[TUTORIAL FLOOR NINE: INITIATION DELAYED – SYSTEM INTERFERENCE DETECTED]
You are being contacted.
You are not asleep.
You are not awake.
This is the place between.
Wang Ling stood in darkness.
Not the suffocating dark of the abyss.
But the kind that waits.
Listens.
Somewhere, distant gears turned.
The air was dry.
Too quiet.
Then the voice came.
It did not echo.
It did not speak in language.
It entered directly — not as words, but as meaning.
"You are the first to refuse everything."
"The system. The shortcuts. The call to unity. The myth of chosen heroes."
"You rise by absence."
"And yet… we know you."
"We remember what you are."
Wang Ling did not respond.
But his thoughts sharpened.
"Who are you?"
The voice hesitated.
Then answered.
"I am not a god. I am not salvation. I am not death."
"I am the architect of the Cage."
"I am the breath between floors. The reason you fall and climb again."
"I am the Tower."
Wang Ling opened his eyes inside the dream.
Nothing changed.
Still darkness.
Still silence.
But now… he was not alone.
A figure appeared across from him.
It looked exactly like him.
Same face. Same build. Same expressionless stare.
But where Wang Ling's eyes were cold steel—
This one's eyes were black suns.
"You want something," Wang Ling said flatly.
The mirror smiled.
"I offer what you've already taken."
"Authority."
"Why fight the Tower when you can direct it?"
"Open the gate with your will. Erase the others. Become the Only Key."
"You can rule what comes after."
Wang Ling stepped closer.
His mirror did not move.
He looked into its face.
Then said:
"If the Tower wants something from me…"
"It should ask while it still can."
The dream fractured.
Reality shivered.
And the voice changed.
"Then climb, devourer."
"Climb until the roof breaks."
"And when there are no more floors—"
"We will speak again."
"Not as dream."
"But as war."
[Tutorial Floor Nine Begins in: 00:04:19]
Objective: Survive 30 minutes inside a multi-phase trial against mimic enemies that evolve based on your behavior.
Wang Ling woke in a cold sweat.
Not fear.
Just recalibration.
"The Tower showed me a mirror."
"Good. That means it finally looked back."
Yue stirred beside him.
Her breath was steady.
She hadn't been summoned into the dream.
Only he was contacted.
Because only he had been marked.
[System Update: Passive Effect – "Whisper from the Core" Added]
The Tower has acknowledged you.
You are now immune to all false quests, misdirects, and illusion floors.
You will only walk the true path.
The Tower will no longer lie to you.
⚠️ Others are still fed illusions. You are not.
Wang Ling rose from bed and flexed his fingers.
"Three floors left."
"And now I'm climbing alone... even among the survivors."