Eleanor Whitmore's Perspective
Eleanor wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.During Aslan's entire speech, she could only hope her poker face had been convincing enough.
Until that moment, she had never really considered the true risks of having her real name exposed inside the Black Tower.
Of course, as an experienced player, she wasn't naïve enough to ignore the dangers of online interactions.She knew some information could always be used against her — and in certain cases, could even put her at real risk.
But the level of danger this could reach within the Tower… that hadn't fully crossed her mind before.
Revolutionary.That was the weight of this game.And in Alessio's words, Eleanor grasped the scale of it in a way she never could have imagined on her own.
The truth hit her with cruel force.
Wasn't she herself the perfect example of the risk Alessio had described?
It was a fact.
She hadn't been late logging into the game by nearly fifteen minutes without reason.
She had been late because she was searching for Alessio on social media.
She — of all people — fit exactly what he described: a stalker.Someone who, if she wanted, could use personal information to cross the barrier between both worlds.
Inside, her mind burned with shame.She could only pray that her true feelings hadn't shown on her face.That no one had noticed the heat flushing in her cheeks during that endless lecture.
Fortunately, she wouldn't have to spend the rest of the day staring at Alessio's handsome face.After all, every member of the group had received very detailed "instructions" on what they were supposed to do throughout the day.
When Alessio started explaining those instructions, Eleanor half-expected Cassandra to explode.Her friend absolutely hated following orders — from anyone, in any situation.The fact that she had agreed to follow his plans inside the dungeon had already been close to a miracle.And now there he was, dictating not only what they should do together, but also what they should accomplish separately, outside the dungeon.
Of course, he had emphasized that these were simply game-related suggestions.
How Cassandra would interpret them, though, Eleanor had no idea.
The atmosphere grew tense for a moment.Cassandra rolled her eyes, Hana stayed overly serious — as if memorizing every word — and even Matteo, usually so outgoing, seemed a little subdued.
But little by little, the tension faded.
The instructions — which Eleanor preferred to see as advice — were simply too valuable to ignore.
Even for someone as rebellious as Cassandra.
When it was Eleanor's turn, Alessio spoke with surgical precision.He explained exactly how she could develop her healer class.Not in vague terms, but in a way that aligned perfectly with what Eleanor herself wanted.
It addressed the very flaws she had noticed in herself the day before.
As if he had somehow read her mind.
For a moment, a shiver ran down her spine.Shame and admiration twisted together inside her.
The healer class inside the Black Tower was unlike any healer class Eleanor had ever experienced in other games.
And not only because of its application — which demanded an incredibly high grasp of biological sciences — but also because of the very foundation that sustained the entire profession.
In other virtual worlds, clerics were always tied to churches.The rule was immutable: class progression depended on faith in a deity and the power granted by that institution.
Eleanor remembered it well from countless other games.
In Legacy of Avalon, for example, each player had to pledge loyalty to one of the five major churches, each bound to a god. That choice shaped their entire playstyle: fast heals, vitality blessings, or purification spells that worked only against the undead.
In Eternal Crown, the restrictions were even tighter. There, each cleric could only evolve by rising in "rank" within their church. Devotion quests, daily prayers inside the temple, and even the obligation to "confess" their character's sins were mandatory requirements. Power didn't come from the player but from the god who granted divine grace.
In Chronicles of Eltheria, the system was broader but equally religious: dozens of deities to choose from, each with their own dogma. The player was forced to follow the rules of their chosen god, and breaking those dogmas could mean losing entire miracles or even having their character punished with permanent curses.
The pattern was always the same.Clerics were instruments of faith.Digital priests serving higher beings.
But in the Black Tower, everything was different.
Here, healers were something far closer to mages.Almost like sister schools of knowledge.
While mages studied the physical and chemical reactions of natural elements, healers focused on the biological functions of the body and how those functions could be linked to magic.
Mages, for example, might spend hours studying phenomena such as the changing states of water.It was common to see them in practical labs within the academy, freezing a jar until it became solid ice, then heating it until it turned into vapor.Each transition was a field of study: solid to liquid, liquid to gas, and — with enough mastery — reversing those states to create ice spells or scorching steam in battle.Others were fascinated by static electricity, reproducing controlled discharges from friction between surfaces, then channeling that knowledge into lethal lightning strikes.
Healers, on the other hand, took a different path.Their studies began with the living body — flesh and blood.The first lessons often involved observing how superficial wounds healed.They learned to watch the natural process of cellular regeneration — how a simple cut closed over time — and then applied magical energy to accelerate it.A scrape that might have taken days to heal could vanish in minutes under a skilled healer's touch.Other advances included stabilizing breathing after trauma or cleansing poisoned tissue — manipulating the body's functions in ways that were almost clinical, yet always fueled by mana.
It was that contrast that made the two classes sisters, but never equals.On one side, the elements and physics of mages.On the other, the biology and magical medicine of healers.
A completely different paradigm.More scientific. More systematic.
And for players who didn't grasp those concepts — even after choosing the class — the game offered special locations.Entire complexes, almost like universities.Institutions dedicated to teaching the fundamentals before players dove into real practice.
Eleanor knew the place.But since she had already been able to use her powers thanks to knowledge she had gained outside the game, she had skipped that step.A shortcut — similar to the one Cassandra had taken as well.
Now, however, she was back.
Thanks to Alessio's advice, she had returned to the healer academy.And at that moment, she found herself inside one of the most specialized buildings in the entire institution.
A place known as the Mana Ward.