PROLOGUE

The world was really cruel and unfair.

Someone can easily achieve whatever they want without much effort.

While another can not achieve what they want no matter how they struggle and work hard.

It's the same concept how nobody will stop the popular kid in highschool from beating up an school nerd that nobody likes.

That is the unchangeable law of this world.

He had been hearing that saying throughout the twenty-two years of his life.

But why was Ethan Celsius thinking of such useless things when he already knows that?

Obviously, because he was drunk as hell.

Ethan switched through the TV channels with empty eyes that almost looked void of life.

His black hair was a mess and the bags under his eyes proved that he hadn't gotten a good night rest.

Comedy shows were boring, and the drama shows were ever so predictable.

He was in desperate need of some sort of stimuli.

Why? Because he needed something to fight against the depression he was feeling.

Which brings another question. Why was he surrounded by empty alcohol cans and watching TV.

Well, three days ago, he found out that his one and only girlfriend, Rebecca with another guy. Apparently, she had been meeting this guy for the past six months they had been dating.

A good three years worth of happy memories was gone like that as if it was an ilusion.

Funny enough he didn't even have the strength to get angry at her and just broke up with her the day after.

But that not the only problem, his lovely aunt May, who took him under her wing after his parents abandoned him and treated him with love, was now in a coma.

To add salt to injury, the hospital bill was tremendous and was not something even a someone like him with a part-time job was able to pay for.

Luckily, the money his aunt saved up will be enough to hold up for a year or two.

It was miracle he hasn't killed himself. Well, the thought always come from time to time. Whether he will just end his misery once and for all.

However, there was something holding him back.

His Aunt, May.

She was the only person he had left and he was the only person she had left as well. It was only two of them. If he killed himself, he would bring unhappiness to his aunt.

Now, he could only waste away his life by watching boring drama shows and drinking alcohol.

There wasn't really anything he was good at.

His grades during his time of college was average, and his job performance was painfully average as well. Maybe that was the reason he got fired and someone else with talent took his place.

However, looking back, there was really something he was good at.

Gaming.

Yes, He had terrifying talent when it came to gaming.

He had always been someone who was extremely competitive.

From hide and seek to a local soccer match, once he started to play, he had to win.

Then one day, he played a fighting video game for the first time in an arcade store.

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He couldn't accept the reality that he was completely destroyed by a 6th grader.

That was the day when Ethan Celsius got absorbed into gaming.

However, That was before his current predicament.

"Seriously, what the hell went wrong?"

Ethan lazily raised the can in his hand, but he soon discovered it was empty.

He tried to look for another bottle within the white plastic bag.

However, there was none. It seemed he had drank all of them.

He couldn't help sigh as he laid back lazily on the sofa.

His life was really nothing but pain.

Suddenly, a blurry hologram message flickered around his eyes like a computer screen.

[Congratulations, you have been invited to climb the 'Tower' and become a god.]

Huh? What's this? Climbing tower and become a god?

"Am I wasted to the point of hallucinating, or have I gone insane?"

Either way, he didn't have the strength for it.

He just wanted to sleep before thinking about how to solve his current situation.

[Will you climb the Tower of Gods and walk the path of godhood?]

The message changed before his eyes.

Then, he began to contemplate whether this was reality or a dream.

Surely, he had to be dreaming.

Because a situation that can only happen in an anime or a novel, is happening before his eyes.

"....Yes."

He managed that word with much difficulty.

The message changed shortly after.

[You will be teleported to the tutorial floor to test your will]

[Please select a difficulty level. The reward will increase depending on the difficulty you choose.]

The four options appeared before him

"Easy" "Average" "Hard" and "Very Hard"

Even while the message that lay upon dream and reality, he couldn't help but smile.

Rather than questioning, the thought "choose" dominated his mind and his body moved on its own.

The Tower was basically saying if you reach out your hands, you won't regret your decision.

In response to that temptation, he reached out to the option as if he had to.

[You have selected the "Very Hard" Difficulty]

[You will be teleported to the Floor "0"]

But having waited a few minutes, nothing happened. In order to sure, he waited again but nothing happened.

It was complete silence.

"Hahaha."

Ethan fell back on the couch and burst in laughter.

It was not a laughter of happiness, it sounded was a laughter of self-pity or a fall into madness.

"Really now, what was I thinking?. I must have really run mad."

The idea of getting teleported to another world was nothing short of a fantasy.

This was real life.

The very thought about traveling to another world was purely delusional and non-existent. It was like saying the famous Trunk-Kun existed. He was really thinking that he had ran mad.

However..

