Though he felt pressured to ascend the Crucible of Souls as soon as possible, Linnaeus wasn't foolish enough to believe that simple conviction was enough to carry him to the top. If he shifted his focus and threw himself forward without consideration, he would develop a tunnel vision that allowed him to be taken advantage of by others.

Linnaeus knew his strengths and weaknesses but, in order to surmount the challenges that were to come, he needed to know the capabilities of his allies as well.

According to Eliza, a person was required to have formed a Party of four by the time they reached the 9th Floor. Here, your teamwork would be put to the test and, only when a few Parties had set themselves apart from the rest would the individual tournament begin.

It was possible to enter the 10th Floor without a full Party but, before moving on to the 11th, even the most headstrong individuals would form a Party. This was due to the fact that, once you left the relative safety of the 10th Floor, you could not return to it. The next safe area wouldn't be until the 20th Floor so, before moving on, most people would form a full Company before trying to break through the obstacles barring their ascension.

A Party was a unit consisting of four people while a Company typically consisted of a total of five full Parties. This was to keep some semblance of balance as the five Party Leaders could elect someone to head the Company, bringing the total to 21 people. While the Company Leader had the authority to come up with laws and restrictions, which could actually influence and bind Party members, they could only do so if there was a unanimous vote from each of the Party Leaders. For lesser issues, it only required a majority vote but, more often than not, the laws and restrictions regulating a new Company were decided before its formation.

There were some people that would spend years on the 10th Floor making preparations and trying to gather a full Company of people to their cause. After all, it was possible to gain information about the higher floors and, while it was difficult to contend against the seated powers, it was still possible to make a name for yourself by building up a small Company. If you were more ambitious, you could even form a Guild or an Organization, essentially building a small army for yourself before you made your way to higher floors.

When large Guilds and Organizations formed to climb the Tower, they were often referred to by the standard Explorer, the colloquial name for Fledglings setting out from the 10th Floor, as Expeditions.

Joining an Expedition greatly increased your chances of reaching higher floors if you were a part of the key personnel but, if you were a weaker combatant, your fate was usually to serve as fodder to protect the rest of the group. This still didn't deter people as, if they worked hard to make a name for themselves, there were a lot of benefits to be had from joining a Guild or an Organization.

Even at the Company level, it was possible to receive a second Title, one that designated the role you played in the Company itself. The benefits provided by this secondary Title weren't nearly as good as standard Titles but, if your Company became famous, it made a very big difference later on.

According to Eliza, joining one of the Companies belonging to the Eight Heavenly Families actually gave you increased Spirit and Luck per Level. If you managed to work your way up to an Officer role within the Organization itself, you could even earn extra Free Attribute points per Level. These were incredible boons and, as a result, the middle and higher floors were all dominated by large Guilds and Organizations. The 50th Floor was even rumored to possess several large Kingdoms, expansive Empires, and massive Clans with several thousand years of history.

While this may seem unreasonable, Eliza also explained that the average lifespan of a Fledgling that reached the 10th Floor had already more than tripled. If you managed to reach the 20th Floor, your average lifespan was said to have increased by as much as five times while, on the 50th Floor, it was possible to find several individuals who had already lived for thousands of years.

Linnaeus felt that the existence of such people was the primary factor behind why so few people were able to actually reach the higher floors. He hadn't had to deal with them yet but, after growing up in the slums, he understood the lengths people would go to in order to elevate themselves above others. It was easy to imagine a bunch of old monsters who would either forcibly recruit or kill those not in line with their ideals, effectively bottlenecking anyone that had the potential to exceed them.

In order to avoid being suppressed by others, Linnaeus knew it would be necessary for him to either fall in line with one of the established powers or, against all odds, build a faction of his own. This was easier said than done, however, as he fundamentally lacked the prestige to pull strong people to his side. Still, if he wanted to protect his sister from the incalculable number of people who would seek to use her power for themselves, he needed more than personal strength.

Curiously, Eliza was very supportive of the idea but, when asked about her reasons, she would often deflect or just fall silent. She knew he wouldn't pester her too much if he made her uncomfortable so Linnaeus could only shake his head before falling silent himself.

Linnaeus could tell that Eliza was contemplating something but, as it didn't seem to be betrayal, he didn't press her on the matter. Instead, they got along well enough as, despite her being a great deal stronger than him, Eliza regarding his words seriously and always listened to his orders. Though she would question some of them after the fact, mainly to understand what he was thinking, she would never challenge him at the time the order was given.

Though this made Eliza seem like someone that was easy to suppress, Linnaeus never once felt this way after their first time hunting together. Instead, he felt like she was trying to build his confidence as, when he made mistakes, she would always give him bits and pieces of advice when they returned to the den. This made him feel quite a bit of pressure as, if he made mistakes in his orders, it felt like he could get them both killed, not just himself.

