PERRY COLLAPSES IN front of me, laughing so hard she can barely breathe. It’s hard not to notice just how beautiful she is when we’re this close, and her pretty laugh only makes her more endearing.

I realize what I’m doing and plant my eyes firmly on her face, shoving all thoughts of what her laughter is doing to her chest and the way her pants cling to her—

Slow your roll, brain. She’s my student, and potentially traumatized. Do not sexualize the traumatized girl.

When she’s done, I offer her a hand up without thinking, and instantly worry I’m going to make her uncomfortable. She does look wary, but accepts anyway and lets me pull her to her feet.

“Thank you,” she says. “For the hand, and for the demonstration. It helps.”

I nod, happy to know I haven’t fucked up again. But damn being around people is exhausting. Or maybe it’s just these two.

“What the hell did I miss?” Lucy asks, wandering back over to us from wherever she’d gone on her break. “Sounded like somebody got shot.”

“Um…” Perry says, glancing up at me. It occurs to me she’s standing very close, apparently not feeling the need to move away immediately. I can feel the heat radiating from her body, see the light sheen of sweat on her tan skin.

“I gave a demonstration,” I say, pointedly looking elsewhere.

Lucy narrows her eyes. “Magic?”

I give a noncommittal grunt, somehow hoping it’ll head off her complaints. It does not.

“You son of a bitch,” she says, chucking a not-quite-empty water bottle at my head. “After all the shit you gave me? Do it again.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I say, pointedly looking around the room.

Lucy glances around. “So? We’re not hurting anybody. They can mind their own business.”

The people around are mostly minding their business, though quite a few heads are turned toward our little group. Mostly men, of course. Unsurprisingly, there aren’t that many women exercising in the gym, and Lucy and Perry also happen to be rather attractive.

The way Perry’s dressed doesn’t help. Not for the first time, I wonder why she’s wearing such revealing clothing if she’s not interested in the attention. Maybe it didn’t occur to her? That’d be pretty naive, but it’s not like I always consider the opinions of strangers when I choose my outfits. Doesn’t seem fair to put that on her.

“I work here,” I say. “I’m not going to cause too much unnecessary havoc. I’ll show you when we’re on a Climb.”

Lucy scowls, and shakes her head. “Did you at least give Perry the rundown while I was gone?”

“…I’m getting to it.”

“So that’s a no.”

In truth, I’d forgotten. Perry looked so helpless with a sword in her hand… her fear seemed a more immediate problem than her not knowing exactly how Tower mechanics worked.

“Alright, we’ll do it live. What do you know about the Tower, Perry?”

The girl herself is watching our conversation with rapt attention, but for some reason only seems to notice we’re talking about her when I say her name.

“Oh! Um, you can only get there if you take a mission from one of the Interfaces, right?”

The rest of her knowledge turns out to not be pretty much non-existent, so I decide to just go ahead and give her a rundown of the basics, starting with proficiencies. Proficiencies are the building blocks of any Climber, as well as how the Tower determines difficulty.

Body governs Strength and Endurance.

Skill governs Agility, Dexterity, and Perception.

Mind governs Power, Control, and Resistance.

Upon first entering the Tower, a Climber is assigned their base proficiencies, generally somewhere between F- and F+. Though, I’ve heard truly exceptional athletes and the like sometimes start in the E range.

Climbers can grow their proficiencies naturally by simply doing activities related to the proficiency they want to train, but clearing missions is by far the most effective way to grow. The recommended proficiencies for any given mission are usually the ones that see the most growth upon completion too, so focusing that growth is a very real thing.

As for what they do, Strength and Endurance should be obvious enough. There’s been confusion over the difference between Agility and Dexterity, as they have a tendency to grow together. As best we can tell, Agility refers to the speed at which someone can move their body, while Dexterity refers to general coordination.

Interestingly, Perception refers to all five senses. A blessing and a curse. Not needing glasses anymore is great, but listening to your older neighbors having sex isn’t. Neither is being able to smell the distinct odor of the person who made your cheeseburger—or worse, taste it.

Each of the three Mind proficiencies governs the use of magic. Power obviously refers to the magnitude of the effect, and Resistance the ability to withstand magical effects. The most interesting of the three is Control, which seems to effect a person’s magic muscle, or whatever it is that allows someone to perceive magic as a part of themselves. For someone wielding magic, all three are absolutely vital.

Without Power, a spell is useless.

Without Control, Power cannot be directed.

Without Resistance, the body will be torn apart by its own magic.

