Element alignment: Dark - Perfect.

Max Synchronization

After having maxed his Affinity Skill, which of course awarded him with… nothing.

He had started furiously training Built to Fly, blowing his anger with Burst Attack training, and repeating his Katas, including his Kata of the Tempest, to which he daily added new forms or perfected others.

Studying the damn Dream of Slaves had turned out to be worse than watching those disgusting snuff movies on the internet.

The monster was the epitome of wickedness.

Its very fighting style could be defined with one word, 'rabid'.

Nobody would expect such absurd physical prowesses from an entity with such a small body, and nobody among the soldiers did indeed.

When with a swing of his, seemingly infinitely extending limbs, it savagely shredded to pieces entire parties or battalions when the flares powered it up.

The monster was the epitome of rage.

Its flailing movements, wild dashes, and turns, savage attacks were likely fueled by the most profound hate that could be. Gabriel had no idea how something could express such an undefinable amount of wrath, how it could contain such raw feeling without detonating itself or being utterly overwhelmed by them.

He could barely think back at the monster without losing his mind in the monster's psyche's depth, which represented so fully the worst sentiment in life.

A sentiment he slowly realized to have been a bit too able to hold back since the start of his training.

Should I let go as well? Would it help me? Gabriel asked himself every few hours since he started studying the creature, yet he could not find any answer in that.

Even if he let go of his frustration, he was likely the smallest, weakest thing on that battlefield. There was nothing he could do if not build frustration on top of frustration for his inevitable defeats.

Could he rage at the mayor? What would he obtain by doing that? Possibly death, or a long period of disregard, until Gabriel bowed to him and asked for forgiveness and to go back on his training to get out of the Dungeon Challenge.

Gabriel sighed. The battle's sounds faded in the background as his constantly strengthening conscience gave him stronger and stronger powers over the construct, as it happened during his previous training.

Keeping some distance from the battle, Gabriel trained and trained.

Then he sat to mentally review the techniques he had learned. The rage though, started finally affecting him too.

He needed to lash out but didn't do so. Instead, he focused on something else. He had barely had a chance to focus on something since he had been dropped in that place… his affections, his mother, Raina, his assistant, the very heart of their restaurant.

And Olivia…

Olive. I hope she's alright, I hope she's left that place.

I wonder what is going on out there… I really hope she's safe.

Memories of her asking him to take revenge upon her enemies with the Binding contract resurfaced. He could feel her rage from back then. It was powerful. He could see now, still, a drop in the ocean compared to that of the Dream of Slaves.

Though hers was… focused, harnessed in another way instead of physical depravity, like that of the monster.

Or wasted in the wind like his own.

I wonder what really happened to her after she's lost her family. It must have been… a harrowing experience. Is there even child support on Alter?

Losing himself in thoughts, Gabriel realized that he had been just trying to waste time. A time which was still essential to him.

He had to be ever-focused. If he started slipping, he might even begin to grow comfortable with that experience.

It wasn't that he had not thought about it.

The Memory was a wonderful place to gain as much experience as he wanted, in many fields, and in such a short time. He even considered slowing down his focused training and expanding upon some areas in which he had taken much interest.

After all, he had started training his Built to Fly Skill, he had no idea how such a Skill would transform, mostly because it was bound to a weird Attribute for its effects.

How is it even a Stamina Skill? It looks like magic to me…

But once again… he found himself digressing.

There would be all the time in the world, after he left the Challenge, if… he managed to at least.

***

Dustille sat on a rock, the fading darkness of dawn giving place to the light from the distant sun.

She had not managed to sleep. The giantess could feel it in her bones; something was about to happen.

It wasn't just that she knew that the Tyrants were building for one massive attack. There was a distinct feeling in the air.

She shook her head. Maybe it was just her lack of experience with her newly unlocked Perk, or maybe her sudden and wild jump to Tier 4… she couldn't say.

What she knew was that something was about to happen and that something would be something far wilder than they could imagine.

Giant's were a strong race, yet they were few. Only a few handfuls of Giants sky-islands were in there in the Expanse, the place in which her population had focused their colonization efforts. However, the proximity with their worst enemies and, at the same time, the focus of interests, the Dragons, were the cause of important losses for entire reproductive cycles. Which meant that they had not managed to really afford much growth, whether demographic or economic.

She had realized as such growing up. And together with her family and especially her very fastly growing aunt, still not a Champion back then, they had taken a decision.

The Giant lacked a Seer, and the Allgood, Dustille's own family name, would give them one.

She had long been chosen for the role.

However, as much as she had initially shown great talent and interest in developing her traits toward one of seering, in the end, she had chosen a different path, and her withdrawal had fragmented the family.

Her aunt had married one of the most influential families, the Hemmingbaum, house of the second to last Giant Champion.

The Hemmingbaum had greatly accepted her aunt for the talent she showed and focused on her growth, successfully making her the new Champion of the Giants after the previous Champion's death for old age.

