Uriel didn't know whether he should feel like a fortunate person at this moment or rather like someone absolutely miserable; however, receiving something in return for all the wounds he had suffered didn't really sit that badly with him either. He wasn't going to complain about something given for free.
"Do you have any idea how I can combine abilities?" Ininise, for a few moments, focused as if trying to remember, until finally her eyes opened with clarity.
"I have no idea." All that time just to receive a negative answer; however, Uriel had honestly expected it. But Ininise didn't stop there: "Honestly, not even the people who knew they were going to enter ahead of time were told anything. I can't recall any message like that. Why don't you try checking the system? Maybe there's something there."
Uriel nodded. It made sense. Even in pain, he opened the system menu.
Name: Uriel – The Last of the First.
Race: Human
Level: 1
Stored Power: 34.65
Status: Alive
Statistics
Strength: 1.3
Dexterity: 0.8
Vigor: 2.2
Willpower: 1.5
Perception: 1.1
Titles
The Last of the First. (By the work of bad or good luck, you are the last to enter the tower among the first brave ones to take on the challenge): Grants no secondary effects.
Uriel was frankly surprised. The accumulated power was far more than he had thought. If he wasn't mistaken, every monster he killed granted him one point of power, but suddenly it had jumped to 34. Doing the math, Uriel could only recall killing around ten creatures, so the flesh monster must have granted him the incredible number of 20 power points.
Even his title had stopped having an effect, which meant he was now around the average amount of power that the other climbers had, although he still didn't quite understand what to do with it.
Fortunately, in front of him was someone who had been selected as a climber before him. Ininise was focused on cleaning her new wounds… Uriel thought that if things kept going like this, very little of him might make it back home in the end.
"Hey, Ininise, do you have any idea how to level up?" Ininise was focused, but she still replied:
"If I remember correctly, once you reach a certain percentage of power, it should allow you to use it to level up. It was one of the first messages the system sent, but I'm sure no one has leveled up yet."
Uriel looked at her with curiosity. She had been here a bit longer than him and had her own equipment, so in theory, she should have much more power than Uriel.
"By the way, how much power have you accumulated?"
Ininise smiled faintly, happy to show off a small victory.
"As of now, I've managed to gather a total of 50 power points."
"Incredible, that's almost double mine." Uriel could understand why mages were usually the ones in charge of the waves, or at least that's what he had seen in Ininise. However, he thought it would be more; even so, he felt like he was missing the 20 power points the flesh creature should have given.
Ininise looked at him as if she knew what he was thinking. "I don't know if anyone has mentioned it to you, but power is only accumulated by the last person to land the killing blow on the creature they're fighting."
"I see… I understand, Ininise. Thank you."
However, Ininise also had a certain curiosity about something, and she let Uriel know.
"By the way, I'm curious to know, in the end… what are you going to do with your monster soul?"
Uriel hadn't thought about it much, honestly.
"The truth is, I don't know yet." Uriel shook his head. "On one hand, I could wait to combine it with a weapon or armor; however, I could also die with this treasure and never use it."
Ininise seemed especially saddened when he mentioned dying.
"Hey." Ininise placed her hand on one of Uriel's arms. "You have to know that, once again, I've become useless. I ran out of mana after firing that last magic missile."
Uriel nodded; however, he wasn't going to let her self-deprecation slide.
"Here I am, healing myself again." Uriel sighed. "Honestly, you could be someone even outside of being a climber or whatever it is an oracle does, but me… I'm only someone because I'm climbing this tower, you know? Outside of here, I'm just a poor kid; I don't even have something like a job…"
Ininise laughed a little at how the usually cheerful Uriel had suddenly become sad, with the same memories he normally used to bring out his courage in battle.
"Hey, you know? All my friends, Kaelira, Ralzire… you know, the guys, all of them—well, except for Vykir—were street people. When we met, they were so poor they almost cried when I asked the followers of the Eleventh to give them food and a place to sleep."
Ininise was happy to remember those good moments alongside her friends.
"And all of them became wonderful people, Uriel. I think you're like them. You have a good heart; you're not useless at all. You strive and suffer like the rest, even more so, and I…" She wanted to look him in the eyes for a moment, so that he would understand—so that Uriel would understand—how painful it was for her, of all people, to hear the person who had rescued her multiple times call himself useless.
"I'm sure you'll become stronger and stronger, and all your problems will be solved."
Uriel placed his hand on Ininise's head. He felt happy to have a beauty like her lifting his spirits; it almost made him forget some of the painful bites and wounds scattered across his body. Somehow, Uriel felt as though this girl could understand him very well, almost as if she could read his mind.
He noticed she was a little stiff; perhaps she was surprised that he was patting her head, but even so, he said what he felt:
"Thank you, Ininise. You have no idea how much I want that to be true."