Ark had never been to this place before. He had met the Administrator three times in his previous life. Every time they had met, Ark had been a little stronger than before. The last time they had met, Ark had been the stronger one. They had a falling out then. There was nothing Ark could do. If the Administrator had been present with them during their battle with the Erased, maybe their group would not have lost so many people.

One of the abilities of the Administrator was that he could make a domain in which he could invite anyone. It was not like the domain was not impregnable but you needed to be damn strong to even have a chance of breaking through. Ark estimated that if he tried for a thousand years, he would be able to break out. Ark was strong in the second scenario but his strength could be compared to a lighter in front of a bonfire. It made no sense.

Ark was standing on top of a cloud, high above the sky. When Ark looked down, he could see the ruins of an ancient civilization down below. That was the original home of the Administrator. He had gained Transcendence and had gone on to become one of the most powerful beings inside the Tower. Ark wondered whether he would be able to maintain good relations with the administrator. That would be the ideal situation but in life, you could never gain everything even if you were a Regressor.

The once bright blue sky considerably got darker as a huge storm could be seen in the distance. This was a sign that the Administrator was soon going to arrive. This was the experience of Ark’s first life and now he was experiencing it again. The third scenario had not started yet. In some other circumstances, one of the Jackals would have taken all the people to the area where the third Scenario was going to take place. But now the administrator of the scenarios was going to be with him. The trains were not going to start without him there.

The cloud he was standing on visibly got darker too and the sound of striking thunder could be heard in the distance again. It seemed that the administrator couldn’t control all of his power in the scenario stages. The cloud Ark was standing on was visibly contracting, a sign of power suppression. No doubt, the Administrator thought that Ark would not be able to handle the pressure.

The fact was true but that did not mean Ark had to like it. In his current state, Ark’s mental strength could take the whole brunt but his physical state was far too weak to stand up to an Administrator. Something, like a visible crack, appeared inside the domain and a humongous nan stepped out of it.

He landed softly on a cloud just opposite Ark and continued to stare at him. Ark decided to stare back. The man had a physique that would put professional bodybuilders to shame. Even Hercules, the strongest of the Greeks had considered the Administrator a rival in that respect. His dark braided hair flowed gently in the wind of the aftermath and dark brown eyes looked down at Ark. The man was almost seven feet tall. Ark wondered how the administrator had such a physique.

It was many years earlier that Ark had learned the truth. The ruined civilization on which Ark was standing above was the civilization of the GIants. A civil war had occurred here and the man was the lone giant who had to endure all those years alone. The main reason Ark had a falling out with the Administrator was because Ark had decided to support Mount Olympus in one of their pursuits. He was not going to make the same mistake twice.

The Giants were a natural enemy of Mount Olympus, mainly due to the shared story of Gigantomachy between them. Mount Olympus had defeated the Giant race and the man standing in front of him was the example of the misfortune that had struck the race. Ark wondered if he would be able to turn the tables when he got stronger. Perhaps he could but first, he needed to get much stronger and climb up the floors of the Tower.

“So You are the boy The Tower Master told me about?”

“Yes…the rewards please” Ark was straight to the point. There was no reason to speak with the Administrator more than necessary. He needed to have a business-like attitude in front of him. It was necessary for Ark’s upcoming plans. If Ark gave away his emotions, it would be tough for him to call on the administrator when the actual time came.

The administrator could only snort in response, “You humans, always thinking about rewards!” The Giant let out a scoff “As if I was not here for that very same purpose”

“First I wanted to know your name… I can’t just keep you calling the Administrator now Can I?”

“Hmmph…Indeed you can’t…You may call me Winver”

“Right…And you can call me Ark then…” Ark knew the Winver’s name for certain. But if he were to bring it up, that would have been too suspicious. Ark decided to err t the side of caution lest he slipped up and revealed anything.

“Very well then…About the rewards, your achievements have earned you a lot of causality…Indeed you must not know what Causality is…I shall explain”

“Causality is simply the probability of a story taking place. In simpler terms, a level one peasant simply cannot kill a level hundred knight because he has no causality. Instead, if that very same knight were devoid of armor and the peasant was to attack him in secret, causality would increase and the chances of it happening would also increase…Do you understand”

Stolen story; please report.

“Yes…Causality is like a secondary currency that determines what can and cannot happen…did I get that right?”

“Surprisingly yes…quite an astute answer from someone so young as yourself. No matter, you have a lot of causality right now. Do make your wish”

Ark knew he had a lot of causality. He had cleared seven hordes of monsters, each progressively tougher, all by himself after all. Still, Ark didn’t know whether his causality would be enough or not. Causality itself had a ranking to it, that was very similar to that of the card rankings. Ark had a lot of narrative and fables causality but if he was to choose something Mythical, his causality wouldn’t be able to keep up. Just after Ark had received all those notifications, he had already decided what he wanted.

