[Congratulations!]
[You have passed the first trial!]
Xander opened his eyes, "I… I'm alive?"
Xander was shocked. His mind was blown. He was actually alive. He didn't die.
He quickly looked around to find himself floating in darkness, nothing but stars in the far distance to give him a sense of perception.
[Unlocking dormant trait]
'Oh my god. I actually did it. I'm unlocking my trait,' Xander thought, both excited and curious about what it would be. He knew his trait had something to do with death, but he had no clue what his specific trait would end up being or the rank it would be.
It was a commonly known fact that the rank of your trait was a mix between how well you did in the trial and your natural talent.
He assumed he had a lot of talent since that's what he was told in the trial, but he didn't know if that had to do with his trait or not, and he also didn't know how well the tower or whatever gave him the trait considered his trial to have gone.
[Trait acquired]
[Trait name: Reaper's Revival]
"Reaper's Revival?" Xander repeated, not sure if this was a good or bad ability yet.
[Analyzing talent and trial…]
Xander was now nervous. This would determine a lot about his future. How good would his trait be? Would it be good, bad, broken, unusable? He didn't know, but he was about to find out.
[Trait rank: Divine]
"No f***ing way!" Xander couldn't believe it. He didn't know how rare divine traits were, but he had at least never heard of anyone with one.
"This has got to be the most broken ability ever! Reaper's Revival! What, do I control death now with a thought!? Can I kill anyone I want!? Do I have a death note that can kill anyone, anywhere, at any time!?" Xander's mind raced with the possibilities before he finally decided to just look and see what his trait's ability was.
[Trait: Reaper's Revival]
[Trait Rank: Divine]
[Trait ability description: Be the reaper who collects death, and revival will follow close behind]
Xander's eyes widened, "What the F*** does that mean? Where's my death note? How can I kill with this? How does this help me kill my enemies?" Xander's first thought was, 'This is disappointing.'
However, the more he thought about it, the more he started to warm up to the ability.
'It might not help me kill, but, and it's a huge but, it does help me survive, and that's my main goal.' Xander thought back to his promise to Austin.
'I never promised him that I would be the strongest, deadliest person out there. I promised him I would survive, and this will help me do just that. I just have to figure out how to use it.' While the name of the ability 'Reaper's Revival' and the ability description 'Be the reaper who collects death, and revival will follow close behind' pointed him in the direction of the ability, it didn't really tell him how exactly he was supposed to use the trait.
[Name: Alexander Stone]
[Rank: Dormant]
[Core N/A]
[Trait: Reaper's Revival] - [Death charge: 7.5%]
[Trait Rank: Divine]
'So there's a death charge? Does that mean the more I kill the higher the charge gets until it reaches 100% and then I can revive from death?' Xander still wasn't sure exactly how the ability would work but he figured it would work itself out in the future.
After thinking about the possibilities his new divine trait could bring him, he started to look over the rest of his status screen.
'So my rank charge still hasn't gone up. I wonder how that is supposed to work? I heard when I was a kid from somebody, I can't remember who, that it has something to do with kills, but I'm not sure how exactly to charge it up.'
'And what happened to my core I created? Don't tell me that didn't count, and I'm going to have to recreate my core again in my real body.'
"Xander," A flash of light appeared, blinding him.
"What the hell!?" Xander said in slight panic.
"I am the spirit artifact of this Tower of Fate," the light said in a completely mechanical but, at the same time, natural voice.
Now that Xander's eyes were starting to adjust he noticed that it was a ball of white light floating a couple feet in front of him.
"Umm… hello," he wasn't sure if most people got to talk to the spirit artifact of the tower but he knew that his information on the happenings of the tower were next to nothing, so he was just going to roll with it and hope for the best.
"I am here to relay a message from Austin Stone," the ball of light said.
"What!! You have a message from my brother!!" Xander's heart began to race. He had thought countless times about hearing something from his brother since his death. He didn't care what it was; he just wanted some kind of message from him.
"The message will start now."
"Xander… hey," Austin started.
'It's Austin's voice. It's really his voice,' Xander couldn't believe it. He was actually hearing his brother's last message to him before his death.
"No, wait," Austin continued.
"I don't know how to really start this, so I'll just jump straight in."
"First, I'm not dead…"
"What!!" Xander yelled, his heart about to burst from his chest. His hands, feet, and face starting to go numb.
"I can't say much because it would just cause more problems, but I'm in a tough situation."
"Everything was going great. I was getting stronger, climbing the tower, and I even made a friend or two along the way, but then I came across some information I wasn't supposed to, and now I'm being hunted by people I can't hide from, and I can't face head on."
"So I'm doing the only thing I can do, and that's running away."
"I'm sorry it might be a while before I see you again, if I ever do, but I have to get out of this tower to a place they won't be able to look for me."
"You don't know this, neither did I until I reached the 3rd floor, but there is more than one tower. I'm not sure how many there are, but I found a really rare opportunity, and this opportunity is extremely dangerous. It allows someone to transfer to another tower that's in a completely different place than where we are from. That's why when I found it, I just let it be, but now it's my only choice to get away from the immediate danger of my pursuit. I have to take a leap into the deep end and hope I can come out the other side."
"That's all I'll say on that. Now I'll talk a little about you."
"First, I'm so proud of you."
"I don't know why you were destined to enter the tower like I was, but if you're even listening to this message, it means you did it. You entered the first trial and lived to tell the tale, so don't sell yourself short. You are strong, and you will survive."
"One last thing, don't fully trust the council. While they aren't all bad, there are traitors in their ranks, so keep your information to yourself and your cards close to your chest whenever possible."
"Once again, I'm sorry, and I love you. I hope we can meet again."
"Also, the spirit artifact is rushing me, but it hasn't cut me off yet. It is part of my opportunity. It's helping me get to the other tower, and it's promised to pass on this message to you if you ever enter the tower. You can trust it. It's unbiased and only cares about the rules and wellbeing of the tower."
"And one last thing, if you can find her, you can trust one person 100%. Her name is *Shin Yoo-na(Korean: Shin You-nah). Last I saw her, she was on the planet Karael in Haven Forest, but she lives in Elysi…"
***
[*A/n: Shin Yoo-na is a Korean name, so the family name is Shin, and the given name is Yoo-na. Due to the Tower of Death Universe being so large, throughout the novel, I plan to use several different types of names, from English to Korean to Japanese to pure fantasy to anything else I can think of, so there will be times in the novel when I introduce a character like Shin Yoo-na where the given name is second when this happens I will try to leave an A/n for those who are unfamiliar :)]
[A/n: Also, when I use a name other than English for the first time, I will try to put where it's from and the way to pronounce it in English. For example: (Korean: Shin You-nah)]