I am a weakling.
But that's fine, because today is the day everything changes.
I pull out my cheap plastic phone with cracked screen and slow processor, swiping until my notification pops up.
"See?" I tell the man in front of me. "I've sent the four thousand dollars."
Mike leans forward, pushing his sunglasses up like he needs help seeing anything. His Bronze Rank eyesight is better than mine ever will be. "That's what I'm talking about!" he laughs. "This guy knows the real deal."
The "real deal" is that I'm paying him and his party to carry me through a Dungeon so I can gather raw monster essence as my last hope of completing my Awakening. I've spent years working humiliating jobs since I was fifteen just to get this much money.
My hands shake. With hunger… or excitement… I can't tell.
'I won't ever go hungry after this' I swear it to myself silently as my eyes shone intently.
A hundred years ago, the world cracked open. Dungeons appeared like wounds in the earth, spewing monsters and danger. Half of humanity died in days. The only reason we're still here at all is because people Awakened, those who fully completed their Awakening and received a Codex.
But even the Dungeons weren't the worst part.
It was the Tower.
A colossal black structure that pierced the sky itself. No one knows what it's made of. It triggered human Awakening, changed everything, turned Earth into what it is now.
Unfortunately, Awakening isn't that simple and I know that much.
"Hey! You daydreaming?" Mike snaps. He's a mountain of iron-like muscle, the kind of guy who could probably punch a hole through a wall. "This is why I hate taking Half-Awakened. Always weird."
Half-Awakened, that's me. Stuck halfway between an incomplete Awakening.
Because of Threshold, the natural barrier that blocks you when you've hit your limit. I tried everything. Cheap essence. Expensive essence. Even the dangerous street stuff. Nothing pushed me further. But raw monster essence, rumors say, can break Threshold. Maybe enough to get me to Bronze Rank. Maybe, someday, Iron even.
For most people, that would be enough to live comfortably.
But that's not what I want.
I look up at the Tower in the distance, the way it pierces the clouds.
This has to work.
My goal is up there, far above the ground I'm standing on.
That's why I'm paying this team. All they have to do is run their usual Dungeon-clearing routine. Injure the monsters. Leave the last strikes to me.
"Let's go," the healer says. Blonde, soft voice, probably in her mid-twenties. I didn't catch her name. The third member is a middle-aged man with a sword and an expression that tells me he's tired of everything.
We park at the end of the trail and walk into the forest. The Dungeon manifested slightly off-road, weak and low-ranked. Easy work for three Bronze Rank Awakeners like them.
I finally open my mouth. "Why aren't you climbing the Tower Dungeon?"
Mike snorts. "You think a low life like you can climb the Tower? That's for people with strong Codex. We made it up to the hundred-and-second floor."
His eyes darken.
"There's not much room for Bronze Rank past that," the healer adds. "You should be Iron before you even try."
There are one hundred and three floors total. Real climbing only begins after floor one hundred.
A dull yellow glow flickers ahead, showing the Dungeon portal, swirling gently against a tree trunk.
Mike jerks his chin at me. "Follow everything I say in there. I don't like taking Halfs, but your tiny cash will cover my cigarettes."
Awakeners… even Bronze Rank… they live extravagantly. I know. I've studied everything about them obsessively. Even non-combat Awakeners live better.
But me? I want to fight. I want strength and I want to climb.
"…You hearing me, Geal?" Mike asks, adjusting the axe on his back.
I don't correct him. I just grip my sword tighter. It's the cheapest thing I could find. I even sharpened it on stone earlier. But holding it makes me feel… real.
"Let's go."
Mike steps through the portal. The healer gestures for me to follow.
I take a deep breath and step inside, my red hair catching the last bit of sunlight as the world warps around me.
Inside is cold and damp.
A long tunnel stretches ahead. I shivered.
"Don't get in my way," Mike says again.
The three of them move ahead, leaving me at the back. My heart hammers. Every shadow looks like it's moving. Every distant chirp or scrape makes my skin crawl.
But beneath all the fear… I'm smiling.
An uncontrollable, wide smile.
This is what I've wanted. A Dungeon with monsters. Combat. A chance to rise, to survive, to reach the Tower.
Then the monsters began to appear, some weak undead creatures that the party dispatches them easily, not even activating skills.
But that wasn't the deal.
"Hey!" I shout. "I'm supposed to deliver the final hits! You're just supposed to injure them!"
Mike stops, flicking a bone fragment off his axe. "You say something?"
I move closer, gripping my sword. "You're carrying me. Don't forget that."
The look the three of them give me…I hate it. It crawls across my skin.
"Huh? You think....."
He doesn't finish.
A low, rattling snarl echoes through the tunnel as something crawls from the shadows. An undead beast, dog-shaped, skeletal with rotting fur clinging to its frame, it locks its half-intelligent gaze on us. It studies the group. Then…
It picks the weakest.
Me.
It charges.
I brace myself, expecting Mike to step in front of me.
But I was so wrong.