Langa lay in bed, his head filled with thoughts of home, responsibilities, and family. Khaya. At nineteen, he knew that his niece was an adult and could take care of herself, but this was a different world, and his heart ached when he thought about her being in danger with no one by her side. Neo had been with Pranav the night of the Tower integration, and Langa knew that if two players had been close to each other, the possibilities were high for them to be placed in the same tutorial, like Kindaro and Ghol. He did not know if he should hope that Neo and Pranav ended up in the same tutorial or not. For all his faults, Pranav always protected the members of his gang, and Neo had always been special to him. Besides, Neo was both resourceful and a decent fighter himself.
He sighed, his thoughts shifting to his sister. For all his shortcomings, her husband treated her well, so he really hoped that Kgosi would protect his sister no matter what until Langa found them. He would still try to get to his family using the Guardians' way, but maybe he ought to try those Seers or clairvoyants that Lady Mira mentioned as well. Yeah, since he was planning to go into the city tomorrow, as there was also a skill that he wanted to buy, he would also look for the Seers. He also wanted to visit the library as well, to learn more about the Tower and the deities.
Tonight he was going to read those Relgtes that Alfsol had given them. He wanted to know more about the gods governing this Tower and about The Unrivalled. Langa had never been smart in school, but if there was one thing that he loved doing, it was studying ancient gods and myths because it was the only thing that he knew his father liked to do. Here in the Tower, it was a treasure trove of religion, and he could not wait to get into it. For now, however, he wanted to take a nice, long, hot bath and then sleep comfortably for the first time in what felt like years. It wasn't night, but he was mentally exhausted from everything that had happened today.
He sat in that rocky bathtub and slightly infused his mana into the blue crystal. A few glyphs lit up, and cold water poured out of it slowly. He shivered, quickly infusing mana into the red crystal as well, and the water heated up. Wow, he thought, as he found the right balance of temperature and let the water fill the bathrock, this was cool. There was a liquid in a small container next to the bathtub that he assumed had to be soap, he poured it into the water, and it gave off a lavender-like fragrance. He lay contentedly in the water. Seven days of bathing in cold town hall water had made him appreciate this even more. Lying here in a lavender bubble bath of warm water, Langa could pretend that he was back home.
After his fulfilling bath, Langa went back to bed. The blankets were made of some soft new material, and he did not care what it was as he nestled himself inside. The first thing that he did was open his comcer interface to familiarise himself with the Dent. It reminded him of endless nights scrolling the internet on his phone, and he almost laughed.
[Welcome to the Dent, @langelihle. Please choose which menu you wish to access.
1. My profile
2. Tower-wide Leader boards
3. Deiwos Tower Karma Store (Paid Content)
4. Tower-wide Forums (may include InForum Payments)
5. Floor Maps, Dungeon Guides and Quests Help, by Floor (Paid Content)
6. Open Deity Challenges
7. Player/NPC Broadcasts (Paid Content)
8. Player/NPC Offered Quests
9. Player/NPC Auctions (Paid Content)
10. The Infinite Challenge (LOCKED)
11. Celestial Clash (Includes free and paid content)
12. News and Featured Content
13. Guild Zone]
Langa selected his profile, and it showed his username, buttons to go live, and an empty screen where his recorded videos were supposed to be. He had (0) viewers, (0) subscribers, (0) earned coins, and (0) earned karma. That made him pause. Could he really earn karma from people watching his videos? He supposed that since karma reflected a being's impact on the world, then yes, being watched by millions of people across the Tower would increase his karma. There was not much to see on his profile, so he went to check the Tower-wide leaderboards.
There were many different leaderboards, mostly showing player rankings per tutorial batch. There were leaderboards for the highest karma earned, highest floor climbed, highest level reached, fastest to clear a floor, and first to earn sponsorships, among many others. There were even separate leaderboards for NPCs. Langa selected the tutorial batch #4 leaderboards, but only the one for karma earned during the tutorial was filled, and it showed the same list that he'd already seen, with him in fourth place.
