Chapter 27

Troves of Fire (I)

//Congratulations on clearing Soulless Prison!

Due to the extraordinary set of circumstances, your and your party’s rewards have been appropriately changed!

Congratulations on reaching Level 28!

You have unlocked a Title: The One Who Survived Death (Survive in a Duel against someone who Outranks you -- +10 Stamina, +25 Vitality)

You have unlocked an Achievement: Attunement Lord (successful charge a hexa-attunement combination; -30% to Mana Consumption)

Congratulations on reaching 100 Intelligence! You have unlocked -- Mana Attunement(D+) -- -5% Mana Consumption, +10% to Total Mana

Three additional rewards have been sent into your inventory!

You and your party have been afforded one hour of rest that will not count toward the 14-day limit!

Good luck! //

Cain casually looked through the notifications, his smile widening with each new one. Yes, yes, he thought excitedly. Rise, my stats! Rise, ha ha ha ha! One quick glance at his Status Window afforded him an ego-boost that he severely needed at the moment.

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

Class: Elementalist Level: 28

Strength: 14 Vitality: 72 Agility: 16 Stamina: 42

Intelligence: 102 Wisdom: 74 Health: 720 Mana: 1122

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

Skills: Spell Creation(?), Fire(B), Frost(B-), Arcane (B-), Earth (C+), Wind (B-), Blink(C+), Elemental Shield(C+), Water(C), Blood(D), Mana Burning (D-), Mana Surge(D-), Nature(D), Body(D)

Created Spells: Falling Fire(C-)

Items: Ember’s Quartz(B-), Phoenix’s Feather(A-), Crown of Flames(A),

Titles: The First Elementalist, Bandit Slayer, Direwolf Slayer, Monster Slayer, Maverick, Spell Creator, The Herald, The One Who Survived Death

Achievements: 9 (+1 to Main Stats for each achievement)///

Grinning from ear to ear, he dipped into his inventory and found the extra three awards. To his disappointment, however, all three were one-time use, forcing him to believe that he was the reason for their recent bad luck. His mood, however, improved considerably once he skimmed through the items, noting that despite being one-time-use sort, they were all truly strange.

//Death’s Touch(S)

Activating it forms a link between the caster and the targeted enemy. If the link persists for 30 seconds, the targeted enemy dies. The caster must maintain at most a hundred feet distance from the targeted enemy. Note: the targeted enemy cannot be either Outranking the caster, or higher than 40 levels.

One time use //

//Kiss of Silence(S-)

Activating the item summons a five-mile-wide barrier within which nobody can charge Mana, or use any extra Class-specific resources. The barrier persists for five minutes.

One time use//

//Leaf of Fortune(?)

Eating the leaf directly increases one of the following: Intelligence, Wisdom, Stamina, maximum Mana(%). The increase ranges from 30(%) to 80(%).

Using it as an ingredient in food increases Main Stats by 10 for up to 15 people.

One time use//

Cain sucked in a cold breath as he looked out of the inventory, realizing his luck... wasn’t actually that bad. Yes, all three were one-time-use items, but all three were similarly incredibly effective and, more importantly, extremely rare. This was especially the case for Leaf of Fortune, which, if used to its full capacity, is worth almost 120 levels of stats across 15 people. Cain had zero intentions of consuming it all on his own as he understood far more than anyone did at the moment just what having a stat-stuffed party actually meant within the Towers.

By now, everyone had scaled the tall cliff and was walking over toward him. The cliff on the other end of the ‘bridge’ vanished and was replaced by tall, iron gates that once again blocked what Cain assumed would be a set of stairs. An hour again, huh...

Emma was the first to reach him, virtually slamming herself into him as she flung her arms around and wrapped them at his back. He felt her body trembling slightly as she buried her head into his chest, the look in his eyes turning warm.

Rick was the next to show up, just as Emma pulled away, her reddened expression quickly hardening as though she was the best actress in the world.

“... you have us a scare there, man,” Rick said with a sigh. “You’re somehow really good at those, ain’t you?”

“What? Can’t a man go and doll out some ass-whooping without a hundred set of eyes on him? I just didn’t want you guys to see me beating up a young girl...”

“... she hid you two, though.” Emma spoke out from the side, rolling her eyes.

"U-uh, yes, yes, on my ask," Cain nodded. "She, too, didn't wish to be seen beaten. Namely, because she kinda liked it..."

“... nothing but pure horseshit ever leaves those lips, huh?” Emma smirked at him hatefully, shaking her head.

“No, I’m being serious!” Cain exclaimed as others also arrived, forming a circle with him at the center. “Before we fought, she even placed a bet!”

“A bet?”

“Yeah! She was all like, ‘hey, boyo, if I win, you have to be my slave for two years... my love slave!’. Can you believe that shit?!”

“... no.”

“Not in the slightest.”

“No way she said that...”

“... oi,” Cain’s expression dropped as he looked around the circle that was holding its laughter back. “What’s that supposed mean? Are you sayin’ I’m not charming enough to score a girl like her? She totally did say that! Well, maybe not exactly those words, but the meaning was clear!”

“... alright love boy, let’s all sit down and rest,” Emma chuckled helplessly, reminding everyone they had an hour to kill. “And you can tell us all about how you got to seduce her.”

