“So that is what I should aim for then?” Sam asked, not realizing how he sounded until too late. Sarge almost choked.
“Aim for? Your odds of getting that are almost zero. With your strength, I can see you being able to reach D Rank, or maybe even C Rank, but A Rank is entirely out of reach. When I spoke of your potential earlier, I meant at a more reasonable level. Besides, getting that high on the Tower would paint a target on your back like no other. Most going through it, the unaffiliated ones at least, wear disguises. In fact, it is built into the nature of the tower. You can drop out of it at any point, but still remain in the game using your disguised self. That way, you can fool others into thinking that you have less potential than you do. If by some miracle, you find yourself standing at the crossroads of the C Rank, then drop out, and continue under a false name. That is the territory where it starts to get dangerous.”
Sam nodded, already starting to formulate a plan. He knew that with his Dao Heritage, he could likely get quite high indeed. However, he was not sure that he was on the caliber of the gods themselves. In any case, he would see what happened when it was time. For now, he had a Titan infestation to clear. Their deaths would give him the levels that he needed to undertake the trial anyway.
Sam headed back towards the city hall, wanting to do a bit of research himself into the subject of the Tower. He knew that this would be one of the greatest boons to his power in the near future, at least if it functioned like he thought it would. If it was nothing more than a simple marker of future progress, then nobody would do it. There had to be rewards involved in it as well. Once he reached a safe place, he entered the Interweb, phasing out of reality and into the realm of the unreal.
Sam quickly used the teleportation function to transport himself to the library, entering it without much delay. He sat down at one of the booths, and plugged himself into the database. Appearing in the strange liminal space that was the archive repository, he searched the Tower of Transcendence with his mind. A host of pages appeared, but the one he was looking for appeared first. It was a brief explanation of what exactly the Tower was, and the rewards for using it.
The Tower of Transcendence
One of the most well known sites in the entire Multiverse, the Tower is a proving ground for the newly ascended E Rankers of this world. It is located in a separate dimension, connected to all of the universes of this Multiverse. As a result, any worthy candidate can enter, no matter what situation their universe is in. No edict or law can stop someone from entering, at pain of punishment by the System. It is a series of a hundred levels, each of which is harder to complete. Each level is filled with challenges that range from monsters to puzzles. Every level that one ascends, they are subjected to greater restrictions, unless they possess a fate stronger than that of the current floor. The higher one goes, the greater the challenges that they face. Leveling up is permitted, but the scaling increases quicker than mere levels can. Anyone who attempts to climb past their limits will quickly find that there is no mercy within the Tower. You can only leave at the end of a floor. If you push forwards, overly cocky about your chances, you will likely die. The tower is different for each challenger, but there are opportunities every ten floors to meet up with other challengers. Some floors use this as a way to add an extra challenge to the mix. In the Tower, those who have climbed to your level are the ones to look out for. Every five floors, there is a boss, or a challenge of sufficient difficulty. Every twenty five floors, there is a challenge that will prove deadly to all but the strongest of fighters. The very last floor is rumored to contain a D Ranker, albeit a very weak one. However, this is only a rumor, as nobody has ever reached that far. In any case, even if somebody did reach that level, the presence of such a monster would spell their end. There are E Rankers who can defeat low D Rankers, but they are at the very peak of the rank. For those who enter the Tower, there are simply not enough sources of essence to reach the top. By the time one reaches that level, accounting for available essence, they will only be able to reach level 200 at the most. It would take a true prodigy, or a being with godlike luck to progress past that. For all aspiring E Rankers reading this, know that your life is not worth an extra accolade, or a few rewards. Do not squander your life in pursuit of something that you are almost assured to never get.
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The way that the System narrated its entries was strange in some cases. It was mostly analytical, but it would sometimes sneak in something that seemed almost human in nature. It certainly was very good at speaking in a natural manner. If not for the lack of an author, the sign that the entry was written by the System, he would have thought it was from an actual person. Then again, a massive, possibly conscious program that extended across a near infinite number of universes was probably far smarter than any human was.