Chapter 729: Prelude to the Final Stage
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"We meet again, finalists!"
Three months have passed since the conclusion of the King’s Crown. Today, Paul’s and Lisa’s faces appeared before the participants once more.
"I know that some of you have been waiting patiently for the contents of the final round. Well, we’re here to tell you that the wait is over. Please listen carefully as we reveal the contents of the final round for you."
Cedric sat up from the couch and focused his attention.
On the screen, Paul and Lisa’s background changed. It revealed a massive spire floating in a void. It emitted a dark and ominous purple light; its design looked otherworldly, definitely not something a human nor nature could make.
"This is the Ascension Spire," Paul revealed. "It’s an alien piece of architecture that appeared at the core of the Altus Sky Solar System and also the reason behind the mutation of this realm. This is where the final round of this tournament will take place."
"Rumors said that the Ascension Spire has a total of 100 floors. Why are we telling you about this rumor? It’s because it’s important since you’ll be ascending this spire. In all honesty, nobody can truly confirm if this rumor is true because no one, not even a single local from the Altus Sky Solar System, has reached the 100th floor. The highest floor recorded so far was the 89th floor," Lisa explained.
"This record was left by our dear councillor Nicholas Welsh, and he was an Immortal, just like you all, when he ascended the spire."
"Just so you know, upon entry, the spire will scan you thoroughly. It will know everything about you; even the darkest and deepest secret you have will be revealed."
"The spire won’t spill your secrets, though. The scan takes place to customize the difficulty of your ascent, and only for that reason."
"By now, you should already realize how the final round works. Yes, the final ranking will be decided by who climbs the highest stage within the spire."
"Again, let us remind you that the difficulty of the spire will be adjusted according to your strength. It starts just a bit weaker than you are, but the higher you climb, the harder it gets."
"The spire will truly test your skills and abilities. You’re alone on the journey, so you don’t have to worry about any interference from another participant. Your final result will be your own."
"This final round will last for a whole year. This isn’t something that we decided upon; it’s according to the set rules of the Ascension Spire. Once you’re inside, even if you wanted to, you’re not allowed to exit until you’ve spent an entire year inside."
"Let us tell you right now that there is a risk of death inside the spire. Please ascend according to your discretion. We, the organizers of this tournament, and the Ascension Spire itself, cannot be blamed if you decide to take the risk and end up dying inside."
"Obviously, there’s also an option for you to forfeit this round, hereby ending your time in the tournament. This will set your score for this round to zero and will certainly affect your final ranking, but at the very least, you don’t have to risk your life in there."
’Well, that’s not really an option. Anybody who came this far in the tournament is too prideful for that,’ Cedric mused to himself.
And he’s quite certain that everybody else thinks the same way.
They then continued to emphasize that they will be receiving no help once they’re inside the spire. They also said that their progress will be determined by themselves.
Also, they’re calling this round ’Spire Ascension.’
The participants will get to decide how much time they’d spend within a floor; they’re not pressured by a time limit or anything. They can go to the next floor at their discretion. The only time limit that matters is the duration of this round. Once one year is up, everybody will be sent out of the spire, and their results for this round will be based on how high they reached inside the spire.
All things considered, the contents of the final round were simple. Anybody with a functioning brain can understand how it works.
Paul and Lisa then said that the spire will open up sometime next week and that they have to be ready to be called so they can enter as soon as possible because the spire won’t be open forever. If they’re delayed and miss entering it, that will count as forfeiting this round.
After explaining everything for them, Paul and Lisa bid them farewell, leaving them to think about what to do next.
In Cedric’s case, he returned to his lazy hours.
Suffice it to say, he’s not forfeiting this round. Climbing the spire sounds fun to him, so he surely won’t miss out on the action. What really attracted him was the customized difficulty of the ascent.
They said that whatever they’re about to face will start weaker than them. But as they continued to ascend, the enemies became stronger, to the point of putting them at the risk of dying.
It sounds ominous, but that’s exactly the type of action Cedric had been missing.
While the first two rounds of this tournament had its fun and moments, it has never been enough to completely entertain him. In fact, the second round turned out to be so boring that he just had to do something.
This Ascension Spire sounds fun, though. The idea of fighting with his life on the line was grim, but it’s just the kind of action he’s missing.
Now, he just needed to wait until the tower opened up so that he could begin having fun again.
**
In some hidden corner of the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm, a meeting of important figures was taking place.
This place isn’t accessible to the public. In fact, only those having the highest authority over the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm can get into this place.
It’s called the Divine Palace Star, and it’s only accessible to the councillors of the Human Council.
Said councillors are now watching as Paul and Lisa explained the mechanics of the tournament’s final round to the remaining participants. When they heard the name of their fellow councilman being uttered, they all looked at him with profound nostalgia.
"Right, I almost forgot that you’re still the holder of that record," a female councillor commented.
"Yeah. Actually, if I recall it correctly, it’s for this reason that you got the attention of the ex-councillors and made you a candidate, isn’t it so?"
Nicholas Welsh, the Northern Star Councillor and also the current record holder of the Ascension Spire’s top climber, nodded. He too felt nostalgic.
"I said it before, and I’ll say it again. Nobody threatened my life as much as that damned spire did," he said with fond remembrance in his tone. "I stubbornly wanted to confirm if that tower truly has 100 floors, but I couldn’t even get past the 90th floor. What a shame, though."
"It’s that difficult?" one of the councillors asked curiously.
"It is," Nicholas confirmed. "I had to fight peak Universe Masters as an Immortal. They come in groups. They’re smart, cunning, and extremely dangerous. They also won’t pull back their punches; they strike to kill. If I wasn’t strong enough and possessed a scary regenerative ability, I would’ve certainly died inside."
His eyes lost focus for a little bit as he subconsciously recalled his ascent in that spire.
Like he said, if his vitality and recovery ability haven’t been strong enough. He would’ve definitely died in there. He had lost count of how many times the enemies there tore his limbs apart, chewed on his flesh, drank his blood, and damn near killed him thoroughly.
The enemies inside that tower don’t hold back. It’s kill or be killed in there.
"Well, how about now? Have you ever confirmed if it truly has 100 floors, as you locals guessed?"
"Unfortunately, no." Nicholas chuckled. "You can only enter that spire once, and only when you’ve reached the Immortal Realm. Anything beyond and your way in is barred."
"I tried to infiltrate it after I became an Empyrean, but no matter what I did, I just couldn’t enter it. Even after I went all out, I still couldn’t leave a single scratch on the surface of that damned thing."
"Really!? It’s that tough?"
The faces of his fellow councillors were in disbelief.
"Yeah, really." Nicholas nodded grimly. "I wanted to know the origin of that spire since it just appeared in that realm out of nowhere. It’s not man-made, and the solar system surely couldn’t have created it either, so I wanted to know where it came from and how it ended up there."
"Alas, I couldn’t. It’s too tough to dissect. My theory is, only by reaching the top floor of the tower would one actually learn of its origins."
"Is that why you’re outsourcing climbers?"
"Yeah. Though I’m not sure if they could go far, it’s better to try at least; maybe one of these kids can actually do it."
"I just want to know if the tower is a threat to my home or not. That’s all."