Winston had always had an unfair advantage in terms of progressing through the sequences. Not only because there was divinity in the potions and no latent will to bother him, but also because the act of digestion itself had become easier.
The higher he climbed, the easier it had become.
That was not, in any way, a function of Winston himself, but rather the function of the tower and how power was expressed inside it. Alongside that, with each three of his potions affecting the digestion in the others, he could simultaneously act in all three directions and gain 3 times as much progress - a net increase of 9 times efficiency!
The most amount of digestion in the higher sequences had been through the Fool and Door pathway. Since he was from Earth, the door pathway inherently held a certain amount of 'talent'. As for the Fool pathway, he had held plenty of information pertaining to history, and Sequence 3 had gone by quickly because of it.
But now that he was on Sequence 2, the only easy path was Miracle Invoker. Door Pathway had once again aided in digestion, pushing it to 5% right off the bat. But the rest had to be fulfilled by manual acting.
However, such a gigantic number of avatars meant Winston's digestion could be leagues above Mr. Fool's digestion.
"Greetings." A man nodded to the bartender as he sat down onto the stool. The marble table before him had various glasses and bottles. Behind the counter stood a man with a mean face. An ugly scar ran down his chin and his eyes were blood red, like a vampire's.
The bar was filled with many people of all shapes and sizes and in the light filtering through large glass walls on the side, all of them were drinking their sorrows and joys away.
"What would you like?" The bartender asked, his tone measured but carrying an undertone of resentment.
"What's the best thing you got?" The customer asked. He tilted his hat up, revealing a set of hazle brown eyes.
"An 'Electric Spearhead' ought to cheer you right up." The man reached back into the shelf behind him, grabbing a royal blue bottle and pouring out a drink. "A creation of Khun Eduan. Said to be strong enough that a single cup will fry your brains out. Better drink it slowly. Sizzles on the way down."
He pushed the quarter filled cup toward the customer and warned. The customer looked at the electric blue liquid and let out a chuckle.
From his pocket, he pulled out a sea blue suspendium coin.
"Tell me something." He said, flicking the coin upwards. The bartender watched the coin with greed in his eyes.
"What are your thoughts about the top of the tower?"
"Heh." He snorted. "The top of the tower where any wish can be granted... something to strive towards sure... but dont ask me about it. Never even became a regular. Surely wanted to though." The bartender flexed his arms, showcasing his large, bulging muscles. "See these bad boys? They ain't meant for polishing glasses in a bar... but the reality is cruel."
Flick!
"The guardians choose people on their own. Only the special ones get chosen, but no one really understands what is it that you need to become special."
Flick!
"People like me... we spend our entire lives in the middle tower. The ones in the outer towers are largely unaware that they're even in a tower. As I said, the gods are cruel."
Flick!
Twip!
The man caught the coin and with a genial smile, he opened his mouth to speak.
"Truer words have never been spoken." He gave a toothy grin. "The tower grants any wish. But it is the guardians of the tower that decide who gets to climb. Totally unfair right?"
Flick!
Twip!
He flicked the coin again.
"Getting chosen is nothing short of a miracle. Wouldn't you agree?"
The bartender gave a bright smile.
"Of course."
"Then..." The man leaned in, "Why don't you try making a wish? It might just work."
Having said that, the man flicked the coin towards the butler who caught the coin in a single move.
"A wish... heh. I wish to be given a chance to climb the tower."
The man tipped his hat.
"Granted."
There was a bright flash of light, and then silence. Neither the man or the bartender were there anymore.
...
The day upon which Phantaminum returned marked the start of a new age in the tower. Because it was on this very day that the entire tower would undergo a drastic change.
Everywhere in the tower, from the 1st to the topmost available floor, in the inner, middle and even the outer tower, people of all races were chosen to become regulars.
The test floor, which had until now never before seen such a large amount appearing all at once were in a state of shock.
Their numbers?
One Hundred Million.
It was an insurmountable tide of regulars, all chosen by a fleeting miracle to be given a chance at climbing the tower.
Not long after they all appeared, the guardian of the second floor appeared before the ruler of the 2nd floor, Evankhell, and devised some new rules.
'Battle Royale.'
1) In a time limit of 2 days, every regular was tasked to gather as much points as possible. 2) Each regular, designated as a 'player' was allotted 1 point. 3) Each player can earn points by killing other players. 4) The points earned after killing a player is the same amount as the player held before they were killed. 5) Only the top 10,000 players with the most amount of points would pass the test. 6) Any form of foul play is permitted.
And so, One Hundred Million regulars all over the floor of tests were tasked to kill each other by any means necessary. The ones that survived were mostly those that came from the higher floors, where the natural shinsu density had molded their bodies to be far stronger than anyone else.
It was called the Great Purge of Regulars, taking more than 99 million lives in the matter of 2 days.
Those that made it past the purge were deemed the strongest batch of regulars seen since the warring periods and were dubbed 'the worst generation.'
It would not be a month after the purge had happened that it would be revealed that every single regular in that participated in the Great Purge of Regulars had been sent there by the same man. A man who gave everyone what they asked for. A miracle that gave them a chance to alter their fate.
But that is a story for another time.
...
As Winston sat on his throne surrounded by grey fog, he thought about the dilemma he was in.
His digestion was almost complete. Giving one hundred million people their wish completed his digestion. Who would've known...
But he could not progress without the ritual. And the ritual was to make a city out of himself, out of his marionettes and spend enough time so that the imprints of the city get left behind on the surrounding spirit world.
But he could hardly do that when a powerful axis was on a manhunt for his avatars.
He looked 'down' towards the tower and over to the floor where Phantaminum was currently tangled in a battle against all of His avatars.
There had been no clear winner at first, but when Phantaminum released whatever seal was on him, bursting out with light, he was adapting impressively fast.
Winston looked at the two other avatars seated on his sides. One of them wore the Error monocle and the other wore the blank mask of the Fool. Looking at them, Winston could not help but have a smile break out over his face.
"Guess I'll just have to cheat a bit."
...
A/N: I'm back. And I won't be disappearing for another 2 months... probably.