Climbing The Tower I can Change My Career Path

Leave The Past Behind

When Altair crossed to the other side of the door, he saw a strange sight before him. Although... calling it a sight wasn't quite right.

He seemed to be standing on a tiny island, with a small bridge in front of him connecting this island to another island.

As far as he could see from a distance, there were exactly three of these islands.

The young man clearly had no idea what these were and was about to take his first step.

At that moment, a cough sounded from right behind him: "Cough-cough!"

Altair instantly turned around and looked carefully at the person who had coughed.

This person had pointed ears, a smiling mask on their face, bright red eyes, black hair, and was wearing a very high-quality suit.

It was very clear that this was not a human, but it was also very clear that this person was not of Hazel's race.

"Hello, Mr Altair, it is a great honour to meet you. It has been a long time since so many people's eyes have been fixed on someone new to Aculon. It looks like it will be fun," said this person calmly.

Altair honestly didn't know how to respond to these words. The person's pronunciation was incredibly strange. He almost stretched the beginning of every word and pronounced the end silently, and when he didn't do that, he spoke clearly and fluently.

"My name is Shuhar. I am nearly one and a half billion years old, and I am the fourth administrator of the tower. It would be correct to say that I am the person responsible for explaining the tasks on this floor and the next four floors to you."

When this man, who introduced himself as Shuhar, said these words, Altair nodded his head up and down.

"Please, I'm honoured," said the young man respectfully.

"This floor is the second floor of Aculon. The floor does not have a definite name, but some refer to it as the [Passage of Pain, Regret and Forgiveness,]" said Shuhar calmly.

"The moment you cross the bridge, you will encounter the most painful image. If your heart falls into darkness, unfortunately, you will be swallowed by the island you are standing on."

"When you cross the second bridge, you will see the moment you regret the most, and if you cannot overcome your regret, unfortunately, you will be swallowed by the island you are standing on."

"When you cross the third bridge, you will encounter a situation where you must understand that you need to forgive yourself. Your soul will know what this is, and if you fail... I don't think I need to repeat it."

When Shuhar finished his explanation, Altair honestly thought he wouldn't struggle at all on this floor.

He was human, and a weak human at that.

Most importantly, he had no memories that were 'painful' or 'full of regret' or that he needed to forgive.

At least, that's what he thought.

After thanking Shuhar, he turned directly to the first bridge and stepped onto it.

The moment he did so, his attention turned to the water around him. The water itself suddenly became very deep, frightening, yet attractive to him.

It symbolised that this young man's thoughts were different, that he would get stuck on something on all three bridges.

In a way... it would be correct to say it was a powerful spell. A spell that tested the soul, that revealed the will.

That was the purpose of this tutorial level anyway.

It was designed to ensure that those who entered here could completely break away from the regions they had come from.

It was a floor built upon the idea of leaving behind a painful memory, a regretful memory, or a memory that needed forgiveness, and accepting that one had now arrived in Aculon.

The young man finally found himself on the first small island, having crossed the bridge, albeit with heavy steps.

However, contrary to his expectations, he had indeed begun to see a memory before him.

"Come on..." Altair had muttered...

The memory he saw... wasn't a very pleasant one, but it wasn't a painful memory that Altair was so upset about, that he didn't want to remember.

The young man had been quite intelligent since childhood. Of course, the innocent, painful realities of childhood had stuck to him, too. After all, not every child was exposed to the same situation, not every child was loved in the same way.

Still, he had managed to become someone who didn't care about such matters.

The memory was of a girl, perhaps six or seven years old, shouting at him to give her the ball she was holding.

The young man had grown up in an orphanage.

Of course, this meant he could never truly have anything he wanted.

So when he went to a park to make friends, when he encountered such a situation at the age of seven, it would be fair to say he was broken.

Still, this brokenness was not something that would destroy him.

As mentioned, he was intelligent, even as a child.

The young man watched the memory to the end. He watched the entire part until he cried and entered the orphanage.

Seeing himself cry after such a long time made him feel a little sad, but he didn't feel really bad.

He didn't know how to get through this memory, so he just waited for about a minute.

When he realised the memory had started playing again from the beginning, he looked at it and then said these words:

"It's fine. We were kids. I'm sure, even if I were that little girl at that exact time, I wouldn't want someone to cry because of me, but... a child can't understand that. I'm not hurt, I never was, not because of her."

As he uttered these words, a bitter smile appeared on his face, and the memory was completely shattered into pieces.

Like shards of glass scattered around, many pieces were scattered into the water around him, into that sea-like area.

The young man didn't wait even a second and stepped onto the next bridge.