00:28:00

The ringing stops abruptly. A lot of time has passed, but the man doesn't seem to notice that at first, his once bright hazel eyes had become dull, and his head is pounding even more than his heart. Keeping his eyes open hurts, that's the first observation that Rowan makes, his consciousness almost slipping away. He doesn't understand what just happened or even why it happened. Maybe it's part of the trial? He asks himself but that leaves many more unanswered questions than answers.

Are you back to your senses, Master? The familiar voice inside his head seems to bring the man more towards reality. What happened? Rowan asks, beginning to walk again, not sure if the walls moved again while he was numbed or not. There is only one path open, though. How am I supposed to escape a place with no choice of my own directions?

The hummingbird falls silent for a while before answering. I don't know, you suddenly became numb for a few minutes. The answer doesn't surprise Rowan, but it upsets him nonetheless. I tried calling you but I couldn't reach your consciousness. The spirit completes, the man doesn't reply, his head filled with thoughts. Even if he has many things in his head, it doesn't mean that he's smart enough to figure everything out by himself.

So much was similar to games he played since childhood, and others reminded him of novels and comics. However, reading and playing is completely different from living it, there is a limit to what he can assume by knowledge alone. Maybe if he had good wits or instinct, but no, Rowan is ordinary, his family is the extraordinary one.

What he can assume is that whoever developed the system, seems to think that Rowan has more affinity with the spirit summon than other classes, which is quite surprising, he never had friends or companions, only his mother, father or grandparents around him. Once he attempted to play with local kids in a South American village, when he was around 9, his mother stopped him, saying that they had a culture hostile to outsiders, but the little boy didn't listen. 

Going to isolated places, dealing with hostile communities or war zones, that was his mom's job, he never truly understood what she works with, he should've asked her before she died.

So when she told him it was dangerous, he just thought that the woman was being overprotective. But he didn't remember that an overprotective mother wouldn't take him there at all. The children weren't hostile towards the boy, he even played around with them, until an adult approached him… the rest of the memory is way too painful for Rowan's brain to deal with it.

Later he found out that they were inside a village between Colombia and Venezuela, it was covered in a dense forest and the village was protected by law as they wished to be isolated. Due to many incidents, they got what they wanted, they were left alone under the guise of protecting local culture, the truth, though, was that even guns weren't able to go against the well-knowledged and violent community.

Rowan's mother got permission to get close to the community but never enter it, and that's why Rowan was punished for doing so. Not only by the adults in the community but also by his mother.

After that, the child stopped disobeying his mother, but that made him also stop trying to make decisions by himself. That's why he tends to overanalyze things instead of acting according to his will.

We reached a dead end. The spirit says, as Rowan snaps back, staring at the cold wall, the only path free is the one that he came from. What 's left to do? What is the true objective of this maze? If I use the Wind Archery skill, can I break the wall? The exhaustion is starting to hit him, even though his constitution and strength are good, the ringing incident seems to have exhausted him more than he thought. If your Spirit Gauge were higher than 5% than yes. The answer brings up an anger he didn't know that he was suppressing. Why would they give him a challenge he can't complete? If he runs out of time, will he die? 

00:13:45

How do I increase my Spirit Gauge? The man asks with a sigh. The spirit lands on his shoulder again. For a second Rowan stares at the green metallic feathers, looking closely is clear that it isn't a real hummingbird but something else. By using your core, like when you summoned me. Why does everything need to be so complicated? What's the core? He shoots back, starting to become annoyed, the time is ticking and he's still trapped. It's similar to a heart, but it's located on your left wrist. Rowan glances at his wrist, a faint green dot lies there, the color is so faint that one must truly focus on it to see it.

How do I use it? The blonde asks, rubbing the spot with his thumb, the dot doesn't seem to be physical, which is good. Just think about the skill you want to use, the more you use it, the more your gauge will increase. That's easy enough, the man thinks, closing his eyes and sighing, trying to relax his mind and think about the skill he wants to use. Wind Archery, he thinks slowly, opening his eyes, to see a green compound bow on his hand, and a quiver with arrows that are the same color as the bow. They almost feel immaterial, it feels cold and firm to the touch, but they glow in an unreal color. This bow isn't very practical, he comments, it's a powerful bow for hunting, and probably ideal for breaking the wall in front of him, but if he needed to move to attack enemies, it wouldn't be very good.

You can change it, but it consumes mana, the spirit says, flying again, watching Rowan. He never shot an arrow and he doesn't have his phone on him to check on the internet, how the fuck will he do this? It should feel natural, don't worry about the technicalities. The hummingbird says, and Rowan follows his advice, standing in a position that feels right, he grabs an arrow, it feels like touching pure wind, as if that even makes sense. Positioning the arrow takes a few minutes, his heart beats fast but he attempts to remain calm. The man feels the need to analyze the situation, his traits and personality weren't made for these kinds of situations. However he manages to control himself, he positions the arrow, pulling the string along, his thumb grazes his ear and the string is aligned to the tip of his nose. 

This is a wind skill, so a free mind is essential, think about nothing, free your mind. The advice is rather good, if the person receiving it wasn't an over-thinker by nature. However the situation calls for a temporary change, because if he doesn't do as told, he will die.

Don't think, don't think, free your mind, just stop thinking! The man thinks to himself, failing the task majestically at first. But then after a while he closes his eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again.

Position.

Breath.

