Exiting meditation, Leo opened his eyes to see Ashley’s grim expression a little more than a breath away from his face.

“Uh. Can I help you?” Leo asked, unsure if he should pull away or not.

She continued staring, unblinking. It was honestly a bit unsettling. Leo did his best to hold her gaze but it was faltering.

“Show me.” Her words were blunt, and filled with resolve.

Leo sighed a little in relief internally. It was just her being the usual whacky Ellie obsesser. He should have guessed. Well, no time like the present to turn this into a bit of fun.

Looking down at his hands, he dramatically sighed, trying to express hurt. Unsure if it actually worked, he chose his next words carefully.

“Ash…I-I’m sorry.”

She didn’t react, but Leo could feel she was taking the bait a little, lip quivering. He did feel a little bad since she was radiating such unease, but she should hopefully find things a little funny.

“Ellie’s path changed, to one not of living… but something else.”

Her eyes widened as her hands moved to her mouth. “You mean… she’s gone?”

“Not exactly,” Leo said softly.

Activating Draconic Equip, Leo felt a rush from deep within his core—from Ellie. Their bond flared, energy surging through him in a torrent of colour and light. Metallic scales coalesced around his wrists, spreading like liquid fire as draconic plates formed across his hands. Each segment shimmered with shifting hues, fragments of Ellie’s essence forged into living armour.

When the glow faded, sleek gauntlets of iridescent metal covered his forearms to his fingertips, faint traces of elemental energy pulsing beneath the surface. They looked otherworldly. A perfect blend of human craftsmanship and draconic majesty.

Her words were like an unbelieving whisper. “Are those… Ellie?”

Leo nodded and Ashley started to tear up. He may have gone a bit too far after all as Ashley cautiously reached out to touch the gauntlet. As she did, Leo informed Ellie that he was going to dismiss the skill and for her to jump out and surprise her. Only hoping that he would live to get to use these gauntlets for real.

A moment later, the gauntlets disappeared and Ashley pulled her hand back, startled. Then a burst of light appeared and the same little Ellie leapt into her arms. Ashley looked down at her, tears still in her eyes pulling the dragon into a massive relieved hug.

Then she looked up. Eyes blazing with the wrath of a thousand suns.

“Gotcha?” Leo said, his voice a few octaves higher and entirely unsure.

“I’m glad you’re okay Ellie,” Ashley said warmly. “You.” She directed her words to Leo. “You will pay for this.”

After that she placed the dragon down and walked off. Her natural aura made people actively look away or back up as she passed.

Watching her walk away, Leo whispered to his little companion. “That was probably a big mistake.”

Ellie looked at him and gave her own dragony wince. Yep, he’d need to apologise big time and make it up to her. Or just run away into a Tower that might contain his doom. Pretty 50-50 on which was easier.

During this time, Cecelia was speaking to Ron as they took a much deserved breather.

“What you did,” Cecelia began, “stopping me like that. Thank you.”

Ron gave a slow, welcoming nod. “You have been losing yourself lately,” he said calmly.

Cecelia frowned, then pursed her lips before mounting her defense. But instead, she just sighed.

“I’ve been feeling inadequate. Never before now have I felt it so severely. Before the system I had everything. Could get anything. People looked at me and saw power. In this place, I’m merely a puppet leader, with more slack on my strings. We both know who the real power is.”

“Is that the impression you get from Leo?” Ron asked.

“You felt that power he gave off last night,” Cecelia muttered, as if speaking the words would cause it to appear. “The whole camp did. It was like nothing I’d felt or could even quantify. Yet it wasn’t a boon. That power ripped him apart the moment he allowed it to, like a balloon filled with razor blades.”

“He is powerful, yes. Probably more than all of us,” Ron agreed.

Cecelia knew she was right, Leo was just waiting for his moment to take over leadership and usurp her. She knew she couldn’t do anything if he tried such a thing so why even bother.

She should just resign her position and give it to him.

“But think about it Cecelia,” Ron continued firmly. “What has he really done with all his power? Does he try to threaten others, control them for his own gain? Does he give off the feeling of greed and lust for power at any cost?”

