Gun woke up to a ceiling he did not recognize.
For a second, he just stared at it.
Smooth white marble. Gold trim. A chandelier hanging overhead so expensive-looking that it made the room feel like a palace instead of a bedroom.
Gun blinked once.
Then again.
"...Where the hell am I?"
He sat up fast, then immediately winced.
Every part of his body hurt.
Not the normal kind of hurt either.
The kind that came after being thrown around by someone who had the power to turn an entire battlefield into a joke.
Memory rushed back all at once.
The ambush.
The Architect.
The bodyguards.
The pressure that had crushed them.
The five figures that came down like a divine punishment.
Slax Brimstone.
Gun's eyes widened.
"Oh no."
He threw the blanket off himself and jumped off the bed.
For one horrible second, he thought the Divers had all been split up or captured.
He yanked the door open and rushed out into the hallway.
The mansion was enormous.
Wide carpeted corridors. Tall windows. Soft lights. Clean walls covered in elegant designs. Everything here looked like it belonged to a noble family, not a tower climber hiding survivors in the middle of a war.
Gun moved quickly through the hall, panic still in his chest.
Then he heard voices.
He turned a corner and stopped dead.
Luna was sitting at a huge dining table.
Jack was already eating like he had not just almost been killed the day before.
Waver was there too, calm as ever, sipping from a cup like this was normal.
And at the head of the table sat two people Gun immediately recognized from memory and instinct alone.
Slax Brimstone.
And his wife, Zann.
Gun stared for a second.
Then he exhaled so hard it almost came out as a laugh.
He stepped forward quickly.
"You saved us."
Slax looked up from his plate and smiled like it was nothing.
"I did."
Gun bowed his head slightly, still visibly shaken.
"No, seriously. Thank you."
Slax waved it off with one hand.
"Sit down."
Gun hesitated.
Slax glanced at him and then at the way he was still unsteady on his feet.
"Your condition is worse than the others."
Gun blinked.
Slax pointed at the chair across from him.
"Come eat. You can thank me after you stop looking like you're about to collapse."
That got Gun to sit.
The food was ridiculous.
Fresh bread. Eggs. Meat. Fruits he had never seen in the tower before. Hot soup. Sweet drinks. Everything looked far too good to be real after the nightmare they had just survived.
He stared at the table for a second before actually eating.
Luna looked relieved to see him awake.
Jack gave him a small nod.
Waver, naturally, said nothing.
Zann noticed Gun's stare and smiled gently.
"You all went through a lot."
Gun looked at her, then at Slax, then at the table again.
"I still can't believe the strongest person in the world showed up to save us."
Slax laughed.
"That title gets thrown around too much."
Gun shook his head.
"No, seriously. You're the strongest climber in the whole tower."
Slax shrugged like it was an inconvenience more than an honor.
"Maybe. Doesn't make me immortal."
Gun went quiet for a second.
Then he looked down at his food and muttered, "We are weak."
Luna glanced at him.
Gun kept going, voice lower now.
"I mean it. We got lucky. We had good teamwork. But compared to that guy…" He looked up toward the window as if he could still see the Architect getting thrown across the world. "We got absolutely outclassed."
Jack leaned back in his chair. "You think?"
Gun turned to him.
"I know."
Luna crossed her arms. "That does not mean we are helpless."
Gun nodded once.
"No. But it does mean we need to get stronger."
That hung in the air for a moment.
Then he looked at Slax again.
"I want to become your disciple."
Jack blinked. Luna turned to stare at him. Waver finally looked interested.
Gun continued before anyone could interrupt.
"At least let me try. Teach me anything. I'll work for it."
Slax raised an eyebrow.
Gun swallowed, then got up from his chair and dropped to one knee right there in front of the table.
"Please."
The room went quiet.
Luna looked startled.
Jack looked like he wanted to say something but decided not to.
Gun kept his head low.
"Teach me how to become strong so my team never gets ganged again."
For a moment, Slax just looked at him.
Then, unexpectedly, he smiled.
Not mockingly.
Not smugly.
Something more serious.
"You already are stronger than you think."
Gun looked up.
Slax leaned back slightly in his chair.
"The will to sacrifice yourself for your team is real strength. More than a lot of people ever learn."
Gun stayed still.
Slax's expression softened a little.
"I don't have that."
Gun blinked.
That surprised him enough that he did not answer immediately.
Slax continued, "So yes. I'll teach you a few things while you're here."
Gun's eyes widened.
Slax added, "The royal families won't be raiding the upper floors this week anyway. Plenty of time."
Gun sat back down slowly, still processing.
Luna let out a breath she had apparently been holding.
Jack muttered, "That went well."
Waver said, "It did."
Zann smiled at the whole exchange, clearly amused.
After breakfast, Slax brought the Divers to a massive training room inside the mansion.
It was absurdly large.
The floor was reinforced stone, the walls lined with defensive markers, and at the far end stood a special dummy designed to measure attack force and damage output. The thing looked durable enough to survive disasters.
Slax crossed his arms.
"Show me what you can do."
Gun stepped forward first.
He cracked his neck, then drew his sword and dagger.
"Alright."
He activated Mirror Slashes.
The air around him sharpened.
Then he moved into the dummy.
One clean strike.
The mirrored attack followed behind the first one a split second later.
Then Gun immediately chained Avenger's Cut into the same movement pattern, aligning his body perfectly so both hits landed as one flowing sequence.
The dummy lit up with impact markers.
Slax's eyes sharpened.
"…Floor 10 and you managed to do that?"
Gun shrugged, though he looked pleased.
"Yeah."
Slax nodded once, clearly impressed despite himself.
"That's actual damage."
Luna went next.
Her output was not as high as Gun's, but her Graceful Flame and Ashen Veil showed strong control and support potential. She proved she could keep allies alive and stabilize a fight, which mattered almost as much as raw force.
Jack followed after her.
His attacks came out sharp and fast, and while he didn't hit as hard as Gun, he still managed to land solid damage with his lightning techniques. Slax gave him a quiet nod.
"Good speed. Good pressure."
Then Waver stepped forward.
He did not say anything.
He just lifted his hand.
Ice Daggers.
The projectiles struck.
Then rebounded.
Then chained again.
The dummy registered multiple hits in rapid succession.
Waver followed with Ice Prison, boxing the target in and forcing every impact to ricochet and multiply in the enclosed space.
The damage output spiked so high that even Gun stared.
That was more than he had managed.
Slax noticed his expression and gave a faint smile.
"Crowd control can be stronger than raw damage if used properly."
Waver gave a small nod, as if that was obvious.
Slax then walked between them, arms folded behind his back, and began pointing out what each of them needed to work on.
Gun needed to be better at transitioning from movement into kill windows.
Jack needed to learn how to keep pressure without overcommitting.
Luna needed to expand her support range and timing.
Waver needed to avoid becoming too reliant on formation-based control and learn to adapt when his setup broke.
It was all direct.
No nonsense.
Gun listened to every word.
Then Slax looked at them all and smiled.
"There is one more thing."
He turned toward Zann.
"Your next challenge will be to land one hit on my wife."
Luna blinked. "Just one?"
Slax nodded.
"Do not mistake her for weak because she is not me."
Zann smiled softly, but there was no doubt in her eyes.
"She is also a Ranker."
Slax looked at the Divers again.
"And she is a support Ignivar."
Gun slowly looked from Slax to Zann.
Then at the training room.
Then back at Zann.
Something told him this was going to be much harder than it sounded.
And somewhere in the back of his mind, he already knew the tower had not finished testing them.
Not even close.