Chapter 38: Kuso-onna! Go Bother Someone Else.
Only twenty minutes remained until the tower games began. William and Seabas sat at the same spot where William had just summoned recruits, while the rest of the group loitered near the Luminara tree because of the dense mana around it. Except for Aurel, William specifically prohibited him from going there; he would destroy everything because of his massive size.
"So, tell me about yourself. Where did you live? From what I can see, you were summoned here from somewhere underwater. Will you be okay on land, or do you need to go rinse off? There’s a shower in the hut; you can use that," William said, eyeing Seabas’s still-soaked clothes.
"There’s not much to say. I was just one of the many butlers in the house of Duke Coralreef, in the kingdom of Pelagia. It’s a small underwater kingdom near the coast of Zumaria. I happened to be in the Duke’s house when I was summoned, that’s why I was all soaked up."
He made a professional pause before continuing, "No need to worry about me, my lord. We Octarians can live on both water and land. We just need a bit of water to keep our skin moist every few days."
William listened, eyes gleaming with excitement. He wanted to ask more about their lifestyle, other races, and whether they were always freshly bathed. Ridiculous questions popped into his head one after another. Having this many different races around, he had been bubbling up with curiosity.
He tried asking Cent, and he attempted with a few gestures, but his charades were so bad that even a clam could have done better. As for that good-for-nothing mutt? William wasn’t about to waste his breath.
William socked up those thoughts, as it would take all day to satisfy his inner child. For now, he could ask more pressing questions that he had been asking both systems. "That’s good! Whenever you need to soak up, use my hut. I’ll find something better for you later."
Seabas nodded in thanks, then William threw all the questions that he had been holding at him. "Do you know about the Ascension Realm, Seabas? And how do all the summoned races just magically know about the trial, the towers, the games? Do you have any idea why any of this hell is happening?"
Seabas looked at him, a little lost by his lord’s cluelessness. He’d just sworn loyalty to someone who didn’t even know what the hell he was fighting for. But Seabas wasn’t about to slap that fact on his lord’s face openly, so he answered in the most professional tone he could muster.
"I know about the Ascension Realm, but only from books. It’s so massive that no one has ever seen more than a part of it in their entire lives. It’s a realm created by the gods for the survivors, after the abyss destroyed their worlds."
"There are countless kingdoms housing different races and new ones keep appearing every few years. I only know about a few of the bordering kingdoms and that’s also just from the books I read." He paused, gathering his thoughts before continuing.
"As for how I know about the tower, the trial, the games, we are taught about this since our childhood. The moment the Ascension Trial begins, we’re to sever a lord if selected by the oath taken by our predecessor after coming to the Ascension realm."
"Every temple has the oath scripture about the oracle sent by the gods; anyone can have a text copy of it from the temple. It contains all the knowledge and rules we need, and even the language I’m speaking to address you. It’s called ’Common.’" He took a breath.
William nodded, but his questions multiplied as he listened to all fresh shit, like the abyss he had spoken of, is it the same cliche one that he had read, demons and world devouring? But still, a few things finally clicked into place: now he understood how all the troops seemed to already know about this, and why the hell this octopus was fluent in English.
"Seven months ago, the priestess told us the Ascension Trial had started. Anyone selected got this tower mark on their bodies." He rolled up his sleeve a little further, revealing the golden mark to William. "Not many got picked in our kingdom, maybe a few hundred thousand at most."
The second William heard "seven months," his eyes nearly popped out. The trial had only started seven days ago. That means one day in the Tower Expanse was a whole damn month outside? As for the tower mark, he hadn’t seen it on anyone else. Maybe it was hidden under all that fur, or maybe the cloth like what Cent wears on his behind.
While William was still in a haze, Seabas continued, "As for the reason for the trial, I only know it’s about choosing a lord for the Tower of Ascension. That was the only thing mentioned in the oath scripture. My apologies if the answer isn’t up to your expectations."
