Mathis

『Chronicles of the Blood Tower』

Hass...ahhn...Roooo….merr….toombbbbbee....SARUU!!!

Rasmus opened his eyes slowly then started to blink his eyes rapidly to wake up and stimulate his senses.

He immediately lifted his body from the ground and looked to his surroundings panickedly. His neck was tingling with goosebumps as he realized he had been knocked out unconscious after the events that unfolded.

He jogged his memory back to when he stuck his hand through the murky gate and the black, grimy arms that lunged out and pulled him in. Confusedly his head was still pounding as he thought he had heard some kind of voices spoken to him in an unidentifiable tongue while he was asleep.

He looked around the surroundings and noticed he was in a dark and narrow corridor that had some floating orbs lighting the place every few meters.

He couldn't find his dragon bone spear that he had carved from the thousands of years stuck on the hellish planet, so he raised his guard and clenched his fists tightly. He tried to then circulate his blood aura and realized his core was still intact and untouched despite remaining hidden underneath his skin. He felt a little better knowing that he had his powers but was calming his mind down to that of a predator, learning the hunt would be tough.

[No need to be so tense kikikikiki.]

He heard a shrill voice down the corridor and a body walked towards came underneath the lighting of the orbs. He immediately shifted his stance defensively and lowered his legs in case he needed to explode his strength all at once.

[Woah! easy there young one!]

A man with a blackened skin tone came out and waved his hands lightly in surprise. He had a large dark robe covering his body and a pair of golden spectacles on the bridge of his nose to compliment his short, spiky, green hair that rested atop his head.

Rasmus narrowed his eyes, and looked closely at the man's body movements and posture noticing that he seemed to be intending no harm. But at the moment Rasmus' mind was spinning like a ferris wheel that had it's speed broken and was churning to the max. His thoughts were in a complete disarray.

'Something, no someone who can talk and communicate! But, wait I can't be at ease here. What happened to me? What's going on? Where am I?'

He knew better than to speak his mind against this sort of person because he was in an unknown place and his life in the barren wastelands taught him to always be vigilant and ready for any kind of surprise.

[Gosh, I didn't mean to scare you so much kekekeke! Take it easy there I'm sure you entered the Tower not to kill the first person you see kekeke! Not that you could possibly even do so in the first place KEKEKEKE!]

The man let out a shrill laughter that he had never heard before that almost sounded like a goblin's giggle.

"Tower?"

Rasmus decided to let the man lead the conversation and pick at parts of his responses to gather information.

[Don't tell me, you didn't enter the Tower unknowingly did you? That shouldn't be the case seeing that you opened the doors yourself kekeke!]

Rasmus' head was spinning because he knew he should keep talking, but his body seemed to be repulsed by the man's words.

"I… don't remember…"

He replied in a quiet voice.

[Ho? Now that is very interesting… Let's see… Oh? Look at this? You entered the Tower as an irregular holding a fragment of a key. But, it seems the planet you were on was one with a distorted time axis.]

The man's face contorted with amusement and then into a frown as he reached the end of his words. His eyes weren't looking at Rasmus either. He was looking at a black, metallic orb that seemed to be spinning in front of him reading something from it.

"Can you tell me what this place is?"

[Hm… It's been a very, VERY long time since the holder of a fragment has entered the tower from the outside. Very well then, I shall answer your questions for the time being if you would follow me please.]

The man gestured with his hand to Rasmus to follow him and started to turn his body away from Rasmus.

A sharp pain quickly came to Rasmus' head but left as quickly as it had come.

'Tower…. Why do I feel like I'm missing something, I feel like I should be remembering something'

[Do come along please, we have many things to do in the limited time we have.]

The man turned back around, this time sending a more inquisitive look as to why Rasmus didn't start following him.

"Ah yes, coming…"

Rasmus was still wary, his instincts were flaring in multiple directions. Most of them were repulsion, some telling him to follow, some nervous and a very faint one, that of a predator looking at a juicy meal.

He quickly brushed away his thoughts and slowly kept his pace to match 10 or so steps behind the man.

