The Player Who Can't Level Up

'Father?!’ Although Gi-Gyu’s eyes showed an unreadable expression, he was actually shocked to his core.

‘His face and voice…’ There was no doubt that it was indeed his father. How could Gi-Gyu forget the eyes that had such venom in them for him.

His father, who looked a little younger than what Gi-Gyu remembered, took his helmet off and introduced himself as Kronos.

Gi-Gyu remained quiet as he contemplated. Kronos had been his father’s code name; although he had no idea what was happening, the man with the helmet was indubitably his father. Shockingly, his father was alive when the worlds’ rulers reigned.

‘And he was actually one of those rulers!’ Gi-Gyu couldn’t help feeling confused.

The system abruptly announced.

[It appears you are confused. The memory replay will pause for a moment.]

Gi-Gyu jerked to look up. He saw that the scene before him had stopped as if someone had hit pause. It had stopped at the point where his father had taken off his helmet and had introduced himself confidently.

‘Thanks.’ Gi-Gyu thanked the system. Had the scene gone on, he would have missed a lot of important facts. Gi-Gyu studied his father, who apparently was the ruler of the humans.

Ba dum!

His heart pounded wildly.

‘Just… how?!’ Gi-Gyu couldn’t understand what was happening. This was definitely his father, but…

‘Can I go closer to have a look?’ Gi-Gyu suddenly asked the system.

[Of course. This is nothing more than a remnant of an old memory. You may do whatever you wish.]

When the system gave its permission, Gi-Gyu walked forward until he was right in front of Kronos. He stared at his father’s face, especially his eyes, and confirmed his identity.

‘Yup. This is my father, all right.’ Gi-Gyu already knew this, but he needed to check it again. So it appeared that Kronos, the human ruler, was his father.

‘Just how…?!’ Gi-Gyu’s confusion remained as he wondered how his father was even alive during this period.

‘Was he not human?’ The thought was gone in a flash because his father had introduced himself as the leader of the humans a second ago.

But…

‘He had to be something beyond human.’ This was the most logical conclusion Gi-Gyu could come up with.

‘Haa…’ Gi-Gyu sighed. This made him miss Lou and El since he could have asked them his questions. When Gi-Gyu returned to his original spot, the system asked,

[Would you like the memory to continue playing?]

The time in the memory began flowing when he nodded. It was as if nothing had happened, but there was certainly something very different about Gi-Gyu now. His eyes burned brightly. It was clear his attitude toward watching this memory had changed.

‘I need to learn more about my father,’ Gi-Gyu thought in determination. He could no longer avoid this. If he accepted this situation, then…

‘I might find the answer to why he looked at me with such resentment,’ Gi-Gyu decided.

Someone suddenly yelled, “Kronos!”

***

The orc sniggered, “I believe the name ‘bastard’ would fit you better than Kronos.”

“Kronos has shown his respect! Therefore, you must do the same!” the man with the eye patch admonished the orc.

Everyone else also frowned at the orc, who retorted, “Odin, are you siding with him because you’re also from the human world?”

“Anu! Please show some respect!” the man with the eye patch protested. It appeared that the eye patch man was Odin, and the orc’s name was Anu.

Anu smirked at Odin and asked, “He killed his own father to become the ruler. If you ask me, even bastard seems quite generous?”

No one chimed in at Anu’s comment. Feeling even smugger, Anu continued, “Besides, wasn’t someone else supposed to be the ruler of the human world?”

Everyone became quiet when suddenly, Kronos replied, “Of course. You’re right. ‘They’ were supposed to be the ruler of the human world, but I took over the duty because that was what ‘they’ wanted. After all, a world’s ruler isn’t selected…”

Kronos’ eyes shined as he continued, “Solely based on one’s power or age. Don’t you agree?”

Kronos's energy was much more powerful than Anu had expected, so he couldn’t help but sweat in stupefaction.

Looking around, Kronos calmly announced, “Anyway… There is a solution.”

Anu controlled his anger and stepped back. It appeared that he was curious about the solution and fearful of Kronos. Kronos leisurely studied the room as everyone kept quiet and listened. When he was certain he had everyone’s attention, Kronos declared, “We should build a Tower.”

“A Tower?” The elf stepped forward and asked, “Are you calling your means of defying God the Tower?”

The elf and the rest of the audience looked flabbergasted. Some even sighed in annoyance. They had high expectations of this “solution,” but it had thoroughly disappointed them.

Kronos suddenly smiled widely as if he had expected such a reaction. His smile looked so ominous that everyone became quiet again.

Kronos explained, “We shall build a Tower that connects all the dimensions and the worlds.”

When confusion became the widespread emotion in the room, Kronos abruptly clapped. A hologram appeared in the air, exhibiting a giant Tower. It had an abstract appearance and looked huge. Most of all, it looked magnificent. Everyone seemed dazed as they stared at it.

Someone asked, “Who designed such a beautiful structure?”

