The Story is Told to the Protagonist.

A real mana user.

That explanation instantly made the situation clear.

‘But why didn’t he use his power from the start?’

Is he a type with very little mana? Did he save it as a last resort?

One thought leads to another.
Meanwhile, the wooden man shoved me off and ran to the swordsman.

‘…We’re screwed.’

I should have killed him right away.

I assessed the situation.
Sierra and the team leader were down.
Ein was still bound by the crimson tree roots. Unlike the team leader, it’s because her strength is low.
Jilduk was kneeling quietly.

‘That bastard, really.’

It’s a complete one-on-one with no teammates to help me. No, it’s a two-on-one with the wooden man, the worst situation.

The team leader cursed in despair.

“Shit…”

I got up and faced off against the swordsman.
No, it wasn’t even a face-off. He just gave me a slight reprieve.

My legs are trembling, perhaps because I used all my strength in the recent fight.
If his sword moves, I have no chance.

“Noah… was it? You’ve shown some surprising things in succession.”

“…What was so surprising?”

“To see a supporter capable of both healing and buffing at such a low level. Moreover, a talented human who defeats Master barehanded.”

“I’m just as surprised as you are now.”

A mana user with expert swordsmanship. This is too unfair.
Even the protagonist didn’t face such a trial on the 2nd floor.

‘But I can’t die like this.’

I racked my brain while stalling for time through conversation.
Defeating a mana user without mana is nearly impossible. The gap was that large.

‘I have… mana too.’

And an enormous amount of mana that’s incomparable to the man in front of me.
And the higher the mana capacity, the easier it is to awaken to mana.

‘Please, system.’

Skills are created and grow through ‘upgrades,’ right? Shouldn’t I grow in a crisis moment like this!

Like an enlightenment that comes in the face of death. Give me something like that. I already got it earlier, but just one more time.

‘Mana, move, please!’

I tried hard to feel something inside my body.
But still, I couldn’t feel anything.

‘Content modification! Meditation!’

[Insufficient plausibility.]

‘…I guess so.’

What could I expect from ordinary talent?

He must have noticed my struggle to sense mana. He furrowed his brow as if displeased.

“Don’t do such a pathetic thing. Unlike your healing ability that you luckily inherited, mana utilization is not something you get for free.”

“…”

“It’s the ultimate technique obtained after years of harsh training, and even then, only by overcoming life-threatening challenges. The difference in resolve we’ve lived with will determine our life and death.”

He says I have no resolve.
That bastard, he really knows how to get under people’s skin.

“Ah, is that so.”

It’s true that I grew up comfortably on Earth, so I have nothing to say.
But considering the resolve with which I entered the Tower, I couldn’t help but feel a moment of anger.

Without me, the future of the universe, and even your future, won’t change and will end badly…

‘…No, would it be the same even with me here?’

Someone who can’t even pass the 0th Realm despite having knowledge of the original work.
Unlike the protagonist, who eventually reaches the top of the Tower, someone whose ambition is too great compared to their power and talent. An extra who will die here and now.

That was my current status.
I wasn’t some protagonist who could change the world.

“I’d like to recruit you, but I’m in a hurry for points. If I leave even one alive, it won’t be judged as ‘total annihilation.'”

His brief consideration has ended as he tilts his sword at an angle.

“Perhaps by my hand now, the neck of a future transcendent is being cut. Consider it an honor.”

I can’t just die quietly. Somehow trying to resist, I staggered to my feet with my drained body.

But before I could even get into a stance, he disappeared.

‘Huh?’

No, he didn’t disappear. He was already swinging his sword down in front of me.
Looking up at the descending sword, it looked like a single line. Falling perfectly towards the crown of my head.

In the moment before death, I had the illusion that the world was slowing down.

‘Ah….’

A sense of powerlessness envelops my body. A sensation I’ve felt many times before.

I’m still being broken by this terrible world I created. After boasting that I would change it.

The brief trials of the past flash by.
Numerous brushes with death. The powerlessness felt each time. The difference between them and me.

The real climbers admitted for their talent, the characters. And me, not even an extra, a character outside the story.

