Chapter 1
Chapter 1
World of the Hundred Towers
My attending physician was a very sensitive person.
So sensitive, in fact.
“Mr. Muhan… I’m sorry…”
Right now she was standing in front of me, tears falling like broken beads onto the floor.
Is that even something a doctor is supposed to do?
Anyone who believed something like that was impossible would change their mind after seeing her.
“Why are you crying again? If a doctor acts like this, the patient gets anxious. I only tolerate it because it’s you.”
I said it like a joke, but she didn’t laugh.
She bit her lip tightly and spoke.
“The paralysis will soon reach your respiratory muscles.”
If your respiratory muscles are paralyzed, you can’t breathe.
And if you can’t breathe, you die.
She was putting it gently, but it really meant you’re going to die soon.
I leaned back against the pillow and slowly pushed myself up a little.
“Okay, stop crying.”
“If only I had tried a little harder…”
My attending physician was a genius.
At least that’s what I heard. She had been famous since childhood, even appeared on TV.
Early admission, early graduation, finishing the country’s top medical school as the youngest ever, becoming a professor at a record age, and making a name for herself in academia almost instantly.
A genius among geniuses.
“And what can you do? I still lived until twenty, didn’t I?”
Even that real genius couldn’t even figure out what my illness was.
An unknown disease that started from the lower body, slowly paralyzed all muscles, and eventually reached the respiratory muscles, leading to death.
Something similar to ALS, but not ALS.
It first appeared when I was ten. I was already weak, but from that age onward I couldn’t even walk.
Nothing worked.
The first doctor who diagnosed me said I would be lucky to make it to twenty, and there was no way I would survive past thirty no matter what.
And so I spent over ten years lying in a hospital bed.
Just waiting to die.
“If you cancel your advance directive… if I just had more time, I could still try something…”
My doctor clutched her coat tightly.
I waved my hand lightly.
“No need.”
The moment I became an adult, I had already signed the advance directive refusing life-sustaining treatment.
It’s not like I didn’t want to live longer, but I hated pointless struggles.
Keeping someone alive who isn’t even conscious just makes everyone else suffer.
And if you’re conscious but can’t move, that’s even worse.
Honestly, that scared me more than death itself.
When I first got sick, I used to pray for a meteor to hit me or something.
But I’m an adult now.
I can’t live with that childish mindset forever.
After a few formal words, the doctor left the room with slumped shoulders.
I had first met her ten years ago.
Back then she was a rookie, so I thought it was normal. But as years passed, wrinkles formed on her face, and her tears only grew heavier.
At this rate, I really wondered if she could even function properly as a doctor.
Thud—
I tossed the phone I was holding aside.
“Damn it.”
The curse slipped out naturally.
Was I angry because I was about to die?
No. I understood my condition better than anyone.
I had already accepted that the end was near. Living past twenty was already a miracle.
Lucky Muhan, I guess.
Still, there was one thing even my overly positive mindset couldn’t handle.
A holographic window that had started appearing in front of me recently.
[You have been chosen as the Adversary. Would you like to enter the World of the Hundred Towers?]
No matter what I was doing—talking with my doctor, eating, using my phone, even in the bathroom—that holographic window blocked my vision.
[If the Adversary refuses salvation, your world will be destroyed. Would you like to enter the World of the Hundred Towers?]
At first it was faint, but it grew stronger, larger, and eventually added threatening messages like this.
It was driving me insane.
The worst part was that it even blocked my phone screen, the only thing I had left to enjoy.
The hologram shifted and flickered like it had a will of its own.
I even went to a psychiatrist, thinking I was losing my mind, but they said there was nothing wrong.
[18:33:51]
And that constantly decreasing timer only made things worse.
Even with my eyes closed, I could still see it.
Did it mean the world would end when it hit zero?
That would suck.
Not that it mattered to me—I was dying anyway.
But I didn’t want my sensitive doctor to die.
[00:12:01]
The worst part was that it didn’t even give me time to think properly. Time moved quickly when I just lay there.
[00:08:08]
The 18-hour countdown had already shrunk to less than ten minutes.
Even the warning text disappeared, leaving only the timer and an “Enter” button.
Maybe this wasn’t a disease at all.
Maybe it was just some unknown mental illness.
Even if I pressed the button, maybe nothing would happen.
