NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36: Trending! Level Two!
Dragons were a concept too distant to be real in the minds of the common people.
Only the ancient higher-ups remembered the whispers passed down from their ancestors. Whispers that came with a heavy burden. The reason dragons had been declared forbidden.
In a particular ancient chamber, five elderly men gathered around a circular obsidian table, their expressions somber and filled with unease.
"What is this nonsense? Is one of our youths playing around or trying to create trouble?" one of the elders bellowed, his long silver beard trembling as he slammed his hand against the armrest of his chair. His eyes blazed with anger, but underneath, a flicker of fear lingered.
The other elders exchanged worried glances, their brows furrowed. One of them shook his head slowly and spoke.
"I do not believe it is any of our people. Each of us here has guards watching over our descendants. I have gone through their records. None of them bears that name, nor have they shown signs of such awakening."
A thick silence fell over the room. Each elder sank into deep thought, and the weight of the situation pressed down on their chests like stone.
What the man said made sense. None of their descendants could have triggered this.
But if not theirs, then whose?
Could this be a sign?
Was this the beginning of the return?
The return of dragons?
"No. You are all letting your imaginations run wild," another elder finally said, breaking the silence with a calm but heavy voice. "We stand at the peak of the Origin World. We were the ones who received that divine message directly from the gods. It is impossible for dragons to awaken. They were wiped out. The gods made it clear."
Yet despite his words, doubt lingered in the air like a poison.
Each elder began to recall the day those whispers had surfaced in their minds, flooding their consciousness with ancient warnings and divine commands.
They shivered.
The message had been burned into their very souls.
Dragons are now forbidden. All living dragons have been eliminated from existence.
That was not all. There had been more creatures listed.
Abominations, abyssals, demons, and other horrors that had once rampaged across the world.
But following the divine decree, those too had disappeared, vanished into nothingness.
The memory sent chills crawling down their backs.
After a long pause, one of the elders stood up slowly, his joints cracking.
"We should not waste more time theorizing. Spread the word. Order a complete scan of all participants at the gate to the Tower of Heaven. From this moment, the gate is sealed."
The others nodded in agreement. Their figures shimmered and vanished, leaving only the elder behind in the darkened chamber.
He remained seated for a while, gently stroking his beard. The candlelight flickered across his wrinkled face as he sighed deeply.
"Dragons… we have never encountered one ourselves, only the legends. I truly hope this is just a false alarm. Nothing good can come from that name returning to our world. Not when it even made the gods tremble."
His voice faded into the quiet hum of the wind, carried away like dust.
Unaware of the chaos he had stirred, Aleron calmly stepped into the next floor of the Tower of Heaven.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the world shifted around him. He found himself standing in a vast white room, identical in design to the first, yet something felt heavier here. The air buzzed with a strange intensity, and the light was dimmer, colder.
His gaze swept across the space.
Surrounding him were goblins.
They were just like before—hideous, twisted creatures with hunched backs and rotting skin. Their eyes glowed with malice. But this time, something was different. Aleron could sense it.
They were stronger.
Though they had not yet ascended to level two or reached the Origin Apprentice Realm, they were growing dangerously close.
Aleron narrowed his eyes. He took in every detail. Their claws looked sharper. Their movements more coordinated. But still, they were no match for him.
Without hesitation, Aleron spread his dark wings and launched into action the moment he laid eyes on a group of corrupted fallen.
A thunderous bang echoed as he ripped through the air, appearing in front of the goblins in the blink of an eye. His claws gleamed as they swung in a deadly arc.
Five goblins were caught instantly, their bodies crushed under the strength of his strike.
His eyes began to glow.
With a thought, he activated the Infernal Eyes.
His vision warped. Colors melted into one another, and a haunting red hue overtook his irises, now patterned with thin golden slits.
Aleron raised his hand, fingers twitching.
"Rise, my fire spirits."
Flames burst forth in tiny sparks all around him. Within moments, the sparks swirled, gathered, and took shape. A hundred spirits of fire hovered in the air, their forms flickering like candlelight in a storm.
