I leave the people from group four to deal with the aftermath and head to the area under Storm Brigade's tower.
My body hurts terribly, but after getting healed, I feel better, and my mana keeps regenerating as I feed my passive with thermal energy. Even that little bit is helping and slowly the rest will heal. Until then I better not sleep and keep my body strengthened and infused with mana.
It is worse for my head and especially my eyes. Despite all the healing I received, my vision is still blurry. My new trait seems to be even more demanding than I thought. Just the sheer amount of information I received caused me to end up like this. But just for those few short moments, I saw an entirely new world open up to me, and I wonder. Is that how Lissandra saw things? Is this a step towards where she stood?
Well, I will get there, and for that, I need to become stronger, much stronger as today's fight showed.
Much, much stronger.
I climb into the fallen tower, the strengthened walls still supporting its shape, and I find my room that is now on its side in the severed top of the tower.
The bed is broken, the furniture has been thrown around, and broken pieces of the wall have destroyed a lot of things, but I find some clothes, a few bags that I fill with some water, food, dozens of higher-grade mana stones, my experiments, the weird bracelet I won from the auction, and some other stuff.
I look around one more time and, without knowing why, pass through a hole in the wall into Hadwin's room.
The room is simple, and there are barely any decorations as the older man wasn't one to collect such things. On the ground, I notice several pieces of clothing, some gels he used for his beard and hair, and some snacks that Hadwin had liked and left here to eat later.
There lies a box made of delicately decorated wood and on top of it, sets a paper with a few words in English: Happy birthday, Lily!
She said she would be 18 soon, didn't she?
I clean the debris from the table and then I set the box on top, so I can fix it up a bit. After that, I flip the bed onto its feet, make up the covers, and move the broken furniture into the corner.
Slowly I pick up Hadwin's things and put them on the nearby table and the bed. The oil he used to care for his sword and armor, notes for swordsmanship, and handwritten theories on his skills. As I move the notes, a small piece of paper falls from them, and when I pick it up, I freeze.
After months in the tutorial, I see a glimpse of our world. A photograph of Hadwin, a woman hugging him, and a young man bearing a resemblance to the man. The photo is in a terrible state, going through four floors after all these months. Yet it's still there, in a state that allows me to see its content, clearly showing how much it meant to him.
“That's his wife Olivia and his son Jonathan, both of them died just a few weeks before he got into the tutorial,” Tess enters the room, her steps slow and careful as she ducks to step though the hole in the wall. “They were both murdered by a young man. Hadwin said that for the first few floors, you felt like that man to him, and that's why he…”.
“I see,” I take a few steps towards her and put the photo into her hands.
“I will put it next to his body when we bury him. He would like that,” she whispers.
Before I leave the room, her words catch me, “Will you stay for his burial, Nat?”
“There is no need to.”
“I see, I will see you later then. Take care.”
“Yes.”
I intentionally use Mana Cycling to the highest effect to keep my mana from leaking and people from detecting me and cutting off the twins' [Connection].
There is no need to stay for the burial, he is dead, and he won't even know. It won't help him, it won't help me.
As I walk through the streets, it's as I thought, all the ants are gone. They ran away with their leader who should be terribly hurt and having to deal with the black mana that I tethered to him. I continue to send my mana to the tether I left on him to keep it from disappearing and to keep the black dagger connected to him. As before [Tether] is reacting weirdly to black mana and can partially ignore it.
The streets are broken, buildings have fallen, and corpses are everywhere. Some other streets are nearly fine, a weird contrast to the destroyed ones. Civilian casualties seem to be low as most of the dead ones have some weapons or armor on them, and in the end, it's 20-30% of Virelia that got so damaged, with the rest being nearly fine.
I also notice humans giving ugly looks to lynthari, a rumor about the lynthari invasion most likely spreading, but that's not something I care about. Unlike those of us from group 4, these people will be gone when the floor ends.
