novelraw Chapter 427: Entering the Tower
Chapter 427: Entering the Tower
Leon looked at the impressive list of titles he’d just earned, feeling genuinely satisfied with the substantial rewards despite all the painful setbacks and enormous sacrifices.
World Keeper, Creator, Path Forger... these sound incredibly valuable.
However, he didn’t bother checking their detailed effects or specific benefits for now. There would be plenty of time later to examine those thoroughly and understand exactly what advantages each title provided.
Right now, what he was most curious about—what truly captured his attention—was the tower itself. The actual physical structure he’d sacrificed absolutely everything to awaken.
His mystical eyes focused intently on the shining blue-white portal that had replaced the previously sealed gate. The swirling energy called to him with an almost magnetic, irresistible pull.
I want to enter. Need to see what’s actually inside this thing.
Leon turned to Seraphine, who was still standing supportively beside him throughout this entire ordeal.
"Do you want to accompany me inside? Explore the tower together?"
Due to the privilege of being designated the low-level tower administrator—a title that had just been officially granted to him through the system—basic foundational information about the tower had automatically flooded into his mind the precise moment the awakening process completed successfully.
Let me process what I actually know now...
The tower held many treasures and riches beyond measure, the information told him clearly and unambiguously. Resources that could accelerate cultivation speeds dramatically, artifacts of immense power that could change destinies, knowledge that had been lost to time itself across millennia.
But all of it—every single benefit—came with corresponding risk and genuine danger. The challenges inside were specifically designed to push people to their absolute limits and force them to break through or die trying.
There were a total of one thousand floors in the complete tower structure, according to the administrator’s knowledge he’d received.
One thousand floors? Looking at the physical size of the tower, even as massive as it is, that number seems absurdly high.
But then again, it wasn’t particularly strange or impossible when he considered it properly with his enhanced intelligence. His Dimensional Hourglass could contain an entire vast realm with countless kilometers of space inside a relatively small artifact you could hold in your hand. Spatial compression and dimensional folding were clearly common fundamental techniques at this level of advanced cosmic engineering.
The information also revealed something fascinating about the privilege and authority system: as higher floors of the tower were successfully cleared under his administration and oversight, the greater his privileges and authority would progressively become, and the more comprehensive knowledge he would systematically gain about the tower’s true nature and ultimate cosmic purpose.
So I have to earn a deeper understanding through actual achievement and progress. Nothing is given freely.
And there was something else—something particularly significant that made Leon’s heart race with both genuine excitement and real trepidation.
The basic information had told him explicitly that there were thousands upon thousands of these Ascension Towers scattered strategically across the Solmyra Universe, which was his universe name, and countless others which he didn’t know of, and they were all somehow fundamentally connected to each other somewhere in a grand network, serving some unified purpose that transcended individual worlds and civilizations.
But what purpose exactly? What’s the ultimate goal of this system?
That was apparently the strict limit of what he could learn at his current low administrator level.
To discover more—to truly understand the towers’ actual function in the universe’s grand design—he would have to physically climb the tower himself and reach significantly higher floors to unlock deeper knowledge.
But one absolutely critical piece of information stood out above all others in sheer importance:
The 50th floor was specifically and explicitly described as the "true beginning" of the tower system—a gateway floor where countless different worlds, which contained their own individual Ascension Towers, would suddenly connect together, allowing people from completely different civilizations and realms to traverse between worlds and interact directly with each other inside the tower and even outside.
That floor opens everything up completely. Incredible opportunity for growth, resources, knowledge...
But also tremendous risk of invasion, conflict, and destruction. Once that critical floor was cleared, powerful hostile forces from other advanced worlds could potentially infiltrate his dimensional realm through the tower connection without facing significant barriers to entry.
However, there was a grace period built carefully into the system—a protective buffer mechanism to prevent immediate catastrophe.
Ten years. That’s the critical time limit I have to remember.
If he failed to clear another floor within ten years after reaching any major milestone, anyone from connected worlds could infiltrate his realm without any restrictions whatsoever. But before reaching that dangerous threshold point, without his explicit permission as the tower’s administrator, absolutely no one could enter his world through his specific tower gateway.
Leon felt a genuine spike of fear considering that nightmare scenario playing out—hostile forces from technologically or magically advanced civilizations pouring endlessly into his realm, threatening and killing everyone he was desperately trying to protect.
But more than fear, he felt intense burning excitement in his chest.
I want to climb this tower. Reach the 50th floor as soon as possible.
