The Tower of Emnu

Lisa Klein frowned and fidgeted under the gaze of the young man and felt she had outed herself as a nerd.

Damnit, why did he not know Asterix?!

It was a classic comic!

Still seeing someone literally carried around by people on a pedestal was surreal to her. Not the most strange thing she had experienced in her short new life so far, but it was up there.

The weirdest thing was being here at all.

Lisa had woken up on the warm floor of one of the giant rooms she now knew were called Summoning Chambers. She had been naked and mad at the nurses for playing a prank on her. Until she realized she was not in the Hospital anymore and she was dreaming? Why?

Because she was not in pain anymore, or drugged out of her mind.

Lisa had stood up on her own feet without any help and had marveled at the sensation of her healthy, strong body. At taking even breaths without support. About not feeling like she had been run over by a bulldozer.

Lisa took slow deep breaths, filling her entire lung before exhaling. She did not feel shortness of breath at all and it was exhilarating beyond measure.

She had never been healthy as a kid and they found out why eventually. She had leukemia, the chronic slow acting kind. It wasn't that unusual of a disease and it was not that uncommon for children to have it. Lisa had survived longer than most, after rejecting a marrow donation and now knew, she had died three days after her 18th birthday. Or at least that was the last time she remembered being awake in her world.

The realization had been a bit of a shock, but at the time, Lisa had been far too occupied with her new situation.

When she had found the creepy statue and it had talked to her, she had thought she was in a nightmare. But she could not wake up, even after pinching herself.

She knew this should be impossible, but everything seemed to be a dream. Had to be.

The Hall of Illusions especially. She had felt so bad killing the bunny after it had almost scratched her to death. The small dog had been even worse. She had a puppy when she was young and it was the worst thing she had ever done in her life. The Wolf had killed her, even though she had struck it with a spear.

After it had ripped out her throat she had awoken shaking and crying in an empty hallway and realized that this all was real. An illusion had made that so much clearer to her, than the hard facts ever could strangely enough. The fresh memory of death and not waking up in her hospital bed, but still in this strange new world.

That had truly hammered it home.

But she had been lucky! A couple of deathly experiences would not hamper her spirits or break her will.

Lisa was alive again and a very nice Spirit had talked to her and explained to her, why she was here and what was expected from her and that she was chosen to become a Vessel.

The spirit had explained her that she had died in her world and her Soul had been summoned here from the Void.

The mere mentioning of that place made her shiver in terror. She only remembered fragments of darkness, of despair and slow madness as she had drifted through an endless pitch black night without sound but her own frantic thoughts.

But she had been given a second chance, her only chance in two lives really.

When she first had gained her access to the System she felt like she had wandered into the pages of a Book or into a game. She suddenly had access to her status and Attributes!

She could level up, improve herself and had chosen a class with the helpful spirit.

Lisa was a [Ranger] now. It had been a pretty instinctive decision. She had a bit of a crush on Katness Aberdeen, when she was younger at least and so the chance to become an Archer had appealed to her immensely.

The Spirit then gave her some simulations to absolve, similar to the Hall of Illusions, although with less death and she had learned her first few skills there.

They were awesome.

Real skills!

When she had learned how to shoot with a bow, she got the skill called [Archery Proficiency], a passive skill that improved her ability to aim and draw a bow. Lisa also got an offensive ranged skill. [Power Shot]!

It did a lot of damage to the training dummies the Spirit had summoned and Lisa had been overjoyed.

Her other two skills were [Wilderness Training] and [Lesser Perception], the first made it easier to move through the wilderness and survive. She suddenly knew how to make a fire, where to find shelter, what to eat and what not to.

Where she could find food, how she could move quietly through the forest.

[Lesser Perception] was apparently a pretty rare and great skill to get, as it made her senses better and alerted her to danger. Sadly Lisa had not had any talent with the daggers or short-swords and as such had ended up pretty much as a pure ranged character. But that was okay!

She was not alone and the other people at the camp were just as excited as her. She had met people from all over the world and most of them spoke French like her!

Although some spoke English, which she understood too.

She was a French Canadian after all!

Still it was beyond weird that everyone could understand each other.

But one of the other Vessels had told her to look at her traits and she had found [Universal Language Converter] there as a perk that was unlocked. It translated all languages for her to understand, unless she knew how to speak the language. That was so cool.

And the food had been so good as well. Greasy unhealthy food that Lisa had barely ever had the chance to try or to enjoy. No more diets or hospital foods, she could eat everything, which she did with gusto.

But it was not all fun. While she was standing close to the Buffet she thought about how much her mom would have enjoyed this Buffet. It made her sad, to know she had died on earth.

She knew that most couples would never get over losing their child. Lisa had tried so hard to keep them together, but her dad had drifted away, too much in pain.

It had crushed her newfound sense of wonder and bliss over her new situation.

But she had slowly felt better over the next day while she listened to the people talking.

They were all so different! With wonder she watched a guy inhale almost all the food at the buffet. It was a little scary how much he could eat, but also kind of cool. He had short dark hair and looked way too thin to be eating this much. But maybe he had a fast metabolism or something? Lisa had not been able to eat even a fraction as much as him and he was also a bit of intimidating. His gray eyes piercing and stern and he was a bit unapproachable.

So she had listened in on his conversation with the cooks instead, who had actually told him some good information!

Most of the guards she had tried talking to had been tight lipped or told her to wait until they were in Town.

