Chapter 352

13 Days (III)

Six days had passed since Cain returned from his Awakening, and it was the first time he came across Quinn and the twins. They did tell him they’d go around the Tower and explore, though on the low-key as it were, so he wasn’t surprised that they were gone as much as that it took them whole six days to explore. Nothing seemed different about the three--he knew they couldn’t possibly run into trouble, unless that trouble was boredom.

“What’s up?” he asked, noticing the strange way Quinn was looking at him.

“You... you did... Awaken, right?” she asked

“Ah. Yes... kind of,” he replied, cracking a smile. “Apparently, I am not allowed to Awaken in one go and have to do it in phases. This is the first phase, and in, uh, seven more days, I’ll do the final one! I think...?”

“... yeah, suppose it makes sense. You never do things ordinarily,” either Nature or Harmony said as the three sat down by the poolside with him. He was alone, with most of his group having dispersed across the Tower on a mission to farm gear. “What class did you choose?”

“Dunno, something called Empyrean Starbringer,” Cain replied. “A lot of staying power from the first Awakening with the access to a lot of new Elements and shenanigans.”

“Don’t know about that specific class,” Quinn said. “But anything with ‘Empyrean’ in its title is valued beyond highly everywhere. Fitting, I suppose.”

“Enough about me.”

“We barely talked about you?”

“What took you guys so long to explore places?” he asked, ignoring the jab.

“We simply took our time,” Quinn replied, pouring herself a cup of wine. “It’s nostalgic, visiting places from the far past. Though different... there was something distinctly similar about them. Fished out many funny things, too,” she added, taking out a tiny object from her inventory, shaped like a pear yet in the form of a precious gem, handing it over to Cain who took it and inspected it.

[Red Dragon]

[Unique]

[+3 to Intelligence]

[Special Effect: channeling Mana through it grants +1% to Fire damage]

[Special Effect: can be ground into dust and made into tea, granting up to 30 people +3% Intelligence and 5% Fire Resistance for 3 hours]

Cain smiled wryly, having realized it was a simple raid buff. There were many of them strewn across the Towers, giving all manner and sorts of effects, but he never went out of his way to hunt them since his group largely never needed them. Still, they were nice, as some could even stack, reaching the realm of 10-15% bonuses which were insanely valuable.

“You like it?” Quinn grinned. “These used to be hot items back on our world, especially when the front party got hardwalled toward the higher floors. I recall them being gated at the 50th Guardian, and seeing any and all stacking buffs. They reached something in the realm of 23% bonus to their primary stats and nearly 50% on some defensives. Still barely eked out the victory.”

“You don’t seem infatuated with the stat bonuses.”

“At a certain point, you come to realize that simply stat-checking boss fights... is no way to grow,” Quinn replied. “It’s usually best to hit the minimal threshold and then optimize. Or, even find out means and ways to achieve victory while severely undergeared. This came to bite us in the ass, where most of the top 200-300 Conquerors of my world all vanished in the jaws of Voltar, the Guardian of the 83rd Floor. The fight had a simple gimmick--the group needed to directly hit Voltar with 300 attacks of any variety to kill him. The caveat was that your health was reduced to 1 and any attack would kill you.

“Even with rampant immunities that the groups brought with them, it was useless. And thusly, my world simply stopped climbing. There was no way to stat-check him, and the fight itself required insane levels of skill that only few had. Until, one day, a man called Q’vant came from the seeming nowhere... and soloed the boss.”

“...” Cain listened intently, as Earth had never gotten that far as a collective.

“It took him good three days of constant fighting, but he eventually managed to land 300 attacks and kill him. He recorded the entire thing on a Manasphere and shared it with the world. The funniest thing? The boy wore just rags for pants... and nothing else. He wielded some ordinary, iron sword. But watching him fight... watching him fight made me realize something: I will never be as good as that. No, nobody I knew would. Until I saw you. Watching your once-Awakened ass fight reminded me of him. It’s a shame people like that are born so infrequently. They are a beauty to behold, their fights the most beautiful waltz an eye can see.”

“Oh my, you’re making me blush,” Cain said with a chuckle, taking a sip. “It may be beautiful to see, but man, stat-checking shit is fun. Having to sweat and dance around attacks, each of which could wipe you from the face of the world, is so exhausting. Just sauntering in and blowing shit up--now that’s the kind of stuff I live for.”

