Among mages, intelligence, critical thinking, and a deep understanding of magic theory were often valued far more than elemental affinity. Because of that, orcs, who were unfairly stereotyped as lacking intelligence, were rarely expected to become exceptional mages.That was why Varyn’s decision to specialise as a mage was met with so much doubt.He was a towering orc with broad shoulders and powerful arms, and he looked far more suited to charging into battle with a weapon than quietly studying spell formulas inside a classroom. To many of his classmates, someone like him had no place in the mage department.During the first week of classes, whispers followed him wherever he went. Some students laughed openly, while others questioned whether the university had made a mistake by allowing him into such an academically demanding course.Six months later, every one of those voices had fallen silent.Not only had Varyn proven everyone wrong, but he had also established himself as one of th

If you’re hearing this voice every time you enter the Tower of Ascension, then there’s a good chance you’ve been chosen as the Champion of a True God.If you’re lucky enough to have a decent patron, they probably told you the truth from the beginning.If you’re as unlucky as I am, then your patron is a complete bastard who couldn’t be bothered to explain anything and simply threw you into this nightmare. Don’t expect sympathy from them. Every True God is a sadistic piece of work.Rhys felt his stomach tighten as he read those words.For a long time, he had wondered why beings as powerful as the True Gods even needed Champions.If they wanted influence, they already possessed more than enough power to obtain it. They could easily win over powerful Ascenders, reward monarchs who had already climbed beyond Floor 80, or bless influential religious leaders in exchange for their loyalty.Champions seemed unnecessary.If their only purpose was to spread the name of a god, then surely they cou

Returning to his seat, Rhys reopened The Memoirs of Champions and began reading every page with complete focus, relying on his photographic memory to remember every detail.The book contained the autobiographical stories of three different Champions.Two of them had died long ago, while the third was still alive somewhere within the Tower.Each story revealed a different life, filled with victories, failures, and unanswered mysteries.The first Champion was Borik, the chosen warrior of Junfred, the God of Nature.Before Rhys even started reading, however, he noticed a handwritten note in the margin.In messy handwriting, Vladimir had scribbled a single word.Useless.It was clearly meant as a warning to anyone reading the book after him.Rhys found it amusing, but he wasn’t willing to skip an entire chapter based on someone else’s opinion.He decided to read it anyway.Borik had been born in the northern Iron Hills, where he spent his childhood working as a miner.He was rough, unattra

The weeks passed quickly as Rhys gradually settled back into university life.His days soon fell into a steady routine.He attended classes, trained whenever he had free time, searched for information that might help him understand the Tower and climbed whenever an opportunity presented itself. For the first time in a long while, he almost felt like an ordinary university student again instead of someone constantly being dragged from one life-threatening adventure to another.Even so, he still had a mountain of work ahead of him.Having missed nearly three months of lectures, Rhys had fallen far behind the rest of his batch. Fortunately, his enhanced photographic memory made catching up much easier than anyone expected.Anything he read stayed with him.Anything explained to him once became difficult to forget.In less than three weeks, he managed to cover almost three months’ worth of lessons, mastering subjects that normally took students an entire semester to understand.Even Kael f

Clearing Floors 5 through 9 had been almost effortless for Rhys.Everything changed the moment he stepped onto Floor 10.The mysterious phenomenon known as Vorithra Sylithen had finally caught up with him.Even before entering the floor, Rhys had been tense.After reading Vladimir’s notes and the stories of the previous Champions, he already knew his promotion trial would not be the same as everyone else’s.For ordinary Ascenders, the Floor 10 evaluation was straightforward.It was a promotion test designed to measure basic abilities such as strength, speed, intelligence, stamina, awareness and combat aptitude.Those who met the required standard were allowed to continue climbing the Tower.Those who failed three or more of the six assessments were forced to remain on Floor 10 until they improved enough to pass.Kael and Varyn had taken their promotion tests less than a week earlier.Kael had earned an S Rank evaluation.Varyn had performed even better, receiving an SS Rank.Maeve, how