Author Note: Setting[1]
---
He plucked a flower from the dirt and ate it, the young man savored what seemed like roadside trash like it was good food, all because he needed to get a good smell of it, the smell of nostalgia. Then, he came home and hugged his older sister.
Li, who had been eagerly waiting at the door, immediately dived in with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"You're reawwy... sob... gonna go in there? The tower?"
His sister, despite being his only mother figure, was a fragile soul who could be wimpy at times. She clung to him like her life depended on it.
"It's okay. I'll be home before dinner." The young man said.
He kissed Li on the hair, and the scent of daisies rushed up his nose. The young man's nose swelled with emotion, as if this were their first embrace. Her scent always had that nostalgic pull—like warmth after cold rain. An found himself unconsciously clutching her tighter. He always thought Li smelled like home.
"Fine... What do you... gulp... want for dinner, An?" Li asked as he put on his shoes.
"Your signature congee."
"Just promise me you'll be back in time."
She smiled faintly, and he smiled back—but the mouth creases never reached his eyes.
It was a bright noon when An made his way toward the obelisk in his country. The towering structure piercing through the clouds, far beyond a helicopter's reach—yet still grounded enough to escape a spaceship's orbit.
This was his, supposedly, very first time entering the Tower of Apocolypse, hence his sister's concerns.
An walked inside through a mysterious glowing door and was transported to what seemed like a different dimension. A vast stretch of green hills and trees, a beautiful and serene place, unlike anything his world would ever see in the 21st century.
"You're... late, on your first day, but it's- it's... uh okay. My name's Tam, I'm your assigned partner that the Lieutenant, um, set up—"
Waiting for him was a boy who couldn't be older than twenty, clearly fresh out of the countryside. His clothes were a size too big, his shoes looked borrowed, and his eyes darted everywhere like a puppy in a city street.
"Nice to meet you! Uh, wow... This place is huge. By the way I'm from Quảng Ngãi, have you ever been there? Hey, do you think we'll get money by just walking around? Wait- I haven't asked how to make money from being here... Oh god..."
He spoke in rapid succession, clearly trying to keep up morale—but the tremor in his hands and his squeaky voice betrayed the fact that he was terrified.
"Let's get to killing wolves," An sighed, having no other choice. As a newbie to the Tower, he was required to go in pairs with other newbies.
[Tower of Apocalypse]
First Floor: Plains
Discovered Enemies:
- Grey Wolf
- Mountain Wolf
They made their way on top of a hill for a better view, and a few steps away they saw a man fighting a Grey Wolf with a reverse-gripped dagger.
"Is that... him?" Tam muttered.
"Who?" An asked.
"H-He's also Vietnamese, but recently joined forces with a private Indian guild... Careful, I heard he killed someone... But not enough evidences."
An and Tam stood and watched as the tall man with wide shoulders assumed a defensive stance, slightly hunched forward with both hands in front of his jaw, guarding his neck.
The wolf growled like the wild animal it was meant to be, like prey that didn't know it was destined to lose.
It ran toward the man, one foot after another, then the other two followed. Ultimately, it pounced, aiming to land its feet on his chest while its mouth opened wide for his face and neck—a classic carnivore tactic. But the wolf didn't know that, for millions of years, mankind had dominated the food chain with tools. Such as this silver dagger he was holding.
The man didn't move an inch. Instead, he angled the dagger in his right hand upward and pierced the beast mid-pounce—from the soft tissue under the chin, through the eyes and skull.
"He's experienced," An thought, knowing that even the physically strong may have a weak heart—especially those who never faced danger before.
Tam, meanwhile, was visibly shaken, gripping his club tighter. "Holy crap... he didn't even flinch..."
The wolf continued to struggle without making a sound of pain. It waved its four feet around wildly, even with a giant hole through its cranium. It was still trying its hardest to grab ahold of the man's throat—a struggle of pure instinct.
"What's his name?" An asked.
Tam shivered. "M-Mountain..."
"I mean his actual name."
"I-I don't know..."
Mountain proceeded to slam the animal down. Using the knife like a skewer, he pinned the wolf to the ground and began punching it in the face.
He punched once, then twice. Three times... four... twenty-three. A satisfied smile grew across his face, bloodlust gleaming in his eyes.
The canine whimpered in pain.
Forty-two. Forty-five.
Splash.
Mountain frowned as another man stomped the wolf's skull, killing it instantly—and stealing the EXP.
"Any last words, bastard?" Mountain looked up at An with killing intent—and a very big grin.
"You were torturing it."
"Yeah, and?"
"I don't like it when you do that."
Mountain stood up, towering over An with an intense gaze, to try and intimidate the guy.
"And why is that? You're an [Awakened] too, you must be bitten by these bastards once before, we all did, right, shrimp?"
Mountain turned over to Tam to get confirmation.
"You're... Talking to me?" Tam asked.
"Whatever, now tell me, so help you god." Mountain put his hand on An's shoulder, "Why did you killsteal me?"
"Your mom-"
Before An could finish his sentence, Mountain stabbed at his face.
"WAAAA! Stop it!" Tam screamed from a distance, covering his eyes. "We're all đồng bào[2]! Why are you guys doing this?!"
"Shhh." with a finger on his mouth, An gestured the young man to stay quiet.
As Tam opened his eyes, he saw that An was kneeling down—both to pick up a random white flower from the grass below, and to dodge the high strike.
The flower was so small, it could be mistaken for a pebble—even one an ant could carry. From Tam's position, he could barely make it out, but it was there.
"How to defeat an [Assassin], with a flower," An whispered.
The one true mistake Tam made—one he would deeply regret—was that he blinked.
His mortal need to keep his eyes lubricated disgusted him.
Mountain was on the ground, with a flower on his face, and An stood over him.
"W-What did you do?! How di... When... What do you mean by [Assassin]? Is that his class? How'd you know?!" Tam yelped in fear.
"...Isn't it obvious?" An tilted his head. "He used the Assassin-class unique skill, x2 SPD—which is how he managed to stab the wolf precisely in the chin."
"Obvious? What do you mean obvious?! The obelisks just showed up 10 days ago! There are only like... I don't know, 5 confirmed and registered Assassin classes! I only ever saw that one from Japan on YouTube!"
"I've seen hundreds. At least ninety of them would fall to the same technique."
An walked away, leaving the unconscious man lying still on the grass.
"Tec-Technique?!" Tam followed.
An stayed silent for a second or two, unsure if he should reveal his card.
"By throwing the flower toward an Assassin, he's forced to re-focus to look at it—doubling his reaction time from 250ms to 500ms.
"Throwing it at a twenty-degree angle across his ear forces his eyes to recalibrate—to track the flower, process it, come back, activate his skill, then process the intent to swing his dagger. Most untrained people aim for a perfect cut. That nets me a 1.3-second window before he even begins to swing—then 0.1 second for impact, even with x2 SPD."
"In short, I distracted him and punched him in the jaw."
"If he had activated x2 SPD on time and swung first, I'd be dead."
Tam stopped in his tracks.
"Who... are you?"
An coldly stared at him, tucking his hands away in his pockets.
"A nobody who needs to climb to the 100th floor—and maybe make some money on the way."
Still, as he walked away, he touched his shirt where Li had clung to him earlier, and quietly smiled to himself. If he died, she'd cry. And for him, that was reason enough to live.
[1] The story is set in Vietnam, just know that the characters are practically speaking Vietnamese if not elaborated. It matters because sometimes there'll be a language barrier between characters from different nations.
[2] *A term between Vietnamese that roughly translates to "Same womb," referencing a mythical tale that everyone was born from the same fairy mother and dragon father.