In the Tower Expanse, as the time drew near for the first Ascension test, every Tower Lord had done whatever the hell they could. Still, fear gnawed at everyone's heart. Suddenly dragged into some tower's deadly mess, where getting killed was as real as it could be, who wouldn't be scared?
Some Lords scattered their troops on every floor, others stationed their forces around the tower core and themselves.
With only a few hours left, William is now near the tree, plucking a couple of bloom flowers for himself and the Centaur, who'd be fighting up front. He'd prepared everything he could; the only thing left was to use his two free Normal Gacha Draws, one from today and one from yesterday.
After getting a damn pair of underwear from his first normal draw, he'd wanted to combine them into a rare draw. But right now, he needed anything useful, no matter how weird. "Rollie, roll two Normal Draws."
As soon as he spoke, the same process kicked in. Twenty cards materialized before him, floating in the air in four neat rows of five. This time, he didn't have any gut feeling to go by, so he just picked two at random. The rest vanished instantly. Not bothering with any dramatic, one-by-one reveal crap, he flipped both cards over at once.
But when he saw what was written on them, he froze. One card said Bloodline, the other was a Charm Enhancer.
"What the hell? Did I really just get a bloodline from a common draw?"
He had no clue what kind of bloodline it was, or what the hell the other reward did, but before he could lose his mind, Rollie chimed in with the usual reward messages.
[Congratulations! You have won: Grubkin Scavenger Bloodline (Common)]
[Congratulations! You have won: Incubus StrapOn (Common)]
Seeing the item names, he completely went blank. The first one was fine, a bloodline, though he had no damn idea what a Grubkin was, and honestly, he didn't want to find out right now. Because the second item? He didn't even know the system could hand out something as perverted as that. A strap-on?
He pulled out both rewards from his inventory. In his right hand was a small, transparent vial filled with thick green and grey slush. It was only half a mouthful, but it looked utterly disgusting. He asked rollie for the information.
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Item: Grubkin Scavenger Bloodline (Common)
Type: Consumable
Description:
A bloodline from small, wiry cave scavengers, creatures famous for surviving on things that no sane person would ever call food.
Racial Traits: Scrap Survival
- Digestion: You can digest anything, like slime, rocks, tree bark, even the filthiest crap imaginable. Grind or swallow, you'll break it down. No diarrhea, either.
- Minor Regeneration: Forget five-star meals or fancy cuisine. Grubkin love filth; the nastier you eat, the faster you heal.
- Resistance: Filth can mean bacteria and sometimes poison. Don't worry, you've got minor resistance for that, too.
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After reading the description, William's face twisted as he'd just watched an old man naked, and his was bigger. His eyes bulged, veins throbbing.
"A bloodline that lets me eat literal shit and not die? Great, just what every aspiring hero dreams of. What's next? Maybe I'll get the power to piss healing potions."
While William was still busy cursing at the shit-eater bloodline, Rollie, always the considerate, pulled up the info for the item in his left hand without being asked.
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Item: Incubus StrapOn (Common)
Type: Accessory
Description:
An elegant, black artifact woven from unknown leather and infused with a demonic allure. It hums faintly when worn.
Effects: Boosts your charm by 25%, affecting anyone, male, female, intelligent race, or even the brainless monster. No exceptions.
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William stared at his left hand, in which he was holding a handful of black leather straps, all connected to a hollow cup that looked like demonic underwear, complete with a slot for his junk. He blinked once, twice, and then just let out a strangled laugh.
"What do you want me to do with this, huh? Wear it when climbers come, whip out my thing like a male stripper, and hope half of them die of nosebleeds before I get stabbed? This whole fucking Gacha is rigged."
[Gacha is not rigged. Whatever you get is based on your luck.]
Still fuming, he snapped at Rollie, "Yeah, based on my fucking luck—which is still zero, even after adding ten points from Luminara's blessing! What the hell am I supposed to do with this garbage?"
