章 1: Now you see me
"Josh wake up it's time for school~!" A "nice" voice resounded throughout my ears as I nearly fell out of my bed despite it being queen sized and my relatively short stature(I'm coping).
*AHHH*
I yawned loudly as I jumped out of my bed and stretched my permanently sore back due to my weird ass sleeping habits. My room wasn't very large, having just enough space for a dresser and my computer set-up, both of which were of shit quality, but I found them perfect for my current life style.
Being a lazy Neet.
Though Neet isn't exactly the right term I still did nothing outside of my room except go to school. Inside my room I did all sorts of cool stuff, playing video games, tickling my pickle (TMI?), reading manwha and manga as well as novels, and overall being a "dumbshit and wasting my time on useless crap go get a job, lazy bum" as my dear old dad would say.
Not that I don't agree with him, I know I'm the problem things have just been a little... awkward in my life I mean. I just don't know if I am ready to move on with my life yet. I'm scared of being an adult to be honest. The thought terrifies me. I am not ready for the responsibility nor am I mature enough to understand the path in life I have to take. I grew up hearing everyone around me say that I could be anything and do anything. But now I feel stuck, unmotivated and sad at sixteen, I don't think I am depressed. I just don't know where to go from now on. I get good grades because the only thing I have to do in my classes is turn my work in, and if I do bad on a test I can always just reasses it. I need guidance and direction but I am too socially awkward to talk to my councilors and my parents are always busy. What I could really use is a friend.
"GET UP!!" The "nice" voice shook me out of my depressing-ish thoughts reminding me that if I didn't hurry I could miss the bus.
I quickly went to my dresser to throw on some clothes before grabbing the handle of my bedroom door and opening it and running through the hallways of my house to reach the stairs (I had no time to brush my teeth). My house was neither to large nor to big, it was a two story house that had 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms and a closet on the second floor, which is where my room was, my room was at the end of the hallway, on the first doorway to the lef t was my bathroom, the firs to the right was my parents, which was linked to the second bathroom that they used. The second door to the left was a closet in which blankets and shower towels were kept, the second door to the right was my little brother's room. At the end of the hallways were the stairs, which as the current objective of my mad dash to get to the bus.
"Bye mom! love you!"
"Josh you better not miss the bus!"
When I reached the stairs I ran down them as fast as possible, said goodbye to my mom, who was the owner of the "nice" voice yelling at me moments ago, and rushed out the front door after grabbing my backpack.
After reaching the top of my driveway I started the sprint up the big ass hill in front of my house. My house was at the very bottom of a steep hill in a cul-de-sac. I had never been much of a physical fitness guy so running and uphill were not a good match if my goal was speed. Not that I was overweight, I was more underweight than over.
As I continued my mad dash up the hill I noticed my bus turn onto the street and near my bus stop which was at the top of the hill. Increasing my speed and ignoring my need to breathe I started sprinting to my bus.
I would have made it to.
*BEEEEP*
"Ahh-fu....."
*CRASH*
..............................Scene end...................................
"&a&h3tic...." I opened my eyes and saw a admittedly extremely blurry giant red-haired purple-eyed man looking down on me. In front of him I felt extremely small like an ant. I started trying to crawl away from him, as I felt drowsy as hell but I knew I was unable to walk.
I also knew I was secured tightly, in a bundle of sorts as well as being trapped in what seemed to be some form of prison cell if the long poles with gaps surrounding me were any indicator of that.
I felt some form of noise come out as I tried to scream "Get away from me" but I'm not sure the man got the message. As my vision cleared I saw the man was looking at me with disdain and disgust. He *HmphD* at me before walking away.
I wondered why he had done that, adn part of me wished he would have stayed(I don't know why at the moment) but when I learned why he had done that, as well as my current situation I would have liked to keep his influence away from me, alas fate had other plans.
............................11 years later................................
"Hey V get over here and calm these damn brats down!'' A "nice" voice had once again awoken me from a good nights' sleep. Life could be so cruel sometimes. I got up from my rickety ass bed and took a look at myself in the mirror, reminiscing about my current situation.
I had been reincarnated, not to some fancy smanchey tech world, nor to a handy dandy fantasy world, but a world much like my own, with one major difference.
The so called [Tower of Fantasy]. What is that you may ask? Well... let me explain.
Ahem the year was 2025, and suddenly the tower appeared. Not in a physical sense, but in a mental one. According to my half-assed studies, the first message sent by the tower went something like this Ahem
[Hello humans! This is the first installment of the tower of fantasy! Anyone over the age of twelve can climb the ranks of tower! Join now! Y or N]
This message appeared on a blue screen to anyone over the age of twelve that day, July 17 2025. Since then it has been fifteen years. Now with the introduction of the tower of fantasy humanity flourished (After the initial mass hysteria.) Which led to the birth of a new age! the Age of the TOWER!
If you couldn't tell this is clearly propaganda. The tower is really just hell. Allow me to explain why. Every person who enters the tower goes through a [character progression scenario]. [Characters] are determined at birth, and cannot be changed. They grant those who inherit them power. That is if they can survive their scenario. If you do survive your scenario the benefits are immense, and I have seen examples of this with my own eyes, magic, ki, tech, all that bullshit.