My mana continuously restores itself, and I gaze at my new arm Lily restored. It still appears blurry due to my hurting eyes, making me feel lightheaded.
Passing through the street, I steal some food from a store, some items in the next one, and another bag where I put more useful things.
I exit Virelia and enter the green fields, walking on a pathway. I do not even look back at the city and climb up to hills for a bit longer, where, at the top of the highest one I meet Myrra. She is sitting there, staring in the direction of Virelia. Myrra is wearing her armor and has supplies with her.
“You know, feral one, you might not think it, but I’ve gotten to know you well, really really well as I’ve been observing you.”
“I won’t stop you then,” I continue to walk.
She jumps to her feet and follows by my side, “So, how do you feel?”
“To be honest? Disappointed,” I answer. Something inside me wants to talk.
“In yourself?” Myrra asks, slowing her steps to match mine.
“Partially, yes,” I answer.
“Do you think being with your friends made you weaker?” she asks.
"Yes, I think so. I enjoyed it at the time, and I believe I improved in a way I wouldn’t have been able to on my own. But there is always this question: if I were on my own and forced to constantly fight for my life, would I have grown stronger?"
“Then there is also that other thing, right, feral one?”
“Yes. If I was alone and they were on their own, would they be able to improve more and become stronger without me being there?”
"Some of them could be dead without you," she says, and as she speaks, I hear no pity in her voice. She matches my tone, trying to understand me and engage in a conversation.
“That’s also true,” I agree.
“Yet you are still leaving them,” Myrra says, and we enter the forest, and continue walking under the trees that bend and creak in the wind.
"This is what I'm thinking: If I stay with them, I can help, sure, and more of them would survive. But then there would come a day when they would be on their own and probably die because I kept them safe, and they unconsciously relied on me."
“That’s true, but there is more to it.”
"Yes," I pause briefly. "Perhaps it's better if they die now while trying to grow stronger on their own. That way, it's less heartbreaking than staying with them, growing close to them, forming friendships, and then suffering through their deaths because they were too weak."
“That’s so cruel, feral one, so very cruel to say,” Myrra is smiling, our conversation taking her mind off things she doesn’t want to think about. "But even I know that you are lying."
“Maybe? I will have to find out and for that, I will need some time on my own.”
“You got scared, didn’t you? You never wanted to get attached, and when that man died, it was a shock for you,” her eyes almost seem to glow as she looks down at me.
“I agree, it was a shock to see him like that,” I nod.
“So you are running away?”
“The same as you, Myrra.”
She laughs, canines showing for a moment but she doesn't deny it, “So what will they do without you?”
“Knowing Tess, they will train for a while and then go to hunt the Fallen Hero,” I shrug my shoulders, “Tess is smart, so she surely realized how lacking they were.”
“No goodbyes?”
“No goodbyes.”
“Coward.”
“A bit,” I agree.
All this talking makes me feel a bit better, and telling this to Myrra, who will be gone with the 4th floor, is somewhat easy.
“Are you sad, Myrra?” I ask her.
She laughs, “Such a question, feral one. I have watched my friends I knew for tens, and hundreds of years die. A woman I looked up to my entire life ever since I was a child got her head bitten off, and I saw her mangled corpse,” she continues to smile.
We exit the forest and continue to climb into the mountain. “This is the first time in my life I saw so many lynthari die. For the first time, I fought with my life on the line like this. I was terrified.”
Step after step, I force my body to walk until I can't anymore and sit down. Even this bit of walking makes my breathing rough, and sweat runs down my body. I feel like throwing up, and my hands shake until I close them into fists.
Myrra joins me, and we look towards Virelia, still some smoke above the city. Even from this distance, we can see the remains of the Living Tree and broken towers and the trees in the city.
“Myrra, how do you become a Champion candidate?” I ask.
