Awakener's Guide to Climbing the Tower

Hearing Sebastian’s words, Misha looked at him at once.

The old butler stood with his hands folded neatly behind his back, his posture as steady as ever, as though he had not just dropped the kind of sentence that could rearrange a person’s understanding of the Tower.

"The First Generation Awakeners came from outside the Tower," he began. "In those years, the Tower had not yet stabilized into the structure people know now. There were no cities, no established checkpoints and fewer protections. More importantly... those summoned at the time were allowed a privilege no later generation received."

Misha straightened unconsciously as she continued to listen.

"They were allowed to choose their abilities."

Her brows rose. Choose?

That word landed heavily inside her chest. For one brief second, the room seemed to blur at the edges as memory tugged her backward. The Basement Floor, the floating blank cards, and the strange pressure from King’s gaze.

She had chosen too... or at least, she had been made to choose her ability.

"What about the ones in this generation? There are Awakeners still walking around." She couldn’t help but ask.

"Yes, but they are not the same." He adjusted his glasses slightly. "The abilities of later generations are inherited. If an Awakener has children, there is a chance those children will awaken as well, though not a certainty. And every generation after the first grows thinner."

Misha frowned in confusion. "Thinner?"

"The odds." Sebastian’s tone remained even. "If the second generation inherited at a high rate, then the third would inherit less. Eighty percent becomes seventy, seventy becomes fifty. It continues that way. Bloodlines weaken and compatibility narrows down. Some families preserve their gifts well, most do not."

Misha stared at him in understanding. That was... worse than she expected.

So the Tower did not simply hand power down like heirlooms. It let it rot slowly, fade, thin out until one day, an entire line might wake up ordinary and stay that way.

She glanced at Elyes without thinking. He was still on the bed, pale and bandaged. One elbow rested near his side while he watched the conversation with the same tired expression of his. He already knew this history so it was probably boring him out.

Misha looked back at Sebastian. "So if someone from the later generations awakens, they don’t get to choose?"

"No." He shook his head once. "By then, the Tower no longer offers such grace."

Grace... What a generous word for something so unfair. It was a system built by a sadist. An ordinary person could never survive here for long, not surrounded by monsters, rules, and inherited luck they never even got to ask for.

Sebastian continued before she could get distracted by how much that annoyed her.

"The ones who climbed in those early days were pioneers, in the ugliest sense of the word. They charted floors no one had cleared, built safe routes where none existed, and buried the dead without knowing whether the path ahead led to a better place or another massacre."

The room grew quieter as he spoke. Even Elyes stopped looking half-asleep. Not that he interrupted.

Sebastian’s gaze shifted slightly toward him. "The young master’s father belonged to that era. Ivan Faust, a 4-star Aegis Mage, was one of the men who reached the 98th floor."

Misha’s breath caught. She once heard something similar from Nyxie when she talked about the Mountain Walker. He was one of the First Generation legends, now one of them had a last name, a bloodline, a son sitting in front of her looking like death had missed him out of spite.

Sebastian went on in the same steady tone, the words flowing like history unfolding from an old locked room.

"Only ten Raiders from the First Generation ever made it as far as the 98th floor. Most gave up much earlier, settled on a safe floor, some returned, and some died before history thought to remember their names properly."

His expression changed slightly then, not enough to call it sadness but enough to feel the shape of old things pressing through. "I was one of those who gave up earlier."

That made Misha blink a few times. "You?"

Sebastian inclined his head once. "Yes."

For the first time since she met him, he did not look like a man built entirely out of polished manners. He was a part of the First Generation...

"Genesis back then was different from Genesis now," he said. "There was no Genesis. Not as a city and not as a refuge. The First Floor itself was overrun with monsters strong enough to tear us who had not yet learned how to adapt."

Misha listened more carefully now. This was no longer history from a distance. This was a witness speaking.

"There were those who adjusted quickly. If not for them, most of us from the First Generation would have vanished." His gaze softened. "I owe my life to Master Ivan. That is why I now serve his family."

Sebastian continued before silence could settle too deeply. "Of the ten who reached the 98th floor, five survived the return."

"Five?"

"Yes." He nodded. "Among them, four men returned and established the great bloodlines that still dominate the upper floors today."

He paused, then named them one by one. "House Solmere of the 31st floor, House Borealis of the 41st floor, House Faust of the 51st, and House Valehart of the 61st."

The names landed like stones dropped into deep water. She knew some of them already.

Borealis, of course.

Faust, obviously.

"Those families are not merely noble houses. They became the strongholds within the Tower whether people wished it or not."

Misha frowned slightly. "Strongholds?"

"Territorial powers," Elyes said from the bed. "Old blood with enough resources to pretend they’re not kingdom."

Misha glanced at him. He was staring at the ceiling when he said it, as if talking about those families required no more effort than commenting on the weather.