“I want the Blade of Northern Wind” Ark declared to the Administrator

The administrator had no expression on his face but Ark could see the bewilderment in his eyes. The Blade of Northern Wind was a relatively obscure Sword but it was a Mythical artifact. In his past life, Ark had used that very same sword for most of his time in the Tower which made it all the more unfortunate for Ark that he would not be able to get the Sword. There was a simple reason. Causality. Ark did not have enough causality nor did he have enough to even afford it.

“I am afraid that would not be possible…This artifact is not fit for this scenario…I do wonder however how you know of its name?”

Ark took his defeat in stride. There were many ways he could get the Sword. “How about a replica of the sword then?” The replica of Mythical swords were just one rank below the original grade. This meant that the Replica of the Blade of Northern Wind was now going to be a Narrative Grade.

The administrator sighed again, “I am afraid you do not have enough Causality for that…” Ark was astonished. He had planned meticulously for that exact scenario. If that much causality was not enough, what was Ark supposed to do? He had defeated the entire second scenario all by himself and yet that much causality was not enough for the Sword. Ark wanted to request a few more things from the Administrator too. Even if he somehow got more causality, all of that would be spent on the sword itself.

In a last bid attempt to gain the sword, Ark decided to ask the administrator again, “How about…A replica of the failed copy of the Blade of Northern Wind?” This was fable grade and Ark was damn sure that this time, he would be able to get the sword

“I see…you are quite persistent…that request of yours…is certainly doable”

“You have little causality left now, that much would be turned into coins and transfe-”

Ark interrupted Winver’s flow. He had a little plan after all. He could increase his causality now. This plan had been forming ever since he had finished off the Cambium. Something suspicious had happened then. The Boss had suspiciously changed its attack pattern. It was barely noticeable, but that was going to be enough.

“Do you know I fought a Cambium?” Ark asked Winver

“Indeed! And what is the purpose of you stating that?”

“Could you pull up the footage and jump forward to the starting of the second phase?”

The Administrator was rightfully confused but he did as Ark instructed him. There was plenty of time so The Administrator decided to humor Ark.

“Please look at the fight…very closely” Ark uttered the magical words. The fight played out and slowly ever so slowly, Winver showed the faintest traces of Anger. The Administrator repeated the video he had pulled up again and this time, he was fuming. The reason was simple. A certain Jackal had interfered ever so slightly with the Boss monster of the first scenario.

The Tower was always impartial, which meant that nothing was ever tampered with. The Administrators followed the rules to a tee. And in the midst of all that, a certain Jackal had interfered. It was quite a big deal and Ark was grinning from ear to ear. He had thought the administrator would be able to notice the small change in the Cambium’s attack pattern and sure enough, he was right.

Ark had always hated Coscos. From the moment the Condescending Jackal had appeared, Ark had vowed to kill him and his wish was going to be fulfilled indirectly. Coscos was summoned momentarily inside Winver’s domain

“Boss Winver, what is this…human doing here?”

“Coscos…” The Adminstrator said in the calmest manner posible. Coscos started to shrink in front of the Giant man. “Did you…tamper with the Cambium?”

Coscos started to stutter, “N-no B-boss. Of course not. Humans are pathetic liars and they must be…” As Coscos continued to speak about the travesty that was human nature, The administrator, put his rather huge hands on top of Coscos. “…every one must be killed and slaughte…” And the head of Coscos popped like a balloon.

“It seems…Ark that you are indeed a nuisance. The Tower Master had warned me about you but I was foolish to question their judgment.”

Ark waited for the magical words to come out of Winver’s mouth, “It seems you have earned a lot of causality”

And checkmate. That was Ark’s backup plan if his original plans did not work out. This was like him getting gifts on Christmas.

Ark did not hesitate, “I want an Oath of Existence”

The Giant raised his eyebrows, “And what would that Oath entail?”

“You will take me in front of the gate of the Dungeon which contains the memoirs of a forgotten author”

The Giant gritted his teeth, “That is…certainly doable”. There was no doubt that Winver had gleaned the hidden meaning behind Ark’s plan but in this situation, he was helpless to do anything about it.

“I do wonder again…how you know names you should not but that might be a question for when I see you again for I have no doubt in my mind, that I shall see you again very soon. I should have listened to the Words of the Tower Master. Still, you have a little amount of causality left…”

Before Winver could say that his causality would be converted into coins, Ark decided to intervene

“I will use my causality later. Please keep it for now”

“That shall be the end of our conversation. You should get to the train very soon. The contraptions are going to start very soon”

As Ark had expected, the trains were going to take him to the third scenario but before all that, Ark had one last thing he wanted to do

“Please wait a second, what about my story card?”