I wake up with my head on Chloe’s thighs. And as she gazes down, a relieved smile on her face and tears in her eyes, I reach up to caress her, secure in the knowledge that I’ve got to be one of the luckiest girls in the world. I feel her love and her relief even without either of us needing to say a word.

The pain of rupturing an [Ether] channel is still there, but it’s gone from an unpleasant searing flame through my veins to a minor ache. I know that the only real cure for this is rest and avoiding the use of my abilities. And I suspect— without proof— that there will be yet more challenges ahead of me. Challenges which I will have to overcome despite my current crippled state.

That’s what Madison said. We hone our will and gain more power in the most stressful, life-threatening situations. When we’re at death’s door, our will to overcome and survive forces our bodies and minds to grow sharper and stronger, improving our parameters and increasing the efficacy of our Skills.

A small part of me wants to brave forward in my current state, knowing that the crucible of this Gauntlet is the surest way to gain the power I need to defend my hometown. Hells below, the entire world and beyond, some day. But my more logical mind recognizes that that is the most terrible of terrible ideas. I can’t protect jack shit if I’m dead.

Unfortunately, to not die, we need to advance until we find some mechanism which allows us to leave this place. I sit up. Slowly. My vision isn’t as sharp as it should be. Not sure if my [Archangel’s Gaze] is faltering or if there’s something wrong with my actual eyes. My eyesight isn’t exactly poor— it’s still better than it ever was pre-System. But compared with eyes that could follow a gnat buzzing around from the opposite side of a football field, it feels like I’m half-blind.

I check my Status. Just under 71 hours remaining on my debilitation, and my [Poisoned] condition is gone. I assume Chloe purged the poison from my body already, since I doubt a level 42 monster’s venom would naturally disperse so quickly.

My body feels normal-ish. I can stand and walk around without any trouble. I can move my arm and wings as easily as I’ve ever been able to since becoming a [Mechanical Angel] and gaining the [Cybernetic Body] Skill. And my ability to wield the [Shining Sword] is on-point. I’m still weakened, but I can fight if I have to. If anything, it’s Chloe that I’m worried about; my inability to cloak her within [Angel’s Grace] means she will have far less offensive and defensive power alike.

“Should you even be walking around like this?” Chloe asks.

“My physical body is mostly unharmed, though my maximum [Ether] seems to be halved right now.” I pause for a split second and reevaluate.

“Honestly, no, I probably shouldn’t be walking around at all,” I say out loud. I know that using our bond doesn’t use [Ether] and shouldn’t be affected by my current condition, but… Maybe I just need to hear myself out loud. Sometimes, verbalizing thoughts helps to solidify them in ways that telepathizing them just doesn’t.

“I definitely shouldn’t be casting magic, or planning to fight until I’ve recovered. I should be resting. But I like my chances of fighting whatever’s on the next floor a lot more than whatever is going to show up here if we take too long.”

Chloe lowers her head. “I… I hate that you’re right about that. I… I don’t want to ever fight whatever that was.”

“Did you find the entrance to the next floor while I was out?”

“It’s in the next room. But there’s a treasure chest I wanted to check out first.”

Chloe leads me into a side room, one carefully hidden behind a false door. I would expect most people traversing the floor, especially those who aren’t aware of the possibility, to have completely overlooked this tiny room filled with… It looks more like my past life, high-tech and futuristic, with chrome platings and diodes on the walls, some pipes carrying Ether through them, perhaps? It’s incredibly anachronistic, and a reminder that we are in a massive pseudospace created by the System, even though the world outside this chamber looks like an ancient temple to the deities of indigenous peoples all but wiped out centuries ago.

Within it is the treasure chest Chloe spoke of, another golden chest, and again one that I suspect— and confirm— is locked. Nothing else that I can see. Just these strange-looking walls. Part of me wants to damn my deleterious condition and force it open nonetheless. But— if Chloe and I mutually agree that’s the best course of action— that needs to come only after we’ve exhausted every other reasonable option.

“Can you open it like the last one?” Chloe asks.

“If I could use my magic safely, then definitely. As it is, I’m not sure.”

I ponder the matter for a few seconds, and ultimately, one thing comes to mind. Why have locked chests like this in dungeons? I have the [Unlock] glyph, and I’m willing to bet there’s at least a few [Rogue] or [Jack] classes that get [Unlock] or [Disable Device] or similar as a Class Skill. But what about parties that don’t have such classes? Are there treasures that we can’t obtain not for lack of knowledge, but for lack of ability?

It is possible, of course. I can’t discount anything

as impossible when it comes to the System. Although that might not be the case if my earlier hypothesis is correct. Namely, that the System changes the layout of the tower to accommodate each party’s individual strengths and weaknesses. In such circumstances, then perhaps we are meant to avail ourselves of every Skill and ability at our disposal. However, it seems like perhaps there would be a key, or maybe some sort of puzzle to solve or maybe a monster to slay before we are able to access the treasure.

“Chloe, do you see anything that looks off? Sorry, eyes aren’t working all that well right now.”

