"It's been hard on you, everyone."
Little Morleone walked to the group of elderly,
Who were watching the 'ending' and greeted them.
The elderly group saw the 'different' boss the old lady mentioned and waved their hands, saying it wasn't hard at all.
This little gentleman's aura was completely different from that energetic, crazy minion.
He seems calm, so calm that it was scary.
Then they stood there in silence, watching the scene unfold in front of them.
There were no participants left anymore.
Only the newborns at the far back, getting beaten up by the little crystalline mortals,
And the unmoving unborns close to them that were getting destroyed by their teammates one by one.
The old lady, seeing that not many of them were left, gave Little Mortal's infopad and handgun to him.
"Here, Boss.
We will be 'retrieved' soon."
As usual, after the season event ended, everything that could be retrieved would go to the infopad's inventory, and she didn't want him to go around and look for his infopad.
Little Morleone received the infopad and left after saying,
"Thank you, young lady.
Now, if you'll excuse me."
The crowd looked at each other in confusion.
It was unclear to everyone what happened in the depths of the underground area that caused the special event to trigger, bringing everything to an end in a day.
They wondered to themselves how far they could go alongside this reckless minion.
Not long after, Little Morleone returned to the safe room where he had started his journey and went straight to the bed, lying on it.
Only now did he finally take his hand out of his pocket.
And a few moments later,
"Zzzzz..."
He had already fallen asleep.
The fanatic notebook recorded the most important part of today's history.
< Mr. Morleone concluded his journey on the third planet with a quiet, unyielding grace — one hand resting in his pocket from beginning to end.
He never wavered, never raised his voice, and never once resorted to panic.
He arrived as a true gentleman and departed as one, leaving behind not the echo of fear, but the silent imprint of unwavering resolve.
History remembers not the steps he took, but the calm in which he took them. >
......
Third planet - Day 13.
*Ding*
"Who is it? Show yourself!"
Little mortal, hearing the sound, jolted awake.
Looking around, he found himself still in the safe room.
"Why in the world am I still here?"
After glancing at his infopad, which made a sound and woke him up, he ignored it and first opened his notebook.
He saw a note left for him there.
[ 1 Day, 1 bullet.
Reminder: Check the rank 1 participant's cards ]
Little mortal was surprised.
"So efficient? He fired a bullet and finished the event here?
And what's so special about rank 1's cards?"
And checked his infopad.
The notification he just received contained system information about the end of the event on this planet.
"Who cares about this stupid season-end notification if it still can't calculate any points?"
So he just ignored it.
Then he checked the cards of the rank 1 he caught on the second planet and the one Mr. Morleone had to deal with on this planet.
*Gasp*
"No way!
That rank 1 from the second planet had a 'Chain Strike' card, and this one from here had a 'Chain Strike' and a 'Duplicate card'?
It should be their season-end rewards..."
Then he drew his handgun, separated the cards, and merged his Chain Strike card with the two new ones.
Then he added the two Duplicate cards.
Each Chain Strike card added +6 more targets to his shots, and he had three of them.
Each Duplicate card, of which he had two, doubled this number.
Now, his bullet would hit 72 more targets after hitting the first target.
A total of 73.
"This system is so useless.
It hasn't updated the season-end rewards for so long that even a rank 1 from 2 seasons ago got the same card as me..."
Little mortal shook his head in disappointment and checked the season-end reward from this season.
[Evolution card.]
"Why is there no explanation for this card?"
While puzzled, he added the card to his handgun.
The handgun changed immediately, and 'evolved' into a minigun.
Little mortal took it out of the card and looked at the minigun bigger than himself, speechless.
"My handgun doesn't need to reload, and if I just fire it fast, it works like a mini-gun by itself anyway...
Not to mention the extra 72 targets that it hits."
This Evolution card wasn't that good for his handgun.
"Whatever, I'll think what to evolve with it later.
Nothing comes to mind for now."
Then he chose to leave the planet on his infopad while adding this planet's cleanup to his notebook.
[ First planet ( survival and hardship ) ?
Bullets used :
1 for the silly bounty hunter at the beginning
1 for the special bounty hunters
1 for that stupid berserker who scared me
2 for that ugly monster who impersonated my adorable, chubby deputies
5 in total.
--------
Second planet ( Love and hatred ) ?
Bullets used :
1 for Queen and random targets
1 for Demon King and random targets
1 for testing the limit
3 in total.
-------
Third planet ( Fear ) ?
Bullet used: 1 for something I don't know
-------
999,999,991 bullets left ]
A pillar of light descended as always and took him away to his next destination.
