Kapitel 1: Chapter 1. Entering the Tower (dropped)
///My TOD fanfic idea had a very poor reception, so I'm giving up on this story. I might write something once I come up with a good set-up that satisfies me, very likely with both OC and Bam, but the OC is the true protagonist.///
The first floor of the Tower, Headon's Floor.
Feeling the changes in Shinsoo, the Guardian of the First Floor, Headon, felt butterflies in his belly and his body slightly shook in excitement at the familiar sensation - it was a sensation that he only felt a few times in his life, but one that he could never forget.
'The boy should be here now.'
Expecting the appearance of a new Irregular in advance, Headon quickly hid away the girl that entered earlier - she had already declined the impossible test and fallen into his trap; may this vermin watch, so that she could later be easily turned into a puppet.
Following that, the Floor Guardian hid himself in the shinsoo as he first aimed to observe the newcomer for a while.
And soon after he hid himself, a person's body materialized in the cavern.
As Headon's mouth slit split open deeper and revealed his eyes, he looked at the newcomer with curiosity.
The new Irregular was a slim boy that looked to be in his early-teens, but Headon knew well that looks can be deceiving.
He wore light-gray breeches, a black long-sleeved shirt and a dark-gray vest while his feet were adorned with black buck shoes that were simple and old-fashioned, just like the rest of his outfit.
He had long natural-black hair that was bound into a long semi-elegant half-ponytail at the back, with neatly cut bangs covering his forehead and with longer bangs framing the sides of his face.
Ignoring the cleaver knife attached to his belt, at first glance the boy looked like a child of a very traditional aristocratic family or simply a young butler.
The black-haired boy first noted the special ceiling of the first floor, which was certainly its most eye-catching aspect, before turning to observe the various carvings on the stone walls of the cave.
Headon observed the Irregular for a short while, before deciding to reveal himself.
…
[Gray's POV.]
As Gray continued to analyze the carving on the walls, a voice suddenly sounded out from somewhere: "My, my- It's been a while since there's been a visitor like you here."
At this, Gray turned toward the source of the voice with a slightly startled expression.
However, he was not too terrified or surprised when he saw that the person who spoke up to him was a humanoid monster resembling a rabbit.
The 'rabbit' had white skin and two long pointy ears that creased back from its head. Its mouth slid traveled across the entire oval-shaped face, as if it had on a permanent smile, yet he had no visible eyes. In his three-fingered hands, he carried a staff with two balls at the end.
Gray looked at the smiling and staff-armed creature with wariness and curiosity, even though deep in his heart he felt incredibly excited at that moment.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you," the Rabbit replied with a nonchalant smile as he seemed to have interpreted Gray's anxiousness as fear. He then swirled around a stick in the air once and continued, "My name is Headon, Guardian of the lowest floor of the Tower, what is your name?"
'Headon…' Gray's eyes faintly widened when he heard those words as he stifled the true excitement that threatened to gush out from his heart. 'As expected, he is the guardian of the first Floor of the Tower. As I hoped, it's the world of the Tower of God. After years of waiting for my chance, I finally entered the Tower!'
Gray's eyes secretly glinted as he thought of his life in this world so far.
His entry to the Tower at this moment was not completely unexpected, as he had hoped for it to happen ever since he had met 'Rachel'.
The truth is that Gray is not an ordinary person, but a transmigrated soul. He was originally a person from Earth, but several years ago he had reincarnated to this world in the body of a very young child.
At first, he found himself alone in a dark stone cave with nothing in it apart from rocks and a vast empty space.
He didn't know where he was, why he ended up in that cave or who threw him in there.
After he found the only source of light in that cave, he didn't waste his time and built a mountain of rubble to try and escape that place before he died of starvation and dehydration.
But then he realized that the glass ceiling was not something that he could break even with a rock.
However, his loneliness didn't last forever.
At one point, a light shone down into his cage from above and a young girl went down on a rope.
It was a young blonde girl with freckles. As Gray eventually found out, her name was Rachel.
At first Rachel was very wary of him as she went down while carrying a knife and even feared him, since she looked at him as if he were some kind of monster, despite the fact that he was just a few-years old child.
Afterward the first time that she brought him a lunch box, she would continue visiting him to drop him some food, seemingly out of pity, always not staying for long before quickly leaving. Certainly, the fact that Gray had asked her for her blood one of those times, with his strange thirst for blood bothering him, didn't help to ease her fear of him.
It was only after a while that Rachel had dropped her guard against him and the two developed a closer relationship.
Rachel was Gray's only source of information about the outside world. She brought him books to read when he had nothing to do, food when he had nothing to eat and other necessities like a towel or a blanket. She was his only companion in that lonely and desolate empty world.
She was, however, never aware of the fact that thanks to previously reading the 'Tower of God' manhwa, Gray knew about her and the world of the Tower far more than she could imagine.
In that world, it seemed that he had taken Bam's place and was locked up in the same cave as him.
As Rachel seemed to want to use him to bring him into the Tower, Gray used her back and continued playing his role of her friend, patiently waiting for the day when he might enter the Tower.
And today was finally his chance!
That day Rachel proclaimed that she would begin climbing the Tower, suddenly leaving him behind in the cave with almost no explanation, as if the years they spent together meant nothing.
In relation to that, Gray 'attempted' to convince her that they would climb the Tower together, but in the process a mystical huge stone door opened below them and pulled both of them in one by one.
And now he was finally here, on the first floor of the Tower!
As Gray thought of all this, Headon spoke up again: "You do have a name, do you, boy?"
"... Ah, yes. My name is Gray," Gray said as he focused back on the humanoid Rabbit.
"So it's Gray." Headon touched his chin as he looked at him, before continuing, "Mr. Gray, how come you ended up in this place?"