‘If only I had talent at least at the level of a supporting character, or even an extra…’

No, if I had power like Seol Ga-ram.
If I had the power to change this damn story.

Emotions welled up.

At that moment, my right palm began to glow.

Saa-

A circular tattoo with an empty center.

Prayer.

“…!”

The light fills the entire interior of this great tree.

Ding!

[A powerful being responds to your wish.]

A sublime sense of elation envelops my consciousness.
My cognition expands, and I sense things I didn’t know before.

‘This is….’

An unfamiliar yet familiar sensation.
A sensation as if I’ve ‘seen it in writing’ somewhere.

I immediately realized its identity.

‘Seol Ga-ram’s… talent.’

This is the world she sees.
At that moment, I was the greatest genius in the world.

Words naturally brush past my memory. Sentences I had written.

I can feel it. The vast energy filling me.

‘So this is mana.’

I just knew. I couldn’t not know. It was such a familiar energy as if blessing me.

The muscles in my arm become as hard as a stone. Tremendous energy fills my arm as if about to burst it.

If there’s a difference from the original description, it’s that, unlike her, I now have mana at the level of the 12th floor.
And my mana flows in the opposite direction of hers.

I clenched my fist. The hand harder than stone squeezed the air.

Crunch-

Belatedly realizing I had been too immersed, I looked up.

The sword falls slowly as if in slow motion.
Shock slowly spreads across the swordsman’s face.

This sublime sensation expanded my world and accelerated even thought. As the level of cognition changed, time seemed to slow down.

Of course, the swordsman’s time would remain the same.
This scene was allowed only to me, no, only to her.

The next description comes to mind.

There was no need to get into a stance. I just threw a punch.

Mana, equivalent to the 1st Realm · 3rd Level, pours out mercilessly in the form of light.

It crushed the swordsman’s enhanced body, blew him away, and created a deep crater in the wall.

Kwakwagwagwang-!!

It was an ecstatic moment, as if I had become the protagonist of the world.

“Whew….”

The light in my palm faded. At the same time, the expansion of cognition ended.

The walls and ground of the great tree vibrated from the miracle I created.

Gugugugung….

Dust rises.

The blown-away swordsman was embedded in the wall, unable to think of falling or moving. I could feel that his life had been extinguished by that single strike just now.

My teammates stare at me with eyes and mouths wide open as I stretch out my fist.

The wooden man who had fallen backwards was now withered, his branches and leaves suddenly dried up. He was staring at the corpse of the boss he had trusted.

“…”

“…”

After a not-so-short silence, someone muttered as if they couldn’t believe it themselves.

“Was that… Prayer…?”

At those words, I looked down at my palm too.
What was that just now?

The circular tattoo had disappeared. But I could still feel it was there.
A holy presence emanated from the tattoo as if the whole world would revolve around this palm.

‘It was a surprising and sudden experience, but… I think I know what it is.’

Not the Ga-ram of this world, but ‘Seol Ga-ram from the novel.’ She lent me her power.

I clenched my fist to feel the lingering presence and lowered my hand. For now, I need to return to the reality before me.

The situation isn’t over yet….

“I surrender! Please spare me!”

The tree man quickly dropped to his knees.

***

The battle was over.
The wooden man had completely lost his will to fight. It’s our victory.

But it wasn’t a fight without wounds.

The team leader approached, his legs trembling, either from lack of strength or for some other reason.

“N-Noah. You, just now…”

“Wait. Sierra first.”

The thought of having to explain already gives me a headache.

As I approached Sierra, Ein held out a piece of cloth.

“Huh?”

“Blood. Wipe it off.”

I looked down at my body.
Wow, I’m completely covered in blood.

“Ah, thanks. But I’m fine, so you first…”

As I spoke, I noticed she was clean, not having shed any blood at all.

Ein flinched, noticing my gaze.
Her fox ears drooped down, and her tail wrapped tightly around her thigh.

Oh… Like a cat.

“…I’m sorr-”

“Thank you. I’ll use it well.”

