John never likes returning home.

  Through those same blackened and burned walls of the living room, through the broken faucet in the kitchen, the creaking rotten flooring in the hall, and the skeleton of his parents sitting in the living room. Hand in hand, they stare at a most ugly corner of the room.

  The corner in itself isn’t bad, but he no longer likes it.

  “I’m home,” He says as he dusts his shoes at the entrance and heads directly to his room.

  His room is a small one. Walls barely containing his bed, a desk and a chair to sit on. There is just a single window by his bed which looks directly at the Tower.

  How many hours has he spent looking at it? Hours when the loneliness and the exhaustion got too much, and when the fantasies and the stories of the Tower were the only thing he had to keep moving forward?

  And then today, he has finally gone inside, and…

  It is so much better than every story!!

  John brings out his journal, a new thing he bought especially to note everything about the Tower as he continues to climb it.

  John sits on his desk and begins noting everything about the Tower that he witnessed today, his impressions of the things, and everything interesting. He had even kept the conversations to a low so that he can remember more and more of the details, and it is all worth it.

  After that is done, he gets up, stretches, and goes into the kitchen. There are only a few ingredients left in the house, and he intends to finish them all today. I wonder if I can live without food now?

  With a wave of his hand, a small fire blazes on the stove. Such a convenience.

  After dinner, he goes back to his room and finishes the last of his packing. He doesn’t take many books, but only a few that he has found interesting over the years, some that he intends to finish, and finally his journal. He also packs some clothes, some conveniences that he would surely miss in the Tower, and then with his two bags filled to the brim, he leaves.

  “Goodbye.” Are his last words to the house he has grown up through these years. Never once does he enter the living room.

  #

  Ji-a swings across a tree, deftly landing on the next one. She always misses this feeling of, even though small, but not inconsequential power flowing through your veins after an awakening.

  The Sacrifices this time are pretty neat too, and she can gauge how much her Tree-Jumping has been enhanced through her ability.

  Small, but not inconsequential.

  Next she stands up on the branch and looks down. There is around a 100ft to the bottom, and she’ll probably break her neck should she fall straight down. She doesn’t even have a healer on hand to save her, and so lost in the woods, no one will probably stumble upon her either for a very long time.

  Then she jumps down.

  The wind rushes past her face and through her light tank top, the trees streaking like running water, and as the ground comes closer and closer, the will to just not do anything grows more and more greater.

  Just as she is about to reach the ground though, something yanks at her in a way that is neither too sudden nor too slow. She lands gently on the floor, and feels the regret at the action gnawing at her.

  The stronghold should be nearby.

  A few moments of mental mapping later, she starts running again, pushing her body through the drills to free her movements more than any advancement in Kinesthetics could bring. It’s just stats after all, what’s the point of them if you don’t even know how to use them properly.

  As the first tree-house comes into view, she knows she’s nearby.

  Let’s hope he comes quickly, or I’ll die of boredom here.

  She need not be worried though, because as she enters the stronghold, her instincts scream at her that things aren’t as simple as she imagined them to be here.

  I suppose he can take his time. Ji-a smiles, and goes to find a tavern to drink and eavesdrop on whatever small piece of information she can find.

  Small, but not inconsequential.

  #

  Adrian opens his eyes as the sun dips below the horizon, standing on the platform he really hates. Around him, those who pass also slowly open their eyes, while he could also see some already making their way through the bridge to the other side. To the cheers and hollers.

  Adrian looks back, and the Tower stands there. Should I make a run for it?

  He does not in fact do something that foolish, especially when he has no practice with his abilities. Despite how much he does not want to go to his clan who is praising the first attendees to cross the bridge.

  Behind him, someone stirs, and a mental tug tells him who before the person can even open their mouth.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Mat,” Adrian says as he turns.

  “Ad. You must’ve gotten a nice Mind bonus if you can sense me like that already. It suits you,” He says grinning, as they make their way through the bridge.

  Adrian takes a moment to mentally feel the differences in his body after the awakening.

  The first thing he notices is the lack of any wounds. The Tower heals everyone who passes before pushing them out. He had heard of it, but having been through it now, is a much more novel experience.

  His body feels… nice. It may or may not be the single point in Body but he can already feel a very ephemeral but real strength flowing beneath his body.

  Resistance does not give him anything at all. Well can’t expect anything from a zero. I have to put some free points into it.

  Kinesthetics is easier to feel. His steps feel better, more firm on the ground, and there is a dam of overconfidence flowing within him, telling him that he can totally do some crazy parkour tricks if he wishes to right now.

  It’s a fake, and he knows it.

  He needs practice, to get used to his body and actually achieve those feats.

