Six more days have passed.  August the seventh.  We’re now truly in the hottest and stickiest and least pleasant time of the year, from a meteorological perspective, at least.  Even the expansion of the North American continent and shifting landscape hasn’t stopped the flow of warm, moist air from traveling northward from the gulf.  It bathes the southern half of the Great Plains in such abominable, suffocating humidity, sapping strength and vitality alike, and eroding the ability to function outdoors.

Even with my body trained through nearly five months of fighting and training, reinforced by System stats to levels higher than just about anyone else on the continent, if not the planet, I am not immune to the harshness of the weather during the hottest part of the day.  Resistant, to an extent, but not immune.  And, as long as I don’t overdo it— for that, I rely on Chloe— such harshness proves to be the perfect crucible to hone my still-rough fighting style with the swordstaff.

“Three stabs, then jump backward and fill my form with your [Ether],” Filia instructs.  “Once you have poured enough in, then slash, releasing it all outward!”

I’m not sure if it’s because of the sentient weapon bond, the silver material used in its construction, or some unknown third factor at play, but the transfer of [Ether] to the weapon is almost seamless, as though it were an extension of my own body the way my cybernetics are.  Maybe there’s some strange interplay with [Angelic Form] as well?

In either case, after pouring a hundred points into my swordstaff, I swing a massive arc with my weapon with a single arm, unleashing a beam of pale blue energy.  The shape and brightness of the attack is that of a crescent moon, arcing up in the sky.  I don’t know how far it goes, its color eventually blending into the sky itself as it soars higher and higher toward the cosmos, not caring for anything so trivial as gravity or dissipation of energy.

“That won’t go on forever, will it?”

“Not more than four or five miles, I don’t expect.  But it is still loosely tethered to your [Ether] core and willpower, at least until it fully dissipates into ambience.  You should be able to dispel it sooner just by willing it so.”

I nod.  My expression turns stern as I again concentrate and release a beam of Etheric energy from my swordstaff.  This time, I let it fly for about half a mile before I command it to disperse.  And sure enough, it does exactly that.

“Good.  Now, fifty more!  We need to be ready for tomorrow’s excursion.”

And so my training continues clean through the heart of the day, punctuated by occasional breaks for hydration and rest in the shade.  Chloe doesn’t chastise me as I feared she might.  Perhaps she trusts Filia to keep an eye… a mind on me and not overexert myself too much.  Or maybe, after our trip to visit my mother’s grave last week, she understands better exactly why I push myself so hard.

As I continue my daily training, I can’t stop thinking about how many of those deaths I could have prevented, had I been a little stronger, a little better prepared, a little sharper of body and mind alike.  I try to push the thoughts out of my mind.  I’m not fully successful.

“Hey, Sera!” Chloe says.  “Can you come down here?”

I oblige her without a second thought.  After forty-four swings to practice this new swordstaff technique and not a single Skill to show for it, I hardly need an excuse to float back down to the surface and take a much-needed break.

“So anyway,” Chloe says.  “I just got off the phone with everyone to try to see who plans to go in the Tower with us tomorrow.  Lindsey and Stefan are too busy with the reconstruction efforts in Red Clay City after the attack of the City Slayers, so they’re out.  Jasmine is still convalescing after taking a nasty wound to the back a couple of days ago, and Alana is tending to her”

“What happened?”

“There was a sandworm attack the night before last, apparently.  East side of the city.  She and Alana led the assault against the monsters.  They managed to defeat them without too much trouble, but one of their subordinates lost focus and didn’t wait for the System notification to confirm all the kills.  He nearly got impaled right through the heart by some sort of projectile attack, and would have, had Jasmine not pushed him out of the way and absorbed the attack with her own body.  She’s expected to make a full recovery, but it’ll probably be a few more days, even with healing magic.”

“So, is it just going to be the two of us this time around?”

“Actually, no.  Kristil said she was interested.  She said she ‘needed a break from all the recovery efforts’ and that ‘seeing her home in ruins really pisses her off’.  I think she’s really in the same mood that you’ve been the last couple of days.”

“Pissed off with her own weakness and itching to get stronger so the next asshole who tries something like that takes a long nap in the dirt?”

“I wouldn’t have used such language, but I think she would have.”  Chloe pauses.  “Scratch that, she absolutely definitely would have.”

“And she’s going to be here sometime this evening?”

“So she says.  I let Mom know we might have a friend over and went ahead and changed the sheets on the spare bedroom.”

“I think we’re going to call the training session here,” I mentally tell Filia.  “I’m getting close to my limit and I’d rather not overexert myself before tomorrow.”

“Understood.  I’ll see you then.”  I allow Filia to dissolve back away into my [Inventory] before heading inside for a shower.  A cool one this time, to help me wash all this sweat off my feet.

A flash of light accompanies the ringing of the doorbell just as Chloe and I are finishing up dinner.  Seafood tacos tonight— mini corn tortillas, blackened catfish, salsa verde, tomato, onion, cilantro and lime, served on a bed of Mexican-style rice.  It smells so delicious, and considering our growing skills in the kitchen, I’m sure it’s going to taste even better.

