You want to learn how to use mana, your highness? Why? It won't do any good as you cannot even practice it.

Thanks to one of his past attendants, he is now able to do this.

A deep breath, eyes closed, focusing on the silence surrounding him except the occasional sound of the shifting walls. He imagines himself laying on top of a sliver of water from a stream, imagining the sound of the chirping birds, the coldness of the water, the prickly sensation of the rocks under his body and the flow of the stream that never stops regardless of the ever changing world surrounding it.

He can feel it. An unknown warmth flowing inside his body, just as powerful as a resilient stream and calm, taking its time to flow. Then he attempts to change the direction of its flow towards his hand, proceeding to imagine the torrent of water falling down onto the walls of the maze, the flow powerful, the water cold and fierce.

When he opens his eyes he can see it, the puddle of water near the wall. Tears fell from his eyes without any notice, his hands trembling.

“I did it… Mom, father, brother… I have mana now.” he whispers, his knees becoming weak and he falls into the ground, heart pounding so fast his ears ring.

00:10:04

There's no time to be emotional right now.

He gets up from the floor, cleaning his tears with the rag that once was a shirt. This time he does not close his eyes, feeling the warmth traveling inside his body and the ice shards materialize, they have different sizes and aren't exactly as impressive as he imagined in his head. “This needs to be done”, following his will, the shards fly quickly towards the wall, per said on the skill window, some fly towards the wall in front of him while others go upwards and hit the walls behind it, or at least he assumes so.

At first nothing happens. 

“Is it because I tried to freeze an inanimate thing instead of a living being?” There's no use wondering, as right after he mutters those words to himself, the walls come crumbling down. 

00:07:45

Calmly he walk towards the rumble, the sound of stone falling onto the ground was loud and deafening. After walking across three fallen walls, he arrives at an empty ballroom, the decorations are made of gold, diamonds and other precious stones. A large chandelier hanging from the ceiling is bright and intrinsic, made of crystal, bringing elegance to the room.

The floor is made of a sand-tone marble, the three doors that surround the room aren’t too tall, but are sturdy and made of a dark noble wood and at the top of the stairs of the ballroom there are four thrones made of gold, silver and a deep purple velour.

Admiring the decoration of a ballroom that seemingly belongs to a Royal family is a waste of time, but since the system hasn’t given him any other notification, he spends the rest of the minutes admiring the place and thinking about the difference in money between this ballroom and the one he recall from his own home.

‘’Our Palace’s ballrooms were better’’, he mumbles, sighing as he takes a seat on the stairs, exhausted.

From running away to this, how long has it passed? 2 hours? 3?

‘’I would kill for a bath’’, leaning back he looks at the chandelier, the room is cold, frozen and he is, by all means, shirtless and covered in dust and blood from the stone floors he's awakened into and the child that exploded next to him.

Without a sound, when the clock is still ticking, 00:01:46 left, the system finally announces the end of the first floor.

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

Rewards: 

3 unassigned stats

Pristine apple

Lukewarm water

12 gold

Due to your status as: Third Prince of Mana, you’ll also be rewarded with +2 MANA

Interesting. Opening his own stats screen he assigns the stats towards constitution, feeling his body becoming slightly lighter. Back at the Empire, there were Knights and Priests that received blessings from the gods and were able to endure situations mere humans couldn’t, including his father and brother, perhaps they would be better suited for this game, and I, as the shame of the family, should’ve just have remained dead.

‘’Who am I kidding? As if I wish to die’’.

He’s frustrated, of course he is. After waking up in this body he know it didn’t belong to him, he has been through so many difficult situations, he gave his blood and sweat to survive for three months, recovering from malnutrition, working 12 hours a day, everyday, just to be then put through a situation where his whole body felt like repulsing.

Thinking about death, wondering if he should be here, it’s all conjecture and useless.

Although he cannot remember all of his life as a Prince, his love for his family remains, bits and pieces about his relationships and hardships, his name may be like fog… Yet the memory of being unloved remains.

