Hikari stands before a door.
A hole just big enough to slot her sword in.
She examines the stickman drawing.
The stickman had gained a helmet.
A semi-elaborate helmet with a pair of wings.
"Wyvern knight."
Those who advance to this stage are considered wyvern knights.
Hikari draws her sword into the door slot.
It fits without resistance.
Nothing. Hikari tries to channel her mana through the sword.
The door responds.
She sees her mana flow through her sword, spreading outwards through the door.
But it does not open.
Puzzled, she tries again and again.
But the door does not budge.
She takes a break.
Hungry.
She munches down on another cannonball fruit.
Still hungry.
She must ration her food.
The walls were covered in vegetation.
Thankfully, it was the natural vegetation of the wyvern peaks that didn't try to burn her with aether fire.
She dug through it, hopping to forage something to eat.
A crystal.
Elaborate runes carved onto its uneven surface.
It didn't hold any mana.
A mere container, it seemed.
Hikari remembered seeing one in the third-floor chamber.
It knocked her out cold after she tried to channel it.
She woke up just fine. Still, she didn't know exactly what it did to her.
"Here goes."
Nothing else seemed able to get through the door.
She held it in her hand, channeled her mana, and braced.
The crystal rang. Information flooded through her head.
She felt her brain being half-fried.
But she didn't pass out this time.
Deep breaths.
She sat down slowly and began her meditation.
The runes embedded in the crystal were fresh in her mind.
She tried to circulate her mana.
"Argh."
Her head hurt.
Her muscles moved on their own, moving her mana the way the crystal wanted.
She allowed it. Memorizing the movements.
A long practice session ensued.
She lost track of time.
The tower's confined space messes with her sense of day and night again.
Time for a rest.
As she lay down, she saw golden petals growing on the ceiling.
Food.
She was too tired to reach for them.
They'll be her breakfast.
…
The lit brazier.
It had been burning all along before she went to sleep.
She felt refreshed after a good rest.
Munch. Munch.
She remembered the petals on the ceiling.
There was actually enough for a few mouthfuls.
She felt like a cow grazing in the fields, but one cannot afford to be picky out in the wilderness.
One cannonball fruit. She could count the remaining fruit with her fingers.
The petals on the ceiling are a good sign.
The hive's corruption did not reach the upper floors.
There's likely more food at the end of the floor.
Click. She thrust her sword into the tower.
Something in her mind clicked.
She moved mana through her sword the way she'd just learned.
"Flames."
A burst of flames shot through the door.
Hikari recoiled and pulled her sword out.
She felt her hands burn.
The air around her sword seemed to boil for a brief moment.
She endured.
The gate rumbled, sinking into the ground.
Hikari takes stock of what just happened.
Her sword cools.
She reaches for the wall and plucks a bundle of vines.
She holds her sword. Its tip rests on the ground.
She channels the same movements she used on the gate.
Heat rises from the metal.
Its runes glow with power.
A fistful of vegetation burns as she drops it onto her sword.
"Nice."
Finally, the tower teaches her to brandish her sword with fire.
Fighting the hive with a sword that couldn't cleave was very awkward.
But now she had a proper offensive option.
She sat down and started practicing.
Time passed.
She couldn't tell night from day, so she just practiced until her stomach complained.
"Petals."
More petals lay behind the first door.
She stuffed mouthful after mouthful.
They were bigger, firmer than the ones she found on the lower floors.
More.
The second door awaits.
Two squiggles. No problem.
She slotted her sword in and released a burst of flames.
The door opens.
More petals behind the doors.
Hikari drinks from her pot to push the petals down her gullet.
Three squiggles.
Hikari pushes her sword in.
Incinerate.
The door responds but does not open.
Hikari pulls her sword from the door and yawns.
She had been practicing all day.
It appeared she needed the rest before she could clear this gate.
She lies down against the door.
It was a narrow space between the gates.
The vegetation spilling onto the floor cushions her head.
She sleeps.
…
The door rumbles.
Three squiggles cleared.
That was tougher than she thought.
She had to practice for an extra day to clear the door.
She finds herself in a vast chamber.
Vegetation has taken over after centuries of the gardener's absence.
Jackpot. A wall full of petals.
Hikari stuffs her mouth.
Then she remembered something.
She draws her sword and hacks away at the vegetation.
The central chamber. Another crystal sits in the room's center.
But something else interests her even more.
Hikari stuffs her face with cannonball fruit.