This was the question everyone, including Gi-Gyu, was curious about.

‘So that’s the Tower…’ Gi-Gyu thought in awe. The Tower had abruptly appeared in their world, and countless players had tried to climb to the top, but no one had actually seen its true outer form. Everyone just used a portal to transfer into the Tower. And when they did, the system always made the same announcement.

[You have entered the Tower.]

Without this announcement, there was no way of knowing if one was inside the Tower. Some believed that the Tower wasn’t a physical structure. Everyone just called it the “Tower” without having seen it.

Gi-Gyu was probably the only player who could say he had seen the Tower. The hologram appeared to be a tentative design, but Gi-Gyu suspected it was close to the real thing.

‘By the way…’ Gi-Gyu was staring at the design when he stumbled onto another confusing thought.

As if his thoughts were heard, someone in the meeting commented, “But this isn’t a tower.”

‘That’s right. It doesn't look like a simple tower.’ Gi-Gyu thought in wonder. Its outer form certainly looked like a tower, but there was something very odd about it.

“Isn’t this a spear?” one of the rulers asked.

“That’s right. It looks more like a weapon than a tower,” another ruler answered.

Gi-Gyu agreed with them.

‘It’s a spear,’ Gi-Gyu thought. At a glance, it did look like a tower, but he got the feeling that it was just camouflage. It was a weapon—a spear, to be specific—in the form of a Tower.

Kronos quietly replied, “That’s right.”

Everyone nodded in understanding. Anu asked, “And you’re saying we’ll fight God with that?”

Since Kronos had claimed the Tower was the solution, he had to mean that it would be used to defeat God. Kronos replied with a nod.

Anu smirked again and replied, “What a ridiculous idea. Do you really think a giant Tower would be enough? It may be a giant weapon, but you’re dreaming. Didn’t you witness how God suppressed Chaos?”

Anu had regained his confidence, believing Kronos’ idea was useless. Anu continued, “Can you even take down Chaos with this thing? I guarantee that you can’t! And if you can’t even defeat Chaos, how will you face God?!”

The elf stepped in and said, “Anu is right about that. But we also don’t know what kind of secrets this Tower may hold. Let’s just calm down and listen.”

The elf had convinced Anu to step back, but Anu refused to hide his skepticism. He glared at Kronos openly.

Kronos smiled faintly and mumbled, “This isn’t a simple tower. And it also isn’t a simple spear either.”

Turning toward the hologram, Kronos continued, “It was created to fight God, but its ultimate purpose isn’t defeating God.”

The other rulers’ eyes widened.

“The world,” Kronos declared.

“The world?”

“This is the spear that will pierce the world.”

Kronos’ voice had a bit of excitement. It didn’t seem like anyone had noticed this, but Kronos’ eyes were filled with madness.

Kronos explained, “God created the world and scattered a part of his power in it. The rulers received it and began to reign like God himself.”

Several rulers’ faces reddened. For a long time, they had believed that they were gods themselves. But when they had witnessed Chaos, they had realized that they were nothing more than a faint shadow of the real God. Compared to mighty beings like God and Chaos, the rulers were nothing more than specs of dust.

Kronos continued, “After the appearance of Chaos that left a hole in the world, we could communicate with each other like this. But even now, the pathways between the worlds are limited. Only the rulers of certain worlds can connect like this.”

Kronos seemed passionate as he added, “Our powers are too dispersed and weak. That is why we need the Tower.”

“...?”

“This tower will connect all the worlds. The Tower will work as a pathway, and…”

Kronos no longer needed to yell because he had everyone’s attention. In a whisper, he said, “We shall gather God’s power to make a giant weapon...”

With a laugh, Kronos declared, “And stab God with it.”

Kronos waved his hands as if he was conducting. The Tower hologram disappeared, but everyone stared at the space it had left behind. No one could forget the beautiful sight.

The Tower.

The secret weapon against God.

A silence fell until someone clapped loudly. Everyone turned to find that it was Anu who was applauding as he showed off his giant canines. He took a step forward and murmured, “It certainly sounds convincing. But there is one huge flaw in your plan.”

Now that he had heard Kronos’ full plan, Anu was ready to destroy the idea. “So you’re saying you will kill God with his own power? That sounds plausible, but… Do you think the small piece of his power dispersed in this world—which God created, by the way—will be enough to defeat God?”

Anu continued, “Even after creating the world, God still had enough power to suppress Chaos. I’m saying that what we have is only a tiny portion of what he has. So do you really think it will be enough to defeat God? Let’s just say we succeed in doing this for argument's sake.”

Anu’s grin became even wider as he asked, “What will that change? Chaos will continue to exist. In fact, with God’s death, Chaos will surface and cause the world's end. We will remain weak and useless. The Tower will become a pointless structure. Tell me if I’m wrong?”

It was a legitimate question. Everyone turned to Kronos for an answer.

The smile on Kronos’ face deepened.