Chapter 227: Link Pistonn

The shelves shifted around him, endless rows of stacked bookshelves swirling around him like pieces of broken mirrors until they all ultimately came to a halt.

Jacob had already sat down in anticipation of what was to happen next. This was how it always went when he had spoken to the consciousness of other people. Link would be no different. He waited, his breathing calm and flowing like peaceful waves across the ocean bed, devoid of turbulence.

He blinked once, and by the time his eyes were open again, there was a man sitting before him with a straight, empty expression. The man had a graying beard that was firmly plastered and neatly placed on his chin, a wrinkled face that suggested he had died only of old age. He wasn’t too short, but he wasn’t too tall either.

But none of those were the most striking features about this man. The first thing Jacob had noticed, however, was his skin color, which was almost the color of night itself. It didn’t take away from his good looks, but it definitely struck Jacob as odd.

Not in a discriminatory manner. Jacob wasn’t a racist. It was more in a manner that screamed, "This is the first time I’m seeing this."

Jacob had just seen the first person of color since he arrived in this world. Albeit long after the man was dead, it was still true.

Jacob was sure that there were people of color standing and training all over the lobby of the Tower of Sun, but when he entered, he had been paying too much attention to the magnificent architecture to notice much.

"Are you not going to say anything, boy?" the old man spoke first, pulling Jacob back into himself as he had drifted far into his thoughts.

"Oh, my apologies, Link. I was just thinking what a handsome face you have, considering your age." Jacob almost cringed at the words that flew out of his mouth.

"Ahah. I get that a lot, but if I were you, I would go straight to the point. I have other matters to attend to."

The man was direct. It was admirable. Even as a spirit supposedly at Jacob’s beck and call, he still gave off the impression that he had better things to do in the spirit realm.

"Okay, my question is simple. I am currently about to undergo a trial that will allow me to transcend my current abilities, and I received information that you cleared the tower in the shortest time, faster than anyone has ever done it before...." Jacob paused, but Link merely looked at him with a smile now, as though he knew he hadn’t finished. "I hope to beat your record, but more than that... I want to know how you completed the tower so quickly and so easily. Every other path I have taken to gain knowledge about the tower has led me to a dead end."

The old man smiled calmly, releasing a breath that made it seem as though he was scoffing lightly at the young man’s words.

"Your concerns are understandable... but tell me, how is it that you found out about me? Best I know, the Meereens would never disclose information about past competitors. The best you can get from them is a little vague history. They would never go as far as disclosing a name. So you had to have found out some other way. Tell me..."

Link looked at Jacob with an eager expression, as though he had already arrived at an answer in his mind and was just waiting for Jacob to confirm it.

"Well... I have a system."

"Ahh, a reincarnator! I had a hunch. You are going to meet people just like you in the tower. If you’re lucky, you won’t meet anyone stronger." Link stroked his beard and began moving away from Jacob, very clearly aware of his surroundings. "It is clear, though, that you are different. There is a certain air about you. I can smell the greed in you. But I can also smell the love, the love you harbor for those close to you."

Jacob watched as the man moved slowly. He stood straighter and squinted his eyes in confusion.

"Greed?"

"Yes, Jacob. Greed." Link had already known his name, but this did not surprise Jacob very much, as it was the same experience with the other people whom he had spoken to. "Before you arrived in your current world, you made a decision, a greedy decision, one that has carried you through your current life. That decision has caused you to be handed everything on a diamond platter without having to work." Link paid no attention to Jacob as he spoke. He seemed to be reading the titles of the books on the shelves that were now somewhat contorted around them. "I assume you made this decision because of the pathetic state of your previous life. So I hardly judge you."

"Are we going to talk about my life, or are you going to give me an answer?" Jacob’s voice remained calm. It was obvious that Link had a certain skill that allowed him to view people based on their emotions, and the stronger the emotions were, the more he could see into their past. But Jacob was not here to have a lecture based on his decision. The past was the past. He now looked only to the future, one which he should have been able to see, but the Tower prevented him from doing so.

It frustrated him that, for the first time, he could not accurately predict the outcome of something that involved him directly, but he was not ready to give up, as he believed in his abilities. He was just looking to have an edge, as he also expected of his competitors.

"You’re right. I spoke of not dawdling, but it appears that it is I who have dawdled quite a bit. Anyways, the formula is rather simple. If you want to beat the tower and transcend your current plane, the only answer I can tell you for certain is..."