The text of my Innate Trait turned red, but I could still read it. I wished I had Mewi there to confirm the effect for me, but well, the item description for the Obscurer said what they said it would, so it should be fine, right?

After the appetizers, I showed my hand to Edwin. Once he saw my class, he and a couple of the others looked something up on some electronic devices for a while. In the meantime, the salad course arrived. He only spoke again after it was finished. “Psionic Pyromancer—very interesting, young man. It may be a Bronze class, but it’s one of the highest end among that category. It’s very close to the quality of a Silver class without actually being one—some who study such things refer to this sort of class as a ‘pseudo-Silver.’ And it’s a class dedicated for high attack power as well. I believe this makes him an excellent fit, wouldn’t you all say?”

“Indeed, they’re currently lacking in pure damage dealing somewhat. This is certainly good fortune.”

“Then, allow me to continue,” said Edwin, “in preparing for the conflict to come, cultivating elite combatants like yourself has taken on a greater importance than ever. There is a world of difference between a challenger capable of clearing Extreme on the first four floors, and a team of them capable of doing the same on further floors, just as there is a world of difference between a challenger who has cleared an Extreme floor and one who has not.

Among the quadrillions of challengers in Area 1, those who have cleared at least one floor on Extreme number at least in the several thousand. But actual teams, balanced teams capable of surmounting such challenge on further floors, number less than twenty. There’s barely more than 100 people known to be so capable in the entire Area. I believe you have the potential to join that number, if properly supported and cultivated. And there’s one particular team that we, that is to say, this alliance of factions that support the Federation, have been struggling to fully form in recent months.”

“It was my idea originally,” said Clatenis, “the Federation employs a certain number of elite combatant teams under the Department of Special Incident Resolutions, a department that officially doesn’t exist, of course. However, they are still subject to Federation oversight to a degree, and so are relatively slow to mobilize. They also tend to operate outside of the public eye.

What we have in mind is an elite team, a team who represents our alliance, the alliance of factions who do not hold official position within the Federation government, to operate publicly. The team will be a symbol of unity between the Federation’s citizens and its government, and a statement that there are those willing to fight the ones who seek to subvert law and order in the Area, not only among the Federation’s soldiers.”

I chewed on that for a while. “Well, it sounds like you want to turn me into a bona-fide superhero. And I’ll be honest, I’m not terribly in favor of that. I might have acted a little full of myself at the Pantheon, dictating terms, but only because I believed and believe those terms to be extremely necessary.

What I do not want to do is make powerful enemies. Hugging the thigh of a powerful faction that’s pro-Federation is extremely different from what you’re proposing, in that regard. In the former case, the anti-federation factions will be my enemies nominally, but I can avoid attracting a great deal of their attention. In the latter, I’m certain they will want to dispense with me in particular. But it’s not placing myself in danger that I’m worried about—it's Mewi, Mewiabu, the person I mentioned in my first condition.

He didn’t gain the benefits from the Tutorial I did, he’s not as strong as me, he only has a White grade class...but much more important than any of that, he’s a genuinely good person. The kind of good person that you could hardly find in my former, relatively peaceful world, let alone this—this hellaciously violent Tower place.

I will blacken my own soul as much as it takes to ensure he holds on to that goodness. And if your machinations for us compromise that, if he’s broken by the Tower because of that, or if he comes to harm because of it...I will not be forgiving.”

Evidently it was their turn to process, through the soup course. Finally, Edwin spoke again. “If you want us to protect him, we can work something out, of course. But...you’ve been through the first floor, you know what it’s like. That is far from the last time the Tower requires actions steeped in violence against sapient beings from its challengers. Refusing to clear floors at all, as I’m sure you’re aware, is absolutely not an option. Yes, the one year deadline can be forestalled with merits, but not truly indefinitely. If clearing the early floors ‘breaks’ him, as you say, that cannot be our responsibility.”

While they were thinking, though, I’d had an idea. “I was speaking more of things like, assassins that would capture or kill him to get to me. If you’re willing to protect him in Area 1, it’s a start. But it’s not enough for me to definitely say yes to this initiative. If you want my buy-in on this, I need assurance that with your guidance, Mewi will be able to get the strength he needs to protect himself. And I’m not convinced that will happen given that he only has a White grade class. What I propose is...this.”

I showed them the Class Evolver bead. As I thought, from their expressions, Edwin and Clatenis, as well as a few others, recognized it, though more at the table did not than those who did. “For the cause of protecting Mewi, for keeping us both alive, I can’t neglect my own strength either. This one is going to be used by Mewi either way. If you get me another one of these, I’ll guarantee my participation in this team. Otherwise, I’ll have to discuss it with him. That’ll probably be a while, and I might not end up agreeing to this at all.”

Clatenis gave me a serious look. “How much do you actually know about the Class Evolver, Lheticus?”

“Well, I got it in the Tutorial, it evolves classes as long as its holder charges it up enough by getting good ratings on missions of High difficulty or above.”

“That’s all...there are several problems with your proposal that you weren’t aware of. That item is one of the rarest in the entire Area. It can only drop as a reward in the Tutorial, only on a difficulty level of High or greater, and as far as we know, it never appears as a reward for a new challenger who was born in the Tower, only for a newly summoned. And even then, it’s an extremely low chance.

Now, Shumba has, over a very long time, acquired three such items. For the cause of you joining our ‘superhero’ team, as you put it, I admit it’s possible to persuade me to give you one, but there’s another problem.”

“To take one Class Evolver into a Floor, the Tower doesn’t even charge for it. But it absolutely disallows two of them being taken to a Floor by the same person. And once the bead is activated, once it makes any progress toward upgrading the grade of Class it evolves the user into, only that challenger can continue to evolve it.

It’s true that that same challenger doesn’t have to be the one to use it. You can still give it to Mewiabu, as you wish. And I’m sure my esteemed colleague’s Grosstin Guild will do its utmost to help him reach his potential otherwise.

I’m sure you grasp what I’m getting at, though. If you want both him and you to evolve your classes, it’s Mewiabu who will need to carry the one I give you. I’m willing to put one of Shumba’s three Class Evolver beads on the negotiating table—but only if you guarantee, right here and now, that you’ll agree to join the alliance team and train your utmost to reach the standard required for it.

Then, if Mewi in turn agrees to carry it, I’ll give it to him. From there, whether or not he’ll be able to advance it and make it usable will be up to him. But if he does not agree, I keep the bead and you still join the alliance team.”

Edwin slammed the table. “Your mind games are going too far this time, Clatenis! Those beads have been sitting in Shumba’s stores for who knows how long. He wants to put one to use for us, where’s the harm in that?”

“I’m not as convinced of Lheticus’ potential as you are, Edwin. Frankly, I think you’re viewing things with a rose tint because he picked your faction over mine. There is still risk in this venture.”

Edwin sputtered, but I held up my hand. “You’ve put me in a dilemma and no mistake. But I have my reasons for needing my greed for advantages, for powerups, for anything that will help me get stronger, to be absolute. You’re right, there’s risk in this venture. But I already believed in Mewi from the start, and I’m starting to believe in myself, too. If I’m betting on the two of us, I will win.”

I extended my hand. “Game on, Clatenis.”