Years had passed—seventeen years, to be precise.
It was the year 1736 of the Era of Destiny.
Lights were everywhere.
People were clapping, shouting with joy, screaming a name he couldn’t hear.
It felt like a concert.
The lights in the hall exploded throughout the dream, blinding him.
Zhua jolted awake.
Huff…
huff…
His heart was beating so fast that he had to do everything he could to calm himself.
He took several deep breaths and raised his hands to his cheeks.
Clap!
Clap!
The sound of his palms striking his cheeks was slightly loud, though not enough to wake anyone else.
He got up and muttered in a sleepy voice,
“Seriously, why do I keep having these damn dreams?”
He grabbed a white shirt carelessly draped over a chair and quickly put it on, buttoning it as he walked toward a mirror.
He splashed water on his face.
Get yourself together, Zhua Rengui, he thought.
He left his room and walked casually through the church orphanage.
Hearing someone muttering curses under their breath, he eventually arrived at a wooden door.
Opening it, he said in a relaxed, teasing tone,
“Zeuna, you shouldn’t be overworking yourself like this.”
Seeing her, he picked up a basket of laundry.
“Call me Mom,”
Zeuna replied.
Turning his back to her, a mocking smile appearing on his lips, Zhua made sure she couldn’t see it.
“No. I’ll call you whatever I want.”
“Stop smiling, brat.”
Zhua gritted his teeth.
“Seriously, I hate it when you do that.”
“You should’ve awakened, then,” she shot back.
The two began walking outside along the path.
Zhua glanced at the tower in the distance and said,
“You’re not going to tell me how, are you?”
“I already explained it.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Conditions are unique to each person and nobody knows what they are. But it’s annoying. I don’t want to take the natural route—it’s too slow. You have to wait for some kind of breakthrough, usually through a dream or vision that gives you a clue. It could happen anytime… or never. I might remain an ordinary human for my entire life. Just let me enter the Tower.”
Zeuna froze.
Liz, who happened to be passing by with a stack of laundry, immediately turned around and left.
Traitor, Zhua thought.
Zeuna crossed her arms.
“Zhua Rengui, remind me how the Tower works.”
Zhua swallowed nervously, set down the laundry basket, and began reciting.
“Hmm…
The Tower exists everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Every ten floors, there’s a Historical Dungeon that recreates an event from this world’s history.
The trial and difficulty of the dungeon depend on the power, talent, potential, and connection to destiny of those who enter.
“Several people can enter a Historical Dungeon together, but the difficulty increases because the Tower calculates the group’s power, talent, potential, and destiny connection as if they belonged to a single person.
“There’s also a chance that group members won’t receive the same Historical Dungeon if their power, talent, potential, or destiny connections differ too much. The only way to stay together is if the members are roughly equal in at least one category—or ideally all four.”
Zeuna nodded.
“How do we climb the floors?”
“Through doors leading to the next floor. You just have to open them. Of course, you need to find them first.”
“And why is that difficult?”
Zhua hung a piece of clothing on a clothesline before answering.
“Because the floors’ ‘caves’ are infinite—or almost infinite.
Every time someone enters a floor, they’re randomly teleported somewhere inside it, making maps impossible to create.
“On top of that, monsters roam the caves, and some guard the doors leading to the next floor.”
“Is there anything besides Historical Dungeons, young man?”
“Yes.
Mini Historical Dungeons hidden throughout the floors’ caves.
For example, a mini dungeon found between Floors 1 and 9 won’t grant the Master Rank.
For that, you need mini dungeons from Floors 11 to 19.
“Mini Historical Dungeons grant half-ranks. Unlike normal Historical Dungeons, which can only be cleared once, mini dungeons can be challenged almost endlessly. However, they won’t grant a complete rank—only additional skills and abilities.”
“The downsides?”
Zhua looked at his hands, avoiding her gaze.
“If someone dies in either a Mini Historical Dungeon or a normal Historical Dungeon, the monsters from that dungeon are released randomly into the world.
We call these events Rampages.
“A Rampage can affect anything from a small village to an entire country—or in rare cases, even a continent.
“The Tower has no system interface except when you complete a dungeon or gain a skill.
“Time is also distorted inside the Tower, making it impossible to know how much time has passed in the real world.
“It’s even worse for dungeons without time limits.
You have to solve them to leave.
Otherwise, you’ll be trapped forever.
And if you die inside, you won’t come back.
“There are also checkpoints that allow you to teleport to places you’ve previously visited within a floor’s cave, but only after you’ve cleared that floor.
“Floors ending in zero—such as Floor 10, Floor 20, and so on—don’t have checkpoints because they contain nothing except their Historical Dungeon.”
Zeuna nodded.
“How do people enter the Tower?”
Zhua hesitated.
“You have to say, ‘I want to challenge the Tower.’ But you must genuinely believe it, or it won’t work.
“And to leave, you simply say, ‘I want to stop the challenge.’
“Though that doesn’t work if you’re inside a Historical Dungeon.”
Zeuna ruffled his hair and gently stroked his cheek.
“Well, at least you’ve kept your brain.”
She handed him some money.
“Now go to the market. I need you to buy the ten books I ordered. After that, you’ll attend the lessons on Artifacts and Bodies.”
Zhua groaned and headed toward the marketplace.