When Robert felt the immaterial grip around his body, which prevented any motion, he sighed with huge relief. Looking around at the dirty dishes around himself and thinking over the events of the past few weeks, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being ignored for too long. Even the familiar notification in front of his eyes couldn’t make him forget the time he spent in waiting. The moment he saw the initial message from the System, Rob thought he would be chosen right from the start. How wrong he was.
Instead, one of the police officers disappeared, making another one panic and turn his attention to a much bigger problem than a random vagabond who bathed in a fountain. That gave Robert the ability to walk away, using the chaos that emerged around him. Quite soon, from the conversations around and the news he found that around 13 million people had vanished without any signs. Governments all over the globe soon deducted the connection in most cases as if those sureties that were mentioned in the first message were chosen to be real precious hostages. It could be a part of the family, friends, or even colleagues, but always with one center figure, who was possibly a participant.
The following week was spent in heated discussions on how to deal with this unknown threat. There was no physical Tower to destroy it. Moreover, despite the huge numbers of missing people, it wasn’t even a percent of the current population and was randomly spread across the world. As far as Robert had heard, even several diseases that were spread in the past hundred years in this realm were much deadlier. So, after only a few days the humans showed their real faces.
The politicians started to blame other countries, while conspiracy theorists emerged with the idea of a secret world-ruling organization that was responsible for it. The talk shows used the topic to fullness, inviting different people, who sometimes didn’t have even a remote knowledge of what they were talking about, being just random celebrities. The society almost stabilized when the second batch was summoned after ten days of silence. This time the number of participants was the same – one million. However, the sureties jumped in ten times, amounting to 120. That made a shocking impact on the whole world. And made it easier for Robert to get an actual job in one of the eaters that specialized in hamburgers.
“I really like them. Can take as a part of a payment,” Rob smiled with the sincerest expression he could produce, while the middle-aged man was looking at him with caution, sizing the huge figure with eyes. However, after losing several of his employees, the owner didn’t have much choice. Especially, when a bank somehow decided to completely ignore a force majeure clause, demanding monthly payment in time for credit usage.
Therefore, Robert got his low-paying job with the ability to sleep inside the storage room and eat tens of hamburgers. And he did, testing every single one of them, ranking them and even helping the customers to choose… when the latter were not afraid of his scary appearance. Most of the time he spent in the kitchen, washing dishes, cleaning everything and even guarding the place during the night as cases of robbery had intensified after the second summoning. That helped to ease the worriers of the owner, when at the start of the day he found a few unconscious bodies with broken arms or legs, while the responsible for it was calmly washing the floor before the opening.
Obviously, it wasn’t the dream job. However, it was the first real job for Rob as he couldn’t count his experience in the army. Moreover, having no ID, no civilian knowledge, or useful skills, except fighting, he had a limited chance of finding a better one if he didn’t want to break the law. Still, there were more options, but hamburgers outweighed them all, making it an easy pick. And it was going to end, as a familiar notification on a transparent screen was already counting the time down. The single difference was the number of sureties, which rose again, going up to 600 people.
I guess now the real hell will break loose. 601 million missing people on top of 134 from previous batches is quite hard to ignore. The situation has escalated rather quickly.
System scanning is completed…
Error. The subject is a Transcendent and is forbidden from becoming the Challenger…
Searching the solution… Dedicating a new role…
Welcome to the Tower!
You will become a guardian of the Tower. An obstacle to stop the Challengers. An unbreakable wall to their progression!
Your role for a current floor is to become a Laboratory Experiment, which is sealed inside the hidden Laboratory. Raise your combat power to progress further! Good luck!
Well, crap. Was I nerfed because of being too overpowered? What the hell? It had to be my cheat, but not a way to become a random mini-boss… Damn it, I am not even surprised at this point – the same shit as always.
Unfortunately, the System wasn’t going to listen to Rob’s complaints. It simply dropped him inside a strange dark room, which was barely lightened by a shining stone near the ceiling, before disappearing without any trace. Looking around, Robert found a bed, a bookshelf, and a table with a chair. Every single piece of furniture seemed to be uncomfortably too small for his height and size. Moreover, the quick check-up of the books showed empty pages as if they were just decoration. Only a few had several paragraphs of text as if the creators were too lazy to put something more meaningful inside.
