Chapter 81

The Fate of the Thief (V)

Cain grumbled as he wiped his eyes a few times to confirm he wasn’t imagining the world around him. However, even after a few moments as his dizziness began to fade, the scene remained the same -- he was lying on a soft, feathered bed underneath the nightly, starlit sky, surrounded by golden pillars enclosing a circular room, walled with reddish bricks.

The man in front of him wore a white toga and sandals, as though he'd walked straight out of Ancient Rome. The whole thing seemed... too bizarre, prompting him to stand up and charge Mana, summoning a whiff of flame above his index finger, letting it die out right after.

“Alright,” he mumbled. “I’m fucking confused.”

“About what?” the man asked with a chuckle.

“What happened? Didn’t I die?” he asked.

“No,” the man shook his head. “As I’ve said, you’ve passed the Trial.”

“But... how?” Cain asked again, frowning. “I’m certain that skelly or whatever killed me handily.”

“You’re talking as though I’m elsewhere.”

“Huh? W-wait... you’re...”

“The one and only!” the man said, grinning lightly.

“... alright. Cool. Cool,” Cain nodded absentmindedly. “It all makes sense now. Totally.”

“It ought to,” the man said, taking a sip of wine. “Defeating me... is impossible. In many ways, I could have empowered myself until the penultimate form of an Elementalist. Your Trial was never to defeat me -- simply to make me acknowledge you. Which you did.”

“No, no, no,” Cain shook his head. “I specifically remember you saying that I had to defeat you. Specifically.”

"Ah, a white lie is all."

“White lie my ass!!” Cain exclaimed.

“Ha ha ha, let the past rest in the past,” the man laughed freely as Cain stood up from the bed, following him as he went over to the balcony overlooking a beautiful garden of trees and flowers down below. “Isn’t it enough that you passed the Trial?”

“... I suppose,” Cain shrugged, leaning against the railing, letting the gentle winds pelt against his cheeks. “It doesn’t feel earned, however.”

“How so? Didn’t you breach past your previous limits, against all odds at that? I was actually willing to acknowledge you even before that,” the skeleton said. “You matched me, punch for punch, throughout most of the battle. And then... you went and did something as insane as forcing your body to endure an attunement it physically shouldn’t have been capable of enduring. Do you know that, at one point, your heart literally exploded?”

“...” Cain instinctively reached for his chest, pressing his palm abreast, feeling his heartbeat. It was normal, solemnly quiet as always. “I... died?”

“No,” the man shook his head. “I saved you before that.”

"What's all this, then?" Cain asked. "Why did you bring me back into Ancient Rome?"

"The period fascinated me when I read up on your histories," the man replied. "I rarely get a chance to splurge and live out my desires, so I hope you'll afford me this one."

“... it’s weird,” Cain mumbled, sighing. “When has anyone sat down and chatted with a Floor’s Boss as though they were a couple of besties? Shit...” he took out a cigarette and quickly lit it up, managing to calm down somewhat. “What now?”

"Whatever you want," the man replied. "As they say in your world... it is your oyster. I have to admit -- you do have many, many, dubious expressions.”

“Ah, yes, that’s one of our strengths,” Cain nodded with a chuckle. “Say something that makes absolutely no sense, but sounds deep enough, and claim you’re an abstract philosopher. Thousands of years of that horseshit will produce, as you say, ‘many dubious expressions’.”

"I don't mean it in a bad way," the man said. "It's beautiful, really, the way your species attempted to understand the world beyond their understanding. Taking the whole and breaking it into chunks, ascribing everything a value divine. I wish... more species saw the world as you do. Like a puzzle."

“...” Cain remained silent, taking another puff of the cigarette. “Shit--right!! How are they doing?!”

“... fine,” the man remained silent momentarily, glancing at him and smiling. “They’re fighting still. I’ve already said it... but you have gathered a fine group, Cain Gregory. Nurture it... and you may yet reach far.”

“Can I help them?”

“No.”

“Tsk.”

“There’s no need,” the man chuckled. “Rather... I have a few questions to ask you.”

“Ask away.”

“Do you think you will repeat your actions in this timeline?” the man asked, causing Cain to suddenly freeze up.

“... I don’t want to ever sink that low. Never again.” Cain replied in a somewhat trembling tone.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?” Cain looked at him angrily. “I’ve had the hell I put countless through effectively erased -- and even if I’ll never be rid of the nightmares entirely, I certainly don’t want to fan those flames. I’m... I think I’m better than that. No... I know I’m better than that.”

“... you’ve done a fine job, so far,” the man said. “Burying your demons. But... how long can you keep them there, Cain Gregory?”

“Forever,” Cain replied without hesitation. “I can and will keep them there forever.”

“I certainly hope so. I’ve hope for you. A lot of it. Less to do with your talent, which is remarkably abysmal if I may add--”

“-- you may not.”

