Noah looked around for the source of the voice, but once again found nothing. Whatever power had decided to save his life this time around didn’t seem inclined to make Noah aware of their presence, and for now, Noah had no inclination to stick around- Not with the din he’d made earlier. However, before he made himself scarce, Noah had one more task to do.

The blue goblin’s carcass was releasing a white halo that Noah had almost missed due the sunlight- well, Noah had noticed no actual sun in the sky, just a soft white light that seemed almost comfortable to bask under, reminding him that this was in fact not the planet he was born and brought up on, but the interiors of an alien spaceship- and Noah hoped that implied he was about to get rewarded for his efforts.

Would you like to Loot the Goblin Assassin, Level 2?

Yes

No

Pressing yes without dallying, Noah felt the white halo surrounding the goblin flow into him, and the dagger that was still held in its hands vanished. Noah assumed that it was his spoil of war now, and hurriedly looted the other two goblins- that had a very weak brown halo surrounding them, before heading away from where he estimated the center of his Grid was.

Noah doubted that everyone in this trial would face an actual god damn assassin minutes into the trial, and the possibility that each challenger had a bipolar ghost assistant that would send you into a death game and then try to save you was also getting unlikelier by the moment. The only explanation left was that the area he thought was a good spawn, turned out to be a terrible one.

Without stopping to check his spoils, Noah walked away from his handiwork like he was an unconcerned bystander, having nothing to do with the three decapitated goblins lying meters away from him. The system did hit him with a flurry of mind notifications, but like with any good UI design, there was an option to view later, and Noah willed it to be that way.

He could run, but that seemed like a terrible idea in a forest with reduced visibility, for all he knew he’d walk right into the final boss’ lair- with his luck it wasn’t implausible. Noah could only walk five minutes before another incident occurred. A weird crunching noise started coming behind him, and from how loud it was, it seemed it originating from right behind him.

His composure going for a toss, Noah started sprinting into the forest, dodging large veiny tree roots, smashing past shrubbery like a bulldozer and coming out with a few light cuts, but the sound kept following him, as if keeping pace with him was no trouble at all. In a desparate move, Noah slowed himself down and did a 180-degree pivot on his right leg, smashing down with his gladius in an overhead blow.

The expression of complete and utter stupefaction that could be seen on Noah’s face was still not enough to describe the bizarreness of what he witnessed. Noah wondered if he should reconsider the odds of him being insane as he tried to come to terms with reality.

Hovering above the ground there was a man..... comfortably resting on a brown recliner, with the damn leg support fully extended outward.

The man was in his late thirties, maybe even his early forties. He sported long hair that had been dyed in a very dazzling hue of silver, a perfect match with the man's otherworldly silver-colored eyes that gazed at Noah with such intensity that it felt they’d glow in the dark. Of Caucasian descent, the man had a wiry frame, to the point of extremity. Every inch of his body seemed to be pure muscle, without a single ounce of fat to be found to the point where it seemed slightly unnatural. He had a small nose, a well-defined jawline, and well-proportioned lips. He could easily pass for a model or an actor, if his entire being wasn't semi-translucent, that is.

That same elegant looking man was now stuffing his mouth full of potato chips as he stared at Noah like he was watching a particularly interesting television series.

"What mate, never seen a bloke snack on crisps before?" the man asked questioningly, in a deep voice that contained an authoritarian edge that could not be concealed, despite his effort to appear amiable.

“Y-Y-YOU!” Noah pointed stared at the man, his anger superseding his stupefaction for now. The person who had thrust him into this death game and almost gotten him killed had been watching this entire time, like it was some reality TV broadcast.

“Yes, me. English not your native language or something? Not to fear I’m fluent in all 7,097 languages known to man. Salut petit, je m'appelle Liam. Quel est ton ? Эй ты там? Wissen Sie, Kinder in Ihrem Alter sollten mehr Begeisterung zeigen. Toen ik jouw leeftijd had, weerde ik een bergleeuw af met mijn blote handen….”

“No, I don’t mean…. Ugh, you’re fucking with me,” Noah still didn’t know what to make of the situation, but at least his ghostly stalker didn’t seem intent on killing him.

“Pipe down, lad. We call it banter where I come from, it’s a highly civilized form of greeting we brits extend to each other on cheerful occasions,” the silver haired man said with a chuckle.

“And how the fuck is plucking me out of my house, tossing me 400 meters into the air, sending FUCKING ALIENS TO HUNT ME DOWN, A CHEERFUL OCCASION?” Noah was yelling near the end, exasperated by the odd poltergeist he’d somehow picked up. “And lastly, who the fuck are you?” Noah asked, calming himself down after realizing how loud he was being.

