Chapter 161 Obelisk Anthem

Everybody in the conference room looked at Russell with stupefied expressions except Artorious, who remained as cold as he was and waited for the mentally mature young man's words.

With Russell's seemingly nonchalant bearing, the Queen of Nereia, Rosalin, glared at him as though she was piercing his soul.

'Don't look at me like that.'

Russell inwardly lampooned. Seconds later, to clear up the confused expressions of most of them, Russell continued to speak, but this time, instead of directly telling them the solution, he asked questions first.

"But first, I need to know about the reports regarding the cases."

"I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but that's classified information."

With an incredulous and suspicious look, Rosalin firmly interjected.

Ayleen glanced at Artorious, waiting for his response, upon hearing Russell's words. With a nod from him, Ayleen then responded to Rosalin's remarks.

"Queen Rosalin, I may be overstepping my boundary here, but why don't we make him sign a Mana Contract?"

The reason for this was that the decision that concerned the entirety of humanity couldn't and mustn't be done by a man alone, making Artorious' previous action of kidnapping Russell, Freya, Amelie, and Azalea a taboo in some way. That's why the Obelisk Organization exists, and Ayleen needed to ask for Rosalin's permission.

And there's a rule that if the others didn't manage to attend a conference, they're automatically out to make the final decision for the matter that's been discussed whether it was personally or virtually.

"I agree with Ayleen's suggestion."

"I am, too."

Rosalin looked at the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of the Obelisk Academy with disbelief due to their sudden interjection and positive response.

Although Alexander wasn't a part of the main heads of the Obelisk Organization and wasn't someone whose decision held value as per the written rules concerning decision-making, his perspective of things or opinions were still of great reference to be put into consideration.

Rosalin also realized that Artorious wasn't speaking a word, though she knew that she had nothing to lose by making the young man sign a Mana Contract, she still felt like she attended a circus at the moment.

Five to six seconds later, Rosalin, heaving a sigh of resignation, agreed to Ayleen's proposal.

"Okay, let's do that then."

Russell, who was silent the entire time, inwardly frown at the queen. Although he understood that Rosalin wasn't her usual self because of Rumia's current emotional turmoil, he still felt like his patience was quickly hitting rock bottom.

'I need my introvert energy and not this ridiculous complaint.'

Russell lampooned before reaching out to the Mana Contract that Ayleen took out from her Dimensional Inventory. Moreover, Ayleen volunteered to be on the other end of the Mana Contract as a representative of the Obelisk Organization.

The contents of the Mana Contract were simple — If the way to override the Tower of Growth's Failure Penalty, whatever that may be, was proven to be ineffective or a lie, Russell would then trigger the violation of the Mana Contract, making him lose a huge percentage of his overall stats.

On the other hand, with Russell's request, Ayleen and the other players present must abide by — that after the method of overriding the psychological cue of the Tower was proven effective, they must not ask anything more regarding the Tower itself and Artorious would grant Russell a very simple favor that's yet to be revealed.

In other words, the Mana Contract was about proving if the way to save countless Tower challengers and to extremely lessen the involuntary murders and suicides was not a lie.

After signing the Mana Contract, tapping quickly on a high-tech tablet, Ayleen showed the overall data presented through the holographic screen, which appeared in front of them.

The holographic screen showed Player Zero's name, the daughter of the Baron in the Cassiopeia, and the date it happened according to the Baron's reports to the King of the country that was then delivered to the Obelisk Organization.

After that, Russell was shown the Death Curve, and the information regarding the one to two minutes time lag before the Tower's psychological cue or Failure Penalty, "Suicide of Unworthiness" took effect.

— Death Curve according to the Obelisk Space Station Magic Satellite: 184,913,454.

Russell's eyes constricted upon seeing the number of deaths that were due to either accessing the Tower of Growth without preparations or getting betrayed by their own party members to receive the Ancient Black Pearl of Cosmos Ocean.

There were too many reasons why the players or challengers of the Tower were failing, but everybody received the same result – to murder or to commit suicide.

'That is... too low.'

According to the unpublished novel he had written, the current death toll was lower compared to what he knew.

'In the end, the quick yet somewhat late response of the Obelisk Military has saved millions.'

"Alright. I've seen enough."

What Russell focused on the most was the time lag of one to two minutes before the psychological cue kicked in.

'The time lag exists because it's related to the solution I wrote.'

He thought before asking everyone in the conference room.

"Uh, is anybody here have any idea why there's a time lag of one to two minutes before the penalty affects the failed players?"

Everyone glanced at the report. They found the time lag unusual, but they didn't know the reason for its existence and barely questioned it.

Without waiting for them to respond, Russell continued:

"Well, as mysterious as the world can be, I am pretty sure that the time lag doesn't exist so the failed player can say his apology before he kills someone or goodbyes before committing suicide."

"Hey, young man... Can you go straight to the point? If you know the solution, we can avoid more deaths that are happening minute by minute."

Rosalin firmly spoke.

'I'm not responsible for their lives. Even if I don't exist, but this kind of world is, it would still happen.'

Russell thought coldly, remembering his younger sister's words that he shouldn't bear the responsibility alone. But he never intended to say such a thing in front of these patriotic players except for the Chancellor who only cared about Jiho due to various reasons.