Not turning to me, she answers, “The title was given to me by the matriarch, as she was the only one from the lynthari that ever saw Champions and could tell if someone was capable of reaching that. But it's unofficial. To become a true Champion candidate, you need a Champion to acknowledge you and for the system to accept it.”
She turns to me, “You could call me a fake Champion candidate, feral one, and you wouldn't be lying.”
"I see," I nod and get to my feet, stumbling after I take the first step. I force some strength into my legs, and Myrra follows me.
We continue to walk slowly, having conversations, and in that short time, I learn more about her than I’ve been able to in the past few months. Her fears, her hopes. A lot about lynthari and fake Champion candidate Myrra. I also share a lot. Talking feels good right now, especially knowing she won't tell anyone, and slowly I realize that, as she says, Myrra knows me really well.
She’s continued to observe me ever since we met for the first time, my manners, my movements. She can tell my feelings even through my flat face and can read my mood. Like a cat, she observed me from a distance, nearly unnoticed, and, according to her, fascinated by the things I have done.
We reach the side of a certain mountain after a long walk, and now even my reservoir is slowly replenishing as we delve into the tunnels after touching the walls and activating inscriptions in them, making them light the tunnels.
Our steps sound especially loud down there, and soon we reach the door that I open and then another and enter a big room with an array in the middle.
For the next day, we relax, we heal, and we prepare.
Here, down in the dark tunnels without anyone around, Myrra cries for the first time. She cries for all the lynthari and humans that died. Finally out of sight of everyone, breaking her majestic facade and cracking the mask. It takes only a few minutes, and after that, we don't talk about it and I do not mention it.
When we are ready, I pull out a few mana stones, put them into the array, and let Myrra activate it. The one-directional array right into the heart of the Colony.
Before stepping into it, I create an orb from tricolored mana and push it to the point it starts glowing bright white and leave it on the ground near the array.
“I guess with this the array will be gone as well as our way out,” Myrra says while looking at the orb.
“Did you change your mind?” I ask.
“Such a dumb question,” she says, and activates the array, transporting us to the heart of the Colony.
I leave the people from group four to deal with the aftermath and head to the area under Storm Brigade's tower.
My body hurts terribly, but after getting healed, I feel better, and my mana keeps regenerating as I feed my passive with thermal energy. Even that little bit is helping and slowly the rest will heal. Until then I better not sleep and keep my body strengthened and infused with mana.
It is worse for my head and especially my eyes. Despite all the healing I received, my vision is still blurry. My new trait seems to be even more demanding than I thought. Just the sheer amount of information I received caused me to end up like this. But just for those few short moments, I saw an entirely new world open up to me, and I wonder. Is that how Lissandra saw things? Is this a step towards where she stood?
Well, I will get there, and for that, I need to become stronger, much stronger as today's fight showed.
Much, much stronger.
I climb into the fallen tower, the strengthened walls still supporting its shape, and I find my room that is now on its side in the severed top of the tower.
The bed is broken, the furniture has been thrown around, and broken pieces of the wall have destroyed a lot of things, but I find some clothes, a few bags that I fill with some water, food, dozens of higher-grade mana stones, my experiments, the weird bracelet I won from the auction, and some other stuff.
I look around one more time and, without knowing why, pass through a hole in the wall into Hadwin's room.
The room is simple, and there are barely any decorations as the older man wasn't one to collect such things. On the ground, I notice several pieces of clothing, some gels he used for his beard and hair, and some snacks that Hadwin had liked and left here to eat later.
There lies a box made of delicately decorated wood and on top of it, sets a paper with a few words in English: Happy birthday, Lily!
She said she would be 18 soon, didn't she?
I clean the debris from the table and then I set the box on top, so I can fix it up a bit. After that, I flip the bed onto its feet, make up the covers, and move the broken furniture into the corner.
Slowly I pick up Hadwin's things and put them on the nearby table and the bed. The oil he used to care for his sword and armor, notes for swordsmanship, and handwritten theories on his skills. As I move the notes, a small piece of paper falls from them, and when I pick it up, I freeze.
