An endless white void fades into being, emptiness is all that it holds, and stillness encompasses it's entire being. Suddenly a man in velvet robes lined with gold thread appears in this void. His neck embellished in innumerable gold and jewels, and his fingers adorned numerous bejeweled rings. His thick platinum blonde hair slowly flows as if there is a slight breeze passing by, and his piercing blue eyes hold a trace of arrogance as he gazes into this void. He raises his decorated right hand and snaps his fingers, and as if the rules that made up this empty world had suddenly changed, new objects foreign to this place suddenly start appearing as if from thin air.

A layer of clouds appears overhead, followed by a seemingly limitless layer of earth. A light starts shining from behind these clouds illuminating this new earth, and soon an endless cobblestone floor slowly appears into being one piece at a time upon this landscape. On this new cobblestone ground, an enormous structure starts to be built, one brick at a time. The base of this structure stretches beyond view, but after what seems to be a near eternity, a grand tower, reaching beyond what seems to be infinity itself, now sits in stillness in this area.

Countless streams of light begin streaming down from between the clouds and touching down on the ground softly. After a while these light streams have bundled into what seems to be an almost blindingly shining, wriggling, mass of thread. After these light streams stop coming down from above, the formation of light fades after a few minutes and what is revealed is an ocean of humans, all unconscious, wearing various colors of prison uniforms.

The man, wordlessly gazing from above at this newly arrived ocean of people, now seemingly satisfied with his work, raises his hand and snaps his fingers once again, and he fades into nothingness, with a grin on his face, leaving this newly formed world and its new inhabitants behind.

***

The new world echoes with the sounds of the breathing of the millions of unconscious people lying on the stone floor, bringing along with it a sense of peacefulness. After a few minutes of this world seemingly relishing in this peace, the atmosphere is broken by the soft sounds of a few of these people waking up. These "prisoners", after a few moments of looking around blankly in confusion, fear, and trepidation, start raising a ruckus, calling out to whatever god or demon they believe is responsible for such an occurrence.

As this ruckus starts gaining traction amongst those who have woken up from their quiet rest, more and more begin waking up as a result and join in on this commotion. Soon, a slightly disheveled man wearing an orange jumpsuit is similarly woken up by this commotion, and as he looks around his vision is filled with the countless faces of those around him, all of which are distorted by the intense emotions that they are experiencing. But this man, different from the rest of those surrounding him, wears an expression of slight irritation and contemplation. He then closes his eyes in an apparent attempt to think more clearly.

'What am I forgetting? It's right on the tip of my tongue, I can feel it.'

But after around a minute or so of what seems to be fruitless attempts at recollection, he ruffles his light brown hair with his hands, and mutters "Fuck" under his breath.

Suddenly a bright flash of light appears above, staining all those who lie on the stone floor below a brilliant color, and at the same time silencing all those who were panickingly discussing things earlier. The man in the orange jumpsuit turns his attention upwards after the intense light fades away enough for him to see clearly, and reflected in his deep hazel-green eyes in the image of a man floating in mid air. The floating man is donned in a black suit and tie, with a white collared shift underneath. On his face is a pair of pitch black sunglasses, on his feet are a pair of black loafers, and his deep black hair seems to be slicked back with some sort of gel, but this neat and tidy businessman image turns horrid when looking at the expression his face holds. The smile that rests upon his face seems to be stretched a bit wider than what one would consider charming, and moving in on the borderline creepy territory, similar in appearance to the smile a caricature of a con-man would wear. His face is also imprinted with pitch black lines that reach up to his ears from his oral commissures, similar to the Ainu people's tattoos.

The floating man observes the speechless and open mouthed crowd for a few moments before giving off a slight frown, then seemingly coming to an unpleasant realization he raises and swipes his palm in front of him, and another blindingly bright light shines with him as the center. After a few moments, at least hundreds of identical looking men are revealed floating alongside him. They then fly out positioning themselves at an equal distance from each other, and then they simultaneously clear their throats. The same voice flows through their mouths simultaneously, as if they are exact copies of each other.

"Those who have been arrested and convicted by their fellow men, those who have not yet graced a prison cell with their presence, and those who have, in one way or another, escaped their due punishments, welcome everyone, my name is Claude Sinclair.", they say with a short bow.

"I bet you are all wondering to yourselves, 'Why am I here?', 'Who brought me here?', or something similar, but do not worry as I am here to answer these questions for you."

The Claudes then raises their forefingers and continues on speaking, "Firstly, you are all here through a little favor done for your planet by the grace of us, the beings of this tower that you see right behind me. We contacted all of the leaders of all of the countries on your planet and asked them, 'If I can remove all of the criminals residing in your country, convicted or otherwise, without it being traced back to you, would you allow me? And can you guess what they said? Yes, they all said yes, isn't that hilarious?", they say as they start breaking down into a hysterical laughter, their backs arched forwards and their hands clutching their stomachs.

