After enduring the torture of reliving a thousand memories, accompanied by several lashes of an invisible whip that could tear his skin like butter, he suffered immense physical and mental damage, only for his agony to be interrupted by an old man blabbering rubbish.
"I… I don't… think I can… join you in… that tower…" Sol muttered between gasps, an empty smile on his face as his body slowly swayed back and forth.
The Guide adjusted his monocle and observed Sol's condition for five seconds before giving a nod of approval.
"Worry not. I am obligated to patch you up after every trial. Your duty is to pass the trials, and mine is to keep you alive after the trial."
With that, the Guide snapped his fingers, and Sol was instantly engulfed in a golden hue. As the blinding light dimmed, Sol found himself completely healed, his hands fully regrown.
"How?" Sol gasped, staring at his hands in awe.
The pain he had felt vanished in an instant, like it was never there. As someone who had lived as a normal human all his life, how could he not be impressed?
"The Tower of Heaven is one of the four primordial-tier sacred artifacts in this universe. It is directly linked to Idia. Recovering your damaged primal soul is nothing." The Guide shrugged Sol's question aside and began walking toward the massive golden doors.
What came to this place was Sol's soul, not his physical body. It shouldn't be surprising that a sacred artifact linked to the source of all creation could heal his injuries in an instant.
"You mean this entire tower is an artifact?" Sol gasped as he looked toward the sky.
How could a tower tall enough to reach the abyss and the underworld be merely an artifact?
He had heard about sacred artifacts and had even seen a few on television, but they were clearly of extremely low grade—if this entire tower was considered an artifact.
Sol followed the man to the door and watched as it slid apart, causing the entire building to tremble violently.
"The Tower of Heaven is the guardian of the Origin Cores. The power of Gods." The Guide explained with a polite smile.
Once the door opened, Sol was greeted by a majestic corridor with vaulted ceilings supported by statues of Olympian men. There was no visible source of light, yet the room was well illuminated by a golden radiance that was nothing short of majestic.
"The power of Gods?" Sol raised a brow as he followed the Guide into the tower.
"Well, of course. Idia has but a few inheritances bearing the core of its power. One cannot become a God without gaining any of its inheritances. Origin Cores are one such inheritance." The Guide explained as they walked down the hall.
"What are the other inheritances?" Sol asked, unable to help himself.
He received no response.
The Guide continued walking in silence, leaving Sol with no choice but to shift his attention elsewhere. He began observing the sculpted pillars and noticed one disturbing detail—their faces were always distorted, twisted with several emotions overlapping into something hard to look at.
Not one or two. This was a consistent pattern in every statue.
Halfway through the corridor, they stopped before another Cherubim statue wielding an unfolded scroll.
"Know thyself and stay true to thy core."
Sol scratched his head while reading the words.
The last time he tried to interpret the writings on these scrolls, he nearly lost his life. This time, he was more hesitant, more reserved with his thoughts. The Guide noticed the struggle beneath Sol's calm expression and asked,
"Who are you?"
Sol raised a brow and shot him a deep glance as he pondered the question.
Who am I?
He was Aurelius Sol, of course. But that clearly wasn't what the Guide was asking. He was asking what kind of person he was.
Honestly, if not for the previous trial that forced him to relive a thousand memories, he would have struggled to find an answer. But after witnessing his life from a third-person perspective, he had come to understand himself deeply.
He was a child envious of other people's joy and overjoyed in their suffering.
Because of the neglect he endured, he wanted nothing more than to become the center of attention—the one the world could not do without. The validation and approval he never received from his parents were things he intended to extract from others.
He was a broken child with no morals, no values, and no bottom line.
"Scum. A broken scumbag." Sol finally said after some thought.
It was the best word to describe him.
"True." The Guide wasn't surprised by how quickly or accurately Sol answered.
They moved past the statue and continued down the hall.
"The Origin Core is a power that unveils the true nature of its wielder. It demands loyalty to one's character and punishes disloyalty with corruption," the Guide began. "Fear not. You will be given three choices based on your most dominant traits. You may choose which one to lean into."
Hearing this, Sol raised a brow in intrigue. It reminded him of the information he had gathered on Ascendants. One of the main reasons people feared becoming an Ascendant was because, most times—
"An Ascendant's greatest weakness is his Origin Core," Sol muttered absentmindedly.
From what he had learned through public sources, Origin Cores were not random powers. They were representations—roles an Ascendant was tasked with embodying and protecting.