So pretty much going into the tower is an gamble in itself. Now if that is the case why would people go in? Simple carrot and stick method. [Apocalypses Scenarios] These are bad news, which is why every man women and child are forced into the tower. These scenarios can end worlds and nearly did that to ours.
The first year due to lack of information and experience the amount of those who could pass the towers first [Character Progression Scenarios] were close to zero. Of the around 500 million people that accepted the first tower invitation, only around 5 million returned, which were insignificant in the face of an apocalypse. The [Apocalypse scenario] transported all of humanity into a crumbling world in which their only mission was to survive, no one mentions what happened during that time, but I can only assume it was not very good. this led to the population being c=brought down to a staggering 2 billion people. Anyone who was weak died, and those who were unable adapt suffered the same fate.
Now how do these scenarios trigger? [Tower Taxes] If a planet does not pay their [Tower Taxes] the planet gets hit with an [Apocalypse scenario]. To pay the towers tax is easier than it sounds. The planets race must collectively complete 1 billion [tower requests] a year. Tower requests can be done in groups or solo, but it is randomized which type you will get when taking one.
Now this sounds easy right? have everybody complete one request and it'd be golden! Wrong! The more tower requests one completes the more dangerous the requests get! Now Eventually raking part in these requests would mean certain death right? Wrong the almighty tower has provided a way to fix this issue as well!
After you complete 5 tower requests as a (D) rank , you get another [Character progression scenario]. Which help you gain even more power depending on what character you inherited, which helps you do more requests as well as helping you gain more power. The amount of requests needed to gain a [Character progression scenario] double everytime. (5, 10, 20, 40, 80,160,) etc. and vary between rank. Which is why [Characters] are so important! depending on what rank character you get at birth it decides your potential as a member of the human race!
Ranks are divided into a few categories.
(D)- Dumpster fire! Ass! 5
(C) Mid As HELL! 4
(B) better! 3
(A) You Rock! 2
(S) Super! 1 (Multiplies stats by 1.25)
(SS) Solid. 1 (Multiplies stats by 1.50)
(SSS) smokin sexy style! 1 (Multiplies stats by 3)
(34235$#%@#&@) #(*%)@*)% 1
Now as a D-rank, you can still do requests, however your chances of survival go down each one you do, and character progression gets worse and worse over time... OR SO YOU WOULD THINK!
My genius mind has developed a theory! If a (D) tried hard enough eventually they become (C)! Which was already figured out a long time ago...[Character Evolution] an person surpasses the inherent limits of their character becoming something more! This was proven by the sword saint Wilhelm. He started at (D) and after completing around 1 hundred million requests he became a (C??##*3*@!) rank.
However his actual power let him compete with the likes of 5 S-ranks on his own. What does that mean? This tower system is broken as fuck and the only person to have ever gone on record surpassing their limit is sword saint Wilhelm. He disappeared 9 years ago. However he provided hope to all lower ranked people leading to everyone trying to stop the advance of the tower of fantasy and end it once in for all!
(Stats are like every video game, as well as the system being generic as fuck, so I won't write about thos a/n)
Now where does that leave me? I am a B-rank bum destined to be mediocre. Which is why my "father" discarded me and left me at this orphanage. No hard feelings though. My new family in this world are "Nobles" those who are strong and provide much support to clearing the [Tower Taxes]. Apparently, only those A-rank and above get to be in the family so I was kicked out. My father's name was Ian Van Stroheim, which is definitely not his real name, sounds made up as fuck and is the leader of the Stroheim family. Who are apparently one of if not the biggest noble family wen it comes to power. The Patriarch (ian) is an S-rank who inherited the abilities of [Iskander], overall A very powerful man who runs his family like a mafia. The Matriarch of the gan...family is Elizabeth Stroheim inherited character being [Morgan Le Fay] SS-rank. They had various S and A ranked children but that didn't matter to me anyway I didn't plan on interacting with them or any "nobles" as they tended to be stuck up pricks from what I could tell.
My new name is "V." as apparently my father didn't want to name me after seeing my rank. So I decided and since Devil May Cry is peak fiction I came up with a peak name! Why haven't I mentioned my mother? She died during my birth unfortunately don't worry about my dad being sad about this though, I was also a bastard son. I don't know much about my mother other than that tidbit of info. I do know my appearance take more after her than him. He had red hair and looked like a JoJo character, along with purple eyes, while I had black hair and green eyes that and looked like a twig. Though I am still a kid so that can change.
The worst part is that I knew a lot more than anyone else about the scenarios, which could very well give me the upper hand in terms of everything, as conflict was still very prevalent in the human race even if it was mostly united to stand against the tower. Class divisions were a big problem, talented ones climbed the system, untalented ones more than often died.
Which is why I have to grow strong enough to where no one can touch me and that starts tomorrow, my twelfth birthday in which I can finally start my ascent up the tower.
"V get your ass over here before I smack you silly!"
