Darkness, all I could realize was the ever-expanding void; where am I? Who am I? This place has led me astray-
"You bloody bastard!" A hard thud slams directly at Sei Jun's noggin effectively giving rise to this pathetic oaf.
"Ouchie wa wa... it's been a few days since I returned, but you're already harassing me again, Mom. What happened to my vacation-" His sentence was cut short the moment the haggard woman yanked and twisted his right ear anew, which awakened her half-asleep kin.
[Tower Resident: Isabelle Revury
Ability From Birth: Multitasking - Focus and proficiency don't go down even when faced with multiple tasks at hand]
"You can rest your blimey ass once you found yourself a job! We're outsiders, my boy. We're the only ones feeding ourselves!!!"
"Okay, okay, I get the deets. I'll go and find a job. 'Geez you're such a pain Mom'," As he saw himself out of the house, he couldn't help but reply, in a low-pitched tone
His mother shifted her gaze and, with a bloody gaze, replied. "What did you say laddy?"
"I said I love you, Mom! Take care at your eighteen jobs. I'll make sure to get a job at the end of the day- what's all this?" The moment he was about to close the door, his mother threw a pouch that had his share of today's rations.
"You better make sure you find a job. I don't want you crawling back to your old gig. I'd rather you do anything even if it pays less," Once Isabelle had uttered all the things she wanted to say the door closed and she resumed her eighteen jobs
'I figured as much. It's been a week since I returned in one piece, yet my family was still traumatized. Seeing their Son shit stained and fine as a fiddle, they couldn't be seen with me ever again. I became a laughing stock in the slums for how desperate I was. Do you think my relatives care about my well-being? Oh boy, thats a goddamn miracle if it was, their nonexistent pride can't take being associated with the resident shitcheologist,'
Metropolis, the large compact industrial structure, holds countless cities in its reach, and at its edge is the Land of Sorrows. The place is riddled with filth and despair with the mortality rate reaching 69% in fasting alone. Adding the occasional drifting monster waves, poor healthcare, and gang fights every Friday night the chance of survival is 0.01
'You might think that with a mortality rate which is 99.9% in lethality the population in these slums wouldn't reach millions. The mortality rate isn't wrong, but that applies to those with 'common sense' thats why we aren't referred to as 'People'. The city dwellers call us many things, bottom feeders, janitor fish, and the famous one of them all oversize cockroaches,'
As Sei Jun trekked the land of sorrows, he noticed an unusual abundance of people and investigated. He found a line of beggars in what may be a reception, something the Climber usually holds upon a successful journey. This was known to many as the saving grace in this land of filth where their desperation and patheticness are put to the ultimate test.
"You there... are you here as well to plead for Milord's blessing? Grovel on now if you know what's for ya," A man walks up to him as raggedy like rest but more polished and clean signifying his status as someone's slave.
"What makes you think I'd be groveling," The crowd and even Climbers were shocked by his statement that came from no more than a filthy rat.
"Groveling...! You call that a grovel? All of you are far too shallow. This is how you fucking grovel, your head is too high!!!"
Sei Jun burrowed his head into the dirt, and some were astounded by his level of desperation and were given five silver pieces. The crowd recognizes him the moment his head bursts from the ground; the smirk and the mannerisms, it was similar to the Godly Groveler. Just as Sei Jun was about to leave with his earnings a soft yet gentle voice called out to him and said.
"You there! Are you the renowned Turdcules of this land? The porter who came back alive in the failed Wolf Spider expedition?" The guards controlling the crowd of low lives suddenly turn and face the spot where the voice had called out.
"Good morning your ladyship!!!" The air around this girl as she leaves her tent clad in armor, with hair and eyes as red as blood.
'Her ladyship? Wait a minute Turdcules? Thats the shit they're up and calling me? Why I outta beat those cunts,'
"Hmmmm... you don't look like you'd be able to survive even if you ran away? Is it because you knew the place very well?" She sized him up head to toe, and nothing gave away the reason for his survival not even the ability he gained from birth.
"Your ladyship, have you made up your mind? Or should we go off and find someone else-"
"Thats preposterous. Just looking at him is already enough. He isn't that raggedy, and apart from all the dirt, he's sincere," Just as she remarked, considering that Sei Jun didn't half-assed burrowing his head into the dirt.
