“Welcome to the Tower of Revelation!” Ondal announced to the watching crowd.
The moment Ondal finished saying the word "revelation," a sudden and unexpected flash that seemed to envelop the entire world—Frontier, blanketed the area. In an instant, Eric, along with all the rest of the tower challengers, found themselves within a forest.
With annoyance, he kicked the ground. “More forest? Is that all this new reality has to offer me?” His questions were rhetorical, but they conveyed genuine emotion. “I didn’t even get answers, or even get the chance to ask any questions,” he added, as he began to glance around, taking in his immediate surroundings.
Nothing about the surrounding forest was out of the ordinary. He didn’t have ample knowledge about trees, so other than one or two who he knew the names of and recognized by their leaves back on Earth, for him, all the surrounding trees were normal. But, as he lifted his gaze, he saw something that had nothing to do with trees, something that didn’t belong within a normal forest.
At a distance, atop a high cliff the seemed to spring out from the middle of the forest, a giant arching gate, with a blinding white light at its center, demanded his attention. Eric could feel a tug from the gate, but he easily dismissed it, only observing it with deep attention.
Before he could begin to examen his situation, system windows appeared before him.
Congratulations on your first entry into the Tower of Revelation.
You have entered the first floor: Floor of the Body.
New quest!
Quest: Trapped on a living planet.
Objective: Survive the infested planet.
Rate of infestation: 15%.
Portal time remaining: 57:44
Rewards: Access to next floor, +1 Reward point.
Skills will be disrupted.
Magic will be disrupted.
Concepts will be suppressed.
Storage items will be limited.
System windows will be disabled.
You will receive notifications as your rate of infestation increases. Every breath, every step and every action you take will invite the infection deeper into your body.
You who has reached a new level in your cultivation, discover the limits of your new form.
As Eric read the windows that appeared before him, he noticed the grass at his feet move. He frowned and dismissed it. “Must still be disoriented from whatever the tower did to bring me here,” he told himself, bringing his attention back to the windows.
When he finished reading the last window, as if somehow knowing that to be the case, he began to feel odd. He felt something in his mind, no, multiple somethings spread across his mind. Like multiple obstructions that were blocking some kind of flow. It didn’t disrupt his normal thinking and function, but he could feel them, lingering there.
“Status,” he said, trying to bring his status window forth, being unsuccessful. He then tried to will it forward, also failing.
“I don’t have magic or concepts,” Eric said, beginning to analyze his situation and what he was feeling. “All of my skills are mental in some capacity.” He paused, once more looking at the grass. Narrowing his eyes, he once again dismissed his worry, but was more alert. “Mental Focus enhances my thinking and Mana Insight has to do with percep—" Exhaling deeply through his nose, he stared at the grass intently.
The grass, as if somehow knowing that it was being observed, ceased all odd behavior. Though, it could just be that his mind was playing trick on him, he was infested after all. However, he didn’t believe that was the case.
On instinct, he tried to activate Mana Insight, to see if he detected any mana fluctuations, only to be met with a slight disturbance. It was almost like the command got lost in a storm, not delivering the command activation.
Narrowing his brow, Eric instead focused on his slowly developing ability to sense mana naturally. It was an incredibly faint ability that more than anything gave him a vague idea of mana’s presence and at times, its amount. Like when he could sense that Anna and Alex had gotten stronger, equating what he felt from them, to what he felt from himself.
While keeping his gaze firm on the grass at his feet, he tried to concentrate on that ability. Somehow, his ability to concentrate had increased, allowing him to do so in a much easier fashion. After a couple of minutes, he felt it. A faint mana signature from all around him. He couldn’t guess as to how much it was, but it was there, permeating the environment.
Suddenly, he felt a slight tug and the faint noise of what he knew was the System, probably trying to give notification because he had just done something worthy of attention.
Dismissing whatever he was feeling, he lifted his gaze. He glanced at his surroundings, noticing that everywhere he looked, there was grass, not a single patch of dirt could be found.
Slowly, he tried to lift his foot, only to be met with an unnatural resistance. Tugging at his leg slightly harder, he was freed. Looking at where his foot had just been, the ground seemed completely normal, but he now knew that wasn’t the case. Something was going on.
As his sense of unease grew, Eric glanced at the distant gate, set it as his target and broke out into a sprint. The first steps felt like his first, an unnatural resistance that could easily be ignored once he applied just a bit more strength, but as he advanced the resistance grew.
Finally, as he entered the forest proper, he felt something creep up his legs. It was a slow and gradual advance, each step creeping further upwards, until finally, it reached his upper thigh. As if cement hardening, his entire leg locked up, held in place by an unknown substance.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Eric felt each and every single advance that the substance made, but he didn’t want to stop, he wanted to reach as far as he could. It wasn’t that the substance suddenly hardened, it had been hardening the whole time it advanced, only now was Eric’s strength not enough to power through.
With his leg seized, Eric fell, rolling on the ground, only stopping when he hit the tree. Now with no other option, he glanced at his leg. Whatever it was that had hardened and caused his leg to lock up, had dispersed with his fall. On his entire leg, there was a green substance, like moss, that visibly moved, trying to connect to its now scattered parts.
Eric moved frantically, removing all the moss from his leg, only to realized that it was also creeping down his arm. A sense of urgency surged through him as he looked up and saw that the moss was creeping down the tree that he had hit. He forced himself to concentrate on his surroundings, trying to grasp what was going on.
Suddenly, everything shifted and became much more vivid. Colors brightened and sharpened, as if a switch had been flipped. Not only had his vision become much clearer, but everything else did to. Every sound, smell, and even the taste that lingered in his mouth became much more intense.
