Cole should be fine on his own for a while, Lucy mused, tucking herself under the bedsheets, time to do some investigating.

Lucy had left ‘drops’ of herself in the first and second trial, along with the initiation room. While she’d initially wanted to revisit the initiation room first, Lucy chose to go back to the first trial. It still bothered her that she’d so easily fallen for the trap laid out for them.

Lucy closed her eyes, focusing for a moment. When she opened her eyes, Lucy was back in the room of the first trial. Scanning around the room, she noted that no one was there. Looking over to the bench she’d been stuck on, Lucy narrowed her eyes at the far end of the seat near the button.

He was ‘Sensei’ all along. Lucy pondered. Did he really not notice the drops I left?

Lucy couldn’t tell if he was overwhelmingly powerful or simply good at one powerful magic. Either way, Lucy intended to avoid conflicts with such people until she met back up with Kira.

Lucy looked up at the ceiling. She could still sense Kira far above her but didn’t know what that meant. Was he given the chance to start at a higher tier? Did Sensei separate them due to an unfair advantage? None of the people in the initiation room had looked even remotely strong, making Lucy assume the latter.

Sensei’s appearance in the first trial, however, had confirmed another question on her mind. If he let Cole pass through the first trial, then Sensei really did approve of a demon climbing The Tower. Whether or not he was truly friend or foe still eluded her, but Lucy preferred to give people the benefit of the doubt. If he was an enemy, at least he’d be a source of entertainment for the time being.

Lucy walked to the train tracks as she thought, jumping down to them. It wasn’t just Sensei that bothered her, but their train ride in general, too. She walked briskly along the tracks. Even as the light faded away, Lucy was easily able to outline her surroundings. Objects lit up in her mind with a light blue hue, illuminating her path.

After some time following the track, Lucy saw a light ahead. As she’d suspected, the room she entered was the same as the one she’d just left. The train tracks didn’t actually go anywhere, instead forming a large circle for the train to follow.

This wasn’t too out of the ordinary, as they’d left the second trial through portals, but it was still odd. The Tower was an unbelievable massive structure, but why would so much space be wasted creating a circle? Would a straight line with two portals at either side not suffice?

The track had no noticeable paths that extended out from the curve, deepening Lucy’s curiosity. As the idea popped into her head, Lucy closed her eyes. She opened them to find herself within the missing train, as it hadn’t been anywhere along the tracks.

The room around her was the same as it was before, housing a couch and two chairs. Lucy noticed that the doors around her were no longer recessed into the walls, now blocking her path to the other cars and the outside. Notably, however, Lin’s body was no longer there. Even the wine Tobias spilled had vanished completely from the tiled floor.

“They work so fast,” Lucy muttered.

Lucy turned to the car’s entrance, walking directly in front of it. She placed her hands on either side of the door, prying it open with the help of amplify magic. Strangely, the door wouldn’t budge. Turning up her mana usage yielded a similar result, though there were now noticeable marks digging into the wall where her fingers had pried. What’s this train made out of?

Something so trivial would normally be easy for her, but Lucy hadn’t wanted to leave too much mana behind. The drops she’d left were small enough to store a reasonable amount of mana, but not enough to hold up in a real fight. That’s what made them so hard to detect.

Lucy closed her eyes, allowing her form to return to that of a near-invisible bead of water. She thought for a moment, locating the last of her drops. It was still in the initiation room, resting just where she’d left it.

Lucy returned her focus back to her main body, still resting in bed. Cole hadn’t seemed to make any progress but looked to be intently focused. After checking to ensure there were no changes in the room, Lucy returned her attention to the drop in the initiation room. Closing her eyes, she moved her consciousness to it.

Lucy opened her eyes as the bead-like drop formed into her normal appearance, her long hair falling down against her back. The room… was not empty. The person next to her yelped out as he noticed her at his side, having appeared from seemingly nothing.

Initiation wasn’t over. The groups of people scattered around the room turned their attention to Lucy, giving her mixed expressions. Some looked confused, others afraid, but most looked annoyed and impatient.

“Apologies for the delay.” IQ suddenly said, her loud voice echoing around the small room. “Your first trial will now begin. All initiates are tasked with defeating the adventurer named Lucy. If you manage to do so, you will be immediately sent to the second tier of The Tower. Good luck, adventurers.”

Lucy wasn’t sure if she’d misheard IQ, but there seemed to be a hint of satisfaction in her final words. Sensei did notice them, Lucy realized, stunned by the thorough planning, he’s good… really good.

“Are you her?” The man who’d yelped hesitantly asked.

“I am.” Lucy sighed. “You want to fight me?”

Lucy looked down to see the man shaking his head. Examining his tag revealed him to be a bronze adventurer, far below Lucy’s rank of platinum. However, she hadn’t reproduced her tag as part of her apparel. She was already spread thin enough, making her don only the necessities, including the small bag slung around her hip. The man had been terrified by her sudden appearance, but he appeared to be the only one who’d noticed.

“She’s over here!” A nearby voice yelled.