There were also overall player rankings and overall guild rankings as well. It seemed that the generally most accepted definitive player ranking was that of karma earned. As such, Langa checked the overall individual karma earned leaderboard, just to see how far apart he was from the strongest players in this Tower. These were the people that he would hopefully compete against in the future if he became strong enough.
Name (Epithet) Tutorial Batch Guild Highest Floor
1. Hucielbicon (The Pioneer)
1 Menika Shin 31 2. Kimi'Nda Shin 1 Menika Shin 31 3. Abchanchu Nocnitsa 1 Hallow Reaper Cult 30 4. Joh Kindaro V (The Dark-Elf Slayer) 1 Soh Piquamu Guild 28 5. Hidden (Quintessence) 1 Hidden 28 6. Kian Dir Besta (Galebringer) 1 Dungeon Seekers 29 7. Jareeksha (The Unbound) 1 None 29 8. Merreddyd 2 Guardians Guild 29 9. Hidden (The Soundless Assassin) 1 (Hidden) 27 10. Alfsol Serene Dulenta 1 Guardians Guild 29
He did not know any of these people, but he knew that it was impressive for the guild master of the Guardians to have made it to the top ten Rankers when she was only from tutorial batch #2. She must have beat out millions of people who were in batch #1. Also, Alfsol was in the top ten as well, and he'd come all the way down to the 1st Floor for Langa. That was interesting, and it stroked his ego a bit. Another name that caught his attention was that of another Kindaro. Honestly, Langa thought, rubbing his temple, how many of them were there? This Joh Kindaro V had come into the Tower with the first tutorial batch, which meant that he had been Chosen by their god, The Demon King of The Thousand Undead Knights. He was already so far ahead of his siblings; no wonder Fi Kindaro III had been so anxious during the tutorial.
It seemed like there were only two players who had cleared the 30th floor, and they were still on the 31st Floor for now, so there was no one to give Langa news about what was happening on the 36th Floor. Well, that was to be expected, after all, the 31st Floor had only been open for a week. He wondered how long it would take until the 35th floor was cleared and people could go into the 36th Floor. Judging by the date, this Tower had been open for 12 years, which meant that it had taken the players 12 years to clear 30 Floors. That was roughly 2.5 Floors per year, but he could not be sure, some Floors were probably easier to clear than others. What he knew, at the very least, was that, going by this estimate, it would take at least 3 years before any player could enter the 36th Floor.
Well, that was depressing, especially considering that the days in the tower were 26 hours long and there were 13 months in a year.
None of this meant much to him, but he was curious about one of the names Jandri mentioned when talking about freelancers, Na’koma, because he didn't see him on the top ten rankers list. He discovered why a moment later.
Na’koma was from tutorial batch 2, he was the top voident hunter from that batch, but not strong enough to be on the overall top ten.
Closing the list of the most powerful players in this Deiwos Tower, Langa opened the list of the strongest guilds instead. He wanted to check the overall guild rankings as well, in case any of them ever tried to recruit him. That was actually relevant for him right now, as he was thinking about choosing a guild.
