Towers of Heaven
Book 3
By Cameron Milan
© 2020 Cameron Milan. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 1
Dimitri stumbled through the water in a dimly lit underground tunnel, his expression one of fear. Large tubes lined the cement walls, but he had no time to question why cables from the technological era were in the tower when a shrill scream from behind confirmed he was now the last survivor of his party.
The thought pushed him forward as blood poured from multiple holes in his body and dyed the water red, leaving a noticeable trail. Dimitri clutched the holes, trying to plug them with his fingers, but it was futile. A bleeding effect. He was filled with disbelief as he recalled what had happened just moments ago. “Why is this happening? It shouldn’t be like this. It can’t.”
Dimitri glanced over his shoulder and immediately regretted it. Far off in the distance, he could barely make out two red lights, a pair of eyes. He shrieked, “It’s coming for me!”
Dimitri’s hand trembled as he navigated through his inventory while he ran. After some fumbling, he pulled out a speed potion and quickly downed it. His speed instantly went up a notch, a feeling of safety washing over him.
A short while later, he stopped, gasping for breath. Glancing behind him, he found only darkness. He released a long sigh. “It’s finally gone. I-I escaped, haha!”
“This damn floor is different than anything before. I need to inform the guild.” Dimitri thought aloud. He was a member of an upper-tier guild sent to the forty-sixth floor to scout it out. His guild leaders were desperate because the top-tier guilds had fully taken control of the community floors over the past several months. There was no way for their guild to become a top-tier guild unless they took some risks, and after much deliberation, they decided to scout out the next floor.
Everyone was curious why the top-tier guilds stopped ascending, and only now did Dimitri realize why. The next floor was absurdly hard and subverted your expectations. Over a hundred scouts from the upper-tier guilds had been with him initially, and now he was the only one left. If he made it back and shared what he’d learned, he was sure to make a killing.
Dimitri anxiously peered over his shoulder as he turned a corner, only to jolt to a stop. He glanced down and found a metallic arm embedded in his chest. Looking up, he stared into two red eyes. A sleek silver humanoid stood before him. Above its body was a screen.
(Elite) Scout T-100 Series - Level 90
Health: 40,000/40,000
“I died to a damn robot?” Dimitri laughed at the absurdity of the situation as the arm sticking in his chest glowed red. In the next second, a wave of blazing hot energy entered his body. He had no time to scream before he exploded like a bomb.
Blood and flesh rained down upon the robot as it scanned its surroundings. After a moment, a monotone voice rang through the tunnel. “All targets eradicated. Returning to patrol route.”
There were no survivors among the ascenders sent to scout out the next floor. They barely gained any information during this operation. Only vague sentences sent through the communication necklace such as, ‘Run, it’s a robot!’ or ‘My attacks only left a scratch!’ were received.
After this event, all hopes of the upper-tier guilds reaching top-tier status disappeared. They would have to find some other way to grow.
***
On the kingdom-building floor, Jason hovered in the sky and overlooked his territory. It had grown in every aspect over the past several months. With his near-perfect start and knowledge of strategies, he thought he would have conquered this floor. Unfortunately, the kingdom-building floor changed when the tower raised its difficulty to tier three.
Jason now had to worry about monster kingdoms. A few months ago, due to confidence in his kingdom, he didn’t visit it for several weeks. Jason came back expecting massive growth, only to find it nearly destroyed. Thankfully he turned things around at the last minute. After a week of micro-managing, his kingdom was back in tip-top shape. He could finally leave the king in charge again.
Speaking of the king, his Luck skill was absurd. The king might be average in administration and military, but the Luck skill more than made up for his deficiencies. Jason could only shake his head in disbelief when he read the notifications.
While battling for control over a mithril mine, the nearby cliff collapsed and decimated the enemy's army.
A lightning strike set the Orc kingdom's farmland on fire. They purchased your food at a 400% markup.
Forklan, the Dwarf kingdom’s general, suddenly had diarrhea on the day of a critical battle, resulting in our victory.
There were hundreds of such notifications. If Jason had this, he would be utterly invincible. He could kick a rock and find a gem inside or fight some monster only for it to impale itself by accident. Even more, what if Jason used an evolution crystal on it? Alas, he could only fantasize about it.
Jason glanced at the time and found that he was almost late. “Crap, they’re going to be mad.”
He checked his kingdom one last time and only left after making sure everything was fine. With a quick teleport to the thirtieth floor, he rushed towards the Gluttonous Lion. A few minutes later, he stood outside the restaurant. Strangely, it was utterly silent. It was only like this when it was closed.
