The wide staircase leading up from Floor 1 glowed with a faint, soft white light.
No one spoke a single word as we climbed. The silence was heavy and suffocating. Out of the one thousand normal people who had been forced into the Tower just a few hours ago, exactly forty percent had survived. Sixty percent were already gone, their bodies left behind in the bloody starting chamber.
It was exactly the same survival rate as my first life.
But the silence felt much heavier this time around. Because in my first life, I was too busy crying to look at anyone. Now, as I walked up the glowing stairs, I looked at the survivors around me. I remembered their faces. I remembered exactly which floors they would die on later.
We finally reached the top of the long staircase. The white light flared, completely swallowing our vision once again.
When the blinding light faded, the cold stone walls of the Tower were gone.
We were standing right in the middle of a massive, ruined city. Broken skyscrapers leaned against each other like tired giants. The asphalt roads were totally collapsed, forming deep craters. A few broken streetlights flickered weakly in the gloom.
I looked up. The sky above us was not a normal blue or a night black. It was a sick, dark purple. A cold wind blew through the empty streets, carrying thick grey dust that stung my eyes.
Suddenly, a massive black screen materialized in the purple sky above our heads.
[ FLOOR 2 — Ruined Outskirts ]
[ Objective: Reach the Central Gate ]
[ Time Limit: 6 Hours ]
[ Warning: Monsters roam freely in this zone. ]
I took a deep breath of the dusty air. Floor 1 was all about surviving mindless waves of monsters in a closed room. But Floor 2 was entirely different.
Floor 2 was a test of spatial awareness. The ruined city was filled with ambush predators. There were tight streets, dark, blind corners, and endless hiding spots. And most importantly, this floor was designed to force humans to realize a simple truth: you cannot survive the Tower alone. It was a test of team survival.
I quickly scanned the immediate area. Roughly thirty-five people had spawned in this specific starting cluster. The rest of the survivors were likely scattered randomly across different spawn zones in the ruined city.
Light footsteps approached me from behind.
I turned around slowly, my grip tightening on my bloody metal rod.
A young woman stood there. She had striking silver hair, though the ends were slightly stained with dried blood from the first floor. Faint, warm red fire mana flickered playfully around her slender fingers.
Elena Frost.
In my past life, she had been my most trusted frontline fighter. She had fought by my side all the way to Floor 100, where her arm was shattered by the Final Boss. Seeing her standing here, young, alive, and unhurt, made my chest ache.
"You handled yourself really well back there in the first room," Elena said calmly. Her sharp blue eyes studied me carefully, measuring my worth.
"You did too," I replied, forcing my voice to stay perfectly neutral.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "You're very calm. Too calm for a normal teenager who just watched hundreds of people get eaten."
Of course I was calm. I had already died a horrible death once. Bloody wolves were nothing compared to the nightmares waiting on the higher floors. But I couldn't say that out loud.
"Panicking wastes valuable stamina," I replied simply.
Elena smirked faintly, a small spark of respect in her eyes. "Fair point."
Another voice suddenly joined us. It was soft, shaky, and incredibly nervous.
"E-Excuse me... but we should probably move together... right?"
I looked past Elena. Mira Vale was standing there, hugging her arms tightly. Her hands were glowing with a very faint, beautiful white light—healing mana. Her wide eyes were still deeply shaken from the trauma of Floor 1. In my past life, Mira had burned her own life force to shield us at the very end.
"Yes," I said immediately, stepping toward her. "Floor 2 severely punishes isolation. If you walk alone in these ruins, you will die."
Elena raised a silver eyebrow at me. "You sound very sure about the rules of a place we just arrived in."
I met her sharp gaze without blinking. "I just prefer surviving. Basic logic says there is safety in numbers."
Suddenly, a dark shadow detached itself from the roof of a nearby ruined car.
Kai Shadow dropped silently to the ground right behind us. He made absolutely no sound when his boots hit the asphalt. There was no wasted motion. He was already a natural assassin.
Kai looked at me once. Then he looked at Elena. Finally, his dark eyes scanned Mira.
"We need a proper structure," Kai said. His voice was incredibly low and tightly controlled. "A group of four is the most efficient tactical unit."
He wasn't wrong. A well-balanced four-person squad covers all tactical weaknesses: a Frontline fighter to take the hits, a Mid-Support to control the flow of battle, a Backline healer or mage, and a Scout to spot ambushes.