[So, you must have a lot of questions to ask. I do say I will need a bit of information from you as well in the time coming for our next step in the process.]

Rasmus organized which thoughts were the most prevalent and important and sifted out the remainder as he was told he didn't have much time to dilly-dally.

"Who.. Who are you?"

[Oho! My name is Mathis, and I am one of the Guardians currently operating in the tower.]

Another sharp pain came to Rasmus' head and seemingly memories that felt distant and blurry were coming in bits and pieces in the forms of conversations he didn't remember having.

'Bad guys? Not good… Don't trust…'

He gripped his forehead and rubbed it slightly to try and ease himself and put the memories behind him for now. But, the lingering thought of thinking that he was forgetting something important was poking holes in his mind.

"How… No. You said holder of the key fragment earlier, what is that?"

Rasmus could not see the man's facial expression in front of him, but the man's countenance revealed a toothy, malicious grin at the question asked.

[Well, now that's something I can't answer for you but, I'm sure if you climb the Tower you will be able to find out anything you need. Kekeke..]

Rasmus furrowed his brows.

"Then, how would one climb this Tower? Am I able to return to where I was? Why was the time distorted on the planet I was on?"

[Ho, Many questions! I will try to answer to the best of my ability. As for climbing the Tower you would need to pass the trials of the Floor Masters on each floor. A Guardian is different from a Floor Master as they are ones who have climbed the Tower to a certain extent and come back down to manage the floors if selected by the Guardians.]

"What about the planet you called it… Am I able to return?"

They kept walking down the narrow corridor at a mild pace and the lighting seemed to brighten up a bit, albeit a very faint amount by the surrounding orbs.

[Kekeke I am not so quite sure as to why you would want to go back to that planet, as it is an… abandoned planet. I cannot say much on why it was the place was in that state, or what happened to it, but you will be able to find out-]

"-If I climb the Tower, huh?"

The man slowly came to a stop and they reached what seemed to be the end of the corridor. There were 3 tablets engraved on the wall facing in front of them and what seemed to be some sort of altar or table with some artifacts on it, including a grayish colored orb that looked to be like the one the man was looking at earlier, although a different, faded color lacking any luster.

[You catch on quickly Irregular of the Tower, we should begin our business here now that we have arrived. Oh! You should remember this, people don't take irregulars as a positive thing necessarily, You would be some kind of new species to the Regulars that climb along with you. For your information there's only 9 Irregulars currently residing inside the Tower. And you should avoid making contact with them or even telling people about yourself. A good portion of regulars don't have the best views of your kind.]

Mathis turned to face Rasmus by finishing his words. He then gestured to Rasmus to come closer to him and though he was hesitant at first he came closer but remained a safe distance away.

Mathis pinched his nose and contorted his face as he got closer.

[Let's do something about.. Your appearance and accommodations first.]

He waved his hand slightly and Rasmus felt a breeze brush by his body and then a refreshing feeling of moisture.

Slowly flakes of dead skin and pools of red liquid came down from his naked body clumping to the floor and then vanishing into thin air.

"How did you-"

[One of the very many applications of Mana. That's what we'll be discussing and preparing you for having you officially enter the Tower now, just listen and nod your head to my instructions as we are low on remaining time.]

Rasmus was feeling a bit agitated with the man's curt response and for cutting him off but still reluctantly nodded his head.

[Next is your appearance, can't have you walking around naked with other beings of the Tower now can I?]

Mathis then snapped his fingers and some clothes appeared on Rasmus' body as if they were always there in the first place but just staying invisible from him.

It was a snug fit of a deep scarlet set of leather pants that weren't too tight nor too loose. He had a small belt in black that was embroidered with a golden brass. He had a white tunic that came and fit himself snugly accentuating the muscles of his body mainly his abdomen which was visible. Over that, was a short, red leather jacket that matched the colors of his pants perfectly attached with a cowl for warmth. The embroidered linen of the jacket was in gold as well to match the belt's shiny brass which one would think Mathis had an incredible fashion sense.