Guild Name Guild Creation Rank
Date Created
(DWT.T)
Guild Master Patron Deity
1.Menika Shin
S 30/07/01 MDCCLXXIII Kimi'Nda Shin The Red Flaming Blade of Menika 2. Hallow Reaper Cult A 19/01/01 MDCCLXXIII Abchanchu Nocnitsa The True Deathbringer of The Demon Reaper 3. Guardians Guild S 11/01/01 MDCCLXXIII
Merreddyd
The Unrivalled Tower Master 4. Incantatrix Sorcerers B 16/13/01 MDCCLXXIII Baelira Muyo The Uninhibited Lone WitchSeer of Kally 5. Maunolin Clan A 20/03/02 MDCCLXXIII
Poinsettia
The Holy Ruler of The Forgotten and Abandoned Grassland 6. Shadowmancer Pirates A 29/11/01 MDCCLXXIII (Hidden) The Faceless King of the Hidden Mask 7. The Oceantide Eels B 07/05/03 MDCCLXXIII Mi Mia Doranis Mami Watta 8. Soh Piquamu Guild S 02/08/05 MDCCLXXIII Joh Kindaro V The Demon King of The Thousand Undead Knights 9. Dungeon Seekers Guild B 09/09/01 MDCCLXXIII Zymbi'Onaeve The Lackadaisical Herald of The Lightning Storm 10. Vonelle Heilliege Guild B 22/07/03 MDCCLXXIII Latiga Hintazo The Three Fallen Siblings of The Deiwos Clan
So, the Guardians really were as strong a guild as they had said. From this list, Langa knew that even if they recruited him, there were two guilds that he would never join. The first was The Hallow Reaper Cult, because it was sponsored by Liv's father, and there was too much bad blood there. Also, Eniche had said that The Demon Reaper's Avatar had destroyed her whole world, so Langa wanted no part in that type of guild. The second guild that he would never join was the one sponsored by Kindaro's patron deity, the Soh Piquamu Guild, for obvious reasons. It seemed most of the guilds had been formed in the first year of this Deiwos Tower. He wondered who had been the guild master of The Guardians at that time since Merreddyd was from the second tutorial batch. Just as he was browsing the guild rankings, his comcer beeped.
Liv's name appeared on the comcer interface, and Langa smiled. He had not expected Liv to contact him on the first day.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Langa, hey. Did you settle in okay, on the 1st Floor? Did you land in the starting city of a good guild? No one took advantage of you, right? They didn't pressure you into signing any contracts, did they?" Liv's voice sounded worried on the line.
He could not help but laugh. "Yes, Mum, I settled in fine, and I was not pressured into anything, so don't worry," he answered, unable to stifle his laugh.
Liv snorted. "Don't mock me. You have no idea how dangerous certain guilds can be, especially to new, naive players from lost worlds. Where'd you end up?"
"I'm with the Guardians Guild. I think that they want to use me, but they seem decent enough, so I made a deal with them," he said honestly.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
"Hmm... yeah, the Guardians are probably a good place for you," Liv agreed.
"You know them?" Langa asked. Sure, Liv had lived with all this knowledge about gods, Towers and the multiverse his whole life, but he was also new to the Deiwos Tower.
"All Towers have a Guardians Guild, Langa. It's The Unrivalled's personal force of order. Their strength differs per Tower, though. Here they seem fairly strong, and have good authority over the voidents," Liv explained. "Meanwhile, I'm stuck in the south of the capital, in a small town managed by the Menika Shin Guild. They won't stop pestering me to join them."
The Menika Shin Guild? Langa raised his eyebrows, "The number one player in our tutorial batch just randomly ended up in the territory of the number one guild in the Tower? What are the odds of that?" he asked sceptically.
There was frustration in Liv's voice when he answered. "Zero. Their patron deity is the head of the Deiwos Clan, I'm sure that she pulled some strings for them. It's not just me either, there are other members from our top ten here."
It was nice to get even more confirmation that it wasn't just South Africa that had corruption among its leaders, even in the Tower, literal gods only favoured their own. He shook his head. What Lady Mira told him was true after all. Alfsol had come down here because he'd known that Langa would be placed in Guardians territory as well. "Sounds like all the worlds across the multiverse are the same, then," he said.
"Yeah. Well, if you're in the Valley of Guardians, then you're too far away from me. Let's meet in the capital, that will be better," Liv said.
"Sure, I don't mind. But doesn't it cost money to get there? All I have are the coins I earned from the tutorial," Langa reminded him. He pulled up the 1st Floor map that Alfsol had given him. He saw that the capital was almost 15 000 kilometres away from Risa's Plateau. Gods, that would have been the equivalent of an 18-hour flight from Johannesburg to New York! He had no idea how much it would cost here, but he was 100 per cent sure that he could not afford it.
Liv was silent for a moment, and then he agreed. "You're right. Let's meet up in twenty days. There's going to be a celebration for new players in the capital, at the start of the month of Earth, so let's meet then," he suggested. "For now, go raid some fields, close some rifts, or clear some dungeons and earn some coin. If you need anything, you have my mana signature. Just ask."
