Chapter 2: Tower

"Hey Lad! You still ok over there?"

A man riding a horse asked Klein in concern.

Klein is currently traveling with a caravan headed toward the City of Lean. They have already travelled by half a day, and he is currently on foot while others are comfortably riding a horse or resting inside a wagon.

Toward the older man's concern, Klein smiled and said, "I'm still ok. I may look like this but I'm proud of my stamina."

The man looked doubtfully at Klein while looking at his small frame. He had been walking for a half a day on foot while carrying a bag that's filled to the brim.

"Just hang in there boy! A few kilometers more and we will set camp."

"Thanks for your concern, old man."

After a whole day of planning and thinking yesterday, Klein came to a conclusion. He can't stay in his village. A stagnant life won't do, and he needs challenges to become stronger and hopefully change his fate. He needs a place that offers a high risk and high return.

He needed a dangerous place so that his plot armor would do its work.

Klein looked at a distance and smiled. A shadow of a huge structure can be seen.

Fortunately, there is such a place that will a satisfy his needs.

The Tower of Hope.

Scholars and Historians are still perplexed by the purpose and existence of the tower. But there is no denying that it is a great boon for each race who reside in the continent of Brich.

The first level of the tower provides trials that challenges every warrior that dare set foot into it. These trials provide test that will make a person grow stronger either mentally or physically.

Klein has set his eyes on this tower to overcome his disadvantageous position. He was sure that he isekaid on this world to conquer the tower.

After passing all the trials in the first floor, the Climber will have the opportunity to ascend to the next floor.

It is said that the second floor and above have a world of its own, each larger than the previous one. They have their own flaura and fauna, forming a stable ecosystem. There are also magic beast and minerals that can be taken back to the continent that can be considered as resources for the kingdom.

The tower spans a hundred kilometers on both sides, and it is so tall that it pierces the heavens. Currently, the land around the tower is governed by the Dragon Empire.

No kingdom dared try to rebel against the Empire that seemingly monopolize the tower, because the Empire doesn't really monopolize the tower.

Scattered all across the continent are Gates that connects inside the tower. Overtime, various races naturally flocked to these Gates and that's how a kingdom is born.

Of course, after a thousand year of rule, each Kingdom already has full control of these Gates. They only let Elites and loyal subjects to pass through.

Kingdoms gather talents all over their territory and conscript them into the Nation's army and let them enter the tower. This resulted in further solidifying the the military power and rule of the Kingdom.

This policy is also employed in the Kingdom of Arkland. After his childhood friend awakened, she was escorted to the capital and become an Elite of the Kingdom. She got the qualification to be a Climber and was tasked to bring back resources from the Tower back to the Kingdom.

Base on her Blessing, she may be on the second floor right now.

Sadly, with Klein's trash of a blessing he can't chase after her. He is far from being an Elite and there's no way that he will be permitted entry on the Arkland Kingdom's Gate.

Thinking about her, a smile formed on Klein lips, and he lightly played with an accessory on his neck. It is a simple necklace consisted of a string looped trough a small green Gem.

Before leaving his home town, he visited his neighbor that served as his guardian after he become an orphan. He planned to say goodbye and gave them a letter to be sent to the capital for his childhood friend.

After a nice hearty meal, they gave Klein a necklace. It is a gift for his sixteenth birthday, and it came from his childhood friend.

Klein was excited when he received it and he discovered that it is an artifact.

Gem of Blessing

Effects: Unknown

Klein might not know what his necklace can do, but he is excited nonetheless. He knows that an artifact cost a fortune. And most important of all, it implies that his childhood friend hasn't forgotten him. Maybe if he failed in his endeavors, he can go to the Capital and hug her big thigh.

"Hey, you are that Klein boy, right!?"

Klein is interrupted from his musing when a middle age man approached him together with the old man.

Klein looked at him and he felt that he is somewhat familiar.

Must be one of the villager NPC.

"Haha, yes," Klein answered and he rubbed the back of his head.

"Haha... See, I was right," the middle age man bragged to his companion. "Have you already awakened your Blessing? Hoho... You might have receive an impressive one, seeing that you leave the village just two days after your sixteenth birthday."

Klein didn't feel that it was odd that the man knows some personal information about himself. Being one of the two people that receive the Mark of Blessing in this past two decade, he can be considered as a celebrity in his village.

Now, how to answer? I can't really evade the question. I don't want them to misunderstand that I obtain a powerful Blessing. What if we are attack by bandits or something? The old man is the head of the guards for this caravan. I might be put in a bad situation like him entrusting his back to me during a fight. Fuck... And I really don't want to advertise my trash of a Blessing. No choice but to lie then.

"Not really, I got an extremely useless ability unlike Irina. She must have seized all the luck and left nothing for me."

"I still can't believe that that gentle and cute girl to awaken such a powerful Blessing. Though, her ability somewhat suit her personality."

"Yeah, it is normal for a good girl like her to be liked by the heavens."

"Right, right. So what blessing did you got?"

Klein hesitated for a bit while he feigns an expression of embarrassment and he replied.

"I really can't tell. It's somewhat embarrassing," Klein answered, and blush formed on his face.

"No matter. Just good luck on your journey kid." The middle age man said, giving up.

But the old man's tune is different from his companion. As a head guard, he is cautious by nature. He feel that there may be some use in Klein's Blessing.

"Come on, tell us," the old man said trying to coax Klein.

"Ok, ok," Klein trowed his hands in the air acting as if giving up. "My ability is only to adjust the size of my d*ck. Really, what a useless ability."

Both men laugh out loud.

"Klein, my boy. That's not useless at all. In fact it is a really powerful Blessing. If you play your cards right, you might even marry a noble and be set for life."

Good. Just like I thought they won't ask me to demonstrate my ability. It's embarrassing for both parties.

"I suggest you go to the city of Trea," the old man said while he stroke his beard."The women there are specially promiscuous. In addition to that, they have such sexy bodies and beautiful faces. And the people there are not as stuck up as the people in the capital. They have no problems if a noble marry a commoner."

I might be tempted to follow his advise and go to Trea if I really have the ability to alter the size of my member. But sadly, I don't.

"No, no. I plan on going to the Kingdom of Merc and try my luck there."

"So you want to become a Climber, huh. You should be careful though. That place is not for the softhearted. That place is so chaotic that you might not even know how you died."

Merc Kingdom.

Unlike other kingdoms which monopolize the Tower Gates, Merc kingdom openly allows the entry of the Gate to everyone.

Legend has it that a Gate had been unknown for a long time before it was discovered by a group mercenaries.

These mercenaries monopolize the gate for quite some time while they strengthen themselves with the rewards from the Tower.

When they were strong enough, they established a Kingdom that will be later named as Merc Kingdom.

Having experienced the discrimination coming from the monopolization of all the Kingdoms on the Gates, Merc Kingdom developed a policy of letting anyone enter the Gate as long as they become a citizen.

A policy that they still practice up to this day. A policy that will be beneficial to Klein. Because of his Blessing, there is no way that the Kingdom of Arkland will let him climb the tower.

But because of this policy, various powers exist in the Kingdom of Merc, making it more chaotic.

But for Klein, the more chaotic it is, the better.