Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

Before Uhtred had time to think, the world around him stopped entirely, and he felt himself being pulled toward the sky with extreme speed.

His consciousness turned to a stream of light that disappeared somewhere past the boundary of the scenario world, until suddenly he slammed right back into being with a stagger.

”—Ahh, shit, shit, shit! These outfits are no good! Damn it! Why do my champions have to be so overbearing? A Tower interview already...? It’s barely been two scenario days—Ah! He’s here already...”

Uhtred heard what sounded like Handler Roy’s voice the moment his body snapped back into existence.

He staggered to a stop from the momentum of his appearance, then slowly he blinked his eyes open, taking in his surroundings.

”Roy...? Where are we?”

A part of Uhtred had expected to reappear in the simple, brick-walled room where he had landed after Floor 1.

He had thought at first that he was being transported to the interview directly, but the moment he heard Handler Roy’s voice — and particularly what the Handler was lamenting about — it made sense that he wouldn’t be transported to the so-called ”interview” directly without some preparation.

However, opening his eyes revealed a space that looked nothing like the previous waiting room. He was in what looked to be a dressing room of some sort, with large, uncannily clear mirrors and clothes of all kinds on racks and chairs.

Coming from a high-stakes battle and appearing in a room set up for a high-end showbiz spectacle was extremely jarring.

It was a contrast that Uhtred’s mind was struggling to adapt to, and Handler Roy seemed able to tell that the abrupt change was somewhat too much for him.

He remained silent, giving Uhtred a few seconds to reorient and adapt to his current situation before he spoke.

”I know this is all too much for you, and I wish there was more time, but unfortunately we do not have much time,” Handler Roy said.

Uhtred, whose mind was just beginning to come to terms with the fact that he was no longer in immediate danger — that he was no longer in a battle surrounded by the An Clan warriors and elders — finally stopped looking at his surroundings and faced Handler Roy.

He naturally expected the Handler to have switched his appearance again. However, Roy was still in the same rat-man form as before, looking like a sagely master.

Currently, he was scurrying around the dressing room in a complete frenzy, tossing garments left and right.

Clearly, a ”Tower Interview” was an event of monumental importance.

As Uhtred was about to ask a question about the interview, Roy blurred straight at him with near-untrackable speed.

Just like he did with Isolde Castiglione before they arrived in the Tower, Roy leapt to Uhtred’s eye-level and tapped the middle of his forehead with two fingers.

A surge of information flooded into Uhtred’s mind in an instant, making him take a step back from the sudden shock of it.

Information about what exactly a Tower Interview was. How big of an opportunity it was. How near-impossible it was to be invited to one. The mind-boggling benefits he could gain if he pleased the audience...

Everything sat firmly in his mind as though the information had always been there the whole time.

Uhtred frowned immediately. This was way bigger than he had expected. He began to feel a building sense of trepidation, but at the same time, anticipation.

”You understand the stakes now, Uhtred,” Roy said, frantically speeding between clothing racks. ”We need to get you into something striking. You need to make a statement! You need to leave a lasting impression on the viewers. It won’t just be your channel subscribers watching... the Grand multiversal audience will also be watching this interview live! This is your chance to secure donations and gifts that will drastically alter your climb!”

Roy rambled continuously as he pulled outfits off the racks — suits, robes, and formal wear that looked eerily similar to pre-integration clothing from Earth.

The collection spanned different eras, a wardrobe that would make any fashion designer green with envy, yet none of it seemed to satisfy the rat-man.

Suddenly, Roy froze mid-motion, his eyes widening in disbelief.

”Another one?!!”

The air in the center of the room twisted violently, deforming into a spiral of spatial energy before popping open to reveal a second figure.

Zara materialized in a flash of light, staggering slightly as her feet hit the floor. She recovered her balance much faster than Uhtred had, her eyes scanning the room with a sharp, cold sweep before locking onto Handler Roy, and then finally settling on Uhtred.

”Two...?! Two?!! I have two champions who triggered an interview?!!” Roy clutched his long rat ears with both hands, looking entirely dumbfounded.

Even Uhtred, who had just arrived, stared at Zara in confusion and shock. The surge of information that Handler Roy had forced into his head made him understand just how nearly impossible it was for this situation to be happening.

Handler Roy had ten champions he was in charge of, yet two of those had qualified for an interview.

That was extremely crazy, considering the fact that even among the billions of alien champion teams, no more than a hundred individuals would be interviewed at any given floor.

The odds of securing even a single slot were more than one in a hundred billion, yet one team alone had somehow taken two slots!

Still, a significant part of Uhtred was relieved to see Zara here. He felt more at ease that someone from the human team was also going to experience this interview madness like him.

More importantly, it wasn’t just anyone; it was someone from his core crew. It couldn’t have been any better.

However, Uhtred, being the over-analytical and perhaps cynical person he was, couldn’t help but realize something else.

He knew what he had done to trigger an intervention in his scenario. He had come to the realization that his Formless nature didn’t simply apply to his abilities alone, but to every aspect of himself, down to his very core.

He had reached a stage of enlightenment and understanding about his core, fluidly switching between manifestations on the fly and striking a balance in the orbits of his different sub-cores.

That anomaly was what had triggered the intervention in his scenario, forcing a hundred percent of his multiversal viewers, and even the Towermaster, to demand an interview.

But Zara... what had she done to trigger an intervention in her own scenario?

Uhtred didn’t know the baseline for what qualified as ”enough to trigger an intervention.” However, he reckoned it had to be something on a similar level to what he had accomplished.

That meant, for Zara to be here, she must have achieved something just as insane as his Elemental Manifestation in her own scenario.

Perhaps it was because Uhtred had just spent nearly two days in the An Clan where he had to be extremely paranoid about everyone and their motives, but as Zara walked toward them, he felt a strange, fleeting sense of detachment.

She had never felt more alien to him than in this moment.