Chloe grins. A mixture of amusement and happiness rolls off her.

“Hey, what’s that grin for?”

“I’m just happy that you’re relying on me a little more instead of trying to rush in and do everything yourself. Now let’s see…”

Chloe mutters under her breath for a little bit, looking around the chamber, which is about the size of our bedroom. I look around as well, hoping for some insight as to what I’m looking for. She places her hands on the back wall, and I follow suit on the right side where I currently stand. Neither of us finds anything.

I try lifting up the treasure chest. I fail. Trying to push or pull it in any direction parallel to the ground also fails to get anywhere, which I find odd. It doesn’t seem bolted or glued or otherwise fastened to the ground beneath me. It’s almost as though… No, there’s a seam between the chest and the door, so it’s not a part of the room in that sense. Some sort of powerful [Vacuum]-based suction glyph on the underside? A [Mass]-altering glyph which makes it impossible to budge?

Maybe it’s like one of those escape-room-in-a-box toys I’ve seen on the internet? I need to find some sort of mechanism cleverly hidden on one of the sides of the… Wait…

I find a small indentation near the bottom, back-left corner. Sure enough, this causes something else to shift, a brief click echoing through the room. Unfortunately, it was so brief and so quiet that I couldn’t get a chance to pinpoint where it was. Although I suspect it wasn’t actually on the treasure chest itself.

Before I can get up to look around for it, Chloe presses something. This causes another device to pop out. I twist that lever, then we have to push another knob, flick a switch, and then pull a rod out of a small opening that appears. Once we do that, the flow of Ether throughout the room abruptly shifts. Whatever advanced circuitry was maintaining the lock must’ve been disabled, which I confirm when the chest slides right open.

Inside are two apples. At least, they look like apples, smell like apples, and feel like apples.

“Do… Do we eat them?” Chloe asks.

“I have absolutely no idea,” I say. “I can’t imagine it’s particularly hygienic. Then again, I can’t imagine another way we’d be expected to use an apple.”

“Let’s… Let’s wait until we get back out of the tower before we even think about eating these,” Chloe says.

I nod in agreement. I find it highly unlikely that these are poisoned, considering all the trouble we had to go through to open this chest, but I can’t ignore the possibility either.

With our loot in hand, we make our way up the staircase and onto the sixth floor. It’s… tiny. There are only two things I can see. A staircase to the seventh floor, and another cylindrical device just like the one down on the first floor.

“So, what do we do?” Chloe asks.

“I– I think this device takes us back to the surface and out of here.”

“We’re leaving,” Chloe says in a tone that leaves no room for discussion or rebuttal.

“We’re leaving,” I say.

Chloe and I step into the device hand-in-hand, not wanting to risk being separated. As soon as we’ve both made it in, I get a System notification.

[Party of users: [Seraphina Mortensen] and [Chloe Jacobs] has reached [Floor VI Transporter of Dungeon: Tower Gauntlet 36121N-96000W, Planet E3-971, Sector 147]. Users and their party member(s) may return to this floor by accessing the linked Floor I Transporter.]

That is… excessively convenient. I was half-expecting to have to clear the entire dungeon in one trek, or at the very least, restart from the beginning every time I wanted to try the dungeon. That is the implication of a ‘gauntlet’, as I understand the term. But I won’t complain about the odd bit of kindness. Today we’ve cleared the first six floors of this diabolical tower up to hell, and after today’s challenges, I’m only too eager to get out of here with my life very much still intact.

The world goes white. My senses are momentarily disoriented, just as they were during the vision from my past life. My vision spins a bit as the world snaps back into focus, and sure enough, we reappear inside the transporter down on the ground floor.

Everything looks as it was before. The same overly calm, cold atmosphere. The same eerie glow that seems to come from both everywhere and nowhere. The same glyphs— I have to assume— that dampen all sound, quiet enough that one could hear a pin drop, and twisted enough that one couldn’t.

Already I’m feeling a bit better than before. I think it’s psychological though; the System timer on my ailment is still ticking down as slowly as it always has been. Though… No, I set the thought aside. If that happens, it happens, and I have to make peace with the consequences. Goddesses above, so many consequences to deal with. Let’s just hope it won’t be as bad as I fear.

I place my hand on the massive double door, but before I can push, Chloe stops me.

“I’ve got this, love.”

The door creaks open. Sunlight blazes through the small crack. I wince as my eyes take time to acclimate to the bright light. Once again, I’m forced to reevaluate my perspective. Three months ago, this would have been such an ordinary phenomenon. But having gained so many visual-related Skills, the eyesight of an ordinary human just feels so woefully inadequate by comparison.

“So, love…” Chloe sends a vibe of warmth and mischievousness as she spreads her arms out in front of her. “I guess it’s my turn to carry you home.”

It takes a few moments for me to assume my proper position, mostly due to the way my [Wings of Icarus] and her [Etheric Wings] fail to mesh together. But after some… rather uncomfortable and embarrassing positional adjustments, the two of us are up in the air and heading back home. Again, I don’t want to jinx it, but damn I could use a nice, long, warm soak right about now.