In the year 2135, on the Blue Planet, a massive tower clawed its way into the sky — black as night, wreathed in a gloomy aura that devoured the sun, the moon, and the hopes of humanity. At that moment, every human received a system — a power that felt almost like a game, complete with levels, abilities, and stat screens. But it wasn’t a game.
The system’s warning was clear and merciless:
Clear every ten floors within six months, or the tower will devour your world.
Three years had passed since the tower’s arrival. Humanity clawed its way up, floor by floor, desperate to survive. No one knew how many floors there were — only that each one was deadlier than the last. And now, in this desperate struggle, Alem and his friends had reached Floor 41, hoping to hunt monsters and level up, to grow strong enough to keep climbing.
But they hadn’t expected this.
In the depths of a dark dungeon, Alem fought for his life. A monstrous angel, wreathed in divine light, bore down on him like the wrath of the heavens. Its level didn’t even appear on the system — an anomaly, a creature not meant to exist on Floor 41.
“Run!” Alem shouted to his comrades. “I’ll hold it back!”
But betrayal came in the form of a friend’s blade, driven through his side in a moment of desperation.
His best friend. The man who had fought by his side for sixteen years — almost two decades of laughter, hardship, and unspoken loyalty — turned his blade on him.
“I’m sorry…” the man whispered, his voice raw with regret. “I have to save them. We can’t all die here.”
Alem sank to his knees, blood gushing from the wound, warm and sticky as it pooled around him. The world blurred as memories flickered through his mind: the countless nights they had spent side by side, dreaming of conquering the tower three years ago — the tower that demanded humanity clear every ten floors within six months or face extinction.
He wanted to scream, to rage against the betrayal… but in the end, there was only emptiness.
“So… this is how it ends,” Alem thought bitterly. His heart was too tired to rage, too worn out to even grieve the betrayal of someone he had trusted with everything. In the face of betrayal, he felt… nothing.
The angel’s brilliance grew until everything was swallowed by white light.
And then… time stopped.
A figure appeared in the stillness, lounging in the air as though reclining on an invisible couch. She wore a stunning purple dress that shimmered with moonlight, her long, wavy purple hair framing her face. Her golden eyes, bright and divine, were half-lidded with sleepiness.
“Ah… what a mess,” she drawled