She had seen the guards fight only once, when a wolf had come too close to the camp. They had been so fast, so strong and she wondered if she would be like them one day.

She hoped she could be just as useful, but worried that she did not know how to live in this world. Or any world for that matter. Without her parents or the nurses she would not have been able to do anything.

It was a sad truth, but forcefully she pushed away the bad thoughts and concentrated on the here and now.

So she spoke up, Lisa wanted to be friends with as much people as possible!

In her old life she had so few opportunities to make friends and even though it was soooo embarrassing to speak up. She was rewarded for her bravery in the end and had seen a Shard.

Concentrated magic that one could carry around. It was so cool!

And the beetles were even cooler. They were adorable, one of them looked just like a giant ladybug! It had made sounds like a huffing ox when she patted its carapace and its mandibles had clicked.

It was weird, but the wagoner had told her these Beetles were harmless and used to humans. Now she stood close to the guy who was still eating like he was starving and watched the giant man on the pedestal stand up straighter and wave his hands. He was surrounded by a big group of guards, all armed and a tinge of worry crept into Lisa’s heart. They would not do anything bad now, would they?

Everyone in the camp, especially the other Aspirants had gathered and were staring up to the "imposing" figure.

"Aspirants, welcome! Welcome to the Tower of our Lord Emnu. I am Aurix, Lord Mayor of the Town of Beginnings."

Lisa had to stifle a giggle. Even his real name ended with ix. It was almost too much.

"It may have not been your choice to come here and you may face danger and death in this Tower."

The man paused dramatically.

"But the rewards are worth the struggle! Each and every one of you has the potential to become powerful. To become unassailable to all and climb the Tower until you face off against the Enemies of our Lord.

You all have been given a chance at a new life, your souls called back from eternal slumber. No Matter if you were a wretched criminal or an innocent soul, here it matters not. Only your dedication and fervor for Emnu and his cause shall be the measure on which we gauge each and every one of you.

Most of you are Vessels, your path will be quick, your rise to power as fast as your daring and ability to stand against the Monsters of this Tower. You will be the main force that stands against the enemy!

Only a few of you are blessed by Emnu himself and will follow in his footsteps as true mages. Your path will require you to understand magic in a way few will be capable of in the multiverse.

Through the tests in the Hall of Illusion it is clear that you are the best and most qualified out of all new Aspirants. Even though your path will be slower than a Vessels, it was with magic that this entire realm was built and it may be with your magic that you defend it or one day build your own.

Now please, those of you, who have stepped on the path of true magic, step forward and cast a spell for all of us to witness." The fat man smiled broadly and opened his arms wide.

Lisa did not like the way this was going at all, personally. Now she was no pacifist, but it scared her to death to become a solider in this Emnu's army.

She had just gotten a new life, a life without being sick, a life she could live without fear or pain. But in the back of her mind she knew that it was a pipe dream. Back when the Spirit had told her why she was here, what her purpose was, it had made her sick.

As grateful as she was to Emnu for bringing her back to life, as grateful she was for her new life, she did not know if she wanted to spend it fighting. Was that really all there was?

She suspected not, the cooks had told a lot of interesting stuff, how crafters climb the tower and Lisa had a mind to follow them while she looked around in the crowd and wondered if anyone else felt like her.

It took a few moments until some Aspirants stepped forward. The first was a small man that looked to be still in puberty. He stretched out his hand and a flame burst out from his fingertips. The fire danced merrily for a few moments, before Aurix clapped with delight.

"Very good, welcome young mage." The guards immediately stepped forward and presented the young man with a brand new and expensive looking silk robe and escorted him closer to Aurix throne like contraption he stood on.

In short order more mages stepped forward. Some just summoned simple light balls, that reminded Lisa of the Summoning Chamber, others flames or electric sparks. It looked so cool and regret filled Lisa.

Being a mage looked so awesome. But oh well she had the system on her side and she would be a [Ranger] for now, she could look for a crafting class later if that was an option at all. She was honestly fine with being a [Ranger], it was just...not exactly what she wanted from this new life of her's. Only one of the new mages stood out. A woman with raven black hair and asian features who stalked up in front of all others and summoned a single glimmering icicle as long as her forearm and it began to snow around the woman as she did so.

She looked smug and with a hint of superiority at the other mages, while Aurix almost fell over himself to congratulate her. Although Lisa had the distinct feeling that was mostly because of how pretty she was.

The ice sorceress had flawless skin and a pretty figure which was full in all the right places and she had such pretty big dark eyes with long eyelashes. Compared to her, Lisa felt like an ugly duckling next to a swan. At least she had proper breasts in this new body of hers! That had been more than consolation before, but now she was a tinge envious of her.

When nobody else stepped forward Aurix smiled and waved his hands. A few people from his guard and those guarding them stepped forward.

"Please step forward all of you, every one of these brave Soldiers has the Skill [Identify]. It will tell them your class and level. Its a necessary procedure to get an accurate account of what classes you all have, so we can properly sort you into teams. In the past there have been some...rather rare and powerful classes that have ruined their owners path forward by keeping it a secret.

Don't worry though, your class, level and attributes will not be public knowledge and only be told to your future instructors!"

Quickly lines formed in front of the 5 guards who had the [Identify] skill. There was not much of a choice really. Lisa also picked a line close by and waited while she still felt all of this was too surreal to be true.