A long long time ago... when humanity was still at its age of infancy, when we used everything that we can find just to survive, it was thought as the time when our civilization was at its most peaceful, even though we barely just scraped by, which was kind of ironic...

It was hard at first, but due to the tools created by our intellect, we flourished, and eventually our population grew to the point that it was impossible to contain everyone in a single group, so eventually we had to create tribes.

It was still unclear why we did that, but in the present the best speculation was that it was due to our clashing beliefs, something that will be very important later on. But if there was one thing that didn't change, it was the fact that our primitive ways dominated that time.

However, on that fateful night, when all of a sudden, our surroundings turned pitch black even though our sun was supposed to be at its peak.

Then as if that wasn't bizarre enough, the twenty-seven moons who were thought to be so far apart that it was improbable that such an event could happen, aligned all together and became one.

Our planet and its atmosphere moved erratically causing our whole world to tremble. Then the torrents of wind came rushing down like a tornado without form, it was then followed by the sudden gravitational shifts turning those unlucky ones into mushed carcasses.

It had caused a massive uproar to all the civilizations, but even those without sentience followed their animalistic instincts, some howled, some whimpered, while some growled, and the humans where no different. it was as if the world was warning us of its impending doom...

Every single one of humanities tribes gathered, and prepared to fight whatever what was coming. Because even though everyone felt hopeless, some warriors who were brave enough used their ancient tools to fight back an unknown enemy.

Together they rallied and raised their spears and bows to protect our ancestors and the future generations.

But right at the tensest moment, when it seemed like something was about to erupt at any moment, the ground beneath them froze.

It turned rock solid, they tried to move to release themselves from their footing, but they were bound tightly. However, right as they were beginning to panic, a loud shattering voice strong enough to make their eardrums bleed spoke.

The voice declared,

"Listen... MORTALS KNEEL"

Instantly, a light blinding enough to contrast the pitch darkness of their surroundings descended,

and one by one all the races were forced to prostate themselves...

The deities then further exclaimed and referred to themselves as gods.

"YOU HAVE ALL BEEN GRANTED A CHANCE" The deities deep tone resonated all throughout their bodies.

The occurrence was just too bizarre, mystical even, to the point that our ancestors were curious to see what the deities looked like, it was ingrained in our nature after all.

However, that would prove to be a fatal mistake, it was a lapse on their judgement, as they didn't even begin to consider how arrogant those powerful deities sounded like.

One of the greatest Odysseus, those people who were tasked with recording the most crucial events of our tribes tried to raise his head.

"HOW DARE YOU GLIMPSE AT US!"

The plants surrounding them rapidly began to wither, the domineering aura that was suppressing them became even more intense, and in a fit of rage one of the deities popped the head of the bold human who didn't know his place.

It was torturous a process where his heads veins surfaced on his skin, then his head turned red and then into violet until it finally exploded like a balloon, but the only difference was that it made a squishing sound instead of just a pop.

"DON'T TRY OUR PATIENCE"

The demeanor of the deities changed, the vibrations from their voices it was enough to send shivers down their spines.

It was clear that they were still angry, they were like insects that could be crushed at any moment, no, not even insects they were beneath that.

It seemed like that the death of one of their own wasn't enough to quell their ever so increasing disdain for lower beings, the mortals.

"RIGHT ABOUT NOW A TOWER SHOULD BE EMERGING FROM YOUR WORLD-

CONQUER IT, AND YOU WILL BE GIVEN THE POWER TO RULE THIS WORLD"

"WE DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO, BUT BE WARNED THAT THE RACE THAT DOESN'T TRY WILL BE PUNISHED"

"THE WINNER WILL BECOME ONE OF US"

"YOU HAVE ALL BEEN GIVEN A CHANCE—DO NOT WASTE IT"

Those were their final words as they vanished, and the returned the world to almost normal. After that everyone was too stunned to even utter a single word, the sheer fear that they left was enough to last for generations...

For the last months or so, the snow didn't disappear, in fact it even became colder as the snow-like rain fell down on each and everywhere the tribes settled.

Their territories became unhabitable, to the point where some of them even died of starvation, because almost no life could survive the harsh winter that they were facing.

Until finally they reached their breaking point...

All of the tribes figured that they were being punished according to the gods' words. So, they came to an agreement, that they would send their best warriors as their representatives.

But to all of those who were chosen one stood out as finest of them all, Alexander.

He was a warrior through and through, because when the twelve representatives wouldn't budge on who should be the leader, they decided to hold a fighting competition.

And for Alexander it was not even close, he never lost a single match.

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Because of the results no one even dared to argue against him. Together, they went on to travel in an attempt to conquer the tower...

Their direction? It was the gigantic stick from far away that even seemed to reach highest peak of our skies, perhaps maybe even outside it.

...

In ten years-time, the snow had completely disappeared, and Alexander returned with five of his companions, it seemed like that two of his allies died, while the other five decided to settle down and protect their base near the tower.

He came back even stronger and does not seem to have age a single day, he then taught humanity a newfound power using his knowledge from climbing the tower, which was then later on known as, Magic.

But he had another purpose for teaching all of tribes how to wield magic, that is to find those who were useful, and recruit them to climb the tower together with him.

One by one the tribes disappeared as Alexander's empire grew...

There were those who'd wanted to seek for more, there were those with noble goals and ideals who wanted to fight for humanity, and there were those who were just greedy for power.

