2 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Jason felt weightless as an explosion of light blinded him. Squinting, he could just barely make out the scenes of his life, except that they were playing in reverse. The battle with Baal, the other demons, undead, dragons, devils… countless battles flashed by in mere seconds. Realizing what was going on, Jason was delighted. Its working. I'm really going back to before the towers arrived.

Suddenly, the scenes grew slower and began to fade in and out. Before Jason could understand what was going on, everything went black.

”Hey, what's going on? Why'd you stop?”

Opening his eyes, Jason found himself in a familiar dimly lit tunnel. The pungent smell of goblins was in the air. Strong body odor and piss. Turning towards the voice, Jason recognized a long forgotten face. His eyes widened in shock. ”Freddy?!”

Freddy? Why is he calling me by my nickname? Fred frowned. ”Yeah, what?”

To his side, Angela rebuked. ”You're the tank, you need to pay attention at all times. Stay focused on your front. What if a group of goblins came right now?”

Stunned, Jason turned his head and saw Angela, and next to her was George. ”What are you guys doing here?”

”Have you gone crazy?” Fred pointed a finger at his head.

Jason suddenly inspected his hands. No calluses? I really have gone back in time, but why is it like this?

After the shock subsided, Jason's thoughts began to spin rapidly. He couldn't be more familiar with the tower, or with the people in front of him. His location was currently on the first floor of the tower. It was made up of underground tunnels and home to thousands of goblins. If he recalled correctly, then right now, he was currently undergoing a trial run.

Fred, George, and Angela were assigned as his teammates with Angela being the examiner. Her duty was to teach and guide him and to see if he had any potential. They all belonged to the 'Battleshields' association, a bottom of the barrel guild who only delved through the lower floors. If it wasn't because they recently lowered their standards, they would never have accepted a twenty-eight year old. Wait, that means the towers have been here for twenty years already!

Why was this happening? Didn't he wish to return to before the towers arrived? Then why was his wish off by twenty years? He recalled the words of the white figure. 'Not enough energy'. Did that mean there wasn't even enough energy to complete his wish? God damnit!

George rolled his eyes after seeing Jason's pale face. ”Look how afraid he is. I'm afraid he isn't worth our guild's time, Angela.”

”Agreed.” Fred nodded. ”Let's go back.”

Angela furrowed her brows. Damn it. Is this the level of talent our guild can attract nowadays? Ever since our guild master died on the middle floors, everything went to shit. After gathering her thoughts, she sighed heavily. ”Fine. Let's go back.”

Fred walked up to Jason and extended his hand. ”Give us our equipment back.”

Jason took a deep breath after gathering his thoughts. It wasn't like he could travel through time at will. He had no choice but to accept his current circumstances. Time was short, so he had to grow as strong as possible before humanity started to gain casualties. Seeing Fred's extended hand, he grew confused.

”What? You didn't think you'd get to keep the equipment we gave you, right?” Fred started to grow angry. ”Quickly hand it over.”

Jason wasn't paying attention earlier, so he didn't hear their conversation. ”Did I fail?”

”Frankly, you're a piece of trash, old man.” George commented with a look of disdain.

”Hey.” Angela gave George a look.

”Okay, no problem.” Jason didn't care about the comment from some kid. He was a veteran among veterans. If he got angry with someone sixty years younger than him, he'd be embarrassed. He took off his iron helmet, chestplate, platelegs, shield, and sword before handing it over. They were the cheapest of equipment; something only low level guilds would hand their new members. Top guilds would hand their members enchanted gear, not this trash. As far as Jason was concerned, it would be the same whether he had it or not.

”And the ring.” Fred said after storing the equipment in his inventory ring.

Jason stared at Fred. ”This is given to everyone by the tower as a gift. This is my property, not yours.”

George chuckled. ”This guy, he probably wants to sell it for a few thousand bucks. Maybe that was his plan all along?”

There were a few cases of people entering the tower just so they could acquire an inventory ring and sell it for a quick buck.

Just as Fred was about to speak further, Angela cut him off. ”Forget it, let's just go.”

Fred shrugged. Together, Angela, Fred, and George began to head down the tunnel towards the location of the portal leading out of the tower. After a minute, Angela turned around after noticing that they were missing a person. ”Uh, where did Jason go?”

Fred scratched his cheek. ”Shit…”

George snorted. ”Good riddance.”