The objective of the tower was to make the participants test themselves, be it mentally or physically, and possibly break their limits. All of the participants had to go through similar tests, and were advancing at their own speed.
From the outside, the observing cultivators were looking on nervously. The tower was the first test which they were unable to observe, as it contained things whose existence the Universal Government was not willing to share, or at the very least, not with those who could understand their nature.
What the observers saw from the outside, were red lights that shone through the tower's walls. Each light indicated the presence of a cultivator, as well as the floor in which they were currently staying.
"This could take awhile." muttered Daniel before turning towards the Silver Alchemist, and asking, "Teacher, who has the ring?" He could have easily been able to pick the old man's mind if he had wanted, but ever since obtaining this power, he had decided to never forcibly read the mind of one of his friends unless necessary.
"Lady Saullet." Responded the Silver Alchemist before turning quiet.
Daniel was quick to notice the expression of his old teacher. The face of a man with a thousand questions.. so he asked, "Can you tell me what happened after that day in the black castle?"
"After you have changed, we have tried to carve a place for our company in the market of our system, but the people we thought we had subjugated, were easy to jump ship and collaborate with the new powers that arrived soon after the planet was opened to intergalactic travel."
"We have spent months trying to resist the increasingly ridiculous attacks of the other powers, and in the end, some groups tried to eradicate us. Left with no other choice, we tried to escape through space, but we ended up being swallowed by a massive spatial rift that threw us into the void."
"Most of us were within the spatial ring when it happened, but we were separated from Der, Edmund, Roley, Jerigh, Gai'ha, Lucious, Heimart, and.. Alesia. We haven't had any contact with them ever since when we got separated. When we were thrown out of the void, we found ourselves here in Cato. Not the worst place for a company to flourish, but not welcoming to strangers." Recounted the Silver Alchemist, almost hesitant when revealing that Alesia was missing.
Roley, Der, Alesia, Gai'ha, and Jerigh. Those were the people whom Daniel had gone through most hardships with. People whose loss would destroy him. Not knowing where they were, or how they were doing, was enough of a torture by itself. However, he needed to be strong, as many other members of his group needed him.
"Have the groups of the ring of commerce bothered you?" He asked in an attempt to change the topic of conversation not for the Silver Alchemist, but for himself.
"Not really. None of them has tried to harm us yet. I am assuming it is because of you." Responded the Silver Alchemist while looking at him from the corner of his eye. He could remember how, only a few years earlier, Daniel was only an immortal. Stronger than most, yes, but still within reason for his age.
Now, on the other hand, he was able to kill with no effort, monsters that were supposed to rule over billions, and that possessed trade routes that extended through multiple galaxies. People to whom a solar system was not any different than a series of moving rocks which they could rearrange at will.
"Heimart and Edmund are with me." said Daniel with a matter-of-fact one.
The father and son couple immediately turned towards them with eyes opened wide in shock. "The are?" said the old man Golden Cauldron, finally breaking his silence. Edmund had been the only person to which he had been able to speak casually about his obsession towards one of the most complicated essences of the cultivation world. From that, they had built their friendship.
"Yes, but there is something wrong with them. Please, keep it a secret from Emelnie and Alis. At least until I find a way to fix their problems." responded Daniel before noticing something a few meters away.
Floating in the air next to a fat merchant, was a man on the verge of a panic attack. He kept pulling on the collar of his clothes, and inching away from the fat merchant as if worried that he would attack him at any given moment.
This behaviour was odd for Daniel, so he decided to take a look into his mind.
What he found inside this man's mind, was the worry that the fat man would kill him, take his company, and above all, kill his family.
Curious about what could possibly be the reason of this worry, Daniel delved into his memories, where he found a series of scenes he found interesting. For a few minutes he kept looking, until finally, he reached a scene in particular. A scene where a man and his son were in a meeting with two people he had recognized. One of them was the fat man that stood next to him, while the other, was the man he had killed only hours earlier.
From each image he saw, he was able to obtain a piece of the puzzle, that not long after, was complete. This man was the head of a family of merchants that was part of the Egregious Mercantile Ethics, and the man he had killed earlier, was none other than his boss.
What worried this man, however, was not the loss of his leader, but the future of his family and company. This man was Ivan's father, and ever since the death of the leader of their conglomerate, he had began to fear that, in order to bury the secret of their shady actions towards Daniel's academy and company, the fat man would kill him.. And he was not wrong.
It only took a look for Daniel to feel the hostility the fat man felt towards this man. Reason why he was standing so close to him.
What left a good impression of Ivan's father in Daniel, was the fact that while worried, he was still thinking of ways to negotiate the safety of his family members. What he was willing to offer, was his own life and promises of silence.
