Chapter 71: Secret of the snake-men
"So what's it going to be Nagini? Peace or War?" Liam asked, presenting the floor 54 master with an ultimatum.
*Hisss*
"You really have a foul mouth on you Liam, it's a wonder to me how someone hasn't already buried you 6 feet under" Nagini said as Liam shrugged his shoulders and pointed at the specters floating around the room.
"It's not like people haven't tried….." he said, as Nagini chuckled at his response.
"You- Champion Of Gemini, tell me something…" Nagini said, turning her attention towards Rocky.
"If Floor Master Kartikeya doesn't help me, will you swear on your honor to retrieve our family jewel when you are in a position to barter with him?" Nagini asked, as she decided to put her faith behind Rocky and his honor.
" If you don't mind, your highness, can you please elaborate on what's going on? I-I actually have no idea.
I was sleeping a few moments ago, now I'm here, I don't know why at all ...." Rocky said, as he threw Principal Liam a nervous glance.
"Oh?...." Nagini said, as she alternated her gaze between Liam and Rocky and understood the whole situation within a few seconds.
*Sigh*
Looking at the expressionless Liam, Nagini felt the urge to smack him, but she knew it was useless.
That man had truly lost his mind just as the rumors suggested.
"Do you know the purpose behind the Tower Of Ascension?" Nagini asked Rocky, who shook his head in denial.
"Well, everyone climbs the tower for the same reason. Longer life, more power, eternal youth, etc.
Roughly climbing every 10 floors can be considered as improving by one major realm. We, the snakemen, like to call it a tier.
You, right now are a tier0 weakling, a trash at the bottom of the climber hierarchy, however, if you pass floor10 you will become a tier1 trash.
Passing floor twenty means you will have surpassed your racial limits, becoming stronger than anyone ever born naturally on your planet.
Passing floor forty means you are no longer a human, but a demi-human, a one man army that can alter the terrain of entire planets.
Climbing beyond floor sixty means you become a lesser god, your aging process stops dramatically and you can destroy planets on your own, becoming a true powerhouse.
Climbing beyond floor eighty means you become a monarch, a being that can decimate entire solar systems when enraged and at that level you become an individual strong enough to shake up the entire tower.
Climbing beyond floor 90, makes you a True God, at that level you become as strong as Gemini brothers or Zeus, wielding the power to eliminate entire races with a sneeze and at this stage you stop aging forever, becoming an immortal in the true sense.
However, the end goal of every True God is to reach floor 101, the floor of wishes, where the true reward lies-
It's what this tower is created for" Nagini explained as Rocky listened with rapt attention.
" What is the reward on floor 101?" He asked curiously, as Nagini smiled.
"Anything you wish for. Anything at all-" she said as Rocky felt his heart flutter at the idea.
"Has anyone ever reached floor 101?" Rocky asked, wondering if any True God ever made it to that promised floor as Nagini smiled with pride and replied "Only two have ever reached there.
The snakemen progenitor and the dragon progenitor"
Rocky's eyes widened in surprise when he heard this, as he half expected nobody to ever have reached that stage, but apparently someone had.
" While we don't know what he wished for, what we do know is he made it there and because you can't return to the lower floors once you reach floor 101, the snakemen god disappeared from the tower forever" Nagini said, with a bittersweet expression as she took a moment to gather her feelings.
" When such an event occurs, that god's religion is left weak and defenseless as with the True God gone, the protection of the believers disappears.
It's a moment of great joy. But also great difficulty, as with the True God gone, everything they once protected is up for grabs"
Rocky felt the severity of her words weighing down on him. Without Gemini existing, he would perhaps already be killed by several people, as without the presence of true gods, their believers were defenseless against the wrath of other religions.
"To counter this phenomenon, whenever a True God makes it over to floor 101, the tower itself rewards its religion with a priceless treasure, a secret resource that can give them a chance to rebuild their foundation and fend off the wolves" Nagini said as her eyes glistened with pride.
"When our ancestor crossed over, all the rest of our champions, monarchs and lesser gods were slaughtered by other religions in a bloody war, however, they could not eliminate our roots.
We survived because of the treasure and are now a formidable force once again-" Nagini said as she raised in stature a bit while speaking these words.
"Liam has brought you here today for a chance to try out that treasure, which is honestly quite bold of him-
But I'm considering his offer, because of how desperate we are to grow" Nagini admitted, as Rocky finally understood the full picture.
"Is the treasure really that magical?" He asked, wondering just how strong it could be, as Nagini laughed hysterically at his question.
"Is it really that magical? Hahahahaha, Liam, do you really not educate your students at the university at all?" Nagini said, as Liam frowned at the jab.
"A warrior's potential is limited by factors like birth race and talent, however, the treasure of the snake-men race allows you to transcend those limits.
Imagine that you have one square meter of land to build a tower, the constraints are decided by factors like your birth race, your hardwork, etc etc.
Just how high do you think that tower can go?
At some point you will run out of space and won't be able to build higher, however, if you could widen the base to two meters, you can probably now build it up much higher.
What the snake-men treasure does is that it widens the base for you, giving you power akin to a tier2/ floor 21 climber while being tier0, making your future potential much better than it is at birth.
Magical is an understatement to describe it.
It's literally a treasure that can make mortals lesser gods and lesser gods monarchs.
Basically, it's the single greatest thing to exist within the tower" Liam said as Rocky felt like his jaw was about to hit the floor.
Liam really brought him to try something this magical? And Sophia actually missed out on this?
This was quite literally a chance of a lifetime for him as although he had no idea of who Kartikeya was or when he would be in a position to barter with him, Rocky decided to do whatever it took to get this chance today.
"Your highness, I swear on my honor, to help you regain your family jewel whenever I have the chance.
You have my word" Rocky said as he felt something mystical constricting around his heart.
"Break that word boy and you die-" Nagini said, as she placed a seal of honor around Rocky's heart.
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/// A/N - Mass Release Chapter 1 of 8, it begins! ///