Chapter 181: Second Floor
Daniel headed toward the Awakened Association and told the taxi to wait a bit until he returned.
After entering the building, he went straight to the president’s office. August was already there waiting for him.
"So, you’re finally going to challenge the second floor?"
"Yeah, it’s time I conquer it," Daniel replied with a smile on his face.
"You came for the key, right? Hold on, I’ll tell them to bring one."
August made a call and instructed the relevant department to send a key over.
It didn’t take long before two people entered August’s office, handed over a cube-shaped box, and left.
Without hesitation, August handed the box to Daniel.
"Thank you so much, Mr. August. How much do I need to pay?"
"There’s no need to pay anything."
"But still..." Daniel felt bad. He had received the first key for free too, and he didn’t like owing anyone.
"Don’t worry, I’m not giving it to you for free. In fact, I’ll need your help clearing out a dungeon. We’ll talk about it once you’re back," August explained.
"If you say so." Daniel nodded and after saying goodbye, went back to the taxi.
"To the Tower," he told the driver, and the taxi headed toward the Tower.
On the way, Daniel took the key out of the box.
[ You have obtained a new item. ]
[ Name: Key ]
[ Rank: ??? ]
[ Description: The key required to challenge the Tower’s floors ]
[ Quantity: (2/10) ]
[ Access Level: Second Floor of the Tower ]
Notification windows popped up in front of him, and after giving them a quick look, he closed them.
It didn’t take long to arrive at the Tower. Daniel paid the fare and entered.
He immediately found himself in the starry sky again, and multiple notifications appeared in front of him.
[ Congratulations! You have entered the Tower. ]
[ Identity Confirmed: Daniel Noir. ]
[ Class: Fallen Priest | Rank: Transcendent ]
[ Syncing with the Tower’s internal system... ]
[ Initiating character scan... ]
[ Would you like to challenge the Second Floor or enter the Celestial Domain? ]
Daniel clicked on the option to challenge the second floor of the Tower.
[ Tower Rules ]
[ 1. The Tower contains 10 floors.
2. You can only enter a floor after completing the one before it.
3. Each floor has its own environment, monsters, and unique challenges.
4. Failure results in a one-year entry ban.
5. You can only exit a floor if an "Escape Gate" is activated. ]
[ If you agree to all rules, click ’Yes’. ]
Daniel glanced over the rules and, confident they were the same as before, clicked "Yes."
Suddenly, a light appeared out of nowhere and engulfed him. A black hole opened behind him and pulled him in.
[ Welcome to the Tower’s Second Floor, Daniel Noir. ]
[ Floor Name: The Forgotten Church ]
[ Difficulty: Hell ]
[ Phase One Objective: Protect the Forgotten Pilgrims until they reach the church. ]
[ The Mother System wishes you the best of luck. ]
Daniel suddenly found himself on a desert road surrounded by thousands of pilgrims. All of them were wearing plain white robes and walking along a path.
He looked down at himself—he was also dressed in the same white robe.
"Where is this place?" he frowned. They were in the middle of a desert, even though there was a paved stone road beneath their feet.
From what he knew and had heard, each Tower floor was inspired by something from the Celestial Domain’s history.
So this place must exist—or must have existed—in the Celestial Domain at some point.
Still, that wasn’t something he could worry about right now.
He first needed to figure out what exactly "The Forgotten Church" was... and what he was supposed to protect the pilgrims from.
He looked at the pilgrim walking beside him—an older man with a stern face—but decided not to ask him.
Instead, he glanced to his other side and noticed another middle-aged man, whose face looked calmer and more neutral.
"Excuse me, sir, where are we going?"
"Huh? Are you an idiot? If you don’t even know where we’re going, why are you here in the first place?"
The pilgrim looked at Daniel like he was a fool.
"Well, to be honest, I just joined the group to get away from some bandits. I don’t actually know where we’re headed," Daniel said with a bitter smile. He knew even his excuse sounded dumb, but it’s not like he had any better option.
"This is the Everlasting Way. It leads to the Origin of Eternity—the beginning of the world and the birthplace of the Prophet who rules over eternity. It ends at the Church of Eternity."
Though the pilgrim found Daniel’s excuse pathetic, he still explained.
"The Church of Eternity?" Daniel was shocked.
As far as he could remember, according to the Death Hero, the Church of Eternity was just a myth—an old legend with no proof of its existence.
But now he was experiencing a piece of history where that Church actually existed?
And not only that—he was on his way to it?
’Maybe this way, I can learn why the Church of Eternity was destroyed,’ Daniel thought to himself, feeling a bit excited.
He had the chance to uncover one of the greatest mysteries of the world.
"Anyway, is there any danger on this path that we should be worried about?" He didn’t forget to ask the more important question either.
"Well, depends on what you mean by danger. The Everlasting Way passes through the Demon Realm, and they don’t exactly get along with the Church of Eternity. So yeah, there’s always a chance we’ll be attacked."
"But that’s not all. There’s also a chance other churches might attack us too. The only living Prophet right now belongs to the Church of Eternity, which makes it the highest-ranked divine faith in the world. Because of that, other religions are being suppressed, and they’re not happy about it. On top of that, the Everlasting Way is extremely important to the followers of Eternity."
"I see... Thank you for the explanation," Daniel said and started thinking.
’So, there’s a living Prophet in this phase. That means I might get to meet someone on the level of a demi-god?’ He was surprised.
Meeting a demi-god was no small thing. They were the peak of the world—and this one was even a Prophet, blessed directly by the gods.
’And I have to worry about both demon attacks and other religions. But that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. As long as no Rank A shows up, I can handle it. Even if there are a lot of enemies, I have my Fallen underlings.’ He reasoned with himself.
Though he never imagined it would be the pilgrims themselves who would turn against each other...