"I will. I still have a lot to learn, so I'm going to take my time studying this world before doing anything crazy," Langa told him, lying comfortably down on the bed.
"Good, but, listen, I'll give you some unsolicited advice, okay? These first 52 hours on the 1st Floor are very important, especially for us Rankers in the top ten, because multiple deities are watching us. If you can't hold their attention, they will turn away from you, and it's not easy to get those eyes back on you. So, my advice is to make a spectacle, hell, I've already started. Show the deities who you are, what your strengths are, and what you stand for. That way, you will be offered a Sponsorship Challenge by a powerful deity," Liv told him earnestly.
This was basically adding to what Jandri and Alfsol had told him, even Lady Mira had insinuated as much. Most of the Rankers on Tower's overall top ten belonged to guilds, and Langa assumed that they also had deities looking after them. "Is it really necessary to choose a deity?"
For a few seconds, it seemed that Liv contemplated the question. "I wouldn't say necessary, but not having one limits your growth. For the sacrifice of a small percentage of your karma, and following some of their rules, they can give you unimaginable power. That power becomes yours, and it's not easily taken away either, because when giving sponsorships, they also have to sign a system contract, and The Unrivalled does not forgive anyone who attempts to break system contracts," he said. "I heard that punishments for deities who break their word are very steep. So, even if you don't want to have a patron deity and you wish to remain Unbound, you still need to impress them, because you need them to give you divine skills. Without divine skills, your life in the Tower will be much harder."
Langa supposed that this made sense. Well, he had not been planning to be Unbound, anyway, that seemed like unnecessarily complicating his climb. He wanted to take the shortest and quickest path possible so that he could return to Earth with enough power to protect himself and his family. But he also wanted to enjoy himself, living peacefully while competing with other players in races, dungeoneering, and whatever else brought stimulation to his life.
"You know a lot about these deities; are there any that you can recommend to me?" he asked, lying comfortably on the bed.
"That's going to have to be up to you. I will say this though, it's not always better to choose a god over a constellation. Constellations have fewer mortals bound to them, so they will be more likely to pay more attention to you and your growth compared to gods. Also, depending on the rank of the god they follow, it might be better to be sponsored by a high-tier constellation than a low-tier god," Liv told him.
"Alright, thank you, Liv. I mean it," Langa said.
[Many constellations are pleased with Player Liv'Kungsadu's statement.]
[The high-tier constellation: Pokukrom, The Giver of The Cleansing Flame, hopes that you listen to your friend when the time comes, for he is wise.]
After ending the call, Langa was glad. He was happy that Liv kept his promise to contact him once they got to the Tower, and he was happy because now he had a goal. He had somewhere to be in twenty days, and in the meantime, he had to earn some money. He now had a starting line, and all he had to do now, was to get set and ready to run.
*
Langa was fascinated with the holy books that he read last night as he lay in bed. The Relgte contained information regarding the history of the gods. He had read the first few pages of The Relgte of The Deiwos Clan and was surprised that the clan consisted of both saint gods and demon gods. From what he knew, demon gods were agents of Death while saint gods were agents of Life, and they were always at war with each other, but evidently, that was not the case here. Perhaps it depended on who the gods were.
He was interested in reading more about the god who had helped him in the tutorial, but even though The Lackadaisical Herald of The Lightning Storm was the deputy leader of the Deiwos Clan, there was surprisingly very little information about him in their Relgtes. Would Langa have to read his own specific Relgte instead of the clan's Relgte to learn more about this god?
He put all that out of his mind, however, when he woke up the next morning. He once again sat in that rocky bathtub and activated the fire and water lucent crystals, and the warm water trickled into the tub. He was still finding it hard to believe that he was living in a fantasy world, but well, that was why he was going into the city today to get more information. Langa got dressed in his torn leather trousers, boots, and jacket after his bath. He needed to buy new clothes and armour.
