A new day had just begun.
Rodrick's alarm rang, bells chiming through his phone, and he woke up instantly. He got ready quickly and rushed out of his room.
Rodrick ran along the sidewalk as sweat slid down his forehead. This was no time to stop—he was never going to stop. He wasn't going to fall behind; that much was clear.
As Rodrick ran, he noticed another person running in the distance. It was strange to see people awake at this hour—normally, everyone would still be asleep. From what Rodrick could see, the boy had brown hair and was wearing the academy's hoodie. He was a student like Rodrick, and they even seemed to be about the same age. Curious, Rodrick picked up the pace; he wanted to see who this person was.
After running at top speed for a long time, he still couldn't catch up to the boy. The other runner maintained an excessively fast pace for long-distance running. If Rodrick didn't possess a stellar body, he would have found it impossible even to try to catch him.
At one point, the boy stopped running and stood still in the middle of the path, his chest slowly rising and falling. With one final breath, he walked over to a bench and sat down on one of the many benches scattered across the university campus.
Rodrick decided to stop as well so he could talk to the boy. When he realized who it was, irritation washed over him instantly.
"Tsk, this guy again…"
It was the boy who had managed to form an anchor word the day before—just moments after Nicole Azheven had done so. Everyone had considered him a talent on par with the descendants of the great clans. That had greatly annoyed Rodrick. He hated talented people, even though he himself was one of them; at this university, Rodrick's talent always seemed to lag behind.
"Oh, hi. I had no idea someone else ran at the same time I do," the exhausted boy said.
Rodrick remained silent for another second, staring at him with a frown.
"I usually do it every day. I hadn't seen you around here—was this your first time?"
The boy frowned, noticing the irritation in Rodrick's tone.
"No, it's not my first time. I've been doing this since I arrived at this university, and even before that."
Rodrick clenched his teeth, annoyed.
"Yeah, well. What's your name?" Rodrick asked, trying to ease the tense atmosphere.
"I'm Ethan. And you?"
"My name's Rodrick. Nice to meet you… Ethan."
The two stared into each other's eyes without backing down.
"Nice to meet you, Rodrick."
Then Ethan stood up from the bench and walked back toward the dormitory area.
Rodrick remained standing there.
"Agh, he seems nice."
In the distance, dawn was beginning to emerge—the sunrise was about to arrive. Rodrick sighed. His moment of solitude and rest had come to an end; it was time to start his classes.
***
Rodrick was sitting at one of the hundreds of desks in the combat tactics classroom. Professor Richard was giving the lecture.
"As you already know, challenging a floor of the tower is quite a feat. Completing even a single floor can take up to two months, depending on who is attempting it.
At present, the tower on our continent has been cleared up to floor seventy-three. The aspirants of our continent are truly powerful, but in other regions they have managed to go even further. The Dragon Tower in Asia has already been cleared up to floor eighty-six. They have concentrated all their resources on fully conquering their tower—it's only logical."
The students wrote down every detail the professor shared; missing such useful information would be foolish.
Then, a student Rodrick recognized instantly raised his hand.
"Teacher, in that case, how can we novice aspirants level up? If the tower has already been conquered up to that point, we won't have enemies that match our level," Ethan asked, openly expressing his concern.
"Oh, don't worry about that. That's what the 'Tower Challenges' are for. If you don't pass the challenge, you won't be able to enter the tower. Obviously, it's not the same as conquering a floor, but it's quite similar. The tower will present you with a situation that you must resolve in some way using your ingenuity. The entire team of aspirants attempting to challenge the tower must deal with whatever situation is presented to them.
Sounds simple, don't you think?"
Everyone looked at each other immediately, and several murmurs spread throughout the classroom.
"It must be really simple, right?"
"Of course—that's how they managed to clear so many floors so easily."
"Yeah, it must be easy!"
When all the students had convinced themselves of how easy it would be to climb the tower, Professor Richard began to laugh.
"Of course it sounds easy—until you learn that the challenge presented to someone like Beatriz Taylor was to defeat the Blue Dragon Emperor God on the sixty-first floor of the Eagle Tower."
The murmurs stopped for a second, and then the students began speaking loudly, all of them utterly stunned.
"Did Beatriz Taylor defeat the Blue Dragon Emperor?"
"That's impossible! The Blue Dragon Emperor God is still free—there's no way he's dead!"
Everyone began speculating in the classroom. Professor Richard simply watched his class with a smile, while Rodrick was filled with doubts. He had heard of Beatriz Taylor—the third most powerful Aspirant who had ever existed. It was believed that, by current standards, she would be considered a Saint-Class aspirant, even bordering on the Ancestral Class.
It was madness. Now Rodrick understood why Beatriz had been regarded as one of the Three Supra.
"Calm down, everyone. Aren't you paying attention?" Professor Richard said. "She defeated him in a Tower Challenge. It's something separate from reality. Clearly, she didn't truly defeat the Blue Dragon Emperor God."
