Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

”Are you affiliated with an Outer?”

Samuel dropped the question with a sudden change of tone, the entire atmosphere shifted.

His Echo was released in the small, tightly shut room, causing the foundation to shudder, and this time it was different for Moon, who had just started gaining awareness of Echo

Now that he was feeling it around him, he was experiencing exactly what Uon felt when Samuel let his echo loose a little while ago. The terror it brought.

It was an instant that screamed that the world had abandoned him, turned its back on him.

A lonely feeling, looking at the vast, boundless Echo surrounding your own, the insignificance of existing in the same world and place as something like this.

Beads of sweat rolled down Moon’s forehead, ’No wonder Uon shrieked,’ he thought.

Though his eyes held the same detachment, he could feel the terror stealing his breath, but his body and expressions failed to express it.

It was similar to that fear forced upon him by the first floor administrator, not the same but close.

Yet the question lingered.

’Outer?’ Moon repeated the word in his head, not sure what it meant exactly.

Though, he had some unspeakable guesses.

Moon was bitter, he smiled, ”Do I look like someone with backing or affiliation?” and asked back, admitting that knowing what an Outer was meant nothing.

If he was affiliated with someone, would he have gone through all of this?

He was barely being helped enough to be kept alive, nothing more...

It was the trust, though...

He wasn’t sure if he had convinced Samuel or if he already had something in mind, but his Echo vanished instantly, like a lie.

In the small room, Samuel started pacing back and forth, seemingly in deep thought.

”Your state means one of two things,” Samuel spoke again, but his voice did not hold the same certainty it held before.

”One, the Tower might be trying to fix the rot that has taken root within it.”

Without a pause he said ”Two,”

Moon waited for him to answer, but he said nothing.

He stood there, leaving a loud, agonizing silence to eat at Moon’s mind, who was desperate for a way out.

It was like Samuel had something on his mind that refused to speak. Something he would rather keep to himself.

”Your echo is a perfect 16 for the first floor trial. You said it was 7. This Death Echo is 9,” Samuel said slowly as he passed his hand around the Death Echo.

But Death Echo was something that didn’t coexist with the living, so whenever his hand passed by it, it coalesced together to make way, to avoid interacting with his body.

Which was also different from how Death Echo behaved in nature.

”You know that Death Echo is oppressive, invasive, and sometimes deadly?” Samuel elaborated on another strange aspect he was seeing.

Moon didn’t know anything about it, he also wasn’t even trying to control it.

It acted on its own, and he had no prior knowledge of what Death Echo was. Not even Uon had mentioned it.

”Can you retract it?” Samuel proceeded with his experiment.

Moon tried previously, but he tried again...

His echo was deflated, it couldn’t be called retracted. Only a small amount shrunk back to his body, and the rest radiated around him.

Exhaling sharply, ”This is the best I can do,” Moon said, shaking his head.

It was whole. His Echo was a complete entity, and Death Echo was part of his own personal echo. He couldn’t retract it for now.

But soon he might. Still, the problem was not just retracting. It was the fact that every time an attack came close to him, his echo would react.

And this reaction wasn’t something he could control or avoid. It was the instinct of all Echo to preserve life, to keep growing.

Samuel aimed one of the circles and tried attacking Moon’s exposed hand, thinking that the abnormal behavior of his Echo, would make things different.

But his echo gathered at the fast, yet extremely weak attack. It forming a black, inky layer perfectly at the spot where the attack would land.

With a soft muffled impact, the attack was perfectly neutralized. Then, the Echo returned to how it was, covering Moon’s body almost evenly.

Watching this, Samuel put his hand down. Moon raised his eyes to meet his, demanding any form of explanation.

He didn’t do it, nor did he try to defend against the attack... Even Fate Alert didn’t react in the slightest.

Yet, against his expectations, ”Stay here. I’ll look into a few things.” Samuel turned around and left the room.

Leaving behind Moon, wondering if there was any solution.

His mind was still looking for a way out even under the current circumstances.

He first checked his blue window. He went through every line as carefully as possible, reading every description, every number.

But there was nothing new. Not a single change. Even Fate Alert was frozen at 30%.

He wondered if that was the reason behind this 30%.

But for now, it didn’t matter. It was time to check the crimson window, the rewards window of his, to seek a solution.

It was a mistake on his part not checking for so long after getting his rewards.

He felt both ungrateful and burdened. It had never once notified him of anything since the rewards, and since that day, after checking the stats that didn’t match the blue window’s, nor could he understand what they meant, he didn’t check the rest.

But it was time. He was running back like a child seeking a parent. He pleadingly started searching word by word.

User: Moon

Location: Tower of Endless

Basic Stats

Physicality: 4

Mentality: 9

Perception: 2

Energy: 8

Instinct: 4

Awakening Talent

- Pending activation -

Attributes

Death Energy

Mental Resilience

Combat Mastery E

Energy Control F

Power Index

Tower of Endless - Second Floor

Insights

Insights Into ???’s Path of Existence

User’s Manual

This system exists for the user’s convenience and reward delivery.

This system’s numerical values are based on ??? standards.

This system will only notify the user if there is a new reward to be delivered or a quest to be announced.

This system will not interfere with the user’s choices, decisions, or personal beliefs.

This system will monitor the user’s state and update in the Real-Time Logs.

Shaking his head, Moon now saw why he couldn’t hear it even once, unlike the proactive Fate Alert. Recognizing his mistake, his eyes sought out the next section, and the last.

Real-Time Logs

-User is a carrier of Death Energy.

-User’s mentality was partially damaged, temporary stabilization was provided.

-User’s Death Energy is greater than Innate Personal Energy.

-User will be sponsored a set of clothing to hide casual detection of Death Energy.

-User’s mentality is greater than energy value. Energy activation will be hindered.

-User is expected to freely release energy once the second trial is passed successfully.

-User must find a way to seal Death Energy or completely seal energy output before passing the -second floor trial.

-User prematurely attempted forced energy activation.

-User’s mentality cannot control over energy output will be hindered.

-User’s Death Energy is unsafe for public use by the standards of Tower of Endless.

-User must find a way to seal Death Energy or complete energy output.

”I’m cooked!”