The party walked across the bridge and in front of the gates, settling down in a wide circle as Diya began handing out portions of food and water to everyone, with Cain receiving some ‘extra attention’ and drawing envious gazes of others.

“... tsk, look at you all,” he scoffed, not appearing bothered in the slightest. “Do you know how much energy it took me to fight that seductress back?! She was like a succubus, I tell you! One time, I swear I saw her slowly starting to strip... if I didn’t immediately wash her in mud, she might have shown me something not-suited-for-discussion for one of our members!” eyes slowly glazed over to Justin who was just innocently enjoying his meal until a moment ago, suddenly blushing as he found himself at the center of attention.

“Why are you dragging me into this?!” the boy cried out.

“... I never said your name.” Cain shrugged, ignoring the boy’s hateful gaze.

“Ah, yes, of course--like that excuse makes any fucking sense!”

“Alright, alright, pipe down,” Rick interjected between the two with a chuckle, his expression suddenly hardening as he glanced at Cain. Ah, here it comes... the latter thought. “Why?”

“...”

“... why did you jump in there all on your own?” Rick asked as everyone else immediately quieted down, turning their attention to Cain who remained silent for a moment.

“I wanted to try out a few moves,” Cain replied with a grin. “And I was afraid the ideas would just fly away if I didn’t try them right then.”

“... do you really think we’re that weak?” Justin joined the fray as well, asking with a slightly angered expression.

"... yes," Cain's honest and direct reply cooled the atmosphere significantly. "I do think you are that weak... for now. Rick didn't just bring me along to crack jokes and make fun of you guys," he added. "I'm also insurance policy of sorts."

“...”

"Why do you all look angry?" Cain asked, taking a bite of the sandwich. "Are you angry because you are weak, or because I pointed it out? I don't think either warrants it. I'm weak too, comparatively speaking. So, at least until you guys figure yourselves out, let me be your strength. Afterward, you can jump into the fires of your own all you want."

“... we’re all almost level 20,” Emma spoke out as everyone else fell quiet. “Just how much stronger are we talking, C’?”

“... the first man I fought,” Cain replied after swallowing a bite. “Was Level 49. Besides, it’s not even about the levels. Tell me -- would any one of you, after seeing him fight, be able to counter any of his advances?”

“...” everyone fell silent as they played out the scenario in their heads. Cain knew best that it wasn’t about the levels -- after all, he was over twenty levels below the man, yet he still won. It was all about the experience -- and they barely had any.

“I know hindsight is twenty-twenty,” he added. “But I beg you, be honest with yourselves. If I'm being realistic, save for Jamal and Justin who could maybe last one or two strikes, and Emma and Rick who would just abuse their stats to survive for some time... the rest of you would all die in one hit. And I do mean die. Despite those fancy screens flashing in front of you, this isn’t some high-tech, futuristic VR game. Make sure you know that.”

“... how... how did you get stronger?” Diya asked suddenly, startling Emma and Rick more so than Cain himself. After all, it was a natural want to know and to ask. He smiled faintly as he swallowed a few gulps of water.

“I fought,” Cain explained. “I got trapped here on the day the Towers fell, and somehow lucked myself into quickly finding my Class. Right after, I ran into a castle full of some lizard creatures and fought them without a stop for days. I’m telling you -- I’m weak too. I just have a bit more experience than the rest of you, that’s all. In time, I wager that most of you will wind up being far stronger than me.”

Everyone fell silent once again, retreating into their thoughts as Cain rubbed his stomach in satisfaction, having felt rather hungry after exerting himself so much during the battle. He knew his ‘speech’ was slightly on the meaner side, but he also knew what happens to parties that get ahead of themselves. One success in the Tower is often more than enough to make people believe they are somehow special or chosen, and that, unlike the rest, they are talented enough to overcome anything.

That was never the case, as far as he knew. Even the most 'talented' of the Conquerors, those with the potential to reach superstar-level status, were felled because of the most basic, stupidest decision they could have made. Because they let their ego get the better of them. In part, the reason Cain managed to survive for twenty-years while tens of thousands -- no, even hundreds of thousands -- of those far more talented than him fell one after another... is that he never let himself be carried away.

In many ways, if people were to actually look at his resume back then, he’d have almost enough in it to be considered a star-level Conqueror. Nearly four hundred completed quests, over thirty climbs, fifteen fully-cleared dungeons, Second Awakening... yet, he never once considered himself a star. He followed in the footsteps of the actual stars and superstars... but he also outlived a great number of them.

Inadvertently, memories flooded right after, one after another, biting away at his heart. At some point in his life... he’d completely stopped making friends with other Conquerors. Young or old. It became too painful to end up burying them all. Just how many funerals had he attended? Perhaps a dozen... per one year alone. He couldn’t -- and didn’t want to -- to live through that ever again. And while no matter what he did, some people around him were bound to die... he swore that would only happen when there was absolutely nothing he could do for them.

He wasn’t a saint, far from it -- rather, he was doing all this because he was just a human. Too many would lose themselves in the nature of the Towers and find their grip on humanity weakening, and fewer and fewer people, especially toward the higher tiers of success, would continue seeing death as a painful tragedy rather than just a ‘necessary sacrifice’ to climb. At least with people around him... he never wanted that to happen. Those days... were some of his darkest, most painful, and coldest... and he didn’t wish them upon anyone, especially those closest to him.