Chapter 181

Honing the Craft (II)

Emma and Cain departed from the small clearing within a couple of hours, moving further eastward toward Cain’s initial destination. The latter led them down the less traveled, but also more vista-filled roads. At the moment, they were trekking through a breathtaking landscape of interspersed forests, lakes, and hills; tall, green grass rose every, flanked by fantastical, spiraling trees hanging colorful fruits, shaking in the gentle wind.

Ever so often, they’d run into a critter or two nibbling away at either a fallen fruit or the grass itself. Lakes themselves weren’t terribly large but were crystal-clear, so much so that it was easy to see their bottoms, laden with freshwater life.

They paused frequently, mostly because of Emma; perhaps for the first time since the Tower’s descent... she slowed down and looked. So far, this place has been nothing but a hostile hell -- and even though she’d seen spectacular sights, none ever truly registered or were simply a part of that infernal experience.

However, her perspective has shifted, especially not needing to fight for her life repeatedly; she was just strolling through a landscape that couldn’t be found outside this place, and it all poured in -- the tall trees, some reaching a good hundred feet if not even higher, thinned out around their branches but with the latter winding around and bending like snakes, shaking colorful fruits from their ends.

She stopped suddenly, glancing over a small platform and into a dip where a silver-shimmering lake resided. It was evening, at least according to the general availability of the light; the whole of the world surrounding the two had come to life, grass alighting in deep-emerald, flowers blooming abound, transparent and willful, wild and free. The waters of the lake seemed to light up as well, the life within them surging. Yet, all colors appeared slightly dimmed, as to not disturb the falling of the night.

“... fuck,” Emma gasped. “This place really is beautiful.”

“It is,” Cain nodded, stepping up next to her. “When it’s not trying to kill you, anyway.”

“Yeah, that,” she chuckled as the two sat down, flinging their legs over the edge. “Are there other places like this? Higher up, I mean.” she asked. Though she’d asked quite a few questions about Cain’s previous life, she’d never truly asked anything of importance, likely dreading it.

“... probably,” Cain replied with a solemn expressions. “But... I’m afraid I didn’t have the wherewithal to notice them.”

“What did you do most of the time?” she asked, glancing at him gingerly.

“... which answer do you want?” he asked back, glancing at her.

“Truthful one.”

“Killing,” Cain replied. “Be it monsters... or other Conquerors.”

“...”

“I tried at first, I really did,” he continued, sighing. “I joined groups, tried to make friends and parties to adventure with...” his expression fell for a moment as he looked down into the lake. “But... they all flamed out. Either the guys in my party died to the bosses, or we were ambushed by other people, or there was some internal conflict, or I was outright betrayed... more and more of it piled on until I decided I’ve had enough. I stopped grouping up with people, took things slowly and carefully, and, bit by bit, began my climb. By that point, I cared for little else besides getting better gear, more levels, titles, and skills. I didn’t stop at anything if it meant getting stronger.”

“You don’t care about getting stronger anymore?” she quizzed further, her expression dampening at his tale.

“I do,” Cain replied. “Just not to the extent I’d sacrifice things far more important than strength. Losing Diya had cemented that further; in my previous life, she lived... and became a world-famous superstar, one of the best healers in the world. Things could have played out the same for her if I’d just have left her alone. But... I got greedy, thinking that getting my hand on a superstar will give me even more strength.”

“Cain--”

“Imagine if Lana turned out to be this uber-duper talented kid,” Cain quickly added, interrupting her. “Stats in thousands at Level 1, so much potential the rest of humanity may as well not even exist. Would you let her live her life through the Tower?”

“...” Emma remained silent, feeling conflicted. “You wouldn’t?”

“No, I would,” Cain chuckled. “But I’d be there with her, every step of the way. Not from fear she might die or fail... but to ensure she stays herself, no matter what. I think... we’re forgetting that. Everyone has started changing, bit by bit.”

