Renato pressed close to the cold white wall of the tower, his left fingers resting on the face of the Ring of Spider Climbing, ready to activate Spider Climb at any moment.
The steps beneath his feet were almost transparent, like a faint curtain of light. With every step, he could dimly see darkness churning hundreds of meters below, like an abyss.
Wind poured in from every direction, snapping the cloak attached to his armor. Up here, he had to keep his weight low just to maintain his balance.
When they first set out, his attention had been focused entirely on learning more about Rafada himself, along with what exactly the "Art Gallery" and "Guard Room" he had mentioned were.
Renato had kept asking about the potential threats and difficult traps in those areas. Rafada's answers had been thorough, explaining almost everything except what he genuinely did not know.
At the time, he had secretly counted himself lucky to have the White-Haired Boy beside him, sparing him from blindly feeling his way through one floor after another. The White Tower might have looked dilapidated, but who knew whether a Mage Tower this enormous still housed ancient defenses and deadly spells that remained operational?
Yet those obvious concerns had made him overlook the first stage of the boy's planned route. Only when he pushed open the repaired Magic Door and stepped across its threshold did Renato suddenly realize just how absurd the seemingly casual plan to "go around the outside of the White Tower" would be in practice.
The three of them were now walking along the White Tower's outer wall. There was no corridor, no railing, not even a token handrail. Their only footholds were narrow, transparent steps condensed from magic.
Renato was at least a hundred meters above the