Chương 3: It is indeed pretty big

I waited for the person ahead of me to finish his registration, trying to come up with the best icebreaker of my life. Nothing came to mind. He finished, walked off, and I stepped to the table.

"Hey." I wanted to slap myself. A lifetime around succubi, and the best I could pull out was this. How real damn smooth of me. She looked up from the tablet, crimson eyes shining on her impossibly beautiful face.

"I've cleared the list. You aren't on it."

"I'm a last-second addition."

"What organization?" Her voice rolled smooth as silk, melodic even in the boredom.

"Golden Sands." I sat down. She snorted.

"Who else wouldn't file any paperwork. Typical. Since you've got no file, I'll have to create one. So, what's your tragic backstory?" I smiled.

"Have you heard too many of those today?"

"You have no idea." She swiped on the tablet, finding a different form.

"I'm at forty-seven orphans today. One was even raised by a secret monastic order, and then discovered his parents were murdered by the very organization that trained him. Eleven were the sole survivors of a village massacre, each from a different country. I've also had nine amnesiacs chosen by fate to save the world. Even had a man who was betrayed by his people in his home world, left for dead in a dungeon, and reborn with the power of a forgotten deity.

Oh, and I must not forget about eight regressors, who were all almighty mages reborn to modern-day Earth. And that's just today. So, were you orphaned young or did you watch your parents be slaughtered by the demon king?"

"I was born in a village near Dublin. Both parents are alive, as is my brother. I do have a demon king in the bloodline, but no slaughters took place." She looked up, smirking.

"Not even a prophecy that you'll save the world by climbing the tower? Or doom it by not climbing the tower?"

"Nope. I am here for the fame and glory, with no divine prophecies to back me up."

"Very well. What's your name, age, nationality, and education?"

"Damian Gabriel O'Connor. Twenty-six. American and Irish. Did law at Harvard, passing the Bar after graduating." She wrote it down, dangerously fast with her fingers on the tablet keyboard.

"Any family members associated with Secret Societies?"

"All of them."

"I need names and the connection then. Mother?" I smiled. Should I lie? No. I had to leave a good impression, and any lying about my family had a high chance of getting caught.

"Katherine O'Connor, former paladin of the Church."

"Father?"

"Lucifer." To my surprise, she wrote it down.

"Anyone else?"

"Got a brother. Peter O'Connor. Last time I checked in with him, he did grunt work for Lucielle Legal. We haven't been in touch lately, though. I'm not sure he even qualifies as a mage since he's got like no mana." Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"Oh, he definitely does." She chuckled, looking up. Interest shone in her eyes, piercing and wicked in a way I didn't understand.

"Son of a paladin, that must have been quite the childhood."

"Not for me." An awkward smile passed my face.

"My brother and I are twins, but I inherited all the talent, so I was always better at everything than my brother. That made me the golden child, who got everything he could ever need. Mum even taught me magic in secret to not hurt Peter's feelings." She frowned.

"What's your System level?" My… what? I narrowed my eyes.

"I am not sure what you're asking about."

"Fascinating." She leaned forward, measuring me. Her eyes flashed with blue light for a split second.

"No, way… how did you even get here being level zero?" I shrugged.

"I went to tryouts and somewhat passed."

"That somewhat is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. If you ever fought any magical beast or spirit or another mage, you would have gotten to level one, discovering the System. The tryouts had combat in them. Who approved you?"

"He didn't introduce himself. The man who took me to the plane and my accommodations is named Kareem… who didn't give me any way to contact him." Her eyes sparked up, a grin spreading over her face. She raised her hand to her ear. Blood shot from her palm, forming a smartphone. She dialled a number without looking at it, pressing it to her ear. I did my best to appear undisturbed. I hadn't the faintest idea how this was going to play out, and so I wasn't sure that doing anything could help me.

The person on the other end finally picked up.

"Cassandra?" asked the voice of the man who tested me.

"I've got your newest recruit here. Did you really approve the level zero ginger yourself?" I blushed slightly. That wasn't the description of myself I was hoping for.

"Is he too hot for you to handle?"

"Oh, shut up." The phone turned into blood, which retreated back into her hand.

"Anyway." She rose, motioning toward the pods in a move that had no right to be that elegant.

"Let's get you hooked up to my pods." I got up.

"Who's the man you just called?"

"Pry all you want, but there are no answers to be found here." She stepped toward the nearest pod.

"If there's one thing secret societies excel at, it's keeping secrets. After all, we are the secret societies, not the tell-everyone-everything societies. Hop into the pod." She stopped by the pod's side, pressing on a holographic screen that appeared on its shell. I slid inside. The seat wasn't too bad, moderately comfortable. I laid myself down.

"How does this work?"

"The tower itself is a shell for a dimensional anomaly. There isn't a normal way to get inside, which is why we've created these pods. And by we, I mean I, because this is entirely created and run by my own powers. The pod projects the person inside it into the tower. There's a time limit to it, after which you wake up back in the pod. If you die inside the tower, the timer gets zeroed out, waking you up instantly. Now, hold still for the scan." I relaxed into the seat.

The pod scanned me from multiple angles, light washing over me. A display screen appeared on its top, reading: Damian Gabriel O'Connor Level: 0 Tower perks: 0 Artifacts: 0 Highest floor: 0 Life: 500 Mana: 400m Ha. I did estimate my mana amount in hundreds of millions, but that was calculated through a ton of assumptions based on my succubi and their maintenance costs. Getting a measured number was great, especially when the measurement was within five percent of my estimate. Looking inside, Cassandra wheezed.

"That's pretty big." I smirked.

"I hear that often." She chuckled.

"The first round of dives is tomorrow morning. Any gear you bring will get projected with you, so come fully armed and ready." She motioned me to get out of the pod. I slipped out, straightening.

"How is the order of how we go in decided?"

"Depends…" She measured me with a pleased smile.

"Why do you ask?"

"I want to go first. It's important to start well. If you could arrange for me to go first, I'll bring you something really nice from inside the tower."

"Cocky, aren't we?" She headed back to the table.

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Want to bet that I can keep it?"

"No, I will be spending the rest of the night here setting everything up." She sat down, crossed her legs, and started swiping on the tablet.

"Have a good night."

"You too." I headed for the exit.

"By the way," she said as I was about to walk out. I glanced over my shoulder. I didn't see her at the table. A gentle, blazing hot hand caught my shoulder from behind. Cassandra leaned slightly against me, pressing herself up to my ear.

"Your brother would one-shot you." How did she get behind me? After I recovered from the shock, I turned. She wasn't behind me anymore. Her touch lingered on my shoulder, as did the burning touch of her lips, marking my ear. But I couldn't see her anywhere.