"--and more so with your heart's capacity for everything. Most Conquerors do not fail to reach the top because of a lack of talent or physical prowess or items or titles. At some point... no matter how cold a heart... it cracks. There's nothing that's ever been born of another that's wholly evil, Cain Gregory. Only capacities for either. It's time I bid you the farewell," the man added suddenly as the world around them began to morph, restoring back into the destroyed arena. The man's features began to melt off, skin and muscles, until he was nothing but a skeleton once again, the now-hollowed sockets staring at him emptily. "Good luck, Cain Gregory. On your journey toward the Throne of Divine.”

Just before Cain could utter a word, he found himself flung out of the spent reality and back into the silent and claustrophobic tunnel through space and time. His words got stuck in his throat and the question in his mind. Sighing bitterly, he shook his head and sat down, knowing full-well that a long journey awaited him. In the meantime, he finally shifted his focus over to the countless notifications that had assailed him.

//Congratulations!!

You have gained the acknowledgment of the King!

You have unlocked a Title: Usher of the Kingdom(+100% to Reputation gain among the Tower Natives; +15 to Main Stats)

You have successfully completed a hepta-attument for the first time!

You have unlocked a Title: Grandmaster Elementalist (+50% to Mana Regeneration; +30 to Main Stats; +10% to Mastery speed; +4 to Spell Creation slots; +1000 Mana)

You have successfully survived a battle against a King!

You have unlocked a Title: Throne Chaser(+20% Damage to all opponents ranking higher than you)

Congratulations on completing the First Trial of the Crucible!

You have unlocked a Title: Herald of Divinity (+1 Level; +20 to Main Stats; +50% to Reputation gain among the Tower Natives; +1 Slot for Classless Spell)

You have unlocked a Title: Will Divine (increases Damage by 20% when battling Trial Guardians)

You have unlocked a Title: Elemental Child (+2 to Spell Creation slots)

Congratulations on successfully being the first to Conquer a Trial!

You have unlocked a Title: Mankind’s Beacon (Leadership Trait increased to SSS-; acquired ‘Charismatic’(S+) Trait)

You have unlocked a Title: The One (when leading a group of 10 or fewer Conquerors, boost everyone’s Main Stats by 10%)

The King’s Acknowledgement affords you: Crown of Eternity(SS-); permanent ownership of Primal Chaos Tiger -- Te’ghalsher--baaeel; first Titular Rank (Conqueror--> King--> Demigod--> Dael--> Marqey--> Ayver--> Betheler--> Emproium--> Qod--> Rotecra); +2 Spell Creation slots

You have acquired a Trait, ‘Conqueror’(E)

You have acquired a Trait, ‘Undaunted’(B)

You have acquired a Trait, ‘Terror’(C+)

You have acquired a hidden Element, Ruin(E-)

You have acquired a Classless Spell, Vorpal Edge(D)

You have acquired 8 Achievements!

You have acquired Map of the First Trial(E)!

You have unlocked access to the Second Trial of the Crucible -- Mirrors of Fate!

Your name has begun to garner renown among the Tower Natives! You are more likely to be recognized!

You have leveled up...

You have leveled up...

...

...

Congratulations on reaching Level 49!

Good luck!//

Cain’s head had long since begun to spin, the insanity of it all getting to him. Though he knew that the rewards for clearing a floor were quite charitable, he was still shocked by them -- especially considering this was the First Floor of many. Tsk, no wonder the superstars stood so high up...

Just clearing one floor had likely put his stats in the realm of ‘unimaginable’ for most of the Conquerors. Luckily, he spotted that none of the notifications mentioned that it was a ‘solo clear’ -- likely, all four others will also get similarly obscene rewards.

Though he wanted to sort through everything and inspect it in detail, he realized that he’d actually reached the end of his journey. No matter how long it took him to read the string of notifications, it certainly wasn’t in the length of days which was why he was befuddled for a moment as he found himself ejected from the tunnel and into a relatively dusty reality.

All around him he saw ruin, not unlike the arena he left, and the eerie silence. Out of curiosity, he glanced up and saw a silhouette rapidly falling toward the earth. Charging Wind, he formed a hand beneath it and gently brought it down, soon after realizing it was a passed-out Jamal. Looking around, he quickly spotted the other three, all similarly passed out, fast asleep at that, as well as the crumbled construct just over to his left.

The entire arena was entirely unrecognizable from how he left it -- swords were everywhere, craters, piles of boulders and rocks, holes in the walls, and occasional bloodstains. His expression mellowed out, but he didn’t wake any of them. Rather, he slowly gathered them, one by one, and gently carried them near the wall, cleaning up a small patch of land and laying them down. Can’t believe we actually cleared the First Floor, he mused inwardly. Can’t even imagine the sheer chaos that’s likely to blow out right about now... sheesh, I just hope Rick’s prepared...