Prologue

The staging ground was a cacophony of sounds and sensations. 80,000 of Humanity’s best and most seasoned Climbers, those that had survived to this final day. All of them B Ranked or above, a combined pool of skill and luck that had Will’s mind reeling even after all of this time.

The smell of enhancement elixirs and other supplements was thick in the air, as was the sound and feeling of magic crackling and buffs being cast. Not much conversation was going on around Will, despite being packed into an unreasonably small camp with thousands of other people all going through whatever pre-battle rituals got them this far. Instead there was a heavy quiet that hung around their necks like a millstone. No jokes, laughs or pre-fight sparring matches were happening before this assault. Not like the last one. Even then, they’d had 7 S Rankers leading their forces, more than double the number of Climbers, and 4 months left before the timer ran out. They were cocky. Right to the end, they were cocky.

People weren’t cocky now. 1 month remained until Humanity would be deemed to have failed their Climb by the Tower Authority, and wiped from the Multiverse. Unless they made this final push count. He wasn’t even 40, and he was facing down the possible end of not just his life but all life. The thought stabbed at his mind, so he shook it off. Will checked his gear and flashed his Sheet up, knowing it made no difference. He had no changes to make, no upgrades available. Every aspect of his build had been tweaked and perfected as much as possible given his late start and early mistakes, and it still hadn’t been enough to reach A Rank. Not even the peak of B. As he dismissed his Screen and gave his swords a few half-hearted practice swings, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“The S Rankers are about to kick things off, I think.”

It was John, a man who’d gone from schoolyard acquaintance to blood brother over the course of Will’s 8 or so years in the Tower. As usual, he was wearing the Mask of Precision [B] and clutching the Windwalker Bow [A] that he’d spent months grinding for. As he pointed over the crest of their camp to where the 5 remaining S Rankers were getting situated to make their announcement, Will also noticed a slight tremor in his hands that revealed the falsehood of John’s light tone. He didn’t comment on it. They were the last two Companions left, and with the others gone he wasn’t going to ruin what might be their last time together with dwelling on fears.

“This is it, everyone. I’m...uh...not sure why Boris and Kristoff have let me come up here to give this speech as they’re the generals of this offensive, but I am the most senior S Ranker here so that has to count for something, right?”

Finn, the Arcane Blade stood, his sword at his own throat channelling some sort of sound amplifying Spell giving the speech with the tone of an awkward best man at a wedding.

“You all know what to do. The Clans have distributed the battle plans and the resource dossiers, almost all of you have participated in prior assaults, and nobody here is a newbie. We’ve lost a lot of good people in this Climb, and today their sacrifice becomes worth it. We just need one person, anyone here, to reach the Tower Core and complete the Floor. The rest of us are just making space for that person. If your assigned role is minion cleanup, cleanup the minions. If your assigned role is Boss clearing, clear the Bosses. We’ll be at the front taking on the Tower Bosses. Make your last preparations, the portals are opening in 1 minute.”

It wasn’t the most inspiring words ever, but there was little point in more. Will had been present for countless speeches that were far better in their content and delivery, before battles that cost them more than they gained. He fixed his gaze on the S Rankers, and sent them a silent prayer.

“You’re the best of us, guys. If you can’t do this, we’re screwed.”

Finn, the Arcane Blade. Kristoff the Red Knight. Frost Sentinel Boris. Tribulation. Annihilation Spear.

Fourteen S Rankers had fallen to the Tower’s threats, but five still remained as a guiding light. Between them, they represented the remaining leadership of all the Ascended Clans that had not been totally destroyed. As the massed group of Climbers started walking towards the huge gaping maw of death that were the Exit Portals to Floor 50, Will once again looked at his own Sheet. It was out of jealousy and regret, rather than as a nervous tic, this time.

William Sutton [B]

Class: Fighter/Soldier/Knight

Bloodline: Enhanced Humanity

Strength: 182 [+35]

Endurance: 221 [+45]

Agility: 79 [+15]

Reflex: 80 [+15]

Mind Power: 15 [+15]

Mind Depth: 45 [+15]

Skills: Powerful Surge [C], Shield Bash [C], Vanguard Strike [B], Extreme Conditioning [B], Powerful Leap [C], Rending Slash [B], Rally and Strike [B], Stamina Regeneration [B], Fight On [C]

Bonded Items: Sword of Bloodletting [B], Armour of Antarys [B], Magic Barrier Amulet [B], Steel Hightower Shield [C], Spatial Storage Ring [B]

Active Effects: Potion of Prowess [C], Enhancement Elixir [B]

Tower Coins: 32864

Mediocre, across the board. Pathetic Bloodline, common Elite Class, and not even a single A Ranked Item or Skill. He’d had some promise as an early Climber, despite his late start, but he’d managed to waste it all and by the time he realised it was too late to catch up. If he had to estimate, he was in the lower third of all of Humanity, at least those who had Sheets and counted as Climbers.

