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  During the day, the streets were filled with the clamour of rowdy merchants and the resounding patter of feet on the paved floor, while the nights were full of joyous debauchery. Drunkards painted the streets, while taverns were filled with the musty smell of tankards filled with fermented beverages. 

 At the side of an alley, there was the pungent smell emitting from an old man that had yellow stains over his azure tainted rags. Glasses hung between his brown eyes, resting on his red nose, groaning as his body moved and as his eyebrows creased in reaction to the pain. His body screaming in retaliation as he tried to stand up, it was then he paused as he heard footsteps coming closer. 

  “You look like shit” said the young man above him. 

  “Logical observation as I feel like it too” he replied. 

  “I thought you gave up on drinking.” 

The old man propped up his head, stared up towards the man above him. 

“I thought you gave up on killing, yet here stands before me, the monster himself, Krasius Clayfield. Just like old times, me with my comfy alley, and you with those daggers.”

 “Stupid old man, were you trying to kill yourself?” Krasius said as he exposed a large smile. 

“All inaccurate, I have an IQ that most people can’t even count to in this city, and if I wanted to, I’d succeed.” The old man nonchalantly replied.

“Albert, I need your help.” Krasius said seriously as he bent down closer to face the old man. 

“That’s too bad, I kinda started to like this alley, her name is Sheila. I was thinking of maybe marrying her.” Albert replied with a wide smile. 

“What’s wrong kiddo, you got a pretty mother, a legitimate job, you don’t smell like blood all day. Did I already say you have a pretty mother?” 

“She died.” 

“I see.” The Old Man said as he slowly started to stand up. Turning around, he wistfully said, “I am gonna miss you, Sheila.” However, he then added, “Your sister across the street was warmer.” 

“So what do you want me to do?” Albert said, his eyes shifting colour to a dark blue. 

'Turn me into a monster.' Krasius said with determination flaring in his eyes.

                ……………………………………………………………. 

 In a dusty warehouse, near the division line of this city, there was beggars and riffraff scrounging for scraps around the vicinity. The sky was filled with bright shining lights, a poor substitution for the legendary stars found in our ancestral home. There were two moons that float over the city, waiting calmly for their brother to come up and mark the new day.

  Krasius looked around at the filthy room with nostalgia, turning around to the Old Man behind him. He then said to him, “Reminds me of you.” 

“How funny.” Albert said with a bland face as he moved around the room, he simply snapped his fingers as sparks started to run around the machinery inside, slowly the room was lit and the sound of whirling cogs started to echo around the room. 

He looked around the room, scrunching his eyebrows together. 

 “What’s wrong?” Krasius asked. 

“I am wondering whether I forgot any….BOOM” 

“Oh never mind. It exploded already.” Albert said nonchalantly looking at the corner of the room, where ashes and burnt marks stained around it. 

 Krasius slowly moving back a few steps closer to the door. 

  Albert then tinkered around the room and pulled down a rectangular table with straps at five corners. 

 “Lie down.” 

“What are my chances of surviving?” Krasius bluntly asked. 

“Well, to be exact it would normally be about 0.001 percent. You did do it a few times already, it is your third time doing this.” Albert monotonously replied. 

He started peeling the straps open, then afterwards went to a sink to the left of the room. Slowly washing his hands, as he deeply sighed. 

“Though I said that the second time as well and the third time as well.” Albert mumbled in a hushed tone. 

 This not escaping the ears of Krasius, he exposed a toothy smile as he sat down on the surgery table. 

“It’s getting boring now knowing you will survive against all odds.” Albert said with a dramatic tone. 

“Let me make it interesting then” Krasius said as he held a small cylindrical case in his hand. 

Swiftly grabbing it from his hands, Albert with his stubby hands mechanically opened it. 

Staring at the contents of the case below him, Albert stood there in shock for a few seconds. Inside the container was a fleshy strip with red veins glowing. 

“Where did you get it?”

“It’s from the Bravhat auction, it was one of the benefits from my last mission, it wasn’t too valuable.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Affirmative, most idiots wouldn’t understand how valuable it is.” Albert said sneering inwardly. 

“The whole Logia Clan spent decades researching about its possible uses, they found nothing , so what do you expect.” 

Albert spitting to the ground, he looked up in the sky, “And they are the called most intelligent race.” 

Krasius smiling towards his old friend, “Well Nobles still uses it as some medal to boast about it, so it is still difficult to obtain.” 

“Monkeys, the lot of them.” Albert said as pushed up his glasses. 

“Will it work then?” Krasius asked in a serious tone. 

“Why do you even need this? The risk is exponentially higher than the gain if it works or if you don’t die.” 

“Furthermore, if you just want to kill that spoiled brat mafioso then your abilities now should far exceed that task.” Albert mockingly said. 

“His father has already hired a Climber.” 

“Says the one they send to kill Climbers.” Albert mockingly replied.

“He isn’t new, possibly a swordsmith.” 

“Well, how the hell did they pull that off?” Albert confusingly asked. 

“Gave up that heirloom of theirs, the rank D sword.” Krasius said as he sighed deeply. 

“It's possible, but it would take a few months, who knows what type of swords he can manifest.” Krasius continued as he jumped off the table. 

“That was a horrible lie, and I feel my intelligence was insulted for thinking I would even remotely believe that.” Albert said sneering. 

“What’s the rush anyway?” Albert said as he slowly picked up the specimen inside the container and placed it under a microscope. 

“I am gonna climb the tower.” Krasius said, looking up towards the ceiling as if his eyes could see what lay beyond it to the heavens. 

There was a moment of silence, Albert looking up towards Krasius, staring closely at him.

