Harley rested on top of Tas, his legs numbed, paralyzed. “You know, Tas, were you and May really not a couple? I know it’s not a good time to ask, but I just can’t not know.”

  “...”

  “Oh come on, so what if so many people died. So what if they may have sacrificed their life for you but in the end it was all pointless cause you should have done it to them, cause unlike you, they could actually die.” Harley paused, staring, eyes wide open, smile heavily forced, pure of joy. “But you know, that’s all in the past! Look at me! For some odd reason, just a single day was enough to make me… uhhhhhh… make me!”

  “Though, I don’t really know what happened to me, just you know… after a few deaths… it just… cracked me.”

  “So then what do you think happened to me?”

  “Made yourself the chosen one, because it is only through God’s own behaviour will people like you who are religious cope with the pointless death of the people you love.”

  “...”

  “Anyway! So were you and May really not a couple? Like seriously! That fucking touching is too! MUCH! That’s not. In any way. Humanly possible. Ever. Platonic.”

  “No. I… did love her though.”

  “Oh… mutual understanding. Such bullshit.”

  “How… how do you get everything so fast?”

  “It’s just normal. Anyway!” Harley slapped his thighs. “I need to get moving fast, I currently have two extra lives remaining and three till I die.” He fisted his legs multiple times until a sense of pain suddenly coursed through his body all at once. “Rrrr. Fuck, that was worse than a cramp.” He stood up slowly, flipping and arching his back till he got up.

  “Are you not gonna stand up? I was annoyed at you first, but you know, you’re handling your situation pretty well. I respect you for that.”

  “...why should I… I have nothing to live for… I lost the first person I’ve ever loved… for nothing.”

  One went insane to the point she lost her mind for her love, and one went insane but just lost the will of living, this one is better than the former, one hundred percent so.

  “If you just stay there and kept dying, then yeah, her death was for nothing. But can’t you live your life knowing that someone protected you with their entire life? Can’t you live your life because even if it wasn’t needed, that you carry her will, her wish for you to be alive. If you won’t live your life, her death was truly pointless. You’re still alive, Tas. Live it; that’s what she wanted.”

  Time froze; a single second felt like an eternity. That one second of silence made an ocean of tears flow over the puddle of blood beneath. “Anyway, that’s just common sense, you know. Anyone could have told you that. But that’s life, even if you know, you have to hear it from someone else. That’s such a stupid feature of human beings, but you know… it makes them interesting.

  Harley crouched down, the back of his head carrying a dense amount of blood. He pressed on the ground hard, coating the entire thing, then rubbed it on his hair, turning it into a mess of crimson.

  “I’ll stay here for a little bit… I don’t know… maybe die a few more times?”

  “Oh well, take all the time you need. I still have to dissect the goblins.”

  A few minutes passed by, and the goblins never appeared. Whether the constant beams of light scared them or that they were preparing a massive attack enough to threaten a kingdom. “Tas, you know they say that normal people would never not go insane after dying multiple times. The amount of pain will hurt not only their body but also their mind.” My trait helps a little, but I won’t say that.

  “But look at us, sometimes people just need to find a way to cope. A reason they can hold onto whatever that reason is. The state that the only person dragging a person is themselves is so scarily true that I hate it.”

  Harley continued on his mumbling, telling stories of past or random philosophical lessons that he himself never even followed. “A hypocrite, that’s what I am, Tas. I am the biggest hypocrite in the world. You know, I dare try to teach people to live their own lives when I couldn’t even properly live mine.”

  He slowly dissected the goblins, taking all the time he had, chatting, speaking, rambling with not a single reply. However, even if it felt like he was talking to air, Harley felt a sense of peace. It was the same feeling as talking to a grave, with no judgment, only freedom to say what you want to feel to your deceased loved one.

  “May was extremely pretty, I wonder how, no offense, an ugly ass like you got her. Hahahaha! Just kidding! Your personality covered it enough. Just kidding!”

  A few more minutes later, Harley was finished, piling all the magic cores in one place and opening the door back to the lobby. “You only live once; make the best out of it. That rule doesn’t necessarily apply to us anymore, more so to you. Tas, we were brought here by an unknown power. They were strong enough to create a whole different world. Don’t you think there is a way in this tower to revive her?”

