John Henry raised a brow beneath his helmet. The immortal adventurers sent by the heavens—the AI of Terra Blue Star—wanted to take the Baptism under the Tower? Did they have a death wish?
The Tower was a hellish challenge mode where challengers were tasked with completing 101 floors, with bosses fought every twenty floors, culminating with the Tower Boss, Grandose, on the 101st floor.
There were no drops or gold, and EXP was only awarded when a floor was completed. Unlike other incarnations of Towers, enemy groupings were fixed, and challengers could only travel one floor at a time. Worse, they had to compete against a countdown timer. The challenger started with ten minutes, and time bonuses were earned by defeating enemies, with more time being awarded for higher Stylish Ranks. Completing a floor also granted extra time, with a bonus for clearing it without taking any damage.
The higher the Stylish Rank, the higher the EXP share and damage output.
Stylish Ranks were measurements of how "stylish" an adventurer, warrior, or any combatant was, represented by the Style Gauge. It was a constant struggle to maintain the steadily depleting gauge in order to reap greater rewards from battle.
All battles were ranked this way and EXP was earned through this system, set by the heavens one thousand years before the immortal adventurers were announced.
Operating on a letter-grade system, ranks increased as the combatant used a continuous stream of varying or difficult techniques, as well as parrying enemy attacks with their own. Each attack added points to boost the Style Gauge. Performing the same moves repeatedly caused diminishing returns, forcing variation in attacks and weapons.
Some classes even gained speed, strength, and firing bonuses at higher ranks.
But doing all that while under Baptism was insane.
Henry had stood here for decades watching many fools fail at the basic ritual, and now two High Humans wanted to do it under the highest order while running the hardest challenge.
Okay… today was not going to be boring after all.
Henry's gaze lingered on Kamadeva first. The human's mana flow was massive for what his eyes could perceive. And it was wrong. Not chaotic—compressed. Like several different currents had been forced into alignment through sheer will and obscene funding.
What surprised him more was the scent.
Henry could smell beastman blood in the man.
Then his eyes shifted to Rika.
Oni blood roared in her like a war drum. Two colors, red and blue, colliding but not rejecting each other. Phoenix essence flared in controlled pulses, burning damage away as fast as it formed. Her body was already adapting mid-stride, muscle fibers tearing and reforging in real time. Her face was already showing signs of Dragonborn traits.
"…Interesting," Henry said at last, his voice grinding low across the altar.
The pressure intensified.
"The Tower Baptism is not a rite for the unprepared," he said. "Those who enter without sanction are broken. Those who survive rarely remain whole."
"Cool," Kamadeva replied. "We're not really into half-measures."
The Paladin's gaze sharpened. He took a step forward, and the stone beneath his feet answered, runes flaring as if acknowledging authority. The pressure doubled. Rika grunted, fists clenching at her sides. Kamadeva felt something in his spine shift under the weight.
"You already bear multiple awakened bloodlines," the Paladin continued. "Your bodies strain against themselves. Your souls are… loud."
That got Kamadeva's attention.
"You proceed knowing this?" the Paladin asked.
Kamadeva nodded once. "Yeah."
Rika huffed, voice low and vicious. "Ain't walk all this way to get told no."
Silence stretched.
Then the Paladin turned, gesturing toward the Baptismal Pool. The Life Water stirred, its surface rippling like it had been waiting.
"Very well," he said. "The Tower will judge you."
A warning sigil ignited in the air.
[Tower Baptism Authorization Granted]
[Condition: Survival is not guaranteed.]
The Paladin stepped aside.
"Enter," he said. "And pray your ambition does not outweigh your worth."
Kamadeva didn't hesitate.
He took Rika's wrist—not gently, but firmly—and stepped forward.
The water awaited. The pressure intensified.
[XxX]
The Tower of Blood was created by the Goddesses of War: Morrigan, Athena, Enyo, Bellona, Minerva, Freyja, Badb, Sekhmet, Neith, Kali, Durga, Ishtar, Izanami, Šauška, Karni Mata, and Jiutian Xuannü.
So it was quite the surprise to the Goddess of War book club that someone had already entered their Tower of War.
