Return of the Tower Conqueror

Graveyard of Swords (V)

A river split into two smaller streams, rounding tall, slightly bent blades with countless dents across their surface which provided decent shade for the small group that had just finished up resting and was preparing to depart. Cain stretched lazily, stepping out into the light and charging Body into his eyes, scouting ahead. The Blade Mountain was located around forty miles ahead from where they were at the moment, but due to the quite rugged and difficult terrain, even in the best circumstances, it would take them at least two full days to reach it.

The distances would continue to vary considerably in the future, especially on some of the floors that were almost as large as the planet Earth itself, and some that were even larger than that, but for the most part, at least within the first twenty floors or so, two-days walk to the destination was around the average. We'll likely meet some bandits... on the videos, they also fought some Voidworms...

He'd already spotted a small encampment resting between two sword-cast cliffs, inside a slight ravine. Though they didn't need to pass through that area, any extra experience before battling the bosses was worthwhile, especially considering that no one except for him had yet fought any proper humanoid opponents.

Fighting massive creatures and fighting someone their own size were essentially two different games, especially here where virtually every opponent they'll meet will have sword-related skills at least at a B rank and most even higher than that.

"You guys ready?" he turned back and asked. The four had already lined up and waited for him to begin, merely nodding as a response. "A'right, let's head out."

He dipped out and landed on the angled sword below. Most of their surroundings were blocked by the dulled and rusted blades, trees only springing out on occasion. Though there was no 'correct' path to the Blade Mountain, as it was possible to take over fifteen different routes, the one he settled on was the second shortest as most others focused on also grinding out large bandit encampments that he didn't want to tangle with as even the smallest ones were composed of at least a hundred and fifty bandits.

They walked largely in silence, focused on their surroundings, and jumping almost at every sound they heard. There was little that Cain could do about that and even wanted to as this was also a form of training for their senses. In time, their bodies will adjust and pick up on how to differentiate between false alarms and genuine threats.

"Emma, to the front," he only began calling them out once they approached the tiny ravine between the two sword cliffs where roughly fifteen ante-Humans resided. Emma jumped at the order and hurried while the rest also grew alarmed, realizing it was time for a battle. "Relax," he added with a smile. "We proceed as we always do -- Em' will draw their attention, Jamal and I will flank, Senna will give us cover fire and Diya will keep us healthy."

"Wouldn't I be better on a flank?" Senna asked, frowning.

"Watch." Cain winked mysteriously as the group fumbled forward. Emma heaved off of the sword-tip and landed squarely onto the ground in front of the ravine. The path was rather wide as it wound around the two cliffs, prompting the ante-Humans inside the ravine to immediately notice them.

Shield already out, Emma summoned the massive warhammer as well and roared as she charged into the ravine, not waiting for the ante-Humans to take the initiative. Jamal followed right after, his body coated in milky-white starlight already, with Cain casually following behind having charged Wind and Body into his feet to barely keep up.

Senna and Diya remained outside the ravine, the former already having summoned out ten weapons that hummed above her, while Diya fumbled between buffing everyone and admiring Senna's class.

"Take left," Cain hollered at Jamal, abruptly stopping before charging Earth into his right foot and kicking the ground back, propelling himself to the far right in a wide arc around the gathering group of fifteen that Emma had already reached, swinging her warhammer in a downward spike.

Jamal joined the fray right after Emma, flanking from the left by unleashing a fifty-feet tall array of bladelight at the group. Tsk, what a waste... Cain frowned, realizing that they were all developing some bad habits -- such as the belief that simply charging as much Mana as possible into an attack and then just releasing it raw was the way to deal the most damage. I definitely should have trained them instead of rushing to leave... haah, whatever, I can just point it out after...

Cain charged Creation, Fire, and Arcane into his hands, thrusting his arms out in an even rhythm as though he was punching. Fire determined the element of the attack, Creation determined the shape, and Arcane determined the explosive nature.

Massive whips trounced out, each at least sixty feet long, but extremely thin, roaring in infernal flames as they slapped the area behind the ante-Humans, cutting off their path of retreat. A group of six immediately broke out and headed toward Cain, each sporting either a single short sword or a pair of them, speeding toward him in short bursts.