I nodded in agreement. "Elena is our frontline. Her fire magic is strong. I will play support in close combat and watch our flanks."
Elena frowned slightly, looking at my skinny, bruised arms. "You? Supporting me in close combat with a rusty pipe?"
"It's only temporary," I replied smoothly.
Kai watched me carefully from the shadows. His eyes were narrowed. He was already highly suspicious of me. How did a random teenager know basic squad tactics?
Good, I thought to myself. Kai was incredibly intelligent. That meant he would be very useful, even if he didn't trust me yet.
Mira swallowed hard and nodded nervously. "I… I can't fight very well. But I'll stay right behind you and heal anyone who gets hurt."
The giant black screen in the purple sky flickered. A digital map appeared for just a few seconds. A glowing red dot marked the Central Gate far ahead of us. It was roughly three kilometers away, right through the absolute thickest part of the ruined city.
It was perfect ambush territory.
"Let's move," I commanded quietly.
We started walking down the broken street, sticking close to the shadows of the buildings.
The first creature appeared in a dark, narrow alleyway just ten minutes later.
It was a terrifying monster. It stood taller than a man, but its spine was horribly bent and twisted. Its arms were so long that its sharp claws scraped against the concrete ground. Its grey skin was stretched painfully thin over its bones, and it had completely hollow, empty eye sockets.
It was a Ruin Stalker. They were fast, incredibly agile, and they loved to hunt isolated prey.
The Stalker lunged out from the side wall, screeching loudly.
Elena reacted instantly. She didn't flinch. Bright, hot flames burst from her open palm, acting like a flamethrower. The creature shrieked in pain as the magical fire burned its left shoulder, knocking it off balance.
I moved in immediately to finish it, my rusty metal pipe gripped tightly in both hands.
But my mind and my body were not connected yet. My Grandmaster brain told my legs to move at lightning speed, but my weak teenage muscles simply couldn't obey the command.
I struck downward at the monster's knee joint, but my swing was far too slow.
The Stalker twisted its long body in midair and slashed wildly with its right claw. The sharp nails cut right across my side, tearing my shirt and slicing my skin.
A sharp flare of pain hit me. Damn it, I cursed internally. I am still misjudging my own physical speed. Before the monster could strike me again, Kai appeared behind it like a ghost. With a single, fluid motion, he dragged a sharp piece of broken glass right across the creature's exposed neck.
Thick black blood sprayed the wall, and the Stalker collapsed, dead.
I gritted my teeth, holding my bleeding side. Because I didn't land the final, killing blow, my dark core did not activate. There was no Absorption.
Honestly, that was probably for the best right now. My core was still highly unstable from absorbing the wolves on Floor 1.
Mira rushed forward, dropping to her knees beside me. Soft, white light wrapped around the bleeding wound on my side. The magic felt incredibly warm and gentle, like sitting by a fireplace on a cold night.
Healing mana wasn't instant magic; it couldn't grow back a lost arm. But it quickly closed the cut and completely stopped the bleeding.
"Thank you, Mira," I said quietly, offering her a small smile.
She nodded shyly, though her hands were still trembling.
Elena walked over, stepping over the dead monster. She looked at me, her blue eyes piercing. "You moved directly into its blind spot. You move like someone who has been trained to fight monsters."
"I trained," I answered simply. It wasn't a lie. It was just a very incomplete truth.
We advanced much more carefully after that. Floor 2 was a long, exhausting grind. It wasn't overwhelming in raw monster power, but it applied constant, terrifying psychological pressure. There were sudden ambushes from rooftops, blind corners filled with shadows, and noise traps made of broken glass.
At one major street intersection, we heard screaming. Two panicked climbers ran toward us, their faces pale with terror.
"Help us! Please! There's too many of them!" a man yelled.
Right behind them, five Ruin Stalkers burst through the shattered windows of an old bank, chasing them like hunting dogs.
Five at once was too many for our beginner-level team to fight in the open street.
Elena cursed softly under her breath, raising her hands. Kai clicked his tongue in annoyance and grabbed his makeshift glass dagger.
"We split up," Kai ordered quickly. "Scatter into the buildings."
I stepped forward, blocking Kai's path. "No."