However, there were also those who were stubborn enough to stay, but in time they all slowly ceased to exist, as some died due to the wild evolution that the animals went through, while the others weren't just able to hold a stable population to stop it from declining.

Then until now, to the present where our village was the last of those stubborn tribe who refused to go.

"But mommy, how did our village survive?" Philip wondered.

"Because one of our ancestors who awoken magic left us with something" Estella answered enthusiastically.

"W-What is it?" Philip asked and thought that-

'Could it be something amazing?!'

"Now that is a story for another day!" Philip pouted at his mom's reply.

"Then let's get to the reason why I told you that story." Estalla tried to change the topic.

She then followed it up with, "It's time for you to awaken your magic powers! Aren't you my little Philip excited?!"

"R-Really?!" Philip now brimming with anticipation couldn't help but forgive her mother's past transgressions.

"Yes, that's right, with this "Truth Stone" that we received from the surveyor, we can tell what type of magic you're compatible with" Estella smiled cheekily and rubbed her nose, feeling proud of herself because of the story and the knowledge she just imparted to her son.

(The stone from far away looks like as if it was just any other stone that one can find on the ground, but if one was to take a closer look at it, one would be thrilled to notice that the stone was perfectly round like a ball, and also there were multiple runes of ancient language carved into it.)

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Ahh... I how could I forget about that cheery and outgoing surveyor, who used to bring us news from the capital of the empire.

His job was to survey and explore the land from the empire to the direction of our village. Because of this, he would always stop by the village to rest while in the middle of his job, and in return he would give us news and items free of charge (including the supply of truth stone).

However, if there was one information that he wouldn't share to us, it was anything that relates to people of royal descent, they were pretty tight lipped about.

We found that out when one day a curious villager asked, if Alexander who didn't seem to have aged a day was still alive? Given that the events of that pasts were turned into story of legends now.

However, the surveyor in a serious tone just replied with, "I suggest that you stop there, don't ask that question again, if you don't want to be executed."

Anyways, this nature of job, a surveyor, recently surfaced and became the most in demand and high paying job due to its necessity.

Because, when humanity reached the 50th floor, they finally came to know of the identity of some of the other sentient races, that are also attempting to clear this tower, aside from other humans

They then exchanged information with them and found out that our tower wasn't the only one that emerged from the ground, there were also others that were summoned near the territory of the other sentient races. From then on, through the various exchange of information the smartest conquerors and the empires most trusted aids deduced the possibility of other multiple sentient races that lives in this world, aside from the ones that they just met.

Another crucial piece of information was that apparently the other races territory was so far away in the world outside of the tower, it would take about sixty years to travel in between the countries, even with fastest flight magic mage or the longest teleportation mage (which was a thousand hectares at best, and the mage would need about a full week to recover their completely depleted mana).

Covering that amount of distance is just way too long and such a huge waste of time, when that could be spent getting stronger inside the tower. Thus, it would just be better to hire someone specific, leading to the creation of the job surveyors to confirm this theory.

So, at that time, the only way to even possibly interact with each other was through inside the tower, where both humanity and the other sentient races expanded their territory and probably where the main empire and the emperor/leader resided.

In the end, when humans allied with some of the races, the only way to travel from empire to empire in the outside world, was through the passages of the naturally occurring gates inside the tower.

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Estella then instructed her son on what to do, "Now Philip, touch this stone and close your eyes to access the depths of your mind."

Philip obeyed his mother's words and began to enter his subconscious...

"Right about now, you should be seeing a similar sight to the galaxies above us." Estella further explained.

Philip thought that, 'His mother was right, the sight was indeed very similar to the galaxies above us'

His consciousness then began to slowly materialize, it felt like he was rapidly solidifying but at the same time he felt free, like he was in an immaterial state where he could go anywhere in the vast empty void of his own galaxy.

He felt powerful...

"Think of your body as a hole in the galaxy and absorb all of the stars that are compatible with you—It's time to awaken your elements!" His mother said excitingly.

One by one, different colored lights began flickering, steadily their luminosity started to increase, until finally in their last glimmer, when their radiance shone brightly the most, a weave of light connecting them to Philip appeared.

Philip, listening to her mother's instruction began forcefully pulling all of the mystical light as he could...

Eight vibrant colored lights connecting to the stars slowly inched towards Philip's ethereal body, until he had fully absorbed them.

However, just when he thought the surreal experience was over. Without any warning, all of the remaining stars also connected to him and began traveling towards him instantaneously.

He knew that this was dangerous, his body couldn't handle this, as he slowly began feeling pain from both the physical world and here, his mother tried to pull him, but he couldn't stop.

He couldn't help but just stare, as the stars neared him...

The stars clashed with the energies already residing in him, until finally they collided with the stars inside him.

...

Philip's temperature raised through the roof; his agonizing expression couldn't help but also materialize at the physical realm.

His mother which was worried sick called for his husband, "D-Dear help us!!"

But both of them couldn't do anything as their son suffered,

"W-What do we do?!!, I shouldn't have made him awaken his magic-This is all my fault!" Estella spoke as she hugged her son, trying to comfort him.

Her husband consoled her by saying, "This wasn't your fault, I'll come ask the surveyor to see if he can do something."

...

However, before the surveyor could even arrive, Philip screamed in pain and had already lost consciousness.

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I fell asleep for a whole three years, but my parents didn't stop taking care of me, seeing that I still have a pulse.

Apparently everyday they washed my entire body, and didn't stop talking to me about their everyday life, they didn't give up on me-

I was truly loved...