Chapter 7

Towers Descend (II)

A plain stretch of green extended for nearly a mile, blending into a rising cliff with high falls on both ends. From what Cain knew, nobody had ever descended down the cliff to see its bottom, and it remained one of the three unexplored places on the first floor.

On top of the cliff was a fortress of sorts, built out of bronze stone with high towers charged with ballistae overseeing the prairie down below. Cain observed it from the safe distance, confirming that it was the same as the last time.

The fortress was populated by humanoid creatures, at least in general shapes; they were on the taller end of things, averaging out at six-foot-five, their skin scaled in draped yellow, heads lean, with slightly hunched back. Their defenses were solid, especially against the beginner weapons, but magic was their weakness which was why Cain chose this spot specifically.

Stretching and yawning lazily, he stepped out onto the prairie and charged forward with seemingly reckless abandon. One key element of his class was that it, technically speaking, had no individual skills besides ‘Blink’ and ‘Elemental Shield’. Instead, it had the so-called ‘Properties’ -- Fire, Frost, Wind, Arcane, and Earth. This allowed all Elementalist to ‘design’ their own spells and patterns of attack.

Relishing in the feeling that had been lost on him for three months, Cain flicked his fingers together and kindled a spark of fire within both his palms. It was warm, coral-golden, trailing along his fingers like serpents.

He’d finally been noticed halfway up the hill and saw the ballistae being aimed at him, the enormous bolts about to descend like thunder. He waited patiently as he charged the soles of his feet with Wind, increasing his speed slightly.

The sound of the bolts being unleashed really was akin to thunder's, but Cain was ready; he almost immediately Blinked forward, charging through nearly fifty feet of open space instantaneously and evading the bolts expertly. Nearing the gate, he charged Fire and Wind, one of his hands coated in flames and the other with the surging cyclone. Just as he reached within twenty feet of the wooden gates, he growled out lowly and slapped his Fire-charged arm forward before placing the other one around his wrist.

The fire blew out into a cone, pushed forward by an outburst of the violent wind, as it flew directly into the gate and blew it open. The explosion shook the wall and tossed numerous 'Bandits' off their feet and over the wall. Due to the height, most survived, though three ended up landing awkwardly and dying.

Wasting no time, Cain charged his right foot with Earth and slammed it into the ground, erecting spikes at the landing spots of the extra six that survived. A moment later, all six creatures were impaled and bleeding, uncertainty evident in their sharp, black eyes.

Ignoring them, he pressed onward, slamming his fists together and double-charging Frost into a hail of bolts that appeared around him. Each was connected directly to his mind, as though they were his limbs, and he sent each flying at seemingly random directions through the dusted smoke that had risen as the gate fell.

Yet, a mere moment later, six yelps of pain screeched out amidst the roars of confusion and anger.

Taking a deep breath, he settled down and glanced at his remaining Mana: 110/180. Should be enough, he mused, smiling faintly. He’d missed this, he realized. Even though he had none of the high-tier Skills or Properties that he’d developed in his past life... this alone was reinvigorating. It was no secret that a lot of people became addicted to this feeling, the thrill of the battle.

Coating his feet in Wind once again, he kicked up the dust as he ran forward, using Blink just as it came off of cooldown, appearing mere few feet away from a group of bandits that stormed out of one of the stone buildings. By then, he’d already charged Fire in both his fists and slapped them forward, causing winged flames to blast out from his palms and drown out the bandits in the blaze.

He landed swiftly onto the ground and spun, ducking backward slightly and evading a screeching arrow that blasted past his nose. Smirking and half-bent, he spun in place and slammed his hand onto the ground, rapidly erecting a dome-like wall of earth around him that was quickly drowned in arrows. A moment of silence fell before the dome exploded into an outward shower of rocks that acted almost like a dirty bomb, shattering several skulls.

Purple sheen suddenly coated his fingers as his eyes 'locked' onto the remaining eight bandits, each holding an expression of terror. Just a second later, he snapped them aggressively toward the bandits, eight of his fingers firing off a violet array of light that shot right through the eight skulls, killing them.

The sounds settled and the silence fell as Cain glanced his remaining 20 Mana, smiling bitterly. This is a fucking torture, he sighed, noting the carnage he’d caused in just five minutes. I need to immediately grab some items...

Yet, before he could even look around and see whether there was anything valuable, a storm of screens appeared in front of him, startling him. Right, he realized. Notifications won’t pop out in ‘combat state’...

//You have leveled up...

You have leveled up...

You have leveled up...

...

Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 10!

Unlocked: Water(D-), Blood(E+)

Unlocked: Tier 0 weapons and armor

Gained an achievement: Bandit Slayer (extra damage done to all the lawless; you will be attacked on sight)

Unlocked: Bandit Slayer title (increased reputation in Denizens’ Cities.)

...//

Cain nodded, having expected all of this. He still had 4 properties to unlock at level 20 and 30, ‘Nature’, ‘Body’, ‘Aether’, and ‘Creation’. Grinding them out, especially Aether and Creation, was however an incomparable nightmare. From what he knew, none of the Elementalist had ever managed to get them past B+, and even that was already a nightmare that took over twenty years to achieve.

Bringing up his status screen, he nodded in satisfaction, having nearly doubled his Mana already, even managing to increase his Health slightly. The 'Health' stat was a bit of a cheat, however -- after all, if someone stabbed him in the heart, head, or did anything that would kill an ordinary human... he would also die. The Health stat kicks in only during the prolonged deaths, such as bleeding out. If it would take someone with 10 Health a minute to bleed out, then someone with 100 Health could hang on for ten.

