William stood before the Luminara Tree, having fulfilled every condition and gathered all the resources. That wasn't the problem; the real pain in the ass was that it demanded 100 T.P. for a minor upgrade. After this, he'd be left with only 115 T.P. With a worried scowl, he pressed his hand against the bark.
"It's your turn now, please gimme something good," he muttered, Tree humming in excitement. William spoke, "Rollie, upgrade Tower Core." As the words left his mouth, blinding light erupted from the tree, hanging for a few seconds before spilling across the flower bed.
As the light swallowed the Bloom flowers, the tree's branches grew thicker, and the flower bed stretched wider, swallowing more of the ground around the tree. William's jaw hung open, not because of the extra shade, no, this was something else entirely.
His expression was like he had just won a date ticket from Gacha. The Bloom Flowers he'd plucked had not only grown back, but they'd increased. Where there were once a hundred, now there were a hundred and fifty of each. In his mind, the greedy goblin was losing its shit: "T.P... T.P... T.P..."
The light shifted, this time swallowing William himself. The T.P. chant in his head died instantly, replaced by a gut-punch memory of the agony he'd endured when he got his talent. He clenched his teeth, bracing for hell, but nothing came. Just a strange, gentle warmth flowed through him for a few seconds, then faded.
Rollie popped up, showering him with upgrade notifications.
[Tower Core: Luminara Tree successfully upgraded from Tier One (Low) to Tier One (Intermediate).]
[Congratulations! Your rank has advanced to Tier One (Intermediate).]
[You have gained 20 unassigned attribute points.]
[Surprise: Because of Absolute Origin Physique's improved absorption of Tower energy, you have received 10 extra unassigned attribute points.]
William was practically buzzing, first the flowers, now attributes. He opened the tower status to check for changes, and, of course, the damn upgrade requirements too.
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Tier Upgrade Conditions
Wood: 0/300
Stone: 0/150
T.P (Tower Points): 115/200
Tier 1 (Intermediate) Troops: 2/3
Tier 1 (High) Troops: 0/1
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The T.P. it needed was doubled, but he didn't care. He could get more just by selling half of Blooms. He checked his status, all attributes at twenty, and now thirty unassigned points. He remembered fighting that brute; he struggled with him because his strength was more than his.
Constitution was important too: vitality, stamina, endurance. But his luck? Still zero, which was bugging him to his core. He tried to add five points to it, but the number stayed the same.
He tried again, thinking maybe the system was screwing with him. Still nothing. He kept at it like a crazed addict, desperate to boost his luck; otherwise, next time, in Gacha, he would be getting a goblin bloodline. Rollie finally chimed in, watching his meltdown.
[Dear, these are special attributes which cannot be increased using unassigned attribute points.]
William stopped, nearly screaming, "Fuck… Fuuuuuck… What's the point of Gacha if my luck's always zero?" Rollie replied:
[Oh my~, Don't be angry. Certain items in the Gacha can increase your luck. Just be patient with me.]
William took a few minutes to choke down his rage. Then he added ten points each into Strength and Constitution, five each into Agility and Intelligence. That familiar warmth spread through his body, just like when the Tower Core upgraded, then faded. He checked his status again.
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Name: William Hart
Talent: Ex-Rank Absolute Tower Gacha
Tower Core: Luminara Tree (Expand)
Tower Tier: Beginner Tower (Intermediate)
Troops: Fairies (F-Rank)
Tower Points (T.P.): 115
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Power Path(s): Tower Cultivation
Tower Cultivation Tier: Beginner(Intermediate)
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Titles: Vile Opportunist (Unique), Outnumbered (Common)
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Attributes
Strength: 30
Constitution: 30
Agility: 25
Intelligence: 25
Charm: 100
Luck: 0 (After +10 from Luminara's blessing)
Unassigned Attribute(s): 0
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Talent
Absolute Tower Gacha(Expand)
(Please check chapter 6 for the full details of talent)
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Skills: None
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Technique:
Basic Sword Technique (Intermediate)
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Inventory:
- Garden Hut Blueprint (Uncommon)
- Skill Mana Surge (Uncommon)
- Floor Expansion Card (Normal)
- Ashfang Skulker Fangs x3
- 5kg Skulker Meat
- Steel BruteStick (Uncommon)
- Balanced Steel Sword (Common)
- Incubus StrapOn (Common)
- Lumin Dust (10g)
- Living Seed x2
- Wood 900
- Stone 900
- 3 Days of Food and Water
- 4 Random Fruits
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Regional Chat (Expand)
Tower Merchant (Call)
Save Zone Realm (Visit)
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William whistled. "With these stats, if that Brute shows up again in the next Ascension test, I'll drop him with an RKO outta nowhere." With the upgrades done, he closed the system, eyed the Blooms, and grinned. "Time to collect all this sweet, sweet T.P." He started plucking Bloom Flowers.
