[The concubi are evolving!] [The Fingills are evolving!] [The Shellmounts are evolving!] Some time after my children reached their final form, the other species also went through changes. After all, Terras weren’t the only ones who could evolve. The children of the land simply opened the door to the new change. One by one, the species that were capable of evolution emanated aura. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered around the Energy Dragon of the Deep Sea, sitting in the lotus position on the monster’s limbs or even his claws. All of them blazed their colorful aura. The entire area became bright, as if it were wrapped in a rainbow. That light was also like a burning candle, while the giant monster was the wick. [The Energy Dragon of the Deep Sea’s presence has weakened.] [The Energy Dragon of the Deep Sea can no longer wake up.] [The Energy Dragon of the Deep Sea’s presence has weakened.] I narrowed my eyes as I looked at the hologram. The colossal dragon was shrinking at a fast pace, similar to when I fought the Demon King of Autumn Rain. The Constellation was losing his divinity before everyone’s eyes. Still, he’s very calm. The dragon didn’t resist. Actually, he couldn’t do much of anything because the concubi were holding him captive in the dream world. That giant turtle probably didn’t feel pain or fall into despair. [The Energy Dragon of the Deep Sea’s presence has weakened.] [The Energy Dragon of the Deep Sea is no longer able to maintain his authorization level.] [Adjusting authorization level.] [The Energy Dragon of the Deep Sea’s title has been revoked.] It was a peaceful death. Finally, the monster crumbled, consumed by his own children. “This is the good ending,” the Black Witch said. She had remained silent as she watched the children evolve, but now she seemed to have regained some of her composure. “Even if the continent is abundant in aura thanks to that dragonbutt, even if it’s true that all the eight species benefited from him, he shouldn’t feel wronged.” She calmly evaluated the monster’s death. “He tried to kill his own children. How can a creator or parent bare his teeth at his own offspring? That makes him nothing but a beast. Beasts fight and kill each other, and only the strongest survive.” “And our children are strong.” “That’s right. Our children are really strong.” Anastasha and I looked at each other and laughed. We and our other colleagues looked happy, as if we had cleared the floor ourselves. Perhaps we were happier than that. The air in the room felt warm. “Well, all the species did a good job,” I said with a smile. “If we were to pick the children who did the best among them, wouldn’t that be the Terras?” Anastasha frowned. “Huh? What are you talking about? If the concubi hadn’t put the dragonbutt to sleep, it would have been impossible to clear the floor in the first place, and it was the Bloodborns who brought the concubi. They did the most work. If you think about it, the Terras snatched the spotlight at the end.” The Inquisitor laughed. “Hmm! You have a point, but if it weren’t for the Shellmounts constructing those staircases, people wouldn’t have been able to climb the dragon’s shell! The key to this operation was absorbing aura. The number of people who could cling to the dragon was critical. In that regard, the Shellmounts made a remarkable contribution to the success of the operation!” “You guys don’t know what you’re talking about. So what if a million people wanted to climb on the turtle’s shell?” the Countess asked as she licked her paw. “They needed to get there quickly by boat, have food to eat while traveling and a bed to sleep in after arrival. Needless to say, the Sylvans run the continent’s capital and land logistics. Do you get that? Objectively speaking, the Sylvans actually had the greatest contribution. They just went under the radar.” The Paladin cleared her throat. “Just so you know, the Fingills are in charge of water logistics. This is just an objective fact since you brought up being objective in our judgments.” Huh? Do they truly think that their children had the most contribution in this operation? I smiled. “Come on, guys. It’s obvious that the Terras were the best. Love blinded you pretty hard, didn’t it? The answer is so obvious, but you guys are still standing up for your children.” No joke, the air in the room suddenly became icy, as if the warmth from just a moment ago had never existed in the first place. Did they really believe that their children played the biggest role in this quest? This was ridiculous. Was this what people called cognitive dissonance? Yes, my Terras were the true stars of this floor, but I didn’t dig this jealousy from my colleagues. “[Ding! The Death King has begun to harbor negative feelings toward his colleagues. He has yet to realize that their camaraderie and friendship, which seemed unbreakable at first glance, would turn sour because of their children.]” “What are you doing, Princess?” “It’s a game,” the Mirage-Walking Princess replied. “Do you know that a single person is typing all the messages, descriptions, and status windows?” “Anyway, you cleared the thirty-eighth floor! Congratulations!” The princess tried imitating a trumpet. “Actually, the stages you have cleared are different in each world. The first to tenth floors are basically tutorials, so they are pretty similar. But the eleventh to the thirty-first floors are completely different. There are more worlds out there than stars in the night sky, and countless stages for you Ascenders to perform!” Her words caught the attention of Anastasha and the other colleagues. “Stages are different in each world... Does that mean that there are different worlds with a Tower of their own?” The princess nodded. “Yes! Well, people from different worlds rarely meet each other before the forty-ninth floor.” “So that the Tower remains beginner-friendly?” “Something like that. From the fiftieth floor onward, you will have to compete with Ascenders from all across the universe.” My colleagues looked excited. Although I had already known this for a long time, it was as if they were hearing this for the first time. Ah, wait. This is really their first time hearing about it. My colleagues were different from me. Thanks to the Guardian, I already knew that Hunters from another world existed. After all, he was a legendary figure who had reached the ninety-ninth floor in another world. Except for the Sword Star, I doubt everyone else knew about this. I was the weird one for meeting the Tower master and digging for the truth about the Tower. Most people didn’t want to know that or had no way of finding out this type of information. “But the thirty-first to the forty-ninth floors are mostly the same in all realms,” the princess continued. This