For a while, neither of them said anything.
The bonfire continued to crackle between them, occasionally releasing a few sparks that drifted upward before disappearing into the darkness. Macarius ate his meat slowly, still trying to digest everything Aksibilian had told him. Although he had learned a few things about the Tower, he couldn’t say that he understood much.
There were simply too many things he didn’t know.
Across the fire, Aksibilian seemed to have finished thinking about their previous conversation. He took another bite of meat, chewed thoughtfully, and then glanced at Macarius.
"So, which stats did you raise with your points?" he asked.
Macarius stopped chewing.
He looked at Aksibilian with a surprised expression, his eyebrows lifting slightly. From the way the question had been asked, it sounded like something every awakener should already know.
Unfortunately, Macarius was beginning to discover that there were quite a lot of things he apparently should have known.
"I mean, if you put your stats into Strength, that’s good. Strength is useful in the early floors, too. And increasing Agility is also pretty necessary," Aksibilian explained, gesturing casually with the piece of meat in his hand.
Macarius stared at him for another moment.
"I don’t understand what you’re talking about."
Aksibilian stopped moving.
For a brief moment, he simply looked at Macarius, then slowly brought his free hand to his forehead.
"Ah, sorry. I forgot."
He let out a small breath and shook his head at himself.
"I was talking about the stats in your System Window. I think you should have stat points, too, right? You can increase your stats by putting points into them, and you can choose which ones you want to raise."
He leaned forward slightly, looking at Macarius with an expectant expression.
"Just look at your status window."
Macarius fell silent.
He lowered his gaze, trying to recall the strange blue windows that had appeared before his eyes earlier. He remembered seeing his name, his power, and several other things he hadn’t understood. There had been numbers, too, though he hadn’t paid much attention to them at the time.
He had been far too busy trying not to die.
’System Window...’
The moment he thought about it, a familiar blue light appeared in front of him.
A translucent window unfolded in the air, its neatly arranged letters and numbers glowing softly against the dim surroundings. The light illuminated Macarius’s face, casting a faint blue reflection across his golden-brown eyes.
He stared at it.
For a few seconds, he didn’t move at all.
Then his eyes began to travel across the information displayed before him.
---
[SYSTEM WINDOW]
Name: Macarius
True Name:
Title: None
Nickname: None
Level: 5
Class: Not Received
Speciality: Survivor
Tower’s blessing: Adaptive Regeneration[Ultimate]
Abilities: Slash[Active] - lvl 2.
Painbound[Passive]
Strength: 15
Agility: 14
Vitality: 21
Endurance: 21
Durability: 19
Willpower: 26
Intelligence: 13
Perception: 12
Mana: 3
Available Skill Slots: 0
Available Stat points: 12
Status: Small headache. Dizziness
System Evaluation: Low
Macarius was slightly surprised by the sheer number of changes displayed in his System Window. There were so many details he had never noticed before, each accompanied by explanations he barely understood. It felt less like looking at his own status and more like reading a manual for a life he had no memory of living.
As he continued examining the information, Aksibilian’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"So, what level are you at?" Aksibilian asked.
"Level 5," Macarius answered.
"Level 5, huh? That’s a good start. Then you must have twelve stat points, right? You should spend them correctly."
Macarius lowered his gaze toward the System Window again.
"Spend them correctly? But how?" he asked.
"It’s easy. For now, I think it’s better if you put your points into the stats that are useful on the lower floors. I also think it’s better to invest in the stats connected to the Blessing you received," Aksibilian explained.
"Blessing? What is that?" Macarius asked.
"Ehh? How do you not know about it? Isn’t it the first thing you can see?"
Aksibilian looked genuinely confused. He tilted his head slightly, his golden-blond hair shifting across his forehead as he tried to understand how Macarius could be missing something so fundamental.
"It’s the power given to you by the Tower. We call it the Tower’s Blessing. Usually, we’re told not to reveal our powers to anyone except people we trust. But I’m sure you’re a trustworthy guy, right?"
He gave Macarius an easygoing smile before continuing.
"So, what I meant is, if you can remember, when you first did something, the System gave you bonus stat points. Those bonus points are connected to your Blessing. That’s why it’s better to allocate them properly."
’He’s calling me trustworthy even though he doesn’t know anything about me?’
