Night falls. We eat our crappy meals. We sit, and we talk, and share knowledge. I tell them about everything I’ve figured out about essence and sponsors, sabotages, and inspecting. We practice our abilities a little. I practice the most, of course, while the others are content to relax just a bit. I don’t hold it against them, though I see my friends engage in small bits of exercise, almost unconsciously.

  Inu taps her leg, her hand bouncing up and down from her class ability. Opal runs a finger along their blade, and the small sound it makes echoes. I see Sylves float in the air, humming an eerie tune while she stitches more clothes, and Thatch meditates, his mana circulating.

  They’re not at all lazy. In fact, they might be even more exceptional than me. I need to focus on the things I do, on suppressing my pain, practicing the healing spell, analyzing all the bits of magic I stole, repeating the runes I know, and solidifying more mana. Compared to me, they seem to almost automatically do the things they wanna do.

  Compared to me, they really look like prodigies. I smile, pleased with that thought.

  I don’t pay much mind to the others. They’re free to do their own thing, and I have too much to learn.

  Eventually, though, sleep catches me. Just for an hour or three, but after last night? I needed them. Badly.

  Richard wakes me up. She doesn’t touch me, but chitters her mandibles close to me, making me open my eyes. The moon’s high in the sky, dim light filtering through the eyes. “Almost time,” the hiy’ht reminds me.

  “Thanks,” I nod.

  Slowly, more minutes drift by, and then, the darkness creeps in. This time, it feels staticy. Charged. Different.

  Just before the world darkens entirely, I see everyone wake up. All of them, parents, kids, aliens. And then, that black, all-consuming static takes over the entire world.

  [Congratulations!]

  The message appears, just as usual, but this time it seems more solid. Loud and ephemeral. Like it’s flickering in front of my inner eye, vanishing and reappearing. It feels… violent. Foreboding.

  I breathe, and the world makes my hair stand on end. It feels like I’m being pulled in all directions at once.

  [You have survived the fourth stage of descent. Final stage of descent imminent. Prepare.]

  The world rumbles. Not like all those times before. Not like when it was allowed for people who could casually melt my face to come down. Not like when it merged multiple planets.

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  It rumbles as if it’s about to break apart. The amount of power pouring in is horrifying. So much so that I can feel it. The system seems almost absolute. Almost perfect. The way it healed my body when I put stats into it is so infinitely intricate, so tiny and miniscule, so powerful and incredible.

  And now, even that amazing creation fails to hide what’s happening. The entire world is brushed with ink, absorbed in staticy darkness, but the flow of power is simply too much. A flood of mana so great it could tear me apart a million times over descends, seeping into the ground, into the world.

  [Integration complete. Curious?]

  That last word has an edge to it, almost teasing. But I am curious. I want to know. Of course I want to know!

  [Species: Homo Sapiens. Two billion five-hundred thirty-three million seven-hundred sixty-two thousand two-hundred and thirty deaths.]

  An astronomical number. A third. It’s a third of humanity, gone. Wiped out. Killed by goblins, by aliens, by people coming down from the tower. I look at it for a moment, then I shrug.

  Oh well. I kept everyone safe that I meant to keep safe. Really, I contributed to those deaths, didn’t I?

  I chased humans out of a dungeon. Thatch killed two people, I killed one. We could’ve killed more, but we didn’t. I could have saved dozens, but I didn’t. So… oh well. Something something big numbers are just a statistic, right?

  Yeah right.

  It should hurt, but all I find is a sense of apathy. I don’t really care that much. I even feel a bit superior, almost proud I did better than the dead. And that’s what disappoints me the most about myself. Perhaps, next time, I could try a little harder. But I know I probably won’t.

  Regardless, the static grows, and the world changes some more. I breathe, slowly taking it all in. More info pours into my head, about the way the world works. About leaderboards, about how well I did. About how I can prove I am greater than anyone else.

  And then, it stops. I’ve been given the info I need. The stuff that’ll matter on the first floor.

  [Retain Anonymity?]

  I nod. Yeah.

  [Select Pseudonym.]

  My eyes dart over my skill list, and I smile. Yeah, there’s a theme in there. “Ion,” I say.

  [Acknowledged.]

  [Integration complete.]

  [Ascension is now possible. Climb.]

  As expected, Earth is floor 0. A new place being integrated into something much, much bigger. I’m a speck of dust, a curiosity, a piece of entertainment, a new toy for descenders and the eyes.

  Yeah. I’ll climb alright. I’ll climb out there, and I’ll pluck those eyes out of the damn sky. Show them what it means to be supreme. I don’t feel any particular need to prove it to others, honestly. I don’t need to step on those weaker than me.

  All I need to do is prove to the world that I can go up there. No, not the world. I don’t care about the world. Couldn’t care less.

  I’ll prove it to myself. I’ll prove that the me of today is better than the me of yesterday. And the me of tomorrow better do better than the me of today, or I’ll never forgive them. And I’ll forgive my past self for my weakness, too.

  A grin spreads on my face. “Alright,” I whisper. “I’ll ascend. As high as I can go.”

  The sky always belonged to me.

  The darkness cracks, and recedes, the static lifting. Somehow, it feels like it’s running away from me.

  A new day breaks. The world changes. I welcome it with open arms.

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