"If you’re one of the 4 great families, then why did Yara attack you?"

"There’s no justice here. As long as you have no evidence against her, she is a free woman. You may kill whoever you want if there are no witnesses." He shifted against the pillows, his jaw tightening briefly before smoothing itself flat again. "The Tower takes lives every day. One more body isn’t enough to stop anything."

Misha lowered her eyes. That answer left a bad taste in her mouth, though part of her already knew it was true.

"But your family... won’t they wonder?" She asked quietly.

"The moment I chose to become a Raider, they already accepted the risks that came with it."

"And they still allowed you?"

That made him glance at her at last. "We’re not particularly close with each other. The difference between us when it comes to our siblings is... opposite."

Misha went still, she could not believe what she just heard.

Familial bonds inside this Tower... Not all of them looked like hers. Not all of them looked like the desperate ache that had dragged her all the way here.

Sebastian, to his credit, did not contradict him. Instead, he went on. "The 61st Floor is the last major settlement floor currently held in stable, long-term control. Beyond that, no family, guild, or city has managed to secure permanent authority."

That made the upper floors feel larger somehow and worse.

Misha’s fingers curled against her lap. Then she remembered the missing name. She turned her gaze towards Sebastian. "But didn’t the Mountain Walker also reach the 98th floor? If he helped build Genesis, then why are there only four families?"

"Because the Mountain Walker left no bloodline behind." Sebastian’s answer came without hesitation. "People knew him only by that name. He returned to the 1st Floor, helped establish the city, and then disappeared into history without heirs."

No children... no family... no house. A legend that helped build the place and then ended with himself. That felt lonelier than she expected.

Misha lowered her eyes for a second. Then the question rose again before she could stop it. The same one that had been sitting under everything since Tobias mentioned Caleb’s ridiculous title.

"Were my brothers among the ten?"

Sebastian did not answer immediately. He looked at her for one long second, the kind that felt careful rather than hesitant. Then he said, "There was no one recorded under the name Shadow Monarch among those then."

That made her chest sink, although it was not enough to break, it was just enough to hurt. At the same time, she was relieved. If her brothers had been among the ten who reached the 98th floor, then there was a good chance they were already dead since only five of them returned.

Maybe her brothers had been among those who gave up earlier. Maybe they had stopped climbing at some settlement floor and decided survival mattered more. Maybe they were waiting for her somewhere lower. Maybe Caleb only took that absurd Tower Name and Mateo never let him say it out loud in public.

Maybe.

There was that word again. Misha hated how much of her hope rested on it.

Sebastian continued before her thoughts could drag her too far. "Absence from the list proves very little. Many First Generation Raiders vanished from formal records. Some withdrew from public life, some changed names."

Misha lifted her head again. Hope moved strangely inside her. It was not bright or soft, it felt more like something stubborn refusing to lie down after getting kicked repeatedly.

"Personally," Sebastian added, "I only reached Floor 22. Most of us have already split into groups. I did not meet everyone who continued climbing."

Misha’s breath slowed a little. Then she asked, "Then how about Caleb? Mateo?"

Sebastian cupped his chin lightly. "Not really." He paused, his gaze shifted just slightly, the way it did when someone went digging through memories old enough to gather dust. "But..."

Misha leaned forward unconsciously, looking eagerly at him.

"I do remember two men. One was undefeated, the other... unchallenged." Sebastian’s eyes narrowed faintly in recollection.

Misha’s heart gave one painful beat. That could be them couldn’t it?

"It was a long time ago. I remember very little clearly." Even so, he kept going. "They were one of those who adapted quickly. They made surviving look far easier than it should have. I remember people speaking of them together for a time, but I do not remember their names."

Sebastian looked not at her now, but somewhere past her shoulder, as if the shape of those memories lived in the far corner of another room. "I think I’ve met them once. One of them carried himself too lightly for the danger around him. The other... I can only remember that a room would change once he entered it. People made room for him without being told. He simply left others with the sense that challenging him would end badly. Master Ivan tried to recruit them."

From the bed, Elyes opened one eye. "You never mentioned that."

Sebastian adjusted his glasses. "The young master never asked."

Misha barely heard them. Her pulse had started beating harder. It was not enough, nowhere near enough. Still, it was more than she had a moment ago. Could they be her brothers?

Sebastian gave a small breath through his nose. "As I said, the First Generation left behind unfinished records."

Ding!

A gray window appeared before her eyes.

「 Outer interference confirmed. 」

「 The Tower’s boundary has been breached by an unknown external force. 」

"Huh?"

Both Sebastian and Elyes looked at her at once.

"What’s wrong?" Elyes asked.

Misha stared at the floating screen, her mouth parting slightly. "A... Are you seeing this?"

"Seeing what?"

Another window appeared before she could answer.

「 Administrative authority is being compromised. 」