"Eh?" Morrigan leaned forward in her throne, eyes lighting up. "Did someone get into the Tower already?"
The immortal adventurers sent by the Void had long been foretold to them. The pantheons were told that one day adventurers of all races would descend upon Terra Blue Star and change the status quo, challenging ancient evils and old powers.
"I thought they couldn't fight for twenty-four hours," Athena said, tilting her head slightly.
Morrigan snorted. "Then they're already breaking rules. I like 'em."
Bellona crossed her arms. "Or they're idiots."
"Both can be true," Freyja added with a grin.
Morrigan took the appearance of a very large and highly attractive woman. She was imposingly tall, being twice the size of most male gods. Her legs and arms were of exceptional length with large hands and wide clavicles. Her face was angular with a brachycephalic skull. One of her other notable attributes was her enormous amount of muscle mass, surpassing most fighters in Ragnarok. Nonetheless, her physique still carried traces of femininity.
With a Northern European motif, Morrigan had elven-like traits: pinkish skin, pointed ears, and purple eyes. Her long white hair reached her waist, split into ladders, with front locks falling to her chest. While white at the top, her back hair darkened into lilac toward the ends. Almost all of her body was covered in scars, especially her limbs, remnants of her past battle with Eppirfon.
"Show me," Morrigan said, snapping her fingers.
The viewing mirror activated.
"Wow," several of the Goddesses said at once as the image of the challengers landing on the first floor appeared.
He was an abnormally large man, standing at 18 feet and 10 inches. His body was massively muscled with wide shoulders, thick arms, thick legs, and a perfectly proportioned build. He had thick black hair styled in dreadlocks with a low side fade.
Thanks to two beastman and ogre bloodlines—subvariants of demon lineage—the man had become a Chaser Mage. A fusion of pugilist, rogue, and elemental mage.
The ultimate embodiment of destruction that ignored the laws of physics. A job path that fought with the forces of nature woven directly into fist and claw.
The Chaser Mage class was a beastman close-combat fighter with physical prowess beyond nearly all melee mages except Arcane Warriors.
The downside: zero equipment bonuses and only two defensive spells.
Next to the tall man stood a woman half his size. She had curly white hair bound into a ponytail by dragon ornaments, fading into ruby red and then blue the further down it went. Her eyes mirrored those colors, horns curling back from her temples, red lipstick, red-painted fingernails on her left hand while her right was blue. Her body was thin but toned, with wide hips and large breasts. Thick eyebrows framed a face that was outright beautiful.
She wore a short shrine-style combat outfit, cut for speed and ritual movement.
Her class was Dragon Shaman, a DPS/Burst class wielding a massive kanabō as her primary weapon, with rosary beads floating behind her in orbit.
"What the fuck!?" the duo yelled the moment they hit the first floor.
After diving into the pool, the first thing players Deva and BreakerMoore felt was cold—colder than any ice bath they had ever experienced. Then came the pain.
Kamadeva wondered why the hell the pain was this intense. He sure as shit didn't remember the game having this much sensation until the sixth update.
Did the Full Immersion update trigger early?
Because if it had, he would have delayed this whole suicide run until at least level fifty.
After that update, Terra Blue Star had stopped feeling like a game and started feeling like another reality entirely—way too similar to how the Framework functioned back in that old TV show season everyone lost their minds over.
After that update, Terra Blue Star had stopped feeling like a game and started feeling like another reality entirely—way too similar to how the Framework functioned back in that old TV show season everyone lost their minds over.
Before the duo could even get their bearings, a sharp chime rang out.
Rika flinched. Kamadeva gaped in shock.
"…Oh," he muttered. "Right. That." He totally forgot about that part. Well—more like he knew this would happen.
[Blue Terra Star — Worldwide Announcement]
Players Deva & BreakerMoore (Mr. and Ms. Deva) are the first humans to upgrade their bodies to High Humans.High Human Upgrade DLC unlocked for all players. Price: $14,999.
The announcement hit the world like a flashbang.
Across cities, starter towns, and gaming workshop members froze mid-conversation.
Recruitment shouts died in people's throats. Party planners stopped mid-invite. Theorycrafters who had been calmly trading spreadsheets and damage formulas suddenly found their chat windows exploding.
