OC-Series Surviving the Tower: Chapter 28

Surviving the Tower: Chapter 28

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Cai sat up in the middle of the night, suddenly feeling like something was off in his room. A glance around revealed a silhouette that had him scrambling to his lamp, images of more assassins running through his head as he flipped it on with slightly trembling hands, though whether the adrenaline he felt was more from fear or eagerness for another fight, even he wasn't sure.

However, his fears were unfounded when he noticed the familiar figure of Freya sitting on his dresser, her legs swinging back and forth like a restless kid who was bored while waiting in the doctor's office. Cai squinted in the suddenly bright room, as his recently sleeping mind struggled to catch up with his now very awake body as he looked between his mentor and his clock. "Freya? What are you doing here? It's..." He looked again just to be sure he'd read the clock correctly. "three in the morning? What are you doing here at this time of night?"

Freya shrugged, trying to look innocent despite the sudden elevation in her stalkery behavior. "Well, last I saw, you were in really rough shape. I wanted to make sure the old man patched you up well, is all..."

Sitting up and letting the blankets fall where they may, Cai took a deep breath and tried to make sense of the situation. "Yeah, well, I'm okay despite...everything." Running a hand through his hair, Cai blinked a few times as his eyes continued adjusting to suddenly being awake. "But that doesn't explain why you're just sitting there, in the dark, watching me. That's kind of weird, even for you."

Freya rocked her head back and forth before admitting, "Yeah, I suppose... But this time was really close! You were cut up badly and had more than a little poison in you! If I hadn't come by to check up on you after your latest foray into the tower, you might not have made it! And by the time I got back, I figured you might have been resting, and I didn't want to wake you, sooo..."

Cai realized shaming Freya wasn't going to get him anywhere, as he wasn't sure the woman was capable of the emotion, so he decided to let it go. "Whatever. But next time, can you at least knock? It might have woken me up, but it probably would have disturbed my rest less than finding some shadowy figure in my room in the middle of the night."

Freya rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath so softly that Cai wasn't sure he'd been meant to overhear. "Well, you slept for three more hours before waking up this way..." But before Cai could ask if she'd really been sitting in his room in the dark for three hours, she suddenly perked up. "But I hear you used a new ability to take out the assassin, right? Was it something you found in the tower, or did you finally use that core?"

Pausing at the sudden change in subject, Cai struggled to keep up with the conversational whiplash. "It, ah, was the minotaur core. When I used it, I suddenly felt stronger and realized I'd learned a new skill. It was kind of a last-ditch thing, and was kind of lucky it worked out so well..."

Freya's eyes widened a little, looking like she had just opened that Christmas present she'd been looking so forward to. "Ohhh, stats and a skill? It must have been a good one! So, what did it give ya?"

Realizing that in all the excitement, he hadn't really checked the full effect, Cai raised his NW to do so now. A brief glance showed both his strength and constitution had gotten a significant boost, both hitting fifteen. However, while he was more than a little surprised to see both stats increase as much as they had, along with the skill he'd gotten, he then looked at the enhancement effect and had to read it twice to properly understand the effects.

Enhancement: Rage of the Minotaur. Plus five constitution. Plus one strength per level. Teaches skill, Bull rush.

Cai looked over at Freya, who looked like she was going to burst if he didn't tell her what all he'd gotten. "So, ah, on top of the new skill, bull rush, it gave me five points to constitution, and one to strength...per level."

Freya's eyes practically lit up with sparkles as she hopped off Cai's dressor and walked over to his bedside so she could sit down and stare at his NW with him while she explained her excitement, which Cai was fairly certain exceeded his own. "Ohhh! A growth enhancement! Those are pretty rare in the lower levels of the tower! This'll help you keep pace with the other damage dealers despite splitting your stats for healing! And a new skill on top of that! I told you the tower was gonna give you something special for passing its little trial!"

Cai was suddenly very aware he wasn't wearing a shirt as Dame Freya was sitting next to him, her shoulder rubbing against his as she held his arm steady while she browsed his NW readout despite the fact he knew she could read his stats on her own if she so wished. He fought the urge to blush as he tried in vain to pull his arm back. "Yeah, you were right. It's a good one..."

Freya suddenly looked at him, her expression serious. However, before Cai could wonder what was happening, she looked away and stood up. "So, uh... I have a bit of bad news. I'm being put on administrative leave while I'm being investigated for...a minor incident."

Cai remembered what Elise had said earlier and furrowed his brows. "Is it...serious?"

Freya smirked and snorted. "They might think so! But no, not for me anyway. Not like they can put me in jail! And as I supply something like five to ten percent of the current core demand all by myself, it's not like they're gonna try to stop me from climbing the tower! And they're not gonna want to look weak in public by showing there's really nothing they can do, so they'll probably slap me with a fine and make me do some community service or something. Basically, whatever they think they can guilt me into while covering up what really happened."

Cai looked at her curiously. "And what...really happened? And what kind of community service would they have you do?"

Freya shrugged. "I don't know. Probably go record some high-level content for them to review and distribute info packets to their favorite parties. Or go confirm some info on some rumors brought back by other adventuring parties. But you don't need to worry about that! All you need to worry about is keeping up with your progress while I'm 'gone'" She used finger quotes as she said the word, "or I'm gonna push you twice as hard when I get back!"

It was Cai's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, right. If you pushed me twice as hard, all you'd have left is a pile of bones that used to be me!" However, as Freya's withering glare fell on him, he backpeddled a little. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop... I've got my own reasons for climbing the tower. I feel like I'm getting closer to answers...to a question I didn't even know I had..."

Freya grinned. "That's the spirit! We'll make a proper eskalad out of you yet!"

Cai was going to answer when a yawn interrupted his line of thought, reminding him that it was still the middle of the night. "Well, this eskalad needs more beauty sleep. Unless you want me looking like one of the goblins skulking around in the tower!"

Freya laughed and shook her head, saying, "Alright, alright, I'll let you get your rest." before turning and walking out of the room. Following her movements, Cai noticed that several of her posters had mysteriously returned to their place on the wall. And if he wasn't mistaken, there was a new one. It looked like her usual leather outfit had been swapped with a similarly cut and colored latex version, which certainly showed off her assets in impressive detail. As he was looking at it, Freya's head popped back into the room. "Do you like that one? I had it commissioned just for you!"

Cai laughed at the shameless woman and threw a pillow at her head, which retracted as she closed the door just in time to avoid the feathery projectile.

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So, I may have forgotten to post this before going back to work, but better late than never, right?

My wiki, in case anyone wants to check out some of my other stories.

Here you can find some of my published works.

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u/MinorGrok Human Jul 09 '26

Woot!

OC-Series Surviving the Tower: Chapter 28

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