Marcus slowly erased the board before drawing another illustration.
This time...
Instead of monsters...
He drew buildings.
Stone walls.
Roads.
Market stalls.
A castle.
Fields stretching across open plains.
The students looked at one another in confusion.
Jack tilted his head.
"...A city?"
Marcus smiled.
"Correct."
He tapped the drawing with his chalk.
"Tell me."
"What do you think the First Floor of the Tower looks like?"
Oliver immediately answered.
"A dungeon?"
Another student spoke.
"A forest filled with monsters."
Someone else added,
"A battlefield."
Marcus chuckled.
"Those answers would have been correct..."
"...two thousand years ago."
The classroom fell silent.
Marcus drew another floor above the first.
Then another.
Until ten floors were stacked atop one another.
He shaded them with white chalk.
"The first ten floors..."
"...are no longer the untamed wilderness they once were."
Jack blinked.
"They aren't?"
Marcus shook his head.
"Generations of Climbers fought and died to reclaim those floors."
"They built roads."
"They raised walls."
"They established towns."
"Then cities."
He pointed to the drawing.
"Today..."
"The first ten floors are humanity's second homeland."
A murmur spread throughout the classroom.
Marcus continued.
"They contain Guild Headquarters."
"Hospitals."
"Blacksmiths."
"Markets."
"Libraries."
"Farms."
"Workshops."
"Even ordinary families live there."
Jack's eyes widened.
"People actually live inside the Tower?"
Marcus nodded.
"Millions."
"They are merchants."
"Scholars."
"Craftsmen."
"Healers."
"They support the Climbers pushing ever higher."
He smiled faintly.
"Without those settlements..."
"Humanity would never have reached the Ninety-Ninth Floor."
Jack looked toward the distant Tower.
It wasn't merely a place where people fought monsters.
It was another world.
One where humanity had built an entirely new civilization.
Marcus drew another building beside the city.
A large academy surrounded by walls.
"There is another reason these settlements exist."
He wrote three words beneath the drawing.
Tower Explorer Academy
Several students immediately leaned forward.
"The academies you attend outside the Tower..."
Marcus said,
"...are only the beginning."
Jack frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Marcus folded his arms.
"Everything you learn here prepares you..."
"Mentally."
"Physically."
He pointed toward the students.
"You train your bodies."
"You study history."
"You learn folklore."
"You practice swordsmanship."
"You study magic."
"You develop discipline."
"But..."
He turned toward the drawing of the Tower Academy.
"We cannot teach you how to become a true Climber."
The room became silent.
Marcus continued.
"Because that can only be learned inside the Tower."
He tapped the drawing.
"Every major settlement on the first few floors contains an Explorer Academy."
"Once young Climbers officially enter the Tower..."
"They continue their education there."
Jack's curiosity grew.
"What do they learn?"
Marcus smiled.
"The things impossible to teach outside."
He began writing on the board.
Inheritance Control
Monster Combat
Tower Survival
Relic Identification
Expedition Strategy
Formation Tactics
Tower Ecology
Ancient Languages
"You cannot master an inheritance..."
"...until you possess one."
"You cannot understand the Tower..."
"...until you have walked its paths."
He looked around the classroom.
"That is why outside academies exist."
"They prepare your mind."
"They strengthen your body."
"The Tower Academies shape you into Explorers."
Oliver slowly raised his hand.
"So..."
"When do we enter the Tower?"
Marcus smiled.
"When you come of age."
"When the Guild determines you possess the discipline and knowledge to survive."
"Only then will your first ascent begin."
He looked toward every student individually.
"And remember..."
"You only receive one."
The words carried far more weight than before.
One climb.
One lifetime.
One chance.
Marcus placed the chalk down.
"There is one final lesson I wish for all of you to remember."
He turned toward the window.
Beyond it...
The colossal Tower disappeared into the clouds.
"For over two thousand years..."
"Every generation believed they would be the one to conquer the Tower."
"They all failed."
He smiled gently.
"But humanity still climbed."
"Not because victory was guaranteed..."
"But because every floor conquered made life safer for those who came after."
Jack quietly looked toward the Tower.
His previous life had been spent searching for myths hidden in forgotten books.
Now...
He stood in a world where myths shaped history itself.
Every story...
Every legend...
Every fairy tale...
Had been left behind by someone who survived long enough to tell it.
Marcus turned back to the class.
"Your training outside the Tower begins today."
"Train your body."
"Sharpen your mind."
"Question everything."
"Because when the day comes to enter the Tower..."
"No one can climb in your place."
The academy bell rang loudly.
Class was dismissed.
Students stood and bowed before leaving.
Oliver stretched his arms.
"I guess next is combat training."
He laughed.
"Instructor Gareth is going to destroy us."
Jack laughed as well.
"I survived Baba Yaga."
"I can survive a training session."
Oliver grinned.
"Those are famous last words."
The two boys walked into the courtyard together.
Jack paused for one last glance at the Tower.
Its summit remained hidden above the clouds.
Somewhere beyond the Ninety-Ninth Floor...
The unknown waited.
A world no human had ever reached.
His heart began to race.
He had spent his first life dreaming of myths.
In this life...
He would live among them.
He quietly clenched his fist.
"I only have one climb..."
"Then I'll make sure I have no regrets."
Far above the clouds...
The ancient Tower stood in silence.
Waiting.
For humanity's next challenger.