Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Ed pursed his lips. ”It gives you one of these.” He patted his large belly, though it didn’t seem as large as it was a few days ago.

Moon looked at Ed, his eyes darted to the belly then the face back and forth; his hands started shaking.

Ting~

The spoon in Moon’s hand slipped, falling onto the table. He stood and took a couple of steps back.

”What... did you say?”

”It’s fine for you, if you don’t eat too much, that is,” Ed said casually. ”But if you eat more than one a day...” His eyes sharpened.

Moon swallowed hard, and his mind started playing tricks on his, it drew an image where he had a large belly like Ed’s... ”No, no, no, I’ll eat only once a day... maybe never again, even...” he spoke in urgency.

”Well, listen well... You’re too underweight,” Ed started explaining.

”Underweight?” Moon questioned the new word.

Ed nodded. ”Yes, too thin... You need to put some meat on those bones of yours, right?”

Moon nodded.

”Good, but do you know where the food we eat goes?” Ed asked.

Moon shook his head.

”It gets burned!” Ed spoke with a very serious face.

”B-burned?” Moon looked at his own body. ”Where?”

”In your muscles. Don’t you feel that heat when you run or do something that needs some stamina?”

Moon nodded.

”That heat is the food burning. You skip a meal, you eat too little... you know what happens?”

”What?” Moon squinted.

”Your body burns your muscles instead!”

”MY MUSCLES?”

”Your muscles.”

”W-what do I do?” Moon pleaded.

”If you eat one cheesecake a day, it’ll give your body the food it needs to burn.”

Moon thought for a moment. ”What happens to everything else I eat?” he asked.

Ed locked his eyes with Moon’s and raised his index finger. ”It goes to your muscles.”

”My muscles?”

”Your muscles.”

Moon went silent for a moment, calculating the fuel his body needed and how much he’d been skipping.

He clapped his hands. ”No wonder I still don’t have muscles.”

”Now you get it.”

Moon went back to his seat, picked up the spoon, and started eating his cheesecake again. ”Yeah, I need to not skip food again.”

”Good kid,” Ed nodded. ”Right, tomorrow you’ll start your arcane classes with Uon; at night, you’ll have a spar with me,” he added.

Moon blinked. ”Spar with you?”

Ed nodded. ”I had Samuel make a seal for me to match your stats. We fight all out: weapons, Echo... anything.”

Moon’s eyes shone. ”Really?” Seemingly waiting for this moment for a long while.

”Your fighting style is closest to mine, weapon-reliant, though you’re almost as crazy as Samuel. Fighting with me will help you most to get the feel of fighting against ascenders.”

”YES,” Moon affirmed. Before he punched his palm, remembering something, or so it seemed.

”Right, is it true that girls can’t be punched in the face?” Moon asked with a very serious face.

Ed’s face contorted; he looked suddenly tired again, even more tired than ever.

He made his way out of the eatery, not looking back, not bothering himself with Moon again.

Moon was already busy with his cheesecake and soon forgot what he was trying to ask again; the sweet taste was soothing in a way he didn’t imagine possible.

He felt more motivated to spar, train, and learn.

Once he was done, he threw the pack in the trash, left the spoon where he usually did when eating, and walked out.

On this day, Moon brought out his Echo again. He decided he would once again let it bounce around till, maybe, one day in the future, it became usable like other people’s, where he could do cool things with it and experience the full scale of the fantasy world everyone was born into.

Which brought him to remember the stuff Dara did that blew his mind.

’Dude had infinite Echo,’ Moon thought, rubbing his chin while on the walk.

But then again, he remembered his own Echo; it could be used and returned as a whole unit... Was it the same?

’Prolly not.’ He shook his head.

But then again, he remembered the ring he looted, the one that he could use to produce floating screens and watch things.

He fished the ring from his pocket. ”Hehehehe, at last I got one,” he laughed to himself.

He brought the ring closer to his finger.

So close, almost touching it, about to wear it, his smile widened—

Ding!

Smack~

”Ack, which bas—” He turned around to see who hit him.

In front of his face, a man in white robes, grey hair and a stern look with a mustache stood.

It was Samuel.

His deadpan looks still the same.

Moon squinted; his grudge with the old man was yet to be settled. He brought his empty hand forward, clenched it into a fist, and started rotating it. ”Are you picking a fight now? Seal yourself and wait for me in the—”

Samuel’s hand moved faster than Moon’s eyes could see or perceive. Suddenly, the ring was gone from his hand. ”Hey, no stealing, dammit!”

Samuel didn’t seem to be bothered by his rant; he looked at the ring for a second before his index and thumb moved together.

He seemed to have held onto something on the ring; he pulled something that looked like an intersecting gear.

He touched it once, and the components went anticlockwise, with a—

Shua~

They came apart and disappeared.

Moon watched the scene, dumbfounded. ”What was that?” He wasn’t sure what that was, and he didn’t sense anything from the ring either.

”It would have blown up along with your body,” Samuel explained with very few words before turning around to walk away.

While he was turning—

Ting~

He threw the ring high in the air.

Moon leaned forward and caught it. He looked at it, studying if there was any difference, but he couldn’t see any.

Instantly, he blinked, remembering he got an alert before he was hit; his eyes darted to the Fate Alert notification, but it was back to 30%... He didn’t get a chance to see how high it went this time around.

If anything, he knew very well that Samuel’s smack wouldn’t have been threatening in any way to trigger an alert.

Moon looked at the ring and attempted to put it on again, slowly.

No alerts came.

He heaved a sigh of relief, but then again, he pursed his lips.

’What’s with that guy? Is he trying to help, or does he just hate my guts to the core?’ Moon contemplated for a moment, but then again, he involuntarily opened his mouth to speak.

”Oh, okay, thanks...” he said first before adding, ”I actually don’t know how to use it. Can you show me?” he asked.

Still, Samuel walked on his way, not turning, pausing, or answering.

’What a weird old man!’ Moon thought to himself.

He was now trying to decide to whom he should go; he needed a living user manual as soon as possible.

’Uon, Ed, or Dorbish,’ Moon thought as he started going in circles, diverting from his original destination.