Why if? It is a decoration of the game-like Tower. It was you, Robert, who wanted it. Deal with it. And yes, you can’t even spend time reading.
Walking out through the door, he found himself inside a small corridor with five similar rooms. Each of them lacked any personal belongings and showed signs of hast gathering. The stone walls with rough surfaces made enough to make the place quite creepy and unfriendly, having no pictures or ornament apart from a few odd symbols scattered without any order. The following search for the place led him into the huge chamber. An attempt to leave this laboratory had failed as something invisible had simply prevented any movement. It was like a force shield – invisible, but tough. Even direct hits with conjured weapons didn’t have any effect. Therefore, Rob continued his exploration. The results were unpleasant.
One of the doors led to the real laboratory with multiple walk-through rooms. The tables with alchemical equipment, the enormous bookshelves, the cauldrons, the huge desk with strange inscriptions that looked like gibberish – everything was meant to show that it was really a laboratory. Even the last room had a few giant glass tanks with a bluish liquid inside. Several of them were filled with motionless bodies that had a suspiciously familiar appearance. They basically looked like Robert, but in a half-finished state with only part of the torso or without the head.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
But everything is a prop. Well-designed picture to show players a needed scene. To put them into a desired atmosphere, but nothing more.
A few quick checks of the equipment had proved such an assumption. Another reason was a chest that was shining with barely visible golden light and was located between two tanks. Completely standing out of the picture, it was clearly a reward for making it through the dangerous obstacle, which was Rob himself. And of course, it resisted all attempts to be opened, having a similar force shield around its wooden frame. Robert couldn’t even touch it with his hands, stopping in few centimeters from the valuable object that promised a treasure. At least the last room appeared to be useful. Going through the long corridor, it ended with a dark cave. Covered with hundreds of mushrooms, it additionally had a small pool made from an underground river.
So, the nutrition is covered. I think my idea to work in an eatery just got a few more points regarding being clever – my desire for a hamburger has been fulfilled for a long time.
Returning back to the chamber, Robert stopped right in the center and thinking what to do next. He couldn’t imagine how he could physically stop a million challengers. It was simply impossible. So, either he wasn’t a single obstacle, or he was one of the final. Or he could be a side quest with an additional reward. Only in such a way the Tower might limit the number of challengers who could come to fight with him. Still, with no information, it was pure guessing. Not that Aether would tell him anything beyond his own self-checking, while the System was silent.
That was the moment when it hit him. Rob was the obstacle, which it meant he had to kill the people, who were forcefully summoned inside the Tower to challenge it. Moreover, the sureties obviously meant that their lives were dependent on the success of the challenger. Any Robert’s win would lead to multiple deaths. Taking into account the last number, it was six hundred. Even one on one fight he would be responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people. And he was a volunteer, who decided to go into the realm with the Tower to get more power. But the challengers were not – they were hostages of a dreadful situation. They didn’t have a choice. Rob did.
Oh, fuck it! Let’s get out of here…
Concentrating on the link with Aether, he tried to send a request to travel into another realm. All he got in return was a feeling of repulsion. Ignoring it, Robert stubbornly continued to push his wish, despite the rejection. Again and again, he tried to communicate with Aether, asking for help. At some point Rob even attempted to make a bargain, agreeing to travel to a random realm. Still, there was no answer. Only the very same silence and repulsion. Of course, he remembered Cyborg’s words about the delay in traveling, but after spending so much time in this world Rob was sure that he fulfilled this condition long ago. Apparently, it wasn’t true. Or there was another reason like Aether thinking that he was escaping the danger.
What do I do now? I’ve killed… a lot. I can justify to myself a kill of the enemy in a direct death fight, be it a war or any other battle. However, if it can lead to the demise of six hundred innocent people… It’s too many. Way too many. Even if the challenger dies later, it will not be me who did it. Not the results of my action. I just can’t bear such a choice. Is my life worth so much in the first place? And if several challengers come… Or they will not stop coming at all as there are up to 3 million challengers out there… Nope, I can’t.
