[Dude, this isn't funny anymore. Where'd you go?]

[I don't know exactly who you are, but you're very good friends with , right?]

[This is his mother... suddenly disappeared, about a couple hours ago I think.]

My heart stopped. The disappearances had been going on for a bit more than three weeks now. They weren't even noticed at first. Though even those estimated to have gone on the first day were estimated in the multiple millions, they were spread out across the entire world. But now, hundreds of times that had gone. It couldn't be ignored or covered up by now.

Every 90 minutes, a large number of people would simply vanish. It hadn't seemed real.

Then Mewi was taken, too, close to 3 hours ago judging by when he stopped responding. It was all too real.

Mewi wasn't his real name, of course, just a nickname based on his screen name. We had never managed to meet in person—we just couldn't get our lives together enough to arrange it. But this person who I'd never met was more important to me than anything or anyone else in this world.

And now he was gone from it. My love, my light—was gone. Just like that.

Where once was light was now only darkness. Darkness that threatened to overwhelm my mind. I wasn't even particularly inclined to resist it doing so, either. But one thought, one insane idea pushed it back.

I wandered away from home, through peaceful streets, directionless. Then, nowhere in particular, the time until the next disappearances drawing near, I voiced the thought. “Whoever, whatever you are, who is doing this to us...how DARE you take him from me! Where?! Where have they all gone?! Where did you take Mewi?! Heaven, hell, somewhere completely alien--wherever he is...whatever force you are, take ME there too! TAKE ME TOO, @#$% YOOOOOOOOU!”

I fell on my knees, sobbing. "Take me [email protected]#$% you..."

I don't know how long I spent in my pathetic state. What I know is, that as soon as I was again aware of my surroundings, I realized I had indeed been taken.

I was in a featureless white room, filled with thousands--THOUSANDS--of others who clearly had been taken. Holy crap, it actually listened to me? My insane plan really worked! But...how am I supposed to find Mewi in all this?!

My reaction to my new surroundings was extremely downplayed compared to everyone else I could see. Panic was the order of the day. Wow, my timing of getting all panicked out just before this happened couldn't have been better.

The first thing I noticed was that, among a multitude of panicked voices, absolutely none of them were speaking in a foreign language. This in spite of the fact that, like other groups that had been taken, clearly whatever had done this had no notion of discriminating between people of different nationalities. A universal translation effect? How can that be?

While I was still digesting that idea, a translucent panel appeared in front of me. It looked much like I imagined a menu screen would look like if Neuro-VR was made a reality.

[Welcome to the . Would you like the introduction?]

Clearly, the nature of the disappearances was far stranger than even I had imagined. "Uh, sure?"

[The has 100 floors.

On each floor you must complete a mission.

Successful completion earns rewards.

Failure begets punishment.

You have been given three lives.

Struggle and fight to the top!]

"Okay what the hell?" I murmured, "That’s really video game-y. I even get extra lives?"

I didn't have long to process that before that screen vanished and another one appeared.

[Please input your name.]

Below the text was what looked like a standard video-game file naming screen. There didn't seem to be a character limit, either. Okay...in that case...

If I really was going to start a quest to reunite with Mewi and get to the bottom of what the heck this Tower's deal was, only one name would do.

Not my boring old real name, oh no. The name that I had claimed for myself and worn with pride in dozens of internet forums, MMO games, and other websites.

[Lheticus]

[Name accepted.]

Then the screen vanished again. After a few minutes, I noticed some people who had grouped together and who were by now otherwise calmed down were acting strangely, moving their hands as though manipulating a screen only they could see.

I made my way over to them. "Um, you guys seem to have a better handle on this than most. What are you doing?"

Someone on the edge of the group turned to me. "Someone figured out how to open a . Maybe there's a way to show it to others but we haven't figured that out yet. You just..."

He explained how to open and close the screen, and I checked mine.

New Summoned

Strength 1

Speed 1

Stamina 1

Sturdiness 1

Power of Imagination Level 1

My train of thought lamenting minimum values in every stat was derailed when I saw what came after. Soon, I figured out that I could tap different bits of text to show more detailed information. I tapped Power of Imagination.

[Through intense concentration and mental effort, you can alter the world around you in certain ways. Use will affect your stamina depending on the scope and difficulty of the change.]

My jaw dropped. Wasn't this basically reality warping? At least, in my hands it would be! The only limit on a power like that was the user's imagination, and my imagination was one of the few qualities I'd allow myself genuine pride in. This Tower place had granted me a ridiculously amazing special ability!

Well, from the sound of it, it wouldn't be that amazing at first. Seemed like it would wear me out to use it, so I thought I'd better experiment with small things to start with. A few more minutes passed while I thought up things I might try, when another prompt appeared.

[Please choose a personal trait.]

The list below this text scrolled on longer than some EULAs that I'd seen. It didn't seem like I'd get to check details on these traits before I chose them, and I had a feeling I didn't have unlimited time to decide, so I decided not to worry about it for now and selected the final option, .

