Tower Apocalypse
Cassius Lange & Ryan Tang
When a colossal tower lands in the middle of the city, Devin Cain and 99,999 other humans are abducted to Gaea — a world ruled by floating demi-gods and a sarcastic, level-hungry System. Chosen to prove Earth worth saving from cataclysm, they are granted magical classes based on personality or luck, loot and monsters in a System-controlled Gaea. To uncover who created Gaea and why, Devin must climb the tower while wielding Muramasa, a cursed katana that hungers for blood and souls, and a curse-focused class that grows by cursing players and monsters. As humanity unites with dwergar allies and even a lone darkling, Devin uncovers a broken Demigod shard and glimpses that Gaea is incomplete — a death game where tower ascent, event competition and direct conflict with demi-gods determine survival.
Progression: Explicit LitRPG tower-climb progression central and quantified. Mechanism: (1) System Levels & Stats — Gaea's System is a level-hungry intelligence that grants everyone numerical levels, stats, magical powers and personality-based classes (Devin's curse class + Muramasa katana that scales by consuming blood/souls). (2) Tower Floors & Events — 100k abductees must compete in System 'events' and climb tower floors (Tower of Oblivion) for loot, summons and power rewards; each floor is a dungeon tier with distinct monsters. (3) Class & Summon Progression — new summons unlocked by System (e.g., all-powerful summon in Book 3), class abilities that evolve from cursing single targets to mass-curse events; replaced System in Book 3 from helpful to cold/unfeeling forces re-specialization. (4) Faction & Darkling Parallel Climb — enemy darkling princes march their race up the tower sacrificing thousands for power tiers, forcing humanity to match pace; demi-god shards (Parfanel shard in Book 4) grant shard-based power spikes that draw demi-god ire. (5) Alliance Tiers — humanity → humanity+dwergar → humanity+dwergar+darkling ally, with each alliance unlocking collective power to escape Gaea's death games. Verified via all four Goodreads blurbs noting 'level-hungry intelligence', 'magical powers, strange classes... monsters to fight and even loot', 'climbing the tower', 'sacrificing thousands to claim new powers and rewards'.
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