Chapter 4: Cultivator's Tower

"Oi, tell me more about this Cultivator's Tower." Xiao Yu spoke out loud as though he was speaking to someone.

However, there was no response.

"So either I cannot communicate with the system or I need to fulfill some kind of criteria before I get a response." Xiao Yu mumbled.

A few moments later, Xiao Yu left his apartment and knocked on Wang Mu's door on the first floor.

Wang Mu appeared before him moments later with a bag of pigeon food in his hands, clearly prepared to head to the park to feed pigeons.

"What's the matter, young man?" Wang Mu asked him.

"I got a quest related to this place named Cultivator's Tower. How do I get there and what kind of place is it?" Xiao Yu asked him.

"Cultivator's Tower? You mean to tell me that you've never heard of the Cultivator's Tower?" Wang Mu looked at him with a surprised expression.

Xiao Yu shook his head silently.

"Even if one only recently became a cultivator, they should still know about the Cultivator's Tower, as it is one of the most important places in this world." Wang Mu said.

"Unless you lived in the mountains or something for your entire life, that is…"

Wang Mu suddenly recalled that Xiao Yu didn't know about cars until very recently, so there was a good chance that he'd come from the mountains where there were only trees and animals.

"Come with me, young man. I'll take you to the Cultivator's Tower." Wang Mu said as he left his apartment and locked the doors, still with the bag of bread crumbs in his hands.

Xiao Yu nodded his head and followed Xiao Yu outside, where they proceeded to stand by the sidewalk.

"What are we waiting for?" Xiao Yu asked him a moment later.

"The taxi." Wang Mu said.

"Taxi?" Xiao Yu raised his eyebrows.

Wang Mu suddenly raised his hand a couple of minutes later, and a yellow car stopped right next to them a few more moments later.

"Hope in." Wang Mu said to Xiao Yu as he opened the door in the back and entered the car.

"..."

After a second of hesitation, Xiao Yu entered the car with Wang Mu.

"Where to?" The middle-aged man sitting behind the wheels in the front asked them.

"The closest Cultivator's Tower." Wang Mu said.

"Roger, boss."

The driver stepped on the pedal and began driving the car.

Xiao Yu felt his body being pulled back by an invisible force as he experienced riding a car for the first time in his life. Even though they were very similar to carriages, the riding experience felt completely different.

"How does it feel to ride in a car for the first time?" Wang Mu asked Xiao Yu with a smile on his face.

"I don't know how to describe it." Xiao Yu said, his gaze fixated at the window.

Fifteen minutes later, the taxi stopped beside the sidewalk, and the driver said, "We have arrived. It'll be 15 dollars for the ride."

After paying the bill, Wang Mu left the taxi with Xiao Yu.

"This is the Cultivator's Tower." Wang Mu said to Xiao Yu after walking a few steps and standing in front of a large office building that took up the entire block, literally.

Xiao Yu raised his eyebrows, and he said, "Which part of this is a 'tower'?"

While the building was spacious without a doubt, with only three floors, it didn't really qualify to be called a 'tower'.

"This isn't the real Cultivator's Tower. Follow me. You'll find out later." Wang Mu said as he approached the building's automatic doors.

Ding!

The doors opened themselves the moment they got close.

Once inside, Wang Mu headed straight for the reception area and said to the worker behind the desk, "My friend here is new to the Cultivator's Tower. Can you help him out and give him a tour?"

The young lady working behind the desk nodded her head, "A tour will be 100 dollars."

"Consider this my treat, young man." Wang Mu said to Xiao Yu before paying the pill.

"Thank you. Please, wait a moment."

The receptionist proceeded to pick up the phone on the desk and called someone.

"Yes, we have a guest that requires assistance and a tour."

A few moments later, someone approached them from behind; it was a beautiful young woman wearing traditional clothes.

"Welcome to the Cultivator's Tower, my name is Bei Bei, and I will be your guide for today. May I have your name?"

"My name's Wang Mu, and my friend here is Xiao Yu. He's never been to the Cultivator's Tower before."