After a while, he'd plucked a hundred of each Bloom flower and stuffed them into his inventory. The flower bed now looked like a field after a bad haircut, but at least fifty of each were left; till next Core upgrade, these were enough.
With these hundred of each, he could get 600 T.P. He also decided to sell some other items from his inventory, especially the Strap-On. Rollie had said everything from Gacha was useful, but hell no, he wasn't using that. Same for the Brute's steel bat. He wanted to stay a sword guy, but he wanted to at least test it first.
William walked to an open area and took out the Steel BruteStick. It was almost as tall as he was, metallic grey, with spikes along the front half yelling not to touch. Although dangerous? Absolutely. But cool as hell? Even more so.
He picked it up. Heavy, sure, but with Strength at 30, it was nothing. The weapon was uncommon grade and enchanted, giving two bonus points to Strength, one to Constitution. Not bad. But swinging it was difficult as hell; every time he tried, the balance fell apart.
Suddenly, a wild idea hit him. He took out a fist-sized stone from his inventory, tossed it in the air, and as it reached waist height, he swung the BruteStick horizontally. The stone met the spikes dead center and exploded into pieces from the sheer force.
He was basically playing baseball with a bone-shattering murder stick. As the stone crumbled, he clicked his tongue. Guess rocks weren't as tough as he thought. "Well, I could buy something sturdier and use this as a bat, but right now, T.P. is more pleasing," he shrugged.
William shoved the BruteStick back into his inventory and opened the regional chat. The first thing he noticed: the number of Lords had dropped, hard. From 100,000 to 70,397. "Damn, that's a bloodbath for the first test. And that's just one region. Hundreds of millions might've died. This isn't a test, it's a massacre."
A chill crawled through his chest. Just days ago, everyone had been living their lives back on Earth. Now, most were dead. There was nothing he could do; they all had to face this brutal new reality. No matter how much he joked, he was still human. And we all fear death.
He pushed his feelings down and made for the Regional Market to put his stuff up for sale. In three days, stronger challengers would show up, and he'd need every T.P. for what was coming. He listed the Bloom Flowers at the usual 2 T.P. each.
Next, he put up the Skulker Fangs for 5 T.P. each, the BruteStick for 55 T.P., after all, it was uncommon rank, the one he got from bunny was common rank weapon listed at 25 T.P. As for the Strap-On, he had no clue what to price it at. It boosted charm, and some nukkleheads would swarm over it, so for laughs, he listed it at 100 T.P.
After that, he searched for Dante's mom. Thank the gods, she was alive and was currently in Safe Zone. William messaged her to wait; he'd meet her there. He decided to visit the Safe Zone while his goods were being sold.
As he thought of visiting Safe Zone in his mind, a white portal opened before him, accompanied by Tower messages.
[Greetings, Tower Lord. You may now enter the portal. It will transport you to your Regional Safe Zone.]
[You may bring only one main troop with you.]
[Other Lords can view your name and troop. All other information will remain hidden.]
[All forms of violence are strictly prohibited in the Safe Zone.]
He wanted to show off and take the Centaur, but the Tower only allowed main troops. So, he called Lumina, who was brimming with energy. With a cheerful "Kyunn~," she perched on his shoulder.
Stepping through the portal, the world flipped. It felt like he'd just walked back onto Earth. A single wide street at one side of the street was lined with restaurants and shops; the other opened into a wide open area dotted with Trees and benches at random distances.
William had expected some kind of medieval fantasy village. Instead, it looked like any commercial district back on Earth. From where he stood, he could see thousands of Lords, some sitting in groups, some slipping in and out of shops, others just wandering.
Each Lord was flanked by their Troop. There were all kinds of races: Goblins, Trolls, Lizardmen, Gnolls. One in particular drew a massive crowd: an enormous Griffin, easily spotted from a distance. An A-rank troop.
William just stared, dumbstruck. "What the hell… This looks like a real-life anime convention, Troops edition."
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[A/N]: Hi everyone, my story is in the process of getting contracted. If you've enjoyed the story so far, please consider supporting by sending some Power Stones and writing down some reviews. Your support means a lot and really helps me continue writing.