First, I had to deal with the final day of orphanage life with the bitchy matron.
...................5 hours later 12:00...............
"V the dean would like to see you in his office immediately." said one of the teachers waking me from my daydreaming.
Of course, this orphanage also functioned separately as a school. I was often praised for my "Maturity" and "Intelligence" by the teachers and matrons, until they eventually offered me a position as the TA/OA. (Teacher assistant/Orphanage assistant) Both of which came from prior experience in my previous life which proved useful.
I nodded and walked out of the classroom up to the top of the building and into the dean's office. This was a relatively normal occurrence as the dean often asked me advice on how to run the orphanage (I bullshitted through them but it always turned out well).
As I walked into the office I saw the orange haired middle aged man wearing an old fashioned suit sitting in his chair holding a mug of coffee and occasionally taking sips while filling out paper work.
"Sit down." he said not taking his eyes of his paperwork. I did as he said, he was the closest thing I had to a friend/family in this world after all. I waited for a bit studying his body language and facial expressions before he eventually put his work down and sighed.
"You are most likely the greatest student this institution has taught throughout it's existence, since the great apocalypse." I said nothing as I knew that as most likely not the case as I had "Cheated"
"Which is why I am warning you now." His tone of voice changed to extremely serious, the next words he spoke sending a shiver down my spine.
"Your father is looking for you."
The silent tension in the room could not have been cut with a chainsaw, instead all it took was a word.
"What.....?"
That...didn't make any sense to me, after leaving me alone for almost twelve years to step back into my life would make zero sense. The confusion was definitely showing on my face as well, because the Dean stood up from his wooden chair and looked behind him, into the heart of the city in which the "nobles" reside.
"Your father is a noble and is currently looking for you desperately using all of his influence, and not for a good reason either, at least not for you." the dean spoke tiredly and gravely.
That didn't make my current state of mind any better, my twelfth birthday was tomorrow, and I had almost escaped a meeting with my dear father. I knew it would only be a matter of time until he found me having power and influence makes it easier to find people after all.
Seeing as how I didn't respond the Dean spoke once again in his grave tone "Your sibling who has a character of the rank SSS has an heart ailment of some sort, which is incurable through any method of treatment currently known, and your father is looking for you, or more specifically your heart."
Really.... That pisses me off. Alot. The whole reason he wants to see me after 11 years of my life is to steal my heart for a transplant! Fuck man! Why me! Not to mention my chances of escape are next to zero, I'd have to stall for twelve hours and I don't have anything to help me do that. Calm down, happy thoughts. My plan should be to run away, then transport myself to the tower of fantasy I turn twelve relatively soon after all. I can run away for twelve hours, easy peasy.
"What should I do?" I asked the dena, merely for formality, knowing I was going to book it directly after this talk was over.
"There is not much you can do other than hide...but I have something that can help." the dean responded going to the drawer of his desk and pulling out a wooden box that is used for jewelry.
"I have a...Keepsake that will prove helpful for your escape...." He trailed off before handing me the box.
"Keep it safe for me okay?" was the last thing I heard him say before I bolted out of the office and down the stairs trying to escape the orphanage as fast as possible. I opened the box and saw what was inside...
Dean Sam Winchester (D) rank Inherited character [Bilbo Baggins].
I knew that most inherited characters were based off of fiction from my old world, but I didn't know it was to this big of an extent. I had the one ring... and I wasn't sure I should use it. It was exactly what I need right now so I stashed it in the pocket of my pants and swore to only use it if it was absolutely necessary. I was not a hobbit nor pure of heart. So it could very well fuck me over.
As I ran, I made sure to avoid the watchful eyes of the matrons and teachers, I didn't know who was on my side, I did know I would miss the dean though, he was truly the only person I could count on so far in this world. when I got to the front door I heard a loud knock on the door and instantly dove to hide underneath cabinet. One good thing about being small, was that I could hide in places where no one else could.
As I hid one of the matrons came down the stairs and opened the door. Inside came 3 soldiers all wearing the emblem of my "family". A old welsh dragon cutting it's neck on the right side of their uniforms coving their heart in the shape of a shield. They didn't exactly look the prettiest but by their presence I could tell they were strong, far stronger than anyone I have met after coming to this world.
"Is he here?" the blue haired bulky knight spoke up asking the matron a question.
"Yes, he is currently upstairs in a meeting with the dean, would you like me to go get him for you?"
Ahh I already guessed they knew where I was as you never "truly" lose sight of a bastard son when you are one of the most influential noble families in the world.
"Heh we don't need your help woman I will go get him myself." replied an arrogant toothpick looking guy with blond hair.
Heh like they would ever find me...Whoops
*Clank*
.........................No one's pov.....................
"What was that?" the blue haired soldier immediately upped his guard when he heard the loud clunk.
"Some noise from over here sir!" replied the scrawny looking green haired soldier as he walked over to an unassuming cabinet.
The green haired soldier then proceeded to look around the cabinet for any sign of disturbance or noise. eventually leading to him peering down under the cabinet to find................nothing out of place.
././///////////////..........................End of Chapter............................
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