High Human.
Upgrade DLC.
Fourteen thousand nine hundred ninety-nine dollars.
For a few seconds, nobody said anything.
Then the servers caught fire.
Global Chat erupted.
[World] SwordDad69: FIRST HUMANS ALREADY!?[World] LilyMage: Wait, UPGRADE their bodies?? Is that permanent??[World] TankMain: $15K LMAOOOO NOPE[World] ArcData: If they unlocked it, that means it's real power, not cosmetics. Holy shit.[World] GuildMasterRex: WHO ARE DEVA AND BREAKERMOORE. FIND THEM. NOW.
In taverns and plazas, people started pulling up the world leaderboards, scrambling for names that had not existed ten minutes ago.
Two brand-new players.
The world barely had time to choke on the first shock before the second one dropped.
Another chime rang out, deeper than the last, with a weight to it that felt old, like something that had been waiting a very long time to be triggered.
[Blue Terra Star — Worldwide Announcement]Players Deva & BreakerMoore are the first High Humans to evolve into Ancient Humans.All players receive +5 bonus stat points across all attributes.
For a heartbeat, the entire game went quiet.
Not the stunned, frozen kind of quiet.
The kind where people were breathing, blinking, very much alive… but nobody trusted their voice enough to speak.
Somewhere in a starter city, a guy standing on a fountain slipped and nearly fell in because he'd stopped moving mid-rant.
In a crafting district, a blacksmith dropped a hammer on his own foot and didn't even swear, just stared at the message while hopping in place.
"…Ancient?" someone finally muttered.
Then the dam broke.
Global Chat didn't just erupt. It went feral.
[World] MathBlade: HOLD UP HOLD UP THAT WASN'T EVEN THE FINAL FORM???[World] HexWitch: So High Human is just… a stepping stone now??[World] ArcData: This changes every progression model. Every single one.[World] CasualAndy: WHY DID I GET STATS FOR THEIR BULLSHIT[World] RaidQueen: Because it's a world milestone, dumbass. The system is rewriting baseline parameters.
Theorycrafters were already losing their damn minds.
Five free stat points across all attributes wasn't just a nice little bonus.
Attribute points were a pain in the ass to earn in Terra Blue Star.
After the handful the system handed out between levels one and ten, that was it. No more freebies. No easy scaling. The developers had been very clear about that from day one.
If you wanted more stats, you had to earn them.
Strength meant actually training your body until it broke down and rebuilt stronger. Endurance meant pushing past fatigue and pain until your lungs burned and your muscles shook. Agility came from drills, repetition, and near-misses that taught your nervous system to move faster or die.
Even Intelligence and Willpower weren't just numbers you clicked into place. You studied. You practiced. You endured mental strain, sensory overload, decision fatigue. Eat like shit, train wrong, skip recovery, and your gains stalled or reversed.
Diet mattered. Sleep mattered. Routine mattered.
The system watched everything.
That was the whole point. Terra Blue Star wasn't supposed to be a power fantasy you solved with spreadsheets. It was a slow, brutal climb where your build was a reflection of how you actually lived and fought.
Which was why this was insane.
Five points. Free. Unconditional.
Not locked behind weeks of grinding or carefully controlled regimens. Not tied to physical limits or mental thresholds. Just… handed out.
And worse, they weren't forced into anything.
Players could dump them wherever they wanted.
Faith, Charisma, Luck, Willpower, niche secondary stats that most people hadn't even unlocked yet until players have over fifty points in all stats.
. Those five points could finish a build, patch a weakness, or shove someone clean over a breakpoint the system normally guarded like a jealous god.
And it had happened because two people triggered an evolution tier nobody even knew existed.
Somewhere, players were already reopening their build planners, recalculating everything they thought they understood.
Because the meta hadn't just shifted.
It had been kicked down a flight of stairs.
[Blue Terra Star — Worldwide Announcement]
"Are you fucking with me!?"
The shout didn't belong to one place.
It echoed across multiple lands at once, carried through open plazas, echoing guild halls, crowded taverns, and the stone corridors of half-cleared dungeons where players had ripped their helms off just long enough to scream at the sky.