Everyone sighed in relief. Rodrick frowned, trying to process what he had heard. He grabbed his notebook and flipped back several pages to the lesson titled 'Fantastic Creatures That Escaped Their Towers.' These creatures were beings that had reached the maximum power of their respective towers, each one ruling over their own domain.
They were known as The Four Dragon Emperors: the Blue Dragon God, the Red Dragon, the Jade Dragon, and the Black Dragon. Each of them was a figure capable of easily bringing an end to the entire planet Earth. However, at present, three of them were sealed by Albestar, the God of Support—the most powerful support-type aspirant to have ever existed—together with the strongest man in the world. They had sealed the Dragons within the Penguin Tower, in Antarctica.
In the end, the class drifted into countless questions, and it finally came to an end.
As he left the classroom, Rodrick rubbed his temples, a headache forming. It had been one of the most informative classes of the month so far.
And now it was time for his favorite class: Master Jack's class—Weapon Handling and Combat.
Rodrick smiled as he walked with the group of students toward the training hall. When they arrived, the instructor stood in the center of the room. The weapons that were supposed to be on the metal racks were no longer there; instead, they were scattered all across the large hall.
"Hello, everyone. Do you remember when I told you exams would be held annually?"
"You see, the school administration—specifically the Headmistress—has been pressuring me to show results," Master Jack said as he massaged his temple. "So, the first exam begins now. It will be a free-for-all battle. You'll search for your weapons among this mess and fight your enemies. There are no clear teams—you'll form your own sides. Good luck, everyone. The exam will begin in five seconds. A student will only be considered disqualified once they are completely subdued and unable to continue fighting. Killing is prohibited."
All the students tensed up instantly. They were afraid—who wouldn't be? For many of them, this would be their first experience in a real fight. Rodrick's hands trembled with anticipation. The first trial had arrived sooner than expected—and that was more than fine.
It was time to prove to himself that he had grown stronger. He had to do it.
"The exam begins in—"
At once, several students began talking and gathering into groups. Rodrick turned his head, searching for someone to ally with, but everyone already seemed decided on who they would team up with.
The four clan descendants had formed a group the moment the exam was mentioned, and Ethan—the boy who had formed an anchor word—had already gathered a small team of his own. Rodrick clicked his tongue in irritation.
"Damn it… I'll have to do this alone."
"Oh, I forgot to mention," Master Jack said casually, "this area is infested with Tower creatures. Try to survive, alright?"
Before Rodrick could react, an ethereal radiance completely filled the enormous hall.
"What the hell?"
In the next instant, all the students vanished. Professor Jack remained where he was, laughing softly.
"Well then, I hope you all do very well."
He said this as he walked toward the exit. Jack pulled out his communicator.
"Well done, Lisa. The aspirants have already been teleported."
"Yeah, I know. You don't have to worship me—though if you really want to, you're more than welcome," a woman replied through the communicator.
Jack laughed.
"Seriously, thanks for helping me with the exam, Lisa. I don't know what I would've done without the help of the best Support Aspirant in this university."
The woman laughed through the device.
"I have to go. I hope you don't forget this favor."
"Of course not, Lisa. I'll reward you properly."
⸻
When Rodrick opened his eyes, he quickly analyzed where he was. The first thing he noticed was the presence of dozens of trees surrounding him. He could hear weapons clashing in the distance, along with frightened screams.
Rodrick began to stand, still dizzy—it seemed he had been one of the last to recover from the teleportation. He had no idea the exam would take place in a space separate from the university.
It was insane.
And yet, Rodrick felt safer than ever before. Now, he could fight back.
Once he fully recovered and got to his feet, Rodrick began walking through the forest. In the distance, he spotted a chest resting atop a large boulder. Rodrick sprinted toward it and, upon reaching the rock, began climbing. His fingers dug forcefully into the stone, creating small cracks every time he gripped it. When he was high enough, Rodrick gathered his strength and launched himself toward the top.
Once there, he looked down and smiled.
"I'm impressive…"
Without wasting time, Rodrick walked over to the chest and opened it. The interior glowed in multiple colors before settling on white. An ethereal voice emerged from within.
"Sword."
That was the only word it spoke before ejecting a blade identical to the one Rodrick used in his training sessions. Rodrick caught it midair and laughed.
"This is insane…"
Rodrick looked down and jumped from the massive boulder. When he landed, a cloud of dust rose around him.
At that moment, a team of aspirants emerged from between the trees. All three wore similar outfits, and even their hairstyles looked alike. They stared at Rodrick with confident smiles.
"He's alone!"
"Damn, we're lucky."
"This'll be easy."
The three aspirants spoke almost in unison. Then, all of them charged straight at Rodrick. He watched them nervously—three against one was madness.
As they ran toward him, Rodrick observed them carefully. They seemed like close friends; they didn't need to speak to understand each other's movements. Each of them approached from a different angle, trying to overwhelm him.
It was a genuinely intelligent strategy. These three were considered quite talented at the university. Individually, they might not have been anything special—but their true strength lay in their teamwork. Rodrick had heard that watching them fight was something else entirely.
And then, a faint sense of confusion crossed Rodrick's mind.
"Why are they so slow?"