'Plus I'm certain this man knows danger very well. Even if I'm speaking with him in mind, he hasn't even begged to work. That says he's genuinely seen the horrors of the tower and that made him less desperate. He's the perfect guide for the job, and seeing as he descended from the 6th floor back to the 1st meant he was very well skilled,'
"Turdcu- pardon me. Might I ask for your name? You might not be comfortable if I resume calling you that?" She raised her right hand for a handshake while requesting for his introduction.
"Kang Sei Jun. Former guide and porter, nice to meet you, your ladyship. I apologize, but I left that life behind," He shook her hand before turning back and leaving to look for a job.
'Never again; I had enough from the Porter life; no way in hell will I do that shit again, no shot, I rather die. The expense is already tough as it is. I need weapons, but most of all, books, I hate the laws of the tower. Gaining a latent ability was already enough to be seen as powerful, but any materials and resources needed for that talent would rise in price. Buying a secondhand rusted dagger was already bad as it is but using all my savings to buy a book is crazy,'
Today was a failure in itself; not only was Sei Jun reminded of his past job, but even as nightfall approached, he didn't find a job. His fame as the shit-drenched loser had made even his possible employers disgusted upon hearing his name. Kang Sei Jun felt betrayed, as he survived from hell and back only to be mocked and ridiculed by his own people.
'I should've just died on that floor. What in the bloody hell was I thinking? It's like every time I escape death everything gets bloody worse than it was previously. But something new came up, I thought it was a wild dream at first, but I did traverse a monarch's tomb. I didn't get shit except for its diary, and when I felt threatened I instinctively immersed myself, to find my hand burning,'
Upon reminiscing that moment, his right palm began to feel warmth, and a black flame appeared and vanished shortly after. The diary he read remained even after his immersion, where countless others faded upon use. It contracted itself once again until it became the size of a notepad, he yawned and placed the diary in his pocket before retiring to his bed
"Kang Sei Jun!!! Get your ass over here pronto! Don't make me come over there. Less you want another headache," Although Sei Jun was reluctant, he rose up and headed to the living room, and to his surprise, he found that woman before.
"Mr. Jun, I'm so glad you're able to join us... you left so quickly that I wasn't able to introduce myself. My name is Oriana, or you can call me Ori for short,"
'Oh shit...'
Everything after her introduction was a blur, or rather, he didn't pay attention in the slightest bit. The moment she came into his house, Jun's stuck-up mother became a saint. He knew of what was to come beforehand. So after a week of slouching his ass off, he found himself being a porter once again after Oriana had showered his family in money.
'I can't believe they folded the moment she offered three gold pieces. Is my life really worth that amount of money? I know thats ten times our annual revenue but what the fuck? They sold their family off to danger that their minds can't even fathom to wonder of the horrors that lurk in every corner,'
"Wow, we reached the 5th floor already? It hasn't been half a day since we departed? Your pathway is incredible!!!" As her group set up camp she joins Sei Jun for a meal after a long day of climbing the tower.
"That's the only perk of having my ability?" He replies
"A Navigator?" She uttered as lay out a blank sheet to draw a map
"No, a Reader. I've read a book about the structure of floors 1-10. It was in a literary format, so I gained some insight from the tower's structures. Hence allowing me to formulate a safe and faster route,"
"That's amazing!"
"No, it isn't... that was a book I managed to find in the dumpster. Every year, the tower's structure changes. So it's hard to find your way out unless you know a certain characteristic. For example, an ascending stairway to indicate both the exit of the current floor and entrance to the next,"
It had been five years since he took the job of both a porter and a guide and all that experience allowed him to be precise. Although from the outside may look like a steep and expanding mega structure, each floor feels like a huge mass of land. Navigating through this place is tough; Kang Sei Jun, having the knowledge of the book, realizes the secret to a faster ascent.
'There's more to it than physical observation; it also has to do with the vibrant air, the calm environment and more. But there'd no merit to tell them these sorts of things, they might say im crazy, and if they believe me I'll be out of a job. Plus who's gonna think I'd be lying, Oriana's teammates may just see this and say I got lucky and shit,'
In a faraway corner of that floor, a dark and chaotic outbreak had arisen after being dormant for far too long.