「 Honja do not open that door! 」
「 Kwon Joonseo had never met someone so strange. 」
「 He couldn't remember how he ended up here. Only that phrase echoes in his ears, murmuring something he couldn't quite grasp. It's as if he understands these words without truly comprehending them. Were they even words at all? 」
I woke up with a start. I was sweating and my heart was pounding. My mind was buried under a mountain of thoughts racing through my mind.
I raised my hand to my skull still in shock. The memories paraded one after another through my mind.
It was as if I had suddenly regained my memory. As if I had always lived with these memories.
In the inner courtyard of the 'Jongmyo' temple, the atmosphere was buzzing. Everyone was finishing their preparations to leave for the tower. Some parents and children were crying.
It was normal, no one had ever come back from the tower. Now that I had recovered my memories I knew it.
There was only one way to come back alive from that tower…
"Honja-ssi!"
Taehyun called out to me from the door of the sect's armory. His face wore a big smile. In one of his hands he held one of the swords from the 'In' sect.
I walked towards him. He shoved his sword under my nose, overly excited.
"Check this out! They gave us real swords like in the movies!"
I affectionately patted his head. Then he spotted Yoon Jiyeon in the distance coming out of Munjoong's office and ran towards her.
I entered the armory and geared up in turn.
The swords of the 'In' sect weren't of excellent quality but their sharpening gave them certain agility. I also put on one of the blue fabric jackets bearing the sect's crest on the back along with a braided flower pattern on the sleeves.
These jackets looked like simple pieces of blue fabric stitched together but in reality a regeneration arcane of ether was inscribed in the threads. Just wearing it filled your heart with ether.
When I came out of the building, Munjoong signaled me from the inner courtyard.
"Good morning Grand Master."
His face wore a mischievous smile. "Good morning, did you sleep well?"
"Let's say my thoughts are clearer than yesterday."
"So much the better." He reached into the inner pocket of his tunic. "I have something for you."
He handed me a wooden hahoe mask that seemed to have been hand-carved judging by all the splinters sticking out of it.
I carefully took it using a flap of my jacket. The mask, which was more of a half-mask since it only covered the upper part of the face, triggered the system.
[You obtained 'Hahoe Mask'.]
"Only use this mask as a last resort. I don't even know if it still works so it's better not to use it."
I brought up my inventory and stored the mask inside.
"I'll be careful."
The Grand Master then stepped onto the stairs of the main building to overlook the crowd. I joined Yoon Jiyeon and Taehyun who were chatting cheerfully.
The Grand Master raised his hands and the crowd fell silent to listen.
"Good morning everyone. I would like to say a few words before we finish preparations and head toward the tower." He swallowed. "As you all know, you will soon enter the 'Tower of the Fragments of the World'. Our sect has always taken charge of new paths and I must say I've seen many generations pass through this temple. None have returned from the tower to this day, and I can't tell you if they are alive or not… However, this is the first time we've reached a reality this close to the origin."
He raised his arm toward the crowd and a glowing blue veil fell upon us then was absorbed by our bodies. Instantly, I felt full of energy.
"It's little, but the least I can do is give you part of my ether and wish you good luck. I have faith in you. The 8th reality will prevail!"
These words had a galvanizing effect on the troops. But they didn't know they were walking to certain death.
Munjoong had only said no one had come back, but he and I both knew that what was in that tower had killed everyone who dared to venture into it.
I had little time left before our departure, and I had to give some information to Yoon Jiyeon and Taehyun. Now that I had these memories, it might be possible to get out alive.
First of all, the system allowed you to create parties, and those parties gave certain advantages like having a private chat from a distance or sending items without paying the stellaron transaction fee.
I opened my inventory and clicked on the icon in the top left representing a group of people. I invited Yoon Jiyeon and Taehyun there before closing the window.
"Honja-ssi what is that?"
I turned to Taehyun. "Accept the invitation, it'll be useful once we're inside the tower."
"That name…"
Yoon Jiyeon made a grimace of disgust as she reluctantly accepted the invitation.
[The entities 'Yoon Jiyeon' and 'Taehyun' have accepted your invitation.]
[The party 'The Crazy Squids' now has 3 members.]
"And how do you know this will be useful once in the tower?"
Yoon Jiyeon's question was legitimate.
"The Grand Master told me."
"I see…"
Yoon Jiyeon looked at me suspiciously, but she couldn't know whether I was telling the truth or not. And anyway, I hadn't exactly lied.
A message from the system suddenly appeared floating above the temple.
[The path 'Climb the 'Tower'' is about to begin.]
Everyone started moving. The Grand Master led the group while the other members of the sect escorted us on each side to protect us.
Since the beginning of the end of the world, monsters had been appearing in the streets; you could hear them growling at night. The sect members patrolled every day and night around the temple to hunt them.
As we approached the tower, the pressure became stronger and a heavy nausea rose in me.
The wind whistled against the tower's walls. It was so tall and wide it filled my entire field of vision.
Its diameter was easily 35 kilometers. Such a structure was simply impossible to support at that height. Assuming the tower even had a top.
This world was truly absurd.
Now that I had these memories, I knew this wasn't the only one to have appeared. In every major city in the world, a similar tower stood.
Each contained the same thing inside, the same number of floors, the same number of entities, and the same number of horrors.
These towers were here to test the participants, built by the administrator to eliminate the weak by turning them into brainless cattle.
Only, their architecture was designed so that no one could come out alive.
Thanks to our escort we reached one of the tower's three entrances without trouble. Each entrance corresponded to one sect.
The groups from the other sects should be in front of theirs right now.
The Grand Master let us enter in groups of about twenty people. The line moved quickly so it was our turn after about fifteen minutes.
The tower's gate teleported groups of 20 randomly to one of the floors. There was no way to prepare precisely.
The worst would be to fall on a negative floor. Those are so dangerous that they aren't even all catalogued.
The entrance to the tower looked more like a force field than a door.
I entered, followed by Taehyun and Yoon Jiyeon and 17 others. The inside looked like a small, round, dark room made of white stone.
Once everyone was in, a system message appeared.
[Welcome.]
[You are now entering the 'Tower of the World's Fragments'.]
BOOM
There was a dull noise then the ground trembled beneath our feet. A few surprised screams broke out. Everything went dark and we were pulled down as if swallowed by the floor. A blinding light enveloped us.
When I opened my eyes again, I was on a hard, cold surface. Around me stretched a world made of stone and lava as far as the eye could see. Above us there was no sky but a rocky ceiling stretching infinitely toward the horizon.
Shit.
Don't tell me we landed…
My suspicions were confirmed by the system message echoing in my ears.
[Floor -1: Hell.]