"Today was quite an unpleasant day, to say the least," she muttered to herself. "I wonder how Cini is holding up. I'm sure he is fine and won't need any help."
We cut to Cinister, who at this moment was climbing the stairs trying to figure how to solve the puzzle.
"1,000,543," he muttered under his breath while he continued to climb with a bent-over posture and drooped arms. "Man, this level is just stupid. I mean can't they have put some kind of elevator"
"No, I need to think properly." Cinister looked around him to see that the walls of the room were just bookshelves filled with millions of books.
He took one of the books, and its title was about a homicide that happened to 3 people not so long ago in one of the villages near the entrance of the Europe Tower.
"Okay," Cinister said as he looked down to see that the step he was standing on had a dead flower and a living flower.
"So each step is different, and by the looks of it, every stair is also different," he thought to himself. "Maybe there is some sort of correlation."
We cut to Alya training with Ragna in the Practice Room.
"Are you ready?" Alya asked as she charged at Ragna, striking him twice with her daggers.
"[Bubble] Mastery 3," Ragna cast as a translucent barrier formed around himself. He parried both of her strikes with forceful precision before counterattacking with a heavy punch that sent Alya flying across the Practice Room.
She crashed against the floor but quickly rolled back onto her feet without hesitation.
"[Sneak]," Alya whispered as her figure vanished into thin air.
The room fell silent.
Ragna slowly turned his head, listening carefully to the faint sounds of movement around him.
"Found you." he said in a menacing tone
In an instant, he lunged forward and grabbed Alya by the arm the moment she tried to strike from behind. With overwhelming strength, he lifted her off the ground and slammed her hard onto the stone floor, causing cracks to spread beneath her.
But Alya refused to stay down.
Ignoring the pain, she pushed herself upward and drove one of her daggers straight toward Ragna's stomach making one last effort to damage him.
Clang.
The blade bounced off his heavy armor, the impact vibrating through her arms and leaving her completely open.
Ragna raised his heavy sword, ready to finish the practice fight
but stopped.
Alya was breathing heavily, her hands trembling from exhaustion. The moment she looked into his eyes, she already understood the outcome.
She had lost.
"Dammit" Alya groaned as she got up "You've gotten way stronger"
"Yeah do you thinkg I can beat Cinister in my current form" Ragna asked
"Speaking about him do you think Cini will be alright?" Alya asked Ragna while she struck him with her dagger.
"I don't have a single doubt that he can clear it," Ragna answered. "But I'm struggling with one thing, and I wanna talk to you while Cinister isn't here."
"Huh?" Alya looked confused. "What is it?"
"Well, why am I climbing the Tower?" Ragna asked himself. "I don't have a family, I don't want wealth, and I don't have any goals."
"So why am I climbing the Tower?" he continued.
"Well, maybe because you want to help Cini find who killed his parents," Alya tried to help Ragna out.
"Maybe that's one reason, but I want a goal that can give my life meaning," Ragna said quietly, "and can help me grow stronger so I don't have to rely on Cinister again."
"Again?" Alya asked. "Did he help you before the Tower?"
"Yeah, we actually don't have homes," Ragna said. "We come from an orphanage, and we became friends after he helped me get my favorite toy back from a bully and shared his food with me."
"You guys are orphans?" Alya couldn't believe that the strongest people in her party didn't have parents.
"Yeah, I never knew my parents since they didn't have enough money to raise me, or at least that's what Marry(one of the caregivers in the orphanage)told me. And as you know, Cinister's parents were killed during the Christmas Event," he explained with a sad look on his face.
"I'm so sorry for you," Alya responded, trying to calm him down.
"It's fine," Ragna replied. "Cinister helped me through those tough times, so that's why I trust him so much."
"If you trust him so much, then I will also put my faith in him," Alya said as she continued to train with Ragna.
That was a beautiful conversation they had, but let's see how Cinister is holding up.
"COMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ONNNNNNNNNNNNNN!" Cinister yelled as he lay on the stairs, giving up on this puzzle. "Not only can you not open or destroy these books, but I also can't use teleportation since this is a puzzle level."
"Also, where are those idiots (The Fangra)? I need their help because I've tried EVERYTHING AND NOTHING WORKED!!!" Cinister yelled out as he threw a book down the spiral staircase.
Then the same book fell back down on him, hitting his head. Cinister looked displeased with himself.
"I swear this floor has been pain and agony" Cinister voiced "I mean I will figure it out but maybe not today"
"If only Alya and Ragna were here to help" he thought to himself
"I think I'll just take a nap since there are no enemies on this floor," Cinister said as he lay on the stairs and closed his eyes.
Editors Note - Cinister is lowk tweaking over a simple puzzle and sorry about the posting schedule