///Name: Cain Gregory Age: 32 Race: Human

Class: Elementalist Level: 11

Strength: 8 Vitality: 14 Agility: 9 Stamina: 11

Intelligence: 30 Wisdom: 26 Health: 140 Mana: 300

Traits: Labourer(C-), Quick-witted(B), Tenacious(C-), Leadership(C-)

Skills: Fire(C-), Frost(D+), Arcane (C), Earth (C-), Wind (D+), Blink(C-), Elemental Shield(D+), Water(D-), Blood(E+)

Items: N/A

Titles: The First Elementalist, Bandit Slayer

Achievements: 3 (+1 to Main Stats for each achievement)///

Putting it away, he slowly began going through the fortress. He knew that there was a ‘treasure box’ at the central building, but he first scoured the corpses and the smaller buildings to see if he got lucky. Nope, he sighed bitterly after having gone through the last house. I guess I was never the lucky type... he mostly found useless scrap that could be sold to the Denizens, but he highly doubted he had enough reputation just yet.

Shrugging, he went toward the two-story stone-cast, crude, dimly lit, and mold-infested building. He immediately headed toward the basement whose doors were hidden behind a 'switch' of sorts that was the solitary torch in the backroom. By pulling on it, the room quaked momentarily as the wall in front of him parted.

Chuckling at the weirdness of it all, he descended down the set of stairs and into a fairly narrow but well-lit room. There was nothing in it except a table and a head-sized, wooden box on top of it. A simple inspection simply called it 'Wooden Box', but, as years of failure have taught him numerous times, Cain cast 'Elemental Shield' on himself as a precaution before lifting it up and opening it.

Luckily, nothing exploded, there was no sludge jumping at his face, no poisonous gas, no daggers, needles, tiny, flesh-eating ants, or the hundred other bizarre things that usually ended up being the death of the passionate but idiotic explorers of the realm.

The box contained two things -- a small -- palm-sized -- worn-out parchment, and a crystal sphere.

//Treasure Map (D-)

It may lead to Death, or to Riches.//

Cain immediately decided he would not be going there. He was very familiar with this item as the group that eventually headed where the map indicated wound up discovering the first floor’s ‘boss room’ and dying miserable deaths. It all began here, huh? I wonder how long will it take to find the ‘boss room’ without this... months? Years? In the end, if it took too long, he could just leak the information so he wasn’t worried too much.

The other item, however, intrigued him as he didn’t know what it was. Those who found treasures rarely, if ever, actually publicly stated what it was -- because if they did, the likelihood of them being killed for that very treasure was roughly 120%. He picked it up pensively and rolled it through his finger; it was a cool sensation, and the sphere was rather smooth despite its rugged-seeming edges.

//Ember’s Quartz (B-) -- Off-hand

+5 Intelligence and Wisdom

+25% to Mana Regeneration

+10% Damage to Fire and Arcane

+5% Defense to Earth, Water//

Though it was rather basic, lacking the ‘extra properties’ that would come to dominate the search for items in the future, this was perhaps one of the best starting items for the Elementalists. Though it could be used by some other classes, it’s definitely most-suited for him. Extra fifty Mana, a quicker increase of ranks, regeneration... not bad... he nodded, tossing it into his pocket. Though it said 'Off-hand', it wasn't necessary to actually carry these items in the hand. As long as it was on the body and not in the inventory, it functioned. The only time one would take it out was due to those 'extra properties', or embedded abilities.

“Not bad, not bad,” he mumbled aloud, stretching. “Got some levels, got some items... now I really should go back. Ah, Em’s gonna kill me... and then there’s Lana... goddamn, what if she cries? Or... worse... what if she didn’t cry?! Fuck, why is being a dad so horrifying?! Ugh, whatever... I’ll do some fire-magic-tricks for her and she’ll forgive me. She’s nine...” as he made his way out of the fortress, he noticed a group at the bottom of the slope, looking up warily at him.

He didn’t recognize anyone in the group of four, all women, appearing middle-aged. Maybe they were working in the same, soul-sucking cubicle and wound up here together, ready to change their destiny--alright, I probably shouldn’t be writing stories for other people...

“Hello ladies!” he waved merrily as he slowly walked up to them, his smile wide and honest. “How are you doin’? Name’s Cain, an honest and down-to-earth lad looking for true love and the meaning in life.”

“...” clearly stumped by his charms, the four women looked at him oddly before one of them braved up and asked. “W-what’s in there?” she pointed at the fortress.

“There?” Cain glanced back. “Death, decay, depression, destruction, ruin, savagery... darkness the likes of which even the solar eclipse cannot replicate.”

“... uh, what?”

“Exactly,” Cain nodded with a serious expression. “What... is anything? Everything? If we touch the darkness, do we become the darkness? Or does the darkness become us? Ah, how wonderful life is..."

“... ooookay...” the woman said, straining out a smile as she stepped back. “Uh, g-good luck...”

"But is luck good? Or is it evil?" he continued spitting out even as they began to leave. "Wouldn't it be more appropriate to say evil luck? If we rely on luck--oh fuck, what the fuck was I even talking about?" he shuddered, yet felt somewhat proud. Once again, he used his remarkable intellect to divert people from a tragic realization. "To think I didn't pick up on any philosophy after listening to Lynn bullshit her way through the world for fifteen fucking years... tsk... I really am a dumb fuck..."

Sighing, he took one last glance at the fortress before walking back toward the woods, aiming for the exit. He was in a remarkably good mood, one that quickly soured as he remembered his performance. That was too much... oh my god, what if I see those girls again? Shit, shit, shit...