But I had another thought.
There was nothing this body could do anyway. What could a person who can’t even walk possibly do?
Well.
I was dying anyway. Maybe it didn’t matter.
“Nothing to lose.”
[Enter]
I pressed the floating button in the air.
A bright light filled my vision.
[How many worlds are needed to save one world.]
My consciousness flickered like a dying candle.
[One hundred.]
[And so the tower is built with that hundred.]
[Thus it becomes the World of the Hundred Towers.]
A mechanical voice, like something from a medical device, tickled my ears.
[Current location: First Sinkhole World, School Ghost Story waiting room.]
[Adversary Kim Muhan’s trait is awakening.]
[‘Heavenly Demon Gallery Entry’ has been acquired.]
I opened my heavy eyelids.
Countless holographic windows poured into view.
The surroundings were a pure white space, like a hospital room.
For a normal person, it would be enough to drive them insane, but for me, it felt strangely familiar.
“Huh?”
I opened my mouth blankly.
The air felt sweet.
It was the freshest I had ever felt.
Fresh.
Right.
My body didn’t feel like a sack of lead anymore.
Breathing wasn’t difficult.
Most importantly.
Twitch, twitch.
My toes moved.
When I applied a bit of strength, my legs responded too.
The sensation of long-lost control returning felt unreal.
Thud.
Pain.
When I tried to stand up too quickly, I collapsed immediately.
I grabbed my knee and glared at the hologram.
[All status ailments and injuries are healed in the waiting room.]
Apparently, my illness had been classified as a status ailment.
The tower had healed even that.
However, it only healed the disease, not the muscles that had withered from years of being bedridden.
[Time limit in waiting room: 24 hours.]
[23:55:04]
This was the problem.
The damn hologram still imposed a time limit.
I quickly scanned the window.
I had clearly heard something about a trait.
[Heavenly Demon Gallery Entry]
Grade: Unique
You have entered the Heavenly Demon Gallery.
A question mark naturally formed in my mind.
“Heavenly Demon Gallery Entry?”
As I thought it, a familiar window popped up.
Heavenly Demon Gallery
[Need feedback on the cabbage I grew this time (image attached)]
[Strange characters…]
[@mod @invitation @wheelturn_demon @Heavenly Demon]
[Glitched text flooding the screen]
[How to grill ten-thousand-year spirit meat lol]
[Mod still AFK?]
[I finally created a martial art for shaving body hair]
[Chanting: Amen]
[Elf of the Endless Forest, unite!]
It was a chaos of nonsense posts.
I clicked one that looked relatively normal.
Title: Breaking the Shaolin Seventy-Two Arts
Author: FaithUnitesAll
There are no proper scriptures in Shaolin martial arts, so target the person, not the technique. Techniques are performed by people, and while perfect techniques may exist, perfect humans do not. Exploit human weaknesses. Namo Amitabha.
Reply: GalaxySmile: That monk is spouting nonsense again. Why did I even expect anything ☆
Reply: BlondeBlueEyesBig: Mod, you have no weaknesses, right?
Reply: GalaxySmile: He’s a “human,” unlike us false gods. The mod is a true god☆
Reply: GlitchedUser: (garbled rage text repeating endlessly)
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: Why is that psycho glitching again? Someone get a leash.
Reply: FaithUnitesAll: “Khah!”
Reply: GlitchedUser: (more corrupted symbols)
Reply: BloodDemon: I must clarify, unlike that mad dog, I intend to do nothing improper. No supervision is needed.
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: You’re scared now? You all attended that illegal lecture thanks to the mod lol
Reply: BloodDemon: I merely wished to learn. Understanding Buddhism is necessary to break its martial arts.
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: Sure sure, blame the mod lol
Reply: BloodDemon: I am the only sane one here.
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: Mod is next level insane though.
Reply: BloodDemon: The mod is exempt.
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: I’ll report this when the mod logs in lol
Reply: ForestElf: Elves of the forest, unite!
I had no idea what kind of place this was.
So I gave up trying to understand it and clicked the small “write post” button.
Title: What is this place?
Author: me (8.8)
Someone explain please
A moment later.
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: ?
Reply: GalaxySmile: ☆
Reply: FaithUnitesAll: ?
Reply: BlondeBlueEyesBig: ?
.
.
.
A flood of question marks followed.