“Of course they have, you idiot,” Emma slapped him gently, prompting him to look at her with a confused look .”Do you remember what Senna was like when we first met her? Look at her now. Killing-machine stuff not withstanding, she’s just an ordinary, teenage girl. Even Diya... she was a shy recluse that would have been used, C’. What you saw in your previous life... was the surface. Surface can be polished, cleaned, presented. Who knows what kind of a life she lived, especially with that personality? But... staying with us, with you, made her strong. Jamal too. Remember when Justin died? The man went on one hell of a bender, nearly breaking himself completely. All of us have. But... we’re dealing much, much better now. That’s not because we’ve grown colder or abandoned more of our ‘true selves’, but because we’ve grown up Cain. People grow and change all the time, especially once you toss something as monumental as the Tower in the wringer.”

“...”

“And then, beyond that, there’s you; we went on that quest, despite knowing the dangers, because it hurt, C’... it hurt standing on the ground, craning our necks and watching you fight a battle that none of us could even begin to comprehend. We... we felt so tiny, so little, so insignificant. What was even our point? You, even if it was just borrowed power, could have likely come as far as we did all on your own, probably even faster since you wouldn’t have had to babysit us. And I know that to you that probably sounds ridiculous, and that you genuinely feel like you need us; but... we ain’t you. What we see is a guy taking care of actual deadly things, and leaving us some scraps just so we don’t feel left out. So... we went after those actual, deadly things. And we got bitten. Hard. And we realized that we need you--but... also that you need us. And so we changed, bit by bit. Not for the worse, however.”

Cain turned silent, lost in thought; time spent back was simply too short for him. Twenty-five previous years still largely held sway over his thoughts and actions, and even if he was changing, that change seemed to be constantly pushed back by the unforeseen events occurring time and again.

Sighing, the two stood up shortly after and resumed their journey. Ever so often, they’d run into packs of monsters they couldn’t evade and would be forced to dispatch of. As such, Cain had begun to slowly accumulate experience, having risen to level 29 by the time they reached their desired destination -- Evermoon Waterfalls.

The place was one of both serenity as well as wistfulness; tall cliffs raged with rapid and violent waters, dropping good two hundred feet into a singular, massively wide river. In total, Cain counted 13 waterfalls, each good fifteen-sixteen feet wide at least, surrounded by tall trees of the framing forests. The river’s surface was steaming from the sheer volume of water dropped within short intervals, good chunks displaced at the banks and over, feeding the wild grass that grew good four feet tall all around.

“Holy shit, this is like Niagara Falls on steroids!” Emma commented, sucking in a cold breath.

“Or, you know, you.”

“...”

“...” Emma merely gave him ‘the look’, one that chilled his soul for a moment and one that hurt far more than any words ever could. It didn’t mean, however, she wouldn’t our salt on the open wound.

“Not with you, anyway.” I was wrong... words hurt way fucking more... “So, where’s the item that you want?”

“It drops from fish at the river’s mouth,” Cain said. “But the drop late is fairly low, so there’s no rush. We can set up a camp, have a quick dip and, well, dip, and start farming.”

“... looks like you wanna prove something.” Emma grinned for a moment.

“Dunno what you’re talking about.”

“Suuuuure...”

“Anyway, are we--”

“HELP!!!!” a high-pitched voice startled the two as their eyes veered to the side, to the forest on their right; just a moment later, earth beneath them began to quake and tumble as a couple of tiny figures sprinted out of the woods. Just a moment later, the trees splintered into oblivion as a thirty-tall beast came roaring through, violently jerking its head. Ah, of course someone woke up Jabby the Jab... fuck, people are way too curious man. Oh well, at least this guy will be good to test my damage...

“Go tank him,” Cain said. “That thing has like 3 million health. So we can both go all out.”

“... the fuck?” Emma mumbled but already drew out her weapon and began rushing forward. ‘Jabby the Jab’ was a nickname that the beast in front of them earned; Cain, for the life of his, didn’t know why it was called that, and was fairly certain almost nobody did -- it was just a nickname that everyone called the beast by. The beast’s actual name was ‘Striped Boar King’ or ‘Queen’ depending on randomness. From the size of the horn, however, poking just above its wide snout, it was most-definitely a ‘King’ this time around.