With his absurd talent, his SSS-rank legendary class, his Divinordial bloodline’s overwhelming advantages, and all his accumulated abilities and powerful cheats, he genuinely believed with complete confidence he could achieve results fast enough to maintain continuous safety. Clear at least one full floor every ten years easily without significant struggle, maintaining the protective grace period indefinitely without ever letting it expire dangerously.
That way, I’ll never have to seriously worry about outside forces threatening my world and all the people living safely here.
Seraphine’s response to his straightforward question about joining him was immediate and incredibly enthusiastic—almost childlike in its eagerness.
She nodded her head repeatedly like an excited puppy, her beautiful amethyst eyes practically sparkling with genuine anticipation and barely contained energy.
She’s been itching for a real fight for so long now. Solo training alone is never the same satisfying experience as actual life-or-death combat against real opponents.
However, after seeing her eager, almost childlike answer, Leon reached out deliberately and patted her head gently with obvious affection. His expression shifted dramatically to something far more serious—almost grave with deep concern.
"Listen carefully, Seraphine. You need to be on absolute high alert at all times inside the tower. Stay close to me constantly throughout everything we encounter, understand? Even though you have the Phoenix Feather resurrection treasure for backup safety, I don’t want to take any unnecessary chances whatsoever with your life."
His tone carried genuine deep concern and intense protectiveness.
Seraphine tilted her head slightly in obvious confusion, her expression clearly showing she didn’t quite understand why he was being so unusually serious and protective about this particular challenge.
She pointed toward the tower’s base foundation area, where Leon had carefully deployed the final purchased item from the cosmic shop.
"But Leon, what about the safety array you specifically told me about before? The Covenant of Stabilized Strife that you deployed specifically for the protection of people while challenging the tower? Doesn’t that prevent permanent death inside?"
Her voice carried genuine curiosity and reasonable logic.
Leon heard her perfectly reasonable question, and while continuing to pat her head affectionately with gentle motions, he shook his head with genuine, visible regret.
"That trick won’t work inside the tower itself. The array is completely useless here."
His voice carried real disappointment at that significant limitation.
I wish it worked. It would make everything safer.
Seraphine’s expression became noticeably more solemn and serious upon hearing that critical safety information. She nodded with understanding gravity.
"I understand completely now. I promise I’ll be as careful as possible. I won’t take unnecessary risks."
Her voice carried sincere commitment.
Leon knew instinctively that the safety array wouldn’t work at all inside the tower—he could tell just by looking at it with his administrator awareness, as if the tower itself was directly communicating with him through their mystical bond, telling him what functioned and what didn’t.
That might be one of the privileges of being a low-level administrator. Direct intuitive knowledge about internal rules and mechanics.
However, he was genuinely unsure about whether his clone would be affected the same way by the tower’s internal rules and death mechanics. That was something he’d definitely need to test carefully and verify later when he had proper time for experimentation, as he got no clue from his instinct.
For now, I’ll leave the clone stationed in the outside world for continuous protection.
The clone would continue serving the critically important function of protecting Ira and all the other Pyrrhans in that increasingly unstable realm while his main body was inside the tower completing challenges. It was increasingly strange and deeply suspicious that two powerful archon-ranked beasts had suddenly shown up during the last festival completely unexpectedly, and even the timing of the dimensional rift opening had been highly unusual and unpredictable compared to all previous established patterns over the years.
Something is definitely wrong in that realm. I can feel it.
He’d already noticed the barely concealed concern and worry that Archon Vyrra had displayed just by observing her facial expressions and body language carefully during the festival celebrations. She was clearly worried about something significant and dangerous she wasn’t openly discussing with anyone, including him.
Better to keep active protection in place until I fully understand what’s actually happening there.
Even if two Archon ranked beast appear like last time his clone was enough to handle one so he was not worried.
Now Leon reached out deliberately and took Seraphine’s hand firmly in his own, interlacing their fingers together securely so they wouldn’t be accidentally separated during transition. He nodded to her with determined resolve.
"Ready?"
"Always," she replied with a confident, beautiful smile that lit up her entire face.
Holding her hand securely so they would remain together, they both stepped forward in unison toward the shining blue gate of the Ascension Tower.
SHIMMER! DISSOLVE!
The moment they made direct physical contact with the portal’s swirling energy, their physical forms seemed to dissolve completely into particles of pure light, vanishing entirely from the dimensional realm’s exterior world.
WHOOSH!
Golden text appeared before them as they transitioned:
[Welcome to the Ascension Tower]