Awakener's Guide to Climbing the Tower

Misha blinked a few times in confusion. "But didn’t you tell me back then that Awakening was a reward? That I had to choose my own Awakening skill?"

King’s expression did not change. [Why do you think your cards were blank nya?]

Misha stared at him then she tilted her head slowly. "So I wouldn’t know what abilities I was choosing?"

[You’re the only one who were given blank cards nya.]

Misha went still. She was the only one? Only her?

She remembered the cards floating in front of her. They were all blank and identical.

King lifted his chin slightly. His Master had given him permission to explain this much, and he wore that permission with the quiet pride of someone finally allowed to reveal how clever his side had been.

[The First Generation received cards with illustrations and symbols nya. They chose according to their interpretation.] He raised one paw as though presenting examples before a court. [A sword engulfed in flame might become a fire-based combat skill. A hand holding broken chains might become a control-related skill nyauh.]

"So the image did not guarantee the exact Skill."

[Correct. The Tower offered possibility, the humans supplied meaning nya.]

Misha’s gaze lowered toward the blanket across her knees. "And mine showed nothing on those cards..."

[Because the result had already been fixed nya. There was nothing left for you to interpret.]

A cold irritation crept up her spine. "So no matter which card I picked..."

King’s golden eyes gleamed. [You would have awakened the Soulbinder class with the Soul Inventory skill nya.]

For several seconds, Misha said nothing.

All that time, Caleb had given her the illusion of choice because the Tower required her to select a card.

But every card had led to the same result. She could have closed her eyes, spun around, and slapped one at random, it would still be the same. The destination had already been decided before she ever raised her hand.

"That’s cheating."

[Obviously nyauh.] King’s mouth curved into what was unmistakably a smug little smile.

Misha narrowed her eyes. "You sound proud of that."

[I am proud of Master’s competence nya.] He sat straigher, which was impressive considering he was already carrying himself like royalty on a stolen pillow. [The Tower demanded that you make a choice. Master allowed you to do so without risking an unsuitable result nya.]

"He did not let me choose anything."

[He allowed you to choose the card.]

"They were all the same!"

[Then you could hardly choose badly nya.] King looked deeply satisfied with that conclusion.

Misha stared at him, half-annoyed and half-stunned.

Caleb had always been like this. Even as children, he had considered it perfectly reasonable to rearrange the entire situation so that she would arrive at the answer he wanted while still believing the decision had been hers.

Back then, it had been harmless things. Which movie they watched, where they ate, who got blamed when something broke. Now he had apparently used the same habit on her Awakening.

King went on, [Your Soul Inventory is not a naturally generated skill nya. It is a custom system built by Master’s authority.]

The words custom system made something inside her recoil. Caleb had not simply selected an existing ability from some hidden list. He had made one. For her.

Did he look at every possible class the Tower could have offered and rejected all of them to the point he had to construct something that did not exist before she arrived?

The thought should have felt comforting. Instead, it made her skin prickle because building something for her meant he had planned for her, prepared for her, and expected her long before she ever understood what was happening.

"Why souls?"

King’s ears shifted. [Because Master knew you would not survive through personal strength alone nya. Master knew your greatest weakness was also the only strength you would never recognize.]

Misha tilted her head. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

[You carry people. You remember them, you make room for them even when doing so hurts you, you refuse to treat people as disposable nya.]

A hollow ache pressed against her chest.

"That isn’t true."

King’s eyes shifted back to her.

"When the bat monsters came out of the Tower, I hid." Her voice lowered. "People were dying around me, and I left them there. I put myself first."

The memory rose too easily. Screams, the violent beating of wings, and her own hands clamped over her ears. She had hidden while other people died.

[You survived nya.]

"I ran."

[Yes.]

The blunt agreement stung than denial would have.

Misha’s jaw tightened as she closed her eyes, but that only made the memory sharper.

[And you still remember them.] King’s tail moved once over the pillow. [Self-preservation does not make you heartless, it makes you alive nya.]

His voice remained calm, almost annoyingly so. [You believe carrying people means dying beside them. It does not. Sometimes it means surviving long enough to remember that they existed nya.]

