The high colorful wheat tickled his chin and the hot and moist earth below warmed the sole of his feet comfortably. Baam walked without knowing where he was going, his hands pushing away ears of wheat standing before him carelessly. Scarecrows were scattered here and there, though no crows cried nor any bird flew in the cerulean sky. No insect buzzed and no worm writhed in the soil.

The sun shone but the heat was not stifling, at most an enjoyable sensation which brought him warmth and made him want to lay back and sunbathe. The warm wind blew calmly, caressing the boy's long chestnut-colored hair who combed them with his fingers when they bothered his vision.

He did not know where he was going, but he knew he had to carry on. And as his footsteps led him through fields, forests, rivers and swamps, he was more and more convinced. He had a mission. He did not know who ordered him nor the goal of the mission, but he knew he had to go on, abandoning the weight weighing him down. Even father. Even higher.

He reached a vale when he took a big breather. Since some time ago (he could not quantify if it was minutes, hours or days,) his heart ached. It was not a physical pain like a cramp, but a more insidious one. As if it were a puncture emptying him little by little of what made him Baam. Instead, this pain filled him with unrivaled power.

He reached the mountains, with their steep peaks, the permanent snow high up and the rushing rivers below. As he climbed the tallest mountain, his chest got tighter, as if it were a vice crushing his ribcage. But still, power accumulated inside him, strengthening his muscles, making him more agile, stronger, and almost omnipotent.

As he crossed the last few meters separating him from the peak, the sun was nowhere to be seen, so much so that the inky sky was dotted with stars which shone like diamonds on a crown.

He was huffing and puffing now, his chest so tight it was a wonder he could still breathe. His naked feet were frozen, this coldness reminding him of the one inside his chest. His legs could carry his weight no more and he fell on his butt.

He noticed that the ground behind him was slightly upraised, like he was afoot a mound. Baam did not know why, but something made him clear out this icy mound. What he saw froze the blood inside his veins.

Buried under the snow, a human body. It was half rotten, the skull visible through the emaciated skin.

Suddenly the corpse opened its eyes. Baam recoiled in shock. The corpse smiled. It was a smile missing some teeth, and Baam thought he even saw maggots eating the rotten gums. The corpse's (it was a girl, he noticed) jaw shook and a high and cold laugh echoed in the atmosphere, propagating below and rising in sound waves toward the stars.

"Do I disgust you?" asked the animated corpse.

Baam's throat wound tighter. He did not know what the person was saying, but he had the distinct feeling it was not good.

Once more, the girl laughed. Her lips stretched in a grimace which made the already visible freckles on her pale skin stand out further.

"Ah, it's true this shape is not the most good looking one. But it's your fault you know?" said the girl in a sulking tone while she frowned.

Baam opened his mouth.

"Guh?" he said eloquently. If only he could communicate with her!

The girl's face became angry. "Yes, guh, it's your fault. Because you wanted to climb ever higher. Do you know what this mountain you're standing on is made of?"

Baam did not understand what she said, but his eyes looked downwards, toward the frozen ground when the girl's eyes did.

With shaking hands, Baam cleared out the snow, broke down the ice and he found another corpse. And another. The whole mountain was made of heaped corpses between layers of snow and hardened ice. Atop the mountain, looking at him disdainfully and with a tone as cold as the ground underfoot, the girl said:

"You understand now? Is it lonely at the top? Little monster."

Baam's eyes snapped wide open as he awoke with a jolt. His breathing was uneven and his forehead was gleaming with sweat. His ample clothings were stuck to his skin uncomfortably. He wiped his burning forehead with his cotton robe as he did his best to calm his erratic breathing. A harsh pain in his chest made him massage his heart. This phantom pain reminded him of his dream. He remembered this dream so perfectly that he could have describe it in details had he the vocabulary to do so. It was the same dream he dreamt of each time he fell asleep.

He did not know who the girl with the freckles was, but he knew he had to leave this place. This place would make him crazy. Perhaps he already was. The stifling darkness, the frightening silence and the crippling loneliness. Everything was set to make a man certifiably insane.

"Argu? Littla Monstru?" He repeated the nightmare's words awkwardly, the words bruising his throat whose vocal chords were largely unused.

He pointed toward his own chest with his thumb.

"No little monster!" He shook his head vehemently, the bangs reaching his lower back flying with the movement.

