The angel's expression was accepting when she made her introduction, but suddenly, it turned grim, surprising everyone.
"You lowly humans have been chosen to entertain superior beings," the angel said with a face full of disgust.
The joyful mood dissipated, replaced by fear, as the angel addressed humans as mere entertainment. People believed that she was foreshadowing to impending events.
"See that tower in the distance? That's the 'new world' I was referring to. Everyone between the ages of 20 and 50 will be teleported into that tower at the beginning of every month."
She paused for a moment, attempting to continue, but was abruptly interrupted by someone in the crowd.
"Does that mean that we will be teleported there this month?"
The angel didn't respond; instead, she glared at the interrupting man with intense disdain.
In the next moment, the man's head burst like a balloon, creating a gruesome scene.
Chaos erupted; people tried to escape, but an invisible barrier blocked their way.
"You lowly humans dare to speak while I'm speaking?!" she shouted, then continued, "Since today is the beginning of a month, you'll be teleported there once I finish my explanation."
With a snap of her fingers, she declared, "I'll see you inside."
More than half of the people present suddenly passed out, dropping to the floor. The remaining conscious individuals looked around in confusion, remembering that only people ages 20-50 would be teleported.
Some saw this as an opportunity and looted valuables from the unconscious. Little did they know, some of them would live to regret that decision.
Inside the tower, Yuji was in a pitch black place. He stood before a screen allowing him to alter his character.
His usual appearance featured black hair, green eyes, and clear skin due to his skincare routine.
Anticipating his prominence in the tower, he made subtle changes to avoid recognition back on Earth. He opted for blue eyes and tweaked his facial structure slightly.
He mainly did this because he had family at home. And during one of his regression when he just started to become powerful.
His family was used against him. So he began changing his appearance ever since.
Upon pressing the confirm button, another screen popped up before him, opting him to select a username. He selected "r100" as his username. R signified regression, and the 100 was the number of regressions he had undergone. He started doing these types of usernames during his 22nd regression. This helped him focus on his goals and made him remember not to get too comfortable.
Seeing "100" on his username, he sighed inwardly, never expecting this day to arrive. He had lived hundreds of years. He lost track a while ago.
He then confirmed his username, and the black surroundings cracked, revealing an open grassy area that looked infinite in size.
Being the first to spawn, he opened his status window.
| Yoshida Yuji (22) |
| Level: | | 1 |
| Title: | | None |
| Class: | | Locked |
| Rune: | | Regression Rune |
| Strength: | | 5 | +
| Agility: | | 5 | +
| Intelligence: | | 5 | +
| Luck: | | 0 | +
| Stat Points: | | 0 |
At the game's start, players, including Yuji, often misunderstood intelligence as solely related to intellect. However, it pertained to the number of skills one could learn.
Similar to luck, which increased the chance of surviving fatal blows, it also influenced the gold earned at each floor's end. Gold could be used in the shop system for items, weapons, runes, etc.
Classes came with specific abilities and skills, their effectiveness dependent on the class quality. The mage class also depends on the intelligence stats as it increases the mana points for the player. Runes, on the other hand, provided boosts and are challenging to find. Yuji lucked out by obtaining the regression stone on the tower's entry, when he killed a half dead goblin.
A common rune was the strength and agility rune. Having a rune significantly increased power, with a strength rune boosting strength by 10% for each level.
As the most knowledgeable about the game, Yuji knew not to upgrade the intelligence stat until floor 10, where abilities would start to drop from monster or be given as a reward.
Observing others spawning in, he closed his status window and waited for everyone to appear.
Ten minutes later, the entire group had spawned. They engaged in discussions about the game or their characters.
As they conversed, they noticed beautiful, lengthy white wings flapping in the air, and an otherworldly beauty descending before them.
The angel's words silenced the crowd. Seeing as how she blew someone's head just for interrupting her, they were cautious against doing anything that could possibly offend her.
"Haha, it's funny how you humans would rather be someone entirely different than embrace who you really are," she remarked, causing those who altered their appearance to feel a pang of regret in their hearts.
"You guys aren't the only people participating in this tower; the whole world is. There are 10,000 of you here. The rest are in another space with another Angel explains exactly what I'm explaing to you."
"Each floor has an event that you have to survive to go to the next floor. Each floor gets progressively harder, but the rewards get better also."
"I want everyone to think of 'status window' in their heads," she instructed, allowing everyone to process their stats before continuing.
"If you played a game, you would know that you're very weak right now. Get stronger and survive the floors to properly entertain us."
"Now then, enough explaining," she declared, snapping her fingers as a screen appeared before everyone.
| Event |
| 10,000 vs. 100,000 |
| Kill and survive the horde of goblins and zombies |
| Time Limit | | 5:00 |
Portals began appearing everywhere, and zombies and goblins emerged, running toward the players without hesitation.
Amidst the fear and confusion, Yuji approached the army of monsters heading his way, demonstrating confidence in his steps.
Everyone looked at him like he was a madman who wanted to die, but when he swiftly killed a goblin, they understood why he had such confidence.
| +0.1 Agility |
Seeing himself gain a stat, he picked up the dagger the goblin had and muttered to himself, "Here we go again…"