Both Kai and Elena looked at me like I was crazy.
"We don't run," I said, pointing quickly to a narrow alleyway directly to our right. "We funnel them."
An alleyway with one single entrance and high brick walls creates a perfect choke point. It severely limits the enemy's ability to surround or flank you. If five monsters try to enter a narrow space, they will get in each other's way, allowing us to fight them one at a time.
Elena, a natural warrior, understood the tactic instantly. She dashed right into the center of the narrow alley, raising her fiery hands. Kai vanished effortlessly into the dark shadows near the alley's entrance, ready to strike from behind.
The five Stalkers chased the two fleeing climbers directly past us. The climbers ran past the alley, but the hungry monsters noticed us and turned.
The first two Stalkers squeezed into the narrow alleyway at the same time.
"Now!" I yelled.
Elena's fire exploded forward in a massive wave of heat. The flames completely engulfed the front two monsters. They screamed horribly, their path completely blocked by the fire. The narrow walls of the alley trapped the heat, making the spell twice as effective.
The remaining three Stalkers tried to climb the brick walls to escape the fire.
Kai leaped from the shadows, striking one of the climbers right in the back of the neck, sending it crashing to the ground.
I intercepted the third one.
This time, I didn't rush. I forced my breathing to slow down. I focused entirely on timing. I waited for the exact fraction of a second when Elena's flames staggered the beast.
When it stumbled blindly, I stepped forward and drove my heavy metal pipe straight through its hollow eye socket and deep into its skull.
The monster died instantly.
A massive surge of dark, violent energy exploded inside my chest. The Absorption skill activated.
Incredible pain shot through my ribs. The energy of a Ruin Stalker was much stronger, much denser than the Floor 1 wolves. A flood of raw mana and physical density rushed into my tiny core.
My legs almost buckled under the sheer pressure of the dark magic. I felt like a balloon being pumped with too much air.
Don't take it all at once! I ordered myself, gritting my teeth so hard my jaw ached. Circulate it. Refine it. Compress the energy! I forcefully guided the wild magic through my fragile veins, pushing out the unstable parts. Slowly, a small, refined portion of the monster's strength settled safely into my core. My muscles tightened, feeling noticeably harder and denser than before.
The remaining Stalkers fell quickly to Kai and Elena.
The two climbers we had saved collapsed onto the street, staring at our coordinated team in absolute shock. "Th-Thank you... you guys are amazing."
Elena exhaled slowly, lowering her hands. "That was entirely too close."
Kai wiped his bloody glass blade on his pants. His dark eyes remained fixed perfectly on me. "You timed that kill deliberately," Kai said softly. "You waited so you could land the final blow."
I met his suspicious gaze with total calm. "Efficiency matters, Kai. We share the burden."
He didn't look convinced at all. Good. Suspicion is exactly what keeps sharp, intelligent minds alive in the Tower.
After three more grueling hours of steady, careful movement, we finally reached the Central Gate.
They were massive, heavy iron doors built into a towering black stone wall. They were locked tight.
As we approached, a new glowing message appeared in the sky.
[ FLOOR 2 Condition Cleared ]
[ Central Gate Opening ] The massive doors slowly groaned and parted, shaking the ground. Behind them, another glowing white staircase awaited us.
We stepped forward, ready to leave the ruined city. But right before stepping onto the stairs, Elena stopped walking.
She turned and looked at me, her expression deadly serious. "You're holding back."
I paused, raising a brow. "What do you mean?"
"You fight with a rusty pipe, but you move like a general," she said. "You position us perfectly. You know monster behaviors before they even attack. You move like you've fought much stronger things than these ugly street rats."
Her voice wasn't angry or accusatory. It was just highly observant.
I looked at her directly, seeing the ghost of my former Grandmaster comrade in her young eyes. "I just adapt very fast, Elena."
She held my gaze for a few long seconds, searching for a lie. Then, she simply nodded. "Fine. Keep your secrets. Just don't die before I have enough time to figure you out."
A faint, genuine smile appeared on my lips. "I promise, I won't."
Floor 3 awaited us at the top of the stairs.
And this floor was completely different from the last two.
We emerged from the glowing light into a incredibly dense, ancient forest. The trees were massive, their twisted roots breaking through the mossy ground. A thick, heavy white fog rolled through the air, completely ruining our visibility. The humidity was terribly high, making it instantly hard to breathe.