They’d overheard Lucy revealing herself, but that was her plan to begin with. All that time spent relaxing as she tried to scan The Tower for Kira had made her restless. Lucy hadn’t fought much with one of her weaker drops, so this would be a good test.

The adventurers around her began to swarm, circling around her. Lucy noticed a set of four adventurers waiting in silence as the people encompassing her began to attack. She easily dodged, spinning around to slam her fist against the first attacker’s surprised face. Lucy jumped into the air as the crowd tried to trap her with their numbers, flipping over them.

Amplify magic assisted her in all facets of her movement. Mana snapped from her leg to her arms with lightning speed, allowing her to beat down her pursuing attackers with ease. Most of them were also using amplify magic, but none came close to Felix’s proficiency, let alone her own.

As Lucy punched in another face, she couldn’t help but appreciate the usefulness of the magic. If she only used amplification, none of the mana she used would leave her body. She’d grow tired if the fight lasted too long, but that was something she’d trained for extensively. Maybe I’ll only use amplify magic. That’d be good practice.

Lucy pondered over her prospects and decided to accept the challenge. She easily kicked and punched away at the mass of people that had so hastily confronted her. Even as some tried to retreat, Lucy made sure to throw stolen weapons at them. She had no intention to kill them but she didn’t intend to show mercy, either. If they dared to attack her, returning the favor was a necessary gesture.

A slew of bodies laid before her as Lucy knocked her final attacker unconscious. This particular adventurer didn’t even wield magic against her, instead attacking with raw strength. Apparently, adventurers like this weren’t that uncommon. Because of this, there were even trials that served as a means to teach magic, or so Lucy had heard.

The four adventurers that remained huddled at the edge of the room began to fan out across the wall. Lucy could have avoided all attacks by simply shifting her body, giving off the appearance of phasing through them. However, the four adventurers that were spreading out around her seemed different than the rest.

Lucy’s cautiousness was rewarded as she regarded their ranks: three gold, one platinum. They hadn’t separated from the other groups in opposition to attacking her, but were waiting for her to deal with the fledgling, revealing her magic and tiring in the process.

“What’s your rank, child?” The platinum adventurer asked as the three gold adventurers finished surrounding her, all making sure to maintain their distance.

“Silver.” Lucy lied.

“Ah,” The man replied unenthusiastically, “that’s a pity. I thought you’d be at least gold.”

An idea came to Lucy as she examined the man, reminded of the last time she’d encountered a platinum adventurer. Kira had said something along the lines of…

“I worked hard for my rank,” Lucy replied. “I’m proud of it.”

“Ah, yes, yes. I’m sure your quests are quite exciting.” the man said, waving his hand as he grinned, “And what makes you proud to be ranked silver? That you’re not bronze anymore? I guess hunting rabbits is more fun than finding lost pets.”

The other adventurers around Lucy snickered, save one.

“I’m proud because I earned my rank,” Lucy replied, trying to emulate an overly sarcastic tone, “that’s more than you can say. Tell me, did your parents feed your rank to you, or did you have to ‘hunt some rabbits’ first?”

The room fell silent. It wasn’t uncommon for the wealthy to exploit their status, donating to guilds in order for their children to be given the rank of platinum. Comments pointing this out never bothered Lucy, but it tended to have a different effect on most others of her rank. The man’s face turned bright red at the comment, apparently having a nerve struck.

“You’ll regret taking me lightly, girl.” The man sneered, his previously calm demeanor disappearing entirely. “IQ never said we had to keep you alive.”

The man bolted towards Lucy, chanting a spell as he did.

“Scale Magic: Emperor Armor.”

Surprisingly, he didn’t send the other adventurers to attack her first. As he ran, the man’s spell came into full effect. Emerald scales extended out from his skin, artificial light gleaming off their jagged edges. The man closed the distance between them in mere moments, swiping his now razor-sharp fingers at her side.

Lucy sidestepped the attack, swinging her own arm to hit the man in his temple. Pain flared in Lucy’s hand as she reeled her arm back, only injuring herself off the tough scales. Ducking beneath another swing, Lucy poured amplify magic into her shin, kicking at the man’s leg.

He didn’t seem to be hurt by the attack, but it did knock him off balance, making his fist barely miss Lucy’s face. Jumping back, Lucy heard one of the other adventurers approaching from behind.

“Vine Magic: Bind.”

Lucy turned around to see a flurry of green vines extending out from the women’s hands, attempting to surround her. Lucy ran to her side, but the vines followed in close pursuit. She’d been forced to move towards another adventurer who’d already extended their arms outward, pointed directly at her.

“Fire Ma-“

Lucy’s face darkened as she condensed mana into her legs, stopping to leap forward with lightning speed. Before the man could even finish chanting his spell, Lucy’s bloodied fist slammed against his jaw with a noticeable crack. The man yelled out in surprise, his eyes rolling back as he fell to the ground.

Just before her fist connected, she’d diverted her mana back into her hand, condensing the amplification into her knuckles, holding nothing back. Lucy steadied herself as she landed on the ground, turning to see the vines lagging behind her.