John patted him on the shoulder again, and he startled at the motion this time.

“Hey, stop worrying. We’ve got this. I’m heading to the overlook to provide covering fire for the advance parties, so we won’t be close once we pass the portal. Be careful man, I don’t want to win this and then find out you didn’t make it.”

Will nodded, shaking his shoulders as he reached the edge of the portal and giving John a confident nod. Then John was gone, and then Will passed through, and then he was on the other side.

Chaos reigned on the 50th Floor. The waves of monsters begun the second anyone set foot on the Floor, and Bosses spawned more rapidly with every new person. Will was immediately caught up in a swell of bodies towards the front lines as people tried to spread out and find an opponent to battle. Up ahead, in the far distance, were the S Rankers and the high A Rankers who were leading the charge. They were supported by people with movement based Skills and Spells and Items, and many fell from the sky or were stopped from their progression by the hoards of enemies that seemed to infinitely increase.

Will engaged a Troll and an Ogre that both stepped from the swell of monsters to challenge him. He deflected the Troll’s club with a deft movement of his shield and activated the effect of his sword. A rolling burst of crimson fog was drawn from the torso of the Ogre and flowed into Will’s blade, empowering it enough to thrust forwards and pierce the now-sluggish Ogre’s heart. The Troll’s club came back for another swing, but Will stepped backwards and let it smash to the floor, taking advantage of the opening to decapitate the large monster. Adrenaline and hope both coursed through him as he moved further forwards and noted several other Climbers around him making progress.

“We might actually have this!” He called, to nobody in particular, his voice swallowed by the din of combat. He picked out a pair of Orcs both wielding heavy maces and used Empowered Leap [C] to launch himself to their position. Landing, he lashed out with shield and sword both, clobbering one Orc in the chest and knocking it back as the other was forced to swing his mace down defensively. Will laughed, a mad laugh at the absurdity of everything that was happening and that had happened in the last 9 years and 11 months since the Tower came to Earth, and activated Rending Slash [B].

His Skill blew both Orcs off their feet and caused fountains of thick green blood to spurt from gaping chest wounds, and he went to step forwards and keep pushing. As he put his foot forwards, though, he felt a stinging sensation in his spine and his body locked in place. This caused him to topple over, and as he looked up helplessly he saw the form of a Warped Sorcerer with a sparkling green energy in his palm striding across the battlefield. He tried to activate his amulet, but couldn’t force out the trigger phrase in his paralysed state and simply tracked the Sorcerer’s hands as they came together and formed a spear of white crackling light that he knew would put and end to him.

The spear of light came closer, but before it could make contact there was an explosion that sent Will flying backwards, the paralysis wearing off in the air. He slammed down onto a chunk of rubble, his helmet denting and brain rattling. Frantically, he tried to recover his senses and swivel his helmet back into position. As he did, his vision cleared to see John dashing in a zigzag pattern towards the Warped Sorcerer sending a hail of arrows at the monster. The Sorcerer had abandoned its attempt to kill Will and was casting a shield with one hand as the other brewed some sort of sickly orange smoke with twisting motions of the fingers.

Will tried to stand, to move, but his body was still under the effects of the paralysis enough to prevent him from doing more than wiggling in place and pawing at his own face and the ground.

He watched, unable to do anything but scream in rage and despair, as the Sorcerer released his Spell and sent it spiralling through the air towards John.

The archer launched into a backflip, soaring well above the Spell’s course, and even though he was too far away it was as though Will could see the calm smile John was wearing. And then the Spell turned in mid-air and followed John, smashing into his unsuspecting face and causing his head to swell up and explode.

The shock of the moment, the pain in his body as the paralysis receded and feeling came back to him, the persistent throbbing of his skull all told him to close his eyes and let the rest of the battle pass. He tried to resist that urge, feebly raising an arm and managing to force himself to stumble forward a few paces but collapsed in a heap on his front this time after just a metre or so of movement. His head swam, and as more explosions and screams rang in his ears, consciousness fled.

The quiet was eerie as he came to again, although quickly the familiar sounds of conflict once again landed in his ears. He forced his head up and nearly vomited at the sight. Corpses in every state of desecration and destruction imaginable, carnage covering the 50th Floor as far as the eye could see. He managed to come to a kneeling position and looked out over what had been the battlefield. Far off in the distance, just at the edge of his vision, he could see the last few hold-outs battling around a dozen gigantic monsters that he recognised as Floor Bosses.