Lilith brought the 'living creatures' to planet Lubo on their way, and Little Mortal transferred all of the newborns and important cards to his own storage card.
According to Crystal, more than 600,000 newborns were sold to participants who entered the third planet, but there were over 6 million newborns with the participants here.
11.6 million newborns were now in Little Mortal's storage card.
While Lilith and the two birth treasures were speechless because of the number, Little Mortal wasn't surprised at all.
In total, there were around 7 million universes outside connected to the mainlands on the surface.
But in reality, most, or even all, of them weren't connected to any mainland, and only due to the influence of information law from Hypermind, everyone thought that way.
In each of the 10 hidden dimensions that Little Mortal found with the 'dimension detectors', he saw more than 10 million motionless higher beings with their universes.
They were the higher beings that Hypermind was using to extract fragments of 'raw souls' through them from their universes.
Adding the total number of these universes in the 10 hidden dimensions, this number of newborns was expected.
What was weird was the number of universes outside, which no one questioned.
Even Lilith and the two birth treasures.
Vulture's mainland was a level 10 mainland with close to 200,000 universes.
Around the level 3 civilization's mainland were 500 Level 10 mainlands, excluding the level 2 civilizations.
Even if each of them had the same number of universes as the vulture's mainland,
Then they should have more than 100 million universes in total, not 7 million.
But it seems everyone just ignored this fact.
Little mortal shook his head,
"Information law is scary..."
Everything in the Exiled zone was affected directly by Hypermind's information law.
What they saw could be real, but it was not a scene of the Exiled zone; rather, it was a scene reflected from the hidden dimensions.
Adding the chips implanted in everyone's body, which could alter their memories, made this whole zone a 'virtual world' that could be portrayed in everyone's view the way Hypermind or the Sinners Race wanted.
The only ones without chips were probably the ancient ones, which Hypermind or Xyron didn't want to mess with due to their close relationship with world law.
Even now, it was unknown how these ancient ones ended up here in the Exiled zone with the sinners' race.
*Ding*
Hearing the sound and the light pillar that disappeared was the sign for Little Mortal that he had arrived at his destination.
....
Fourth planet - Day 13.
The first thing Little Mortal saw was a tower.
He himself was standing on top of a mountain.
A mountain range that was like a ring around the tower.
Going down would lead to the tower, which was so big that Little Mortal was speechless.
"Can someone tell me if these mountains are small, or if this tower is too big?"
When he came here illegally, this tower wasn't here on this planet.
It was something new to him.
Lilith on his shoulder said,
"Look behind you.
If those are 'toy cities', then the mountains aren't that big."
Little Mortal looked behind him and saw another ring.
This time, it was a city with its buildings constructed all around the mountain range, far from the foothills.
Looking at the high walls in front, topped with watch towers, it seems these cities were a defense line.
Little Mortal looked at the tower again.
The tip of the tower was in the clouds and couldn't be seen.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
He muttered to himself,
"I wonder how tall this tower is?"
And the Crystal vibrated, saying,
<2000 meter height, 80,000 m2 floor area.>
Upon receiving the answer, he took out his infopad to read the instructions for this planet's event.
[ - SYSTEM GUIDE: WELCOME TO ESPRON -
Planet Designation: Espron — The Planet of Hope
Current Population: +2,000,000 Participants
Setting:
13 days ago, your world was invaded.
An unstoppable alien force descended upon your planet, threatening to erase all life.
But then, another alien race intervened — offering not salvation, but a single chance for survival.
From the heavens, a colossal tower crashed into the heart of your world — an unyielding spire that pierced the sky and anchored itself into the planet’s core.
They called it the Tower of Hope.
The tower became both prison and protector, sucking in the invaders to prevent them from ravaging your lands.
Yet, it did not seal them away entirely.
Every 10 days, the tower releases a small wave of these creatures — a cruel cycle meant to test your strength and prepare you for what’s to come.
With the arrival of the tower, heroes emerged — participants like you, rising as the planet’s last defenders.
But this fight is more than just survival.
Each time you slay an invader, you are bound to the tower by an invisible thread — the Line of Hope.
As long as the tower stands, this connection remains.
After 522 (-13) days, those tied to the Line of Hope will gain the right to enter the tower — to fight not just for their lives, but for the future of their world.
Your task is clear:
Ascend the tower.
Face the trials within.
Slay the invaders at every level.
Clear all 100 floors and reach the top in 10 years.
