Chapter 17

While discussing past events, Mori and Nari eat in a luxurious restaurant known as Galor.

"After the death of your tower group, the government announced several new laws and requirements involving the Towers and Scar Bearers."

Mori continued to scarf down food as Nari talked.

"Most of them have to do with keeping Scar Bearers in check. But others have begun finding loopholes within these. Such as Bu Park."

Nari pulls out a list and hands it over to Mori to let him look at it.

The list comprised numbered rules, something all Guild-involved members were given to memorize and recall.

1. Scar Bearers are prohibited from entering the Towers alone.

-If not followed, potential death may accrue

2. Scar Bearers are required to be ranked by the Scar Bearer Association before participating in any raiding of any sort.

-Entering without an official rank will lead to a Fine or even Prison Time.

3. If Scar Bearers die in the tower, no one is to blame.

4. High-ranking Scar Bearers are granted different privileges compared to low ranking. Meaning more money, opportunities, and power. Etc

5. If a murder involving an ordinary civilian and a Scar Bearer happens. The Scar Bearer will be guilty until proven innocent.

6. If two Scar Bearers fight, both Scar Bearers will be held responsible for property damage.

7. Scar Bearers are forbidden from unleashing their weapons within city limits unless given permission.

All laws will be handled by the Scar Bearer Association within each country until further notice.

"This is a pretty simple list."

Mori says as he hands back the tablet and continues eating.

"It's more or so to keep everyone aware of the new rules. They are as simple as they could've made them. But I can assure you their much more extensive. To help fight against some of the loopholes. Such as the murder in the tower. If an entire raid group enters the Tower and only one person survives. Then that calls for an investigation."

Mori stops eating midway and looks Nari directly in the eyes.

"Are you saying I need to be under an investigation?"

"It is pretty suspicious that you disappeared for nearly two years after your entire raid group died."

Mori sighs as he drops his fork and leans back in the chair.

"The only thing I can tell you is, it wasn't me. The boss we had encountered. It was something out of this world."

"Everything in the tower is out of this world; please be more specific."

"It tested up and made us play an unwinnable game."

"You're telling me a boss of one of the floors was smart enough to set an unwinnable game?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying; the game was probability, yet, nothing about it was winnable, even after choosing what we thought was the correct answer. People continued to die; at first, I thought it was simple, but over the time, I was locked in the tower. It started becoming more apparent to me. The game had no correct answer. Its actual plan was a massacre."

"Hold on for just a moment. You were locked in the tower?"

"Yes... After I awoke, I was alone and near the tower entrance. But it had a popup on the door. That counted down from a year. But after I beat the last floor's boss, I was teleported back to the entrance, and it unlocked the door for me even before the time was up."

"This is the information we were looking for... It seems this will provide us with what we've been missing. You see, ever since the guilds were created. They've been tasked to clear the towers over and over. However, we weren't prepared when we learned they rebuilt themselves after clearing them, which put a significant hitch into their purpose. Until recently, a tower in Osaka had fallen."

"A tower fell?!"

"It's not just that... the tower was never touched when it first appeared. People believed that was the key to ridding the world of them. However, at the base of the tower was a tear in the form of a scar. It floated, and people were curious after observing it and doing research. Osaka concluded it was a portal to another dimension."

"A-Another dimension? You mean to another world?!"

People turned their heads to observe the noise.

"Please reframe from shouting."

"S-Sorry..."

"Yes, to another world. But we're unsure of where it goes."

"Has anything else happened since it appeared?"

"Osaka had built a barrier around it to ensure no one enters it. But as of three months ago. A terrible fate was bestowed upon them."

Nari pulled out a tablet and quickly pressed through multiple articles and documents until she found what she was looking for.

"Take a look at this."

She handed him the tablet and waited and watched for his reaction.

*Sorrow Subdued

*Anger Subdued

*Helplessness Subdued

"T-This is..."

"The article was grim, and the world is still shaken after the events."

The article showed an image of Osaka filled with a variety of monsters. As he continued to scroll, he read more.

The portal that had opened from where the tower once stood has begun to release monsters into our world. Osaka was caught in this unfortunate case of events as a fraction of the city's residents were massacred.

Mori scrolled to see more images of people lifeless and the city turning into nothing more than a destroyed monster-infested region.

"Currently, The Association is barricading around Osaka, ensuring the monsters don't attempt to reach other cities. Of course, this isn't the only city that has fallen to such events... Dalian, Sydney, Rome, Los Angeles, and many more have also fallen to monster infestations. After countlessly losing cities to these portals, the government decided to name them Lesions—wounds in our world's dimensions."

"Lesions... It seems like a lot has happened while I've been gone."

"More than you could ever imagine. Even now, we're unsure what the future holds for us."

Suddenly a popup appeared before Mori's face.

*The one known as Nari-Seo has attempted to look into your Scar Bearer Tree.

What? He thought as he looked up at Nari, who hadn't eaten. She's just been looking at him this entire time.

*Would you like to preview the character profile?

"Yes?"

Mori said, throwing Nari off while also answering the system's question.

"My apologies; I got lost in thought."

"That's quite alright. I'm sure you have lots of questions still, Nari-Seo."

Nari continued to talk while Mori looked through her profile.

*Name: Layn Nari-Seo

*Ability: Tree Observation

*Ability Description: Allows the user to see into another person's SBT(Scar Bearer Tree)

*Severity Weapon: Raiden's Halberd

*Stats:

*HP: 53,310

*MP: 11,592

*Strength: 91

*Agility: 124

*Vitality: 352

*Intelligence: 252

*Skills:

*Severity Eye(LV.MAX)

*Preservation(LV.3)(Passive)

*Judgement Call

*Skill Description:

*Severity Eye: Allows The User to look into a Scar Bearers Tree

*Preservation: Allows the user to regain MP faster than the average Scar Bearer

*Judgement Call: Skill Info corrupted

"Corrupted... What does it mean by corrupted?"

