Faking the Bloodline (1)
After easily clearing the 32nd floor, I was about to head straight into the next one. That is, if a notification hadn't popped up the exact moment I threw myself into the portal.
[An error has occurred.]
“...Huh?”
An error? What the hell are you talking about, Tower?
It only showed up back when I killed the Orc Lord. Did I do something weird? Is this counting as an achievement too?
My head spun for a second with all those thoughts. But thankfully—or maybe not—it wasn’t that kind of error.
[Scenario error detected… Processing….]
[Processing complete.]
[‘Ryu Hwimin’s Tower of Beginners and Tower of Challengers 4th-floor scenarios will now be merged as follows.]
— Bastard son of the Babel Imperial Family
— New knight of the Minet Kingdom
— Traveling between past and future to correct the empire
“Whoa?!”
My 4th-floor setting had changed. The second I saw it, my eyes snapped wide open. I instantly understood why the adjustment had been made.
Because I’ve been hopping back and forth between the towers, the story got tangled like a cheap pair of earphones.
The Tower of Beginners 4th floor was a fantasy adventure where you became a knight and went on various quests. The Tower of Challengers version was an epic where you saved the empire from the brink of destruction. Naturally, the awakener’s background differed slightly between them.
In the Tower of Beginners you were a commoner-turned-knight, but in the Tower of Challengers you were the secret bastard son of the imperial family. Normally that wouldn’t cause any issues… except I was a honey-sucking freeloader who could travel between towers at will. With the stories now full of holes, the Tower seemed to have stitched them together using a “time travel” theme.
Unlike what happened with Luca, this change only applied to me. Still, the sheer absurdity of it made me laugh.
Not like I was going to read the story anyway.
What was the point of patching it up like this? I already knew the entire 4th-floor plot from YouTube summary videos.
No thanks. Not buying it.
I reached out without thinking, planning to swipe the notification away, farm the hard tower rewards, and jump straight to the 33rd floor of the Tower of Challengers.
—I froze.
…Wait a second.
The moment I was about to close the window, I realized something and my eyes flew open. This tiny setting tweak carried the sweet aroma of a perfect exploit.
Now that I think about it, the Tower of Beginners 4th floor always dragged because of the identity problem, didn’t it?
Originally, the Tower of Beginners 4th floor should have been the fastest clear. In practice, though, some sections took even longer than the Tower of Challengers. The reason was the awakener’s social status. With the backstory of coming from the countryside, you got pushed around by the nobles and had to start from the very bottom. You began as a squire, climbed the ranks one by one, and only got to stand beside the princess starting from the 36th floor…
But being imperial royalty should be more than enough status.
The main stage of the Tower of Beginners was a kingdom. The Tower of Challengers focused on an empire. Of course the timelines were different—the kingdom had already been destroyed by the time the Tower of Challengers story took place—but the people in the Tower of Beginners wouldn’t know that.
All I need to do is prove my identity.
I immediately started scheming. New setting. New strategy. Every piece clicked together in my head until—
“...This might actually work?”
The identity issue in the Tower of Beginners could be solved. That was my conclusion.
Let’s do this!!
Whoosh—!!
I shot to my feet. Since the shortcut was right there, I planned to hit the 33rd floor of the Tower of Challengers first.
[You have acquired the 32nd floor climbing rewards.]
— Stat points +20
— Lowest-grade recovery potion x1
— Weapon/Armor summon ticket x1
[Trait ‘Golden Rule+’ has activated.]
Additional rewards acquired.
— Stat points +2
First, let’s grab the rewards….
After snatching the hard tower loot, I moved to the Tower of Challengers and stepped through the portal.
Flash—!!
Blue light flooded my vision.
[You have entered the Tower of Challengers 33rd floor.]
You are now a hero. Yet for some reason the imperial family does not seem to welcome you.
At the same time, you sense a suspicious presence. A premonition of an ambush washes over you.
Objective
— Survive for 3 hours
— Reach the next portal
Reward
— Stat points +8
So this is the 33rd floor….
After arriving at the Tower of Challengers 33rd floor, I scanned my surroundings with a quick sweep of my eyes. Luxurious marble floors. My body kneeling on one knee. And finally, the shoes of the man standing before me.
“Cain… No, Ryu Hwimin. Raise your head.”
“Yes.”
My gaze traveled upward until I met the eyes of a man dressed in jewel-encrusted robes.
So he’s set up as my half-brother, huh?
In the 4th-floor story, we shared the same father. He was the legitimate son born to the legal wife, while I was the bastard born to a maid. Yet here I was, suddenly appearing as a war hero—and at an incredibly chaotic time, the perfect moment to spark a rebellion.
No wonder his eyes were full of suspicion. He looked like he was wondering if I was plotting treason.
“Ryu Hwimin… What a barbaric name.”
“......”
“Do not worry. In these turbulent times, we can never have too many ‘generals’ like you. I will not treat you poorly.”
He even praised me as a general. It was a roundabout warning not to get any funny ideas.
“Yes.”
I obediently lowered my eyes. Apparently satisfied, the man smiled warmly.
“Puhu, good. Continue devoting your loyalty to the imperial family. Since we have some affection from childhood, I may even use you in an important—Hm?”
But that only lasted a moment. He realized something and his body stiffened. His gaze was clearly locked on the corner of my mouth.
“Cain—no, Ryu Hwimin. Why are you smiling?”
“…Heh.”
He had no idea. I hadn’t just opened my eyes. I had turned my gaze to find exactly what I wanted.
Legendary
A ring passed down since the founding of the empire, engraved with the emblem of the Babel Imperial Family. It proves that the wearer is royalty of the Babel Empire. (Cannot be worn unless one carries the imperial blood.)