After months in the tutorial, I see a glimpse of our world. A photograph of Hadwin, a woman hugging him, and a young man bearing a resemblance to the man. The photo is in a terrible state, going through four floors after all these months. Yet it's still there, in a state that allows me to see its content, clearly showing how much it meant to him.
“That's his wife Olivia and his son Jonathan, both of them died just a few weeks before he got into the tutorial,” Tess enters the room, her steps slow and careful as she ducks to step though the hole in the wall. “They were both murdered by a young man. Hadwin said that for the first few floors, you felt like that man to him, and that's why he…”.
“I see,” I take a few steps towards her and put the photo into her hands.
“I will put it next to his body when we bury him. He would like that,” she whispers.
Before I leave the room, her words catch me, “Will you stay for his burial, Nat?”
“There is no need to.”
“I see, I will see you later then. Take care.”
“Yes.”
I intentionally use Mana Cycling to the highest effect to keep my mana from leaking and people from detecting me and cutting off the twins' [Connection].
There is no need to stay for the burial, he is dead, and he won't even know. It won't help him, it won't help me.
As I walk through the streets, it's as I thought, all the ants are gone. They ran away with their leader who should be terribly hurt and having to deal with the black mana that I tethered to him. I continue to send my mana to the tether I left on him to keep it from disappearing and to keep the black dagger connected to him. As before [Tether] is reacting weirdly to black mana and can partially ignore it.
The streets are broken, buildings have fallen, and corpses are everywhere. Some other streets are nearly fine, a weird contrast to the destroyed ones. Civilian casualties seem to be low as most of the dead ones have some weapons or armor on them, and in the end, it's 20-30% of Virelia that got so damaged, with the rest being nearly fine.
I also notice humans giving ugly looks to lynthari, a rumor about the lynthari invasion most likely spreading, but that's not something I care about. Unlike those of us from group 4, these people will be gone when the floor ends.
My mana continuously restores itself, and I gaze at my new arm Lily restored. It still appears blurry due to my hurting eyes, making me feel lightheaded.
Passing through the street, I steal some food from a store, some items in the next one, and another bag where I put more useful things.
I exit Virelia and enter the green fields, walking on a pathway. I do not even look back at the city and climb up to hills for a bit longer, where, at the top of the highest one I meet Myrra. She is sitting there, staring in the direction of Virelia. Myrra is wearing her armor and has supplies with her.
“You know, feral one, you might not think it, but I’ve gotten to know you well, really really well as I’ve been observing you.”
“I won’t stop you then,” I continue to walk.
She jumps to her feet and follows by my side, “So, how do you feel?”
“To be honest? Disappointed,” I answer. Something inside me wants to talk.
“In yourself?” Myrra asks, slowing her steps to match mine.
“Partially, yes,” I answer.
“Do you think being with your friends made you weaker?” she asks.
"Yes, I think so. I enjoyed it at the time, and I believe I improved in a way I wouldn’t have been able to on my own. But there is always this question: if I were on my own and forced to constantly fight for my life, would I have grown stronger?"
“Then there is also that other thing, right, feral one?”
“Yes. If I was alone and they were on their own, would they be able to improve more and become stronger without me being there?”
"Some of them could be dead without you," she says, and as she speaks, I hear no pity in her voice. She matches my tone, trying to understand me and engage in a conversation.
“That’s also true,” I agree.
“Yet you are still leaving them,” Myrra says, and we enter the forest, and continue walking under the trees that bend and creak in the wind.
"This is what I'm thinking: If I stay with them, I can help, sure, and more of them would survive. But then there would come a day when they would be on their own and probably die because I kept them safe, and they unconsciously relied on me."
“That’s true, but there is more to it.”
"Yes," I pause briefly. "Perhaps it's better if they die now while trying to grow stronger on their own. That way, it's less heartbreaking than staying with them, growing close to them, forming friendships, and then suffering through their deaths because they were too weak."
