Child of Destiny

*Ding*

System: You have discovered the ‘Tower of Inheritance’ left behind by the fallen Immortal Empire!

System: You have gained 10,000 Fame Points.

Shin raised his brows a little when he read the notifications, especially after seeing the Fame Points that he just earned.

It was quite a huge amount if it were any other player. However, for Shin, this amount was nothing.

Given that he was a Transcendent Race and an Envoy of the Church of the Sun and Moon, he did not have to rely on his Fame Points to become more popular with NPCs and get more quests from them.

They could also easily trigger some of the hidden quests and find more hidden NPCs by casually roaming around the city or any other region.

“What a bountiful point. It’s just a pity that I can’t benefit from it that much,” he mumbled alongside a helpless sigh.

It was not that having more Fame Points for someone like him was useless, but their overall effectiveness was greatly reduced due to the innate advantage of being a Transcendent Being and having high status within the NPC Organization to which he belonged.

After a while, Shin readjusted himself before proceeding to look at the first notification and clicked on the ‘Tower of Inheritance’ to look into its details.

————

[Tower of Inheritance]

Historical Background:

– A special place that was built by the last Emperor of the fallen Immortal Empire before the disaster struck their land.

– This tower held all the secrets of the Immortal Empire, which included all the martial manuals of the strongest individuals of their empire, the history and the founding records of the empire itself, the legacy of all the past emperors, the secrets of the Samsara Stones, and many more.

– Each floor of the tower had a specific test that targeted the desires and goals of the challengers, along with the corresponding rewards.

– The more floors that an individual passes, the greater the rewards they get in return.

– Clearing all the floors would give an individual the right to challenge the true inheritance that the Great Immortal Emperor had left behind, including the true secrets of the unfortunate accident that had befallen them.

Note 1: Every three floors was a special checkpoint that the challenger could use when deciding to continue or exit the tower.

-Continuing the challenge but failing to pass the succeeding tests would forfeit all the rewards from the previous floors aside from the experience points, skill points, legacy points, and other consumable objects that had been used.

-All of the consumable rewards, such as heavenly treasures, skill books, spell scrolls, and martial manuals that had not been used during the trials would be confiscated upon failure of the challenge or clearance of the last passed floor. (Everything must be consumed or used within the tower before exiting it unless they were crafting materials or an unconsumable item.)

-Every 9th floor could become a special save point where the challengers could pause their progress and exit the tower.

Note 2: An individual could only challenge the Tower of Inheritance once a month (in-game time) upon their exit, regardless of their clearance or failure of the previous challenges.

-On their next attempt, the challenger had to start over again unless they had reached the specific save point for the corresponding floor challenges. (Every 9th floor was the specified checkpoint for this condition.)

Note 3: Upon exiting the Tower, the corresponding rank designated to the highest cleared floor would be the Status Level of the challenger.

-Status Level would indicate how the challenger would be treated in the succeeding tests that they would take in the future.

————

Skimming through these pieces of information, Shin was able to figure out how he would be able to leave this place.

“If I am not wrong, then the 9th floor can be the floor that can give me a special pass to leave this place,” he mumbled.

This was the assessment that he had gotten after his experiences within the game and the information that he had gotten from multiple sources.

He could tell that the reason why the tower would confiscate all the unused gains before exiting the tower must be to prevent other people from profiting from it by selling those rewards outside.

This was the Tower of Inheritance left behind by an extremely powerful empire during the previous era, so everything within it must be given utmost importance, particularly the said legacies.

If you did not use those gains within the tower, then it must be no different from accepting that inheritance – or it could also be said that you were not destined to be with the said inheritance at all.

Only crafting materials and such were the only ones that could be taken out of the tower or any other unconsumable treasures.

“I can just try my luck with this. Whether I can find a way to leave this place or not may depend on this tower.”

“But I must be careful as well since a possible failure could lead to such a harsh penalty,” he added after reading through the first note given by the system.

At the very least, he needed to clear the 9th floor before exiting the tower. After all, if he failed to reach that floor, then he had to start over again once he tried to challenge the tower some other time.

After adjusting himself, he slowly walked toward the sole entrance of the tower before gently placing his palm on the door.

*Ding*

Another system notification rang in his ears before projecting the rules before his eyes.

System: A new challenger has been detected!

System: Please enter your initial desire before accepting the challenge of the Tower!

Seeing this, Shin could not help but raise his brows before grinning. “It makes it more convenient then.”

After that, he placed what he wanted on the empty panel before him, indicating that he wanted to leave this island.

*Ding*

The response from the system came almost instantly.

System: The initial goal has been set! Please enter the goal rank and floor difficulty that you want to challenge.

Beginner:

Target Floor: 3rd Floor (Easy Difficulty)

Reward:

-Exit Token (Grants the user the right to leave the Immortal Island.)

Note: Consumed upon use.

Apprentice:

Target Floor: 9th Floor (Easy Difficulty)

Reward:

-Immortal Badge (Grants the user the right to leave the Immortal Island.)

Note: Can be used at most 5 times.

Expert:

Target Floor: 15th Floor (Easy Difficulty)

Reward:

-Token of Command (Grants the user the right to leave the Immortal Island and bring 5 people with them.)

Note: Can be used at most 10 times.

Master:

Target Floor: 30th Floor (Easy Difficulty)

Reward:

-Token of Authority (Grants the user the authority to leave and exit the Immortal Island whenever they want and bring 10 people with them during the process.)

Note: Unlimited number of uses and additional hidden functions.

Grandmaster:

Target Floor: 3rd Floor (Intermediate Difficulty)

Reward:

-Token of Authority x2

-Stone of Samsara (Type: Random) x1

6: Saint/Sage:

Target Floor: 9th (Intermediate Difficulty)

Reward:

-Token of Authority x3

-Stone of Samsara (Type: Specific – depending on the challenger’s desire) x1

Unknown (Challenger is not qualified for this rank and difficulty yet)

8.???

9.???

……

Looking through the choices, Shin seemed to have gotten a rough idea of how to challenge the Tower of Inheritance.

It seemed to be asking him to set his initial goal before challenging all the trials prepared for him.

These choices did not mean that he would be directly sent to the specific floor indicated by the choices before him. Instead, it meant that he needed to reach that specific floor before he could even get to his specific target.

As for the corresponding rank, it had already been noted in the rules of the tower earlier.

There were only two difficulties laid before Shin, which were the Easy and Intermediate Difficulties. This meant that the system had assessed his current strength to be only eligible for these two choices.

Shin stared at the two choices laid before him for quite a while, feeling a bit tempted to take the intermediate difficulty.

After all, the system would not give him such a choice if we were not qualified to take it, just like how it hid the other difficulties above Saint/Sage Rank.

However, he could not help but pause for a moment when his index finger was about to press the button representing the intermediate difficulty, and he recalled something.

If these ranks and difficulties represented his overall strength based on the system, then the intermediate difficulty required him to directly use all his strength right at the very beginning.

After all, he did not know what kind of trials would be waiting for him inside the tower.

Moreover, based on his past experiences while playing the game, it was more beneficial to start right at the very bottom since it could bring him more benefits in the long run.

After contemplating it for quite some time, Shin finally decided to take the longer route rather than the quicker one.

“Haste makes waste. Let’s go slow and steady,” he mumbled while taking the Easy Difficulty.

…