Ron didn’t wait for her to answer. Seemingly reading her mind.

“Leo isn’t waiting to usurp you from power or biding his time to do some kind of hostile takeover. He’s doing his utmost to ensure all of us survive. If anything he has said regarding… gods and deities from other universes existing turns out to be true, then this stage in our lives is barely the beginning. Remember what this place is. A Tutorial.”

This was the most Ron had said in probably the entire tutorial so far. Cecelia sat there, her mind spinning as her ideals and inferiority problems came crashing down on her like a sack of cement.

Ron was right, she had been holding Leo at a distance, snapping at him when he was only slightly in the wrong, trying to get him to do increasingly dangerous things in both her own defense and for the progress of her own party.

Each time she had done so, he had come back stronger and stronger, yet no animosity or bad feelings were given off by him, merely awaiting the next order.

She looked towards Leo, seeing him playing with his dragon and smiling. Which in turn made her smile unconsciously. When had she started being so afraid of him?

Ron smiled. “You see it now. Leo is not some problem you have to take care of, he’s an asset. One that is most likely integral to our survival. I trust him to save my life. I trust you to lead us.”

“Thank you Ron,” Cecelia said, her confident words revived. “You’re actually pretty good at this. When we get out of here, I’d like your continued support.”

“You have it.”

~

Leo trotted over—dragon backpack in tow—towards Bjorn. It felt as if he’d distanced himself from the man, so he wanted to go make sure everything was okay. As he approached, Leo let Ellie down and she strode right up to the seated knight.

“Hey there big girl!” Bjorn said happily, scratching Ellie behind her growing horns. She wiggled in delight, collapsing into his arms.

“Hey to you too, kid. You doing alright?”

Leo smiled, nodding. “Yeah, may have pissed off Ash a bit too much though.” Bjorn chuckled.

“How are you doing?” Leo asked with concern.

Bjorn gave a weary smirk. “You’re a sharp one, kid. This new reality just seems to be weighing on me more and more each day. I don’t have the same itch for power that all you kids do. I’d be more than happy just to retire in a cabin somewhere with my kids and wife. But that’s a pipe dream now.”

Leo hadn’t actually noticed how badly he was doing. For this whole tutorial he hadn’t seen Bjorn falter even once. Always greeting him with smiles and laughter. Now it appeared he was struggling and Leo kicked himself for doing nothing sooner.

“Sorry, Bjorn,” Leo began with a sad smile. “I didn’t know how much you hated all this. Why didn’t you just join the crafters and help that way?”

“My class is designed to protect others, and with the upgrade I got. Even more so. That comes with responsibility.”

Leo leaned in excitedly, before pulling back hoping that Bjorn didn’t notice. The idea of learning about a new class gave him that itchy, excited feeling.

Bjorn smiled. “You’re too easy to read, kid. My class is one called Earthwarden. It’s just a fancier upgrade I got offered over Experienced Knight. Even with my lacking knowledge on all this stuff, I knew that one sucked.”

Leo laughed as it reminded him of his own. “I got offered the same kind of thing, total stinker classes. Glad you got something better. Earthwarden sounds cool. I bet it will get some really cool skills that protect people. You’ll be able to keep your family safe.”

A flash of pain glimmered over his expression before it turned into a radiant smile that felt unnatural. “You’re right! What am I doing moping around when I’ve got to get the power to keep my wife and kids safe!” He sounded re-energised, a bit too over energised almost to the point of sounding manic.

“What are we waiting for! Let’s go!”

Bjorn got up and charged full speed, no regard for any in his path or any calls. Right into the Tower.

Leo just stood there, unblinking. What the hell was that?

One minute Bjorn was downcast and then the next he was giddy and raring to go. Seeing someone’s personality—especially Bjorn’s—flip so quickly, and to such a degree was quite jarring.

Those who knew Bjorn quickly gathered to where Leo was standing. Ashley burst out first.

“What happened? Why did Bjorn just recklessly run into the Tower?”

“I don’t know,” Leo began sincerely, shaking his head. “One minute we were talking about his new class and how it sounded good, and the next he was charging straight into the portal.”

