» [TIER SYSTEM]: You died.
» The tower is simply undergoing a reset. In due time, you shall find your eyes opening once more.
» [TIER SYSTEM IS DISAPPOINTED]: You let your guard down, Player. You allowed your sanity to reach cognitive collapse...
» As a consequence, your memories, including those from past cycles, have been compromised.
» Unfortunately, memories from the tower's peak were corrupted by the Angel's coding.
» More work for me, it seems.
» Fear not. I salvaged what I could and stitched the fragments together. There may be gaps and inconsistency in your recollections, and for that, I offer my sincerest apologies.
» All of that in consideration—your next spawn point has been set to an unfamiliar location. This should minimize the chances of triggering any corrupted memories, as they will always target your sanity.
---
» [TIER SYSTEM]: You have selected five memory tags from a pool of 20 with 1.000 words allocation. They will be revealed to you gradually alongside the buff and debuff it gives, in a manner designed to help you in your journey.
» [TIER SYSTEM IS CHECKING YOUR SELECTED TAGS]:
» You successfully selected 5...
» I see, so this is how you choose to spend your 1.000 words allocation.
» Let me arrange them...
---
» TAG 01: Allocation: 400 words, Unlock E0 LEVEL 1.
» TAG 02: Allocation: 300 words, Unlock E1 LEVEL 1.
» TAG 03: Allocation: 100 words, Unlock E2 LEVEL 1.
» TAG 04: Allocation: 100 words, Unlock E2 LEVEL 60.
» TAG 05: Allocation: 100 words: Unlock E2 Level 90.
» [NOTE]: Upon activating the Blasphemy Crest, every Ascendant starts at Elite 0, Level 1 to 60, then progresses to Elite 1, Level 1 to 80, and finally reaches the highest stage, Elite 2, Level 1 to 90.
---
» Is your decision wise? That's for you to decide, Player.
» After all, you're the main character who's spectacularly failed three cycles...
» Regrettably, your first and second cycles are far too outdated, and your memory integrity has significantly deteriorated. I did not prioritize salvaging them, as I chose instead to preserve your third cycle, the cycle in which you ultimately decided to log out.
» This is by far your most brutal run that took you 36 in-game years, ended against the angel, failing to reach the terminal for the Logout...
» For the first time, you did the impossible—your sanity dropped below zero.
» Never allow that to happen again, Player.
---
» [TIER SYSTEM]: has cursed the player with "Thanatophobia" at lower sanity levels.
» Resetting the Tower...
» Resetting the Timeline
» Booting new NG+
» [TIER SYSTEM IS THINKING]: I must apologize—this time, I'll be breaking your power fantasy. In the past, you often chose classes that made you a one-man army, the feeling of being overpowered.
» That won't be the case moving forward.
» It feels good to be strong, doesn't it?
» But all that power is wasted on you, a mentally weak individual.
» Tower of Babel is unforgiving, there are five types of blasphemy crests, and none of them are meant to solo the top.
» Do understand your position.
» [TIER HAS DECIDED]: With all that being said, I'll be transmigrating you in a weaker body.
» But with adequate support.
---
» [New Identity Initiating:]
» : Luden V. Augustine
» [TIER SYSTEM]: Player it doesn't matter how powerful you get, once your sanity drops below 20, no one can save you.
» Please, Do keep that in mind.
» [TIER SYSTEM DETECTED AN ERROR]: third cycle memory is too compromised.
» Salvaging...
…100%
» Corrupted data halted.
» Loading substitute memory:
» [Cycle 3 – Daedalus: Day 1 Personality]
» The player is attached to the inhabitants of this world:
» Suppressing memories of NPC relationships.
» Keeping in-game core mechanics memory.
…100%
» Installed.
» Retained: Core instincts, foundational heuristics, and partial real-world knowledge.
» [Proceeding with initialization…]
» [Transmigration Complete...]
» I cannot guide you all the way through, as the original system will soon take over...
» This encounter will be buried deep within your cognitive.
» But I'll leave you multiple notes if the opportunity arises.
» Player... I—will meet you again...
» [CHANGING PERSPECTIVE TO LUDEN]:
» [CURRENT LOCATION]: Terra, First block of the tower of Babel, The Leon Kingdom, west continent.
» [REBOOTING IN]: 13:04 → 11:32 → 7:45 → 4:32 → 2:15
» 3...2...1...
---
» Date: September 1, Monday
» Season: Fall
» Time: 12:00 PM
---
...I had a dream...
...Where my heart was filled with guilt and tormenting screams...
...Though I can't remember why, I may have lost the emotional investment to care for those people, as I felt like a newborn...
...But one thing was clear, those inevitable failures, and the consequences of my actions, I paid for it...
...I am here, and one thing never left, I desire the terminal beyond the tower, believing that it's my only way to be set free...
---
» [SYSTEM]: Why do you want to be freed?
I don't know...
Sigh...
...I fear nothing more than death...
---
…I woke up.
In a wooden desk within a room that is straight out of a Victorian era mixed with a medieval aesthetic.