Given her aunt's feat, her failure had dimmed in importance. Nevertheless, Dustille had never rejoined the family she had failed.

However, over time, even while leaning her road toward that of an archer, Dustille had been unconsciously leaning her choice of Perks and the growth of her Skills toward the path of seering. Her latest Perk choice and Skill development were clear proof of that.

Her new Perk True Vision, which she unlocked by finally reaching Level 80, allowed her to see through things. However, the Class of the Seer was a particular one. All her previous senses-related Perks, enhanced by her Skills and natural talents for interpretation, worked as one, and each one boosted the other to new levels.

It did not come as a surprise to her once she sensed the approach of a new, unknown party. They burst through the Dungeon's sky-shield in one smooth motion.

She looked up, even before they prepared to burst through the shield.

Dustille shot up. She was tense.

There had been much dissent in the way the Graskielle was pushing the Raid while gaining no real, tangible results other than a fast level up rate for her people. The Raid was taking too long, and the Armored Tyrants were just recovering too fast for the Dungeon's standard recovery speed. Something was afoot, and parties, much interested in gaining leverage over the giants and their resources, had started working their way through.

As the giantess looked up at the incoming party and recognized their members, she couldn't but exclaim. "Shit."

Dustille ran to the main tent. Her aunt and her entourage would be waiting there. Few had been able to sleep after all.

Though the incoming party would probably reach them faster, they had already been rocketing toward it.

I'm not going to make it.

She did not have a proper movement Skill. Her Alacrity had been leaning toward speeding up her perception instead of her movements, while her more decisive Skills was meant to slow her targets.

By the time she reached the encampment, now situated by the southwestern edge of the lake, much closer to the zone of assault, she found the party of six intruders standing by the commanding tent. They were already facing Graskielle, her officers, and the young human, Darte.

***

Darte stood there, his presence shadowed by the immensely powerful figure of his father.

The Champion of the Druids of N'arr towered over. Though not as tall as a Giant, in his Spirit form, he was half-man, half-bear. His cloak of darkness, like a veil of night. His presence brought forth darkness over all the people, which set their senses on him.

Together with him stood his party members, three elite Tier 5 druids, what Darte felt had always been her mistress, Jiao Liu, and her lackey, Alan a Tier 4; an asshole that in his opinion had reached Tier 4 only thanks to his master's support. If there was something Darte and his sister, Gaia, had in common, it was the hate they felt toward Alan the lackey.

Jiao was a Tier 6, a Master Class. Ninth in the Druid of N'arr rankings, the beautiful and brilliant woman presided over most of his affairs while Lorad was busy elsewhere. She had started as a butler for their family. However, she had climbed everything that there was to climb.

Even right then, in front of Graskielle, a pearl among the Giants, she was staggering. Her unusual battle armor was an armored dress, rose fabric under a maroon and black armor set, which gave her freedom of movement for her complex forms.

The too young man had been expecting his father's visit, even though it meant momentarily leaving Yggdrasil defenseless, but Jiao Liu's presence had been unexpected.

Lena must have a hand in this. The crafty bitch is leading us by the nose.

"Are you sure the absence of both you and Jiao Liu from the Cradle is a good idea, father?" Darte answered, trying to both pour water over the heated discussion they had started with Graskielle and Theor, her trusted assistant, and trying to understand the reasoning over such an act.

The man didn't even look at him. He had entirely ignored him.

Darte sighed loudly.

"Lena's seering cannot be trusted anymore. There is a higher vision in play than hers, father. I thought you had guessed it by now."

"That's exactly why we're here," said Jiao, her smile meant to disarm him.

Darte did not know why she tried so hard to win him over. He knew she had been his father's mistress for years, most probably even before his mother died. Her efforts were useless.

What she had said, though, quickly made him realize how things had unfolded.

"Of course…" Darte turned behind, "You just couldn't resist staying idle for a while… eh, little Nastia?"

"Oh, shut the fuck up. We were just wasting time here," Nastia answered, joining him with her party in tow. Then while saluting with reverence, she added, "How was your trip, Master Liu?"

"Fast and uneventful, apprentice."

Behind Nastia, Greta shrugged, "Actually, I did not find it that useless at all. I leveled up a lot."

"Giant's folk are fine too, damn that Dustille is one fine looking giantess, really… if I had just a few more inches, even just down there, I would have surely…" started Fred, before being shushed by one of Graskielle's annihilating looks at the mention of her niece's name.

"Yeah, shut it, Fred. You're disgusting!" Added Prisha.

Darte shook his head, ignoring them.

"Father, listen for once. There's more than that. When was the last time you heard your daughter?"

Unexpectedly, Lorad answered while still, he did not deign him of even a brief glance, "Gaia is paying for her obsession and stupidity in the containment cell."

Darte froze.

What? What does that mean? If she's by Yggdrasil and in the containment cell… that means Crystal is acting on his own! But if she's what I think she is...