This is all fairly intuitive for anyone who’s played a video game before. Perry never has, so I bring up a chart on the Guild website that outlines all the proficiencies I just went over and let her check it out on my phone.

While she does that, I give a brief explanation of Gifts, which are essentially special abilities granted by the Tower. It’s far from clear how the Tower grants Gifts, but there are two things we’ve identified as rules by which the Tower usually abides; a new Climber will receive a Gift relatively soon after they begin their first Climb, and it will almost always be combat-oriented.

Some speculate Gifts are tailored to suit an individual, though there’s no conclusive evidence to suggest that’s the case. Sometimes hotheads will get flame-related Gifts and spark discussion of intelligent design, and then a musician-turned-Climber will get a Gift to create mutant fungus or something and it all goes out the window.

“That’s so cool,” Perry says, after I finish my explanation. “What kind of Gift do you think I’ll get?”

“Dunno,” I shrug. “It isn’t always weapons-related, but those carrying weapons tend to get Gifts related to them more often.” I playfully spin a wooden sword around in my hands, giving in to the urge to move around. “If you want the Gift of Swordsmanship, you could try carrying a sword.”

“What kind of Gift do you want, Lucy?” Perry asks, turning her attention to the other girl. Lucy hasn’t said much since I started my explanations, but I assume she’s just tuning out the things she already knows.

“Magic, of course,” Lucy says, not even bothering to look up from her phone. “Anything else is pointless.”

“Fungus magic?” Perry giggles.

“I don’t care what it looks like as long as it’s powerful,” she says, clicking her phone off and shoving it in her pocket. “Though obviously I’d prefer something less gross. Anyway, are we done here? I didn’t exactly plan to be here all day.”

I’ve shown them both how to swing a sword, and that’s about it. Still, they weren’t going to learn anything significant in one day. These things take time, and most people prefer to see what Gift they get before they dedicate too much time to any particular fighting style anyway.

“Are you both free tomorrow?”

~

The Guild Hall is packed, as usual. I get far more looks today, now fully equipped in my combat gear. It’s all built unnaturally tough, and provides as much protection as any man-made armor, despite looking like nothing more than fancy clothing. I have no idea what kind of style it is, but it’s instantly recognizable as Tower Gear.

I scan the crowd, but don’t spot my students anywhere. They’ve got a bit more time, so it’s not really a problem. I move over to an Interface to peruse the available missions while I wait. Ideally, the goal is to find something easy enough for me to safely clear alone while protecting the girls, but the descriptions simply aren’t specific enough to guarantee anything of the sort.

Autumn Wren

Lonely Climber

Rank: E+ (10135)

Proficiencies:

[Body]

Strength: E+

Endurance: E+

[Skill]

Agility: E+

Dexterity: E+

Perception: E+

[Mind]

Power: E+

Control: E+

Resistance: E+

The Interface displays my basic information, showing me what I already know; E+ across the board, which seems to be the hard cap for how far I can progress my proficiencies at my current rank. I’d hoped by clearing enough low-rank missions I’d be able to advance, but if it is possible to do it that way, it’s hardly feasible. I haven’t ranked up in almost two years.

Capping my proficiencies is nice enough, I suppose. Admittedly, their uniformity is satisfying, but after hundreds of low-rank missions without progress it’d be nice to advance again. Obviously, taking a high-rank mission would see me to rank up faster, but I have no intention of doing that. I was close to being in the top ten thousand Climbers on Earth. That just proved Climbers who took too much initiative didn’t often live to tell the tale.

The Interface flicks over to the available missions, instantly deciphering my intent the moment I think it. That never really gets less unsettling. I’m thankful humanity has no idea how these things work.

“Autumn? Your first name is Autumn?”

I try not to let my irritation show. Damn computer can read my mind, but can’t hide my personal information? I want a refund.

“Good morning, Lucy,” I say, turning to face my most obnoxious student and finding both of my students instead. “And you too, Perry.”

Perry greets me with a wave and a bright smile from her place next to Lucy. “Good morning!”

“Autumn Wren. That’s adorable,” Lucy says, smirking.

I resist the urge to sigh.

“I think it’s nice.” Perry giggles into her hand.

I take a moment to examine their outfits. Mostly because I need to know what kind of gear they’re packing, but also for other, more obvious reasons. Lucy is wearing pretty much the same getup as yesterday—black hat, black tank, black cargo pants, black boots, black everything—though she now has a backpack(black) slung over her shoulders, and a modern-looking machete(yep, black) hanging from a sheathe strapped around her waist. It all meshes well with her pale white skin to give her an edgy vampire kinda look.

