Rise Of The Hoarder

There were four Towers erected for the first scenario.

The Tower Of Death.

The Tower Of War

The Tower Of Lack

The Tower Of Conquerors

These were dubbed after the Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, each having 99 Floors as well as a Hidden Floor that housed their respective Horseman.

Conquering the Towers was the preoccupation of Gifteds at this point. The rewards they received from ascending each Level, as well as the EXP obtained, were essential in defeating the enemies that would surface in a few months’ time.

At least, that was supposed to be the general narrative.

*************

>FWOOOSSSHHHH<

I appeared out of a warbling black portal—murky and ominous as the Tower I just exited.

Upon returning to my room, I collapsed on the ground and sighed—watching the black portal fade away.

“Sons of bitches…”

The reason for cursing, despite the beads of sweat on my face and the heaving breaths I let out, was due to the experiences I just endured in the Tower I came out of.

The Tower of Lack!

“Shit… who would have known…”

Even though each Tower’s difficulty was balanced, they had their respective themes and unique traits.

For Death, that would be the Undead and the loads of Miasma that choked the whole place. It was also easy to imagine the major theme of the Tower Of War. But, how could I have expected what I faced in the Tower Of Lack?

The inability to use Items!

I couldn’t even resort to [Subspace], or call on my army, or utilize the special effects of my tools. How crazy was that?!

The Tower expected the Gifteds to utilize only their Skills, Titles, Gifts, and General Stats throughout the adventure. Unfortunately, my Gift relied heavily on the use of Items, so I was restricted by far.

If one used Skills to summon more allies or weapons to fight, the Skill would be rendered invalid… and a penalty was also given.

How annoying was that?

If this had happened in the Tower Of Death, I would have had an extremely difficult time. Heck, I could have even lost!

Fortunately, the Towers were well-balanced, so the heavy restrictions given by the Tower Of Lack were mitigated by the quality and quantity of opponents one faced.

Unlike the other Towers, the Tower Of Lack mostly dealt with adventures such as interaction with the denizens of the Tower, searching for lost treasures, uncovering mysteries, etc.

At the end of each Floor, a Boss appeared.

The Tower Of Lack didn’t place much emphasis on mobs. A Floor had one big bad. The Boss was either a mastermind of misfortune, the guardian of a treasure, a tyrannical ruler, etc.

Still, it was too time-consuming.

The Tower resembled a game where I couldn’t skip the cutscenes because of important information and clues that could be found in every nook and cranny. It required brainpower and meticulousness.

It was due to this very reason that so many weak Gifteds swarmed this Tower. Unlike the others, the difficulty of ‘Lack’ was lower. Plus, since they didn’t have many items and good gear, the restrictions of the Tower never really affected them.

Only Return Stones could be used—but I didn’t even bother about it.

By the time I arrived at the 99th Floor, I was plenty exhausted. Not only physically, but also mentally. Fortunately, I had amassed lots of Skills, else I would have been in serious trouble.

The Boss was dubbed ‘Lord Of The Flies,’ and was basically swarmed with annoying little insects.

He resembled a mummified human, but with his face exposed—along with other parts of his body.

He was so thin and lanky that his flesh clung close to his bones. The bloodshot expression he had depicted hunger… and a thirst for blood.

With a scythe as his weapon, his garb like a farmer, and the venue a vast wasteland, our battle commenced.

Of course, I won, since it was only a Grade 4 Demon, but it was increasingly annoying how the guy evaded my attacks.

His scythe’s effect kept depleting my HP after a single hit, and the annoying flies that attacked were also quite troublesome.

I won only because of my superior abilities.

Finally, I confronted the Boss of the Hidden Floor—Lack himself.

He sat atop a black horse.

The horseman was clothed in all-black, having a faded tone to it. On his hand was a scale, and his other unoccupied hand beckoned to me.

Thanks to the patience I gathered from the 99 Floors before this one, I was able to listen to his first statement…

“Human, I am surprised you made it this far. You will make a fine addition to my collection.”

… And then obliterated him.

I first dealt with the horse, then dealt with the rider.

Lack’s ability was quite tricky, as his Scale Of Imbalance gave him the advantage in combat. No matter what I threw at him, something of greater proportion would instantly proceed from his Item.

I mean, how fair was it that he could use his Item and I couldn’t? That made no sense!

His attire reversed any damage dealt to him, and he restored himself with my vitality and HP.

His Skills were not as powerful as Death’s, but they were incredibly annoying. He mostly used Debuffs that made my powerful strikes seem like a baby’s punch. The bastard also had the annoying ability of increasing my Mana Cost, lengthening my Cooldown Period, forcibly canceling out my Skills, etc.

I figured it was more disadvantageous to me because I was a solo player. If a Party challenged him, they had a pretty good chance of winning.

Even though he was a Grade 6 Demon, his base Stats were akin to a Grade 5. He was physically weak, and simply wore me down to compensate. In short, he brought me down to his level.

I found that annoying, but having no other choice, I persisted.

Fortunately, I had a wider array of Skills than he did, and after a terrible back and forth, I finally emerged victorious.

“Haa… haa… that was the worst match of my life…”

It seemed like true power wasn’t simply restricted to brute force, but also sly abilities like the ones I faced.

Now, though, those abilities were mine.

‘I just need to rest for a bit… and then the final Tower will be mine!’