Misha looked away, her throat tightened. She hated how easily the words found the places she had been trying not to examine. She had always judged herself for hiding, for living when others had not.

Caleb, apparently, had looked at the same flaw and seen the foundation of a class.

The idea sat badly inside her.

[Master built your skill around that tendency,] King continued. [A storage system would have been simpler nya. A summoning ability would have offered more immediate power. Instead, he created chambers that preserve identity, memory and choice. He influenced your Soulbinder class.]

"Influenced?" Her gaze returned to him. "What do you mean by influenced?"

King raised one paw and turned it over as if balancing an invisible piece of the System.

[Master could shape your starting build, but he could not rewrite every law beneath it. Think of him as an Administrator altering the character-creation menu rather than a player controlling the character.]

Misha slowly nodded in understanding. That made more sense.

Caleb had prepared her loadout before she entered. He had selected the passives he thought would help her, he built a class skill around the kind of person he believed she was. Then he had sent her onto the field and lost the ability to control what she did with any of it.

A very Caleb thing to do.

[Once you entered the Tower, your decisions became your own. Master cannot force you to move, fight, speak, and throw yourself into danger with astonishingly little regard for my peace of mind nya.]

"So he isn’t literally playing me."

[No. If he were, you would behave with far greater dignity nyauh.]

Misha reached for the pillow behind her but King immediately continued before she could throw it.

[However, he still has limited access to your interferance nya.]

Her hand stopped. "What kind of access?"

[You may recognize those interventions as hidden effects, emergency permissions, overwritten restrictions, and system errors that should not have been possible nya.]

Misha slowly lowered her head. She could almost imagine him somewhere beyond the floors, pressing buttons whenever she was about to die.

Caleb was quietly cheating on her behalf.

The realization stirred several emotions at once. Relief, annoyance, gratitude she did not want to admit to, and the creeping fear that one day, he might not be there to press anything.

King settled back onto his haunches. [Master’s perception operates through the administrative layer nya. He can see compatible soul signatures before your skill detects them.]

"Why can’t I?"

[Because your Soul Perception remains underdeveloped. Think of it as a limited-time event appearing beyond your view nya. Your character cannot see it yet, but the Administrator can.]

"That sounds awful when you describe someone’s death like a game event." She furrowed her brows yet once again.

[Death rarely improves through better wording nya.]

"You could at least try."

[I could also lie. You’ll complain when I do that as well nya.]

Misha had no answers to that.

King folded his front paws beneath his chest before he continued, [Some souls are incompatible, some are too damaged to preserve and others possess no desire to remain nya. As for the rest, the Tower reclaims them.]

"Reclaims them?" Her skin prickled.

[Processes them nya.]

The word made her stomach turn. "Processes them into what?"

[Not relevant.]

"Does that mean you don’t want to answer?"

[It means I have decided you do not require the answer yet nya.] His tone carried the effortless authority of a king issuing judgement from a velvet cushion.

Misha glared at him but King remained unbothered.

[You have already witnessed Master’s interference nya. He can intercept a soul by using his administrative authority and send it an invitation to one of your chambers.]

Misha frowned. "So he doesn’t just shove them into my inventory?"

King looked deeply offended. [Master violates law. He does not usually violate consent nya.]

"Usually?"

[Do not become distracted nya.]

"That word was distracting."

King ignored her. [Your contract is still a contract nya. A soul cannot remain permanently bound if it completely rejects the chamber.]

"So they agreed?"

[They accepted refuge nya.]

That was not quite the answer she wanted but it was enough to loosen something in her chest. "At least they were given a choice."

They had not been stolen and trapped inside her skill because Caleb decided they might be useful.

King lowered his head and began licking one paw again.

She watched him for a moment then asked, "How many souls could he have saved during the siege?"

His tongue stopped against his fur. [Not as many as you imagine nya.]

"Why?"

He lowered his paw. [Because an Administrator interfering with a soul is not the same as collecting an item from the ground nyauh. Every soul he pulls away from the Tower leaves a disturbance. Too many disturbances would reveal your Soul Inventory and Master’s position to forces already searching for him.]

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