"Stay put!" seeing that Senna, Jamal, and even Emma were about to try and break free to help him, he immediately screamed at them, nearly rolling his eyes.

Landing squarely on top of a halved piece of a sword sticking out of the cliff's side, he charged Creation and Earth into his feet, Body into his ears to close them up, and Fire, Aether, Arcane, and Wind into his arms. It was far from necessary, but it was also a form of training for him -- he didn't plan on merely maintaining the strength he acquired in the past life, but also superseding it.

A hardened bolt of pain ripped through his head, nearly causing him to pass out, but he forcibly endured. He slammed one of his feet into the sword with a shout while slamming his hands together in front of his chest. The half-ripped sword beneath his feet abruptly extended forward, as though its other half was hiding within the first, shooting toward the group of six. At the same time, flames with a tinge of black to them coiled around the blade, roaring so loudly they shook the ravine.

Three ante-Humans were immediately turned to ash, two more losing their bottom halves of the body, while the last blanked immediately due to the sheer volume of the roar that disoriented everyone for a moment, including Senna and Diya who were still standing outside the ravine.

The flames, as well as the extended sword, collapsed into ash soon after, revealing Cain who had leaped off the halved sword that, too, collapsed, landing on a tiny platform protruding from the cliff. His ears continued to ring and even his vision was slightly blurry, but there was a smile on his face nonetheless. Ey, look at that, I can do a triple cast... it's a bit exhausting but... I should be able to reach the peak 5 after the First Awakening... and then chase the elusive sixth...

Just like every class, even those that seemed extremely basic, Elementalist had innumerable layers to it. It was, really, in those layers that the differences between the Elementalists emerged rather than their stats and items. That's why, for instance, even if Cain faced someone with ten times better stats than his own but with the experience of a novice, he'd trounce the floor with them without a problem.

Besides the Augmentation of Elements -- that is, how many elements can the Elementalist use within a single spell -- and the multi-cast, that is how many spells can they use at the same time, there were also concepts such as delayed spells, pre-cast, fused spells, and the penultimate form of mastery -- the so-called 'instant cast'. Further, there was also the concept of visualization and precision, that is how quickly and precisely can some transfer the 'image' from their mind into the actual spell.

In most of these ways, Cain was quite subpar all thing considered -- the most he ever achieved was a quadra-cast with penta-attunement. In isolation, he was capable of penta-casting and hexa-attunement but never managed to combine them.

The superstar-level Elementalist, such as aptly-nicknamed Inferno, could octa-cast octa-attuned spells with virtually 100% success rate, something that Cain wasn't even able to imagine.

"Wrap it up!" he hollered at the others who looked a bit taken aback for a moment. The battle itself wasn't difficult as the levels of the ante-Humans ranged from 15 to 25, not to mention that their equipment was quite subpar. With Cain cleaning up nearly half of them all on his own, the rest became turned out to be rather easy for the rest.

Cain stopped attacking and merely observed them, forming lists inside his head for each of them. Jamal, for instance, was too excited with his Mana consumption and preferred just blowing out as much as possible rather than actually utilizing Blademaster's proper strengths -- speed and precision.

Emma was too wild and outright didn't seem to even try using Paladin's greatest strengths as a tanker -- insane sustainability and Mana pool. Diya, though having taken strides in trying to time her heals the best she could, seemed too engrossed in it and often failed to even notice that her buffs ran out. Even Senna, no matter her talent, was all over the place -- she would just toss her weapons at whoever was nearest without paying attention to her Mana pool, a combination, or anything else, really.

Weapon Saint was one of the most versatile classes throughout the Towers because they could, essentially, become one-man-armies -- use weapons like a general would use soldiers. Separate them, create formations, order them around. She did none of that. Talent's been carrying her so far... but it won't be enough if we actually want to challenge the Ruined King. If they don't improve... I'll simply walk. It's too risky to go in blind.

"They dropped a pair of boots and a sword," Jamal called out.

