[The tower detects two soul domains within the challenger.]
"Huh? Two soul... domains?"
Arthur was simultaneously shocked and confused. He was confused because he barely understood the concept of a soul domain to begin with.
Shocked, because the horrifying theories taking shape in his mind were becoming more probable with every revelation at these summits.
One soul equaled one person—that was a reasonable, logical truth. An instance of two souls occupying a single body, on the other hand, was just plain possession.
Appearing inside the tower in a different body hadn't seemed like a big deal when he still believed this was all a dream. But ever since his true thirty-four-year-old body appeared in his mind space back on the Fifth Summit, his mind had been drawing disturbing conclusions.
This bizarre experience was proving to be anything but a dream.
Arthur felt like he was losing his mind even entertaining a silly conclusion like transmigration, but the evidence was stacking up fast.
First, unlike all those other times... It's still the same dream, just with a lot more... differences.
Arthur thought, methodically laying out the facts.
Secondly, a core, an affinity, an Edict, an Authority... every single one of these terms reads straight out of a fantasy novel trope,
Even if I was imagining all this.... there are supposed to be some similarities between what I know and what I imagine... right?
Then there's my body. Arthur looked down at his hands, a cold pit forming in his stomach. I feel my real age and memories in my head, but my hands... my body... It's that of a kid's.
This absurd amount of detailing for a measly dream?I don't work that much; when did my subconscious start to?
He had tried returning to his mind space ever since he was violently ejected from it, but received no response. Since his Edict had been drawn into that space, he could still feel its presence lingering within him. Yet no matter how hard he tried to seize that connection, an invisible barrier kept him locked out.
No matter how lucid a dream is... there's still a degree of control I should have over my own consciousness, right?
His doubts multiplied with every unanswered question. Sensing that he was about to spiral into endless theories, Arthur took a deep breath and forced his eyes back onto the floating text.
[The challenger has awakened two Soul Authorities unique to the nature of each soul domain.]
[Soul Authority: Cosmic eyes.]
[Congratulations, Challenger, on awakening a True Authority.]
Arthur felt a subtle, profound shift reverberating through him. He quietly traced the sensation, only to discover that the change originated from the very space he was currently barred from entering.
"Dammit..." Arthur muttered in sheer frustration. "There really needs to be a customer—no, a challenger service desk for questions that pop up during this crap."
"This is just terrible service, if you ask me."
With fresh questions concerning what was real or not, sprouting at every summit, a direct answer would have been infinitely more valuable to him than these cryptic, nerve-wracking rewards he couldn't even access.
"No matter what, I'll get my answers once I reach the final summit."
Arthur took several slow, measured breaths, steadying his nerves as he waited out the physical resonance washing over him.
Once his mind settled and the newly carved cosmic glyphs embedded themselves within his inaccessible mind space, he finally turned his gaze toward the stairs leading to the Seventh Summit.
Without the slightest hesitation, Arthur began making his way up to the Seventh Summit.
The sight of Arthur challenging for the Seventh Summit was enough to blow the minds of challengers below him.
He was clueless of the significance of his actions, but the challengers below weren't, and with the count of challengers increasing on higher summits as time ticked away, Arthur feats were no longer limited to the view of the five- no, four challengers still on the fourth summit.
Vihr had never felt so challenged seeing Arthur climbing for the Seventh summit, even after reaching the Sixth summit that would allow any Transcendent to become peak figures within the Empire.
Of course, Arthur barely thought of scaling the tower as a risk; still, Vihr knew none of this and was instead pushed into action by watching Arthur's bravado.
Vihr, this time, after evolving his authority on the Fourth Summit, immediately left his previous companions to take their time.
Currently, he was on the tenth step, never taking his eyes off Arthur as he tried to go step for step with Arthur,
His brain almost incinerated when the pain became unbearable, and he had to adjust to his pain tolerance.
"How's he doing it?"
Vihr had the same thought, though seeing Arthur take two steps when he hadn't even taken a single step, and the fact that he barely had a pause in his rhythm made the sight ridiculous. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping . com.
Still, he pushed himself to his absolute limit, especially since he no longer had his challengers beside him.
Not quite as fast as Arthur, since nothing about the way he was climbing made sense, but harder than he pushed himself from the first to the fourth Summit.
The sight of Arthur crossing the midpoint of the challenge on the Seventh Summit was spurring.
That was an unchallenged Summit since the discovery of the Tower of Authority.
Even transcendents who were able to make it up to the Sixth Summit were unable to muster the courage to try aiming for the Seventh Summit.
"At this rate, he's gonna get to the Seventh Summit before I can even make it to the Fifth Summit," Vihr muttered to himself with twitching lips at the unreasonable sight he kept watching as he climbed step by step.
It was unknown if the twitching of his lips was from the pain he was enduring or the sight of Arthur leaping step after step.
Fortunately, though, his endurance was paying off, with his feet making it onto the thirtieth step leading up to the Fifth summit; it was still hard to get excited about his progress, especially seeing his rival about to reach the Seventh summit.
"Dammit..." Accidentally missing a step, Vihr skipped a step, ascending two steps at a time.
The shock of pain was enough to leave him breathless and rolling back down to the previous floors, but the mechanism of the tower not allowing challengers to go back left him in place, shivering.
"... I thought I was going to die for a second there," Vihr's fear peaked from the pain he just felt. He was only distracted for a moment, leading to the mistake.
He was almost tempted to relax for a moment, but his eyes caught sight of the monster a few steps away from the seventh summit.
Spurring him forward, he pushed past the mental drain and fear, step after step, although he knew that he might not be able to reach the same point as Arthur.
He wanted to reach his goal,
The Sixth Summit,
Or, as a Transcendent with Royal blood, how would he ever stand with his head high around Arthur?
From the sight of Arthur was gonna reach the Seventh Summit, his mind didn't entertain the thought that Arthur would dare try to reach the final summit.
In his mind, reaching the Seventh Summit was already too far, and with Arthur's luck, he was supposed to be thankful he made it to the Seventh Summit without much of a problem.