Ascendency: The Tower of Worlds

Chap 1: The Introduction

As Maya and Jack approached the towering edifice of the Tower of Worlds, they were met with a sense of awe and trepidation. Its sheer size and mysterious allure seemed to beckon them forward.

" DING!!" A sound eerily similar to an elevator, filled her head, while simultaneously, words appeared in front of her eyes; in her mind. She barely managed to make them out before she blacked out.

" merging the 2000th universe confirmed. Introduction and tutorial commencing."

"Welcome to the introduction. Preparing..."

As Maya opened her eyes, she was greeted by the voice once again welcoming her to an… introduction? And something was preparing? What was going on?

Several seconds passed, and despite her eyes being open, she saw only complete darkness. Her body felt numb all over, and the only thing she could feel was a creeping headache. She tried opening her mouth to no avail, as she started panicking internally. As her thoughts started to spiral, the voice suddenly sounded out again.

" Preparations complete. Starting introduction."

Light filled her eyes as she was temporarily blinded by what seemed like a huge light shining in her face. As her eyes slowly adjusted, so did the feeling to her limbs return. She found herself looking down at her legs, noticing herself sitting in a chair. As she slowly looked up, she found someone sitting across from her with a table placed in between.

The room itself reminded Maya of an interrogation room with the two chairs, a table in a small closed-in space, bar the two-way window. The only difference was how perfectly clean everything was. The walls and floor were white, the table white, the chairs white, and despite there being no apparent light-source, the whole room was somehow still well lit.

“Hello?” Maya cautiously asked the… person across from her. He/she looked human at a glance but had no discernable features. A bald head, completely white eyes with no pupils, and a chest that looked far too flat and undetailed to be natural. Not a single hair could be seen on the body. As her internal assessment was finishing up, the “human” opened its mouth.

“Greetings, human. I oversee your introduction. In this introduction, I shall explain to you the circumstances of your new reality,” the thing said with a voice that sounded synthesized by mashing a bunch of both male and female voices together. As she was about to open her mouth to respond, it started talking again.

“First of all, allow me to welcome you to the Tower of Worlds and your new reality . Your universe has finally passed the minimum threshold required to enter the multiverse and has thus been initiated. Now, do you have any questions before we move on to the subjects pertaining to the tutorial?” the thing finally finished up.

Maya's mind was in turmoil. Multiverses? What threshold was passed? And what does it mean with a new reality? But instead of any of these actual meaningful questions, she asked the most mundane possible:

“Who, no, what are you?” she blurted out, stumbling over her words.

“I am the entity in charge of greeting you and introduce you to the new world, and the circumstances of your new reality” It answered promptly, making no indications of elaborating further.

“What new reality?” Maya asked.

“The reality named by the first enlightened races as ‘The Tower of Worlds System ’, or 'TWS' for short it explained.

“How do I see this sys…” Before she managed to finish her words, a screen suddenly appeared before her eyes:

Status

Name: Maya Denvers

Race: [Human (G) – lvl 0]

Class: N/A

Profession: N/A

Health Points (HP): 90/90

Mana Points (MP): 80/80

Stamina: 70/70

Stats

Strength: 7

Agility: 8

Endurance: 7

Vitality: 9

Toughness: 7

Wisdom: 8

Intelligence: 8

Perception: 10

Willpower: 6

Free points: 0

Titles

N/A

Well, that answers that question, Maya thought. She was starting to form an idea in her mind of what was going on and decided to just go with it. So first of all, she did what she thought was fun and started analyzing the stats.

So, nine different stats, on a range from 6-10 points in each… Her stats were very balanced, with only willpower and perception being stand-outs.

Her race says human, that part being quite self-explanatory, but what did the ‘G’ mean? And she was apparently a level 0 human. And she seemed to neither have a class nor a profession.

No titles either, and health and mana being at 90 and 80. Vitality being the only stat at 9, led her to conclude that it was the stat determining health. Mana was a bit more difficult, being at 80, with both Wisdom and Intelligence at 8, one of those two likely determining factors. Stamina was at 70, which following her prior deduction, meant it being either linked to Strength or Endurance, Endurance being where he would put her money at.

She tried to focus on the different elements on the screen, seemingly to no avail. It simply informed her that strength meant strength, and that class means class… As she tried to focus on her race, however, it did yield a result:

Human (G) – The lowest level of humans in the system. This type is found only in newly initiated worlds. The human race is known as one of the most balanced and numerous amongst the many races of the multiverse, being able to walk many different roads on their path to power. Stat bonuses per level: +2 to all stats. +1 free point.

The description does kind of confirm more races being out there, and also that more humans exist out there in what that thing called the multiverse.

She fiddled a bit more with the menu, trying out pretty much everything she could before she looked up at the weird human-like thing again.

“May I ask how I am supposed to get a class and profession? It mentions a level here, how do I level up? What does the ‘G’ after my race mean? Also, why am I here to begin with? Where did my friend go?” she asked, coming off a bit overbearing. Not that she blamed herself, this situation was without a doubt the most bizarre she had ever experienced.

“Your class is chosen upon entering the tutorial. This class shall be the starting point of your journey and help guide your path. A profession becomes available through performing associated tasks with said profession, either for a long enough period of time or through competence in said tasks. Classes are focused on the pursuit of strength, while professions are the path of creativity, rarely offering direct increases in strength. You level up through a wide variety of actions. The ‘G’ after your race states the current rank of your race. You are here because you entered the introduction. By “my friend ” I shall deduce that you mean the other person you were with at the entrance of the Tower and said person and other earthlings are now also in their own respective introductions,” It explained concisely, not giving much detail, but at least giving Maya a better idea what was going on. It was especially good to know that the others were relatively fine and likely in a similar situation as her.