Awakener's Guide to Climbing the Tower

Misha planted one hand on her hip. "You always know what to say."

[Truth has no obligation to comfort you nya.]

She nearly answered, then caught on the wording he had used earlier. "No publicly confirmed class.inactive"

Her attention sharpened beneath the white mask. "What happened to my Basement Floor records?"

King’s ears shifted. [They were shielded nya.]

"Shielded... by whom?"

King looked away with studied indifference. He did not appear guilty. Guilt required believing one had done something wrong. But this cat? He would first have to believe himself capable of wrongdoing. His silence carried the smugness of someone withholding information because he enjoyed watching her work for it.

"King."

[Master delayed the creation of your public Observation Profile nya.]

She blinked. "Caleb did what?"

King glanced at her. [Must I repeat every simple statement until it fits inside your skull nya?]

"..." Her brow twitched.

’Calm down, Misha. Assaulting the cat will solve nothing... no matter how satisfying it might be.’

"Why would he delay it?"

He faced her fully, his gaze traveled over her from head to toe in an assessment so insulting she almost checked whether her clothes had somehow rearranged themselves.

[Master deemed your initial condition unsuitable for presentation nya.]

She became very still. "Unsuitable...?"

[Weak. Confused. Poorly equipped. Frequently injured through decisions no rational observer would defend nya.]

"In other words, he hid me because I was embarrassing."

[He protected you because you were unprepared nya.]

"You meant embarrassing."

King’s expression hardened with royal displeasure. [Master refused to display his sister before observers while she stumbled through the lower floors conducting herself without dignity nya.]

Misha slowly raised a finger. "He absolutely hid me because I was weak and embarrassing."

[He possesses standards nya.]

The image formed too easily.

Caleb seated behind some enormous control panel, blocking her early footage while she wandered through the Basement Floor half-informed and furious. Every clumsy fight hidden. Refusing to let anyone monitor her until she gained levels, proper equipment, and enough experience to stop looking like someone who had been dropped into the wrong story.

Then, once he decided she had enough levels, decent equipment, and a slightly lower chance of dying in a humiliating manner, he would unveil her with all the restraint of an overexcited younger brother dragging his friends into a room to show off something he had been hiding.

"That’s my sister."

"Watch her clear every floor with her amazing skills."

No doubt he would say it as though her accomplishments belonged partly to him for having arranged the lighting.

Misha pressed two fingers against the front of her mask. "That idiot."

King lifted his chin. [Master exercised impeccable judgement nya.]

"No. He censored my beginner phase from the universe."

[He curated your introduction nya.]

"Do not call it that."

[Your debut, then nya.]

Her hand dropped. "I will throw you into this white nothing."

[You would first need to catch me nya.]

She glanced around. The endless room offered no wall to throw him against and no visible edge to throw him over.

’Annoying little tyrant.’

Another memory surfaced before she could think of a sufficiently creative threat.

Yara walking across the early floors with her gentle smile and polished manners, explaining Tower history and rules as if she were doing Misha a kindness. Gerbaut and the others had shown no surprise, which meant the system was common knowledge among people raised inside the Tower.

"I was told Rankers monitored the first ten floors."

King’s expression soured, as though Yara’s explanation had offended him through insufficient precision.

[They do nya.]

"So she was telling the truth."

[In that instance, yes nya.]

The qualification was deliberate. Yara had told the truth because the truth served her at the time. That did not make her honest.

Misha rubbed one thumb against the side of the mask. "Then Ranker monitoring and this Observation Profile are different."

King’s eyes narrowed with faint approval. [At last, a thought with a spine nya.]

"Try answering without celebrating yourself."

[Ranker monitoring is an internal function they made nya. Guild scouts certified Rankers, some has settlement authorities, and emergency teams receive limited access to the first ten floors.]

"They watch beginners for recruitment?"

[Some do. Others investigate abnormalities, track exceptional growth, or respond when an event crosses an emergency threshold nya. They do not observe Raider continuously. The Tower issues alerts for mass-casualty events, abnormal monster appearances, illegal high Ranker interference, and similar disruptions.]

Misha tilted her head. "So certain Rankers monitor from inside, Outer Beings watch from outside, and Caleb kept my records off both systems."

[Not entirely nya.]

"What does ’not entirely’ mean?"

[Master concealed your personal profile nya. He did not erase the existence of every floor you entered or every individual who crossed your path.]

That covered one problem immediately. If Caleb had hidden entire parties, battles, and floors merely because Misha happened to be nearby, the holes left in the Tower’s records would have attracted more attention than she ever could imagine.

