1 Chapter 1: Sky-World

In the primordial expanse of the void, where the echoes of epochs long past resonate through the infinite abyss, burying the stories of the olden times, lost to time. It told a story, an ending one that made one shed tears of blood, bones devoid of flesh, flesh that haunted the souls and souls that plunged into a realm beyond despair.

From within this heart wrenching and soul searing story, there arose a tremor, a struggle, a thought—a silent cacophony that reverberated across the cosmic tapestry, yet went unheard by mortal ears.

Following the wail of the last one, whose story vanished, the silence unending, alas his yearning brought a spark for it succeeded in the awakening, someone who bore the sin, the first witness or perhaps the last, one to know of their story.

From the depths of oblivion, a voice unfurled—not a mere utterance carried by the winds, but a resonance that pierced the very essence of the soul, heralding tidings of inevitable destiny. Bringing the wheel of fate to a halt, questioning which route should it weave? Like the whispers of timeless sages, its words drifted through the void, bearing a proclamation of solemn import.

"Let this be known," the voice intoned, its timbre steeped in the echoes of aeons. "The final chance hath been bestowed, and an ultimate challenge hath been laid upon thee. Engage, for this is thy predestined trial, thy final crucible."

A hush fell, following the sentence, upon the expanse, a silence pregnant with the weight of eternity, wherein the cosmos itself seemed to hold its breath, a sacred symphony of celestial magnitude amplifying the gravity of the moment. And then, with the weight of cosmic inevitability, the voice resounded once more.

"For shouldst thou falter…"

The stories wanted to be heard, letting themselves be known, their struggle to be recognized.

"… in thy quest for redemption..."

Each word bore the solemnity of ancient prophecy, casting a shadow upon the very fabric of reality.

"Thy..."

"…end..."

"…shall..."

 "…be..."

"Skyfall."

With those solemn words, the darkness enshrouded all, and thus was the stage set for a saga of struggle against the encroaching end, wherein the destiny of all existence hung in perilous balance.

[One: Saint of Sinner]

Everything began to align, falling into place like a puzzle as chaos descended.

.....

"Fireball."

"Guardian Valor."

Roar*

"Neo, to your left."

"Got it. Charlie, buff!"

"Already done."

A sword moved horizontally, about to cut a being into two, but it jumped back, dodging the attack. The being before the group was small in stature, but its wicked appearance made up for its lack of size. It had a sickly green body, mottled with darker patches that made it look diseased, probably unhealthy. Its body, thin and wiry, with sharp claws on each of its bony fingers that glinted in the dim light of what seemed to be a cavern.

A small ball of fire, around the size of a volleyball, landed on the tiny figure, blasted it back. It screamed as it was launched into the air and before it could land on the ground, the sword from before moved toward it once more, not trying to miss again.

The fireball made it unable to defend against the attack and resulted in its neck swiftly detaching before moving further swiftly. It experienced no resistance, cutting the head off from the body cleanly, blood pouring out, dying the person nearest to it in red.

The monster's greenish eyes dimmed as its head hit the ground with a thud*, and it breathed no more.

Phew*

Everyone sat down as a light flashed around their bodies, indicating that they levelled up. The defender/ guy with a giant shield strapped to his arm put it down. It was too heavy, and constantly waving it around consumed too much stamina.

He sat down, took deep breaths, to regain his stamina as he looked toward their MVP, the guy who chopped off the head of the monster and also the guy who was covered in red, Neo. He saw him moving toward the corpse of the monster, made him wonder what he was up to, but recovering stamina comes first so he just sat there, asked others about something, oblivious to Neo.

19-year-old before the group had a slightly average appearance, but there was something about him that caught his group's attention. His bright and clear greenish eyes, which danced with a hint of mischief just below the surface, seemed to be just a mirage. His wavy hair was a sandy brown colour, fell care freely around his face and framing his features. He had a relaxed and casual manner, one can't help but feel as if he didn't take things too seriously, which only added to his charm but the reality complete opposite. Even with his casual behaviour, there was a reckless soul in there, waiting for a chance to strike.

In a world where so many people try to be something they're not, it was refreshing to meet someone who was simply comfortable in their own skin.

Neo Orpheus, before them who was busy dissecting the corpse, well destroying it was more accurate, may have had a slightly average appearance, but there was something undeniably magnetic about him. That was why this party asked him to join them on this dungeon run.

This group of people had 5 members: a guardian, one mage, two archers, and a CQC/the damage dealer that was Neo. [Close Quarter Combat.]

