I Became a Ranker Before Rankers

Facebook Status Changed

I woke up in a large room that was the size of my apartment back home. The walls were painted a light blue and were covered in intricate designs engraved into the walls. High ceilings were home to a large painting full of angels and clouds that was separated apart by a grand chandelier that sparkled like a lake during a full moon. Light shone through a group of windows on my right piercing into the sheer white fabric canopy that covered the bed hiding me from the world. 

I sat myself up and rested my back on a pile of fluffy pillows already on the bed then looked around the room. The wooden floors were a deep brown varnish like the trees in the forest where I had entered earlier. A large sitting area with a small coffee table with two small cups and a few plates filled with desserts was situated a few steps away from the foot of my bed. There were a couple of white doors that were scattered around the room that led to who-knows-where that were plain and simple but still looked so elegant. 

As I admired the room, all of a sudden I begun to have another headache. Memories started to flow through my head: the tower, battles, swordsmanship, relationships, death. It was definitely not the entirety of my memories, but it was at least some. The only thing that truly shocked me, though, was that some of the memories were not mine. 

I could see a childhood, a happy one, filled with smiles and hugs by families. A young girl would run around in the fields and played, but then I saw a group of men who would restrain the girl, keep her away from the world and the sunlight. Her days outside were numbered, so she would sit in a cage staring out at the world and wondering what her freedom could be. 

The memories of hers were not complete but I knew they were the body's memories. I became sad, but then understood why I was feeling this way. We had become one, finally. My body had no longer been limited by the rules that applied to the Rankers or the occupants of the tower because I had become both. 

ERROR: You have both Player and Resident Status, system is recalibrating and checking for errors. 

Huh? It's a mistake?

Notification: You have already reached the land of the gods, therefore you will now receive a new status according. 

Status Awarded: The Lost Seraphim [Legendary]

This status is given to those who have almost fully ascended to the level of the Gods, but have been banished, hence released from the shackles of the gods. You shall be given the ability to move freely between floors you have already conquered while still being able to form parties and take quests like typical players. 

I have never heard of this status before, even within the pages of the novel. I remember, very vaguely, one of the characters in the novel accepting the sponsorship of a god and eventually reaching the level of Seraphim, but they were tied down by that god's orders and will. The status eventually became more of a curse than a blessing and the character was eventually killed off by one of the other god's apostles, but my memory was still just pieces. 

New Quest: Find  Jung Ji-ah's Dragon Treasury

The treasury holds Jung Ji-ah's most precious items and secrets. This special item can only be used by Ranker's with the Dragon Slayer title. The last Ranker who had it in possession had needed to sacrifice this treasure when climbing the tower, but it has since been found by other players and it has since traveled between owners multiple times. When you complete the quest, you will be returned your belongings and the full functionality of the treasury will be unlocked. 

Just then I remembered losing the treasury in the 79th floor in a battle against an ancient devil. The floor had been invaded by the demon realm who had been ordered to find some angelic lady that had met their master previously and he had since been searching for her. I had stumbled upon their camp after almost completing the floor. You see, for this specific floor, there was a special trick to winning the floor which would award you with a [Legendary] item that was told in the novel often, but the catch was that there could only be one player left on the floor. So, I did what any normal person would do and I began to plan how to sneak up to and kill all of them. 

I remember the confidence I had initially when I approached them. From the time I traveled here till that point, defeat and fear were words that were foreign to me. As I crept up to the camp it was as if there was a voice inside my head telling me not to move further, as if it was dangerous, but I did not heed to that feeling and continued on. 

As soon as a rounded a large rock that separated me from the devils, I could see they were already staring at me as if they knew I was there from the beginning. These devils were not human-like, they had large humanoid bodies with skin that looked like it was falling off. I sprinted towards them with a large sword in hand and I began to attack them. The details are blurry still, but I defeated all of them except for one. The last one was stronger than the rest of them combined and I was already exhausted from the previous fights. My vision was blurry, but still I carried on. The battle went on for days and nights with massive amounts of bloodshed, but it seemed like an even fight. After approximately 6 days, I knew I had to end it quickly or else my mana would be completely depleted and I would die. I examined my surroundings carefully and noticed that one of the large rocks seemed to shake as we battled like it was about to fall over. 

My heart seemed to stop and I knew what I had to do, so I began to set it up. Although my mana was low, I had enough to just pull the rock down so it would trap and kill the devil. It was another 5 hours until I got the devil into positioning and I pulled the rock down with all my might, but the devil caught on. It quickly stepped forward and grabbed onto my side where my bag laid to try and pry itself away from the slowly collapsing rock. 

It was clear that the demon was trapped, but still he refused to let go of the bag and begun to scratch my leg as he tried to break free. His long pointy nails dug deeply into my side and blood poured quickly as if it was running away. I knew that, despite my strength, I could not have lived much longer unless I sacrificed my bag. 

The decision was hard as I could not even take out my precious items and I was hesitant to lose it for some reason, but I ended up slicing my belt that held it and sacrificing it in order to protect my life. 

Despite the bag being precious, I was still unsure why the tower would want me to retrieve the prize and why someone else had found it. I was also curious to what "additional function" the bag could possibly have, so I set off.