“Good morning, sir. I’m Mesala, AD Jandri said that I should be your guide throughout the day,” the young man who brought him breakfast after he was done with his bath, said. He was a kitekin with long, dark, feathery hair. His short wings were folded neatly behind his back as he stood there, bowing before Langa.
What the hell? Langa thought, feeling his heart sink. A respectful kid who wanted to stay by his side? He immediately thought of Makoto, and how he’d died because of him. He did not need to think about him right now, not while he was still weak, powerless, and lacking in information. If he thought of Makoto right now, his heart would burn with the need for revenge, the need to kill Kindaro, but he did not have the power to do that at the moment. Seeing this kid was like adding salt to his wounds. He used his title skill, just to check the boy’s details.
Name:
Mesala Rihd Eno
Race: Kitekin Age: 18 Character: Non-Player Level: 11 Class: Culinarian Available Karma: 7 429 Total Karma: 10 354 Deity: Low-tier constellation: [Gasrfdez The Wild] - Disciple Highest Floor 1/101 (Deiwos Towers) - CONFINED Attribute: N/A Available Respawns: 1/2
This kid was an NPC? Were NPCs allowed to join guilds? Actually, now that Langa thought about it, there was no reason for NPCs not to be strong or sponsored by deities. They could do everything that players could do: defeat field and raid bosses, clear dungeons, and join guilds. The only difference was that NPCs were confined to one Floor, and would therefore be limited to the maximum level allowed on that Floor. The Guardians probably had more luck recruiting NPCs as their members, especially in the lower Floors as NPCs had a level cap that they could reach, unlike players.
Well, all that was beside the point. The point was that this boy reminded him too much of Makoto and Langa did not want him around.
“Get lost, and tell Jandri that I said I don’t need a guide,” Langa snapped at the kid.
The boy's lip trembled, and he shook his head stubbornly. "But I'm under orders to stay with you. Also, AD Jandri wanted me to give you this, for you to bind it to your comcer," he said, handing Langa a thin silver bracelet.
[Standard Issue Guardians Guild Voident Database
Basic Link to the Guardians Guild Voident Database for Tier 0 to Tier 2 Voidents. Press the button to scan any suspected individuals. May automatically identify high priority targerts.
This device is issued to all Tier 1 and 2 Guardians.
Must be bound to a comcer for activation.]
Langa took it from him and placed it on his wrist, infusing it with mana. Sure enough, it disappeared into the comcer, and a new button appeared. How did this damn comcer even work, anyway? It just kept binding more weird bracelets and gaining more functions. "Thanks for the scanner and the food. Now leave me alone," he said.
"I...I can't leave. I'll be in trouble if I don't help you," Mesala's voice cracked. "AD Jandri gave me strict orders."
Well, this was getting annoying. "Is that so? Well, in that case, I'll call your boss' boss and have him sort it out for me." Langa opened up the interface on his comcer, searching for Alfsol's contact details, and used the mana signature to call him. As he brought his wrist up to his ear and the comcer beeped, Langa wondered if Alfsol would answer, or if he was too busy.
"Yes?" The elf answered, clearly annoyed.
Langa cleared his throat, "Hi, it's Langa from yesterday, I'm-"
"I know, what do you want?"
Oh, he sounded pissed off, so Langa decided to be straightforward. "I need you to tell your subordinates to leave me alone. I don't need a guide, I want to go into the city by myself."
"Langa," Alfsol sighed in frustration, it was audible over the comcer. "Do you have any idea what I am doing right now?"
"Clearing the 29th Floor?" Langa guessed.
"So you do know. The two leaders of the Menika Shin Guild are both on the 31st Floor right now, the guild master of the Hallow Reaper Cult is on the 30th, and Unbound Jareeksha is apparently close to clearing the 29th Floor. Tell me why, instead of helping Merreddyd clear the 29th Floor and maintain our guild ranking, I am talking to you right now?" Alfsol snapped.