They have been in this dungeon for half an hour now, and were against the residents who inhibited this dungeon, the goblins.

"Shouldn't it be a child's play? The online guides said so, at least."

"Yeah, should be, but somehow it is not, even the mob monsters are this strong, thinking about the boss...ugh... let's not think at all. Did any of you receive a quest related to this dungeon?" The guardian asked, shuddering a little upon remembering how they had to struggle when there was more than one monster. He turned toward others, mainly his gaze was on the archer, who shrugged. They were clearing the dungeon because of the Dungeon clearance pass they needed from this dungeon.

The archer moved his finger in the air like he was interacting with something. After hovering it around for a while, he said one word: "Nothing."

The group turned silent for a while before the Guardian suggested.

"Let's go back. I know someone who can help us with this, a high-level evolver."

Everyone agreed, save for Neo, who was still squatting next to the green monster corpse, desecrating it around with his sword, might be looking for something, his eyes focused, like he seemed to be looking for something.

The guardian, after deciding on the next course of action, looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He was confused about what he was doing and said, "Hey Neo, let's go. We'll come back with a ranker later."

Neo looked away from the corpse toward the Guardian and nodded.

"Go ahead. I'll catch up to you guys."

The Guardian was worried, because the level of the monsters was a little abnormal. The goblins that they defeated was a level 8 monster who shouldn't be on this floor of the dungeon or not even in this dungeon, but somehow it appeared here, If it was just one, they would have shrugged it off but it was not the only one, the monsters they dealt with all ranged between 7~9.

"Alright, be careful. We'll be back later. You have my ID, remember to send me the request so that we can tackle this later."

Neo nodded, his mouth corners a little arched up, as he went back to study the monster's anatomy. The party members looked at him once more, muttering 'weirdo' as they left the dungeon.

Neo's focus was on the corpse as he circled its body and hacked it into pieces, made one wonder whether he was a cold-blooded or someone in the butchery business but the way he cut the body, let's remove the second option from the table, blood and meat flying around.

He shook his head like, seemed to be disappointed, didn't find what he was looking for and moved on to the other bodies littering on the ground as started hacking them open. He kept doing that with the bodies like a Christmas present until he found something in the 7th body that when split open; it dropped something from its rib cage which produced a ting* sound when it hit the ground.

Neo bent down and picked it up, it was a small marble, the size of well, a marble. He looked at the small sphere; it was solid, white with a little bit of blue in it.

Despite his normal and maintained appearance, one couldn't help but notice that this 19-year-old's clothes were a bit worn out. His faded jeans frayed at the hems, along with a few tears in the denim. His t-shirt was plain white, clearly had been washed and worn many times, as the fabric had become slightly thin and stretched out in places.

Despite their worn appearance, however, his clothes were clean and well-maintained. There were no stains or rips that hadn't been carefully mended, and everything seemed to fit him perfectly. It was clear he took good care of himself, even if his clothes weren't the newest or most fashionable.

He put the sphere in his pocket and uttered, "Status."

『 Status

Name: Neo Orpheus

Class: None

Level 1 [0/100]

Title: None

Health: 150/150

Mana: 60/60

Strength: 12 Agility: 9

Stamina: 10 Intelligence: 6

Vitality: 15 Luck: 7』

Upon looking at his status panel, especially his level, Neo's smile faltered a little, this has been his nth (uncountable number of time) time of him joining a party, and him not being able to get even an ounce of experience points [EXP points] from the kills.

This was not the end to his trouble as every time he joined the party, the level of the monsters increased exponentially, like he kidnapped their relative or something as they came at him with full force.

He once tried going in alone but then didn't try anymore as even without a party, the monsters still treated him like their mortal enemy, must have kidnapped their relative.

Still, this did not discourage him, he felt all hope was not lost and planned on trying again. He held the sphere up high, a blue light flashed across it. This was what intrigued him, he put it in his pocket, checked the other corpses and found two more of these, each had a different amount of blue in it. After seeing that everything was cleared up and taking one last look toward the door that had the boss behind it, he inhaled deeply, sighed as he shook his head, and left the dungeon.

A white light enveloped him, or the place where he was standing and the next instant he vanished, the next moment his surroundings regained their colour, the first thing his mind registered were voices, a lot of voices.

"Looking for a Guardian. A party of 4 needs a guardian."

"Selling potions at a cheap price. Buy one, get one free."

"Need a healer. Can carry the new evolvers."

"Good luck with finding one, buddy."

