[World Announcement!]

To the beings of the world, Earth or Planet 342; the Close Mystery Tower, 'Tower of Growth' will now open!

How to access the Tower of Growth:

1. Ask the System for access.

2. The System will present a question to the player who asked for access.

3. With the player's permission, along with the player's party, the mysterious power of the tower will transport the players inside the Tower of Growth itself.

Reminders:

– Once the player or the party accessed the Tower of Growth, they could not leave; it's either to clear it or to be eliminated.

– The difficulty will not be adjusted even if a solo player or a party less than the maximum capacity challenges the Tower of Growth.

May your choice bring forth the future you wanted to create.historical

...

[World Announcement!]

As the Close Mystery Tower opens, the influence of the Constellations that are observing or interacting with the inhabitants of Planet 342 has been greatly strengthened!

...

Many things had ended tonight; Freya's innocent hands had been tainted with blood; Arthur's life had been snatched away, but more importantly, the repercussions it would bring in the future would either be for the better or the worst because it was supposed to be Jiho and Anya who would take the matters in their hands, but Anya instead focused on Jiho's identity, and Jiho focused on Anya's information regarding the 'Dungeon Terrorism' that might be the cause of his secluded village, Sanctus Solaris' nigh destruction.

With the control of Amelie, Arthur discreetly reported what happened, not to the Shadow Guild, but rather, to Azalea, the owner of the Thorn of Rose.

The initial plan was to let Arthur call someone he trusted in the Shadow Guild, but Russell retracted the idea, and instead suggested Azalea.

Through the call, Arthur had told her that Russell recommended her to take on such matters; without a doubt, it was cleaned up neatly — a very skillful cover-up.

What Azalea did was to send some men to the Blue Circle Bar, VIP Room 01, and let them enter the room under Arthur's order.

These men's profession was called Gravekeeper; they have the exclusive skill to turn a coffin into a finger-size miniature after a body was placed inside; then Arthur dealt with the two guards outside the door by ordering them to take some day off, in which the two guards happily obliged.

After that, he fabricated a story on how the two; Ferd and Algar died, as well as Reinhardt and Ruina; they raided a Strayed Dungeon that's also under the control of Azalea as the owner of Thorn of Rose.

The Thorn of Rose was something that was not hidden under the gaze of the TOP-ranked Players, instead, they just didn't know the identity of the one who was managing the entire organization throughout the Orion Continent.

It means that it would only be normal even if Arthur said to the Shadow Guild's Guild Master that they attempted to raid a Strayed Dungeon with the help of B rank guards, but rather met with an unknown variable which resulted in the death of the two B rank guards, Reinhardt, and Ruina.

And with Russell's help, with his knowledge about his unpublished novel, he named a certain Strayed Dungeon that fitted the bill that's under the control of Azalea or the Thorn of Rose; Azalea then ordered some of her men to fabricate the Strayed Dungeon records entry.

With that, everything that had transpired has been settled; though Russell and the others hoped that some loopholes wouldn't be found by others, especially Reinhardt's family who's aiming for Samantha's father's businesses.

...

October 17, 2062 – One day "after" the opening of the Tower of Growth.

"Surprise!!!"

"Haha! I didn't forget, you know, but I didn't expect this... Thank you so much!"

Russell let out a genuine laugh as he hugged his parents, as well as his younger sister — a family hug he never experienced in his previous life.

[Activating Skill: Mark of the Night (EX).]

Patting the head of his mother and father, he finally had the chance to use the emergency skill that would let him teleport to them wherever they were, and would allow him to know if they were in a very dangerous situation.

...

He and Freya went to their new home that's situated in the Southern Obelisk City, just near the small blacksmithing company of Old Cal — the one who saved their family from complete ruin several years ago.

Thanks to the money they received from selling the rights of the first Micro-Strayed Dungeon, it was more than enough for them to buy a new home, and contribute to Old Cal's company.

"Happy Birthday, son."

Arche Moon, their father greeted him as Russell hugged them tightly.

"Russell, Happy 17th Birthday. I love you."

It was Melina Moon's words of affirmation.

"Oppa... Happy birthday, I love you!"

It was Freya's love for her older brother.

As the hugs were released, Russell looked at them with a teary eye. Although he's 33 years old mentally excluding his 17 years of age in this world, he's deeply touched by the surprise that his parents did.

Freya was also informed about it, causing her to make some excuses to delay their return after the recent incident regarding Arthur Wolfson and the others.

"Thank you, I love you, too. Mom... Dad... Freya..."

Even with the staggering amount of money they now possessed, their parents didn't make a grand surprise, but rather a simple feast because they were not used to it yet.

"Russell... I don't know what to give you, it's just overwhelming with the amount of money you and Freya gave me and your father."

"Haha, Mom... Don't worry about it. The only thing that matters is that you are safe.

"To be honest, I'm the one who has a surprise for you and Dad..."

