Kate slowly walked through the portal, returning to her room. IQ had told her to ensure Cole wouldn’t be a threat to The Tower, something she’d considered to be a command to end his life, of which she’d failed to do. Even further, the demon had taken pity on her, allowing her to live.

“Damn it!” Kate yelled, kicking her bed.

While Kate was able to return to her room unharmed, she’d massively messed up her trial. Furthermore, she’d allowed a demon and his partner to walk free, something she found inexcusable.

“I might as well check for pity points.” Kate sighed. “They did seem pretty strong.”

Staying in a room identical to Cole’s, Kate made her way to the console. As she interacted with it, Kate navigated to the menu that displayed her overall performance in the trial. Given how she’d accomplished nothing, she expected to have gained either zero or negative points. Both had happened to her before, but never in such an insufferable way.

“What the-”

Looking over her score, Kate was bewildered. Usually, trials were split between multiple sources of points. The console would always list these sources after the trial.

The thing that was throwing Kate off was the one title her score was being based on: “determine if the demon Cole is a threat to The Tower.” Being graded out of ten points, she’d scored full marks. But why?

***

Sensei leaned back in his chair, drinking a cold glass of wine. He sat alone, regarding a large blue box as he sipped away. It displayed a massive keep surrounded by spires.

“There you are!” IQ said, her voice sharply emitting from the walls.

Sensei nearly spilled his drink. He’d never be able to get used to hearing IQ’s voice wherever he went. The screen before him vanished.

“Did you need something?” Sensei finally asked.

“Well, for starters, if you’re going to drink my wine, you may as well invite me first.”

“I got this from Lepra myself, thank you very much. Besides,” Sensei said with a hint of sarcasm, “I’m the great master of this place. Would it pain you so much to show a little respect?”

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“Uh-huh.” IQ replied, unimpressed.

“You’re free to come join me if you’d like.”

“Unfortunately for you, I take my job here very seriously. Drinking can wait.”

“Oh, come on. Can’t you have one of your other IQs do it?”

“I am one of those ‘other IQs,’ Migdol.” IQ replied. “I’m too busy right now to spend my own time searching each and every room for you.”

“Wow, that actually hurts.”

Sensei tilted his head back, downing the rest of his wine in one gulp. It was true that IQ handled many of the systems that made The Tower as manageable as it was. Her magic made his life a lot easier than it could be, allowing him to take a more active part in developing the adventurers that climbed The Tower. For that, he’d always be thankful.

“Anyway,” IQ said, “Lucy and Cole have already completed three trials, each of which netted them a sizable chunk of points.”

“And?”

“I think we should sharply increase the difficulty of their trials.”

“That may be fine for Lucy, but Cole barely knows any magic. It’s hard to find a trial that would be beneficial to them both...”

“We could split them up,” IQ suggested, “but I’m worried that would be even worse for Cole.”

“You don’t give the boy enough credit,” Sensei replied, “I think he’d do just fine on his own… given a trial relative to his ability.”

Sensei took a moment to think over IQ’s suggestion. He hadn’t planned on Lucy and Cole forming a team, forcing him to give them intelligence-based trials rather than combat-focused ones. Sensei had hoped Lucy would forego having a partner, making her way to the second tier as fast as possible. Placing her there in the first place was an option, but not one he’d put much thought into.

Everyone who chose to climb The Tower would always start at tier one, regardless of who they were. Sensei didn’t intend to break such a fundamental rule to simply make his own life easier.

“Maybe you’re right.” Sensei mused.

“Excuse me?” IQ asked.

“Place them in one of Amelia’s trials,” Sensei replied. “I have an idea as to what kind of trial I want them to take next… something that will help everyone grow.”

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“I’ll come tell you later.” Sensei yawned. “Our guest seems to be getting restless.”

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it, then. Try not to be too hard on the kid.”

IQ’s voice cut out, once again leaving Sensei in tranquil silence.