The system didn't care.
It never did.
The Blue Terra Star A.I. ran with terrifying precision, syncing every player, every instance, every shard of reality down to the microsecond. But it wasn't cold. Not really. It had a job, same as anything else.
And it did that job like it actually gave a damn.
With purpose.With momentum.With just enough humor and cruelty to keep things interesting.
The text burned itself into the air across the entire world.
Players Deva & BreakerMoore are the first Ancient Humans to ascend into Primordial Humans.Human racial features expanded.Hidden racial passives unlocked.All Human players receive one free full account reset.
For several long seconds, the world simply… stalled. Every human player stared at the floating text, their bodies locked in place as their minds raced.
Primordial.
That word alone hit like a hammer.
Near the eastern fountain, a tight cluster of players wearing matching insignias—members of a high-end gaming workshop known for competitive clears and ruthless optimization—started shouting over each other, pulling up menus mid-yell.
"A reset means the early tree was bait!""No, it means the system knew we'd fuck it up!""Primordial isn't a buff, it's a foundation rewrite!"
One of them, a tall woman in reinforced starter armor already scratched to hell from speed-running, slammed her palm against the air, force-dismissing her character sheet.
"Find them," she said sharply. "I want names, faces, routes. Nobody jumps tiers like this without touching something broken."
Across the plaza, under the shade of a massive world tree, a looser group gathered—players from casual-to-hardcore hybrid workshops. The kind that focused on experimentation, weird builds, and pushing mechanics instead of racing leaderboards.
A guy sitting on the edge of the planter laughed, low and breathless. "Hidden racial passives," he said. "I fucking knew humans were unfinished."
Someone next to him swallowed hard. "You realize this means every guide we've been following is already outdated, right?"
"Good," he replied. "Those guides sucked."
At a row of vendor stalls, a guild recruiter who had been mid-pitch stood there with his mouth open, pamphlets still hovering in his outstretched hand.
"…A full reset," he muttered. "Do you know how much time people dumped into their stat growth already?"
Behind him, a newer player hugged their inventory window close, panic flashing across their face. "If we don't reset now, are we screwed later?"
No one answered that.
Because no one knew.
On the western side of the town, where the atmosphere was tighter and quieter, a group of old-school grinders stood shoulder to shoulder, arms crossed, eyes locked on the fading announcement text. Their gear was plain, efficient. No flash. No wasted motion.
One of them finally spoke. "Primordial means origin-tier," he said. "Not power. Authority."
Another nodded slowly. "Which means those two didn't just get stronger. They got… recognized."
That word settled badly.
Around them, players were opening character sheets and discovering new tabs blinking into existence. Locked icons. Grayed-out trees. Tooltips that ended with phrases like synchronization pending and conditions unknown.
The starting town, once noisy with early-game chaos, had become a pressure cooker.
People were arguing. Laughing too hard. Swearing. Recalculating entire lives in real time.
And over all of it hung the same question, whispered or shouted depending on temperament.
"Who the hell are Deva and BreakerMoore?"
Somewhere in the town, contracts were already being drafted.
Parties were being formed with no destination listed.
Eyes lifted, not toward the sky, but toward the gates leading out of the starting area.
Because whatever those two had done, it hadn't happened here.
And everyone suddenly felt late.
[Blue Terra Star — Worldwide Announcement]
"Another one!?"
Players Deva & BreakerMoore are the first players to successfully infuse multiple non-human bloodlines. Demi races have been unlocked. If requirements are met, races may be purchased with in-game Platinum Coins.
"Demi-races!?"
"Sweet my brother our time is now!"
"Wow that is long list of prices."
Before anyone could start the looking at the race options.
The system spoke again.
The players of Terra Blue Star swore to everything they know about gaming that system spoke with sassy tone.
Like it knew exactly what it was doing and didn't give a shit how anyone felt about it.
Honestly?
It was kind of hot.
Player Deva is the first Beastman to upgrade his body to High Beastman.Beastman racial growth limits removed.Natural weapons reinforced.Physical stat gains increased by 25%.All Beastman players receive +3 Strength and +3 Endurance.