Macarius studied the young man’s face for a moment. Aksibilian appeared entirely comfortable discussing something that, according to his own explanation, people were usually warned to keep secret. He spoke as though they had known each other for much longer than they actually had.
’But, honestly... I don’t understand what this guy is thinking.’
There was something strange about Aksibilian’s casual attitude. Macarius couldn’t decide whether it was a sign of genuine kindness or simply a lack of caution. Neither possibility made it easy to determine what he should do.
"So, should I put all the bonus points into the stats connected to that Blessing thing?" Macarius asked.
"No, not really. I think it’s better if you put two points into Strength and two into Agility for now. You’ll need those stats the most on the starting floors. After that, you can distribute the remaining points according to your own Blessing."
Aksibilian spoke with the confidence of someone who had already learned these lessons through experience. He didn’t appear to be trying to impress Macarius. If anything, he seemed to consider the advice so basic that explaining it was hardly worth the effort.
Macarius looked back at his System Window.
Strength. Agility. Vitality. Endurance. Willpower. Mana.
His eyes moved across the list until his thoughts returned to the battle with the rabbits. He remembered the notifications that had appeared after enduring their attacks and the strange bonuses he had received.
Endurance. Willpower. Vitality.
Those were the attributes the Tower had rewarded him for improving through his fight.
’So, first, I should put two points into Strength and two into Agility, right?’
He focused on his Strength attribute and allocated two points. Then he did the same with Agility.
For a brief moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then he noticed a subtle change.
His body felt more energetic, as though some of the heaviness weighing down his limbs had eased. His movements seemed a little lighter, and even sitting still, he could sense a difference in the way his body responded to his intentions. It wasn’t a dramatic transformation, but it was enough to make him pause.
’Is this because of that stats?’
He flexed his fingers, then shifted his shoulders slightly, paying attention to the unfamiliar sensation. The change was difficult to describe. He hadn’t suddenly become stronger in a way he could measure, yet something about his physical condition felt improved.
There were still eight stat points left.
Macarius stared at the remaining attributes, trying to decide how to distribute them. He could put them into Vitality, Endurance, and Willpower, the attributes that had increased through his battle. That seemed reasonable, considering what he had survived. But then his eyes settled on Mana. Three. Compared with his other attributes, the number looked painfully low.
’I should probably put two points into Mana as well. Otherwise, it’ll fall too far behind the others.’
He didn’t know enough about the Tower to understand the long-term consequences of his choices. Still, leaving one of his attributes so far behind felt like a mistake waiting to happen.
After a little more consideration, Macarius allocated two points to Mana. He then distributed the remaining six points among Vitality, Endurance, and Willpower, giving each of them two.
Once he had finished, the System Window updated.
Macarius remained still for a moment, paying attention to the changes spreading through his body. The improvement wasn’t overwhelming, but it was noticeable. He felt more capable than before, as though his body had become slightly better suited to carrying out his intentions.
Across the bonfire, Aksibilian watched him with a smile, seemingly able to tell that something had changed.
"It feels good, doesn’t it?" he asked.
"Yes... looks like it," Macarius answered.
He glanced at his hands once more before letting them rest on his knees. He wasn’t sure how much of the sensation came from the actual increase in his attributes and how much came from knowing that his status had improved. Either way, the difference was there.
"So, now you’ve got some basic understanding," Aksibilian said.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
The fire crackled between them, occasionally sending a small burst of sparks toward the cave ceiling. The smell of roasted rabbit still lingered in the air, mixing with the faint scent of smoke and damp stone. Macarius continued to examine his System Window in silence, while Aksibilian settled back into a more relaxed position.
Eventually, Aksibilian broke the silence again.
"Hey, you see, I was thinking that we should work together. My Blessing is suited for fighting, but it doesn’t help much with my defense. If I get surrounded, I might not make it out alive. And I can’t fight for very long before I get exhausted, either. That’s why I was thinking we could head to the upper floors together. What do you think?"
Macarius looked up from the System Window.
"I actually don’t know," he answered honestly. "I can’t fight that much, so I’m not sure if I can be any help."
He wasn’t trying to reject Aksibilian outright. He simply didn’t know what he was capable of beyond the strange power that had kept him alive during the rabbit attack. His swordsmanship was limited, his knowledge of the Tower was practically nonexistent, and he had no idea what other dangers waited beyond the forest.