“Show me your back.” Albert silently said. 

 Krasius peeling off his suit, his lean body showing its form, snaking throughout his back were symbols of various sizes. Runic symbols running through his lower back, slowly growing in magnitude as it moved upward. 

“We are gonna need to unseal this first before I do the experiment on your body again.” Turning away towards the microscope as he bent closely to see further. 

“How long is it gonna take?” 

'Just a few hours, as for this next operation, it will take a month before I will be prepared.' Albert said. 

“Can’t you make it any faster?” 

“Impossible, your chances are low already, this isn’t just simple surgery kiddo, this is going against nature itself.” Albert stubbornly replied. 

“I need this to kill him, for my mother” Krasius said as he stared down Albert.

“Bah, you have other tricks to use, and your mother would certainly hate this.” Albert nonchalantly replied. 

Pausing for a moment as he stared towards Krasius, “If this works, you might actually gain the usage of Mana.” A smile forming at the edges of his mouth.“ It will be my masterpiece if it works.”

“I know”

“Let’s get started then.” Turning towards the table, his hands motioning for Krasius to lay down. 

Krasius laid down on the table, the straps suddenly entrapping him. 

“This is gonna hurt, Krasius, a lot.” 

Krasius then wondered about his decision as electricity flew throughout his body and knocked him unconscious, foam forming at the corner of his mouth.

"Told you." Albert said with a wide smile. 

                                                                           ……………………………………………………………….

 When humans first arrived at the tower, they were observed by many races and concluded to have high adaptive capabilities. They weren’t particularly gifted compared to other races, but their unity and progress were considerably outstanding. Over the decades, humans started to further evolve, their intelligence grew, and their strength correspondingly. A turning point for humans was when they discovered the use of Mana, a flow of energy felt by the talented within all races, which was innately present in all life forms of the tower. It was then that history started to shift, humans weren’t considered one of the lower races any longer. Eventually, as time passed, they were recognised as a higher life form. 

 It was then that they were able to stand beside the Elves, Dwarfs, Beast-men, and Demons. It was through human’s ingenuity that they were able to avoid the extinction of their race, resulting in their race prospering through the centuries. After four centuries, one human named Ragnar was able to pierce through the floors of the tower, humanity’s first champion. This allowing humanity to push forward and advance further with the support of their champion.  

 Humans have since then slowly declined over the decades, while they are able to survive and battle against all other races, Ragnar was the last of the humans for over ten centuries to have had the ability to oppress against the monsters of the various races. It was signifying the decline of the influence held by humans, with the four other high races having more and more of their people being designated as Champion by the tower. It was the beginning of a new era for humans. 

 This cornered humans as time progressed, their kin moving to the lower division of the tower, while there still remained many strongholds and remnant of human's past glory, it was a depressing comparison to their former pride. However, there were still many strong Climbers that went up the tower, this giving some hope to humanity that another Ragnar may arise from their masses. 

 Along the struggle of humanity, many scientist and magicians researched methods to strengthen humanity, the biggest struggle being the lack of consistency with the talents of their kind. It was a fact that there were superiors one's within humans, but the biggest disadvantage for humans was that not all were gifted with Mana. This caused a large division of talent with the human race because climbing the tower meant having the capability of using Mana to defend oneself, event those with sparing Mana would still be considered useless in climbing further above the tower. 

  A further burden with the human race was that not all were skilled in battle, it was impossible for every human to be as strong as Musashi in the sword or as wise as Confucius, so even those with Mana and a lack of battle capabilities were also a trouble for humanity. In this struggle, a scientist named Ravi, proposed for a genetic mapping of human's ancestors, using these genes to trace back to the skills of their bloodline. This awakening the talents found within the family of a specific individual, this allowing for humans to theoretically continuously have skilled soldiers. It had worked, but it was an incomplete invention by Ravi, because it was impossible to identify which particular gene held within the body held a specific trait or talent. It meant that they couldn't specify or narrow down which genome was needed to awaken to bring back skills needed in battle. They researched further in hopes of finding a solution, but in the end only found more limitations to this method. The longer the treatment or surgery for this process meant that the further back in time it would reach to awaken an ancestor's dormant ability; however, in exchange, it would mean excruciating pain, which led to many testers to have died. 

  The dream of allowing skilled swordsman from an old era to manifest to the modern day, for humanity to inherit the skills of their ancestors was now ignored by the world. It wasn't a plausible method for humanity. Only few would be able to take such risk and survive. 

                                              .........................................................................................

 It was here in the brightly lit warehouse, there stood an Old Man beside a surgery table watching over a young man as he slowly awoke from his slumber.

  "How do you feel, Krasius?" The Old Man asked. 

  "Horrible" Krasius replied as he slowly moved his body, getting familiar with its form. 

"It feels weird having this body now, feels strange." Krasius added as he quickly put back on his clothing, stepping down to the ground. 

"You did just fit three lifetimes worth of cognitive and muscle memory. Well, to be exact, you awoke from amnesia like state and remembered it again." Albert replied as he took a deep yawn. 

"I am never storing their memories again, it is nauseating." Krasius replied. 

"Your fault told you to just keep it." Albert said, suddenly throwing a compact steel revolver towards Krasius. 

"You are gonna need it." 

"Thanks, you twisted Old Man." Krasius replied, as he calmly took it from the air. "I am leaving, I will be back in a few days." 

"Bring me whiskey!It's the least you can do." Albert shouted.

 Krasius nodded as he slowly stumbled outside the warehouse waving his hand without looking back. 

"You are my masterpiece, now bring chaos to the world." Albert silently said smiling.