When Neo and the others stepped out of the hut, the argument was already loud enough to pull half the camp toward it.

Byron stood in the middle of the open space with the gray-haired bastard in front of him, both of them surrounded by more and more people as the voices rose. The other four from that group were there as well, spread around their leader with the stiff posture of men who had come ready to back him if things got uglier.

Snot leaned slightly toward one of the men at the edge of the crowd. "What happened?"

The man kept his attention on the center while answering. "The gray-haired one’s saying somebody entered the tower during the night."

Neo heard that and almost laughed.

The gray-haired boy’s face was tight with anger, enough that whatever calm he usually forced into place had cracked all over it.

"I’m telling you, someone got inside," he snapped. "The lower floors were disturbed. The beasts on the second floor were killed. Somebody entered."

Byron crossed his arms. "That’s strange."

The gray-haired boy frowned. "What’s strange about it?"

Byron’s voice stayed level, which only made the hit cleaner. "You and your friends have spent days telling everyone that you watch the tower day and night. You made enough noise about it that the whole camp heard you. So if somebody entered anyway, what exactly are you trying to prove here? That you failed at the one thing you keep boasting about?"

A few people around them let out rough breaths that were halfway to laughs.

The gray-haired boy’s mouth tightened.

"That’s not the point."

"No?" Byron asked. "You came here angry because someone entered a tower you claim to be guarding. Sounds very much like the point to me."

One of the broad men from his group stepped forward. "We’re saying somebody put the camp in danger."

Byron turned toward him this time. "And I’m saying the five of you don’t get to act like gatekeepers anymore."

The gray-haired boy took another step in. "You don’t understand what’s inside."

At that, Neo decided he had heard enough.

"We do, actually."

The words cut across the crowd cleanly.

A lot of heads turned toward him at once. Snot gave him a quick side glance, then followed without hesitation when Neo stepped forward with the others behind him.

Byron’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Neo stopped a few paces from the argument and kept his tone flat. "Snot and I entered the tower last night."

That sent a ripple through the crowd.

The gray-haired bastard’s face turned darker in an instant. "You—"

Neo didn’t even give him the space to keep going.

"The first floor is just a circular chamber with a statue and a spiral staircase. The second floor has a farming system you’ve been exploiting. Soul Beasts climb up through the outer walls and get drawn toward a pale flame. They funnel into a narrow stretch and bunch up there. Easy kills. That’s how your group got stronger."

This time the ripple through the camp came with actual voices.

"So that’s what they were hiding."

"I knew those bastards were using something."

"That’s how they reached Vein so fast?"

Snot stepped in with a grin that did nothing to help the gray-haired boy’s mood. "Yeah. Funny how that works, right? Keep everyone scared enough to stay outside, and suddenly the tower becomes your private Soul Core farm."

The gray-haired boy looked ready to lunge at him.

Instead, he forced his jaw still and said, "And did you go all the way up, then? Did you reach the final floor?"

Neo let that hang for a breath.

"Far enough."

The answer was honest and useless at the same time. Good enough.

Byron’s attention moved between them, measuring more than their words. Then he exhaled once through his nose and made his decision.

"We’re going in," he said.

Several people spoke at once.

"Now?"

"Are you serious?"

"That’s a bad idea."

One of the doubters from before stepped forward quickly. "Byron, what are you doing? We already agreed to wait."

Byron turned toward him. "We agreed to enter in five days. We did not agree to let five selfish bastards decide what the rest of us are allowed to see before then." He swept one arm toward the tower. "We’re not charging the top floor today. We’re going inside, seeing the lower levels with our own eyes, and putting an end to this ridiculous monopoly."

The gray-haired boy’s expression twisted. "You can’t just do that."

Byron gave him a hard stare. "Watch me."

That ended it.

Not because everyone suddenly became brave, but because around twenty people moved at Byron’s back without needing more than that. Once he started walking toward the tower, they followed. Some out of trust. Some out of curiosity. Some because they were sick of being managed by fear and wanted to put their own eyes on the place at last.

Neo’s group moved with them.

So did the black-haired girl.

Neo noticed her joining the crowd from the side. She looked pale.

The gray-haired bastard and his four men did not walk with the others. They followed later and farther back, their faces dark enough to poison the air around them.

The tower’s entrance stood open.

Byron crossed it first.

The first floor received them with torches, white stone, the angel statue, and the same broad circular chamber Neo had already seen twice by now. Nothing attacked. Nothing stirred. The simple sight of that did more for the camp than Byron’s speeches had managed all week.

People breathed easier.

Some even laughed, embarrassed by how tense they had been.

"So this is it?"

"It’s... almost normal."

"That statue is ugly as hell."

"Shut up, it’s creeping me out."

The mood shifted in front of Neo’s eyes.

Shoulders dropped. A few faces that had come in tight now looked almost embarrassed. Someone let out a dry laugh. Another muttered that the place was far less terrifying than they had imagined.

The tower had stopped feeling like some shapeless nightmare whispered about around campfires.

Now it was stone, stairs, torchlight, and a first floor that, at least for the moment, wasn’t trying to kill them.

That alone changed the camp.

Byron led them toward the staircase, and this time there was no point pretending otherwise. Enough people climbed that the second floor became visible to all of them soon after, along with the pale flame, the narrow lane, and the route the Soul Beasts used to crawl upward through the outer wall.

People understood it instantly.

The setup. The choke point. The blood on the stone. The fact that this had been a private farm while the rest of the camp sat outside arguing about whether entering the tower was suicide.

The gray-haired bastard stayed silent now. Byron didn’t even need to press him again. The floor itself had done the job.

Neo turned slightly and found the black-haired girl standing a little apart from the others near the stairs. She had come in, but not easily. Her breathing was wrong. Her hands hung tight at her sides.

He stepped nearer and lowered his voice.

"You alright?"

She kept her attention on the stone ahead as she answered.

"Yes..." Her throat moved before the rest came out. "It’s just... strange for me to be inside this place again."

Neo did not answer.

He only stood there beside her while the voices of the others spread across the second floor and the tower, at last, stopped being a story people told each other in the dark.