The summoning came at a cost. Aleron felt his origin energy plummet. Out of his five hundred total energy, only one hundred remained.
Still, he showed no fear.
He pointed forward.
The fire spirits, as if controlled by an unseen conductor, surged toward the goblin horde like a burning wave.
Explosions followed.
Goblins screamed as flames devoured them.
The system lit up in his mind.
[Congratulations. You have slain a tier one corrupted creature.]
[You have gained 100 experience.]
[You have gained 100 experience.]
[You have gained 100 experience.]
Aleron gave the notifications a brief glance before shifting his attention back to the mission board.
He estimated the number of goblins remaining. There were easily over five hundred—much more than the hundred he faced on the first level.
[Mission: Slay 10,000 abominations to awaken an origin ability.]
[Progress: 4,227 out of 10,000.]
He nodded slightly. He was nearly halfway there. Soon, he would reach the ten thousand mark.
And then, he would awaken something special.
He could feel it.
His heart beat faster.
He sent a silent thought to the system.
"How much time has passed since I entered this level?"
Words blinked to life in front of his eyes.
[Host, twenty-three seconds have passed.]
Aleron smirked and turned back toward the goblins.
Most of the fire spirits had already completed their purpose. Though there were only a hundred of them, they had taken down two goblins each before combusting.
Roughly three hundred goblins remained.
Aleron cracked his knuckles.
"In that case, I will take care of the rest."
He launched forward again, this time using every ounce of speed and power at his disposal.
As he moved, he felt something strange.
His body was faster. Stronger.
A faint silver glow radiated from within his skin.
He glanced down.
"My bloodline… is it awakening?"
He grinned, elation bubbling inside him.
Just as the Tower had promised, his physical abilities had grown drastically.
He opened his mouth and released a powerful roar.
From deep within, a torrent of flame surged outward. It was hotter than before, larger, and brighter. A streak of white light shimmered within the flames.
Aleron instantly understood. The white light was part of his bloodline.
With renewed energy, he rushed into the goblin horde.
His claws danced like blades of wind, slicing through flesh and bone. Goblins were torn apart before they could even react.
In mere seconds, he had slaughtered another hundred.
The system rang with constant notifications.
[You have gained 100 experience.]
[You have gained 100 experience.]
[You have gained 100 experience.]
He ignored the noise and continued to kill.
Eventually, only silence remained.
Aleron stood still, his chest rising and falling. Black and green blood dripped from his claws, thick and hot. Around him were broken corpses, some burned to ash, others twisted into grotesque shapes beyond recognition.
He exhaled slowly.
There was a dark satisfaction in the violence. A primal release that he could not deny.
Then, a beautiful string of glowing runes appeared.
[Congratulations on completing the second level of the Tower of Heaven.]
[Do you wish to continue?]
[Yes / No]
He paused for only a second before selecting yes.
The system shimmered once more.
[Congratulations. You are the first to complete the second level within one minute.]
[Your rewards have been increased significantly.]
Aleron raised his eyebrows.
More words appeared.
[You have received a special title.]
[Continue completing all levels within a minute to earn greater rewards.]
[Note: Group levels are excluded from this.]
Suddenly, light descended upon him.
An intense wave of pain coursed through his veins.
It was unbearable. His bones screamed. His blood boiled. But this time, the pain was more tolerable than before.
His past experience had hardened him.
Still, it hurt deeply.
He clenched his teeth, refusing to make a sound.
The pain dragged on for what felt like hours.
Finally, it faded.
Aleron collapsed to the ground, panting. The cold floor met his cheek, and for a moment he simply lay there.
Then, slowly, he rose and looked at the system screen blinking before him.
[Congratulations. You have received one percent of the Arcane Star Bloodline.]
[Your skills and stats have increased significantly.]
[With this bloodline, you can absorb essence from stars to enhance your abilities and power.]
Aleron read it carefully.
"One percent again…"
He fell into contemplation.
There were one hundred levels in the Tower of Heaven.
If he received one percent per level, then once he completed all of them, his bloodline would be fully awakened.
And when that day came, Aleron would no longer be bound to this world.
He would rise beyond it.
To the stars.