"That man is not too bad. No wonder you allowed his son to join the academy." Said Daniel to his old teacher, who only understood what he meant after following the direction where Daniel's eyes were pointing.
"How did you know?" Asked the old man Golden Cauldron with curiosity. The only thing he had heard about mental power were a few rumors when walking around the city, so for him, the concept of mind reading was still out of the spectrum of his competence.
"I'll explain later. Just know that it will be something to be taught in the academy to whoever wishes to learn it." Responded Daniel while turning to look at the fat man, and focusing on his thoughts.
Just like he thought, the fat man was painfully aware of Daniel's presence, and while he was doing a good job at not staring back at him, he was sweating cold. In his mind, only one plan had formed. He was waiting for all of the participants that were aware of Gen Stein's plan to come out, and killing them in secret. After all, he was in the position to take over the conglomerate, and the last thing he wanted was for a chosen of Iewah to come for his blood.
After reading his thoughts, Daniel was able to understand why this fat man would have such a negative karma. He was a snake who was waiting for the first chance to take the company off of the hands of his leader, and Daniel had inadvertently given him a helping hand.
From walking through Mister Mir's memories, Daniel was able to learn about the existence of objects created by the children of Iewah. Items similar to his own planet, which he had been able to turn into a part of his body during his ascension to high immortality.
Daniel did not wish to cause anymore trouble at the moment. His friends were risking their lives inside a deadly competition, and he had barely avoided an encounter with six individuals of much greater strength than his, so if he wanted to kill this Mister Mir, he needed to find a better moment in the future.
Right now, all he could do was to observe, and put his trust in Karma X Luck.
—–
Time passed uneventfully, and soon enough, a day had passed.
In many different places in the universal government, a few lucky cultivators were able to witness different shocking events. Some were able to see a single red dot rise through the tower's floor as if there was no obstacle to begin with, and some had small groups of people which would advance mechanically, almost as if at the same speed.
Regardless of which of these places was taken into account, a few powerful participants were completing this test at a speed that outclasses that of the masses. These people, were the highest level of prodigies that had appeared within the universal government.
A similar scene was taking place in Cato, where five red dots were advancing at ten times the speed than the others.
What was not allowed for the observing cultivators to see, was the white flame that would appear after the completion of every floor. That was the condition that the two children of Iewah had agreed upon before helping to create this tower. After all, they knew that there would be more of their siblings, and they did not wish for them to learn about their secrets.
By not being allowed to know that no time was required for recovery in between floors, they also did not know that the speed in which they managed to advance, was purely thanks to their ability to eliminate their enemies their enemies as quickly as possible. Therefore, there was no way for them to know to whom each red spot belonged.
Suddenly, a few of the conglomerate leaders that were observing the testing of another group, appeared within their illusion. On their faces were a mixture of emotions. Some were happy, and some were disappointed.
"I can't believe my grandson left so early!" said an old woman with disappointment.
"Don't blame him, it was a difficult test." Responded a middle aged man while hiding his feelings of pride towards his own granddaughter.
"Whatever." Said the woman before turning to look at the five conglomerate leader that were observing the test of the participants of Volcanic and Temple island, and said, "Which one of your kids managed to pass?"
Before any of them could respond, the two cultivators turned to look at the massive tower, and noticed five dots shine through the wall of the fiftieth floor. Their jaws dropped.
The reason why the two were so surprised, was because the test was not made to allow the participants to reach that height. The number of lights would decrease as the participants would find themselves at the limits of their abilities, and give up. When only around fifty participants were left, the test would stop. At that point, the enemies would stop appearing within the tower, allowing for the participants to walk to the top, and proceed to the next test.
What was different with this test, was not only the fact that five red dots had appeared in the highest floors of the tower, but because the number of lights in the lower floors, was massive.
—–
Back inside the tower, the figure of an injured young man covered in blood walked out of a door frame, and towards the white flame placed right in the middle of the smoke room. He then stepped into the flame, allowing it to seep into his body, and repair the injuries of which his body was covered with.
It only took seconds before these disturbing injuries closed completely, and the blood that covered his appearance was reabsorbed into his body, revealing Zack's face.
Once back at his peak condition, Zack turned to look at the door frame, on which were now carved the words "Last Floor", and walked straight into it. When he reappeared, he found himself in the ever so familiar throne room.
Waiting for him in this room, were fifty middle aged individuals with whom he had a striking resemblance. Some of them were wielding heavy weapons and were clad in different types of heavy armors, while others were simple martial arts, swordsmen, spearmen, and bowmen covered in leather armor. Each of them was giving off the vibe of being a different version of an older Zack, which had come from different alternative reality just to kill him. All veterans in their own styles, which matched precisely what Zack had learned about them.
Each of them represented Zack's future, and what made them apart from one another, was a simple choice.