His head now clear, he got up, dusting off his robe. The contact of his naked feet with the wet and flat stone below made him shiver, but he was not discouraged. He walked and walked, observing with interest the carvings on the rock which made up the corridor leading to the Gate.

The Gate was mysterious. He had not managed to make it move, no matter how he tried to.

The carvings depicted fantastic scenes, odd and folkloric creatures. Something vibrated in his chest as he contemplated the jaw of a powerful anthropomorphic crocodile devouring its prey. This vibration spread along his organs, so much so he had the distinct feeling he was some sort of human bumblebee. Finally, the shaking stopped and in front of his unbelieving eyes, letters appeared forming a message… which he understood.

[Synchronization done]

[Loading language pack… Loading complete. Backpropagating translation…. Patching done]

[Loading basic back. Gamer's Body Lv. MAX and Gamer's Mind loaded]

[Welcome to the Tower of God universe. It's a wonderful universe filled with secrets and exciting adventures aplenty!]

[Choose the difficulty:

-Regular

-Ranker (Category I bonus)

-High ranker (Category II bonus)

-Irregular (Category III bonus)

]

What difficulty should he chose? Baam though he should choose the difficulty with the best bonus, no? Naively, he selected the Irregular difficulty with a thought.

[Thank you for having chosen the Irregular difficulty. As an irregular, you possess the highest growth, but you will also be hunted down in the whole Tower by Jahad's empire. You will also have a hard time finding allies, and more than 20 of the 50 most powerful persons of the universe will automatically consider you an enemy. Status updated. To observe your status, simply think 'Status' and the page shall appear]

Sweat dripped down Baam's temple. That was a bad sign, right? He started to panic but suddenly his troubled mind got appeased. It was simple. He simply needed to be strong enough to fight them off. To be smart enough to avoid the traps they would lay. Charismatic enough to gather allies in case of a numerical disadvantage.

'Status' thought Baam. White writings on a blue square materialized in front of him.

[Name: 25th Baam

Race: Human

Class: N/A

HP: 150/150

SP: 5000/5000

Baangs: Locked

Strength (STR): 5

Constitution (CON): 5

Dexterity (DEX): 5

Intellect (INT): 12

Wisdom (WIS): 3

Charisma (CHA): 10

Skills:

Shinsu Manipulation (Locked)

Shinsu Resistance (Irregular X/X)

Traits:

Consumerist (Grade I): Can absorb any skill if hit once with them

]

Baam sighed. He had no idea if those were good stats or not, since he had no basis of comparison. Wait, that was not necessarily true. There were three stats with the value of '5', while the others varied greatly. It meant… perhaps, 5 was the default value, something from a regular person?

[For having thought things through and having reached a correct logical conclusion, WIS increased by 1!]

Great! Baam thought enthusiastically. Before he could ponder further on how to raise up his other stats, a new blue screen appeared in front of him.

[Select a campaign:

Main campaign (0/?)

Tower conquest (0/X – Locked)

Future (0.1% - Locked)

]

Without much choice (since the other two choices were locked,) he chose the main campaign.

[Now that everything is settled, we will begin the teleportation to the Tower. We hope you find the experience enjoyable, don't hesitate to give us some feedback, it will help us improve the user experience. Enjoy yourself! Teleportation begins in 3. 2. 1….]

Then, something fundamentally wrong happened. A flurry of messages in white bold writing against a red screen appeared before Baam's eyes as his surroundings morphed.

[Warning! Starting Main Scenario without Event (25BMR). Time process has malfunctioned. Aborting… Cannot abort (reason: instance currently running) – Forced resuming. Fixing ephemeris. Altering timeline. Patching 53% done. Cannot proceed further. Unhandled Error! Dumping stack trace log… ]

[Warning! Process crashed before loading main characters backstories complete. Khun Aguero Agnis dumped at 5%. Trying to retrieve storyline. Retrieval failed! Injecting new storyline… Patch complete. Applying patches to other main characters…]

[Warning! Process crashed before loading Jahad data. Jahad data file corrupted. Deleting. Creating new Emperor… Creation failed ]

[Error! Due to unorthodox process, erratic behavior has been detected. Trying to fix… Fixing failed! Calling game designer… …. ….. Timeout. Fetching adequate substitute… Found 25th Baam. Bestowing designer rights… Bestowal complete. Class updated (N/A - Axis - Game designer) ]

Then, Baam's senses were overloaded and the last thing he saw was a rabbit watching him with interest before darkness consumed him.