Awakener's Guide to Climbing the Tower

"If the portal to the next floor remains open, then that means we can escape by climbing."

Sebastian shifted the viewing spell at once. The screen rippled and turned toward the small church at the far end of the city, where the portal was located inside.

Even from here, Misha could see the movement around it. Some Rankers had already understood the same thing Elyes did. They were running for the portal now, shoving through the panicked crowd, taking the only path that still looked like survival.

Misha gritted her teeth. "Then what about everyone else?" She asked, her voice came out sharper. "If they all start climbing now, they’ll have to face the floor quests on the other floors."

"They have no choice," Elyes said flatly. "Either they die here or they die climbing."

The words hit hard because they were true.

"It’s like the Tower is forcing them upward," she muttered.

"It is," Sebastian said.

Misha turned back to the screen. Outside, chaos kept swallowing Genesis by the second. Guards were shouting themselves hoarse, families were being pushed toward the shelters, some still froze where they stood, too stunned to move until someone dragged them by the arm. Others were already breaking, scrambling toward the church and the portal with the kind of fear that made people forget everything except their own heartbeat.

"But there are children... Elders too... They’re in no position to climb." Misha said weakly.

Sebastian let out a quiet breath. "We cannot do anything about that."

"Yes, we can." The words came out before she even fully thought them through.

Misha stood up so quickly the couch legs scraped against the floor. "We have to protect Genesis and clear the quest."

Elyes frowned at once. "We’re in no position to do that."

"I-I know, but–"

"We’re not heroes, Misha." His voice stayed low, but that only made it sharper. "We can’t save everyone."

She froze. And for one ugly second, the room tilted.

Those were the same words she had once used on herself. Back then, outside the Tower, when the world had fallen apart and she hid instead of running toward the screams, she let herself survive by pretending survival alone was enough.

Her fingers curled into fists. "B-But..." Her throat tightened. "I have the ability now."

Elyes’ did not soften. "Don’t you need to survive for your brothers?"

That landed colder than anything else in the room. Misha’s lips parted, but nothing came out.

He was right. That was the worst part. He was right, and she hated him a little for saying it before she could lie to herself.

Sebastian looked toward the floating quest window. "Genesis is filled with 3-star Rankers. There may be a few 4-stars scattered through the districts, but they will not be enough to defend this place against an army of that size."

Misha clenched her fists tighter. She knew she was being a hypocrite but upon seeing what was happening outside, she couldn’t help it.

Outside, the viewing screen showed another wave of goblins crashing toward the walls. Arrows rained down, spells flashed, a section of the outer defense lit up white-blue, then dimmed. Somewhere in the chaos, a Goblin Chieftain fell, and three more took its place.

Then a thought struck her, a dangerous one. Her eyes widened slightly. "This is a floor quest."

Elyes looked at her with a brow raised.

Misha turned to him fully now, her breath quickening not from fear this time but from the shape of a reckless idea assembling itself in her head.

"That means I can grind."

The silence that followed was brief and terrible.

Elyes stared at her like she had just said something incredibly stupid and annoyingly clever at the same time.

"No one is going to protect you," he said. "Gerbaut isn’t here to watch your back."

"I know."

"You’re not strong enough to–"

"I know." She cut him off and stepped closer. "But Nyxie and Gerbaut are still in my Soul Inventory. I have Olivia too."

That made him pause, not for long. "They won’t be enough to defeat that army."

"They don’t need to be." Misha looked toward the screen again, toward the wall, toward the swarm like a threat and an opportunity all at once. "They just need to be enough for me to grind. I’ll kill what I can, level up while the city still holds, push my limit, then I’ll back out before I die."

Elyes’ narrowed his eyes.

Misha knew that look. He was already preparing ten arguments at once, each one more logical and annoying than the last so she rushed ahead before he could start.

"You said it yourself. We can’t save everyone. Fine, I get that." Her voice shook, but she kept going. "But if this is happening anyway, then I can at least use it. If I level up now, I’ll be more useful on the next floors. It will be one step closer to unlocking the skill that you want from me."

His expression stayed hard so she pressed on. "Once I reach my limit, I’ll retreat. You can wait for me at the portal. If the city falls before the floor quest is completed, we climb. If I can still fight, I keep going. It’s not heroic." Her jaw tightened. "It’s efficient, right?"

"That is the most suspicious word you could have used for something this reckless."

"It’s still true."

Elyes stared at her in silence.

Misha held his gaze, even though part of her wanted to look away first. Her pulse was hammering, not because she doubted herself anymore, but because now that the idea had taken shape, she knew she was going to do it whether he approved or not.