Letting out a long breath, and calming himself down, Russell then told them the solution to the current biggest obstacle to humanity's advancement toward greatness.

"The Obelisk Anthem."

Confusion spread among everyone's faces in the conference room as silence reigned over them. Even Artorious' cold demeanor seemed to crack a little with the absurdity of Russell's words.

Sometime later, when his words finally registered in their minds, Rosalin stood up reflexively as her hands grips the ends of the table from where she was sitting. With a little amount of power, the table cracked.

Fiercely looking at Russell, who spoke ridiculous words, Rosalin spoke in all seriousness.

"Do you think this is funny? How can the Obelisk Anthem override the ancient power of the Tower?!"

Russell couldn't blame Rosalin's attitude towards him. He was just a young man to these people, after all. Even so, the queen's tone was starting to irritate him to the core but he still refrained from talking back. Instead, he spoke with conviction.

"Queen Rosalin, do you also think I'll joke something about this under the Mana Contract?"

Ayleen, looking at Russell with an incredulous expression, interjected before the discussion heated up.

"Russell, how can the Obelisk Anthem override the Tower of Growth's power? If we consider a certain angle, it's only written by a person... which is actually me."

'But I've written about you that you should be the one writing it.'

Russell inwardly thought as a faint smile appeared on his face before replying to Ayleen's concern as the others listened intently.

"Hmm... How about we try it first? It's not like you'll lose anything if I lied, right?"

Somehow avoiding Ayleen's question, Russell suggested.

Based on the original story of his unpublished novel, the same solution in solving the psychological cue of the Tower would be found two weeks after Player Zero's case.

The two weeks were decided by Russell because the casualty would be more massive if he extended the duration, making humanity's population to be in the brink of extinction. Though reality was different than his mysterious book, it was still the case considering the number of current deaths.

During that moment, a player who knew the Failure Penalty, as it became a widespread disaster, before entering the Tower would then fail. After that, he would nonchalantly approach one of the party members that successfully conquered it until the time lag ended so that he could go in for a quick kill, through a backstab.

But during the time lag, he would randomly sing the Obelisk Anthem as a means to cope with what he was about to do and to appear nonchalant, but he then discovered that the penalty didn't commence even after the time lag as he received another set of System messages.

It was then that the solution to avoid being under the Tower's influence was accidentally discovered.

***

"The Obelisk Academy, blessed by the System

Looked upon by Constellations

The proud soon-to-be Champions

The Obelisk Academy, blessed by the System

Opportunities are born

Players we are, humans we are

The Obelisk will reach the heavens"

***

"T-this is insane!"

Rosalin exclaimed upon seeing the result in front of her.

At this moment, in one of the facilities of the Obelisk Organization's Headquarters, some of the affiliated players of the Obelisk Organization just came back from conquering the Tower of Growth.

Being aware of the Failure Penalty, one of the players suffered from an emotional and mental breakdown. She was a blonde and blue-eyed woman in her early thirties who would rather kill herself than kill other people because of her kindness.

Due to her messed up emotional and mental state, there's no time to calm her down. That's why Ayleen, who specialized in mental-related skills, hypnotized her and made her recite the lines of the Obelisk Anthem.

The other affiliated players watched the scene with confusion, but they were on guard in case something went wrong considering the current situation.

Unfortunately, or rather fortunate for them, it was only the woman who failed the Tower, even though she was the one who received the Ancient Black Pearl of Ocean Cosmos.

The time lag of one to two minutes passed, they looked at her in disbelief since she didn't attack anyone, and instead glanced around with a confused expression.

"Queen Rosalin...? Sir Artorious? W-why are you looking for us again?"

"Misa, did you receive System messages just now?"

Ayleen asked, letting go of her control of the woman named Misa.

"Uh...? Huh...? H-how?"

With her unwavering confusion, tears flowed down her face as she sat on the floor.

[The Tower of Growth has heard your plea to reach the heavens!]

[The Failure Penalty, "Suicide of Unworthiness" will be overridden!]

[You have received the Title: Plea for Growth!]

[Your Growth Rate increased by two times!]

[You have been given one last chance to challenge the Tower of Growth!]

Best

[Duration before you are eligible to challenge it again: 365 days, 00 hours, 00 seconds...]

[In case you successfully cleared the Tower, its final reward, the Growth Rate will be reduced to eight times!]

***

Misa shared with them the System messages she received. Having read through everything, myriads of reactions could be seen on their faces.

Misa's party members hugged her tightly as they thought they would lose her upon failing the Tower.

'I'm sure she's asking herself why she failed the Area of Fealty. Well, it's up to her if she'll challenge it again after a year since it's not mandatory in the first place.'

"Ayleen, announce the result and mobilize the players with mental-related skills similar to yours. Since it couldn't be done one by one, use an artifact for widespread hypnotizing."

Artorious' voice reverberated in the facility.

Rosalin, on the other hand, glanced at Russell in disbelief and couldn't speak.

"Artorious, can I leave now? I can take care of my own."

Artorious nodded at Russell's words.

With his words, Russell put on the plain-looking Mask of Night and vanished through the shadows.