What Linnaeus was unaware of was that Eliza was, quite literally, trying to groom him into being a better leader. From the moment of their discussion about Companies, Guilds, and Organizations, she had decided to see how far someone that was born without any inherent benefits could go.

Unlike Linnaeus, who seemed to treat his time in the Crucible of Souls as a continuation of his first life, Eliza knew her own fate had already been twisted. Since she was likely to lose even her identity, she had already stopped thinking about how she should act as a daughter of the Evendoom family. Instead, she had chosen to live according to her own convictions this time around and, as Linnaeus was the first person to pull her out of the darkness she had been sinking into, she decided to follow him until he either broke or succeeded.

Eliza felt that the current state of the world was too stagnant and, unlike how others seemed to be very excited about their climb, she had essentially been dragged around by other members of the Eight Families. Because of her status as a daughter of the Evendoom family, she didn't have much of a choice in her selection of Party members. She was forced to join up with haughty and arrogant people who wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of you if you showed any signs of weakness.

Now that she had already died once, Eliza had decided that she didn't want to live that kind of life any longer. Even if it was stressful and significantly reduced her chances of climbing to higher floors, it was still better to live as she pleased. She had lowered her head in her past life but, despite doing her best to go with the flow of events, she still lost her life. Since acquiescence ended up getting her killed, she wanted to be more proactive in her decisions now that she had a second chance at life.

To this end, by the time three days had passed since her joining Linnaeus' Party, Eliza had already worn down most of the peculiar boy's resistance against her. He was the type of person that had a lot of walls around his heart but, with her association to his sister, a person he cared about more than himself, it didn't take long for her to get closer to him.

Linnaeus might not have realized it himself but Eliza could see that he was starved for things like love and companionship. He didn't seem to proactively think about such things but, if you made an earnest effort to get closer to him, he couldn't help but open himself up to you in a remarkably short period of time. This was a major weakness that could be exploited by those with malicious intentions but, due to their age difference, Eliza felt like he was a little brother that needed someone to care for him.

Now, though he would still turn statuesque, Eliza was able to hug him from behind and snuggle up to him whenever they were going to sleep. She gave the excuse that she was weak against the cold and, despite this being an obvious lie, the adorable little boy ultimately relented. Though he did try and talk about a woman named Saht the following morning, Eliza didn't really care about his former lover as, rather than the love between a man and a woman, she felt like her affections were more maternal in nature than anything else.

The first two nights, when they had slept alone, Eliza couldn't help thinking about how difficult it was to grow up without experiencing a mother's love. She could remember the reminiscent smile on his face when he talked about finding warmth at his sister's side so, after mustering up her courage, she decided to try and provide similar warmth with her own body. It made her feel very nervous at first but, after the initial tension wore away, Eliza found it was actually very comfortable to hold onto his frail and seemingly powerless figure.

Now, going into the fourth day together, Eliza had a small smile on her face as she watched Linnaeus do his best to avoid direct eye contact with her. Seeing him embarrassed made her feel happy, even if what they were discussing made her feel troubled...

Linnaeus felt that, with each passing day, Eliza became harder to see through but, as she was usually very obedient, he couldn't really find the words to rebuke her. He would never admit it but, perhaps due to her large breasts, it was very comfortable to be cradled in her arms. It made him feel like he had regained something he had lost but, even after hours of rumination, he was unable to recall any memories that paralleled the comfort her presence brought to him.

After shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Linnaeus psyched himself up for the coming day, saying in a determined voice, "We should try and scout our other Party members sooner, rather than later. It should be possible to reach the next Floor after completing a feat worthy of recognition. I have been gathering information on the surroundings Kings, the large monsters that govern each region. Even with the two of us, we could probably move on to the next Floor but, based on the information you had provided, I believe it is better to recruit a full Party before we proceed any further..."

Eliza nodded her head in understanding but, unlike Linnaeus, she didn't have much confidence that things would go smoothly. From what he had told her, it was obvious he had never formed a group with boys his own age, much less those that were older than him.

Depending on the circumstances, having multiple men and women in the same Party often led to discourse and conflict. Men, with few exceptions, were very prideful while women, for reasons Eliza herself wasn't certain of, often sought benefits by taking advantage of strong men. When strangers were grouped together, the men would often try to establish a hierarchy among themselves while, more often than not, the females would scheme against each other to try and secure a place for themself at the dominant male's side.

This was a serious problem, even amongst the Eight Families, so Eliza couldn't help but worry about Linnaeus. He had an uncharacteristically strong will but, more than most of the males she had come to know, he gave off a distinctly weak and fragile aura...one that invited those with strong egos to target and suppress him...