[ FLOOR 3 — Mistwood Territory ]
[ Objective: Eliminate 30 Mist Crawlers ]
[ Time Limit: 5 Hours ]
This floor changed the rules. It forced us to take the offense. We could not hide or survive a timer. We had to actively hunt.
Mist Crawlers were disgusting, spider-like creatures about the size of a large dog. They were incredibly fast, and they possessed a highly poisonous bite. Individually, they were very weak, but they were deadly because they loved to drop from the trees in large swarms.
For me, they were absolutely perfect for gradual, safe Absorption. But for our healer, Mira, they were a massive danger. One bad poison bite could kill a physically weak support mage.
We immediately moved into a tight formation. Kai vanished into the fog, scouting ahead through the trees. Elena stayed near the center, her hands glowing with heat, ready to burn any large clusters of spiders that dropped on us.
I stayed close to Mira, focusing on controlled, measured kills.
The first Mist Crawler lunged out of a bush. I smashed it away with my pipe and crushed its head under my boot.
Absorption triggered immediately.
I felt a small, manageable increase in my mana pool. I felt a minor, subtle gain in my physical agility. It was barely noticeable, but in the Tower, stacking small victories mattered.
By the time I landed my fifth killing blow, my body felt noticeably heavier. It was denser. I wasn't incredibly strong yet, but I was successfully building a flawless, solid foundation for my future growth.
And then—disaster struck.
Mira screamed.
A Mist Crawler had silently dropped from a high branch, bypassing our sightlines. It landed directly behind her and bit down hard on her ankle.
It was too fast for me to block.
I reacted instantly, swinging my pipe and crushing the spider's body against the dirt. My core pulsed, and I quickly Absorbed the dead spider's energy.
But the damage to Mira was already done. Thick, dark purple veins began to spread rapidly up Mira's leg from the bite wound. The poison was highly aggressive.
She cried out in pain and fell hard to one knee. "I-I can cleanse it!" she panicked, her hands hovering over her leg. "Just give me a second..."
Her white healing mana flickered weakly over the wound, but the poison was spreading far too fast for her beginner-level magic to fight.
I stepped forward and knelt beside her. "Hold still."
Without thinking, I placed my bare hand directly over her bleeding, poisoned wound.
Deep inside my chest, the dark Absorption Core reacted completely instinctively. It recognized the poison in her blood as a form of monster energy—specifically, the residual essence from the Mist Crawler I had just killed.
I felt a pulling sensation in my palm. The dark core was trying to eat the poison.
Slowly, the dark purple color in Mira's leg began to recede. The poison wasn't fully removed, but it was drastically weakened, pulled directly into my own body and digested safely by my monstrous core.
I blinked in surprise. I hadn't even been sure if using Absorption on an ally like that was possible. But the strange, dark core had adapted to my will. It was an incredible discovery.
Mira looked up at me in absolute shock, her breathing finally slowing down. "It… the pain is fading…"
Elena lowered her flaming hands and narrowed her eyes at me. "You did something to her. Healing magic glows white. You didn't use any light."
"Just pure luck," I replied calmly, standing back up and wiping my hand on my pants.
Kai dropped from a tree branch nearby. He didn't speak a single word, but his dark eyes were locked entirely on me now. He knew I was lying.
The dynamic of our newly formed team shifted slightly in that foggy forest.
Their trust in me had definitely increased, because I had saved Mira's life. But their deep suspicion of my true nature had also increased.
Good, I thought. Growth isn't clean or simple. It's always complicated. We continued hunting and cleared Floor 3 with minimal injuries. But as we walked toward the next glowing staircase, I noticed something changing in their body language. When a branch snapped, they didn't look at the trees; they looked at me to see how I would react.
They were beginning to rely on me. They were looking to me for leadership.
And that was incredibly dangerous.
Because in my past life, my team had relied on me to carry them to the top. And when I finally failed, they all died screaming. If they rely too much on me this time, history will just repeat itself in a new way.
As we climbed the stairs toward the challenges of Floor 4, I made a silent, unbreakable promise to myself.
I won't carry everything alone this time. I will push them. I will force them to grow into the monsters they need to be.
But I also swear, I won't let them die again.
The brutal climb continues.
***
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