"Haha! Mom, Dad! It looks like you two will be the ones celebrating!"

Freya said cheerfully as she and her older brother took out some things from their respective Dimensional Inventory.

"...Skillbooks??"

Their mother asked in wonder; Russell and Freya took out several Skillbooks; the former took out the Skillbooks for Blacksmithing, for his father, while the latter took out the Skillbooks for Transmuter, for her mother.

"Yes, Mom. With this, you'll be able to help Old Cal in more ways. You know, we didn't ask the two of you to resign from your job because we are indebted to him even though we are now wealthy, right...?"

Freya said with a smile as her deep blue eyes seemed to produce tears since it was the first time that she would be able to greatly help her mother.

"You... Freya, Russell... Sigh... I have no words... You know, we have wished that we have a Fighting-type profession so we could protect the two of you, especially since the opening of something like the Tower of Growth."

"Don't worry, Mom... Just stay safe! Argh! I'm hungry, let's eat dinner first!"

"You silly girl, really."

Melina smiled at her delightful daughter before she looked at her son; they then proceeded with the feast that they prepared tonight for Russell's birthday.

...

On the roof of their new home, Russell was lying on the roof with both his hands at the back of his head.

The view of the starry night sky seemed more majestic, the bluish moon was illuminating the parts of the world, and the cold wind was sending chills down his skin.

A wave of nostalgia started to envelop him as various thoughts surfaced in his mind.

He, Freya, and his parents were originally from the country, Cassiopeia, or the Land of the Nobles; then, their parents were living in a place that the nobles of that country found filthy – the Red Lunar District.

His mother, Melina was originally a prostitute before she met Arche Moon, his father. During that time, Arche Moon was only a carriage driver; though humanity had advanced so much, it didn't apply to every part of the Orion Continent such as the Red Lunar District. The nobles considered the place so filthy that it was forbidden to drive even a car or motorcycle even just near that area.

It also served as evidence that even though the Obelisk Organization exists, the rulers of their respective countries could impose a law based on their King, Queen, or President, along with their Senates' desire. In other words, the Obelisk Organization's main purpose was only the unification of humanity in the grand scheme of things such as humanity's future.

Then one day, Melina ran from her work because she couldn't take it anymore, but then, she became wanted because of a "certain noble" that became obsessed with her after only one night.

It was that time she met Arche Moon; she didn't know whether it was meant to be, but she unintentionally dragged Arche — who was a carriage driver at that time — along with her problem just because he did let her ride the carriage to escape.

The nobleman who became obsessed with Melina died because he became crazy with her; he abused himself with drugs, specifically with Dark Tears that let the person experience his inner desire. He died just two days after Melina escaped the brothel she was working to.

The father of the nobleman, a Marquis in the Cassiopeia blamed Melina and did everything to capture her, but Arche, who helped her unintentionally was dragged along the way.

Normally, it would be the execution that awaited them, but the Marquis wanted them to suffer in their lifetime, so he rather enslaved and then branded them with something called a "Red Mark". This caused Melina and Arche to have their human rights — that even some slaves had — to be revoked; it means that they became the lowest of the lowest kind of people in that certain Marquis' territory.

In the beginning, Arche pleaded to the Marquis that he didn't know anything or never knew the person named Melina, but to no avail, his words, as a commoner, just left the Marquis' ears. Then, Arche, after some time, looked at Melina and felt pity, then that pity turned into compassion, and that compassion turned into love.

Through the years, Melina and Arche developed feelings for each other, especially because of the hardships they faced together, and then one day, Melina became pregnant with Russell, then the year after that, she became pregnant with Freya.

They told their story to Russell and Freya when they began to understand worldly situations or some things; they admitted that it was not planned, but they were grateful that they were born at that time.

With their "Red Mark", their son and daughter also inherited it; their rights to access even the simplest of things became restricted; Russell and Freya became a laughing stock as the son and daughter of the filthy prostitute and a mere carriage driver; they became the subjects of bullying by other nobles that visited the Marquis' territory.

Then one day, Old Cal came to the Masquis and simply bought them, not because they were pity, but because Old Cal thought they were useful. Old Cal was just a wandering merchant at that time who had a very good relationship with the Marquis; it was because of him that they escape that hellhole after 10 years.

It's been 6 to 7 years already since Old Cal took care of them; he was a very kind merchant, who became a small blacksmithing company owner due to his diligence and kindness to his clients, granting him a few investors.

"It was hell..."

Russell muttered in the air as the cold wind weakly shook his plain clothes.

He's glad that Old Cal bought them, and he was not the kind of usual fat merchant who only thought about profit or money.

Although Russell became a billionaire, he knew that he wouldn't be able to buy something that could correct or change his family's past, and that's why he was deeply grateful for Old Cal's existence.

"Sigh... It's been 17 years since I came into this world... No, it's 10 years... But, that's not right..."

He muttered as he recalled one of the mysteries regarding his reincarnation.