Chapter 300

Ascendance (I)

Aldar sat stoically, his countenance shifty and anxiety-ridden, face pale, lips blue. Opposite of him sat a man who seemed to have lost all of the previous terror, appearing even slightly sheepish as he drank something. If Aldar hadn’t personally experienced the terror, he’d undoubtedly consider the man some meek nobody. But he had experienced it--and it would stay with him for all eternity.

The two were currently residing within the central, stone building, and were alone. Aldar dared not break the silence despite the fact that the two had been living in it for at least five minutes now.

“Would you like something to drink?” the man suddenly asked.

“N-no, no, it’s fine,” Aldar replied.

“You’re still terrified? Damn, I thought I gave you enough time,” the man sighed. “Oh well. My name’s Cain. What’s yours?”

“A... Aldar, sir,” Aldar swallowed a mouthful, trying to summon some courage to stand at least at an angle if not tall.

“Well, Aldar, I believe it’s fairly clear I’m quite new to this place, entirely unaware of the rules and such,” Aldar wanted to roll his eyes but didn’t dare. “So, why don’t you grease me in, so to say? Where did you come from, anyway?”

“F-from the Frosted Deeps, sir,” Aldar replied honestly. “It’s a veiled region between the Fringes and the Wilds.”

“... those terms mean literally nothing to me,” Cain said. “Even less than nothing.”

“R-right--of course. Khm, well, we’re currently stationed in the Fringes. Most people think that the Primal World is concentric--meaning that regions are circles going inward, but that’s not quite the case. Though nobody is certain of the world’s actual shape, we have the entire Fringes mapped out, and they resemble more a quarter-circle with a jagged top shore. The Fringes, contrary to the popular belief, isn’t actually the largest part--as far as I’m aware, at least, it’s the Crust, the region beyond the Wilds.

“Anyway, the Fringes bleed into the Wilds quite well, with the maps drawing distinction largely based on the River One, though the Wilds actually extend a bit deeper into the map. They’re named so because, unlike the Fringes which is mostly populated by greenery, the Wilds are... well, wild. A stretch of inhospitable environments, from dust-dwelling deserts, to chaos-bred, jagged labyrinths.

“However,” realizing he was about run on for a while, Aldar took the cup Cain had already prepared for him, drinking a few gulps to freshen up his throat before continuing. “Opportunities, unlike in the Fringes, abound. Crawlers are largely the only thing worth hunting in the Fringes, and they’re mostly just used for survival. Arriving here without enough strength to immediately advance from the Fringes is practically a death sentence. Not--not that it matters for you, of course.

“Khm, anyway, in the Wilds, unlike in the Fringes, there are these things we’ve come to call as ‘Gates’. In reality, they are bored holes in the ground, reflective of dungeons in the Tower in a way. Most of them end up having some decent profits after the fact and are the easiest way to come across potions, actually, even with the Crust included. The settlement that I live in, just called ‘Wilde’, is a hub of connectivity where you effectively look for people to go hunting for the Gates. It’s not the only such hub, but as far as I know, it’s the largest.”

“Potions, you say?” Cain’s intrigue grew immediately. If he could grab some, that would solve majority of his headaches.

“Y-yes. Though most are mid-grade, at best, it’s still better than nothing, especially here,” Aldar said.

“Quite right,” Cain nodded, drinking a sip. “30% restoration is a decent amount. What about the Crust? Is that the last explored part?”

“The Crust? No,” Aldar shook his head. “There are two more regions ahead, but I really don’t know much about them. In fact, I don’t even know the name of the last one. As for the one beyond the Crust, I heard people call it ‘Skyline’, ‘Fyre’, ‘the Ashens’ and so on.”

“The Crust?”

“Ah, right, the Crust,” Aldar nodded. “I’ve only ventured there once or twice, sticking mostly to the edges. The requirements for the ‘Chaos Resistance’ become a bit too much by then. Additionally, it isn’t as though the region is all that more treasure-worthy than the Wilds. As I mentioned, Potions are far more common in the Wilds. As far as I know, people see the Crust as the tempering region for the Ashens. Since not many talk about it, I’m not even certain of the geography of the place, to be honest.”

“Where can I find thrice-Awakened?” Cain’s sudden question surprised Aldar before reigniting the terror within him. Someone who can so casually mention thrice-Awakened...

“T-t-thrice Awakened? Uh, t-those... I think... the Ashens? Or beyond?” Aldar replied, uncertain himself. “Twice-Awakened mostly orbit on the edges of the Wilds and the Crust, moving between the two regions frequently. To be honest... I... I don’t think I’ve ever seen a thrice-Awakened in here. I’ve heard rumors, some stories, sure, but, well, how truthful they are... I don’t know.”

“How are territories distributed?” Cain asked, somewhat disappointed. Looks like most of the info, past the existence of the potions, would be quite useless to him. From the sounds of it, he’d have to head into the Ashens and the lands beyond.