Different voices entered Neo's ear, he looked around and saw people in different attire and weapons, hustling and bustling. Every one of them was an evolver, and this was the starting point of their journey.

An F-Rank dungeon, which was like a starting point in games where evolvers start their journey and every [Evolver] started their journey from here or other F-Rank dungeons across the world.

............….

The world that housed this beautiful story was called "Sky World." No one knows why it was named like that, and there was no one to complain to, even if they wanted to. The sky-world was home to many species, including humans, elves, dwarves, demon race, winged race, and many other races.

It was an enormous piece of land which was surrounded by water from all sides and had only one continent named, "Sky Continent." [A/N: Yeah, no originality is what many would think.]

It was a simple planet before, inhabited by beasts/ monsters and different mythical beings, a world where everything was in abundance. Mythical beings roamed the land and conquered the skies, many would say that it was a peaceful era.

But alas, peace never stays forever and change is the only thing constant in this cosmos.

Following those words, the Chaos Era arrived, which, according to many historians, had a very drastic change in the planet's topography. Everyone or every race interpreted it differently. Their own stories formed about the origin of the realm.

One said that the world expanded after mana flooded the land, which gave birth to many new species. While some said that a powerful figure [The Saint] combined many worlds into one when it saw many worlds on the brink of destruction. The other species were the inhabitants of those other worlds who entered the newly created world by the grace of this powerful being.

Whatever story one chooses to believe, there was one thing that remained the same in them. That was that the Chaos era was a nightmare, pandemonium or doomsday as the other species invaded and took control over almost all the land, causing wars to break out and destruction that ravaged the land.

Among these wars, the most that suffered after the inhabitants of the land were the Species of Homo-sapiens aka humans. they had the most difficulty in adapting to their new environment and they had to live in hiding or to be as their slaves.

But again, by some miracles, the historians didn't know what caused it, like a decree from the emperor of the world, the other species retracted their forces from the human occupied lands and settled down in their own land or the new lands which emerged after the continent expanded, new areas came out of the ocean.

The concept of evolution was introduced, and the world entered a new Era, titled as the "Golden Era" for all the races, Dungeon appeared all over the lands and new monsters or the ones that evolved from the old ones appeared, different races hunted and upon a successful hunt, they "Levelled Up." The first time someone every levelled up and found a new way or a system of raising their strength.

This discovery was not the reason which led the Era to be called as "Golden Era" as just as people were thinking this to be the end of this era, a tower appeared out of thin air on an island that floated above the centre of the continent called, "Ascendance Tower." {A/N: Tower/ Obelisk /Inverted Labyrinth, will be known by many names by different species.}

People were cautious toward it as it appeared out of nowhere and when it appeared, a voice sounded in everyone's mind.

[Climb the Tower and Become the master of the Universe]

It tempted many as they attempted to climb the tower. The first ones who conquered the floor got a price that made many kingdoms wage war in envy over it and it created a new era of power struggle, but it was solved as many powerful evolvers came out of the hiding and solved the issue. They created new rules that provided a safe passage for the floor clearing party or person.

Every species then raced to clear the tower to receive the power that could dominate others. But the tower was just, it didn't let anyone monopolize anything in it and if anyone was caught doing that, then they experienced a harsh punishment that made even the dragon feel a chill crawl over its skin.

......…..

These novice dungeons became the first rite of passage. The new evolvers had to clear it before they could enter the tower and without passing it, nobody could even step into the Tower as it would be just a suicide if the said person couldn't even clear the dungeon.

Zero rank evolvers, also called the "Unevolved," are the ones that just started their journey as a mana core formed in their body after accumulating mana in their body for a long period. Some had a natural affinity for the mana and formed it faster than others. For genius ones, it was around the age of 3~4, while some were not lucky and couldn't form one during their whole lives.

Neo had formed a core around 2 weeks ago after the mana accumulated in his body for over 19 years and was attempting the novice dungeon now to get a clearance and become an official ranker, but he how could his bad luck leave him hanging as a complication occurred when his core formed.

He was walking among the crowd slowly, his thought about what should the next step be. He heard many people chatting about this year's ranking, about who was the most powerful ranker and many more of such idle chat, which were normal as the world had attained a little peace after a long era of war. [A/N already too much info dump, will talk about it in bits from now on about that.]

He kept his pace normal, his thoughts wandering about, thinking over how to solve this problem without becoming a lab rat. And just like that, as lost as he could be in his thoughts, he came back to his apartment, switched the light on, as he was the only resident of this one.