"Give them to Senna," Cain said, leaping over from the edge and landing next to them. "Senna, Diya, get in here!" he called out to the two outside the ravine while Jamal and Emma looked at him pensively for a moment as they sensed a twinge of anger in his voice. The two young girls hurried into the ravine and stopped next to Emma as they, too, had sensed the anger in his voice.

"What's wrong?" Emma asked him.

"... you all suck," Cain said. "Which is fine 'cause you're supposed to suck. But, we'll be fighting at least seven bosses throughout this place -- seven bosses that will play with you like you're dolls if you keep this up. Jamal," Jamal flinched at having his name called out first, swallowing a mouthful of saliva. "Do you have some pent-up frustrations you'd like to share?"

"H-huh?"

"'cause I can't think of any other reason why you're so eager to literally blow out everything with every attack. A bigger attack doesn't mean a stronger attack. Come on, attack me."

"H-huh?"

"Use your strongest attack, come on." Jamal, still appearing slightly confused, took out his sword and began charging Mana and converting it into starlight. Cain patiently waited until the man dashed forward and attacked with an overhead swing. Cain merely charged Earth into his feet and tapped the ground lightly. A tiny ripple exploded toward Jamal and bumped him into his thigh, completely breaking his rhythm and making it so he released the attack into the sky.

"Boom, you're dead," Cain said just as Jamal landed onto the ground, on his back, confused as to what happened. "Not only did you waste like four seconds to charge that garbage pointlessly, but you left so many openings you may as well have turned into fucking cheese. For the next two days, I want you to shorten the charge to a maximum of one second, and learn to concentrate the starlight into narrower but more precise attacks. Emma!" Emma also flinched, doubly so as he called out her full name -- something he almost never did.

"Y-yes?"

"Do you also have some pent-up frustrations?"

"..."

"What are you doing wildly swinging that huge thing around like you're a drunk man bragging about his cock? I already told you that you're just wasting your stamina pointlessly and that you're leaving so many holes in your defenses that you too may as well be cheese. You're a Paladin -- a Paladin. Did you even read through your Class at all? You have so many skills that can be used in short periods, yet, for some reason, you just seem to forget how to use them after the first minute. Spar with Jamal for the next two days -- if I see you swinging that thing like that again, I swear I'll just bench you and tank myself. Senna!"

"W-what?" the young girl flinched too but, seemingly embarrassed by the action, put up a rebellious front right after.

"What the hell are you even doing?"

"H-huh?"

"Why do you even have a class?" Cain asked, his expression deadpan. "You're just throwing weapons. Do you even need a class to do it?"

"I... I..."

"You can control the weapons with your mind, and the best you can think of is 'oh, let's just throw them straight and see what happens'. You don't even pay attention to the timing, or to what Emma or Jamal are doing. You're not alone anymore -- there are others around you that you need to account for when attacking. Do you think the fact that you're talented is gonna make sure you never die?"

"..." though he saw that Senna's eyes were inadvertently growing slightly teary and that she was biting her lower lip in frustration, Cain didn't stop.

"To you, weapons aren't the same as they are to Emma or Jamal -- think of them as your soldiers, and think of yourself as a general. What shitty-ass general would ever just tell his soldiers to 'run straight and ram into the first thing you see'? I know you can and will be better, which is why it pains me to see you fighting like a moron. Diya," Diya was already teary-eyed by the time he came to her.

"You seem more interested in impressing me than actually getting better," he said, sighing. "Do you know what would impress me the most? If you just lived your life. I don't care whether you become the best healer in the world or never develop any further, you'll always have a place with us. The only way you'll ever disappoint me is if you keep doing this -- wasting the insane intelligence you have on trying to impress me of all people. I'm already impressed. Impressed beyond words. Now I need you to impress yourself as well..."

The four stared at him in silence for a while before they bit their lips and dispersed. Just as it didn't feel good dishing it out, Cain knew, it hardly felt good being on the receiving end. He knew he was too demanding, that he was asking too much of the people who've spent one-two months in the Tower. He knew... and yet, he still wanted them to be better. I don't even know them, Cain sighed inwardly. Are they in here 'cause they think it's fun? Or are they in here to push themselves to the top? Haah... I really am a massive asshole, aren't I?