“U-usually via free-for-all,” Aldar replied. “First-come-first-serve sort of a deal.”

“...” Cain fell into temporary lull, thinking. It wasn’t about his future actions--as he’d already made up his mind--but the length of his stay in the Wilds. He desperately needed some potions, especially if he was going to explore the depths of this world. Relying on natural Mana Regeneration may be fine far out here, but any deeper and his life would be endangered. Though he had quite a few measures to prevent himself from dying, those were temporary and could be exhausted.

“Two months,” Cain spoke suddenly. “Of non-stop running of the Gates. How many Mana Potions do you think we can squeeze out?”

“H-huh?”

“If I went on a binge,” Cain added. “With your help, when it comes to locations, at least, how many Mana Potions do you think we’d find?”

“Uh... I’m, I’m not too sure,” Aldar said, thinking for a moment. “Anywhere between a few hundred to a few thousand, I gather, depending on the luck.”

“Good enough,” Cain nodded, hiding his excitement. “As a payment for your services, you can keep every other Potion--I just want Mana Potions. Furthermore, I’ll inscribe a Classless Skill for you. Since the last one will take a while, you should let me know what you want as soon as possible.”

“Wait--really?!!” Aldar exclaimed, shocked. In part, it was because he was surprised Cain even knew Skill Inscription, but mostly that he was willing to do it. After all, not only was Inscription a grueling, painful, and long task, often taking months at the very least, but it also meant that whoever was Inscribing... was giving up their own Skill.

“Yeah,” Cain replied casually. While for others Inscription was nightmare fuel, to him, the worst part was simply that it took quite a long time. After all, with his candid ability to just make Skills on the spot, he could likely make enormous profits selling Classless Skills. Not yet, but eventually, once people realize just how insanely valuable they are. “Do we have a deal?”

“Y-yes! Yes, of course!” Aldar rejoiced. Going from one of the worst days in his life, fearing for it, in fact, to one of the best in one, fell swoop. “W-what... what kind of a Skill can you inscribe?” he asked carefully.

“Any,” Cain replied. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but trust me. I’m fairly certain you’d have taken a deal anyway out of pure terror. I had no reason to butter you up.”

“--a-any?” Aldar, in fact, didn’t doubt Cain’s words. Though it sounded ridiculous on the surface, someone who so casually mentions thrice-Awakened is far from ordinary himself. It likely had something to do with Cain’s class, though Aldar didn’t want or dare inquire. “Then... a... a Skill that increases my stats passively at the expense of Mana? I... most of my active Skills use very little, if any Mana, since I’m a Yuel Fighter, mostly relying on building up enough momentum for fatal strikes. I rely heavily on raw stats over Mana so...”

“Stat boost? Are you sure?” Cain asked. “That’s... quite tame.”

“It’s... it’s actually surprisingly difficult to find,” Aldar smiled bitterly. “Active stat increases are super rare, across the board, mostly because nobody really wants them all that much since they tend to cost exuberant amount of Mana even for the smallest of stat increases.”

“... alright, gimme a sec,” Cain closed his eyes and began envisioning the spell. Though he had no access to the Skill Creation Window, he’d done the whole thing enough times already to be able to go on without it. After fiddling about for some time and experimenting, he managed to create a decent skill, at least from his perspective. “Alright, how’s this sound: for 0.5% of your max Mana per second, your Prime Stats are increased by 40%, your damage is increased by 25%, your attack and movement speed by 50%. The alternate version is for the 5% of max Mana per second, while the stat bonuses are all tripled. I’d really like to do both, but I won’t be able to inscribe them within the two months frame.”

“The--the second!! The second one!!” Aldar shot to his feet, shaking. Hearing the numbers of the first Skill had already floored him, but the second... just raw increase in damage of 75% was insane enough, not to mention everything else. While 5% of max Mana meant he’d only be able to use it, at most, for 20 seconds, at least within those 20 seconds... he’d be as close to invincible as he can get before the third Awakening. “D-definitely, definitely the second,” he calmed down and sat back down, though was unable to stop himself from shaking.

“... alright,” Cain shrugged. He was well aware of just how impactful such stats were to Classes that relied heavily on effectively stat-checking their opponents. Even to Cain, an increase of 75% in damage was quite good... but definitely not at the expense of 5% of his Max Mana per second. It was immensely inefficient, in fact. “We’ll rest for a day and depart right after. Once we get into the Wilds, it will be a non-stop race, so just clear your schedule for the next two months. I want you to get me as many gates as possible--piss off whoever you’d like in the process, if they bother you, I’ll just kill them. You will have to go into hiding after the fact, but if that’s an issue, I have some masks for us to wear.”

“... yeah, masks sound good,” Cain smiled. Ah, the return of the presidents... our tale shall be legendary!!