He recognised the bright red beams of light being released from the sword of Kristoff the Red Knight, enough to slice a skyscraper in two or turn any monster below the 30th floor into paste. The telltale blasts of purple lightning, raining from the sky to bombard the monsters, told him that Tribulation had still survived to this point. It was too far to make out the details, but he could tell that Humanity was losing.

Frozen, he watched as the Bosses threw devastating attacks that sent A and B Rankers flying away from the battle and whittled what must have been a few hundred fighters down to less than 10. The Tower Core was out of sight behind them, just past where Will could see from this vantage point, and though he was conscious he hadn’t regained enough strength to move closer.

“If they could kill these Bosses, they might have enough space for one of them to reach the core!”

He thought, but then he remembered the image of John’s head inflating with that cursed orange gas and bursting like a macabre balloon, and had to stop to vomit. Wiping his mouth, he tried to squint and see more of what was happening. His attention had returned to the fight at the perfect moment, it seemed, as he watched one of the Bosses get split in two by one of the Red Knight’s attacks and another drop to the ground frozen by what must have been Frost Sentinel Boris. A speck of a person, clearly having waited patiently for the opening, started speeding past the Bosses out of sight and Will’s heart dropped through the floor.

This was it. They’d made the space. They’d done it.

But then, reality came calling. The other Bosses doubled down their assault and he watched the remaining forces including all the living S Rankers get mercilessly crushed. A huge mushroom cloud of magic energy rocketed up from the site of the fight, and he knew instinctively that whoever had flown past it would be caught in the effects. Silence rang, for a moment, the sounds of what monsters remained in his area wandering around and chewing up corpses somehow fading to nothing as he realised what had just happened.

He might be the last human left. Everywhere he looked there was stillness. Even if any of the people lying bent and broken across the Floor did still live, they were in worse shape than even him. If they were going to clear the Tower, somehow he had to be the one to do it.

Drawing on the last reserves of desperate strength, Will stood and started to walk forwards. Progress was halting, as he breathed heavily and tried not to collapse or trip on the destroyed terrain. He didn’t have the energy to make it to the Core, he knew that already, but he was not going to stop until he had given literally everything he had.

As this thought stuck in his head with full force, he saw a glinting golden light nestled in a pile of bodies up ahead and the sight caused him to trip. He stumbled forwards, landing in front of the glowing object with his chin in the dirt. It appeared to be a coin of some description, though as he reached out a hand to take it he noticed it had been pierced at the top and had a chain put through like a pendant. His aching, ruined fingers managed to clutch at the thin golden links and bring the coin towards his face. As his Sheet kicked in and identified it, a sigh escaped his lips. It was a Miscellaneous Coin, [F] Grade. Worthless, in other words. As he went to toss it away and try to regain his feet, though, the words on his Sheet morphed and resolved. They changed, and he coughed in confusion.

The Coin of Second Chances [SS]

This artefact will reveal its’ name and description during activation.

Activation Requirements: User must be the final member of their species alive during an iteration.

This Unique Coin will allow a single retry of an iteration, sending the user back to the first moment in which they learned of the Tower’s existence to occupy their younger body. No Stats, Skills, Bloodlines or other benefits earned within the Tower will transfer over, but all memories of the Tower will be preserved and maintained.

Activation Cost: If the user of this coin fails to successfully lead their species to conquering the Tower during the retry, they and their species will receive significant additional punishment from the Tower Authority.

“A...an SS Ranked Item? Is that even possible?”

He brought the coin even closer, as though he was going to suddenly see through it and realise it was an illusion, but it just continued to glow. Reading the description again, he shook his head in disbelief.

“Activation Cost? As though anyone would refuse to pay that. Of course I’d accept that risk to change all this! Who wouldn’t? What sort of idiot made this fake item!”

The words finished, and he coughed again in pain and irritation, only to be stopped in his tracks by the sound of chimes.

Like a church bell, clanging loudly over and over, in his head, the chimes continued. The glow of the coin got brighter, until Will couldn’t see anymore and had to screw his eyes shut to avoid a painful headache. A sensation like being dunked in ice water sent a spike through his whole body and his eyes shot open once more.

In front of him was a series of images, with words underneath. As his mind acclimatised, he realised it was a laptop screen. He was looking at a laptop. He swivelled his head in surprise, and realised he wasn’t knelt on a battlefield in the Tower anymore. He was in his bedroom, at home.

“Oh shit, it was real?”