Then, I finally started to organize my thoughts a little, coming up with a few conjectures.

Conjecture #1: It was unlikely that Mewi was actually here. It appeared as though everyone here had only just been taken. Probably, Mewi had been in a similar group 3 hours ago. So, I needed to figure out how to get out of here and to wherever in the Tower he was.

However, it was not possible to advance toward this at this time. The room I was in...well, cavernous wasn't a sufficient description. It seemed to have walls and a ceiling and everything, but they were all so distant that I doubted I'd reach them with hours of walking.

Conjecture #2: Whatever we had all gotten into, it was going to heavily involve combat. The Tower's "introduction" didn't give many concrete details, but at the end it said "Struggle and fight to the top!" and somehow, I didn't think it was talking about Yu-gi-oh duels.

This was Not A Good Thing. I was barely passable at video game fighting, and a total noob at real fighting--the quintessential geeky NEET. I tried to AVOID confrontation in the real world. If that wasn't an option in the ...I could be in real trouble.

Conjecture #3: There wasn't anything more I could do for now but watch and wait. This conjecture was quickly Confirmed, when after a few more minutes passed another prompt appeared.

[Choose a Class type.

NOTE: Your official class is obtained after you pass the Tutorial.]

This one couldn't be put off, but thankfully the list was much shorter. I was briefly tempted by the Combination Paladin type, but in the end, I just had to pick Magical Element Type—being able to sling spells was a fantasy of mine since I was little, and I always picked spellcasting classes in MMO games.

Besides, even a half-physical class wasn't suited for my lazy NEET body, but my mind was sharp. Sharper than most in the room, if the fact that for the most part the hysteria STILL hadn't died down was any sign.

Since I decided so quickly, I wasn't sure what else to do so I checked my status screen again. New lines had been added:

Health: 10 (0.01/minute)

Stamina: 10 (0.1/minute)

Mana: 20 (0.02/minute)

Then, below my woeful NEET Attributes were:

Mana Bolt 1

Mana Shield 1

Then at the bottom, there was the "Temporary Trait" Pure Magic. I clicked around, getting details on the spells I'd been given with my choice and the Temporary Trait. Wait a minute...wasn't my list of attributes shorter before? There were now five more entries:

Mana Pool 1

Intuition 1

Magic Power 1

Regeneration 1

AP: 5

When I tapped on AP to get information about it, instead of more text, the AP entry turned bold and "+" buttons appeared by all the other attributes. "Oh!" So, I got 5 free stat points did I? After considering for a while, I put 2 points in Magic Power, and 1 in Mana Pool. As it stood, it would take almost an hour to regenerate even a single point of mana—enough for one Mana Bolt. I'd have to use my actual spells sparingly, so making them stronger when I did use them was definitely the better choice.

By the same token, I felt like I had to use at least 1 point on Mana Pool, or I'd run out way too easy. My Mana instantly doubled to 40, and thankfully it automatically filled to the new max.

The last two points, I put in Speed, to help evasion, and in Stamina, raising my maximum to 20, to grant me more uses of .

I continued to brainstorm ways to test my special ability and conjectures as to how it probably worked until another screen appeared.

[Complete selections in 5 minutes. Prepare to enter the Tutorial.]

[Please select your difficulty:]

Basic

Low

Medium

High

Very High

Extreme

This many difficulty levels for the Tutorial stage? Just how crazy is the game the Tower’s running anyway?

I only had 5 minutes to make a decision that would likely affect the rest of my life. Most pertinently, if I picked one that was too high, “the rest of my life” would likely not be measured in years any longer, though possibly still days since I had extra lives.

Of course, that was still Not A Good Thing. However…

Conjecture #4: Picking a difficulty that was too low could be a problem too. I remembered from the introduction: [Successful completion earns rewards. Failure begets punishment.] It stood to reason that completing harder missions would come with better rewards.

If I went with a difficulty that was too easy, I could end up with rewards that were too small to aid my continued survival. Too hard, and “continued” wouldn’t be in the conversation at all.

Time was running out. I had to choose. I had to answer the question: what is the hardest mission level I can handle?

With less than 30 seconds left, I steeled my courage and tapped “High.” No matter what, this was still only going to be a Tutorial stage. If I wasn’t even willing to take on some genuine difficulty now, would I even be able to preserve my own life in what lay ahead in the Tower anyway?

No. I needed more than that too. I needed power not just to protect myself, but Mewi too, when I found him.

I refused to consider the possibility that he was already dead. He was the sort that seemed naïve, even childish, when you first met him, but he was no dummy and he was incredible at keeping a positive attitude.

Plus he was on his high school rugby team, so he probably managed to get a “Pure Physical” class to work for him. There’s no way he was already dead.

And I had my amazing Inherent Trait to work with. Without that, I probably would have gone with “Medium" but I felt that it gave me a chance to go for greater rewards than that.

The moment I pressed it, the screen changed, displaying only two small words:

[Good Luck]

Regardless of my confidence, I had a feeling that I was going to need it.