Chapter Seventeen: The Reckoning
The chamber was silent save for the frantic, choked sobs of Park Hyejin. The Librarian Wraith, a C-rank monster of terrifying power, was gone. Minwoo, the boy who had just saved her, lay motionless on the cold stone floor, his chest rising and falling in shallow, ragged breaths. His MP bar was a hollow void, and his body had gone limp the moment the strike had landed.
Hyejin, her hands trembling, knelt beside him. She placed her hands on his chest, and the faint green light of her 'Seed of Life' skill pulsed weakly. He wasn't dead, but he was gone, a ghost in his own body. He had used some terrible power, a cold, dark force that had saved them but had also shattered him in the process.
[Health Restored: 20 HP]
[MP Cost: 5]
Her skill was working, but it was slow. She was terrified. The countdown was still ticking, and she was alone with an unconscious boy and a massive, glowing chest in the middle of a haunted library. The world was about to change again, and she was in no position to face it.
Then, a new message appeared in her vision. It wasn't for her, but for him.
[System Alert: The Nameless One has completed all tutorial objectives.]
[The first phase of the Tower has begun.]
[System is now calculating rewards for all tutorial participants.]
[Warning: All Gates will now close. Leaving a Gate may result in a severe penalty.]
The messages were a cruel joke. He was unconscious, and she was trapped. She looked at the chest, a massive, glowing beacon of hope, but she couldn't open it. The system had said it was for him. It was a reward for his efforts, not hers.
She was alone. No, she wasn't. She looked at her hands, at the green light pulsing from them, at her new pendant, and at the Wooden Staff she had chosen. She was a healer, and he was her patient. The system had made them a party. She had to save him.
With a new, fierce determination, she began to heal him again and again, pouring every last bit of her mana into his body. She didn't care about the countdown. She didn't care about the rewards. She just wanted him to wake up.
[Skill Proficiency: Seed of Life (F): 75/100]
The proficiency bar on her skill was slowly rising. She was getting better. She was getting stronger. And she was using that strength to save the boy who had saved her.
The minutes ticked by. She healed him, and her mana would slowly regenerate from her pendant, and she would heal him again. She had no idea what was happening outside the Gate, or what the first phase of the Tower meant. She just knew that she had a job to do.
Finally, with only five minutes left on the clock, a new system message, this one for both of them, appeared.
[System Alert: The Tower of Beginnings has activated.]
[Phase 1: Survival of the Fittest has begun.]
[Objective: Survive until the Gate's collapse.]
[Time Remaining: 00:05:00]
The Gate was closing. She had to get him out. She had to get him to safety. But she couldn't. He was still unconscious. She felt a wave of despair, a cold, crushing weight that threatened to consume her.
Then, a quiet, reassuring thought. A new option. A hidden mechanic.
[Party Member: Kim Minwoo (Unconscious)]
[Do you wish to use 'Party Warp'?]
[Party Warp: A special ability that allows a party to exit a Gate together. Requires a conscious party leader.]
"No," she whispered. The system was a cruel, unforgiving thing. He was the leader, and he was unconscious. She couldn't get them out.
She had to do something. She had to be the leader. She had to be the one who made the decisions. She had to be strong.
With a final, desperate burst of energy, she healed him one last time. Her mana was completely gone, and her body was screaming in protest. But it was enough.
Minwoo's eyes fluttered open. He was groggy and disoriented, his body a raw, throbbing ache. He looked at Hyejin, and for a moment, he didn't see a terrified girl, but a resolute warrior.
"We... we won," he mumbled.
"We have to go," she said, her voice strained. "The Gate is collapsing."
He nodded, his mind a slow, churning sea of fog. He saw the chest, the looming reality of the final reward, and the countdown ticking away. With a single, conscious thought, he activated the Party Warp skill, and with a shimmering flash of light, they were gone.