Where the forest had previously only smelled of slight dirt and some greenery, it was now an intense earthy aroma that filled his lungs. With his new hearing, he noticed how eerily silent the entire forest was, only the distant sounds of battle filling the silence.
His skin now felt every sensation, from the tree bark that pressed against him, to the faint brushing of air that accompanied his every movement. He felt a miniscule droplet escaping down his ears, eyes and nostrils, with some gathering at the tip of his tongue. It was that black substance that he believed he had already discarded completely. It slowly coursed down his skin, with Eric having to spit the small droplet that rested on his tongue.
With the rush of awareness that assaulted him, he noticed the creeping moss, now more vivid than ever. Focusing on it, he saw dense particles that traveled with it, heavily saturating the air everywhere it moved.
“This isn’t moss,” Eric said, somehow seeing faint circular objects floating in the air as the light hit them. “Are those… spores?” Not knowing anything about plants, fungus, or anything remotely related to either, that was the only word he could associate with what he was seeing.
The image of a certain video game came to mind. Spurred by the natural and understandable desire to not want to become a mushroom zombie, he surged with energy, breaking any of the hardened moss that had already crept up on him.
But he didn’t get far, almost, as if the forest were alive, the trees stuck together, their branches and maybe even roots intertwining and preventing his advance. When he tried to leap over the trees, their branches lashed out, moving like whips, ensnaring him and literally tying him down.
Desperately struggling to free himself, he thrashed around, violently fighting against the whiplike branches that ensnared him. But it was a futile fight, more and more branches loomed in his direction, making any and all efforts a battle of attrition.
“Fighting trees in a forest,” Eric began amidst grunts, “how the fuck is that fair!” he exclaimed, ripping branches apart with his bare hands.
With every movement he made, with every flex of his muscles, even during his struggle, the freedom he felt kept increasing, showing no signs of stopping. His muscles screamed, but not due to strain, but out of elation as they felt their freedom increase, slowly reaching their full potential.
He struggled to his feet, slowly outpacing the speed at which the tree branches reached him. The trees before him seeming to whither as they forced the growth of more and more branches.
“Finally!” Eric exclaimed, gasping but not for air—it was a mere reflex, his mind and body still not in sync and unaware of what the other could do.
Just as he steadied himself, he felt the earth under his feet shift slightly. Something stronger, more flexible and durable wrapped around his leg, keeping him in place. Whatever it was, it was damp. Eric recognized the sensation. “Wet earth,” he muttered.
Trying to yank himself free, he realized that the roots that had only now risen from underneath, were far stronger than the roots he had been struggling against. The difference was absolutely staggering, his legs felt firmly incased in cement, preventing even the lightest movement on his behalf.
Eric felt something bore into the back of his neck, not something physical, more… abstract. Am I being watched? he thought to himself, but he quickly left the thought there as he didn’t have the freedom to indulge it.
Feeling that the trembling of the ground was increasing, he felt his sense of urgency increase. However, this was to his detriment. As he increased the speed and strength of his struggle, the more he felt that he didn’t possess enough, like his body was failing him.
It wasn’t just in his head; he was actually exerting less and less strength. And that wasn’t all. His senses began to dull, slowly returning to what they were when he appeared in the forest for the first time.
The synchronicity that his mind and body were achieving was being forcefully removed by his own actions. His desperation fueled his doubt, and his doubt caused disharmony.
Eric didn’t even notice how his thoughts were affecting his actions and vice versa. His mind was too addled and racked with a sense of urgency that stopped his thoughts from finding any clarity whatsoever.
But then, a heartbeat, a pain on his leg as the root tightened on his leg. “Focus on the pain,” something within him told him. Just like with the barghests, something was guiding him to focus. It was using knowledge that was his own but bringing it to bear with an almost uncanny strength.
Focusing on the pain, Eric managed to realize that he wasn’t as strong as he had been. No, he just wasn’t exerting as much strength as he had been mere moments ago.
What’s the difference? he asked himself, his mind still bogged down with urgency. My body is complete, and I’m not injured, so what’s the difference?
Running through his memories, slowly and with great effort, he began to analyze everything he had done. He quickly realized what it was.
I don’t feel whole, he began. This is my body, but its changed. Its changed far too much to be the same. His muscles began to stretch and contract lightly, not affecting his movement and struggle. I need to make it my own once more.
Ceasing his struggle, Eric closed his eyes, feeling himself be enveloped in a mess of roots, branches, leaves, moss and dirt.
----------
Not far from where Eric was, two figures were facing off, the tension between the two was palpable. One had eyes full of purpose and the other eyes of disinterest.
The woman breathed out softly, and in that moment, the air seemed to slow as it conveyed the cold of her breath, freezing whatever moisture was in it. As the cold touched the ground, a thin sheet of ice formed, coating the surface beneath her.
Before her, stood a young reptilian man, his black robe with golden trimming flowing with the remaining air pressure that was created from the high-pressure steam that resulted from each exchange.
The System had restricted the usage of skills, but nothing could strip the elements that coursed through them—no more than you could strip heat from flame or cold from ice.
The two were completely unaffected by the spore that threatened to take over everything and everyone within the forest. The spores froze midair or burned to ashes before they got even remotely close to either of the two. To the two figures, the forest was merely the stage, their only opponent was the person they faced.
The lizardman’s magma filled eyes clearly conveyed what he was feeling. With a bored sigh and a lazy flick of his tail, the young lizardman spoke. “Can’t we leave this for later?” he began, the words almost having to crawl out of his mouth. “I have stuff to do, appointments to meet, and people to kill,” he continued, his voice deep and crackling.
With an exasperated sight that matched the lizardman’s disinterest, the woman rolled her eyes. “For a prince, you have far too little patience,” the white-haired woman said with a smirk.