I get the door as Chloe finishes plating our meals and setting the table.  Sure enough, there’s a young woman dressed in a black outfit that manages to be provocative without actually being indecent.  From her black pointed witch’s hat which matches Chloe to thigh-high boots to black opera gloves to the black robes she wears which cover little more than a mini dress, Kristil absolutely exemplifies the idea of being dressed to kill— literally.

“No wings?” Kristil asks.  “I thought they were sort of your thing.”

I sprout them for a brief moment, sidestepping around her to close the front door once more; I wouldn’t dare let a single extra molecule of that sweet, conditioned air to escape.  Afterwards, we stare a bit uncomfortably at each other, neither of us sure whether to shake hands or hug or do something else entirely.  Ultimately, we end up sharing a brief and somewhat awkward side-hug.

“New Skill.  Now I can either sprout them or dismiss them as I see fit.  As nice as it is to have them out and showcase who I am, I’ve found that it can be just as nice to be able to blend in and enjoy life without having a bunch of people go ‘Oh my gosh!  Aren’t you that one girl, from the web conference and the news?’  Like, I don’t mind the accolades, but I’m not always in the mood for the paparazzi.”

“Oh, I can imagine!”  Kristil drops her backpack on the ground, causing me to worry.  If she’s not yet Level 50 and hasn’t awakened her [Inventory], she might be a liability in the Tower.  Will need to guard her that much more.  “But I tell you, Sera.  You shock one of them one time and the rest of them learn real quick.”

“What did you just say, Kristil?” Chloe shouts from the kitchen.  “It sounds like you just just said that you were going around shocking people!  I hope that that’s not what you were doing!”

“Oh, hey Chloe!  Good to see you too!  And don’t worry!  I didn’t mean shock in the sense of actually using electricity on them.  Just conjuring a wreath of electricity around myself and saying some vaguely threatening things to stop them from constantly following me like hungry hounds ready to get their next meal!”

“You know that doesn’t make it any better, Kristil!”

Kristil turns to me and whispers, “Is she always this way?”

I nod.  “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Are you two going to eat, or not?” Chloe asks.  “C’mon, the food is getting cold!”

Kristil and I turn to each other, nod, and make our way over to the table.  Chloe and I sit next to one another, while Kristil sits across from us.

The food tastes every bit as delicious as it smells.  The catfish is perfectly spiced, the accents of lime complementing the succulent meat and the heavy pepper used to char and blacken the outside.  The rice is firm without being too chewy, and although it’s just a simple packaged spice mix, adding a little bit of pepper sauce I found helps really bring out the flavor.  Just enough to sizzle the tongue and stimulate the appetite, without quite reaching painful levels.

“So,” I ask in-between bites of dinner.  “Have you been in the Tower up in Red Clay City?”

“Yeah, I’ve gone through the first thirteen floors.  But I don’t think I’m yet ready for the next portion of the dungeon.  It wasn’t through anything but sheer dumb luck that I managed to survive the twelfth floor.  Not an experience I’m keen on repeating anytime soon, that’s for damn sure!”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Chloe asks.

“Of course I’m sure!  Just because I don’t want to be humiliated and nearly killed again doesn’t mean I don’t want to get stronger and take on the challenges.  Hell, I’m practically salivating at the chance to go back up there and wreak a little vengeance on these god-damned Towers and this god-damned System!  And with the two of you by my side, I know we’re going to succeed.”

“Wait,” I say.  “Did you go through thirteen floors of the Tower all by yourself?”

“I did.  Why?  Were we not supposed to?”

“I mean, Chloe and I have always gone in together,” I say.  “And every trip but the first two has been with at least one other person.  Hence why Chloe was calling around, asking if anyone was interested in joining us.”

“Well, I’ll be.  How far have you made it?”

“We’ll be starting with the thirtieth floor of fifty tomorrow.”

“Floor thirty!”  A few grains of rice fall off her fork as her jaw drops in disbelief.  “I guess even after all the time we’ve spent together and knowing your capabilities, I still manage to underestimate the both of you.”

“You’re not getting cold feet about this, are you?” Chloe asks.

“Absolutely not!” Kristil exclaims, a small cloud of static building around me.  She disperses it a second later, but not before the rice on her fork begins to smoke from the electrical energy.  “If you two can reach that floor, then it just means I have to work that much harder to keep up.”

Chloe turns to me with a sigh.  “Oh great, now there are two of you!”

“Hey!  She didn’t get it from me, alright?  And I thought you liked that part of me!”

“Oh, I do.  But I think I can only handle one of you.  Not that I’d want to share myself with anyone else in the first place.”

“Well, I look forward to it,” I say, turning back to Kristil.  “We’ll be departing for the Tower first thing in the morning.  I hope that’s alright with you.”

She doesn’t give me a verbal response, but the grin on her face and the rabid glint in her eyes tell me all I need to know.