Before entering, Jason changed into casual clothes. He pulled out a mirror and checked his hair as well. Only after making sure everything was perfect did he confidently walk into the restaurant.
When h
e pushed open the door, a cacophony of noise blasted towards him. “Happy birthday!”
“Surprise!”
“Congratulations!”
Over the past six months, Jason had taken the initiative to widen his network. He now had an amicable relationship with many companions and rivals from his original timeline. Peter, Roy, Olivia, Shenlong, Cheslov, Su Long, Hans. Nearly a hundred people were here to celebrate his twenty-ninth birthday.
Cheslov approached and handed Jason a mug of high-quality beer. With a grateful nod, Jason raised it and shouted. “Thanks for coming, everyone! Let’s have some fun, yeah?!”
“Woooo!” Everyone raised their mugs and downed their contents as a band in the corner of the restaurant began playing rock music. At the same time, ten waiters brought out top-class food that even the king of the Vistar kingdom would drool over.
A grand feast was soon underway.
As people joked and laughed, Jason felt lucky he was able to experience such joy. Here he was, surrounded by friends. True friends. After what he went through, he felt blessed.
Chapter 2
The aroma of marinated meat filled the restaurant as waiters brought out the next round of food. There was steak, mashed potatoes, and all sorts of rare and expensive herbs. All of it was many times more stimulating than food outside the tower.
“Oh!” Jason licked his lips as he cut off a piece of meat and sniffed. “Where’s this from? I feel a strong impulse to devour it.”
Shenlong gave a hearty laugh from Jason’s side. “My guild hunted a rare field boss on the community floors. For a cow, it was pretty strong!”
“Mm. Mm.” Roy dug in as soon as he could. In only a few seconds, his serving was gone. “That was delicious. Ooh! OOOH! I just gained a stat point in Vitality. This is amazing. I feel full of energy!” Roy suddenly stood up and roared before running in circles around the restaurant.
Just as Jason was about to reprimand Roy for his inappropriate behavior, he noticed several others do the same thing. Bewildered, he turned to Shenlong. “What was the name of that monster?”
Shenlong calmly chewed his food before replying. “I think it was... Mutated Mad Cow?”
“Oh.” Jason wasn’t surprised by most changes now. He decided to see what all the fuss was about and ate his first bite. Almost immediately, a wave of energy rushed through his body. It reminded him of an intense battle when he was full of adrenaline.
He was just about to release a deep guttural growl when he forced himself to calm down. Now he understood why everyone was going crazy. Only by having high enough Willpower could you resist the effect of the meat.
You consumed a rare delicacy!
+1 to Vitality.
It was rare to encounter food that permanently increased stats. For Shenlong to freely share it at his birthday party was generous. He could have kept it for himself.
Jason looked around and found several people running around, doing pushups, or singing to the music. Some stood on tables banging their chests, while others slammed their heads against a wall. The rock music continued all the while. It was pure chaos.
Jason turned to Shenlong and gave him a look.
“Don’t worry. I came prepared,” Shenlong smiled and gave a signal to one of his subordinates.
The subordinate nodded and clapped his hands. A ripple spread outwards, awakening all those touched by it. Jason recognized the skill. It was a rare skill that removed negative effects.
Everyone calmed down a second later and looked around, horrified that food could cause such an effect. Hans blushed red when he realized he had torn his shirt apart. With a cough, he put on another one and shamefully sat down.
The feast continued, but this time everyone felt like they were fighting with their life on the line. A short time later, the waiters returned with desserts. This time the food was normal, much to everyone’s relief.
After dessert, it was time for Jason’s favorite part: presents. Not the actual presents, but being the center of attention. His smile was full of charm as he gratefully accepted one present after another.
“Here you are.” Peter handed over an exquisite glass bottle.
“An elixir! Don’t mind if I do.” Jason promptly downed the sweet liquid as one of his stats rose by one.
Most presents were rare materials used on the community floors. It was currently everyone’s focus, so they were quite valuable at the moment. Everyone was working on building up their infrastructure. Jason was the same.
Inevitably people took their leave until only Jason’s closest friends remained. Su Long had long wanted to get back to blacksmithing, but he stayed when he saw Shenlong had no intention of leaving.
Jason glanced around calmly. Shenlong and Peter both stayed behind. Besides them were their strongest subordinates. After a few seconds of silence, Jason coughed. “Shall we begin?”
Shenlong shook his head. “Not yet. I invited some others. They should be here shortly.”
Just as Shenlong finished, Amara entered the restaurant. She quickly found them and made her way over. When she sat down, she looked around arrogantly, pausing slightly on Roy, before closing her eyes in silence.