He sounded like he had serious problems, but still, it wasn't like Langa didn't know his worth to the Guardians. "Because you promised me special treatment? I'm guessing that the Guardians don't have a good reputation on the lower Floors, which is something that I could change, starting by capturing one of your headaches in Theria's Hollow. I'll make you guys look like saints who care about the poor NPCs being held hostage by the voidents. All you need to do is give me my privacy and let me be free to do as I please without being watched."
There was silence for a moment, and then Alfsol laughed. "Truly, you are an interesting human. Fine, do as you please, but make sure to make us look good. I'll tell Jandri to only assist you if you request it. Is there anything else you want? I'm going into a dungeon tomorrow, so I might be unreachable for a few days."
"That's it, thanks," Langa said in relief, glad that he had not made the deputy guild master of a powerful guild mad. Not just the deputy guild master either, but a person who was a Ranker in the overall top ten of the Tower.
Mesala gaped at him as soon as he ended the call. "You have DP Alfsol's mana signature? That's amazing!" The boy said, his eyes filled with awe.
"Whatever. You won't get into trouble for not guiding me anymore, so you can go now." Langa dismissed him. He knew that he was being rude, but Mesala was more likely to leave him alone if he thought that he was an arsehole.
The boy did not appear to be discouraged, though. He nodded and held out his wrist. "Let's exchange mana signatures. You can contact me when you get to the city if you need something. And share your 1st Floor map with me as well," he said.
Langa knew that he might need the help later, so he had no choice but to exchange mana signatures with him. He'd learned how to share his maps with others from Liv back in the tutorial.
"Tell me what you want to buy, and I'll mark the best places for you to shop from. No one knows Risa's Plateau as well as I do here. I grew up there," Mesala said.
"Make sure it's places that are affordable. I'm broke," Langa said. He supposed that it wouldn't hurt to get help from the kid, and he did not want to waste time running around Risa's Plateau, so he told him. "I want to buy some new armour, new daggers, a new skill, and I also want to visit a Seer."
"Well, if you don't have coin, our guild's Crafting Cave is out of the question for you," he said. Mesala was deep in thought for a second, and then he marked two locations on Langa's map. "I'm not too well informed on Seers, so you can take this with a grain of salt. I know people say that this Seer is accurate, she's a Disciple of a constellation that follows one of the main gods of the Deiwos Clan. The Seers are just past the marketplace," he said. Pointing to the second location, he continued, "Without much coin, I doubt you will be able to buy any skills, but this shop will have everything you need, from armour, to weapons, to skills and items. The owner, Rekona, will give you discounts if you buy a lot of stuff. He also knows where to farm certain skills, but he might not tell you. Just give him my name and he'll help you. You might have to haggle with him a bit, though, he loves money."
"Thanks," Langa said, closing his interface once the spots were marked. He could see why Jandri had chosen Mesala as his guide. He was clearly knowledgeable about Risa's Plateau.
"Yes sir," he beamed. "Please finish your breakfast. I'll go and secure a seat for you in the lucent carriage." After saying this, Mesala left Langa alone to eat his food.
The breakfast was some large egg that he’d never seen before and some wheat bread with ginger tea. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it honestly tasted like regular bread and eggs from home. He had been too exhausted to even think about eating yesterday after the tutorial. The food was not much, but after eating only tutorial rations and some rabbit meat during the tutorial, this food was welcome. He could remember the last time that someone had made breakfast especially for him, and it was Khaya. She had come to his flat early one morning two weeks ago with groceries and made him a hearty breakfast of chicken livers, bread, and grilled tomatoes. He really hoped that girl was safe.
As he ate, Langa planned his day. First, he would go shopping for armour and a self-healing skill, then he would go find the Seer. After that, depending on what she told him, he would go to the library to do some serious studying. Then, he would find out all the information he could about Theria's Hollow, as well as his target. Tomorrow was when he would go and start hunting the voident, as it would still be within the stipulated 52 hours before the Challenge Embargo lifted. This way, he could make his name known, gaining the attention of the deities. He would have the Guardians post his adventures on the Dent, and stand in the spotlight so that if any members of his family saw his videos, they would know where to find him, and that he was safe.