She’s originally a rear member, and she was tied up by tree roots while I was fighting.
It seems she feels ashamed of herself even though it couldn’t be helped. Probably even more so because of Sierra.

While wiping off the blood, I thought.

‘Even in the original work, she pushed herself hard when Ga-ram struggled.’

Despite being in a sort of older sister position, passing on experiences to Ga-ram, her self-esteem was strangely low.

I’ll have to take care of her a bit until she meets Ga-ram.

I tied up the wooden man and tended to the injured. Fortunately, they could all be healed with a few heals.
Except for one.

“Sierra…”

Ein gently laid Sierra on the ground after finishing her treatment.
The team members gathered around her. Jilduk was lying face down next to her, looking dazed.

He mutters weakly.

“It’s such a terrible place. The Tower.”

“…The power to save a planet doesn’t come for free.”

The battle was indeed tough. Enough to cause a major burnout.

That’s why no one reprimanded Jilduk for his behavior. Right now, everyone feels the same way.

Although the recovery speed may differ depending on one’s resolve, at the moment of returning from the brink of death, everyone was in a weakened state.

“I didn’t know it would be this bad. I, I’m clearly a genius… The most promising talent in our empire…”

And then, as if emotions were welling up, he even shed tears.

“Sniff, Sierra…. Sierraaaa…!”

“…She’s not dead yet, you idiot.”

“Then why can’t she get up!?”

Jilduk got up and grabbed my collar.

“You’re a healer, aren’t you! Shouldn’t you save her! After eating up all the distribution and goodwill, what are you doing!”

“What? You…”

I was about to spit out words but held back. His pupils were shaking greatly, looking like he wasn’t in his right mind.

‘I’ll let it slide this time.’

I slapped his hand away hard.

At my rough gesture, Jilduk briefly furrowed his brow in anger but then seemed to remember something and flinched, lowering his eyes.

The others also had grim expressions, worried about Sierra.
The team leader got up after checking Sierra’s breathing.

“Noah. Why can’t Sierra get up?”

“Probably… mental shock.”

It’s a case often seen in the early parts of the original work.

Sierra had her throat torn, returning from the brink of death. The external wound was healed with heal.

But healing is a power too foreign to Earthlings. This happens when the body’s condition due to healing and the brain’s perception of the body’s condition are different.

“The brain still thinks the body is dead.”

It was a symptom that frequently appeared in those from peaceful planets like Earth, especially when facing harsh battles on the lower floors for the first time.

In other words, she’s essentially in a vegetative state.

“Then when?”

“At the earliest 3 days, at the latest a week, she’ll wake up.”

“Really!?”

Everyone’s faces brightened at my words.
Actually, it’s not that serious a symptom. But the situation was special.

Jilduk muttered as if realizing something.

“Then… do we take her with us?”

“…”

“…”

That’s right. This is the Tower’s trial where it’s hard enough to protect one’s own life. Carrying around a half-dead person is out of the question.

But if we leave her behind? It’s obvious what will happen without even looking.

“…Ahem, hem.”

When someone cleared their throat, one by one, they started avoiding eye contact.

‘It’s an unavoidable reaction, I guess.’

Although we shared various emotions while going through life-and-death situations on the 2nd floor, in the end, it’s a relationship that does not even last a full day.

Everyone here didn’t enter the Tower out of boredom. They each have their own circumstances.

They must survive. They must become stronger and return to their homelands to protect their planets.

It’s not the time to cling to unnecessary sentiments.

‘I’m in no position to talk either….’

Sierra’s last appearance keeps coming to mind. Her slender back as she blocked the wooden man in my place.

In a way, it was natural for her to step forward.
I’m the most important force in the team, after all. It makes sense for another combat-capable rear guard to protect the healer.

But just because something is natural doesn’t mean everyone can naturally do it. Even Jilduk didn’t do it.
Especially if one’s own death is expected as a result.

But she threw herself in to protect me without a moment’s hesitation.

‘….’

The deliberation wasn’t long.

“Can you all step aside for a moment?”

“Oh! You must have a way to treat her!”

“No. I’m going to send her home.”

“…Huh?”

I need to repay my debt to her.
I can send her back to Earth.