A sting crosses his chest, yearning for something he does not have business yearning for… A warning to remain within the bounds of his insignificant existence. However, if he, who yearned for mana whilst having none, now has it, after 18 years, then why cannot he wish to be loved?

To care and be cared for.

Not only romantically, a friend, family, those things he was never allowed to have without putting his own brother in harm's way…

Can he truly yearn for it?

Another screen appears, taking his mind off his own moping.

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

Glancing at the timer again, there’s around 40 seconds left only, so it won’t be long. He just hopes the next floor isn’t as taxing.

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

Your position is 91.

Your name was registered in the Tower of Life.

A remarkable achievement of perseverance and calm, per expected of a Prince of Mana, although you didn’t finish quickly, your excellent use of your own skills and quick perceptiveness allowed you to stand out within the billion of useless pests that passed this test alongside you.

What a joke.

This is just a way of making me feel superior to others, whoever is behind this system has a clear twisted sense of humor. It could’ve worked on him, if he didn’t spend years being a Prince both hated and admired, mistreated and worshiped. 

He is not above anyone, yet he does carry different responsibilities due to a position of privilege.

Not that he ever exercised any of them, his brother will probably do a good job, he was always kind, smart, quick-witted, strong, admirable and calm, he’s the Emperor the nation deserves, and if he were to become a worthy Prince, they wouldn’t be able to see him shine as much as he deserves.

Your highness, your clothes are dirty again, should we throw them out? Tsk, her majesty will be so disappointed with your waste again.

Yes, a position of privilege that carries as many downsides as it does power and fame. A tipped scale everyone sees as made of gold just because of a fake luxurious propaganda.

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.

+ 91. Balthazar June Reid (Scotland)

Oh, he can read it all, so the names are those who marked their path here, whilst the other name besides it is their nation. Scotland. So that’s the name of the place where he was all this time. Thinking back, he might’ve heard people saying that word every now and then, but since he didn’t know what it meant he never connected the dots.

Learning a new language after so long isn’t easy, and even the few words he managed to understand by pure willpower don’t help having a proper conversation with no one.

Most of all, by what he gathered in the ‘cellphone’, there are many more languages in this world than the one he is learning, which is quite despairing, considering back home we had an Universal Language. Established by his ancestor, the language was a joint work of all nations under the pure pressure and fear the founding Emperor was capable of.

‘’Well, considering he partook in exiling a god, he would be quite afraid of him as well’’, a soft laugh leaves his lips, just as the clock hits 0 and another message appears.

Synchronizing floor 2

You'll be matched with other 4 players

Please wait for a moment 

No, this is a recipe for disaster. Should he continue to pretend to be deaf and mute? But for how long will he be able to hide it? And humans are just as scary as whatever awaits on the next floors. They might perceive me as dead weight and get rid of me simply due to a disability. That’s how so many humans think either way, and in a situation of despair, most are willing to do anything to survive, even if alone.

That’ll be a problem he must face, he cannot run forever, nor can he keep faking a disability he does not have.

It’ll be ok. I’ll do my best.

In a world where there are so many languages, there are bound to exist differences in culture and beliefs, and he doubts anyone would know the language he speaks is not from their world.

Starting floor 2

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

Another warmth fills his body, and once it disappears he feels invigorated, completely healed from any fatigue, although his shirt is still ripped… Thinking about his things that disappeared makes a system screen appear. Showing a grid with items he sees that his wallet and ‘cellphone’ have a lock, not allowing him to use them. There are also the items he got for completing the floor and all that was inside his backpack, including it.

First, he drank half of the bottle of water, waiting for the floor synchronization to end. Then he grabs one of the intact shirts he has, the shirt is gray, stinks of kitchen oil and has the logo of the restaurant he was working at on the back. Not that he is allowed to be picky at the moment.

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

Skill Half-Dragon Imprintee interferes with the destiny calculator of floor 2.

Changes happened to your challenge

Challengers for floor 2: 2 of 4

Mode: Hard

You’ll be teleported to the location of the challenge in 00:00:02

For the goddess’ sake! What the actual…