[Welcome to the Ascension Tower, Child of Humanity, may it witness and record your path of ascension. Prepare yourself for your First Trial...]
As Daemon opened his eyes, he was greeted by the voice once again, welcoming him to the Tower. He found himself in a pitch-black room with black walls covered in thick moss.
Several seconds passed, and despite his eyes being wide open, he saw only complete and utter darkness. Thinking that nothing was special yet, his first thoughts were about the understanding of his talent.
"Now that I'm finally in the Tower, let's check my Talent out and move on as fast as possible. Status."
Name: Daemon
Titles: N/A
Race: [Human]
Level: N/A [EXP: 0/100]
Classes: N/A
Talent: [Divergent of Error]
Talent Rank: A
Talent Ability: [Eyes of the Epigone]
Attribute: [Light; Darkness]
Stats
INT:4
END:4
STR:2
DEX:2
PER:3
SPR:3
MAG:2
Free Points: 0
Equipment: N/A
Did my eyes play tricks on me? Why was there an "A" after my talent rank? Daemon was scared; he was terrified that he would get his hopes high and then reality would come crashing down on him.
However, despite waiting for more than two minutes, nothing happened and the status window hadn't changed at all. For the first time in a very, very long time, Daemon felt true happiness; he finally saw the light at the end of a very long tunnel.
"I need to calm down. I am still inside the Tower, and I am still in very much danger." Daemon wasn't about to ruin his future because he had gone overboard with happiness and died. When he looked at the description of his talent, he had been a little bit confused.
Talent Description:[Attempts at prophecy, clairvoyance, precognition or analysis regarding the user returns only as contradictions. The more "uncertainly chaotic" an outcome, the more likely it is to trigger a divergence, forcing a path that wasn't supposed to happen or exist. The user cannot control whether the divergence is a Calamity or a Blessing.]
This was strange, very strange indeed. Talents were supposed to give some clear attributes and buffs and make a person's path a little less confusing.
So why was his talent creating more confusion? Daemon started having a headache; he calmed himself by thinking of his talent ability instead. Taking a look, he saw the description.
Innate Ability Description:[Your Eyes have the ability to copy and store one spell or ability of any type or rank after you have seen it or been targeted with it.]
Taking a closer look at the talent ability, his jaw dropped. Then confusion came over him, until it finally dawned on him: he remembered his strange experience before registering as an Awakened.
He could not believe it at first, but then, deep down, a thought formed, and after a while, he was sure it was true. He could feel it in his right eye: the alien power that did not belong to him was pulsing there.
His heart was beating like a drum against his ribs. The more he thought about it, the more ecstatic he became. He had the one-time power of a level-19 Ascender at his fingertips—well, at his eyes—but who cared where it was located?
All that mattered was that he had it. For the first time, Daemon felt he was no longer in mortal danger. He just needed to make sure he didn't let his guard down.
"This feeling of security is amazing," he thought. "This must be how the children of the Awakened Clans feel when they enter the Tower."
He knew the stories. Well-to-do families hired private tutors to train their children in all sorts of martial arts. Those from the Awakened clans even had access to powerful items, wielding them in their first visit to the Tower.
The richer your family was, the better your chances of surviving and becoming an Ascender were. And right now Daemon felt like one of them.
"First of all, I need to locate where I am, and see if I can reach the shelter. No. I have to hunt beasts to get my first level; it would be better if I could get my first job class as well. I can't be taken as a pushover; the old man had said to be wary of the other Trial participants."
"Time to arm myself and leave this place."
Daemon had received three types of weapons from the police: two melee weapons and one firearm. He had been surprised he could get the latter without any complications at all.
The gun, in his opinion, was far better than the others. Compared to the one-handed sword and axe, he felt much safer with it.
Though he'd never held a gun before, let alone fired one, it offered a few clear advantages over melee weapons. For one, he could attack from a distance and in rapid succession, not putting himself in immediate danger and having the ability to eliminate most threats before they got close.
Of course, the gun also had its drawbacks. For instance, the noise could attract more monsters to his location. "The gun is my last resort."
Daemon wanted nothing more than to use the gun for everything, but he knew he couldn't because this place was full of monsters and they had no qualms or restrictions about hunting together in packs.
"If they could have given me a silencer as well, those cheapskates." He removed the safety and put the weapon in his holster. He armed himself with the shield and the axe and made his way out of the dark room.
After leaving the dark room where he had first appeared, he found himself in a wide corridor that was just as bad as the room had been. Then, a bad feeling struck Daemon.
The corridor itself reminded Daemon of something he had learned in school, but he hadn't thought would be a problem so early on: when you enter the "Basement," the starting position is entirely random.
"Though they say it's random, I wasn't supposed to be thrown into a place like this. Even if you start at the outermost parts, there are always supposed to be glowing crystals nearby." That was because the "Basement" of the Tower was a labyrinth of sorts, perpetually covered in darkness—a God-forsaken realm with no sun.
The only light source was the special crystals attached to the walls, which served as both the light source and the way that days and nights were told. Of course, there were dark zones, but apart from the outermost tunnels, they were considered to be very rare.
"Ah, fuck. Just when I thought that my luck was turning around, I am slapped again in the face." He took a deep breath. "I need light."
Daemon reached into his backpack. Unfortunately, there was not a single flashlight to be found, but there were some glowing sticks.
"What kind of retard doesn't put a flashlight in a basic kit for a place that is literaly always in total darkness?"
Daemon could not believe his eyes. He wanted to yell and complain at the top of his lungs but chose not to, fearing he might attract the attention of more than one monster.
Still, it was not a hopeless situation—yet. Taking one of the glowing sticks, he broke it, and then a weak neon light began to shine against the oppressive darkness.