[Anything you get from Gacha is useful, Will.]
[The bloodline grants poison resistance.]
Still in denial, William growled, "Hell no, I'm not drinking this shit! You want me to end up like some corpse licking slime off rocks? Just for some minor poison resistance. I love being human, I would rather drink poison than this," he said while glancing at the veil.
[Your appearance won't change, and trust me, I also don't want that.]
[Only the trait gets fused with your physique.]
Hearing that, his rage finally simmered down a notch. "Well, if it's really not going to my appearance, I guess some poison resistance won't be bad. But how the hell am I supposed to drink this? It looks like vomit mixed with sewer water."
He eyed the vial for some time, twisting his face. Finally, he popped it open and took a cautious sniff. The stench hit him hard. He recoiled as if someone had tried to set his nose hair on fire. "Ahhhhh! It smells like the sewer of a haunted house that's been abandoned for a century."
He shoved the strap-on back into his inventory, steeled himself, and pinched his nose tight. With the vial trembling in his hand, he muttered, "Strawberry Slush… Strawberry Slush… Strawberry Slush…" over and over, desperately trying to trick his brain into ignoring what he was about to do.
In one desperate gulp, he tossed it in. The instant it hit his throat, he let out a howl: "NOOO! It's bad! It's really, really bad!" The sudden outburst made Centaur and Lumina turn their heads around, eyes wide and faces full of concern, and maybe a little fear.
For William, it felt like his tongue had just been violated. He frantically grabbed water from his inventory, chugging it down, but the vile taste clung to his mouth like a curse.
Tears streaming, he crammed every fruit he could find into his mouth, chewing desperately while his taste buds screamed for mercy. Meanwhile, as William waged war against the aftertaste, Rollie chimed in with usual energetic system notifications.
[Grubkin Scavenger Bloodline detected]
[Absolute Origin Physique absorbing the detected bloodline]
[0%…3%…6%]
He didn't give a shit about the system messages flashing in front of him; all that mattered was killing that hellish aftertaste. A whole minute of pure agony crawled by before it finally faded. William slumped, breathing out a shaky sigh. "That was ten times worse than awakening my talent."
[Grubkin Scavenger Bloodline assimilated with your physique]
[Racial Trait now available in your status]
With only a few minutes left, William, along with the Centaurs and Lumina, headed to the second floor. His plan was simple: let the climbers stumble through the poison arrow trap first—if they survived, they'd probably be injured or paralyzed, making them much easier to deal with.
As they waited in tense silence, the Tower's system notifications suddenly lit up, reminding everyone that the real show was about to begin.
[Greetings, Tower Lords.]
[In five minutes, Climbers will be deployed to every tower.]
[Tower Management is now active.]
[Tower Lords may now observe any floor from their current location.]
[Tower Lords may also view the status of all Climbers through Tower Management.]
As the countdown ticked closer, William was on edge; hell, he was downright jittery. He'd done everything he possibly could, but fear still grasped at his gut. He opened Tower Management and found three floors laid out, each with a glowing "View" next to them. William picked the first floor, and a huge system panel flashed open, giving him a bird's-eye view of the entire floor.
He kept the view open, counting down the seconds. With every second, his heartbeat grew louder. When the timer finally hit zero, nothing happened, just a long, soul-crushing silence. Then, the tower gave a subtle tremor, barely enough to notice but impossible to ignore.
Suddenly, the display shifted—seven figures materialized at the entrance to the trap corridor. William could see them clearly: six massive wolves, their fur a smoky grey, each one bigger and meaner-looking than any normal beast, fangs bared and eyes glinting with malice.
At the center stood a hulking green brute, as tall as a centaur and twice as wide, clutching a spiked metal bat that looked like it could turn a man into paste.
William stared at the screen, a low, nervous laugh escaping his lips. "Shit just got real. Maybe it's time to slap on that strap-on."
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[A/N]: Powerstones greatly help the novel. If you enjoy it, please throw some!