3. The God of Beginnings
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"I promise I'll answer it all after you regroup and we get the warriors organized," I yelled. "But we must hurry. Please, trust me just this once. If I don't answer your questions later, you can still leave. Please, believe I want what's best for you."

It took some extra arguments, but in the end, I also assimilated a few nearby people and ended up with two groups of hundred. That was better than expected, to be honest.

This time, to make sure everyone could see me, I told half the people in the protective ring crouch, the half close to me. The other half still stood and looked outwards.

Five men and five women also joined my warrior group. I had to insist for the women to come, probably because of their nakedness. A protector, be it in the ring or the warrior group, couldn't just keep hiding their intimate parts. It made for bad posture and didn't look threatening enough.

The warriors were a group of people with above average builds, except for one woman looked stunning. The male reactions to her were obvious but she held herself with pride and aloofness, not caring one bit. It was rare in a naked person and impressed me.

"I need two representatives to form our initial council, a male and a female. Choose among yourselves."

They did, it took them less than two minutes. There wasn't much to discuss, not when they asked me what that meant and I refused to answer. The first to volunteer was chosen. A thin male and the beautiful woman stepped forward.

The woman was a tall blue-eyed brunette with snow-white skin and a perfect figure. She clearly took care of her health and diet, and worked out. I had experience with women and had become used to inhuman beauty in my runs, but even I couldn't control my physical reactions to seeing her.

She, on the other hand, looked at me with disdain. My fat nerd self didn't attract her, no matter if I was in control. I just ignored it. I didn't need them to like me, only to obey and not betray me.

The man was thin and short, a direct contrast to her. He had a swag to the way he moved and held himself though. He hadn't been a nobody on Earth, I could tell. His eyes were black and the short hair brown.

"Names?" I asked. It didn't matter, I would rename them, but it made for a nice conversation opener.

"Mark," the guy said.

"Bianca," the girl said.

"You can call me Black Reaper."

"Are you serious?!" Bianca asked.

"I guess it's a mouthful," I conceded. "It's the only way you can call me though."

People in the Tower would be given the choice to change their names from the Second Floor onward. Many would abandon their past selves. I was one of them, as being recognized by some people had brought more trouble than it was worth in past runs.

"Why can't you just tell us your name?" asked Bianca. "Afraid someone will recognize you?" she provoked.

"Yes," I replied, still not bothered by her attitude.

Rather, I was more impressed. There was a corpse beside us, one I had killed, and she just ignored it except for the occasional glance. Even Mark looked more bothered by it than her.

"The past is in the past," I continued. "This is our new reality. But we have more important things to discuss. Like I said, you're now part of my council. Mark, I rename you Adam, the First Man. Bianca, I rename you Eve, the First Woman. Not first of the race, but first among all other men and women in my future empire. You'll be the highest authorities when I'm not around. We can grow the council later."

Their most important function would be doing boring work I didn't want to bother with and keeping the populace happy. I was building a dictatorship, yes, but the prime reason was to push humankind to a glorious end. As the last government humanity would ever know, I wanted people to be as happy as possible in it. As long as I didn't have to waste time in it, that is.

"Why should we listen to you?" Eve demanded.

"Because I'm stronger than you," I said simply. "We can change things to politics later," I lied. There would be politics, but I would be almost immune to it. "For now, you don't have a choice but to listen to me or leave. Or have your neck crushed like Mister Iron Bull there, I guess." I pointed at the corpse.

People had been looking with fear and disgust at the corpse but I didn't pay any attention to them or to it. It was just another corpse. Everyone would get used to them soon enough.

Now, though, it worked well enough as a dampener to Eve's bitchiness. It was thing to ignore the corpse as she had been doing, but it was another thing altogether to ignore my direct threat.

I turned to the two groups of people and raised my voice. "I owe you some answers! You asked where we are. This is the Tower of Destiny! We have ten years to beat all hundred floors or we'll become slaves for eternity! And I'm Black Reaper, the one who shall lead humanity to its glorious victory against the Demon Emperor!"

They received my announcement with the expected shock and doubt. I smiled. It was time. "Don't believe me. Believe him!" I pointed at the ceiling of the cave.

Nothing happened for a few instants, but soon the rocks in the ceiling reorganized themselves into an enormous face.

"I am the God of Beginnings," it said, its voice booming throughout the whole cave, shaking everything and everyone. "The Tetrarch of Yens had discovered humanity and judged it unworthy. You were to be annihilated. The Tetrarch of Sulon has pledged your case. You have been given a chance to prove yourselves in the Tower of Destiny."

There was no information about any Tetrarchs in the Tower, so I knew nothing about them. I did know I liked the Tetrarch of Sulon better than the Tetrarch of Yens though.

"There is no going back. Begging for mercy will lead you nowhere. You are to climb the hundred floors of the Tower of Destiny and slay the Demon Emperor who reigns over the Higher Floors from there. When you do, you'll be given the choice between two options. One of them is freedom for humankind."

'A sweet promise without substance,' I thought.

"You have ten years to achieve success or you'll be enslaved for all eternity as payment for using the Tower of Destiny. You stand on the First Floor. It is isolated and safe from external influence. Leave the weak here so they won't slow you down."