…Is Lucy a Vampire? If nothing else, I’m fairly certain she’d drain all the blood from my body if given the chance.

Perry wears tight beige shorts—with actual pockets this time—a pink t-shirt, and combat boots. Her bright blonde hair is tied in a braid that pokes out of her baseball cap and hangs down her back. She doesn’t have any weapons, but I’d known to expect that after she spoke with me in confidence about her… less-than-ideal financial situation.

I unstrap the second sword I wear around my waist and hand it to her.

“Thank you,” Perry says, cheeks flushed. “I promise I’ll take good care of it until I get my own.”

I shake my head. “It’s yours now.”

Her eyes grow wide, and a jumble of words spews out of her mouth. “W-what? I can’t—that’s not—”

I hold up my hand. “Breathe, Perry. It’s fine, it was just gathering rust. Really, I’m glad it’s going to someone who’ll actually use it.”

Her lip trembles a little, and I worry she might start crying again. “T-thank you so much…”

“You’re welcome.” I motion at the sword in her hands. “Go ahead and strap it on, though probably wait to pull it out.” Best to avoid any unfortunate accidents with all these people around.

She nods, and proceeds to fumble with the straps for a minute or two before Lucy sighs and reaches down, fashioning the sheathe to Perry’s waist. It holds a lightweight longsword I received as a reward years ago and almost immediately replaced with the larger, heavier one I wear now. I kept it around as a backup just in case, but at this point I’m pretty sure I’m going to break long before my sword does.

Some shouting nearby alerts us to a huge group gathering around a man I recognize as being one of the top Climbers. Graham something. He stands on top of a table someone dragged over, a menacing sight clad in full plate that must’ve weighed a tonne. A jagged, wavy greatsword hangs from his back, tip scraping the table beneath him.

“Listen up,” he says, voice booming across the hall. “Anyone who’s already figured out their group arrangements, back away for now. As for everyone else, split into two groups. Experienced Climbers to my left, new Climbers to my right.”

He motions with his hands, indicating where everyone should stand. “Alright, two to three newbies to a vet, starting with… you three and you,” he says, assigning people to each other based on the order they’re standing in.

Sensing the opportunity, I wave for the girls to follow, moving into the group of people who already know their assignments. These community missions were occasionally put together to give newer Climbers a chance to see how the pros did it in a relatively safe environment.

The contribution would be split so many ways nobody would actually gain anything but the experience, though that was worth much more than money to someone just starting out. If I’d known this were happening today, I could’ve just let Lucy and Perry go with them. I’m already here though, and I feel oddly responsible for their wellbeing.

When the group setups are confirmed, everyone is instructed to take the same mission from the Interface.

Tower(Earth) Floor 1 - 67%

Available Missions:

Slay Mirewalkers Difficulty: * Recommended Proficiencies: Strength(F), Endurance(F) Slay Mournfiends Difficulty: *** Recommended Proficiencies: Agility(D), Power(D) Slay the Blade Howler Difficulty: ***** Recommended Proficiencies: Strength(C+), Endurance(C+), Agility(C+), Resistance(C+)

I scroll through the list, and find the mission we’re looking for—slaying Mirewalkers. Not a monster I’ve encountered before, but that’s nothing new.

“Why does it say (Earth) near Tower? And only floor one…?” Perry asks, leaning closer to me than I think she’s comfortable with. There’s such a large crowd around us, both girls are being jostled around a bit, and Lucy is actually pressed up against my other side looking like she’s about to skewer someone.

Is she… growling?

“Nobody really knows,” I say. “Maybe there are more Towers out there. The universe is a big place. As for the whole floor one thing, well… it’s been steadily going up since the Tower appeared five years ago. We won’t know until we get there, but odds are it’s going to be a tougher version of what we’ve already got.”

Perry nods, and some guy bumps into Lucy. Sensing she’s about to lose her shit on him, I direct her attention to the screen, showing her how to accept my party invitation. After both girls are in the party, we wait for another fifteen minutes for everyone to finish, and then it’s go time. Graham is the first to disappear in a soft blue light, followed by all the other parties in no particular order.

My hand hovers over the ‘Mission Start’ button. The weight of the burden I’m carrying truly begins to sink in, paralyzing me.

I’m responsible for the lives of two human beings. What was I thinking…?

I can’t do this. I’m going to let them down. I’m going to get them killed!

Before I can back out, Lucy grabs my hand and slaps it down on the button, surrounding us with a soft blue light.