For only at the top lies humanity's final hope — the power to end the alien onslaught once and for all.
Enter the Tower. Restore Hope. Or let your world fall into darkness.
Season-end rewards: separation card ]
[ - SYSTEM REMINDER -
-The more invaders you kill, the stronger your Line of Hope becomes.
-The stronger the Line of Hope, the stronger you grow.
-The stronger you are, the sooner you can enter the tower.
Remember:
-If the Tower of Hope falls, every hero connected to it will fall with it — and your planet will be left defenseless, consumed by the invaders.
-But if the tower endures, the path forward remains, and hope will live on.
The tower is not just a structure — it is your last chance.
The Tower is your only Hope.
The Tower is the Tower of Hope. ]
Little Mortal scratched his head,
"Alright, what about rank 1 privilege?
This time I'm not underground, so it's fine whatever it is..."
[ - SYSTEM NOTIFICATION -
Participant: MORTAL
Rank: 1 (Previous planet's winner)
Congratulations on securing the top rank in your last event.
As a reward, you have been granted early access to the tower.
You can enter or exit the tower at any time from the entrance of the first floor.]
Little Mortal nodded,
"Not bad.
But let me first take a look at the ranking.
It's day 13 here, and every 10 days, invaders are being released.
So they should have experienced one wave by now."
Then he checked the ranking and saw that there were more than 2 million participants.
"So many people, and all of them have at least 100 points.
Let me check the login history...
Oh, those bounty hunters are here too?
But only 10 of them, and they already have a lot of points!
I think they gave up on catching me.
With their colleagues in the first three planets, they probably don't see any hope of catching me here, and they use their equipment to gather points instead..."
Then he looked at the tower again and sighed,
"Sometimes, it's not good to be smart..."
And went down the mountain towards the tower.
On his way, he saw many traces of battle.
"So the first round took place here?"
And then when he arrived in front of the tower, which was so big that he was like a little ant in front of it, he snorted and used his rank 1 privilege to enter.
A big gate opened, and he walked in arrogantly after using an invisibility card.
An hour later, he was out.
Then he went back up the mountain and changed his suit's appearance to another set of clothing before summoning the elderly group.
Soon, all of the old men and old ladies found themselves above a mountain, with a big tower far away.
One glance and they knew where they were.
Then they looked down around them to find the little boss, and sure enough, he was there.
"Greetings, boss."
They greeted him together, wondering if he was the gentleman from the third planet or the dictator from the second and first planets.
Little Mortal nodded,
"Sup, boys and girls!
Please change your clothes immediately.
We don't have time."
The crowd didn't need to wonder if he was the little gentleman from the previous planet or not.
He clearly wasn't!
And it was obvious what they needed to change their suit's appearance to, because their boss was already standing there as the 'model'.
He was wearing an engineer's gear, a heavy-duty jumpsuit lined with reinforced padding, a tool belt, a hard hat with shields on his head, a visor half-lowered over focused eyes, and sturdy gloves.
So they just needed to imitate that with a slight change.
Soon enough, a group of old construction workers was waiting for their boss to tell them what to do.
"Good, now we can start.
First, you should know that as the rank 1 from the previous planet, I can enter the tower anytime.
So it's obvious what we should do, right?"
The crowd, though, didn't know what to say.
The obvious answer was to enter the tower ahead of time.
But this little boss was a wanted criminal.
He wasn't here to gather points, but to kill and rob people...
An old man said doubtfully,
"We enter early and clear the tower?"
And in response, their boss actually threw a small hammer at him!
The old man, who knew his answer was completely wrong, didn't dare to dodge the hammer.
*Boink*
Hearing the sound of the hammer hitting the old man's head, the crowd was speechless.
It was a plastic toy hammer...
Little Mortal pointed at the old man angrily,
"You! Come over here!"
The old man gulped and, under the sympathetic gaze of the others, went forward.
Little Mortal was already standing on a table, ready for him to come.
"Come closer!"
The old man, who had stopped two steps away from him, moved closer.
Little Mortal grabbed the old man's collar and looked him in the eyes with an angry look, asking him,
"Do I look like an incompetent boss who forces his precious, wise, elderly employees up to the 100th floor by stairs? Huh?"
The old man, already covered in sweat, shook his head,
"No."
Little Mortal nodded and asked,
"Is there a better way to get up there?"
The old man looked at his new outfit and said,
"M-Make an elevator?"
Were they going to construct an elevator or something? Why else would they wear such a thing?
But Little Mortal gritted his teeth, as if he was even angrier,
"Do I look like the owner of that tower?"