As Gray observed the humanoid monster's unreadable expression, he thought for a moment and said, "I… followed a girl here. Did you maybe see a girl with blonde hair and freckles pass by?"
Hearing this, a pondering look seemed to appear on Headon's face as he placed a hand on his lip. "A girl with blonde hair…"
As Headon muttered those words in a manner as if he seemed to have recalled something, Gray faintly raised his eyebrows in anticipation for him to continue while staring at him.
"Well, that is…-" Headon seemed to hesitate.
Gray looked at him with some expectations.
At that moment, Headon raised his staff high above his head, pointing it toward the infinite ceiling. "All answers are up there. That's all I can tell you. If you want to find your answer, and your girl, head up. Whether you are looking for wealth, absolute power, Immortality, magical abilities or mysteries, just head up! All the truth, glory and happiness of the world are all up there. The Tower is such a place."
"But remember that it is a difficult and painful journey to embark on, young man."
Gray stayed silent while looking at Headon as he struggled to contain his excitement at that moment.
From the moment that he transmigrated to this world in the body of a child, from the moment he realized his supernatural situation and then realized who 'Rachel' was, he had always dreamed of climbing and exploring the Tower.
He obediently stayed in his cave, patiently waiting and nurturing a wish in his heart to acquire great power and have a chance of experiencing all of this world's wonders.
If he could enter and go up the Tower, he would surely have many interesting and exciting experiences, lead a meaningful life and perhaps even become a supreme existence and attain Eternal Life.
Stifling down his excitement, Gray said, "Then I want to go up."
He said this since from what happened earlier, Rachel should have also entered the Tower, and Gray wanted to go up the Tower anyway as well, regardless of what that girl wanted.
Headon replied, "Very well. I like your resolve. Then, let's do a test to see if you qualify."
At Headon's words, Gray turned slightly worried as he knew what kind of test he might get.
And as for this test… He was clearly stronger than an ordinary person, being able to do one hundred perfect push-ups in a row, but there was still no chance that he could deal with a humongous eel or pop the Ball without outside help like the original Bam.
Headon turned toward one of the murals and started walking while explaining, "In this Tower, every time you go up a floor, there is a test to see whether you are qualified to go to the next floor. If you pass the test, you can proceed to the next floor."
"Tests are decided by the administrators and rulers of each floor."
"Of course, the difficulty varies depending on which floor you are on-"
"In other words, if you want to go up to the next floor, you need to pass my test."
"And this is your test on the First Floor…"
After finishing speaking, Headon tapped one of the stone walls with his staff.
Following that, the wall seemed to melt down as it was replaced with ornate iron bars, together with a huge cage-like room and a humongous winged eel-like monster inside.
"... The Ball," Headon added.
Seeing the humongous eel-like monster, almost as thick as a tram and a few times longer than a tram, slowly swimming about in the semi-transparent blue water within the cage, Gray involuntarily gulped in fear.
Headon turned back to Gray and continued: "<The Ball> is a simple test. The Ball is that large black sphere. It is designed to pop when hit hard enough. To pass the test, the rules are simple. You need to go inside the bars and outrun or defeat that monster, then pop that ball, and you pass the test."
Headon continued, "The monster inside is a White Steel Eel. It is a big fish that lives in Shinsoo of h the Tower. Usually, it has a very mild temperament, but this time of the year happens to be its breeding season, and this one hasn't eaten anything for three months, so it's very aggressive at the moment."
Headon loomed a bit closer and added, "Are you afraid of it?..."
Gray slightly frowned.
How could he not be afraid of a monster that was far larger than a full-sized truck?
For a normal person just having a large dog bark at you is scary enough, let alone being faced with a tiger or a shark, not to mention a giant 'winged snake' that could swallow tigers and sharks whole.
Practically, all that he could do in this test is get eaten.
Headon continued, "Too bad. If you are afraid of that fish, how can you pass the test? How can you explore the Tower? If you're afraid, you should go back home and you might still keep your life."
Gray faintly smirked at that Rabbit.
Go home?
What home?
Suppressing the fear he felt, Gray said, "I'll take this test."
Headon was silent.
Gray then said, "But do I have to do it right now? Can I prepare a bit first?"
Headon replied, "You can… As long as you don't take too long."
And Gray let out a disappointed sigh at this, because the Rabbit seemed to have noticed the trap laid down in his words.
If Headon agreed to give him time unconditionally, then Gray would have simply waited until Yuri Jahad or someone else appears that might be able to help him.
And if that didn't happen, then he would spend the next 5-10 years in this cavern and try to increase his combat strength first while sustaining himself with Shinsoo - which might not be impossible from what he remembered.
Headon continued, "Mr. Gray, I can give you half an hour to prepare. After that you have to either take the test or leave. But remember that if you leave, you will never be allowed to enter the Tower again."
Gray slowly nodded his head. "Alright…"
He had already thought about it countless times before, so he clearly knew what to do. He looked at the cage with the giant eel and started slowly walking toward it.
'Let's go!'
At that moment his only hope was that Yuri Jahad might appear to help him, which he kind of hoped for in the first place, or that he would awaken some kind of special power.
Firstly, perhaps the High Ranker Jahad Princess might come out and stop him if he baits her like this, just like it happened with Bam.
Secondly, he first planned to test out what it feels like for him to walk in that blue water-like Shinsoo anyway.
If all this failed, he could only beg Headon to make a deal with him just like Rachel did in the manhwa. He could not give up on entering the Tower, even if he had to make a deal with a devil.
But when Gray almost approached the bars of the cage, his attention became attracted when he noticed a figure gracefully floating down from the void-like ceiling of the cavern.
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