Mori whispered to himself.

"It seems you've had enough to eat. Shall we prepare to leave?"

"O-Oh no, no. I'm still quite hungry. It's just that I was thinking of something."

"Of course, I believe you'd have the most questions out of everyone."

"You could say that, haha."

"Then what is it that you wish to know?"

"U-Uh... Could I know some more about the guild stuff?"

"Are you talking about entirely or just Seoul?"

"Entirely would be nice."

"Then allow me to explain, the guilds started arising shortly after the new laws were dropped. People would begin forming large armies of different ranks and severities. However, without order, Chaos erupted. Guilds began fighting over towers which began guild wars for a short period. Causing one man to take charge, that one man would be our Guild Director known as Jin Ko-Sa. The one and only Severity Ten in the entire world."

"A severity ten?!"

"Oh, my apologies, you aren't aware of Severity Ten since you were only around for one through five. You see, Mr. Ko-sa can use any weapon he desires. His weapons also come with different abilities. Making him the strongest Scar Bearer in the world. So to commemorate his strength, a new ranking was created. This new ranking changed how we see the power of Scar Bearers. Whenever a person is declared and proven as a Severity Ten, all rankings are dropped letter-wise. Meaning the only title they need is S10."

"A Severity Ten sounds incredible..."

Maybe, that's what Mori had to become to be known as the strongest himself.

"So now he runs every guild in the entire world to keep order. Which helped reconstruct every guild in existence. Currently, there are only seven in Seoul, and they're ranked from strongest to weakest, but don't judge a book by its cover, as even the seventh guild is deadly to the tower. The guilds are ordered as such The Shade Guild, The Renai Guild, The Desire Guild, The Paradox Guild, The Striders Guild, The Assault Guild, and lastly, The Serenity Guild."

Nari began scrolling through the Guild Masters profiles and information.

"Currently, Jung-so, the one you met earlier, is the Guild Master to The Shade guild. However, due to his lazy tendencies and over-obsessive nature with the Crimson Cure and the towers. He chose someone to take his spot. So he could participate in the Tower raids. Money and power are his motives. That's the only reason he stands at the top."

"He's not the best person from what I've seen."

Mori says as he rips meat from the bone with his teeth.

"You're correct about that; he's a monster in many people's eyes. Yet the government looks the other way because he continues to fight in the tower. They only hope that he'll find death within it someday. But for now, they're powerless against him."

"Usually, the strongest are malicious yet calm, those sinister snake-like people you see in movies. Yet he's outrageous and compulsive."

"He's something else, that's for sure."

"Is there anything else I should know?"

"Well, I could explain the guild hierarchy system to you."

"You mean like the tiers of command?"

"Yes, as you may have heard from Jung. I am the Head Guilds Seer of Korea."

"Which means?"

"I'm second in command under the Director himself. The way The Director has created the hierarchy was by power and lawful abiding. He knew he couldn't do everything by himself, so he chose a handful of people to become Head Guilds Seers for every continent. Of course, with some, there are multiple. Like me, I am one of the three for Korea."

"Where are the other two?"

"Currently working in different areas."

"I see."

"With those people, he could get reports of which guilds need to be aided, terminated, or rebuilt. Below us are the Guild Masters such as Jung-So and Bu Park; below them are their Vices and their assistant members, then lastly, their guild members."

"You guys have been building quite a bit while I've been gone."

"As the world changes, we too continue to follow after with our countermeasures."

"Then does that mean the testing for ranking has changed?"

"Yes, we have developed a more precise and safe testing system for Scar Bearers."

"May I test it?"

"You wish to be reranked?"

Shit, he thought... I jumped at the question too fast. He forgot that everyone could find out about his newly found power. But his curiosity had warped his decision-making.

"Ah, no, no, I was just curious."

"Are you sure you don't want to know about your rank? I mean, you're still known as a Rank F S1. The weakest of the weak."

"I believe I should keep it that way because I am still the weakest of the weak."

Nari studied him as he continued eating.

"You're a strange one, that's for sure. But just maybe I understand why you don't want to be reranked."

"Y-You do?!"

"It's because you've transmogrified."

"Transmorg a what?!"

"Sorry, let me explain once more. It's come to our attention that some people have ranked up in Severity and rank by transmogrifying. That means they've managed to change their weapons completely, an example being recently a Scar Bearer who was an S2 who wielded an axe, had become an S3 and started wielding a Katana. Their ability stayed the same but evolved in some manner."

"That's possible?!"

"It happens to people unknowingly, like a sweet surprise."

"I'm speechless; I just don't know what to say."

"Simple, just tell me you're secretly someone who has recently transmogrified."

"I-I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I haven't transmogrified."

"Then are you saying something else helped you clear the tower?"

"I'm not saying that either."

"Why are you avoiding direct answers."

"Why are you asking for direct answers."

"To understand your situation."

"What if I don't want you to understand my situation."

"Then we'll get nowhere... As you know, your case is sporadic. Many people will want to know how you did it. Are you sure you want to walk down a path where people will constantly pursue you to get answers?"

"Let them question me... In the end, I know what happened, and I'll keep it that way till I'm ready to reveal it all."

"You're a stubborn one, that's for sure. A guildless Rank F S1. With a title like that, people will surely thirst for answers."