The old man shook his head,
"No..."
"Can you build whatever you want on other people's property?"
"No..."
"Then, can we make an elevator there?"
The speechless old man, who didn't know what he was getting at,
"No."
"What can we do then?"
The old man looked away because he couldn't endure the pressure anymore and said,
"I-I don't know."
Little Mortal snorted and let go of his collar.
"Then go back to your seat and watch how I take all of you to the 100th floor."
"Yes."
And he went back to the crowd while wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
The crowd was completely silent now.
This little boss was ready to torture you emotionally if you gave him the opportunity, and it was never clear what he was thinking...
What seems an obvious answer to him was nothing obvious to them at all
Little mortal took out a paper and drew a map on it, which was more like a children's drawing.
There was a circle at the center, a bigger circle around it, and an even bigger circle around the two circles.
He pointed at the central circle and asked the crowd,
"This obviously is?"
The wise-looking old man said first,
"The tower."
Little Mortal nodded and pointed at the second circle around it,
"And this one?"
This time, everyone answered,
"The mountain range."
Little Mortal nodded and pointed at the last one without saying anything.
The crowd,
"The city defense line!"
Little Mortal smiled and pointed at the whole map.
The crowd paused for a moment, wondering what they should say, but the old lady came to the rescue.
"Your drawing masterpiece."
Little Mortal started clapping, and so did the speechless crowd.
Then he started drawing little circles on the second circle.
"And this, ladies and gentlemen, is our plan."
And started distributing newborn cards.
He gave 100,000 to each of them.
"There are 100 of you, go and defend the city from the possible disaster.
You have 20 minutes."
Only now did the elderly group understand what those little circles he drew on the second circle, representing the mountain range, meant.
It was themselves.
But what disaster was he talking about?
It's day 13, which means there are 7 days left for the second wave of invaders to be released...
So what was he trying to do?
But none of them volunteered to ask the question this time.
Their old hearts couldn't handle the stress of him staring at them and questioning them.
So they just ran as fast as they could to their positions, released the newborns, and waited for whatever possible disaster he was talking about.
*Ding*
After 20 minutes, all of the elders received a message from their boss.
[ Are you ready?
Yes/No ]
After a while, Little Mortal, who saw 100 yes votes, nodded.
He took out a chair, a small table, placed some snacks and drinks on it, and sat down.
Then he went to the sun card section in his infopad while munching on some snacks.
There were 2 normal sun cards and another sun card, which wasn't normal, that could be activated through his infophad.
The 'not normal' sun-card had a + beside it, which showed he used the 'evolution card' to evolve it.
After sighing, he muttered,
"I wish I had the time to go inside that tower and have fun through all of its 100 floors, but alas..."
And activated the two normal sun cards.
From the distance shown in the Infopad, the two cards seemed to be somewhere on the first floor of the tower.
Not long after, he activated the evolved sun card, which, from its coordinates, seemed to be somewhere deep underneath the tower.
Two timers that start decreasing appeared in front of the normal and evolved sun-cards.
[ 00:02:51 ] x 2 Sun card
[ 00:02:59 ] x 1 Evolved sun card
.....
A while back.
In the city below the mountain range, farther from the foothills,
In a private mansion, a group of people had a meeting.
One of them, equipped with special gear, was clearly a bounty hunter.
The rest were 5 tycoons, who were ranked 1st in different seasons but stuck here for a couple of seasons.
One of the tycoons asked the bounty hunter.
"So you are fine using the sun-card on the 100th floor?"
The bounty hunter nodded,
"As the leader of the group, I can promise you that.
But there are two conditions."
The tycoon nodded,
"Let's hear it."
"First, we won't use our equipment provided by the cyborgs until the last floor.
You guys should clear the way."
The tycoons agreed.
"That's fine by us.
We are stuck here for a couple of seasons just because of that last floor.
We can clear the rest of the floors in 4 to 5 years by ourselves."
"And second, we can only activate the sun-card on the last day of the event."
The tycoons frowned,
"Why waste our time?
Don't tell me you think that the wanted criminal you are looking for might come here?"
The bounty hunter shrugged,
"I have no idea.
The last update we received says he has already completed the first planet after triggering the special event.
Now, because of the system crash, we lost contact with those cyborgs outside.
So I don't know about his current progress on the second planet.
Anyway, you know how petty those agents are.
I don't want to give them any excuses to imprison me again."
The tycoons, after a short discussion, agreed,
"Alright, but if he really shows up, you need to inform us.