  Mind brings much needed clarity in his mind. It is like a still void now, able to stir up and take as much information as he feeds it. A very blurry but certain area around him has also become visible in his mind. It is fun.

  The hardest to feel any change at all is Mystic. They say it can increase your connection with the Spirit Realm, but right now he can’t feel anything at all.

  I’d need more points.

  “What's it looking like?” Mat asks all of a sudden.

  “What?” Adrian asks.

  “The changes? Most of my points went into Body and Resistance with some in Kinesthetics and a single one in Mind. I can feel my body grow so strong and tough. It’s amazing what Awakening brings, truly wonderful. Bless the Tower,” Mat joins his hands together and says. Adrian follows him just for show.

  “So you don’t have any Mana Points huh. You think you are gonna open that stat sometime later using Free Points?” Ad asks.

  “Maybe. I don’t think it’ll be as much useful in the earlier floors, but I’ll probably need some mana to push my abilities further. I’ll have to ask some seniors about it. What about you, you got any blocked stat?”

  “Just Resistance.”

  “Ad,” Matthew says, his voice grave and more serious than earlier, “You should not have done that. Do you not know how many climbers lose their lives because they go back on investing in Resistance? Too many to count.”

  “I didn’t wanna do it either. Things just happened.” Adrian shrugs.

  “You took the Special Tests, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “How many?”

  “Three.”

  “Three! Even I took two! Why would you do that?” Mat almost yells. Adrian can feel gazes around him gather on them, and he can hear their own gossip about his Special Test count. Some are surprised, some are indifferent, and some are actually impressed.

  Mind is a good stat.

  “I thought I could do it, and so I did. I passed, and lived. That’s all that matters, right?” Adrian asks, staring right at Matthew, and not giving in under his intense gaze.

  Eventually, Matthew sighs and looks away.

  “Nevermind. I guess you did a lot better than I expected you to. I just don’t understand why you would take such needless risks. Anyway, let’s not think about that anymore, tonight we party!”

  Mat says that and dives into the horde of people who are there to welcome them. Adrian wishes to slip away, but climbers with much higher strength and perception easily stop him and drag him around to the tents they have erected.

  There is a tradition in his clan, that family members, unless climbers themselves, can’t meet the new adventurers. The senior climbers take them away to party and to get to know each other, and only then they would be released back to their family on the next day.

  Adrian stumbles through the throng of people, in a tent so high on energy, drugs, and alcohol, that just staying there light-headed him. Partying with people with a very high Resistance is never a good idea.

  Somewhere in the tent, he can sense a few new climbers, including Matthew doing a drinking challenge with a veteran, showing off their Resistance stat already.

  Adrian tries to escape and get out of the tent and go somewhere else. Anywhere else, but everytime he gets close, some dude or woman comes up, hooks him with their superior strength, and takes him away with their pointless stories.

  In a few hours, he is drugged and high on so much of something that nothing and everything feels the same. In between he thought he felt himself be split into two, and was sure that he was hallucinating.

  Judging by the gasps, the oohs and aahs around him though, it might not be all of it.

  Before he knows it, he’s already lying in a corner of the room, prepared especially for unconscious climbers, piled on top of each other.

  Come the next morning, Adrian wakes up feeling all kinds of bruises and a hangover worse than anything ever. He moves aside the boy who is sleeping on him, feeling the disgusting smell more than ever.

  Mind is the worst.

  Outside, the sun is already overhead, perhaps on its way to dip down already. Adrian doesn’t know. He’s still stuck feeling all the worse of this world. His limbs feel noodley, as if they would die at the smallest of touch.

  Beside him some more people stir awake, but their condition feels much better than his own.

  Hesitantly, Adrian eyes his free point and his zero in Resistance. Eventually he decides that making such a decision while hungover is not smart. At all.

  Outside the tent, a few guards are stationed who give him a sneering smile before pointing towards carriages that wait for more hungover climbers to wake up before leaving for their home.

  Adrian nods a thank you, then climbs onto a carriage that is headed towards his locality. He finds a window seat, and waits for the carriage to fill, before it trots towards his home.

  The flowing wind at his face makes it better. His eyes open up a little more than earlier when he walked around squinting,

  How long was I out?

  Mana flows in his body at that question, and a vague answer appears. ‘Less than a day.’

  That… is so vague. I need to increase my Mystic.

  That was obviously the work of his Timer skill at play.

  Home becomes another hailstorm of questions, concerns, and so much more about his etiquette in the party last night. His mother gives him a drink about a hangover, something, and despite the sourness of it, he doesn’t feel much else after drinking it.

  He quickly locks himself in his room, jumps on his bed, and falls asleep again.

  #