wanted the biggest reward you would kill the goblin king.

Unless that is if you kill the villagers instead. I grabbed a man and snapped his neck. Looting his body of the treasure you get for this route. One by one I collected things until eventually I found the key to a shed.

My eye twitched though, because of course its the last person I kill that had the key. The key opened the shed that held the son of the goblin king. However each villager also had various jewels, rings or necklaces. This was one of the hidden pieces you should notice when defending the waves. Similar to the lack of children in the village.

The person who originally discovered this after waves of goblins. However, later a more interesting proposal was put forward for better rewards. Since once you save the goblin king's son with his help. He laments how he wishes his kin didn't have to die. So what if you killed the villagers before the waves begin?

Well no one managed it since the villagers were actually really strong for the floor. Its only possible to save the goblin king's son with his help. So the theory was never tested, well... until now. I jammed my key into the shed and kicked it open when it unlocked.

There I found the goblin king's son. The very ugly baby was crying. So i walked over and spoke in my best baby voice. "Babababa." I made a funny face and the goblin child stared at me his tears drying slightly.

I sighed, "Blalala!" I stuck my tongue out and king's son started to laugh. I picked up the child. Now all I had to do was wait until the Goblins come. Then I could get my sweet reward!