“That’s so cruel, feral one, so very cruel to say,” Myrra is smiling, our conversation taking her mind off things she doesn’t want to think about. "But even I know that you are lying."
“Maybe? I will have to find out and for that, I will need some time on my own.”
“You got scared, didn’t you? You never wanted to get attached, and when that man died, it was a shock for you,” her eyes almost seem to glow as she looks down at me.
“I agree, it was a shock to see him like that,” I nod.
“So you are running away?”
“The same as you, Myrra.”
She laughs, canines showing for a moment but she doesn't deny it, “So what will they do without you?”
“Knowing Tess, they will train for a while and then go to hunt the Fallen Hero,” I shrug my shoulders, “Tess is smart, so she surely realized how lacking they were.”
“No goodbyes?”
“No goodbyes.”
“Coward.”
“A bit,” I agree.
All this talking makes me feel a bit better, and telling this to Myrra, who will be gone with the 4th floor, is somewhat easy.
“Are you sad, Myrra?” I ask her.
She laughs, “Such a question, feral one. I have watched my friends I knew for tens, and hundreds of years die. A woman I looked up to my entire life ever since I was a child got her head bitten off, and I saw her mangled corpse,” she continues to smile.
We exit the forest and continue to climb into the mountain. “This is the first time in my life I saw so many lynthari die. For the first time, I fought with my life on the line like this. I was terrified.”
Step after step, I force my body to walk until I can't anymore and sit down. Even this bit of walking makes my breathing rough, and sweat runs down my body. I feel like throwing up, and my hands shake until I close them into fists.
Myrra joins me, and we look towards Virelia, still some smoke above the city. Even from this distance, we can see the remains of the Living Tree and broken towers and the trees in the city.
“Myrra, how do you become a Champion candidate?” I ask.
Not turning to me, she answers, “The title was given to me by the matriarch, as she was the only one from the lynthari that ever saw Champions and could tell if someone was capable of reaching that. But it's unofficial. To become a true Champion candidate, you need a Champion to acknowledge you and for the system to accept it.”
She turns to me, “You could call me a fake Champion candidate, feral one, and you wouldn't be lying.”
"I see," I nod and get to my feet, stumbling after I take the first step. I force some strength into my legs, and Myrra follows me.
We continue to walk slowly, having conversations, and in that short time, I learn more about her than I’ve been able to in the past few months. Her fears, her hopes. A lot about lynthari and fake Champion candidate Myrra. I also share a lot. Talking feels good right now, especially knowing she won't tell anyone, and slowly I realize that, as she says, Myrra knows me really well.
She’s continued to observe me ever since we met for the first time, my manners, my movements. She can tell my feelings even through my flat face and can read my mood. Like a cat, she observed me from a distance, nearly unnoticed, and, according to her, fascinated by the things I have done.
We reach the side of a certain mountain after a long walk, and now even my reservoir is slowly replenishing as we delve into the tunnels after touching the walls and activating inscriptions in them, making them light the tunnels.
Our steps sound especially loud down there, and soon we reach the door that I open and then another and enter a big room with an array in the middle.
For the next day, we relax, we heal, and we prepare.
Here, down in the dark tunnels without anyone around, Myrra cries for the first time. She cries for all the lynthari and humans that died. Finally out of sight of everyone, breaking her majestic facade and cracking the mask. It takes only a few minutes, and after that, we don't talk about it and I do not mention it.
When we are ready, I pull out a few mana stones, put them into the array, and let Myrra activate it. The one-directional array right into the heart of the Colony.
Before stepping into it, I create an orb from tricolored mana and push it to the point it starts glowing bright white and leave it on the ground near the array.
“I guess with this the array will be gone as well as our way out,” Myrra says while looking at the orb.
“Did you change your mind?” I ask.
“Such a dumb question,” she says, and activates the array, transporting us to the heart of the Colony.
