CHAPTER 19: CLIMBING FOR POWER 1

Aegis stumbled out of Nazraya’s classroom, legs like jelly.

"Same time tomorrow, pet." Nazraya’s voice drifted after her. "Do try to build some stamina. Your trembling is... distracting."

The door clicked shut.

[Fuck.] Aegis took the kind of deep breath that felt like her lungs might come out unintentionally.

Two hours. Two whole hours of "basic shadow manipulation" that consisted of Nazraya making her channel her mana, or aether, through her fingers while critiquing every micro-movement. The professor’s idea of teaching involved standing directly behind Aegis, hands on her wrists, guiding her through the motions.

"Your Aether flow is pathetic."

"Focus, or the real magic we’ll be working with will eat you alive."

"If you’re going to stare at my chest so intently, then what are we even practicing magic for? Is this just an excuse to be in my presence?"

Every little quip of hers was delivered in that signature honeyed voice, breath hot against Aegis’s ear.

And yet, Aegis’s mana pool didn’t really allow her to impress the professor.

[10 mana points. That’s all I have. Ten fucking points.]

She leaned against the hallway wall, trying to catch her breath. Other students would be asleep soon, dreaming of gala invitations and faction politics. Aegis didn’t have that luxury. With her stats being the way they were, she had to take advantage of every single waking second.

The ranking test loomed in less than four weeks. Combat scores counted for 40% of the total. With her Power at 5 and zero magical ability, she’d be lucky to avoid dead last.

[No choice. I have to increase my mana as fast as I can.]

On that note, she pushed herself off the wall and started walking. Her dorm was in the opposite direction, but she needed to think. The empty hallways echoed with her footsteps.

In Queen of Hearts, mana growth came from three sources:

Expensive potions - Out of the question. She had absolutely zero money to her name right now.

Rare artifacts - She’d already grabbed every early-game item she could right now. Others would make themselves available soon, but not soon enough. The Starbloom Petal gave her +15% magical potency, but that meant nothing when her base mana was garbage.

Meditation - The slowest option. The natural option. Sitting still for hours, cycling Aether through your body, gradually expanding your reserves. Most students gained maybe 1-2 points per month this way.

Per month.

[But wait...]

She stopped walking.

[Meditation efficiency... depends on location.]

Standard meditation in your dorm? Garbage gains. Actual waste of time.

But meditating in areas with high aether density? That changed everything. The game had several spots where ambient magic was so thick you could practically taste it. Hidden places where one hour of meditation equaled a week of normal practice.

Of course, all of them came with a catch. You couldn’t just walk into them.

[There’s a spot at the end of the Crystal Caves beneath the city. But, it’s monster-infested. I take two steps in there, I’ll get torn apart.]

She shook her head.

[The Lunar Shrine... No, the guy who runs that place isn’t there right now. There’s a whole quest in the game that needed to be done before you could go in.]

She shook her head.

[The Royal Archives... No, you need some sort of noble connection. A commoner like me would get laughed out in no time.]

She shook her head.

[FUCK! Where do I...] But then, her eyes widened. [I got it!]

She froze.

[Holy shit. The Sky Piercer!]

The Sky Piercer was a massive building located at the academy’s center. Everyone ignored it because it mainly housed boring administrative offices. But Aegis remembered a throwaway line from a late-game NPC:

"You know, before they built offices in the Sky Piercer, it was a meditation tower. The old headmasters would climb to the peak to commune with pure Aether. They say the density up there is ten times normal. Shame about all those stairs though..."

Except there weren’t any stairs. Not to the actual peak. The offices only went up to the midpoint. To reach the meditation spot, you had to...

[Climb. You had to climb the outside.]

Her stomach dropped.

In the game, it was a simple Power check. Have 20+ Power? You pass and gain access to the best meditation spot in the early game. Less than that? You fail and take damage.

[Power 6. I have Power fucking 6.]

But this wasn’t a game anymore. Maybe, just maybe, she could pull this off.

She started walking faster, mind racing. The Sky Piercer loomed in the distance, its peak lost in the clouds. Blue runes pulsed along its surface. Those weren’t for decoration. They were aether condensers. They pulled magic from the atmosphere, concentrating it at the apex.

If you were at the top, you were literally standing amid pure magic.

[One night up there could boost my mana growth rate by 50%. Maybe even more!]

But the climb...

[That’s the Sky Piercer’s catch. I essentially have to go rock-climbing.]

She still remembered what it looked like from the game, perfectly. Smooth stone blocks with barely visible seams. No handholds, a few ledges, mostly a sheer vertical surface for three hundred feet with conveniently-placed cracks she’d need to hold onto.

Aegis stopped.

[This is insane.]

The climb wasn’t all though. It was guarded, as many students had tried to make it to the top throughout the years only to fall to their deaths. Plus, even if she did make it to the top... she’d have to make it back down again.

Her Commoner’s Locket would help her slip past the guards. Her Moonlight Veil could hide her approach. But none of that mattered if she couldn’t physically make the climb. And, well, then make the climb back down again.

She reached the courtyard where the Sky Piercer stood. Two guards flanked the entrance, looking bored and sleepy. The tower stretched incredibly high above them.

[There has to be a way.]

She circled the building, staying in the shadows. On the north side, hidden by hedges, she found what she was looking for.

A maintenance hatch, barely visible unless you knew where to look. In the game, this was just flavor text. Here...

[Here, this might help make this absolutely insane challenge a small amount easier.]

The hatch would lead to a service shaft. From there, she could make her way up the building until she popped out at the exterior, halfway.

But that still left half of the climb to do.

[What choice do I have? Stay weak? Hell no.]

She’d already died once. Spent three years watching life pass by from a hospital bed, flirting with nurses because it was the only control she had. She’d be damned if she’d waste this second chance.

A bitter laugh escaped her. The Sky Piercer loomed above, taunting her.

She rolled her sleeves up.

[I’m doing it.]

She walked forward.

[I’m doing it!!!]