Agreeing to travel with someone so soon after meeting him seemed like a decision that deserved more thought.
’Actually, I think this guy is weird. And I don’t know if he’s completely trustworthy. I’m not even sure about this world yet.’
Macarius had no reason to believe Aksibilian wanted to hurt him, but that didn’t mean he had a reason to trust him, either. Anna’s warning remained in the back of his mind, refusing to disappear no matter how casually Aksibilian behaved.
’Don’t trust people easily.’
The words had been simple enough to remember. Following them, however, was proving considerably more complicated.
"I know, but if we fight side by side and hunt together, won’t we get stronger faster?" Aksibilian asked. "And I think your Blessing must be something related to defense, right? Seeing that you weren’t injured despite being surrounded by all those rabbits, it must be something like that."
Macarius didn’t answer. His gaze remained fixed on Aksibilian, his expression giving little away.
’What? This guy is dangerous, isn’t he? Or is he actually not like that?’
The problem was that Aksibilian had reached a conclusion that Macarius himself hadn’t fully understood. His body had been torn apart by the rabbits, yet he had awakened without a single visible injury. From the outside, it must have looked as though he possessed some extraordinary defensive ability.
And now Aksibilian wanted to work with him because of it. Macarius couldn’t tell whether the young man was simply making a reasonable guess or trying to figure out how useful he could be.
"How do you know if my Blessing is about defense or not? And how would it be useful to you?" Macarius asked.
"I don’t know. I just guessed, that’s all."
Aksibilian shrugged, seemingly unbothered by the suspicion behind the question.
"I know you might not want to share information about your Blessing, and I don’t want to force you, either. I just felt like we could accomplish something if we hunted together. Besides, I thought you could make a great tank. You could draw the monsters’ attention while I attack them from their blind spots."
He explained the plan with a casualness that made it sound almost obvious. One person would take the brunt of the enemies’ attacks while the other struck from a safer position. It was a straightforward strategy, at least in theory.
Macarius, however, had already experienced what happened when enemies surrounded him. He knew that surviving such a situation wasn’t necessarily the same as being able to control it.
"Is that all? Aren’t you trusting someone you just met a little too easily?" Macarius asked.
Aksibilian’s smile weakened slightly.
"Why do you say that? You still don’t trust me? I know it might be difficult, but I thought you could trust me at least a little after I saved you. I guess earning someone’s trust is harder than I thought."
His voice lacked the cheerful ease it had carried throughout most of their conversation. He didn’t sound angry, nor did he raise his voice. The disappointment was subtle, but Macarius noticed it all the same.
For some reason, that made the situation much more uncomfortable.
’Why do I feel like a bad person right now?’
Macarius lowered his eyes, avoiding Aksibilian’s expression.
’It’s not my fault. I’m just trying not to get myself into trouble.’
That was the sensible thing to do. He had no memories, no understanding of the world, and no way of knowing whether the person sitting across from him was as harmless as he appeared. Trusting a stranger simply because he had offered help seemed like a good way to end up dead.
’But looking at his face is making me feel bad. I don’t understand myself.’
He pressed his lips together.
It was irritating. He could understand the logic behind his own caution, yet that didn’t stop him from feeling guilty when he saw the disappointment on Aksibilian’s face. He didn’t even know why it bothered him so much.
"Aghhh... damn..." he muttered under his breath.
Macarius rubbed his forehead, then finally looked back at Aksibilian.
"Okay. I agree. But I can’t guarantee I’ll be very useful."
The words came out with more reluctance than he had intended, but they were clear enough.
For a moment, Aksibilian seemed to process what he had heard. Then his expression brightened, the earlier disappointment disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.
"No problem. You don’t need to worry too much. As long as we can hunt successfully, that’s all that matters."
He smiled again, looking considerably happier now that they had reached an agreement. Macarius watched him for a moment before turning his attention back to the fire. He had agreed to cooperate with a stranger whose intentions he couldn’t properly judge, in a world he didn’t understand, while possessing a power he barely knew how to use.
It wasn’t exactly a reassuring situation.
Still, for now, Aksibilian had saved his life. And until Macarius found a better way to survive, working together might not be such a bad decision.