“Couldn’t you have stopped him?” Ashley demanded an answer, clearly still pissed.

“I didn’t know he was going to do that!” Leo said defensively.

“You’re meant to be this fast, incredible warrior and you couldn’t stop someone with probably a fraction of your agility from running to his potential death?” Her anger was radiating through her words.

Before Leo could respond, his own emotions starting to build from the needless accusation, Cecelia interrupted.

“Enough.” Her words were loud and contained a hint of something Leo couldn’t quite place that itched the back of his mind. It was instantly suppressed.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you two, but this is no time for bickering. We need to go in after him.”

Nolan’s party, including the newly added Maddie, came over to the commotion too.

“Then let’s go!” Ashley said urgently.

Leo grabbed her arm, and Ashley spun a glare onto him, wrenching it free. Before she could storm off, Leo spoke. “We don’t know if we even end up in the same instance, remember the Beast Pens?”

Ashley bit her lip but nodded.

Gordon took this moment to add, “Maddie and I tested that just in case. The system said that this was a non-party instance. So I think it’ll be fine.”

“In that case, let’s move,” Cecelia said to the group before announcing it to the few who came along but were still resting. “We will be entering the Tower now due to some unforeseen circumstances. Any who wish to remain here may do so. Any who wish to return to camp may do the same. Stay safe.”

Her profession had her words carried to everyone, all of which understood and went their own way or remained seated. Only Marco joined the group going in, nervously approaching.

Leo quickly glanced at his resonance gauge, seeing that after losing around 35 to the terrible prank, it had gone back up to 114. It was a slow recharge but at least better than one resonance a day.

“Are you ready to tackle the Tower Ells?” Leo asked the dragon, who was now in his soul-space, just in case of any system tom-fuckery that caused her to be placed elsewhere.

She responded with seriousness but her eyes held the usual wonder of new things. It was clear she was loving all the new stimuli but also felt enough to be worried about Bjorn.

Stepping up to the portal, Leo took a deep breath, looked to his companions either side of him and took the first step in.

His mind felt like it was swirling through a void for a brief moment that lasted several minutes before he found himself in some sort of barren landscape. He glanced around as he waited. No one appeared next to him.

The wasteland he found himself in was foggy to the point of being barely able to see twenty feet in front of him. Winds swirled and buffeted him from all angles, constantly changing. The ground was rough, crusty and crumbling—almost like walking on the shell of an egg. A system prompt appeared before him:

Quest updated!

You have entered the Tower, and found yourself on the first of three floors.

On this floor, the Trial of Endurance takes place.

Find your way to the center of the wasteland

Challenges may lay within the mist

Prove your endurance in order to progress.

Rewards are based on completion

Leaving will result in a one day lockout.

Good luck, initiate!

It appeared to be some kind of rush to the middle, but held unknown danger. It was a little vague about the completion details, but that wasn’t important right now.

What alarmed him was that the whole reason to enter here right now was to try and help Bjorn with whatever he seemed to be doing. That was unfortunately no longer an option. He cursed.

Taking a step forward onto the cracked shale-like footing, Leo instantly felt some kind of drain. It was like his breath hitched in his throat, making him feel as if the atmosphere itself was against him.

Coughing, he soon gained control of his breathing, but he noticed that his stamina was slowly ticking down.

So it’s that kind of Endurance trial. Fine. Leo mused, instantly deciding to place all his free points into Endurance.

His stamina instantly took a noticeable jump as the stat was raised.

Was this being a bit overcautious? Judging by the drain, probably. But extra Endurance wouldn’t go to waste. Almost every one of his skills drained his stamina in some way, not to mention his new Resonance resource. It now sat at 131 points, passing his Strength as his current second highest stat.

Leo continued for a while, not running into anything. The ground continued to crumble, his stamina continued to drain. It was just a whole lot of nothingness. Leo considered this to not be much of a trial of Endurance so far, more like a trial of boredom.

Of course, as he thought this, a surging lightning strike came down only a few feet in front of him. Then another behind him, cracking the shale into oblivion.

Why did he have to jinx it?