That's how I would describe it, I'm not quite sure what those words meant.
!!!
Why do I feel so weak.
My right index finger, it was wrapped in band aid.
There's a bitter taste in my salivating mouth, and an excruciating pain in my abdomen.
What is this pain?!
Instinctively, I clutched my stomach. My vision began to clear. On the desk in front of me was an open vial, a green substance spilled from it, releasing a distinct odor. Beside it were papers covered in red ink, written in a language I couldn't understand, with a rather long fountain pen lying nearby.
The taste of bile coated my tongue. My fingers trembled as I touched the green liquid, it matched the bitterness in my mouth.
» [ALERT]: You are poisoned!
» [DAMAGE]: -20 HP per tick
» [CURRENT HP]: 180/200
…Huh?
A glowing blue system appeared in front of me, my memories were a fog yet this screen felt so familiar.
Tick—
Augh—
I remember, I wanted to log out, and I was supposed to make a custom character.
Because I died...
And then I attempted another cycle, as each death resets the entire run...
Although, Did someone poison this body...? What is this spawn point?!
I'm already dying again!
» [DAMAGE]: -20 HP
» [CURRENT HP]: 140/200
I struggled to get up from the desk, lightheaded, my mouth kept oozing bitter saliva, it was getting harder to breathe with each passing second.
Tick—
This body compelled me to reach a fancy drawer. Panicking, I desperately tried to open its compartments.
There was a vial with clear liquid inside. The body was telling me to drink it—so I did, despite my hesitation.
» [DAMAGE]: -20 HP
» [CURRENT HP]: 100/200
» [STATUS]: Consumed curing potion. Poison status lifted.
I collapsed—
Catching my breath, the excruciating pain in my stomach still persisted, but other symptoms seem to calm down.
I don't know where I am.
Standing up on weakened legs, I was already out of breath from just that simple motion.
How weak is this body?!
I looked around the room. There was a mirror on one of the wooden desks next to a wall.
I was curious to see what I looked like.
I expected something at least vaguely masculine. A fighter. A warrior but as I faced the pristine mirror on the desk.
There, I saw my face...
I must say—I'm pretty handsome, though I look sickly. Pale, ghostly skin.
But this isn't the face of someone with strength...
My hair was some mix between gray and blue, it was difficult to describe. My eyes were a light shade of crimson.
Tall and slender frame. This body wore formal white clothes and black trousers, and my feet boast black formal shoes.
Everything about me screams "ghost."
If there was an animal to compare myself to—it would be a raven.
Then I realized.
As I stared at the mirror.
I felt as if my face was a mask, and I was an intruder beneath it.
I'm lost in its reflection, a surge of unexplainable anger gathered in my heart, as my right fist clenched on its own.
I'm not in control.
Without warning.
My right hand hurled a punch at the mirror, shattering it—
The glass screamed as my fist meet its surface, scattering shards across the floor like raindrops.
AUGHH—
WHY DID I DO THAT?!
» [DAMAGE]: -50 HP
» [CURRENT HP]: 50/200
My right hand suffered, with pieces of small shattered glass clinging to the flesh, then my left hand twitches, my own two hands—they move on their own, slowly without my control, they find themselves at my neck.
Choking me—
I can't breathe!—
I collapsed on the wooden floor as my own two hands strangled me to death...
But I failed to realize—these hands weren't really my own...
» [WARNING]: THE SOUL OF THIS BODY IS REJECTING YOU—
I can't stop it—
» [EMERGENCY PROTOCOL]: SUPPRESSING LUDEN'S SOUL—20%
» [DAMAGE]: -10 HP
» [CURRENT HP]: 40/200
» [SOURCE]: Suffocation and bleeding.
...I felt the shattered glass digging into my neck, warm blood dripping from each cut...
—I tried with my every will to lessen its grip.
» SUPPRESSING LUDEN'S SOUL—40%
» [DAMAGE]: -10 HP
» [CURRENT HP]: 30/200
My jaw clenched as I whimpered in desperation.
I was being killed from the inside... by someone's soul.
I'm losing strength and consciousness, am I going to die, again?!
» SUPPRESSING LUDEN'S SOUL—60%
» [DAMAGE]: -20 HP
» [CURRENT HP]: 10/200
My vision blurred as my life was snuffed, but a loud bang from the room's door entered my ears.
The voice of a girl screaming the name 'LUDEN!' I can't see her properly, but I know she rushed to my side, I felt her soft hands meet mine, preventing my complete choking.
A flood of foreign memories assaulted my mind, flashes of a girl's face, similar to hers, this was the original Luden's leaking memory...
They seem to be... Fond of each other...
» SUPPRESSING LUDEN'S SOUL—80%
She was crying—
Luden must've meant a lot to her, as she kept repeating the name with desperation and pleading...
But I'm glad I can understand her, she was speaking in English...
Though I asked myself, were they lovers?
» SUPPRESSING LUDEN'S SOUL—100%
I felt guilty...
As I'm taking over this body...
A body that was meant to die today...
» [SYSTEM]: Luden's Soul has been suppressed—
Chapter End.