If it’s been handed down since the founding, it should exist in the Tower of Beginners timeline too.
The identity problem could be solved with this.
Thanks, Crown Prince.
Well then, shall we try it out?
Blood Explosion
The third-tier stigmata I had created after clearing the 3rd floor. The one that instantly raised my stats in proportion to self-inflicted damage flashed across my forearm.
Lord, please permit this righteous ring thief!!
“Hup!!”
I shot upright as if I had been kneeling purely to build momentum. The crown prince before me couldn’t even twitch a finger before I snatched the ring.
“Cain!? What are you—”
“My precious!!!”
Swoosh—the ring slid smoothly off his finger. I held it up and beamed.
To me, this ring was nothing short of an absolute treasure that let me smash through the shortcut.
—Clang!!
“You bastard!!!”
“What the hell are you doing!!!”
Of course, we were in the middle of the imperial palace. Knights instantly drew their swords. Mages pointed their staves at me and began chanting spells.
“You scoundrel, are you truly plotting treason…!!!”
The crown prince I had robbed also belatedly reached for the sword at his waist, but—
Yep, time to run~.
“Move!!”
I had already changed the ring’s trait reinforcement to Ruler of the Tower. Even outside safe zones, I could travel between towers during a climb.
One button click. My vision was instantly dyed in the pure white light unique to the Tower of Beginners.
When I opened my eyes again, I was standing beneath warm sunlight.
[You have entered the Tower of Beginners 33rd floor….]
“Whew.”
The atmosphere really is completely different.
Ah, Tower of Beginners. Just breathing the air here feels safe. This really does suit me better.
Now, about this ring….
After briefly savoring the peace, I examined the ring in my hand. The item description hadn’t changed. The engraved pattern was the same.
“Excuse me, do you know about the Babel Empire?”
“Newbie? Why are you asking about the empire?”
“What was the imperial family’s emblem again?”
“A winged lion.”
“Thank you~.”
After asking a nearby knight, it looked like the ring would work perfectly here too. A smile crept across my face. The exploit angle was razor-sharp.
It’d probably sell for a fortune if I could take it outside. Shame.
Unfortunately it wasn’t equipment or an artifact, so I couldn’t bring it out of the tower… but oh well. This was plenty. All I needed was the free loot.
Time to plan the scenario.
I probably wouldn’t need to visit the Tower of Challengers anymore. If I could prove my identity, I could skip all the time-consuming events in the Tower of Beginners.
There was only one problem: who exactly to prove it to.
There’s really only one choice, isn’t there?
The princess.
The core NPC of the Tower of Beginners 4th floor and the piece of baggage who starts following the awakener from the 36th floor onward. What would happen if I told her I was actually royalty from the neighboring empire?
She’d probably ask why I’m even here.
The empire was a far greater power than the kingdom. They would definitely treat me with the utmost respect. The chance I’d be forced to stay as a mere knight was low.
But that was fine. My interests aligned perfectly with the princess’s.
Well then, shall we go see her face?
“Trait reinforcement swap, inventory.”
I swapped the trait reinforcement onto the ring and pulled a hat from my inventory. I didn’t particularly like it, but its performance was so broken that I used this Legendary-grade transparency hat—Tarnkappe—quite often.
Infuse magic power into the necklace as well….
I poured magic power into the artifact I was already wearing, the Necklace of Seclusion. My body turned transparent. Perfect stealth that even level 601 awakeners couldn’t detect.
Thanks to that, movement was completely unrestricted.
[Trait ‘Dragon Eyes’ has been activated.]
The princess is this way.
The royal palace had tight security. I moved with light steps and ran quickly. Since Dragon Eyes clearly displayed the princess’s traces, there was no chance of getting lost.
She should be around here… Oh, found her.
The place I stopped was a garden attached to the royal castle.
“What is he doing right now?”
“I’ve assigned him to the knight order for the time being. Not the Minet order, though.”
“He defeated Sir Cedric. Shouldn’t he be immediately posted to the Minet Knight Order?”
“There are suspicious parts of his background from when he was a squire, and if we put him straight into Minet the other members might…”
A maid, a female knight, and the princess sitting at a luxurious table sipping tea. The princess in particular looked as comfortable as if she were in her own bedroom. Those two seemed to be her closest aides, people she didn’t mind showing an undignified side to.
I felt at ease as well and pulled out the chair opposite her to sit down.
“…Oh? The chair over there.”
“Hm? Besti, did you move it?”
“No? I’ve been standing here the whole time.”
They couldn’t see me or even sense my presence, so the three of them were bewildered, not understanding what was happening, but—
—Grab.
“Princess, nice to meet you.”
I didn’t give them any time to react and placed my hand on the hat. Thanks to the already-reinforced inventory trait, it flew straight into storage without any need to physically move. I released the magic power stored in the necklace as well.
The reaction to my revealed form was, naturally, pure shock.
“Kyaaaaak!?”
“Who the hell are you… Newbie?!”
“Th-this is a place forbidden to men…!!!”
The princess screamed. The knight panicked, trying to draw her sword only to freeze when she saw my face. The maid, though flustered, still managed to maintain her professional demeanor.
To the three of them, I casually held out the ring.
“You know what this is, right?”
“……The, the Babel Empire’s.”
“Yes. And I can wear it.”
I slipped it onto my finger and showed it off. An earthquake erupted in the princess’s pupils.
“Carrying the blood of the imperial family of the empire… royalty.”
“Something like that.”
After making them accept my fake identity, I leaned my upper body forward. Our eyes met.
“Let me get straight to the point. I can break the political marriage with the empire.”