The Tower of Authority was composed of eight summits, with a hundred steps separating each level.
With every summit awakening a new fraction of Authority, the complexity and strength of the power gained by challengers varied vastly depending on the highest summit they managed to reach before the awakening period abruptly concluded.
Thus, the struggle to awaken a powerful Authority was not merely a battle of raw willpower, but a race against time—against a deadline that no one could predict.
"Four more summits to go after this," Arthur muttered to himself while taking the final step onto the fourth summit.
The climb this time had been completely uneventful; the fourth summit was deserted, with Arthur as the first and only challenger to set foot on it so far.
[Congratulations, challenger on reaching the fourth summit]
[The tower will evolve your existing authority affinity]
"Again with this affinity thing?"
This time, without trying to sit down or delve into the floating texts he kept receiving, he tried to press onward toward the fifth summit quickly.
Bam- ow!!
"What the?"
He bumped into a non-existent wall the moment he tried climbing to the fifth summit.
Rubbing his aching forehead, he reached out curiously, feeling for the non-existent wall blocking his path.
Unable to trust his eyes anymore, his hand felt a surface blocking his path. "Alright, this is too freaky, even for me... and I've seen some questionable stuff"
He ran his hand along the surface, applying a bit of pressure to test its sturdiness. "...almost feels like the same barrier that restricts me from climbing back down."
Realizing he was trapped until the tower finished its process, Arthur resigned himself to sitting down and waiting out the physical changes washing over him. This time, he didn't bother trying to inspect what was actually happening to his body.
If he had, he would have seen the azure glow of the runes engraved upon his core shifting hue and altering its entire structure.
This transformation was far more than a simple addition of a few new glyphs. The entire runic system across his core was rearranging itself from the ground up—and not just on the surface.
Had he plunged his consciousness deeper, he would have realized these runes weren't flat, two-dimensional lines; they overlapped and interconnected across complex, multiple dimensions.
Finally, the azure cosmic runes were completely blotted out by a far more intricate network of glyphs radiating a sinister violet light, slowly dyeing the aura within his core the same shade.
"Besides, I have a little time; might as well rest a little." Arthur thought to himself while taking deep breaths in short intervals.
Finally, the changes were coming to an end, so he opened his eyes, hoping to understand the changes purely through the floating words he was gonna receive.
"The last affinity was the wind element.... with an evolution, it's supposed to change, right?"
Some part of Arthur was a little excited to see these changes, although he would never openly admit that to himself.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long.
[The Challenger has gained the Vibrational Bound Aura]
[Path: Bound]
[Authority: Vibration]
The new text barely gave him enough information to go by, but he wasn't dumb and was able to piece together a pattern from all the previous summits.
"Time to put another summit behind me."
Arthur stood up once more, headed towards the stairs. But right before rushing in, he stretched out a hand to feel for an invincible barrier.
Only taking a step onto the next set of stairs once he confirmed the path was clear.
His thoughts this time while climbing were void of the frustration and anger that plagued him on his way up from the third floor.
"Somehow this feels like one of those fantasies I had when I was younger.... A new world, supernatural powers, and all that crap..." Arthur chuckled at the absurd thought as he reflected on everything he had experienced so far.
One could make that conclusion as long as they were a fan of fantasy novels, and as an editor who'd worked on several fantasy novels so far, it was almost impossible not to have this thought.
In fact, the realization was long overdue.
Fantasy,
Transmigration,
Cultivation. He'd seen it all, and the similarities were abundant.
Arthur laughed to himself, feeling especially ridiculous given his age. He glanced back over his shoulder to make sure no one was close enough to catch him talking and chuckling to himself.
The sight of it certainly wasn't flattering.
"As long as I keep up this pace... I should be able to get out of here soon. I just hope nothing unexpected pops up."
Following the trend, if there was a change that he wasn't familiar with, then waking up would be the least of his problems.
"Once I'm awake, cigarettes are taking a backseat for a while," he resolved, blaming his entire bizarre experience on that single lunch break smoke.
At the bottom of the steps leading up to the fourth summit, all five challengers, who were resting on the third summit, had initially started their climb for the fourth summit.
From their position, it was almost impossible not to see Arthur starting his climb to the fifth summit.
"Are we witnessing history?" Henry was the first to break the silence that settled the moment Arthur was seen walking up to the steps leading upwards.
"History? I'm surprised that you know the meaning of the word, but.... it's no big deal." Lucas took the opportunity to infuriate Henry, who was two steps behind him without even bothering to turn around.
The strict rules of the tower made him exceptionally bold; there was no way Henry would dare attack him inside. Not if he wanted to survive his awakening.
"No big deal? Can you climb at that speed?" Myu was the one speaking this time, taking a step ahead of Lucas. She asked in a soft voice, a perfect reflection of her gentle look.
"..."
Lucas went silent upon hearing the question.
Henry didn't even try to mock Lucas for going mute. He too found the speed Arthur was moving at absurd, and he had no way of matching that speed even if he wanted to try.
"The reason I said 'it's no big deal' is simple, really... Up next is the Sixth Summit." Lucas spoke with confidence, and slight nods of agreement could be seen the moment he gave his reason.
"And if he makes it to the Sixth Summit?" Myu was the skeptic asking this question, and in response to her question was a challenger who had avoided speaking so far.
"That's impossible; you'd be claiming he'd be the Seventh Transcendent with a Legendary Authority..." Nessa spoke with total conviction, refusing the thought that Arthur would even attempt to risk it.
"In the past thousand years... there's been only one of those monsters who successfully reached the Sixth summit."
Vihr, who barely spoke, finally found it appropriate to speak once his sister decided to speak.
"Although the difficulty is on a different scale compared to the other summits so far, It's been done.... It's been done six times so far." Vihr decided to correct Ness's perspective, seeing that she wasn't being rational in her judgment.
Ness heard her brother's words and was shocked, making her stop in place.