King continued, his tone edged with impatience. [Events still occurred. Monsters deaths were recorded. Quests advanced, and other Raiders retained their own contribution records. Master merely prevented indexing you as the cause of unusual results nya.]

Misha pictured a report with her name carved out of it. "So when I did something noticeable, the system treated me like background noise."

[When possible nya. Your appearance could remain visible in local records, but your identity, class, recruitment origin, and irregular system permissions were obscured.]

"And everyone around me?"

[Their records remained intact unless exposure would have revealed restricted information about you nya.]

That made more sense than Caleb turning entire groups invisible. Astrid’s achievements were still Astrid’s. Hiiro’s contribution remained his. Skyreach could maintain its own mission reports. What Caleb had hidden was the thread connecting those events to Misha Apocalypse.

She folded her arms. "Caleb made me an unlisted account."

King stared blankly.

"A private creator profile," she clarified. "People could see other things happening in the same place, but searching for me gave them nothing."

[Your habit of reducing systems beyond mortal comprehension to cheap entertainment remains diseased nya.]

"It works."

[It demeans the subject.]

"It makes the subject understandable for me."

King turned away with a quiet sound of disgust.

Misha considered that confirmation.

"Anyway, if Rankers still received emergency alerts, why didn’t high-grade Rankers intervene when everything collapsed? Genesis was attacked. Thousands of people could have died."

King’s tails slowed. [Those were not equivalent incidents nya.]

"Meaning?"

[Rankers already stationed within the protected city have already responded. Outside intervention remained limited especially with the restriction of Teleportation Rune nya. Ordinary intervention routes were sealed.]

"So Caleb didn’t suppress the warning."

[No. Master was already occupied with a lot of things nya. He could conceal your records, he could redirect observation, he could preserve one exit, but he could not overrule every restored system while another Administrator actively opposed him.]

Misha looked away. That distinction mattered. Caleb had hidden her because he was protective, controlling, and apparently ashamed of her early performance. But the lack of outside rescue during the siege had not been caused by his vanity.

She sighed heavily. "So these Outer Beings are more like viewers waiting for individual Raiders to become interesting."

[Observers nya.]

"Viewers with money."

[Sponsors possess resources beyond your primitive concept of wealth nya.]

"So wealthy viewers, then."

King’s tails snapped behind him. [Your determination to drag a cosmic institution through the gutter is remarkable nya.]

"I’m not dragging it anywhere. I’m giving it a user interface."

[It requires no such indignity nya.]

"It does if you expect me to remember all of this."

Misha began walking again. The room still provided no direction, but standing still with all of this newfound information made her restless.

"So once my profile becomes active, what can they actually see?"

King floated beside her, refusing to trail behind. [Not every breath you take, if that is the concern squirming through your painfully predictable mind nya.]

"It wasn’t."

It had been.

King’s eyes rested on her mask. [Observation is event-based nya. Active trials, designated combat zones, sponsored quests, and public ranking competitions.]

Misha counted those silently. "That sounds like every place where something terrible happens."

[It does not nya.]

"It sounds like every place I end up."

[You continue mistaking your destructive habits for universal law nya.]

She let that pass. "What about settlements?"

[Ordinary residential areas are not automatically broadcast nya. They remain low-priority unless they host an authorized event.]

"How about private rooms?"

[Excluded under ordinary conditions nya.]

"Bathing areas?"

King looked personally offended by the question. [Excluded nya.]

"Good."

[Unless you somehow trigger a classified trial while bathing nya.]

Misha paused. "Has that happened?"

King looked away.

"That was a suspicious pause."

[Mortals possess an inexhaustible talent for creating catastrophe in places designated for peace nya.]

She decided she did not want the story. Not yet, anyway.

"Can Raiders tell when they’re being watched?"

[Ordinarily, no nya.]

"But you’re telling me."

[You are not undergoing ordinary registration nya. Your profile requires manual completion, and because I have chosen to explain the privilege you are receiving.]

"Privilege..."

[Ignorance does not make observation cease. It merely makes the observed easier to manipulate nya.]

That sounded less like arrogance and more like warning. She decided to store the shift away and instead, said, "So most Raiders don’t know they have followers."

King’s face tightened at the word, but he no longer bothered correcting it.

[They may learn through sponsorship offers, direct messages, unusual blessings, or contact with higher-floor institutions. Most beginners know only that certain achievements attract attention nya.]

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!