"One must stay true to his core or risk going lost" was a popular phrase whenever Ascendants were discussed. The term lost was synonymous with madness or corruption, with many recorded cases of Ascendants going on violent rampages before being put down by others of their kind.
"But of course. When you gain an Origin Core, you are bestowed a role to play in the universe by Idia. Betraying the role of the source of all things will naturally be met with severe consequences. Not even Gods are exempt from this punishment—and I am certain you are well aware of what a mad deity looks like." The Guide replied.
Sol chuckled, unable to help but think of God, who was currently driving the world toward ruin.
Does this mean that mad God was also a wielder of an Origin Core, or some other inheritance?
"What drove God to madness?" Sol asked, seizing the opportunity.
As far as history recorded, beyond 130 years ago, humanity was doing fine. How could he not be curious about what changed and led to the nightmare he now lived in?
The Guide looked over his shoulder, giving Sol a deep stare. Of all the humans who had passed through the tower, none had been curious enough to ask about the origin of the chaos. Everyone else focused on surviving the trials, which was understandable.
But this boy was looking beyond the trials. Beyond the Origin Cores.
His gaze was fixed on God.
And it wasn't fear.
This boy…
"Unfortunately, there are things I cannot share with a mortal. If you truly seek the answer, you will have to find it yourself." The Guide replied after a moment of thought.
Sol sighed with a small smile. He had expected as much.
At the end of the hall stood three narrow doors, each leading to a thin staircase spiraling upward. They looked identical, yet something about them felt wrong.
Depending on which door he focused on, an overwhelming emotion assaulted him—each one different.
"Lean into the one that feels most like you. This is where your Origin Core and future trials are decided," the Guide explained.
Sol ignored him and turned to the first door on the left.
Rage.
Anger.
Memories of his suffering surged forward. Images of his peers living happy lives in warm homes, while he lived in fear—knowing something as simple as breathing too loudly could draw attention. This door represented the version of him that wanted to burn everything down.
Slowly, Sol shifted his gaze to the center door.
The rage vanished, replaced by emptiness.
It reminded him of every moment he sat alone in a dark corner, watching his parents live as if he didn't exist. Coming home from school to discover they had gone on vacation without telling him. No food. No money. Nothing.
The days he worked for an old store owner who was just bored and needed company, all so he could earn a meal, while other children played freely outside.
If not for the first trial that taught him emotional detachment, he suspected he would have broken down crying upon realizing this side of himself still existed.
Reluctantly, Sol turned to the third door.
A playful chuckle escaped his lips.
Memories surfaced—of leaving clues for his parents to uncover each other's affairs. Watching them fight, curse, pull, and scream at each other. For the first time in a long while, young Sol had been entertained.
He hadn't done it out of resentment or a desire to break them apart.
He did it because it was fun.
Curiosity drove him. He wanted to see how far things could go.
That habit followed him into high school. Whenever he uncovered a nasty secret—teacher or student—he couldn't stop himself from leaving clues that would eventually expose them.
Watching the chaos unfold was always the best part.
Seeing people's flaws laid bare made him feel less strange. It shifted attention away from him, even if only for a while.
At his peak, before his expulsion, Sol exposed his homeroom teacher's sexual affair with a male student. The fallout was legendary. It soon came to light that she had been involved with several other underaged students and even their parents.
His father was one of them.
The chaos that followed—at home and at school—created what Sol would forever consider the best three months of his life.
For the first time since standing before the doors, Sol allowed a genuine smile to spread across his face as he savored those memories.
Without hesitation, he walked into the third door, never once looking back.
Lost in his emotions, he had forgotten about the Guide entirely.
The Guide, however, stood still, staring at the door Sol had chosen.
When this boy reached the top of the stairs, the Guide saw not someone broken beyond repair—but an abomination that threatened the safety of everything.
And that was precisely what made him perfect.
According to its boundless knowledge, humans like Sol were always the most capable. It knew the Origin Core Idia would present him would be powerful—but it never expected the third door to appear.
Nor did it expect Sol to choose it.
"Since the existence of the Tower of Heaven, only one being has acquired the Devil Origin Core. And now it has appeared again." The Guide frowned. "Could this signal the rise of the Demon Race once more in this universe?"
If only the world knew the terror about to be born.
The Armageddon Games would look like child's play compared to the chaos this boy would unleash.
"The universe will fall into another millennium of turmoil if the boy succeeds in inheriting that core," the Guide murmured.
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