She had to stop herself from overeating.
Her ears twitched. The sound of water!
She searched around the room like she was searching for treasure.
A tiny stream was flowing down one of the central pillars.
She looked up and saw tiny holes in the ceiling.
The stone was falling apart.
She scooped up a bit of water in her palm.
Cold but fresh. The off taste of sediment.
She spat it out.
Not a problem she can't solve.
All she has to do is collect it with a pot and let the water sit.
The crystal at the center of the room.
She already knows what to expect.
Another headache in exchange for the tower's secrets.
She sits down and meditates.
She'll absorb the crystal after digesting all of the cannonball fruit she just ate.
…
Stretch. Stretch.
Hikari warms up for the next door.
Well-fed and hydrated, though the lack of her usual diet was making her feel cranky.
She showers to wash away the sweat from climbing halfway up a tower that extends into the clouds.
Her feet were especially filthy.
She had marched up the tower barefoot because she had no boots that fit her size.
It felt so numb that she had stopped noticing.
But finally they got a good wash.
The next door.
A stickman in a wyvern helmet holding a sword in a stance.
A wyvern head opposing it, firing bolts at the stickman.
"Parry?"
Perhaps a defensive exercise.
Hikari plunges her sword into the door slot.
Flames. The door opens.
A wyvern head waits at the other end.
She steps onto the tile.
Click.
The wyvern heads charge up.
Hikari holds up her sword in a parrying stance.
Bolts of wyvern flame fly from its mouth, striking her sword.
Her sword breaks the form, dispersing the flames.
The wyvern head stops firing.
But the door does not open.
Hikari steps off the tile.
The wyvern head begins recharging.
She'll have to wait until it is ready again.
In the meantime, she ponders what the trial wants.
She was already doing exactly what the stick-figure drawing asked.
The bolt of wyvern flame was blocked, but it seemed to spill to either side, charring her caterpillar-skin arm guards.
Meditation.
She tries to remember the last crystal and repeat its movements.
The runes on either side of her seemed to respond.
She steps onto the tile again, moving her mana the way the crystal told her to, even though she still hasn't figured out what it does.
The bolt of wyvern flame flies to her.
She channels her mana. A barrier forms around her.
The bolt strikes her barrier and dissipates.
Its flames spill away from her.
"Oh."
A very useful ability against opposing wyvern flame.
In her fights against wyverns along the merchant routes, she dodged the wyvern flame outright since she couldn't block it with her sword.
Block. Block.
A few more bolts strike her barrier.
The door opens, signaling that she cleared the trial.
But Hikari stays.
She wants to practice.
After meditating for a few minutes while the wyvern statue charges up, she steps onto the tile again.
The wyvern head obligingly fires bolts at her.
Her barrier blocks it just fine.
But it costs concentration and mana to maintain, and it appears to block little else than wyvern flame itself.
She wonders if she could activate it for a brief moment just for the parry.
The bolt strikes her sword and spills onto her.
Her timing was still off.
The wyvern head was exhausted.
Back to meditation.
Repeat.
Munch. Munch. She bites into a cannonball fruit.
The wyvern head was up.
Back to practice.
…
The last wyvern statue powers down.
The door rumbles.
A carving of a stickman facing five wyvern heads atop the door.
Hikari hoists her sword and catches her breath.
The last trial was intense.
Bolts of wyvern flame flew at her from all directions at irregular intervals.
Her wyvernskin on her chest blocked many of the bolts.
The skin itself resisted the flames, but the runes inscribed in it degraded on hit.
That meant she couldn't easily use her telekinesis to assemble and disassemble them freely.
It was in a mess anyway. Its proportions were designed for a much smaller body.
But she cleared the floor.
A cool wind through the newly opened door leading up to the next floor signaled it.
Munch. Munch. She rests, munching on a cannonball fruit.
She'd lost the rhythm of eating three meals a day by now and just munched whenever she finished a practice session.
To clear the last trial, she practiced activating her barrier again and again.
Sleep. Eat. Practice. Repeat.
By the time she reached the last floor, her barrier activated like muscle memory.
It's just that the sheer amount of fire bolts made it tricky to block.
Munch. Munch.
How many more floors?
She lost count.
Hopefully not too many more; she'd long since run out of ration packs and was living hand to mouth in the wild.
She felt the cold wind through the next floor.
It's cold. Freezing, in fact.
The tower is really high up in the sky, isn't it?
Munch. Munch. She fell asleep.