Perspective: Alessio Leone
What Alessio hadn't expected, however, was not just that the shop had more customers—but that he would recognize them.
The scene before him could only be described as strange, unsettling, or downright unnatural to anyone familiar with gamer culture.
It was the kind of thing that simply didn't happen in other online games.And yet, it was exactly that kind of paradigm that the Black Tower had started to shatter—slowly, almost imperceptibly.
Inside the shop, two children were arguing loudly.It wasn't a lighthearted quarrel—the kind you'd expect from siblings fighting over toys or attention, full of whining and tears.No. This was sharper, tense, almost bold.They were fighting over a single medicinal herb.
With each passing second, the tension grew.Hands flailed, faces flushed, voices rising higher as neither side seemed willing to yield.If someone asked Alessio to describe it, he'd say without hesitation: it was only a matter of seconds before they came to blows, right there in the middle of the store.
They looked incredibly alike—their eyes, their expressions, even the way they moved.The resemblance was so strong he had no doubts:they were the same ones his memory held onto.Their faces were younger, their bodies smaller, but without a doubt—they were the very same people who would shake the game's world ten years from now.
Meanwhile, the children's mother only watched.Leaning against the counter, she let out a long, weary sigh.A sound that said far more than words could.
It wasn't the sigh of irritation—but of resignation.The sigh of someone who no longer had the strength to break up fights that happened every single day.
And yes—no one was misunderstanding the situation.The woman leaning quietly by the counter, calmly watching her twin children nearly start a fistfight over a single herb, was indeed their mother.
Alessio, however, couldn't bring himself to accept that sight naturally.If he didn't have vivid memories of all three from his previous life, he would've sworn that woman could never be anyone's mother—much less of two energetic kids.
She simply didn't fit the role.
To Alessio's eyes, she looked no older than twenty-eight, maybe twenty-nine.Youth radiated from her face, clashing with the exhaustion in her sigh.Her green eyes were piercing, vivid—almost glowing under the dim light of the shop.Long black hair cascaded down in gentle waves, framing a face so delicate it almost didn't match the fatigue she carried.
Her outfit wasn't that of a shopkeeper or homemaker.She wore a tight-fitting leather armor, the dark material tracing her slender figure as if tailor-made.The contrast between the rigid leather and her feminine form made her impossible to ignore.
Especially her waist.
It was narrow—so slim it looked fragile.That single detail made Alessio absolutely certain she couldn't be the mother of twins.There was no logic in that image.And yet, no matter how much his mind screamed that something didn't add up,the reality before him was undeniable.
She was their mother.
And once again, the strangeness of the Black Tower reasserted itself before his eyes.
A mother playing an online game with her children.
In any other game, that would've been unthinkable—literally impossible.Something that wouldn't even make sense as a forum joke.
But Black Tower didn't follow the rules of other games.It would slowly and steadily destroy every paradigm, taboo, and impossibility that had ever existed in gaming.
Entire families logged in together, exploring dungeons.Mothers taking their kids to magic academies in the morning, then spending the afternoon hunting monsters.It was the kind of thing that sounded absurd now—but ten years later, it would be completely normal inside the Tower.
Still, the small family Alessio had stumbled upon by chance in that shop could only be described as—different.Or, in better words—special.
For a few reasons.
The twins.Or, to be more precise, the fraternal twins.
A girl who had inherited her mother's delicate features—and a boy, equally resembling her, who was still trying to snatch the herb from his sister's hands.
Even though both still wore the apprentice outfits of a healer and a mage respectively,Alessio knew exactly who they were.
Prodigies.
In fact, that was the very title they'd be known by in the future: the Prodigy Twins.
The great guilds—the ones that would dominate the scene years later—were willing to pay millions of gold coins just to have them.
But that wasn't because they were destined to become legendary warriors.Far from it.Their path was… different.
And that path would only begin to unfold when players reached level 25 and underwent their first evolution.
At that stage, while most players chose stronger combat classes,many others would turn toward what would later be called support professions.
Alchemists.Artisans.There were so many that even Alessio, in his past life, could barely remember them all.But each one of them was vital for the guild empires that would rise in the years to come.
As for the twins—they were like two birds trapped in the same cage, yet breathing entirely different airs.
The girl would specialize in crafting life potions—absurdly effective ones, capable of turning the tide of entire battles and keeping whole parties alive through impossible odds.
The boy, on the other hand, would walk the opposite path—creating explosive potions.Liquid weapons that would become one of the most unpredictable aces in any dungeon run.They didn't just destroy—they saved lives, clearing paths when everything seemed lost.
Their presence in any guild would instantly raise its rank.Their worth even surpassed that of top combat players.And yet, despite all that, few major guilds ever got close to them.
For one simple reason.
They had a lioness for a mother.
Protective.Relentless.And absurdly powerful.
A woman who, in the future, would be known by many names—but the one that echoed loudest among players was: the Goddess of War.
She never joined a major guild.Never bowed before the giants.And yet, she stood unshaken among the top players—a solitary, unyielding force.
And Alessio could swear he could feel that power even now.
When she finally noticed him.Her green eyes—intense, almost intimidating—cut straight through him.For a brief moment, it felt as if the entire shop had grown smaller.