The Tower of Harmony, the Tower of Invincibility, the Tower of Gods…
The titles of the title were endless. So were its legends. But the ones that came out of it were not.
Varian realized it the moment he entered the first 'floor'.
Unlike normal people whose first perception when landing in a strange place would be either smell or touch, Varian's first perception was the vastness of this place.
Before his feet even touched the ground, Varian realized he was on a planet that was as large as the sun.
Then, when his feet did touch the sand, he flinched instinctively. Looking down, the sand looked perfectly normal, just like any sand you'd expect on a hot desert. But it was cold. Bone-bitingly, blood freezingly cold.
"No, it's actually hot. But why do I feel cold?" Varian picked up a handful of sand and the sensation instantly changed.
From the freezing coldness, the sand went into…wetness. Varian's hand was soon drenched and droplets of water dripped down his forearm as he stared at the sand in utter shock.
"This is ridiculous." He noticed something absurd from this sand and put a few sand grains on his forehead.
A tingling sensation spread from his forehead to the back of his skull, slowly seeping into his brain.
It was just a bit of sand, but the power was already enough to kill a level 3. If he used the fistful of sand, it'd kill a level 6.
Varian raised his head and looked at the endless sea of desert that stretched beyond the horizon.
Under the three suns in the sky that shone ferociously, the air above the sand seemed to twist and twirl.
"Huh?" Varian raised a brow.
A mass of sand was spiraling like a tornado. It was just the size of a person a moment earlier, but now it had already grown to the size of a building.
"Oh, crap."
The tornado was growing larger faster.
'Will this place be monitored?' As the aura channeled into his hand, Varian asked his dear system.
[The Tower is a special entity by itself. It's hard even for a Divine Ranker to monitor. Host doesn't have to worry.]
Once he got the assurance, Varian pointed his index finger at the brewing sand tornado and used his matter powers.
It's still a bit early to call them 'matter' powers since the transition really began at rank 4. Until then, the elementalists usually have limited control over matter.
But Varian had the slivers and they let him exert strength beyond his rank.
A wave of invisible aura spread out from his index finger and enveloped the sand storm.
The very next moment, the sandstorm froze. The tornado fluctuated violently.
Like a wild beast trying to get out of the net that trapped it, it struggled.
Varian stumbled a few steps before he stretched his right palm and channeled the power through his whole palm.
A finger should've been more than enough to control a sandstorm. But now, even when he was trying with his whole palm, it wasn't calming down.
"Come on…" Beads of sweat dripped down Varian's forehead as he felt a tremendous force on his right hand, slowly stretching it outward.
There was something hidden in the sand and the planet that was keeping it so resilient.
"Peak rank 2 doesn't work, huh? Then, rank 3 should." Varian's sliver powers enveloped his divine paths and the next moment, all his celestial paths turned into the power of matter.
[Peak Rank 3]
"Go!"
Varian raised his left arm and clapped forcibly, pushing against the resistance.
BOOM!
The sand grains in the storm spun violently for a moment and dropped to the ground. The storm died off without even a whimper.
"Phew." Varian's shoulders drooped as he exhaled in relief.
He wouldn't be afraid of a normal sandstorm. Not even a hundred. But the sand here was too weird.
If a rank 1 falls into the sand, he might die. If completely buried, rank 3s might never come back.
As for a sandstorm?
Rank 4s should pray for their lucky stars to survive. Only rank 5s and 6s could face it confidently.
Of course, if the sandstorm was too big, even rank 5s could end up dead.
"This is 1st floor?"
He was stranded in an endless sea of red, yellow, and grey sand.
As he was wondering if he should ask the System to help him out, a screen popped up.
[Congratulations on surviving the screening test.
You're one of the 495,000 lucky ones this month. 5,000 failed the simple test and died.
You are now eligible to climb the tower.
0) 1st Floor to the 30th floor is referred to as Zone 1.
1) Every challenger has 24 hours of survival time.
2) If you kill a native of your rank, you can get 2 hours of additional survival time. If you kill someone of higher rank, you get 4 hours.
3) If you kill a challenger, you can get 30 minutes of survival time if their rank is lower than yours. 4 hours if you're of the same rank. 6 if higher.
4) You'll be rewarded only for the first 5 native kills every 24 hours and the first three challenger kills.
5) For every person you kill above the 100 count, you'll lose the corresponding minutes. 101 minutes for the 101st kill, 102 for the 102nd kill, and so on.
6) To get to the next floor, you just have to reach one of the many 'magic circles' scattered across the planet.
7) You can forfeit at the 15th and 29th floors and return to the safe zone.
PS:
(A) You can go to other planets in the star system, but you cannot leave the star system.
(B) There is a second safe zone after clearing Zone 1.
(C) You can choose to exit the tower after clearing Zone 2.]
Varian rubbed his forehead with his thumb and index fingers as he figured out the implications of these rules.
But before he could analyze anything concrete, something pulled his leg.
"Fuck!"
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