Tower of Heaven

"Hm?"

A pair of eyes darted in a specific direction, but turned away soon enough.

'Was I noticed?'

He could've sworn he felt a gaze, but it disappeared so fast he couldn't track it.

Atlas was currently on a mountain roughly a kilometer behind the Behemoth Emperor's Tomb.

After mourning Kallos' death for three days and nights, he finally exited the tomb, and was teleported here.

Yet, he did not leave immediately.

There were two reasons for this.

Firstly, he needed to scout the general direction of the Celestial Ladder, which was far easier at this high vantage point, and secondly, he wanted to see how the Great Societies reacted to the tomb's collapse.

As expected, there was quite a scene.

Heaven's Gate took the lead and put a bounty on his head, and though he couldn't view the events directly due to his distance, the Tower System became convenient at times like this.

Among its many functions were several that allowed communication between Ascenders, providing a level of connectivity Atlas couldn't have imagined in his past life.

But the future was the future for a reason.

This particular innovation was great for the current him, as he could observe the actions of those in the square from afar and understand the situation.

'The members of Divine Sanctuary left immediately…for now, I can assume they are not involved. The Nihility Council also showed no interest in the bounty, while the Den of Mysteries' stance is unclear, but Heaven's Gate and Ars Goetia seem quite intent on capturing me.'

It would be nice if he could completely exclude other possibilities and only focus on those two influences, but he wasn't naive enough to make that mistake.

Until it was proven, he had to assume that all five of the Great Societies would be after his head along with smaller societies and rogues enticed by greed and fame.

'I cannot be sure where that gaze originated from, but I do not doubt my senses. I must make haste.'

He could already see humans spreading through the landscape like splotches of black on a beautiful canvas.

'It is quite burdensome, but it seems I will not be able to use my true name any longer.'

Atlas sighed.

Luckily, the Tower allowed one to register aliases as well, but it would be troublesome if his identity was ever found.

After all, he wasn't planning to stop after conquering Kallos' tomb. He would make plenty of achievements in the future, and the target on his back would only become larger.

'In a sense, it can be considered a boon. If the two identities remain separate, I will be able to protect myself from a considerable amount of danger.'

His physique was quite common, and though he would have to change his mask, it wasn't strange to see people hiding their identities within the Tower, so the act of wearing a mask wouldn't jeopardize his plans.

White hair wasn't extremely common, but it wasn't rare enough to elicit suspicion.

The problem was the combination of his hair and eye colors.

'I will have to find a solution for that problem as well, but it is not convenient at the moment.'

These were matters he could only tend to once he reached the 12th floor.

His main objective was finding the Celestial Ladder.

'According to the information, most Celestial Ladders will be obvious, as the floor layouts are streamlined. However, for open floors such as this one, the location is not set.'

And there could be multiple Celestial Ladders.

This could be considered the Tower's consideration for Ascenders.

The location of the 11th floor's main Celestial Ladder was already known to Atlas and every other Ascender, but it was directly in the midst of enemy forces, constantly guarded by Heaven's Gate even without extraneous circumstances provoking them.

Atlas needed to find a hidden Celestial Ladder somewhere else on the floor and use it to escape, but with such an expansive landscape, how could it be easy?

[Eyes of One]

Time slowed in his eyes.

The world turned grey, and the environment broke down into a composition of its base components.

'This ability may not give me an exact coordinate, but it will surely show me a general direction.'

He scanned in all directions, focusing all his thoughts into his vision and searching for a clue.

He didn't know what it would look like.

Whether something would stand out obviously or just barely make itself known to him was unknown, so he couldn't drop his focus for even a moment.

As his vision panned, he suddenly stopped to stare in a certain direction.

'That is…'

The forest where he trained for six months before the expedition.

'I have explored most of it, so I can be certain that it is not there, however…'

The forest was surrounded on three sides by paths that led back to human civilization, but to its south was a large ravine that separated it from the rest of the 11th floor.

'If I am not mistaken, that ravine should be a danger zone. It is said that strong beast companions can be found there, but the risk is just as great, if not greater, than the reward.'

Atlas ignored it since his original goal was a Beast Soul rather than a living companion, but now that his [Intuition] was signaling towards it, he had to give it a second thought.

'Whether there is truly a Celestial Ladder there or not, [Intuition] guarantees fortune will appear in some form.'

He didn't have other leads, so he didn't have a choice.

The longer he waited, the less opportunity he'd have to move covertly and evade the pursuing forces.

Therefore, he quickly opened the Tower Shop and bought a random mask with a different aesthetic that wouldn't be related to its predecessor before descending the mountain.

Roughly ten minutes passed since Heaven's Gate announced his bounty.

By now, news of his existence had already spread through the 11th floor, along with his name and a description of his physical characteristics and clothing.

Divine Sanctuary also put out a statement, making it clear that they would not involve themselves in this conflict.

Rumors were circulating about the exact reason for the bounty, since Heaven's Gate blocked off any information about the happenings of the Behemoth Emperor's Tomb, but the general consensus was clear.

This new Ascender possessed a treasure that even the Great Societies were interested in.

Sure, whether it was 500 gold or 5000 gold, the sum was enough to support growing Ascenders for a considerable amount of time, but…

What if they got their hands on that treasure?

How much could they sell it for?

The Nihility Council never made large moves in the Tower, a fact that often made people question their position among the Great Societies, and Divine Sanctuary wouldn't compete.

Compared to the full force of the 5 Great Societies, the thought of just three seemed much more manageable.

Anyone could smell the scent of fortune from this incident, and the lessened danger made it hard to resist.

For humans, money was the greatest motivator.

This was a fact that hadn't changed since ancient times!