Rasmus was still in shock wondering what Mana was and its applications and if it was similar to the blood core. But, it seemed more complex as a base than The blood aura. He didn't know the full range of capability in terms of firepower with Mana and was wondering what kind of strength he could attain with combining the effects of the two.

Mathis then handed him a pair oh white gloves with scarlet linen and as Rasmus inspected them while receiving, he noticed there was a strange diagram on the gloves. He was about to open his mouth to question Mathis about the origin of those diagrams but Mathis gestured with his finger over his lips to stay silent and let him do the talking.

[These clothes are already overstepping my boundaries as I should not be giving out any favors as a guardian to a challenger but, you may find out about them soon.]

[As for our main business…]

Mathis turned around and looked up to face the 3 tablets and the gray orb which started to float.

[When climbing the Tower there are 3 main branches of jobs a challenger must choose. Among selecting a branch we must then select your specialization within the jobs. I will transfer the information about what they do to you now to save time.]

He then pointed his finger towards Rasmus and a light protruded from the tip of it to follow the path in the air towards Rasmus.

Rasmus took a step back unsure of what he was doing to him now but then felt the light enter through his forehead and a feeling of warmth came over his mind and soothed him. Then, a swarm of information came to his head listing the job branches and their specifications along with how they manipulate mana.

[As you can see there are 3 branches : Warriors, Casters, and Healers. Among them Warriors conceptualize mana to generally strengthen their bodies to an absurd degree and are able to use close-range spells in their repertoire. Even though they can use some long-range spells it varies vastly depending on specialization and the overall capabilities of the challenger.]

[Casters are the polar opposite, though they can mildly enhance their physical abilities with mana compared to Warriors it's near abysmal. They are better at long-range or area-of-effect spells and can use them incredibly efficiently.]

[Healers are a special kind of branch differing from the other two, but the branch itself isn't any weaker nor is it any stronger than the other two. It uses a special kind of mana based on conceptualization and intent of the challenger. It mainly focuses on healing others in a party, which you will find essentially as a team in the Tower and are not as common as the other two branches surprisingly and are in high demand because of their value in buffing or de-buffing allies or enemies. Their specializations can also bring out a special combat advantage in some areas making up for the lacking of strength or wide variability in spells.]

Rasmus nodded his head briefly as he had taken in all the information suddenly in his head and was merely being clarified if he missed anything.

[Now, what we will be doing with this orb, or commonly referred to as a Tol works as a personal assistant of sorts and is one's proof of job or identity. It can also be used to join or leave parties or transfer/access information within the Tower. Most importantly it will display your basic characteristics, which I may as well add now are changeable through accomplishment in leveling. I will also transfer the necessary information to you now as well.]

Mathis repeated the gesture he used earlier and a similar light entered Rasmus' body. He quickly gained all access to the information he needed referring to the Tol and was impressed yet also confused as to how making an inter-dimensional inventory was possible.

Alas, he felt the sense of urgency in Mathis' voice as he knew he was trying to budget his time accordingly and nodded briefly in recognition that he received the information.

[Now, I will need you to put your hand on this ownerless Tol to access your mana signature as well as using it to pick out your specialization within the branch. Choosing one's specialization can take a lot of time to digest the information but, we will be using this information process to have you access it all at once so you have a bit more time to decide.]

Again for the third time Rasmus' body was violated with a thin stream of light and this time he felt a little bit of the embarrassment of not being capable of doing this quicker but he put two and two together and realized it was probably because he was an irregular and entered the Tower by obscure means.

As the information came into his head Mathis told him to wait for him to return, and simply wave his hand like he did before to call Mathis once he had come to a decision.

He vanished into thin air and Rasmus at this point pretty much ignored the new stimulation as they all led to a few simple answers it seemed.

Rasmus lowered his body to sit cross legged on the stony, brick floor colored in an ashen gray. He started to circulate the information he had and realized firstly he could not reveal his blood core in the open and he had been lucky not to have Mathis see it as it concealed itself beforehand.

The only thing left to do now was choose his branch and the specialization class for entering the Tower.

And so… His big decision came.

Chapter 5 -fin-