"That fucking witch!" Darte shouted before instantly merging with Death and launching like a bullet toward the forest.

***

Time kept passing in The Memory, and Gabriel hadn't had any more contact with the mayor. They hadn't spoken a word ever since he wished him luck. It hadn't been that many real days since then, but it had been almost a month, if not more, inside of The Memory. It was a long time for Gabriel.

If he did not have Liz, he wondered what he would have done.

The mayor might have lost his mind multiple times in that place.

The young man kept focusing his studies on the four monsters.

Of course, the one he hated the most was the Glory of Kings, yet he subjected himself to its attacks. Hoping to gain more and more insights into its style.

Then he alternated a bit of half-assed rune studying and overall sealings studying with the old woman, to combat training and his forms of the water.

From time to time, he went back to the weak-willed Elf, making some progress in his mind-bending, but without any significant steps forward.

Even though her level was visible to him, the girl was strong, meaning that she most probably was the lowest among the platoon members. It was still more than twice his level, and her attacks, though nothing special, could hurt him dearly.

Analyze had given him pretty straight forward answers for specific baseline Attributes roles that the soldiers in The Memory followed as staples for their Classes.

The elven girl, for example, was a medium armored warrior. Her Attributes focused on Alacrity and Power first and Stamina or Resilience after that. When, instead, a light armored warrior would rely on Alacrity, Stamina, and then Power or Resilience.

While a heavy fighter would focus on Power and Resilience first, Stamina as the third most important stat.

Pure tank fighters focused mostly on Resilience and Recovery to resist most attacks and recover from them while lessening the healers' burden with their high Recovery. The third Attribute was mostly situational, though the most common choice was Power, to sustain the Taunt Perk threat. Though few tanks were present in each squad. As Gabriel got to know, a squad was formed by someone with the Raid Leader Perk and would practically be an enlarged party, where party rules did not apply; thus, Raid rules came into play.

Ranged fighters usually required Stamina, Power, and Affinity. Emphasizing, thus, their ability to deal damage in a barrage. Throwers were a little different, in which they inverted the focus of the two primary Attributes.

Close to their focus, but leaning in another direction, were mage classes. In fact, Mages relied mostly on Affinity, Recovery, and whether Power, Alacrity or Stamina, based on their preferences.

However, they would have focused solely on Affinity and Power if they could. Recovery had to follow Affinity closely due to the reliance first had on the other. As it was known, Affinity needed Recovery to stabilize. While Power was, ninety percent of the time, their other go-to Attribute, significantly factoring into their spells' strength.

Scout classes were another thing altogether. Many had peculiar battle styles or relied mostly on utilities and survival. Their Attributes followed thus the Alacrity and Stamina duo; the rest depended on their style.

But Gabriel had managed to Analyze hundreds of different builds, and though most of them were regular, some were really bizarre and, or, effective even though uncommon.

Even though covering the medium armored role, the elven girl outclassed Gabriel, a light mixed fighter on all Attributes. In fact, her Analyze results showed him as much.

Unnamed Elven Maiden of The Memory

Race

Elf

Level

48 (?%)

Class

Lite Warrior

Class Level

42 (?%)

Pools

Life

Energy

Mana

Spirit

87/180

42/175

25/80

15/20

Attributes

Body

Blessings

Final

Affinity

31

?

?

Alacrity

40

?

?

Power

32

?

?

Recovery

25

?

?

Resilience

25

?

?

Stamina

40

?

?

Interestingly, instead of a panel for Spirits, elves had a panel for Blessings, but the lack of a Spirit did not really help him shorten the enormous gap in Attributes. Maybe her Blessings might have even been more substantial, he couldn't say.

Gabriel could only overpower her on the Magic terms, and not even by a lot. So, after he broke through her Aura, and met an instantaneous refusal from the Elf to yield her mind to him. He took that change to focus on dodging and answering with swift responses, applying his Kata of the Tempest, and training it further.

The new Kata had been his best weapon during phase one of the training. Maybe second only to the adding of corruption-tainted Mana to his Skill repertoire.

Yes, he could now use sealing to block the girl's movements. But he was not Vengeance of the Fallen.

He had no chance of recreating such a robust seal in the heat of the battle and applying it to the girl, not that he didn't try. He was just not good enough.

For the moment…

So he let himself fight as he was. With the abilities he had mastered during the course of his training.

Though the Elven maiden had access to all of her Skills, the one Bound to her Alacrity was probably her most defining Skill.

As he got skewered by the girl's powerful dash, what was quite clearly answered was that her Class defining Skill was indeed tied to her Alacrity.

Enough to say, Gabriel was skewered to the ground before a couple of minutes had passed.

The Memory started anew, with a Gabriel slightly more pissed than usual.

"Alright," he said, as his eyes focused back on the mass of soldiers leaving in the distance, "that was not cool." Liz, by his side, nodded vigorously.

"Again."