This way, we can try to take care of him without your sun card, win the bounty together, and then go finish the tower."
These people were stuck on this planet for a couple of seasons because of the last floor's difficulty.
Even the rank 1 privilege that gave them early access to the tower wasn't useful.
There was an overwhelming number of invaders just inside the first floor.
The reason for the tower to release invaders every 10 days was to reduce the pressure on them when they entered it for the first time.
And because HyperMind abandoned the management of the planets, every season they faced the same tower, the same season-end reward, and the same season difficulty.
Not long after,
The crowd finally reached a deal, and they were going to leave, but the city suddenly started trembling!
They looked at each other and then flew out of the mansion immediately.
What could make the whole city tremble?
When they were out and arrived above the mansion, to their surprise, they saw that most of the participants were flying to the sky like them.
It didn't take long for everyone to look in the same direction, which was the source of the tremor.
The mountain range!
The participants flew towards the mountain top in confusion.
The tower just released a wave of invaders 3 days ago, so what was happening there?
As they got closer to the mountain top, they were shocked to see millions of people already there!
They were all in construction worker gear, looking toward the tower with faces filled with shock!
While wondering who these people were, the participants flew higher to see what shocked them so much.
When they arrived at a height where they could see the tower completely, their jaws dropped too!
The tower was actually missing its first 10 floors now!
And not just part of the floors, but the whole thing was 'gone', and even the ground underneath it was 'gone' by at least 200 meters deep...
The leader of the bounty hunters gulped,
"That's the aftermath of a sun card's explosion..."
And then, to their horror, they saw the tower itself that had missed 10 of its floors, falling into the 200-meter-deep pit underneath it!
But surprisingly enough, it seems the tower was being repaired from the bottom, floor by floor.
So the thought it should be fine, right?
Well, not really.
*Tremble*
The ground shook once again, but this time it wasn't only the mountain range that shook, but the whole planet!
And then, the ground underneath the tower, which was 200 meters of it already missing, opened up, as if the planet was 'yawning'!
With the opening of the planet's mouth,
The ground beneath, as if inhaling everything above like a real 'yawn', started swallowing the tower like a sword swallowing experts!
The onlookers gulped and, while sweating profusely, looked inside the deep pit that was swallowing the tower!
They didn't know what was happening, but the planet itself seemed alive, pulling the tower deeper and deeper until it vanished beneath the surface, sinking into a sea of roiling lava inside its 'mouth'.
Not long after,
All that remained of the tower was a scorched crater, glowing with the faint, sinister light of molten rock — the tower, once a symbol of hope, was now entombed in the fiery heart of the planet...
*Ding*
All the dumbfounded participants who couldn't make sense of anything received a system message at this moment.
A simple message that made all of them feel despair!
[ - SYSTEM NOTIFICATION -
ALERT: The Tower of Hope has Fallen.
The core of the tower has been destroyed, and with it, the Line of Hope has been severed.
- Special event, 'No hope left', has been triggered.
All participants connected to the tower will be terminated.
Their hope was bound to the tower — and as it falls, so do they.
- For the only participant not connected to the tower:
You are the winner of this planet's event.
The path to the next planet is now open for you.
The Tower of Hope is no more.
Hope has crumbled.
But your journey continues... ]
Before anyone can react,
The participants in the sky, in the city, or in any other places, started turning to dust.
The same way as their tower turned to ashes in the depths of the planet...
They shouted and cursed at the system and the single participant who won, and obviously caused the destruction of the tower, but all to no avail.
They could only leave behind their 'wealth' and go to the waiting room.
*sluurrp*
Little Mortal, drinking his fruit juice and enjoying the show, looked at the participant's ashes raining down from the sky and their cards dropping like rain, shaking his head.
After a sigh, he said in an emotional tone,
"The world we live in is nothing but a bridge to cross...
not a place to stay, not a destination to attach our heart to, and not to cling to this passing path.
We should fix our gaze on eternity, so that we may find peace not in possessions, but in passing through and letting go...
One day, I too, will leave behind everything, I will leave this world as a free soul... Without any attachment... Without any regret... like our friends who just left..."
His voice wasn't loud, but it echoed through the silent world, with cards and ashes raining from the sky...
The newborns nearby who heard what he said, as if he were some wise old man criticizing his juniors who had just turned to ashes and left their possessions behind, were speechless...
They could accept these words from anyone but him!
The only participant who gathered everyone's wealth for himself in four planets back to ack!
Maybe the only one who took his words seriously was the notebook, which recorded everything, word by word...