That was good counsel, few would follow it. Lots of people would die needlessly because of that.

"You could never hope to slay the Demon Emperor with your pathetic potential, no matter how much time was given to you. But the Tower of Destiny is a place to prove your worth. Therefore, your potential has been unlocked and your growth will be assisted by the Tower's Potential System. When I'm gone, think of the words 'System Manual' for more information."

Some people started speaking those words. It wouldn't work now. I ignored them.

"You shall be divided into villages to grow used to the system. For three days, climbing the Tower of Destiny will be impossible. For three months, the villages will be isolated from each other. For three years, people of different nationalities will be isolated from each other. Everyone looking at the same person will be placed in the same village. Do so now."

Things were more complex than looking at someone, but it was more or less like that, yes.

"Look at me!" I yelled at once. "Now! Look at me, everyone! Look at me!" I repeated.

That's why I made the groups like that. Most people looked, even those who weren't part of the groups I created. They didn't need to get a clear vision of me, only a small glance. Blinding light came soon and we were teleported.

When my sight returned, I was standing in the middle of a forest clearing with about four hundred people who had looked at me. The midday sun was shining on the cloudless blue skies despite we being in a closed Tower. The fruits of magic.

I checked our surroundings the best I could with all the people on the way. While I saw nothing beyond the trees, I was sure I heard some running water. That was perfect. Only large groups had access to running water, one of the reasons I had organized everything the way I did and yelled before the teleport.

"May the dead Goddess of Luck watch over you all." Said the voice, although we couldn't see the rocky face anymore.

Yes, that goddess was dead. I read the story. The other gods didn't like that she made things even less predictable than they already were with sentient races. So, they killed her. Simple as that.

"People in the closed groups!" I yelled. "Whoever is being protected, check the System Manual! Men and women protecting the groups, the ones crouched check the System Manual, the others watch the surroundings!" I looked at my two councilors and eight warriors. "Eve, check the System Manual. Adam, wait a moment, I'll need you to do something for me. The remaining of you, stay alert. About half of those who came weren't part of the groups we created. Beware of them."

An instant later, blue boxes appeared floating in front of me.

 

Skill unlocked: Novice Leadership
Level: 1 / 10
Type: Social
Attribute: Any
Effects:
» People are 0.2% (0.1 + 0.1) less resistant to becoming your subordinate

 

Repetitive action unlocked skills and leveled up skills. With practice came perfection, or so they say.

The [Leadership] skill came from me organizing people into an hierarchical structure. It had taken effort, time, and a lot of yelling. I even yelled more than I needed to make sure I got the skill.

It was of the social type. The attribute field was set to "any," meaning any of my three social attributes, whichever had highest value, could improve its effects.

Such improvement was visible in the effects descriptions. It showed the total number first and the internal math in parenthesis. Here, the base percentage the skill gave was 0.1% and I got that much again from my highest leveled social attribute.

There were more blue screens in front of me.

 

AP received
+5 AP — Unlocked a skill
+25 AP — Unlocked your first social skill
+50 AP — First of your race to unlock a social skill
Total AP: 80

 

Just unlocking a skill, any skill, earned me 5 AP. It being the first social skill I personally unlocked gave me a bonus of 5 times that much. Better yet, I was the first of humanity to unlock a social skill, which netted me 10 times the base reward.

Power in the Tower came from attribute points and skills. The stronger one's skills and the higher one's attributes, the more powerful one became.

The only way to increase an attribute - there were nine of them - was by using AP. There were many ways on each floor to get AP, but the easiest and best way was by unlocking and leveling up skills.

 

Skill unlocked: Novice Fist Fighting
Level: 1 / 10
Type: Physical
Attribute: Strength or Agility
Effects:
» +0.2% (0.1 + 0.1) physical attributes when fighting weaponless

 

Fighting weaponless wasn't the strongest strategy, but I required it to unite all the Tower under one banner as I planned. It would be fundamental in two distinct moments.

Unlike the [Leadership] skill, which scaled with any social attribute, [Fist Fighting] only scaled with the highest between strength of agility.

 

AP received
+5 AP — Unlocked a skill
+25 AP — Unlocked your first physical skill
+50 AP — First of your race to unlock a physical skill
Total AP: 160

 

Even though other people had certainly started fighting in the cave before I did, I was still considered the first of my race to unlock a physical skill.

As far as the Tower Potential System was concerned, the system timer had only started now, this was the moment zero. Yet our past actions counted to give us skills. That's why many of us were receiving the theoretically unique "first of your race" bonuses.

I always found it interesting and abused it.

Anyway, I had the bonus for first physical and social skills already. Time to get myself the bonus for first magical skill.

"Just a second, Adam," I said, looking on the ground close to the trees.

Soon enough, I found a piece of wood two fingers thick. It was dry enough that I made it pointy by peeling the outside layers off with my bare hands, but fresh enough that it was study for what I needed to do.

I returned to the First Man and said, "I'll trust on this. Don't disappoint me." I showed him my self-made stave. His eyes widened a little and he stepped back. "I won't stab you. I'll stab myself. I need you to remove this from my corpse when I die, okay?" He looked at me as if I was crazy. "Okay then."

Without further ado, I stabbed myself in the heart.

 

Last edit: 05/26/2020

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