Shoot.

The wind messes his hair, making the hair tie snap and fall off to the ground, his blonde hair releasing grazing his ear, the man sighs with relief, the wall was still there, but a nice dent was made to it. His hand hurts with the recoil and his head feels like it is burning. This skill is more draining than what I thought.

Your constitution sucks, that's why you feel sick. The spirit comments, flying close to the dent made on the wall. Check your Spirit Gauge now. Rowan does as told. 

Spirit Gauge (Unique): 3% → 6% ↑UP

Bad Wind Archery (Lvl. 0 / 0% → 15% ↑UP)

It went up by 3%. Rowan says, feeling a sense of accomplishment filling him up, even if his body feels like shit. Now, you can try taking the wall down. He nods, raising the bow again, it feels heavier than the first time and the arrow burns to the touch. If I don't find the exit soon I'll collapse, he thinks objectively, his vision is blurry, but he focuses on the spot he already dented.

Position.

Breath.

Shoot.

It hurts, he thinks as the bow and arrows disappear, a wall of smoke rises, his gaze goes to his hand, there are small cuts all over it, and the redness is similar to when he gets first degree burns. He also feels like he himself is burning, his face feels warm and he's suddenly shivering. Using this little skill makes me sick? How can he survive until the 100th floor if he's like this at the 1st? Master, the smoke is already gone. Rowan lays against the cold wall, his breath unstable.

00:04:32

The wall is gone, replaced by debris and behind it there is a fancy ballroom, with golden ornaments and a huge crystal chandelier. Compared to the cold and dark maze, the ballroom is warm and well-lit.

Spirit Gauge (Unique): 6% → 7% ↑UP

Bad Wind Archery (Lvl. 0 / 15% → 30% ↑UP)

Slowly, he walks towards the ballroom, his eyes are narrowed, his cheeks and ears are flushed and he's breathing through his mouth. The redness on his hand becomes worse and blood starts pouring out of what before appeared like superficial cuts.

The wind is your friend, but it's also a fierce force of nature, it'll help you but depending on your own life force, it might hurt you as well, the spirit’s observations are obvious to Rowan, considering his situation. He doesn't answer the spirit, arriving at the center of the ballroom, it's considerably warm and it smells like candle wax. Now what? By cue, a message pops up in front of him.

Congratulations! You managed to pass the 1st floor challenge!

Rewards: 

3 unassigned stats

Almost rotten apple

Lukewarm water

6 gold

Rowan sighs with relief, he wasn't sure if he would starve before managing to understand what ‘streaming’ meant at the Tower of Life. At least he got something to eat, and the gold will probably be useful later. However the 3 stats were what made him smile, at least I can raise my bad stats. He assigns 2 points to mana and 1 point to luck, since those are the stats he needs the most as a summoner.

You'll automatically be sent to the 2nd floor as soon as the timer ends.

Just then Rowan notices that the timer of the first floor was still ticking, but a few seconds after the message, it hit zero. And then a message started popping out one after the other.

1,230,450,755 of 2,000,000,000 successfully passed the 1st floor.

Your position is 1,000,000,004.

Your name wasn't registered in the Tower of Life.

You didn't have any remarkable achievements on the first floor.

Well, considering I barely passed it makes sense. Rowan sighs, trying not to think about the absurd number in front of him.

Tower of Life Ranking 

1. Yoon Yongsun (South Korea)

2. Valeria Hendrix (United States of America)

3. Alala Boucher (France)

4. William Miller (United States of America)

5. Kato Tsubaki (Japan)

Expand here to check ranks 6 to 100.

So to the Tower it only matters if you stay within the top 100 ranks, well it's not happening for me anyway. Rowan feels lightheaded, the blood and injuries making him dizzy. He doesn't care about those who ranked, all he wants is to go back to his studio apartment and sleep, but the Tower has other plans for him.

Synchronizing floor 2

You'll be matched with other 4 players

Please wait for a moment 

Apparently the next floor will be a cooperative one, or a battle royale, but I hope it is a co-op. And just as he was about to pass out, another message popped.

Starting floor 2

All injuries are healed through the pity of the gods that watch you.

Just like that Rowan feels warmth traveling through his body, healing his injuries, it didn't quench his thirst or hunger, but it was enough. Feeling refreshed, while waiting for the sync to be over, the man drinks a quarter of his water and eats half of the apple. Master, you can use the inventory to store those, the spirit says, laying on Rowan's head, a small breeze following it. The ballroom is stale, the second floor will probably happen here. Rowan nods along with the spirit observations, he might not be the smartest, but he played enough games to see the pattern.

He thinks about the inventory and a small blue transparent screen appears, showing slots where he can store his things. There are only twenty spaces, I'll probably be able to buy expansion later, for now, it's enough to store Rowan's food, water and money. He also notices that his phone and wallet are stored in the inventory, with a symbol of lock over it, meaning he can't access it. I wonder if my father and grandparents are safe. After all, if there is no age limit to this game, even they could have been dragged to this place.

Synchronization over, players will be teleported to the start of the floor 2 challenge.

The man waits to see that light again and be transported to wherever it is the floor 2 will start, but after a few moments another screen appears, this time the screen is pink, not blue.

Skill Soul Link interferes with the destiny calculator of floor 2.

Changes happened to your challenge

Challengers for floor 2: 2 of 2

Mode: Hard

Your other half will be transported to your location.