After a dozen odd seconds they finally calm down and continue on, "As for the purpose you are here for, it is entertainment, but don't think it is meaningless for you all, there are certain benefits that can be acquired as well."

The Claudes then hold out their right palms and mutters some words under their breath, and after finishing their secretive mutterings, pillars of flame, hundreds if not thousands in number, spurt upwards from their open palms at least 50 feet in height.

"This is just a brief glimpse of the power that you can acquire in this Tower of Opportunity.", they say gesturing to the endless tower behind them.

Silence rings out throughout the endless ocean of people for what seemed like a small eternity, but the small voice of a person in this ocean sounds out calling towards one of the Claudes.

"Hey Claude, you rat bastard, I don't care about that magic shit. Just send me back; I only had a week left until I was let out."

Soon a few more people join in on throwing complaints at the numerous Claudes, and it soon devolves into a one-sided yelling match. Slowly the Claudes' faces shift into an expression of rage, and their figures disappear. The crowd stunned slightly at his disappearance, quiets down for a moment, but suddenly seemingly endless geysers of blood shoot out from the ocean of people, followed shortly by a symphony of screams. The Claudes then reappear above the crowd once again, but their faces have now shifted into a more demonic state. Their mouths are now opened almost ten inches wide, along the pitch black lines that were on their faces previously, and it looks as if it is splitting their head in two. A red viscous blood dribbles from their open lips, and bits of torn flesh occupy the gaps between the multiple rows of teeth that their agape mouths reveal.

A small portion of people within the crowd are now lying on the stone floor, limbless, their blood flowing through the textured stone, and their screams ring out haunting those still standing. This crowd of people, now characterized by a mix of pale faces wielding sickening expressions, and the puddles of blood that lie beneath them, stares breathlessly at the Claudes in shock and fear.

The Claudes' mouth then starts closing, and soon they are back to normal, save for the blood texturing their faces. But as if to rectify this inconsistency, he pulls out a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his face clean.

"Now where were we? Oh yes, your benefits."

The Claudes then wave their hands in front of themselves and an enormous ball of light appears above them. This ball of light then wriggles for a moment before splitting into an uncountable number of orbs of light each one flying towards the people on the ground, except for those who are now limbless. These balls of light stop just before their assigned persons and quickly start and finish a process of splitting into two smaller orbs. These, now two, orbs of light then fly into those that lie before them, one flies into their heads and the other into their right hands.

Suddenly a blue text box appears in each of their visions, invisible to those around them. The crowd of those still standing turn to each other in confusion, looking for reassurance that they haven't gone crazy from the shock of the violence that had just taken place. An endless sea of mutterings then break out, but after they have verified that they aren't the only ones experiencing these "hallucinations", they focus back on them.

The man in the orange prison uniform observes the text box in front of him, his brows slightly furrowed in response to the information it displays.

Hello dear convicts, and welcome to the Tower of Opportunity. You shall set out on your journey to climb to the top of this tower, wielding the powers and items granted to you, and those that you find within the tower itself. It is recommended to form a "party" when climbing this tower so as to decrease the likelihood of severe injury or death.

Some basic information that you should know before starting your journey is that your lifespan has been decreased to 3 months, and every floor conquered increases your lifespan by 2 weeks. You will see this "encouragement" in your profiles under the afflictions section. Your lifespan will be reset to normal once this tower is beaten, and you will be returned back to where you came from upon completion of the tower as well.

All convicts have been granted two starting benefits, except for those who have been deemed as disruptive to the welcome process, to assist them in their climb. Simply say "Profile" to observe your personal stats, and say "Identify" to observe the details of your starting items and skills while focusing on them, and any more that you may acquire in the future.

Additionally as you may have noticed by now, you have been given colored uniforms. Your uniforms are given out based on the severity of your crimes. In ascending severity they are: White, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Black. So be cautious of who you form a party with.

-Admin

The man in the orange jumpsuit, after reading through the information displayed in front of him, whispers "Profile" with a slight nervousness., and immediately a new window is presented in front of him, once again invisible to all those surrounding him.

-General Information- Name: Ryan Mitchel Age: 23 Race: Human Level: 0 Stat Points: 0 Gold: 0 -Stats- Vitality: 9 Health Points(HP): 90/90 Physical Resistance: 0.21% Stamina: 12 Stamina Points(SP): 120/120 Constitution: 11 HP Regeneration: 1.1% per 5 Minutes SP Regeneration: 1.1% per 5 Minutes Intelligence: 13 Mana Points(MP): 130/130 Magical Resistance: 0.28% Wisdom: 15 MP Regeneration: 1.5% per 5 Minutes Luck: 0 Critical Hit: 0% Affliction Resistance: 0.11% -Titles- -Traits- The Curse of Cronus -Skills- -Afflictions- The Conqueror's Encouragement

The man in the orange jumpsuit, Ryan, after comprehending all of the information displayed in front of him, then starts hearing numerous whispers, all of the word "Identify", and he decides to follow suit in saying it. Just after the final syllable of the word leaves his mouth, the description of what he was most focused on appears in front of his eyes.

