"It's not a dream." Claude Sinclair's introduction begins.

"It's not a dream." Shouts from the crowd sound out.

"It's not a dream." Blood splatters as many fall to the ground, limbless.

"It's not a dream." Claude derides the crowd.

"It's not a dream." "...Climb the tower.", Claude encourages.

"It's not a dream." A ball of light flies towards me.

"It's not a dream." An item appears in my hand accompanied by a window.

"It's not a dream." "Hey you", Claude shouts at me.

Taken out of my stupor I look up at Claude, who then says, "Would you shut up already. You are disturbing my grand speech; on and on with this 'It's not a dream.' nonsense, it should be enough now."

"It's not a dream.", I mutter once again. Suddenly my eyesight turns upward out of my control, and then shifts towards the ground. Glancing around I see pale faces shrouded in horror all looking towards me. 'What's wrong with them.', I wonder before seeing my body with blood flowing rapidly from the stump that was my neck. 'Ah, that must be why. Well this isn't too bad. Maybe this dream will end now.'

***

A cacophony of voices awakes me from my sleep. Looking around me I see a seemingly endless crowd, and my eyes start tearing up. "Why. Why me. What did I do to deserve this."

Claude appears above the crowd for the third time, and remembering what happened last time I quiet down, to avoid making him mad. Staring at him he once again begins his speech about how this tower is a great chance for all, and then some of the crowd begins shouting at him to send them back, and again the ground is littered with screaming, crying, and spasming -- now limbless -- bodies. He then ridicules the crowd again, and continues on. After informing us of our "Encouragement", balls of light fly towards all those still left standing. After the ball arrives before me again but this time not splitting into two parts, remaining as one whole. The ball of light heads toward my right hand and a window appears before me, detailing my new item to me.

Magic Staff of the Frightened A magic staff blessed by the powers of fire, given to the one who has been frightened by the horrors of the battlefield. Item Rank: F; Item Growth Limit: C Scales with Intelligence and Wisdom Can be used with all magic, but has 1.3x multiplier when used with fire magic, and a second 1.3x multiplier when used with defensive magic. Soul Capacity: 0/100

'That is different.' "Close window." Then my personal profile appears before me again with slightly lower values than when I last looked at it.

Name: Ryan Mitchel Race: Human Age: 23 Sex: Male Level: 0 Stat Points: 0 Gold: 0 Titles: N/A Stats: HP:90/90 HP Regeneration: 1.1% per 5 Minutes SP:120/120 SP Regeneration: 1.1% per 5 Minutes MP: 130/130 MP Regeneration: 1.5% per 5 Minutes Critical Hit Chance: 0% Physical Resistance: 0.11% Magical Resistance: 0.15% Affliction Resistance: 0.35% Vitality: 9 Stamina: 12 Constitution: 11 Intelligence: 13 Wisdom: 15 Luck: 0 Skills: N/A Personal Abilities: The Curse of Cronus Afflictions: The Conquerors "Encouragement"

'Is it my ability which did this to me?' "Identify."

The Curse of Cronus Ability Rank: ??? Effects: Changes Luck value to 0 but distributes previous luck value into other stats, prevents the possessor from raising his Luck from 0, curses the possessor to repeat their time within the Tower of Opportunity upon death unless the possessor escapes form said tower, ??? The curse from the God of Time Cronus, forced upon the one who treaded into his domain. Only Functions within the Tower of Opportunity.

'How do I escape from here, do I have to go back into the tower and challenge the floors again? No I can't do that. What am I supposed to do then? Think Ryan think; there was someone who wanted to search for a way out before in the first time I was her, maybe I should find him? No wait, that wouldn't work; even if I escape here I would still only have 3 months to live. So what should I do, should I climb the tower after all? No I can't do it again; I can't.' My thoughts continue racing through my head and soon three new windows appear before my eyes.

Congratulations to Leon Beltrán for creating the first party, Chivalry. Members of this party will receive a starting bonus of 10% increased EXP gain for the first 3 weeks of their climb, limited to the first 25 people who join, including the party leader.