He noticed that too. The tired bastard always noticed the worst things.

Finally, Elyes let out a slow breath and leaned against the pillows, wincing faintly as his ribs protested the movement.

"You look like you’re about to faint," he muttered, "right before you say something that ruins my day."

Misha blinked once. "Is that a yes?"

"No."

Her face dropped.

Then he added, "It’s a deeply reluctant yes."

She nearly smiled. The feeling reminded her a little too much of defending a thesis in front of an examiner who already hated her format.

Elyes narrowed his eyes as he went on, "But you escape the moment you reach your limit."

Misha nodded at once. "I will."

"You do not get to play hero."

"I won’t." She placed a hand over her chest as if that made the promise more respectable.

"If I have to drag you out of that battlefield myself, I will."

That made her pause as a very specific memory flashed into her head. Kylo, the wall, and Elyes’ staff. One irritating wave of magic and a very satisfying arc through the air straight into a pile of monsters.

Right. He absolutely would. She had already seen him throw one arrogant man just for being annoying.

Misha swallowed the laugh trying to rise at the wrong time and nodded seriously instead. "I know."

Even now, a part of her had already started doing the math.

Current EXP: 33

Needed for the next level: 1860

Goblins alone would take forever. She would need Chieftains and Hobgoblins too, maybe even commanders if she was lucky or unlucky. Hard to tell with the Tower anymore but she knew who she could depend on when it came to killing Hobgoblin Commanders.

Elyes watched her for another second, clearly deciding whether she was lying to him or to herself. Then he shut his eyes and muttered, "I hate agreeing with you."

"That’s fair," Misha said. "I’m not enjoying this either."

"That’s not what your face says."

Misha blinked. "What does my face say?"

"That you’ve already started doing math with goblin corpses."

"..."

Sebastian adjusted his glasses and carefully did not react.

Misha opened her mouth then closed it because, unfortunately, that was exactly what she had been doing.

Elyes sighed through his nose, sounding exhausted by her on a spiritual level now. "Take potions. Use the city defenses as cover when you can. Don’t overcommit to large groups unless you know what soul you’re using. And if you see anything bigger than a Hobgoblin near your position, you retreat immediately."

Misha nodded, more serious now. "Understood."

"And if Nyxie starts enjoying herself too much, control her."

That made something awkward flicker across Misha’s face.

"That..." She hesitated. "Sounds difficult."

He raised a brow. "Difficult?"

Misha scratched lightly at her cheek and looked away for a second. "I should probably mention this now before you put too much faith in me."

His expression went flat. "That sentence is never a good sign."

"When they possess my body..." She exhaled once through her nose. "I don’t exactly have control over them."

Silence filled the room. Even Sebastian turned from the viewing spell this time.

Elyes stared at her for a moment before he asked slowly, "What do you mean you don’t have control over them?"

"I mean exactly what I said." Misha winced a little. "Once possession starts, they’re the ones moving. I can reject the request, sure, but once I let them in..." She made a vague hand motion. "I’m sort of just there."

Elyes continued staring at her. Then he rubbed lightly at his forehead like she had become another one of his injuries. "Misha."

"Yes?"

"That is extremely important information."

"I know..."

"You should have said it sooner..."

"Yeah... I should have..." She had left that part out last night.

"And you chose not to."

"I was busy almost dying in several different ways... internally," she muttered.

That made his eye twitch.

Sebastian cleared his throat with the polite gravity of a man trying very hard not to watch two disasters argue. "The young lady’s condition is not ideal."

"No," Elyes replied without taking his eyes off Misha. "It isn’t."

Misha crossed her arms defensively. "They haven’t killed me yet."

Olivia had very nearly worn her body down to the bone, but he did not need to know that right now.

"That," he said, his voice sharp as a knife, "is the least reassuring thing you could have said."

She frowned. "I’m trying my best here."

"That’s what worries me. This is your best, and somehow it still sounds like a badly planned funeral."

"Y-You–You–!"

"So," Elyes went on, his voice flat with resignation. "Your plan is to enter a city-wide siege, level up in the middle of an active invasion, and rely on souls you can’t properly control."

"When you say it like that, it sounds bad."

"It is bad."

"Not completely bad."

He stared at her and she stared back.

Then, very quietly, Sebastian inserted, "At the very least, Miss Misha is honest about how terrible the plan is."

Misha looked at him. "Thank you, I think."

"You’re welcome."

Elyes shut his eyes again, perhaps to pray, perhaps to preserve what remained of his patience. "Go before I change my mind."