The Curse of Cronus Ability Rank: ??? Possessor of this skill is unable to acquire and possess any Stat Points in the luck stat; ??? A curse that has been bestowed by the God of Time, Cronus. It is only given to those who trespass upon his domain, the domain of time. This curse only function within the Tower of Opportunity.

'Trespass', Ryan thought. 'When did I ever trespass on his domain of time, let alone even know he existed?'

He soon lets go of this slight anger he holds against this god, and observes the magical staff resting in his right hand. The staff looks to be created from an abnormal looking blue wood, carved with numerous shapes and symbols upon its just over 2 foot long body. These carvings have been filled with a yellowish metal similar to gold, but of a lighter sheen. At the head of this staff is a teardrop shaped, light pink crystal, that looks to have a small flame burning silently in its center. At its base, the staff bears a couple small holes with many multicolored braids of thread running through them.

Ryan runs his fingers down the filled carvings filling the alien looking staff, feeling the weird texture that it bears. After a few moments of taking in the object that lies within his hands, in its entirety, he mutters "Identify."

Magic Staff of the Timid Current Item Rank: F; Maximum Item Rank: C Scaling Stats: 1st. Intelligence; 2nd. Wisdom When used with fire magic, it grants a 1.1x multiplier. When used with offensive magic, it grants a 1.1x multiplier. A traditionally made magic staff, which has been blessed by the spirits of fire. It is granted to fire magicians who wish to stay clear of the front lines. Soul Capacity: 0/10

'Timid.', he thought. His slight anger from before came rushing back, and now combined with the anger stemming from this perceived insult, his face sports a heavy frown. Taking a deep breath, Ryan calms himself down and travels back into his own thoughts.

'They don't know me. I'll show them how "timid" I am.'

After setting his determination, Ryan then starts waving his hands in front of him a couple times, before stopping and staring blankly into space, looking a little confused.

'...So how do I get rid of these windows?'

Then suddenly, a new window appears in his vision as if to answer his internal query.

For a list of command words/phrases available for you to use, simply say "Commands List".

-Admin

'That was a little weird. But I guess it's fine if it is helping me; at least now I can clear up my vision.', Ryan concludes.

"Command List."

A list of dozens of words appears in front of him, most of them, at a glance, seem to be virtually pointless. He then finds the command that will clear up his vision, and he then recites it.

"Close All Windows."

The blue walls filled with text obscuring his vision vanish in an instant. Immediately after he finds the solution to his problem, Claude calls for the crowd to focus back on him.

With a bit of fear creeping back onto his face, Ryan turns back towards the Claude who is still floating almost directly above him.

"Now, my dear convicts, as you may have noticed by this point, you are all able to understand each other. No matter what languages you speak, you all can now understand what every other person is saying. Think of this as a favor from me.", Claude says with a not so deft wink. "Regarding your climbing of the tower, you are free to form parties, groups, what have you, or you can go for it alone, it's all the same to me, as long as you can entertain me. But know this, once you set foot in the tower, you will not be able to meet any other people besides those in your group, if you are in one, until you and/or your team conquer the tenth floor. After every tenth floor there will be a resting area free from anything you have faced on the previous floors, where all of you are able to meet up if you wish to do so. In this resting area, you are free to do what you wish, eat, sleep, fight, rape, kill, anything that suits your fancy. On this floor you are also able to leave your current party, if you are in one, and join a party, even if you weren't in one before. Do your best to keep it interesting."

"Oh yeah, also do your best to survive."

The Claudes then start raising their palms, but before finishing what they were trying to do, they place their hands back down and start speaking again.

"I almost forgot, there are a few more rewards for those who are willing to take a risk. There are three more rewards associated with saying the phrases: 'Party Menu', 'Shop', and 'Skill Tree'. There is a 50% chance that you will experience the pain of being burned alive for upwards of 10 minutes before exploding, but if that doesn't happen to you, you'll get a good lead up over the others."

"Now... There is one more thing to take care of.", they say ominously.

The Claudes start raising their palms once again, and wave it in front of them. Then from within the ocean of people, numerous clouds of ash explode out, blinding those on the ground, but the ash is quickly blown away by a breeze that shortly follows.

After the blinding ash frees up the crowd's vision, they can no longer see the remains of all those who were on the ground only moments before. The only remnants left behind, are the seemingly endless puddles of blood, tears, and other bodily fluids, streaming towards those near, as if their owner's will still inhabits them, reaching out towards those nearby, begging for an unattainable justice.