was my first time hearing this information. The princess smiled brightly. “In the end, it’s a matter of how you handle the stages. Some people take the easy path while others go with the difficult one. You can consider the thirty-first to the forty-ninth floor practice for what happens when you meet people from another world starting with the fiftieth floor! And now it’s time to pay the price for that experience. Well, when children grow up, they are bound to see their parents’ bare side one day.” Price? My colleagues were about to ask what that meant. [The quest is in progress.] [All the quest challengers are teleported to the thirty-ninth floor.] [Displaying the thirty-ninth floor quest.] Difficulty level: TBD Goal: You have helped your species overcome many challenges. These obstacles were the ferocious Mother Nature, a different species, an unidentified plague from a new continent, and even the continent’s creator. Now it’s your turn to be the final test! You have become a god and reigned over your species, but you aren’t truly a god. You have to earn each day to continue living. Every day, you need to eat. You laugh or get angry. Just like your species, you are also just a person. Make a choice. Would you let your species know that you are human? Or will you hide the truth forever and treat your species as your inferiors? ※If you hide the truth, you can no longer climb the Tower. This was what sank the Hunters and halted the Fire Emperor’s unstoppable march before my regression. It wasn’t a monster or a Constellation that stopped his ascension. The history he had written himself turned around to bite him. Now was the time for our children to know that, too. I had been preparing for this moment for a long time. “If I had to give him a title, Kekerukker is the Terras’ scummy friend.” I constantly emphasized to my children that I wasn’t a god but their parent, or, more accurately, a friend. “Throughout his entire life, Apostle Gorke always told his kin that Kekerukker isn’t a nice transcendental being. He’s simply a friend who tries to take care of us.” “He has a foul mouth and is quite petty. He’s not a friend we want to have near.” Maybe it would have been easier to pretend to be a real god. I had protected the Terras from the volcano’s lava. I had helped them escape the empire’s salt mine. As they played in the mud, I taught them how to draw markings on their skin. I created their writing system and showed them how to become the sovereign species of the continent. There had been many, many opportunities for me to become the Terras’ god. If I truly wanted that, they would become more fanatical than any other religion followers. “The other names we call Kekerukker are Foul-Mouth Lion, Punch Enthusiast, and Zealot of Violent Education.” I couldn’t do that because, one day, I had to let my kids know I wasn’t a god. “Fire God, what are you talking about?” Before my regression, the Fire Emperor had reigned as an absolute god to the Sylvans. When they slaughtered other species, burned the world, and wreaked havoc, the Fire Emperor always commanded them in the name of heaven’s will. The Sylvans, who had witnessed miracles since the genesis of their species, had no choice but to fall victim to his fraud. Because of that, they were devastated by the betrayal of their “god.” “What in the world does that mean?” “For fuck’s sake. What kind of quest is this? Yeah, something didn’t feel right when the system said that the quests are connected.” The Fire Emperor clicked his tongue. He had to reveal the truth to proceed with the stage. “What part don’t you understand? I’m not a god. What’s with the long faces? So what if I’m not a god? Do you have a problem with that? You gotta be kidding me. If it weren’t for me, you bastards would have gone extinct long ago. Thanks to me, you’re the most influential, prosperous species on the continent. Does any of that change just because I’m not a god? I. Helped. You. You can’t deny that. The massacres? My orders? It’s your fault for getting fooled. “Wow, you guys are ridiculous. After looting the entire continent, you’re saying you have a problem with that? I didn’t use you. You used me. You guys also enjoyed killing other species. It was so fucking convenient to be able to use the excuse that you’re doing it in your god’s name, right? Then you should know how to be thankful. You ungrateful bastards.” The result was, of course, a disaster. The Sylvans realized that there was no god among them. The Fire God was nothing but a charlatan, and there was no reason other species should have been destroyed. Everything they had achieved over thousands of years, all the massacres and wars, was just a hoax devised by a trickster pretending to be their creator. Now, the Sylvans were divided. “What are you looking at? Do you think I’m scared of you? If you have a problem, come at me.” The priests, the class reigning at the top of the species, were killed by their subordinates. The warriors were divided and started a civil war among themselves. Of course, most of the Sylvans antagonized False God Yoo Soo-Ha. The enemies the Hunters fought on the fortieth floor were none other than the Sylvans. They had supported and believed in the Fire Emperor up until he betrayed them, so they were now enemies blocking the Hunters’ path. On top of that, the few survivors of the species that the Fire Emperor destroyed also became enemies. Those survivors had rebelled against him even when he had called himself a god. After it was revealed that Yoo So-Ha was human, the resistance became more intense. He truly brought everything upon himself. “How can a creator or parent bare his teeth at his own offspring? That makes him nothing but a beast. Beasts fight and kill each other, and only the strongest survive.” That was what happened back when the Fire Emperor was the Rank 1 Hunter. The Hunters had ended up stuck fighting the Sylvans. This was no longer the case. “What do you want to do now?” the Mirage-Walking Princess asked. “If you choose not to reveal the truth, you guys can continue to reign as gods like you have done so far. Ah, even if you fail the quest, the stages you have cleared so far will be preserved. Basically, the entire continent from the thirty-first to the thirty-ninth floor will become part of your Tower! As a bonus, your species will continue following you.” The princess smiled brightly. “But if you reveal the secret, everything you’ve done will be made public. All the conversations you’ve had, the actions you’ve taken... That video will be directly screened in the minds of everyone on the continent.” “The continent is going to turn upside down. The muscle pig knows who you guys are, but no one else does! Let me ask you again—what will you choose?” I already knew my answer, of course.