A short while later, Eboni and Dubaku entered. Eboni had her arm wrapped around Dubaku’s shoulder as the other tried to flee. She shouted in irritation. “Why do you keep running? Don’t you know a best of three is the easiest way to see who’s stronger?”
Dubaku suppressed a groan. “I don’t wanna fight…”
“Bah!” Eboni paused, realizing everyone was staring at her. She puffed out her chest. “What? Wanna fight?”
Peter suddenly found the wall very interesting while Jason drank from his empty mug. No one wanted to entangle themselves with this battle maniac. Shrugging, Eboni dragged Dubaku over to two empty seats and sat down. Eboni wanted to talk, but even she understood the mood wasn’t right. Instead, she ordered a barrel of beer.
“U-um, e-excuse me…” A frail-looking girl poked her head through the front door. She glanced around warily and shrieked when she saw the barbaric Eboni downing a giant barrel of beer. “S-sorry, I got the wrong place.”
The girl turned to flee only to trip and fall to the ground with a yelp.
Eboni slapped her knee and roared with laughter as tears formed in the corner of the girl’s eye.
Witnessing this, Dubaku muttered, “See? You’re scary.”
“Bullcrap!” Eboni slammed the table, shaking all the tableware on top of it.
The girl only started crying harder at the sound, causing Eboni to tremble from the mental blow. Was she really that scary?
Roy walked up to the girl and extended his hand. “It’s okay. Nobody here will hurt you. My name’s Roy, what’s yours?”
The girl rubbed the tears from her eyes and casually glanced up at Roy. She froze. Blond hair and eyes, a childish but heroic face. The girl immediately blushed as she grabbed his hand. “I-I’m Carly.”
Peter stood up and smiled warmly at her. “Carly, I’m relieved you came. Come, have a seat.”
“Mr. Peter.” Carly’s eyes lit up when she found a familiar face. After she followed Roy over to the table and sat down, she observed her companions.
Jason could hardly recognize Carly from the one in his memories. It was a mystery how this pale girl became the strongest single-target healer.
“Quite the gathering you have here. Are you sure I’m needed?” A soft voice came from the entrance. Everyone looked over and found a cloaked figure. The only thing they could discern was that it was a woman.
Amara gave Shenlong a look. “You invited her?”
Shenlong nodded while waving the woman over. “Ebba, you’re the last one to arrive. Now we can begin.”
When Ebba took her seat, the atmosphere grew tense. Shenlong slowly glanced around before speaking in a firm tone. “I’m glad everyone arrived safe and sound. I dare say that such a gathering has nev—”
“Cut to the chase,” Amara cut off Shenlong with a sno
rt.
“Very well, then.” Shenlong didn’t mind being interrupted. He was a man of great patience, so why would he fight with a little kid? After a brief pause, he continued. “How do you all feel about forming a temporary party to assault the forty-sixth floor?”
Chapter 3
“Haha!” Eboni slammed her barrel of beer onto the table before wiping her mouth and shouting. “Now you’re speaking my language. Let’s do it!”
Eboni was the only one with such enthusiasm. Hearing only silence, she glanced around and found everyone deep in thought. She clicked her tongue. “Really? What’s there to think about? We’ve spent the past six months grinding our levels and equipment on the community floors. The only way for people on our level to get stronger now is to consume elixirs, raise our skill levels, or get Celestial grade or higher gear.”
Her argument was reasonable. After top-tier guilds scouted out the forty-sixth floor months ago, they found that the difficulty had risen drastically. In the end, they decided to raise their strength as much as they could before ascending any higher. It had been six months since then.
“I agree, let’s do it,” Dubaku spoke after only a moment of hesitation.
“What?” Eboni couldn’t believe what she just heard. She turned to Dubaku with wide eyes. “What did you just say?”
Dubaku lowered his head. “Well, you guys wouldn’t know, but the monster waves are still getting stronger. Egypt doesn’t have a massive military like other countries. The casualties are starting to go up.”
Roy and Jason gave each other a knowing look as a heavy atmosphere fell over the group. Almost every ascender ignored the monster waves and left them to the military. As they were among the strongest ascenders, many had called for them to take action. Only a few ascenders like Dubaku fought back the monster waves.
While everyone was silent, Eboni suddenly clapped Dubaku on the shoulder with a bright smile. “So you aren’t a coward, after all!”
As Dubaku shook his head, Amara pulled out a thin book from her inventory and waved it around. “I don’t know how he did it, but Index once again released information about the tower.”
Towers of Heaven: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 3) Page 1
