If Natalie Rose’s acquaintances were to have gotten wind of her decision to participate in the Tower of Glory, ‘shocked’ would have been an understatement. She wasn’t a shy or anxious person by disposition, but those who had interacted with her during her work hours would describe her as reserved and professional. She never let on much about her personal life, and the only one they’d ever really see her genuinely smiling around was her boyfriend, Will.

Either way, nothing they knew about Natalie indicated that she’d be reckless enough to act on vague promises of power or immortality, the smart decision would be to go to the safe area first, make contact with their immediate family, and then figure out what the hell was going on in the world, or if it was just a bad dream they were yet to wake up from.

While humans are inherently social creatures, modern society only served to distance an individual from the concept of a community. In a world where people neither knew nor cared who had just moved into the apartment right opposite their house, it wasn’t surprising that nobody except Will knew, or particularly cared that Natalie needed medication to sleep at night, nor that she had been diagnosed with clinical depression.

Not every family had a black sheep, but it was hardly a foreign concept in western society. While she was no prodigy, living debt-free in America with a fairly high salary for her area was quite an accomplishment in itself, especially at 29. She would have been more than happy in her life, perhaps even making plans of marriage by now had it not been for her older sister.

Society had no pity, not even the slightest bit of compassion, for people who had screwed their life up due to their own actions. In fact, if one had spent the slightest amount of time on the internet, they would firsthand witness the brutality with which such people were mocked, belittled, and humiliated if they were considered to be behind their own downfall. Except for famous celebrities, oh no, they deserved to be coddled and pitied, as they had just taken a ‘wrong turn’ in life.

Whether that in itself was wrong, was something that Natalie didn’t really care much about. After all, it wasn’t as if she could change the world. All she knew was that, no matter what she did or how she ended up, her older sister would still remain her older sister, and nothing in the entire universe could change that damned fact.

The same kind, compassionate, loving sister who had been a pillar of support when the two sisters only had each other to rely on, when the entire world seemed to have their backs turned upon them. The same elder sister who would bear the brunt of their uncle’s wrath on nights when his business was performing poorly. The same elder sister who passed off her little sister’s mistakes for her own, all in hopes that at least one of them could have an innocent childhood.

Just when Natalie was seemingly sure her older sister had weaned off her addiction, she got involved in a motor accident that had left her in a coma. An investigation revealed that she was driving under heavy influence, and that her reckless actions had endangered the lives of a family of four going for a camping trip. Thankfully, everyone in the incident survived, but that didn’t change the horror and disgust she felt at her sister’s actions.

But even that… couldn’t change how much she loved her sister. She was just sick and didn’t really mean any of it. God had given her a second chance, and once she woke up everything would go back to normal, they would be a happy family again. Unfortunately, years passed and doctors tried every treatment they could think of, but her sister remained in her peaceful slumber, growing thinner and frailer as every year passed by. It was killing her from inside, but she could do nothing except continue to funneling half her salary into her sister’s treatment, even trying some forms of alternative medicine.

Since the technology of man had failed her, it was with little thought that she decided to jump into the Tower of Glory. While getting a cure for her sister on the trial floors seemed like a longshot, if she eventually became an immortal, whatever that meant, it definitely should be a possibility. And for that goal, she needed every advantage she could get from the earliest possible point in time.

In a twist of fate, life had ended up proving her wrong.

Elixir of Life, Quality: Inferior

Increases the lifespan of a mortal by 100 years, loses effectiveness after a single-use per person. Removes all existing illnesses/disabilities. Tradeable.

Everything she had ever wanted, the long years of her suffering, could finally come to an end. And at that moment, she vaguely felt as if something important inside her broke, something that no Elixir of Life or God could fix.

Will had a feeling Natalie would end up going the Tower of Glory route, and walked across the office to confront her before she could make the rash decision. He wasn't completely opposed to it, and Will was an adventurous man who was an avid rock climber in his free time, thus not completely new to dangerous activities. At the end of the day, it was Natalie's decision, and he knew that she'd never get better until her sister's situation was resolved, which was a major hangup in their relationship. That moment firmed up Will's decision to participate as well since any attempt at dissuasion was met with a firm no. All he could hope was that they'd land in the same place.

Six hours had passed since the trial had begun, and Natalie had little to show for it. The majority of goblins that attacked them had been dealt with by Will, and he wasn't skilled enough to incapacitate an enemy mid-fight and leave it for Natalie to finish. Anxiety started to eat at her from the inside, and she realized how far-fetched the target of 10,000 EP really was. Even with her increased stats, she had poor combat awareness and bad coordination with weapons, only logical for a woman who only jogged to maintain her fitness and worked a desk job for 8 hours a day.

Will had told Natalie to stay put, as he scouted a bit ahead without her. In case he was ambushed, he wasn't confident in his ability to protect Natalie, as the foliage in front of them was pretty dense and offered little visibility.

Five minutes had passed with relative silence until she heard rustling from her east. The odds of it being Will were unlikely, and her suspicions had proven to be true. Out came a man with dirty brown hair and ragged clothing, who looked at Natalie with an expression of surprise. In his hands was a sharp, pointed dagger that had dried blue blood on it, indicating that he had already fought at least one goblin off. Just as he moved to speak, Natalie's curved sword moved reflexively, aimed at his throat even though the man had not made the slightest indication of posing a threat. With his little dagger, there was no way the man was poised to parry such an attack, and a spray of red blood came gushing out from his throat, drenching Natalie's clothes in the same crimson color.

She... She had actually done it. She had killed a man in cold blood, and oddly enough she didn't feel too guilty about it. After all, what had society ever done for her, except shun her and the only family she'd ever cared about?

But Will... he couldn't see this. Natalie had no illusions about who held the group up, and if Will knew what he had done there was no way he'd accept it. This wasn't self-defense... but murder, one that she had willingly done if it meant saving her sister.

Wresting the dagger from the man's still clenched hands, Natalie followed the most obvious solution that occurred to her in the heat of the moment... and stabbed herself in the stomach. The cry of pain that followed out was genuine, and so were the painful tears that followed after.

Will should have sprinted back as soon as he heard the cries, and sure enough, a figure soon approached her crouched figure.

"Natalie, are you alright!?" came Will's panicked voice. "What the hell fucking happened here?"

"He...." said Natalie, then took a break to let out a pitiful sob, "He tried to... to actually..." her voice broke as if the truth was too painful to speak out loud. Will wrapped her in a comforting hug, and she whispered the last two words softly "kill me."

"It's okay now, Nalie, I'm here" he softly spoke, trying to comfort her. "But we need to move from here, I'm afraid a lot of goblins must have heard that noise."

As she saw Will's broad back walking in front of her, Natalie felt reassured and spent some time examining her status screen.

Joshua Brown was no match for your treacherous display. The following items have been transferred to your inventory: 325 Essence Points Forager's Knife, Common Torn white shirt, - Ragged Brown Pants, - Hiking shoes, - First Kill Bonus: 1000 EP Awarded. Killer, Limited Use Title Unlocks one special item in the shop.

Natalie stared at her status screen with an ominous glint in her eye and then moved to check what this special item the system was talking about was.

Oracle's Lens, Killer Title Perk

Cost- 50 EP.

Effect- Allows the wearer to see how many EP another challenger within 10 levels of them has. Only applicable on Gridlocked.

When she saw the red numerical atop Noah's head jump from a few measly hundred points to nearly 3,000... Well, it was a pity Noah couldn't survive his encounter with the goblin archer.

Truly, such a pity.