Hope, equality, and respect had died out once you set foot on the tower, granting blessings to all, but its quality was unknown. Some uses were clear once or twice. It was utilized, whereas others were unknown and bizarre, rating them as worthless. The tower seeks to preserve all life but with no guidance in cultivating blessings, it came to an age where one's worth is that of their talent.
"Dude this kid is seriously weak?" A homeless man, along with his group of brigands, kicks the child after he refuses to hand over his rations.
"Isn't this the loser with the Reading talent? What are you gonna do? Read us a bedtime story, mother fucker!!?"
"Lol, this kid is a riot... he wouldn't even give until I threatened to break his balls. I guess that's something you wouldn't want to be gone,"
"Big brother!" A frail and scruffy girl approaches her bruised and battered sibling once his oppressors have left.
"Damn it... Well, all that hour-long garbage scrounging was for nothing. They stole my food- no, you eat that," The boy refused as the girl drooled over the sight of the molded bread, and yet she gave in anyway.
"You have it... stop being stubborn. How can you be my older brother? I'm much stronger than you, and I'm eight-"
"Oh give it a fucking break! This is how im born okay? I never asked the tower to give me this shit of an ability,"
Sei Jun sighed; he was mad and frustrated that all the things people had said to him, including his sister, were true. The tower was cruel; it gave blessings to prolong the life of its residents but, in the end, resulted in a talent-based society. Worthless blokes get sent to the slums, away from their parents, raised by bums, and live their lives in poverty.
"Hey Eri, you know, If given the chance, I wanna be a hero. I want to change this world to be full of joy and wonders. Even if it cost me my life-"
"Pfffftttt hahaha!!!"
"Will you shut up? I'm having a serious moment here," Twelve-year-old Sei Jun sighed and continued. "I'll first start by proving that miscellaneous talents like us are strong. That we can climb as well. Who knows maybe reading will allow me to become a powerful Verse Binder,"
The slums were no place for high-end dreams, and yet his little sister, who knew it was hopeless, smiled. "Then eat up big bro. You need be stronk. Depindable, and breyve,"
"Okay, I think we need to get your vocabulary sharpened. Luckily for you, my talent is well-purposed for that. Let's go." Once Sei Jun recovered his strength, he held Eri's hand, and the two of them started heading home.
On their way back, a drunken voice caught his attention.
"A Reader may not be special, but they are unique. What is a Reader without a book—and a book without a Reader? Just ink on paper. Useless. But isn't that why Readers exist? To learn from forgotten voices, to inherit stories no one else dares to carry—their dreams, their regrets, their unfulfilled truths?"
"Enough with that bullshit talk and have another round, you jackass. Come on, drink, damn it! The booze tastes great today!"
"Yeah, what he said!"
"Brother?" Eri called out softly. Sei Jun blinked, snapping out of a strange trance stirred by the drunkard's words.
"Oh, it's nothing. Let's go, Eri."
"' Kay…" she said, lifting her arms to ask for a piggyback ride. He smiled faintly and hoisted her up as they walked.
The boy had nothing but hope—a rarity in a world like this. From the moment you're born, your fate is set. Through talent. His very existence was proof: even a prominent family would cast away their child if their gift didn't shine. In the tower, power meant everything. And whatever remained… belonged in the gutter, with the bums and the insects.
At present
"To change this god-forsaken tower-" Sei Jun's mind grew certain, even if the books would alter his mind, as long as he remembered his dreams...
"Pfffft hahahahaha!!!" The heated tension as Sei Jun prepares himself to fight hundreds of moles fades with the sheer laughter from his left side.
"Sorry, that line of yours was so corny. To change this god-forsaken tower? Bruh are you twelve?" Khan teary eyed held his stomach
"Sorry, sorry... I have a bad habit of unintentionally butting in on a heated moment-" Khan stopped midway to his sentence and cleaved the head of a furious mole.
"Whoa there! That almost got me, these moles can't even read the room. What to do? Should I kill all of you?"
Sei Jun witnessed a cold and unforgiving glare, followed by a sheer and psychotic grin as he held a makeshift blade of ice. His personality warped and indifferent even someone like Sei Jun doubted if this was truly the man he once knew. Then it all clicked as he spotted a silhouette in Khan's rear a bloody and murderous form wielding a bloody knife
[Tower Resident: Khan Ugero Eljis
Ability From Birth: The Great Pretender - You can perfectly imitate an individual you wholeheartedly understand
Subsidiary Abilities:
• Mimicry: Allows flawless mimicry of a target's posture, voice, and even subtle habits
• Empathy: Grants deep emotional resonance with others. By feeling a target's strongest memories or emotional echoes, Khan can "understand" them well enough to unlock their traits and abilities.