"Already!?""WE HAVEN'T EVEN FINISHED DAY ONE!""Who the hell is this guy!?"
[Blue Terra Star — Worldwide Announcement]
The system didn't chime this time.
It rolled.
The air above the starting town thickened, light bending slightly as layered text unfolded in slow, deliberate succession, like the system had decided subtlety was officially off the table. Players felt it before they read it. That same unmistakable pressure that meant something irreversible was happening.
Someone groaned out loud."Oh no," they muttered. "It's doing the big voice."
The announcement stabilized, then continued.
Player Deva is the first player to advance the Beastman bloodline through High, Ancient, and Primordial stages.
The reward followed immediately, no pause, no mercy.
All players receive +10 permanent stat points, freely allocatable.Training efficiency increased by 5%.Physical fatigue accumulation reduced.
The plaza erupted into shouting before the text even finished scrolling.
"He cleared three tiers!?""That's not progression, that's a fucking speedrun exploit!""No—look at the wording. The system approved it."
Before anyone could recover, the announcement kept going.
Player Deva is the first player to advance the Ogre bloodline through High, Ancient, and Primordial stages.Mass, impact force, and structural durability fully realized.Primordial Ogre Presence unlocked: momentum cannot be negated once established.
The reward hit harder this time.
All players receive +5 Strength, +5 Endurance, and +2 Vitality.Impact resistance increased across all armor types.
Someone actually sat down on the cobblestones, laughing weakly.
"So he didn't just break the ceiling," they said. "He fucking removed it."
And then the system shifted focus.
The tone changed. Sharper. Almost amused.
Player BreakerMoore is the first player to advance the Phoenix bloodline through High, Ancient, and Primordial stages.Regenerative capabilities perfected.Lethal damage resistance unlocked.Primordial Phoenix Trait granted: revival no longer consumes external resources.
The reward was quieter—but somehow more terrifying.
All players receive +3 Vitality and +3 Luck.Death penalties reduced globally.
That one sucked the air out of the town.
"Reduced?" someone whispered. "Not removed. Reduced."
They didn't like how intentional that sounded.
The announcement continued without hesitation.
Player BreakerMoore is the first player to advance the Dragon bloodline through High, Ancient, and Primordial stages.Draconic authority established.Elemental resistance normalized.Primordial Dragon Presence unlocked: hostile entities of lower authority experience suppression.
The reward followed like a hammer.
All players receive +4 Endurance and +4 Willpower.Elemental damage variance reduced.
Players were yelling now. Not cheering. Not celebrating.
Yelling.
"She stacked Phoenix and Dragon!?""That combo alone is illegal!""Why does she get suppression!?"
And still—the system was not finished.
Player BreakerMoore is the first player to advance the Oni bloodline through High, Ancient, and Primordial stages.Oni fury fully stabilized.Pain suppression perfected.Primordial Oni Trait unlocked: burst damage no longer destabilizes the body.
The reward landed heavy.
All players receive +5 Strength and +3 Endurance.Burst damage self-penalties reduced.
The starting town had gone from chaos to something closer to collective shock. Players stood frozen, staring at the layered text like it might blink and say just kidding.
It didn't.
Then the system delivered the final blow.
[Blue Terra Star — Worldwide Announcement][Player Deva & BreakerMoore are the first players to unlock a Hidden Class.][+5,000 Reputation granted.][Thank fuck that is the last one. Now I'm kinda pissed at them, so check this out.]
"…Wait—"
The player didn't get to finish the sentence.
The sky over the starting town ripped open.
Not violently, not like an attack, but like a curtain being yanked aside by something that had grown tired of subtlety. Blue light poured downward, resolving into a massive floating frame that hovered above the plaza, dwarfing the market stalls and nearly brushing the tops of the surrounding towers.
A live feed.
No borders. No filters. No safety blur.
Just raw, unedited reality.
The crowd collectively inhaled.
The feed showed a cavernous stone arena drenched in red light, ancient runes carved so deep into the floor they looked melted rather than etched. The air itself seemed heavy, distorted, like gravity had been dialed up a notch just to be cruel.
And at the center of it—
Two players.
Deva and BreakerMoore.