"Eh?"

Something strange occurred.

Something appeared infront of his retina. It wasn't the message that he thought he was imagining.

No, it was something completely different. it looked like a small blue orb that kept growing in size.

"What the hell!"

Whooch!!

The orb had transformed into a giant blue vortex and he was feeling a great suction force pulling him into the portal.

"Ahhhh."

He reacted by grabbing onto the closest thing near him and that was...

The coach. That was a mistake.

How could he think he could attempt to escape the sucking force of a vortex by holding a coach?

The vortex sucked him with immense force and he lost consciousness as he entered the blue vortex.

With its mission accomplished, the vortex vanished without a trace.

***

When Ethan slowly opened his eyes and he realized he wasn't in his room anymore.

"Huh?"

Swords, Spears, hammers, axes and daggers.

That was all that appeared in his vision and it seemed to stretch on with no end.

A vast world of weapons.

The land was barren as a desert with a hundreds of vast weapons all over it and the sky was crimson as blood as if a calamity have fallen unto the world.

Ethan's jaws slowly dropped.

He turned around to see a huge shield besides him. The shield showed the reflection of his appearance

He was still wearing his casual attire before he entered the vortex. A black shirt, dark blue jeans and a pair of white sneakers.

"No way!!"

He exclaimed. He then soon remembered the message from earlier.

"So It was really real."

He muttered in shock.

A situation that can only happen in a fantasy book had happened before his eyes.

He was really in another world.

"This is really unbelievable. It feels like a dream yet it feels too real to be one at the same time."

He took another look at the vast land of weapons around him.

[Welcome to the tutorial floor of the Tower.]

The hologram message appeared before his retina.

[You have chosen to walk the path of a god, Prove your resolve by defeating the Fallen God, Laplace]

[Time Limit: 7 days]

[Reward: ???]

[Failure to Kill Laplace within time limit will result in permanent death]

"Eh?"

He stared at the series of messages that appeared before him.

Kill a god? The Tower was really asking him to kill a god.

Was this a joke?

Yes, He did pick the highest difficulty on his free will. But the message was actually telling him to kill a god in the tutorial. Isn't that telling him to commit suicide.

It was a telling a beginner player who just started a game for the first time to kill the final mob boss.

It was really crazy no matter how you think about it.

"Hey, Hey, Hey!! What the hell is this fair?

~Step~

~Step~

~Step~

The sound of coming steps was the only answer he got.

He could feel it from behind him. He didn't need to turn, the presence was so elaborate that entire his back tingled as if there was a burning fire a breath away from him.

His shoulders shuddered and his pupils dilated. Slowly, Ethan took his steps forward and turned around. A figure came into his line of vision.

The figure was a man around his mid-twenties that stood at a raging height of two meters or so. Long black hair that reached past his shoulders, pale skin and eyes with a purple grow.

The very noticable thing about him was the jet-armor that covered his entire body. It looked as if it was made from the very fragments of darkness and the shadows.

Just by walking close to him, the figure commanded a presence of dominance and superiority that made Ethan feel like an ant.

Despite Ethan being great distance away, the pressure he was feeling by just looking the man was immense. He felt he was carrying an immense weight on his back and it was talking all his willpower just to stand.

"Monster."

That was all he could manage to mutter. Truly, it's safe to say he was facing an overwhelming opponent.

The situation immediately activated his fight-or-flight senses.

Ethan chose the latter option.

"It's impossible, there is no way I can beat that monster."

Before he could take the next step, his world of vision suddenly changed.

"Huh?"

Disbelief was visible on his face as he could not understand what was going on.

Right now, his level of vision have been lowered and he could see his body slowly falling on the ground.

He died? To be precise, his head had been cut off.

But it didn't make sense. Surely, the man didn't have a weapon when he saw him. Then, that means the man picked up a sword attacked from a great distance before he could take another step.

That was without a doubt beyond common sense.

He was going to die just like that without achieving anything? At some point, his head had already fallen to the ground.

His eyes slowly lose their light as he began to slip into the darkness.

[You have died]

[You will be revived]

As he was about to lose his consciousness, he began to heal at an alarming rate. His head got attached back to his body as if time was being reversed.

He got up shortly after, sweat visible on his face.

"How am I alive?"

At this point, he didn't know what was going on anymore. However, he didn't have time to think. He was still in the presence of the enemy.

The opponent didn't care about his feelings and was slowly approaching him.

Seeing the man approaching, Ethan's face turned very pale and he subconsciously stumbled backwards out of fear.

He just got killed by this monster... and is about to experience the same fate a second time.