• Portrayal: Temporarily fuses Khan's ego with the personality he's imitating. Increases compatibility but slowly erodes his true self the longer the fusion lasts. Transforming the body to house the power and capability of the one they're portraying
• Echo Loop: Can switch between previously mimicked personas in an instant, carrying over a residual fragment of their abilities.
• Splinter Self: At great mental cost, Khan can project a fractured illusion of a past mimic. The illusion behaves with partial autonomy and can confuse both enemies and allies.]
[Now that's surprising...]
Sei Jun was stunned. Surprise even. But as he peered through Khan's eyes it remained the same. "What's wrong? Are you scared, big guy? I'm deadlier than I led on don't cha think- thanks that was a close one,"
Sei Jun sliced the mole, intending to strike his rear, and uttered. "Just don't weigh me down, and complain when it gets hard, Lord Khan,"
He lowered his sword as the two covered each of their rear as hundreds of moles swarmed in on the two. Khan sprouts a clear ball of ice and takes one step, executing a bloody and reckless swing, leaving him vulnerable. The moles who'd seen his blunder changed their plan of attack and aimed for his weak spot, but the orb suddenly fired dozens of icicle darts.
"How's that for impressive-" Although Khan's tactics weren't inefficient, he noticed a subtle difference in the way Sei Jun acted.
"Pathetic... this fight is by no means fair. Thou who has no honor is only fated ruination. My blade shows mercy," Sei Jun unfazed, unrelenting, and calm of mind slowly walks as his figure is nearly buried by these rabid vermins
"Wa..." An elegant upward swing executed by the sword of his right. "Sa..." He kneels and gathered strength from the earth performing a downward slash by his left. "Bi!!!"
The attack is completed by the addition of the sword to his jaw, connecting these separate strikes as a whole. One strike would leave them injured, and some agile enough would be unharmed or grazed. Suffering two will leave them scarred, missing a limb or two, yet alive, but with three, all signs of escape vanish.
[Flame Emmision Blade; Wasabi!!!]
"Revenge is better served cold. Taste the warmth of my care. Fury of my soul, and fire of my blade, dattebayo," The attack became fatal the moment a spark and a radiating heat became present at the edge of the blade.
In a split second, everything that grazed his blade explodes once the heat becomes too much for their flesh. Having the sword as the extension of his arms proved fatal for his foe and powerful in his arms. Killing his foe by normal means proves to be a hassle, powerful yet unstable, he needs precise aim, application, and focus. Having the sword in his possession allows him to only focus on transferring his heat, allowing the edge to be deadly. Gaining the heat of his flames, transferring them inwards to his foe, and just as easy as breathing, he sparked the fuse.
'Please stop making these nonexistent names,'
[What's wrong? It sounds super awesome. Might be the best naming scheme ever since [Redacted]. Which are my best ones]
"Cryo...? Why isn't this a surprise? A member of the Khan family? How perfect, you shall be the first of my countless massacres of your worthless lineage," A low and echoing voice illuminated the cave as it spoke, and even the rabid moles grew quiet, and soon a melody was evoked.
[Fucking hell!!!]
"How the hell did he get here of all places?"
[Pied Piper!!!]
The lights and cameras prepared by the test examiners broke in an unprecedented tremor moments after the played note. Everything grew dark, but as Sei Jun waved his sword, he emitted his flames, burning the corpses of the moles. Having controlled the heat, the light it would produce would last them by a quarter of an hour, and as the shaking stopped it arrived
"Grooaaaaaghh!!!"
The tremor they felt so tremendously was the movement of this magnificent jewel-coated beast. A humungous and towering mole gazes down at its delectable meals, a spicy appetizer, a cold dessert, and a main course. The hope-filled eyes of the captured examinees lost all sense of rebellion as theirs no escaping a horrid monster such as this.
"Hey ugly, the sun's getting real low. How bout we stay calm? Smile, my friend, thats your only saving grace for how ugly you are-" Sadly for them, an idiot just had to fan the fucking flames.
"Graaaaaaghhhh?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
[What the hell were you thinking, you idiot?]
"What the hell were you thinking, you idiot?" Maple and Khan yelled in tune with Ace's annoyance
"That wasn't my inside voice- right? Sigh... well... fucking run if you don't wanna die, go go go,"
Having earned the wrath of the beast, they all new that a swift and merciful end is as little of a chance as winning a lottery.