Alessio Leone's Perspective
With the sub-boss dead, the hall sank into silence.Alessio knew exactly what that meant: they'd have a brief period of respite.No threats would appear until they left the sub-boss's chamber. It was the game's way of allowing players to recover before moving forward.
Taking a deep breath, he lowered his bloodstained shield and walked toward the group already gathered around SilentArrow's unconscious body.
For him, a veteran with ten years of experience in the Black Tower, the scene was easy to read.The girl was unharmed.No cuts, no fractures, no poison running through her veins.At worst, she'd wake up in a few minutes with a pounding headache, something close to a migraine.
And all it would take was a single spell from Lumina to restore her mana, and Silent would be in shape to continue the dungeon.
There was no real risk to her life or long-term health.
But just because he knew that… didn't mean the others did.
And that very difference was what sparked the chaos unfolding before his eyes.
Lumina was on her knees, pouring healing and mana-restoring spells over her fallen friend.
Not entirely useless — it would speed up Silent's recovery — but still an obvious waste of resources. Precious resources in a dungeon that had barely begun.
Alessio, however, stayed silent.Everyone was far too shaken to listen to reason right now.
Even the fiery red-haired mage, usually so proud and quick with sarcasm, knelt at Silent's side. Her once-defiant eyes now trembled with worry, her hand hovering over her staff, unsure whether to cast something or just wait.
And Matteo, his reliable partner, wasn't in a better state.He stood a few steps away, staring at the girls on the ground without moving a muscle.His eyes wide, his body stiff.
Expected, of course.After all, Matteo had never witnessed such a chaotic scene in his life.
And he wasn't the only one.
The truth was simple: the vast majority of people entering the Black Tower had never been exposed to watching a comrade fall.They weren't ready for the brutality of real combat.They weren't ready to feel warm, living blood running down their hands.
But this was the new reality of the Tower.
A reality that anyone who wanted to benefit from the game — no matter their tastes or desires — would have to get used to.
Alessio knew that well.
Everything takes time.
It would still take a while before they all adjusted to this reality.
The real world had lived in peace for many years.So long, in fact, that hardly anyone from the current generation knew what true violence was.
Bar fights? Arguments in traffic?All of that was superficial compared to the shock of seeing a blade pierce flesh, of hearing bones shatter, of smelling the metallic stench of fresh blood mixed with death.
The Tower, however, had no regard for peace.It shoved this reality in the players' faces — vivid, relentless, day after day, fight after fight.
Even veteran gamers, with decades spent in front of a screen, with countless hours in MMOs, shooters, and RPGs…Even they couldn't adjust right away.
Watching blood gush in pixels was one thing.Seeing a character drop was just a statistic, an HP bar ticking down.
But here, no.In the Black Tower, the fall of an ally came with the thud of their body hitting the floor, with failing breaths, with the warmth of life slipping away in real time.It was something that invaded not only the eyes, but also the touch, the smell — even the taste, when the metallic tang of blood lingered in the air.
With time, most people would adapt.
Alessio knew it. He had seen it happen.
Losses and blood would start to feel natural.
As if thicker shells formed inside their minds.But that was for the future.Not on the second day, not while the servers of the Black Tower were still so young.
Not when almost everyone here was still a novice, bare before a violence they had never faced.
Of course, there were exceptions.Ex-soldiers who had marched through real battlefields.Men and women who knew the pull of a trigger, the burden of real deaths.
And there were others — rarer, more disturbing.Psychopaths, sociopaths, people who had found in the Tower the perfect place to unleash their true selves.
Here, among monsters and life-or-death rules, they no longer needed to hide the pleasure they took in killing, in taking lives, in exposing their thirst for violence to everyone around them.
But those were few.At least in the early days of the Tower.
At least for now.
And while Alessio searched his mind for a way to calm his companions, a subtle movement caught his attention.
Silent finally opened her eyes.
The archer blinked several times, trying to focus her vision. Then she instinctively pressed her hand against her forehead — an automatic reflex.
Alessio understood perfectly.Her head must have been throbbing.Draining all the mana from one's body in such a short span came at an inevitable cost.It was like stretching a muscle beyond its limit: no matter the talent, the consequence always followed.
Eleanor — Lumina — reacted first.Her voice, heavy with relief and worry, burst out before anyone else's:
"—Hana, Hana! Are you okay?!"
Alessio raised a brow.
Hana.
So that was her real name.
He almost sighed.Exactly the kind of mistake that could cost them dearly later.He had already explained to Matteo the importance of protecting one's identity, but it looked like he'd have to repeat the lecture for the girls too.
They were still far too innocent.Acting on instinct.
Without thinking about the consequences.And in a place like the Black Tower, that could be fatal.
Especially for girls like them — young, beautiful, full of energy — the kind of presence that could drive men mad.
And in the wild environment of the Tower, surrounded by all kinds of people, that madness almost always turned dangerous.