One evening, while they were resting near a campfire fueled by mana residues, Klein broke the silence. "We’re almost there, Walpurga. The twentieth floor is just above."

She looked up from her spell book. The reflection of the flames in her moon eyes gave her a strangely melancholic air. "Yes. But don’t think it will be easier. I wanted to ask you... Why are you so weak for someone who has reached Genesis? Besides, you master powerful arts..."

"Well, even if I am Transcendent, I haven’t really reached Genesis yet..."

"Hmm... I see. You seem to be an S+ rank warrior at most.."

Indeed, Klein had reached the stage of Transcendence thanks to his system which had collected the beliefs of Nostradamus.... But knowing his true inner self to develop what is called Genesis, he had not yet reached it.

Genesis being a domain where their powers affect the ambient world....Klein should first create his own essence not that of diavolo or Sulyvhan and truly become a Genesis 1 star.

"Will you protect me, like you did the other day?" he asked, leaning on his elbow to see her better.

She closed her book with a sharp sound. "Don’t be arrogant, Klein. If you make another mistake as gross as that, I might really let you serve as a meal for those trolls."

Yet, despite her harsh words, she moved closer to him, throwing her cape over his shoulders to protect him from the biting cold of the floor. She remained seated by his side, her shoulder brushing against his, a silent but now protective presence in this infinite darkness. Klein closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of her body. He knew the path would still be long, but for the first time since his reincarnation, he had the impression of no longer caring about his survival... 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Sleep now, Klein" she murmured, her voice having regained its calm, but with a new softness. "I watch over the entrance."

He fell asleep on those words, carried by the certainty that, no matter the monsters that populated the next floors, the white-haired witch would be there...

***

The air on the twenty-first floor was no longer simply heavy, it had become a physical mass, a molasses of demonic mana that rushed into Klein’s lungs with every breath. The silence of the area was suddenly broken by a shrill cry, a frequency so high that it made the young man’s bones vibrate.

Above him, a horde of A+ rank Harpies dove in a dive, their obsidian claws shining with a deadly glow.

Klein drew his katana in a fluid gesture, but his movements were slowed by accumulated exhaustion. He immediately activated < Fluid Blade >, feeling his physical energy deplete at an alarming speed. A harpy reached him, its claws tearing the leather of his coat.

"Shit..." he growled, teeth clenched.

He spun on himself and released a < First Movement: Crescent Moon >.

The blade of white light cleanly sliced the creature’s wing, which crashed to the ground in a scream of agony before he crushed its skull with a brutal heel strike. However, three others were already on him. The confrontations no longer resembled the rapid massacres of the first floors; here, each monster possessed an endurance and tactical intelligence that pushed Klein to his limits.

"You are pathetic, Klein..." murmured a cold voice behind him.

Walpurga stood there, her black umbrella casually resting on her shoulder. Her long black hair floated around her, carried by an aura of power that made the monsters retreat by simple metaphysical pressure.

"This is not the time for your mockery..." replied Klein, out of breath, as he blocked the assault of an S- rank Ogre that had just emerged from the darkness.

The Ogre, a mass of grayish muscles four meters high, brought down its bone club. Klein used < Aura Repulsion > to deflect the impact, but the shock wave threw him against a rocky wall. His ribs cracked in a sharp sound. He spat a trail of blood mixed with saliva.

Walpurga sighed, a flash of annoyance mixed with worry she struggled to mask crossing her violet eyes. She raised her free hand and, with an imperceptible gesture, froze the Ogre in the air by simple telekinetic pressure.

"Watch me closely," she ordered. "Your muscles are failing you because you don’t know how to draw from the frequency of the universe. You just hit like a deaf man. Form the Mudra of Prana, now."

Kaiser, kneeling in the dust, complied. He joined his fingers with difficulty, his knuckles trembling with fatigue.

"< Mystic Arts: Mudra of Prana >..."

"Don’t just form the sign," she cut in harshly as she approached. "Feel the surrounding demonic mana. Don’t reject it, transmute it. Use your aura as a catalyst, not as a shield."

Under the witch’s guidance, Klein felt a new warmth invade his energy channels. By combining the mystical science of Diavolo with the raw power of his aura, he managed to stabilize his internal flow. He propelled himself forward, his body becoming a silver streak.

In a sequence of supernatural fluidity, he used < Second Movement: Quarter Moon >, leaving energy remnants suspended in the air that cut the Ogre into pieces of smoking meat as soon as it was released from the stasis.

The months passed like this in this area where time no longer followed the laws of the outside world. Between floors 21 and 25, Klein lived the equivalent of three months of intensive training. His silhouette had refined, his reflexes had sharpened, and his gaze now carried the depth of Transcendents.

One evening, while they were camping near a lake of pure mana on the twenty-seventh floor, Klein wanted to test his new physical strength. He challenged Walpurga in hand-to-hand combat, convinced that his S+ warrior body could rival the frail appearance of the witch.

He rushed at her, trying to grab her wrist. In a flash, without even letting go of her umbrella, Walpurga pivoted. Her hand, of a porcelain pallor, grabbed Klein’s arm with an iron grip. She used the young man’s own weight to throw him to the ground. Before he could react, she found herself straddling him, pinning him against the rock with disconcerting ease.

"You are still far from the mark, little human," she murmured, her face only a few centimeters from his.