“So, if that’s true, why aren’t you equipping your people with broken items and having them go ram through the U’nul?” either Nature or Harmony asked with a faint smile.

“They’re swords in need of sharpening,” he replied with a sigh. “They’ve improved insanely from when I left. Almost unrecognizable. Yet...”

“They learned a lot of wrong lessons,” Quinn finished the thought. “Because you weren’t here to correct them?”

“Something like that,” he said. “Emma and Kramer, for instance, leaned deeper and deeper into damage. When I saw Emma’s gear and stats, I was shocked she could even tank 3-4 hits without being absolutely blasted to smithereens. Even Yuki steered into throughput instead of prevention, meaning that no matter how much Mana he accumulates, it will never be enough. Not to mention that everyone else, too, seems patently obsessed with more damage. Damage, damage, damage, as though every boss fight is a tight DPS check.”

“Won’t you share the lesson with them? They won’t learn blind,” Quinn asked. “Or, if they do, it will be at the expense of their lives.”

“Nah, I won’t let that happen,” Cain sighed. “But they will have to learn themselves. Even if I tell them, they will at best just blindly follow my advice. But what about when they have to make snap decisions without me there? After all, their obsession with big numbers is just one of the things that they went balls-deep with.”

“I’ve noticed,” either Nature or Harmony said. “Your dagger-wielders, for instance, all have absolutely shit stealth. I imagine they didn’t improve it whatsoever from the baseline. It will work for now, probably until the mid-twentieth floor, but past that... they won’t be able to sneak through anything.”

“Beyond that,” Cain added. “They, too, leaned all-in into damage, when the shadow-master’s greatest strengths are in the innumerable utility they can provide.”

“You spoiled them, I imagine, by covering up those shortcomings and focusing them on the raw, instinctual fighting since it’s the most important,” Quinn said. “So, they got used to all those invisible things being taken care of, being none the wiser about it.”

“Eh, they’ll learn,” Cain shrugged, stretching in the chair. “We’re only at the beginning, after all. Even if there is a ticking bomb hanging over the cosmos.”

“We can help, if you’d like,” either Nature or Harmony said. “Mentor them.”

“... in time,” Cain said. “They’re not ready yet. Most of the lessons would fall on deaf ears. It’s not a leap that they need, but a grounded climb. For starters, they’ll have to defeat U’nul on their own.”

“It’s the same here, I imagine,” Quinn said. “The Guardian of the 20th floor on our world couldn’t be stat-checked. You could ease some parts of the fight by having the absolute best gear available, but it was still a huge skill check, especially for babes that we were. Hundreds of things to keep the track of across the fight, and twice as many ways to die and fail.”

“I’m shocked you still recall anything from that far back,” either Harmony or Nature said. “It’s all so... inconsequential.”

“I just studied those who came before me,” she said. “In hopes of picking up on something and using it to grow stronger.”

“That man who soloed the Guardian,” Cain interjected. “What happened to him?”

“No clue,” Quinn shrugged. “He vanished.”

“Vanished?”

“Hm. Most supposed he went to the Primal World, or was killed by the groups of people standing at the top since he embarrassed them, or was taken in by a Divine as an apprentice. Mostly ludicrous theories. I wagered he was never much of a Conqueror, but felt sympathy for how long we had been stuck on the same boss, and just... helped us, before returning to whatever village he hailed from. After all, in the Manasphere’s recounting, he never showed his face, so nobody knew what he looked like.”

“Comes in, obliterates the obstacle, never elaborates, and just leaves,” Cain recounted with a smile. “Truly a man among men. Did you find a lot of these buffs?” he asked Quinn as he lifted the gem.

“Some, not a lot,” she said. “Why? You want to give it to your group?”

“Just to show them that numbers aren’t everything,” he said. “That the proper development of skills and diversity in their Class is the only way to advance.”

“Have at ‘em,” Quinn said, taking out several dozen of variously-shaped object all gleaming in a variety of deep colors, the etchings of Mana evident on their surface. “I hope they learn. Fast.”

“So do I,” Cain said, collecting them all. “So do I.”