“Scale Magic: Scale Shot.”

Lucy turned to see three scales shooting towards her at frightening speed. While staying ahead of the vines, she was able to dodge the first two, with the third grazing her thigh. Red blood seeped out from the wound.

Running along the curved wall, Lucy continued to evade the vines and scales as she reached the adventurer who hadn’t laughed at the man making fun of her ‘silver’ rank. Oddly, he stepped out of Lucy’s way, allowing her to pass by without any form of resistance. Lucy made a quick scan over him as she passed, but could detect no mana being expelled from his body.

“What’re you doing, Shiv?” The scaled man hissed. “Don’t tell me you’re frightened.”

Shiv didn’t reply, continuing to allow Lucy to run by. The path ahead of Lucy was filled with curving vines, finally having made a full circle around the room. Forced to head back towards the center of the room, Lucy ducked under a volley of scales. She watched the scales glide past her, cutting through the pursuing vines like butter. An interesting idea popped into Lucy’s mind as she saw this, looking around to confirm the origin of the vines.

The scaled man stopped shooting waves of Scale Shot, now running forward to meet Lucy head-on. She collected all her mana into the first joint of her middle finger, swinging to connect with the man’s eye. He adjusted his head to avoid the attack, but Lucy managed to still connect with his chin.

The man’s head spun sharply to the side, making him reel back from the blow. Lucy had condensed her mana to penetrate his thick scales, but not even a dent appeared in the robust scales. Impressive.

Lucy stepped to the side, carefully positioning herself. Turning back to Lucy, the man placed both his hands forward, shooting a hasty barrage of scales toward her. Lucy easily dodged, contorting her body to barely miss the scales.

“Scale-“

“AHHH.”

The man stopped chanting his spell. Just as Lucy had planned, the women wielding the vines collapsed to the floor, multiple scales extruding from her body. The vines Lucy had been dodging masked where the women stood, allowing Lucy to use her enemy's strength against them.

The man flushed with rage. Diverting his eyes from the pool of blood forming beneath his companion, he ferociously attacked Lucy with his sharpened fingers. Lucy backed away from the swipes, attempting to increase the distance between them. The man continued his charge, practically throwing himself at her, leaving himself overtly open for counterattacks.

Eventually, Lucy would become too tired to dodge. She needed a way to pierce through the seemingly impenetrable scales, but not even her most condensed blow dealt any significant damage. Wracking her brain for an idea, only being able to use amplify magic to sense her surroundings suddenly took its toll. Taking another step back, Lucy’s left foot awkwardly twisted in a small pit in the ground, producing a noticeable pop and a sharp pain in her ankle.

Rushing forward as Lucy staggered backwards, the scaled man didn’t let the opportunity slide, thrusting his fist against Lucy’s stomach. The blow sent a shocking wave through her abdomen, connecting with far greater force than she expected. Lucy was knocked back by the blow, tumbling across the ground, blood soaking into her shirt.

Trying to stand, Lucy found herself slowed by her injured ankle. The man approached as she struggled to her feet, grabbing her arm before she could flee.

“You’re quite the troublemaker,” The man said, “but you’re no match for me.”

Lucy ignored the man, continuing to rack her brain for a way to injure him with amplify magic. His eyes weren’t protected, at least when they were open, but she’d already failed to exploit that weakness. There had to be something else she could take advantage of, something similar in nature. Lucy kicked at the man’s groin. He grinned as she reeled back, only hurting herself in the process.

“You really think I didn’t consider that?” The man sneered, tightening his grip, “Do I really sound like such a fool?”

He ‘sounds’ like a real-

An idea formed in Lucy’s mind, another potential weakness she could exploit. Lucy balled her fist as the man punched her across her cheek, leaving a trail of blood where his scales gashed her face. He brought his arm back for another attack, and Lucy did the same. Not bothering to dodge, his armor impenetrable, the man struck her again.

Lucy’s fist, however, passed directly by the man’s cheek. She loosened her fist, dividing her condensed mana in half, spreading it to the tip of her thumb and middle finger. Her finger and thumb now pinched together, brought directly next to the man’s ear, Lucy changed the nature of her amplification. Abruptly snapping, a deafeningly loud sound blasted out from her finger, a product of expelling her entire reserve of mana.

And deafening it was. The man collapsed, overwhelmed with the pain of a ruptured eardrum. He twitched a few times before finally coming to a rest, blood dripping out of his ear. While his defense was formidable, the man was obviously lacking in raw experience.

Lucy turned her gaze to the man called Shiv, wondering if he’d strike while she was so visibly weak. Strangely, he shook his head as if reading her mind. A pacifist in The Tower? Unlikely. Sighing quietly, Lucy fell to the ground. Either way, she was exhausted. Yet, she felt a calming satisfaction even as her wounds flared and her surroundings darkened. That was… pretty fun.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Lucy felt powerful. She grinned as her vision faded to black, the lack of mana finally forcing her back to her main body.

….

....

….

NOTICE! Spell Successfully Copied: Emperor Armor

NOTICE! Spell Successfully Copied: Scale Shot