  ***

  “Fuck man, I feel so tired.” As soon as Harley entered the cabin, chants of a single name filled the room. He stretched up his hands, daggers and magic cores all rolling on the ground. After rotating his head, he turned around, staring at his white backlight. A second of look into heaven, he closed the door, dimming the light once more.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “I just remembered, before, the amount of beration, the amount of insults I get every day used to make my heart hurt so much that I wanna die. Yet my dreams, aspirations, and goals all kept me alive, which made me hate myself for even having the will to be alive. Such a contradiction, right? I wanna live, yet I hate how I wanna live, and at the same time, my life keeps telling me to die. So shut the fuck up, Elise.”

  Harley tapped the magic core with the sharp blade of the dagger, making sounds of crystal, leaving not a single scratch. He then shoved the magic core into the mouth of Elice, pushing deep.

  While walking to the bed, “How did you even get past the first floor? Another powerful trait like immortality?” Harley sat and soon laid down, closing his eyes and taking a well-deserved rest.

  ***

  A few days passed quickly, the routine of waking up and hunting for a few goblins then coming back to the cabin to sleep, rinse and repeat, till Harley was able to reach fifty goblins with not a single more death to his name.

  Hunting goblins was of no easy task. Even after hours of searching, Harley could not find the village whatsoever. At the same time, after the fight with fifteen goblins, it could only be speculated that the constant beam of him spawning actually threw the goblin off, mistaking him for a powerful monster.

  All of this has rendered Harley’s speed to be extremely slow. Goblins could only be found after venturing far into the forest in small packs of two or three. However, this was also useful as any possible death could be easily avoided. Of course, Harley’s body was also full of injuries, the marks of his success, staring at death across a thin pane of glass.

  Being halfway through the mission, a single death could be warranted just to relieve him of pain. Though Harley didn’t want to. It was just the second floor, yet the time, pain, and difficulty is quite visible to anyone, more so to a normal person with no fighting background.

  “I envy those who know how to fight. They have definitely finished this floor already and are at the third one by now. Yet… I’m only halfway through.”

  [Second Floor]

  [Kill 100 Goblins]

  [Reward: The Market]

  Harley clicked on the second line of text, revealing a different screen.

  [Progress: 51/100]

  His eyes widened, his body reacting fiercely. He opened the door to the cabin and immediately went in. After the blinding light relaxed on his eyes, he turned around, closing the door and opening it again. The darkness swallowed him, arriving at the spawn, his feet touching blood.

  “He’s gone! Tas! My guy! Took you long enough!”

  [Progress: 52/100]

  “The speed will be faster now. I wonder if he knows how to get home though, using the door trick.” His eyes were then blinded by a golden light, his body feeling disembodied. Even without any senses, he jumped forward, rolling on the ground. “Well, that’s a way.”

  “You finally decided to get out of your dump.”

  “I just felt bored, peasant.” Tas smiled, laughing afterwards. “Hahaha! I barely killed that second goblin. Now stop complaining to me every day.”

  “Then… we can fucking finish this second floor already. Do be careful; I’ll throw you under the bus if we spot more than ten goblins.”

  “Likewise.”

  ***

  At another cabin, in another world, from a different section of the tower, inside an endless forest surrounding a single village of goblins, two men stood on top of trees, overlooking the vast home of monsters. Houses filled the barren land; they were made of wood, with leaves acting as the roof. Some pens existed at the far edge, with a giant cylindrical house in the middle. The entire village was surrounded by a giant wall made of wood, stretching as high as the trees.

  “So if we just go in there, we may get some good loot?”

  “Yes.”

  “Heh. All mine.”

  “Hey, at least give me fifty percent.”

  “I’m the one fighting.”

  “If you didn’t have me, you wouldn’t even know of this place.”

  “You know I can just kill you, right?” He raised a sword to his neck.

  “Same with you.” A dagger was placed at the other man’s chest.

  “Fine, all the magic cores are mine.”

  “Deal.”

  [Progress: 211/100]