-Admin

Congratulations to Casimir Lenoir for accessing the Shop before anyone else. You shall receive a 20% discount on the first 10 items you purchase.

-Admin

Congratulations Casimir Lenoir for accessing the skill tree before all others. You shall be rewarded with one random skill and one skill point.

-Admin

'I even missed the skill tree bonus this time. Stupid; how could I forget the bonuses. Now I have no chance of being able to climb the tower without that extra skill point.' Staring blankly at the floor stained with scattered puddles of blood for what seemed like an eternity thinking endlessly about my imminent death, a soothing voice calls for my attention from above me.

"Hello there, you look a little lost. Would you like to join my party?" Looking up the pretty face of a raven haired woman is revealed to me. Staring blankly at how the light from above surrounds her features; it's as if an angel has descended before me. Her facial contours are as if sculpted from porcelain, and her hair flows down as if it was a river. Then shifting my gaze to her eyes, I feel as if I am lying before the ocean but looking at her left eye, I see it has lost it luster and appears faded.

I see a hand waving before my face before hearing, "Hello, are you there. Hellooo." Snapping back to reality I sputter out, "Ah y..yes, I'll join." A blinding bright smile then appears before me. "That's great."

You have been invited to join the party, Pursuit, as a member, by Sophie Karner. Do you accept? Yes/No

"Yes.", I mutter, and a white light shines around me for a few seconds. She then grabs my hand and begins leading me to the area around the red gateway. "Alright let me guide you to the rest of the group the rest of the group so you can meet and get to know each other. You are the last member by the way; almost everyone else has left already, and whoever hasn't is already in a party." She then walks up to one of the groups surrounding the gateway. Looking at them in detail I see a medium sized group of 5 people besides me and Sophie.

She points at a lanky man with a bow over his shoulder, "This is Dylan, he uses a bow." Then one by one she points at all the members in the group. "This is Alice, she uses a magic staff. This is Bruno, he uses a shield. This is Lee, he uses a spear. This is John, he uses a gun." After I shook all of their hands, she then says, "And I am Sophie, and I use sword.", patting the scabbard on her waist. "Oh silly me, I never got your name, and what weapon you use." Clearing my throat, *ahem*, I speak in a slightly subdued voice, "My name is Ryan Mitchel, and I use a magic staff."

"Another magic user, that's great. Maybe you should talk with Alice about what magic you have." As I look at Alice holding her staff in front of her, she gives me a nod of affirmation.

"Actually I haven't learned any magic yet.", I say. "Huh. Well you should learn it now, because we are about to go through the gate."

"Okay. 'Skill Tree.' 'Skill Trees.' 'Learn.'"

Would you like to learn the Fire Creation Skill. Upon the learning of a skill information on how to execute and use the skill will be presented to you for a short period of time. The more you comprehend the higher level the skill starts at; the lowest level is level 1. Be warned all skill acquisitions are final, there is no undoing a purchase. Yes/No

"Yes." Again, the wave of information comes and goes, only leaving me with a headache.

Congratulations on acquiring the skill Fire Creation, the starting level of the skill you gained is level 2.

"Identify."

Fire Creation Skill Rank: F Skill Level: 3 A beginner fire magic skill that forms the base of all fire magic. Function is only limited by the user's imagination and mana capacity.

Can be used to make defensive or offensive spells with low efficiency. For every 2 mana used, 1.2 damage is inflicted in the case of offensive spells, and 1.2 damage is blocked in the case of defensive spells.

"That was very quick. Did you think about your choice any?", Alice speaks out.

"Yes, I did."

"Well OK, then.", she says in response.

Sophie then calls back our attention, "Well now that Ryan has learned his magic spell, it's time to go into the tower. Don't fall too far behind." She then begins walking forward, to the gateway and soon steps through it and the rest of her party not far behind, with me lagging a little behind, still nervous about going back in the tower.

Slapping myself on the cheeks, to psyche myself up, I inwardly mutter, "You can do this Ryan, you are not on your own anymore." I then step through the gate and the light surrounds me transporting me back to the first floor.