"I understand. Please, follow me." Bei Bei said to them before turning around and walking towards the doors at the end of the building.

On the other side of these doors, it was a long and wide hallway with tables and seats on each side, almost like a cafeteria, and there were at least a hundred people there, and all of them emitted auras that were unique to cultivators.

Further down this hallway were what appeared to be shops that sold specifically medicines and…

"Weapons?" Xiao Yu raised his eyebrows when he saw these weapon shops, as they looked somewhat out of place.

"The Cultivator's Tower is a mythical place where Cultivators can fight each other and earn money and treasures through bets and the point system." Bei Bei suddenly started explaining, and she continued, "If you don't like to fight, you can also bet on the fighters and earn money that way."

"Mythical? What's so mythical about this place?" Xiao Yu asked after hearing her odd choice of words.

Bei Bei smiled and said, "There is nothing mystical about this place, as there are countless buildings like this one across the world that have access to the Cultivator's Tower— the real Cultivator's Tower."

Xiao Yu's eyebrows remained raised as he was still puzzled about this place.

"It'll be much easier to understand if I just showed you the place. It's just right ahead."

A few moments later, they crossed the doors at the end of the hallway and entered another room.

However, it was a spacious room with nothing but large devices scattered all over the room.

"These devices will take us to the Cultivator's Tower." Bei Bei said to them before approaching it and standing on its platform.

Wang Mu didn't say anything and followed Bei Bei, standing on the platform.

"What are you waiting for, young man?" Wang Mu beckoned him.

Xiao Yu nodded his head and approached the platform, his interest piqued.

Meanwhile, standing on the other devices, a middle-aged man spoke out loud, "Teleport to Cultivator's Tower."

Whoosh!

The middle-aged man disappeared like a ghost half a second later.

'Is this thing a teleporter?' Xiao Yu wondered to himself as he stood on the device.

Once everyone was on this platform, Bei Bei said, "Teleport to Cultivator's Tower."

The moment Bei Bei's sentence ended, Xiao Yu's view blurred for a good second before becoming clear again.

When that happened, Xiao Yu realized that he was no longer inside the room with the devices. Instead, he'd been teleported to this extremely vast and indoor area that was crowded with people.

Ding!

<Installing 'Guide to Cultivator's Tower'>

"Welcome to the 'real' Cultivator's Tower." Bei Bei said to him.

"Before I tell you more about this place, you should know that the Cultivator's Tower exists in an entirely different dimension from our own world that was created by the system, and the only way you can access this place is through the teleporters at the Guild Halls— the building we were just in. I guess you can even call this place another world."

"Another world…" Xiao Yu mumbled, not really surprised by the reveal as he'd personally experienced traveling to another world very recently.

"As for how people knew how to build the devices that teleport us to this place— the system picked certain individuals and gave them the means to create the devices. You may think this place is incredibly ancient, but in reality, the Cultivator's Tower has only existed for a couple of hundreds of years, so it's relatively new."

Hearing such words, Xiao Yu couldn't help but ask, "What about the system? Do you know how it operates or why it exists?"

Bei Bei shook her head and said, "Trust me, you're not the only person to have asked that question as it's a question that has remained unanswered since ancient times. Yes, the system has existed since we can remember, and even the most historic tales have mentioned the system. It might be a question we'll never have an answer to, and most people have long stopped caring about how or why it exists and treat it as though it's nature."

"I see…" Xiao Yu mumbled.

It appeared to him that this system was more mysterious and mythical than he'd expected. However, as a stubborn Cultivator who has never given up until he reaches his goals, even if it means offending the heavens, Xiao Yu won't stop until he unveils everything about this system that might be his only way to his original world.

"Anyways, follow me. I'll show you around." Bei Bei said to them as she began walking.

--

Author's Note: Chapters are taking longer than expected since I'm still deciding on what direction I want to take this novel. Once it's decided and I have a clear image for this novel, the updates will be much quicker. Thanks for your patience.