{Floor 3}
Inside the villa Indrah rented, the team settled into the roomy living area, complete with murals reflecting the vibrant culture of the 3rd Floor.
As soon as they arrived, Indrah called for a meeting. Standing in the center of the room, he announced with a grin, "Alright, everyone, yours truly is now your fearless leader. Any issues with that?"
_
Silence hung in the room, but Indrah wasn't bothered. "Great, your silence means we're good to go." He pointed at Alexay, Paracule, and Rachel. "Now, onto the main event. You, you, and you… sorry, but you're out of the team."
After that bombshell, Hatz was the only one who had Rachel's back, saying they should take her for Baam. The others just stared.
Shibisu eventually talked Hatz down after a few minutes of reasoning.
Alexay slipped away quietly, no drama. Paracule, though, went on a full-on rant about how the team would crumble without him. Before he could get messier, Indrah opened a portal under him and sent him who-knows-where.
'Sorry, I'm not in the mood to deal with your nonsense.'
With the extras gone, Indrah turned his gaze to Rachel, raising an eyebrow like, 'Your turn to exit, please.' But unexpectedly, Khun stepped up, promising to form a new dream team and lead Rachel to the top of the Tower. The rest of the team looked pretty divided. It felt like a brawl was about to break out.
Indrah just shrugged and walked out, tossing a parting line over his shoulder, "You guys sort things out and let me know by tomorrow. Take some rest and don't bother me for now."
"Why would you want to leave the team…"
He could hear loud noises coming from below as the discussion escalated. Shaking his head, Indrah entered the room at the end of the hallway. It wasn't his job to solve their problems. If he had to fix every little thing, what was the point of having a team?
Facing the large mirror in his room, he looked at his reflection. Same black hair, same black eyes. But the moment he activated the Rinnegan, both eyes shifted into a rippled pattern of purple with six Tomoe swirling inside. He studied them for a few moments, then sighed and collapsed onto the bed.
"I thought I would gain the Rinne-Sharingan if I upgraded my EMS, but it didn't happen," he muttered tiredly, closing his eyes and diving into his Mind Realm. He hadn't really checked his abilities yet—seeing the same six-Tomoe Rinnegan in the other eye had killed his interest at the time.
Soon, he stood in the familiar purple Void space. He'd been here before, but hadn't changed anything.
"Hmm? Why is there only the Rinnegan Rune?" Indrah glanced around in panic. No matter how hard he searched, it was the only rune he found—standing alone in the glowing Void, bathed in radiant purple energy.
He calmed himself and moved toward the lone rune, shaped like a vertical Rinnegan with six Tomoe inside. But when he looked closely, his eyes widened.
"What the heck? Are you sure this isn't the Rinne-Sharingan? How can it possess six overpowered concepts that not even the Rinne-Sharingan has?"
"Runes, manifest its details," he commanded, though he didn't have to say it out loud. The runes responded, forming and arranging themselves before him.
—
1st Tomoe [Innate] – Synthesis
Sub-Skills: Sage, Susanoo
2nd Tomoe [Space] – Portal, Swap
3rd Tomoe [Dimension] – Inverse
4th Tomoe [Time] – Psychometry
5th Tomoe [Seal] – Runes
6th Tomoe [Soul] – ?. ?
—
"Holy fuck…" He just stood there, floored. Forget how busted those abilities were—the fact that he could manipulate the essence of those concepts, even with limitations, was absurd. No wonder he'd felt that strange sense of wholeness when the Administrator upgraded his eyes.
"Hehe, Praise the Tower I didn't end up with the Rinne-Sharingan," The difference in his strength between now and then was night and day.
"I seriously opened a portal to the Second Floor just to get rid of Paracule? Damn…"
He used to feel like a three-dimensional being with three abilities. But now? Six conceptual manipulations? Six-dimensional. This upgrade was insane.
Why did this happen? How did Synthesis, his innate skill, merge with the Rinnegan?
He didn't have an answer yet—but excitement returned when he remembered one of his new skills.
"[Psychometry]"
His eyes activated, warping into the Rinnegan again. His vision twisted, dragging him backward through time. After a dizzying spin, he found himself back in the purple Void. But this time, it was filled with swirling runes.
Psychometry let him dive into the history of objects, events, even people. A sword's creation, every hand that held it—nothing hidden. And now, using it here, he could trace back the roots of what changed.
He didn't have to wait long. The EMS Rune started glowing. Blue Shinsu surged in, flooding the Void. Then, as something evolved inside him, his innate star skill—Synthesis—reacted.
It latched onto the Rinnegan. Pulled in the Shinsu, the Runes, the eye itself. Everything. Even the radiant purple energy—the Shinsu his own body had produced. Not the Tower's… his.
WHOOP!
Reality warped again. Indrah blinked, now back in the Void, staring at the Rinnegan Rune glowing quietly.
"Damn, Synthesis, you're way too overpowered." He chuckled, amused by how wild this all had become. Calmer now, he exited the Mind Realm.
Back in his room, his thoughts drifted to the sixth Tomoe—Soul. Its abilities were still a mystery. Probably needed a deeper understanding of the soul itself.
For now, he pushed the thought aside. They had a Test tomorrow. He wanted to blaze through to the 20th Floor. Definitely not because Yuri was there… No, definitely not.
The Outer Tower and Middle Area would be locked off until then anyway. No point staying stuck here with all the maniacs and their dumb test-obsessed minds.
Somewhere between all that thinking, he fell asleep.
—
The Next Day
The group gathered again in the living room. Khun and Rachel were missing, and everyone's faces reflected that absence.
Indrah grinned, glad they'd made up their minds. "No more sulking because Khun left. He'll catch up. It's his Canon event, after all."
"Eh, what's this 'Canon' stuff?" Shibisu scratched his head, confused. Maybe being a pseudo-dad to Anaak and Hatz had thrown off his lingo game.
Indrah ignored him and moved on. "We'll start registering for the Tests today. I want to break the record for the fastest climb. Don't you all?"
That fired everyone up.
"Our positions stay the same—Endorsi and Anaak are our Fishermen, Rak's our Spear-Bearer, Hatz is our Scout, Laure handles Wave Control, Shibisu's the Light Bearer, and I'm the Ace."
Out of nowhere, Endorsi raised her hand. Indrah tilted his head. "Yeah?"
"So… what's our team name?"
That caught everyone off guard.
Rak puffed his chest. "Rak and Turtles. I'll let you turtles name it in my honor!"
"What did you say, alligator? It should be 'Princess and Her Servants!'" Endorsi immediately put him in a headlock.
With a deadpan face, Hatz offered, "What about 'Honored Warriors'?" Shibisu tried not to laugh—and failed—earning a sword chase.
"Aaah!" Their chaos ended up stepping on Laure, who woke up crying over his ruined blankets.
Indrah smiled, watching their usual selves return. The tension had finally broken. Everyone paused and turned to him.
Still smiling, he declared:
"Our team's name will be… Shinju"