"No need to apologise, seriously. None of this is your fault, and you’ve given me a ton of useful info. I appreciate it." William waved his hand, brushing off the apology.
"My pleasure." Seabas gave a short bow. With a few minutes left, William decided to squeeze in one last question before the action started. He looked at Seabas. "So, do you know where the climbers come from?"
"My apologies, Lord. I don’t know about that," Seabas admitted, looking genuinely disappointed for not knowing.
"It’s fine, and seriously, cut it with the apologies. You can talk to me like a regular person," William said, already resigned to the fact that he can’t have all the secrets this easily.
After a quick Q/A session, he sat there quietly, thinking over the new info, until the clock hit 00:00 and the tower system’s announcement rolled in front of him.
[Attention Tower Lord!]
[The Tower Games have officially begun.]
[Lords may challenge other lords by their names and troop (Name & Rank). Lords can send only one challenge per day.]
[If a lord gets challenged, they will get one hour to either accept or reject it. In case of getting multiple challenges, the lord can select one of them, and the rest would be dismissed.]
[If the challenge is not accepted or rejected within the given time, weekly rejection will be used automatically.]
[Ten minutes after you accept, the challenge will begin.]
[In either case of winning a challenge or rejecting, the lords would get a two-day protection period. In that period, no lord can challenge them.]
[Best of luck!]
William read the notification and couldn’t help the grin spreading across his face. "I fucking knew it! I’m a goddamn G.O.A.T. Of course, there was gonna be a gap between challenges. Julia would thank me for telling her, and maybe I would get her squishy boobs on my chest."
The next moment, another notification came.
[You have received three challenges. (View)]
William’s eyes locked onto the new notification. He stood up, cracking his neck, and muttered, "These motherfuckers didn’t waste a damn second, huh?" He mentally selected ’View’, and just like that, three challenges flashed up in front of him.
⟡
Name: Christian Wenz
Troop: TriSting Beexole (C-Rank)
Challenge: Tower Siege
(Accept) ; (Reject)
Name: Sara Blake
Troop: Blood Vampire (S-Rank)
Challenge: Lord Battle
(Accept) ; (Reject)
Name: Johnson Baby Jr.
Troop: BigFoot Roasters (B-Rank)
Challenge: Tower Siege
(Accept) ; (Reject)
⟡
William scanned the challenges one by one. The first guy? Some random probably scribbled his name down in the neutral zone. But the second, that made his eyes pop. "This bitch is obsessed. What the hell did I ever do to her? A lord battle? Not a chance, Kuso-onna. Go bother someone else."
Then he glanced at the last one. B rank, but when he saw the troop’s name, William let out a low chuckle. "This fucker got trolled in the troops section."
There was still no mention of the Lord’s talent. The first challenge was clearly the safest bet. After the new summons, he could easily mop the floor with them. There was still an hour left to decide, so no way he was accepting right away. Maybe some challenges with troops ranked lower than C will come if he waits. Plus, delaying meant more prep time for his crew.
⟡
Forty minutes flew by in a blur. Now, William and his whole crew stood right in the center of the third floor. Two panels hovered in front of them, one showing marine troops circling the platform, the other displaying every challenge that had rolled in, with a timer ticking down at the top.
William got a couple more challenges, but they were all B-ranks, so the C-rank was still his best option. He had made a few changes in the teams; now all the fairies were on his side, and they would also support others if they could.
The rest would be in the other team, led by Cent. William wasn’t about to ditch Cent just because he’d pulled a stronger troop; he wasn’t an ungrateful bastard, after all. Besides, they are all against the same enemy.
Seabas wanted to stick by William’s side, but he was refused; his strength was needed with the others. They waited a little longer for another challenge, but nothing new showed up as the timer slipped below 300 seconds.
A wicked grin appeared on William’s face as he took out the M12X.62 Rifle, a sleek, white, futuristic rifle lined with glowing blue mana. "Let’s start the hunt!" He said, accepting the challenge.