“You wish to know who I am?” the silver haired man asked, his smile growing wider. The man got up out of his recliner, and a flash of silver light enveloped him. Moments later, he was holding an exquisite sword that seemed to be fashioned out of a beautiful, otherworldly material that looked like lustrous, blindingly sharp white marble. He wore a silver chest plate with runic markings running across it, the symbol of a roaring lion emblazoned with gold near the center, a matching pair of silver greaves, gloves and boots that seemed to be constructed with a material that seemed almost fluid as it protected him from external forces. In his left hand was a kite shield that appeared to be constructed out of pure molten gold, and he radiated an aura of power that made Noah feel so insignificant, so small, in front of this mighty being.

“They call me The Eternal Lion, Conqueror of the 98th Floor, Lord of Destruction, Keeper of Oaths, and The Savior of Humanity,” his voice echoed out, his words itself seemed to radiate a power that Noah couldn’t even comprehend, let alone contain.

The illusion faded, and The Eternal Lion sat back down on his recliner, seeming completely different from the intimidating force of nature Noah had just borne witness to.

“Oh, and also, I was the guild leader of Savage Goons too. But all of this was in the original timeline. ” Liam added, in between stuffing large mouthfuls of potato chips, or rather ‘crisps’ as he called them into his mouth.

“What kind of a name is Savage- wait, what the hell do you mean by the original timeline?”

“You really are a little daft, lad. It means what it says. The savior of humanity got his sorry arse handed to him, forced to watch as every single companion he’d known since the beginning of the climb got reduced to ashes, and our tiny little planet Earth went kaboom! Oh, yeah, I also got my soul smited for trying to leap back in time, but by some stroke of luck I managed to preserve enough of it to maintain consciousness,” The Eternal Lion explained in a flurry of words, with a level of detachment that brought chills to Noah.

“Dear God….” Noah said, unable to process the sacrifices the man in front of him had made, and how humanity had been defeated. Did that mean… he expected him to…. Oh fuck….. Also, time travel existed. Should he be surprised? Probably. Was he? Nope.

“Met the bloke. He’s nice,” Liam said, tossing his empty bag of crisps aside and summoning a piping hot cup of instant noodles and chopsticks to go along with them.

“You’ve met….” By this point, Noah.exe had stopped working.

“For all intents and purposes, I barely qualify as one. Ah well, used to.”

“So you want me to… inherit your role? And should I address you as God?” Noah asked, voice unsure and tense.

“HAHAHAHAHA…” The Eternal Lion laughed, a laughter without any mirth or judgement. He kept laughing for a long minute, and then finally composed himself. “Being a God doesn't magically change my personality, I'm still a chipper bloke that likes Chicken Tikka Masala as much as the next guy down the block. Also, call me Liam.”

“Okay then, Liam,” Noah said, and then finally said the words, “Do you want me to save humanity?”

“Hell nah.”

“I’m not sure I can d- …. Huh?” Noah looked at Liam, shock and puzzlement written all over his face.

“Don’t take it personally, I’m sure you’re a bloke as fine as any other. But lad, by all meaning of the word, I was a prodigy. I was built for this kind of world, even before those wankers decided to drop that cursed tower on our heads. I didn’t choose you, I simply attached myself to the first challenger I saw. From the looks of it, you’re not a raging psychopath, but neither are you some sort of combat prodigy- which means humanity still has a chance. What I need you to do, is refound The Savage Goons.”

“….. Are you for real?” Noah asked, wondering if he was being pranked.

“Kid, you have any idea how many secrets, how many hidden pieces this tower holds? How much power an organization could hold if they had access to them? What about legends who died an untimely death, or vagabonds who only made themselves known years, if not decades later? What if you could bring them all to your side, train them and unite them under one banner?” Liam got up from his recliner, and raised his hands outwards, as if he wished to encompass the entirety of Earth within.

“The collective potential of humanity, raised to it’s maximum level- A force that not even the strongest challenger would have any hope of resisting,” He explained, and realization dawned on Noah.

“I can… save humanity?” Noah asked Liam, as if he could feel the weight of those words weigh on his shoulders. Was their any purpose greater than that? Was this not what Noah had been searching for this entire while- A purpose, a mission in life that he could dedicate himself to, feel fulfilled each day and contribute to something greater than himself?

“You can, but I’d deal with the goblin running towards you first.”