The "Ascension Tower" Dimension

~FWISH~

The moment Leon jumped inside the green portal, it felt as though his body was being transported through space and time, making it feel very weird.

It was an extremely different feeling from the one he had experienced when he passed the portal of the pre-selection trial.

It felt… more powerful…

He could still open his eyes while being transported through the bridge from reality to the dimension, and all he could see was a vortex, one which was sucking him.

And after less than ten seconds…

~FWISH~

He landed on solid ground, making not sure to hurt himself as he landed on his feet.

[Hm…]

Leon looked up, and he noticed that he was in… a forest?

But not a normal forest, far from that, actually.

There were hundreds of trees around him, and the area he had 'spawned' in was a very small circle devoid of anything, almost making it seem it was specifically designed for awakeners to appear here.

The trunk of the trees was darkened, not even remotely close to the normal brown, and the leaves were also dark.

This forest… was literally shrouded in darkness, making it almost impossible to see anything in the distance past the ten meters mark, though it seemed like you could still check your surroundings otherwise it would have been impossible to navigate.

The sky was dark too, with no stars visible to aid any of them, and the only thing in it was a giant crimson moon with a single eye on it, that was staring down at the dimension from above.

[Huh, disgusting,] EGO remarked, as the moon could actually blink and move its pupil.

"Don't mind it," even Leon was weirded out, but no point in sitting around doing nothing.

But right as he took the first step…

~DING~

He heard a notification sound.

---

[Dimension Name: Ascension Tower]

[Difficulty: Advanced]

[Level: 1-20 (only those from this range can access it)]

[Objective: Reach the 'Ascension Tower' (third and final zone), then defeat the boss!]

[Number of Zones: 3]

---

Okay, this was a lot of information for Leon, but he calmed down and began to gradually take all of it into account, and merging it with what he already knew to make it make sense.

First of all, the dimension name was 'Ascension Tower', which makes sense since it's the 'Ascension Challenge'.

Below it was the difficulty, and it could be explained quite easily.

Dimensions in this world are basically like dungeons where monsters and items spawn, they are a portal to other worlds (thus the name dimensions).

There are eight difficulties: Beginner, Novice, Advanced, Hell, Nightmare, Awakened, Death and 'Give Up'.

This meant the current dimension was of the third category.

Oh, and don't get it wrong, the difficulty isn't based on ALL the dimensions across the world!

The way the difficulty is classified is based on the level range, in this case 1-20, and how difficult it would be for the people in this range to complete it.

So there can even be level 5 rifts with the 'Give Up' difficulty, meaning that anyone within that range should, as in the name, just give up.

The pre-selection trial in retrospective was 'beginner', which actually seemed quite logical since it was really easy.

But now they had directly jumped to 'Advanced'…!

How difficult could it be, this is what Leon wondered.

[Doesn't matter, just devour them all!]

Then the objective, and it was obvious: it was possibly the most important information across all of this panel, since it showed anyone who entered this place what they needed to do to conquer it.

In this case, it was going to the 'third and last zone', which was the 'Ascension Tower', same name as the rift.

And lastly, the number of zones: every dimension, even the open-world ones, are composed of many different areas/zones, and the amount differs with their size and difficulty.

Some dimensions have dozens of zones (mostly when they are from a higher tier of difficulty), others only 5, and in this case, there were only three, making it seem like it was big, but not so big as to make them lose themselves in here for too long.

If you wanted to reach the end of a dimension, you would be forced to pass a zone (except if there are some hidden zones with hidden bosses that is).

Leon opened his eyes as he noted everything in his mind.

And so…

~DING~

[Welcome to the 'Ascension Tower' dimension]

[First Zone: Forest of Darkness]

[Good luck!!]

The panels disappeared, and now there was nothing else.

Only Leon, alone, in this giant dimension.

[Alone?] EGO raised his eyebrows, reminding Leon that he was here.

"Yes… Alone," he shrugged.

~DING~

[Oh, and by the way, every awakener's spawn point is different, meaning that meeting someone will be kind of hard at the start, you're alone!] one last panel appeared, then vanished just as fast.

[That's what they meant with no one will help you, and you should focus on yourself, huh,] EGO nodded (well it couldn't really do that so it just moved up and down).

Obviously, people immediately began to rush through the portal a little while after Leon entered it, meaning there were already hundreds of people in the forest, each one of them also reading the information.

"Well, no point in sitting back and doing nothing," Leon stretched, his crimson aura beginning to surround his body as it knew that fighting was inevitable the moment he stepped inside the forest.

[COME ON, I'M HUNGRY!] plus, EGO was throwing a tantrum.

"Alright, alright," Leon sighed as he took three more steps.

And then…

[You have entered the 'Forest of Darkness'!]

He was finally inside the first zone, probably lots of other people with him.

Would meeting other people truly be beneficial, though?

[No it's not,] EGO suddenly became serious, [Waste of time, waste of efforts, not worth it, stay solo.]

"Well, I planned to stay alone anyway, and if anyone tries to kill because of a quest…"

[Then we eat them =)]

"Right."

There wasn't much to say between them since their minds were connected, and EGO was just Leon's essence, but it was good to have a companion.

But right as Leon passed the first row of trees, advancing forward toward who knows where, only seeking to find the second zone…

[On your left!] EGO turned his eyes as he informed Leon.

And…

"GROWLL~" a dark wolf, a bit bigger than a normal one, jumped from beyond the darkness, its claws ready to slash Leon.

[Here we go] EGO smiled.