However, no matter what he had tried, there was no response from Aether. He was left alone to deal with the situation. To make a choice about what he valued more – his own life or his humanity and morale. It sucked. It sucked up to the point of turning Rob into a motionless statue, who was hugging his knees, while his thoughts were wandering somewhere else as if they were in a haze. He tried to look at his own life to see its value. To measure it, to evaluate it, to set a price tag. And he couldn’t.
Despite all the hardships he went through from the beginning of his life, starting from forceful turning into a soldier when he was a child, Robert never thought that anyone owed him anything for such struggles. He had what he had. He never wanted to dive into this unfairness, putting debts on a whole society or even making it pay. Not only it was pointless, but it was very childish behavior in his opinion. Therefore, it was simply impossible for him to become a real villain to random people just because someone had taken candy when he was a child. Or sold him into the program to become an Earth defender. Or even captured his soul to make an envoy.
I just can’t…
Summoning the transparent screen of the Status, Rob inwardly noted the convenience of not obstructing a sight before turning his attention to the text in an attempt to find a possible clue. Unfortunately, there was nothing. Still, switching the attention from his thoughts to the text helped him to get a distraction from the pressing situation.
Robert Flop (Laboratory Experiment)
Combat Power: 101
Experience: 0
Mana: -/- [+5 mana per second]
Title: The Transcendent Tower’s Guardian
Class: none
Might - 32 [STR 55, SPD 41, END -]
Agility - 25 [CRD 24, FLXB 6, RCT 45]
Body - 15 [VIT -, TOU 30]
Mind - 21 [PRC 19, INT 32, WIS 12]
Magic - 0 [PWR -, SPRT -]
Personality - 8 [CHA 7, CUNN 9]
Skills (0/3):
On the contrary, after checking his “character sheet” more questions had arisen. Some of them were obvious, as his lack of Soul Core made him unable to store any mana, so it was no wonder why the Magic stat was 0. But why were his Endurance and Vitality labeled as absent Rob couldn’t understand. Was it because they were basically endless, being fueled by mana and the System just couldn’t process it correctly?
Robert could understand why Speed was a part of the Might as it was muscles that were responsible for moving fast. Precisely speaking, their aspect of explosive power. On the other hand, what was the difference between the Intelligence and Wisdom? The sheer ability to process information versus the life experience? That was the only guess that Rob had. Then why was his Perception so high? Was it because it included an ability to perceive information and not only the level of hearing or vision, or there was a different reason. The absence of a stat explanation didn’t help. At least he could read the details about the Title. Unfortunately, before he could do it, Robert heard a loud shout.
Quickly following the source, he entered the chamber only to see an odd young man. The latter was a concentration of the averageness with not a single thing to stand out. Not ugly, but not handsome either. Not too tall, but not short. Even his hair was a mixture of black and brown, making it hard to pick one color. The white linen shirt and dark pants were as plain as they could be despite the marks of blood and dirt on them. The only thing that was special in him was his black dagger, which was held in his hand, and a metal chained belt around his waist.
“Hello. I am friendly. Do not attack me, please. I want to find a solution how to avoid the pointless confrontation. I was also summoned like you,” Robert spoke loudly, slowly raising his empty palms and using a calm tone in short sentences to give as much information as possible in the shortest time. All he got in return was an angry stare from the man, who was looking at Rob as if he were responsible for every bad thing that happened in the man’s life. Even the moment of finding out that all toilet paper was used while sitting on the very same white throne. Robert could think that the man was mistaking him with someone, but his own appearance was too remarkable for it. Focusing on the unknown, he tried to find proper words to calm him down. Instead, a notification popped up above the man’s head.
Spatial assassin, CP 107
And it’s red, clearly indicating a hostile status. Damn it.
The tightened grip on the dagger from the potential enemy made Rob uncomfortable. It wasn’t a fear but more like another reminder of what was at stake – innocent lives. His failure in negotiations would lead to deaths, with too high a number to ignore it. Then he heard the muttering. Some words were barely audible as if the man wasn’t speaking to Robert but to himself. Still, Rob managed to catch a few, pausing from the surprise after processing them.
“Why are you here? And you are much weaker… make you pay for what you have… bastard… skin you alive… your death wouldn’t be so easy,” listening to this mad mumbling, Robert wanted to appeal that it was their first meeting, but it was too late as the young man had ended his words with a shout, “Blink!”