Chapter 320

Roar of a King (III)

They finally found him. Quinn exclaimed softly when she saw a silhouette seated on top of a rock beyond yet another dust storm, rushing forward through it, thinking he may still be injured. The twins were right behind her, all three came to an abrupt halt when they saw that he was completely fine, nibbling away at some meat and drinking something like wine, though aroma was distinctly different.

It looked as though he’d just taken a nap rather than fought in a battle that had shattered a good chunk of the world and obliterated its landscape into an unrecognizable mess. He appeared relaxed and unbothered, as though what was happening around him had, in fact, nothing to do with him, as though he belonged to an entirely different reality.

The three approached with him only looking up at them and smiling lightly before going back to his meal.

“Haah,” Quinn sighed, sitting down. “I was really worried, you know?”

“Really? I’m touched,” he smiled.

“You don’t look the part.”

“You’re just bad at reading expressions. Anyway, I’m glad you’re fine. Ah. Those two were alive?”

“Leave that weird bubble of yours,” Quinn rapped him gently on his shoulder. “I still can’t believe you knocked me out and went to fight out on your own.”

“Are you angry?”

“Thankful, if anything,” she shrugged. “I’d have been obliterated eighteen times over if I tried helping you. Just the thought of tanking that dude is causing shivers in my soul.”

“He wasn’t as strong as it looked,” Cain said. “It’s just the spectacle of it all.”

“Maybe for you,” she said. “Anyway, there’s something different about you.”

“I’ve Awakened.”

“Oh!”

“But supposedly I need to leave to somewhere to get the process started?”

“Yup,” Quinn nodded, glancing at the still-standing twins and indicating they sit down. “I’ll show you once we return to the Primal World. There are a few known pockets that connect to the Tower-controlled worlds. You can advance there quickly and return without using the beads.”

“... Convenient.”

“Necessary,” she said. “Otherwise, we’d all be stuck, no? Anyway, did you get anything?”

“This scroll,” he said, pulling out a head-sized and old-looking parchment from his inventory, handing it over. “I can’t make out what it says. You?”

“No,” Quinn shook her head. “This is Tower-inscribed language.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that outside the Towers, it’s beyond encrypted. You can read it once you go to advance.”

“Good enough. Ah, how rude of me,” he said, pulling out more meat and stirring it around while pouring some cranberry juice for the other three. “How’d you find me?”

“Harmony--this one, this other one is Nature--”

“It’s the other way around!”

“Yeah, whatever, nobody cares,” Quinn said dismissively. “As I was saying, Harmony has a pretty decent long-range scouting capabilities.”

“Pretty decent? Choke on your food, bitch.”

“Lovely to see you guys have overcome your differences,” Cain joked, stretching lazily. “I never expected to Awaken again this quickly, though,” he added with a sigh. “It... changes my plans.”

“Changes them how?” Quinn asked. “Even if you lucked into the Second Awakening, the third is still decades away.”

“The third? I’ve no intention of staying here ‘till the third Awakening,” he shook his head.

“E-eh? Why?”

“’cause I’d lose my shit,” he shrugged. “Besides, I’d like to reach it organically, without jumping hoops. I’ve a feeling that if I stay here, all I’d be doing is jumping hoops.”

“So... you’re going to go back immediately?” one of the twins, either Harmony or Nature--Cain had already forgotten--asked.

“No, not immediately,” Cain said. “I planned on staying for five years, possibly extending the stay in case I never Awakened.”

“... hmm,” Quinn mused. “Then, I guess, you’ll be pushing toward the Heart of the Abyss?”

“Heart of the Abyss?”

“The center of the Primal World,” she elaborated. “Before returning to our home worlds, that’s virtually what all of us do--see how close we can get to the heart.”

“Is it like a trial?” Cain quizzed.

“Kind of,” she nodded. “Nobody knows what heart truly is--it stands tall in the sky, obscured by several layer of clouds through which magic cannot pierce. There are, in total, one thousand iron chains that latch onto it from the ground. The ‘trial’ is to climb them.”

“So, what’s the catch?”

“There isn’t one.”

“Huh?”

“Not that we know of, anyway,” Quinn shrugged. “The most is that ‘your will is drained relatively quickly’ while climbing. Usually, those who’ve been thrice-Awakened the longest climb the furthest. It’s extremely beneficial for our Mana pools since someway, somehow the climb purifies the Mana, making it far more dangerous and yet controlled.”

“Any record of who climbed the furthest?”

“No,” she shook her head. “Nobody truly measures it anyway. I’m not too sure how it goes myself as most of what we’ve heard can be considered hearsay.”

“...” Sounds like an illusionary trial? Maybe kinda like the Cyclic one? Shit, I don’t wanna go through that crap again...

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Just driftin’. Since I’m awesome, I’m gonna go and climb the whole thing before I decide to return.”

“Of course you will,” Quinn chuckled. “Speaking of your return.”

“Hm?”

“I’d like to follow you back home.”

“Us too!”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“Say what now?” Cain mumbled, reeling back.

“No hidden meaning behind it,” Quinn chuckled at his reaction. “We’d like to become your Guards.”

“All slots are filled--”

“Then we’ll wait in line for when you advance.”

“What about your Tower--”

“There’s enough people to take care of it.”

“Your famil--”

“They can take care of themselves.”

“You just have answers for everything, huh?”

“I’ll explain to your wife clearly that this is purely out of awe and respect, and that my preference in men drifts toward those who look like sturdy mountains.”

“... why you gotta make it weird? Seriously. Then again, I appreciate it--no, wait, why do you want to follow me, anyway?” he asked. “Just ‘cause of that battle? That was just dumb luck!”

“Oh, shut up,” either Harmony or Nature grumbled. “Stop with the fake humbleness. Here’s our selling pitch: all three are thrice-Awakened, generational talents that you still don’t have in your world. Even if the rules will bar us from directly fighting until your own world has a thrice-Awakened in its ranks, that only applies to the Tower-directed challenges. Furthermore, all three of us posses a wealth of items, be it in terms of equipment or consumables, that even the entire Empires would envy. Not to mention that we are among the most talented when it comes to our classes, with at least Unique-level diversion of sub-classes.

“Not to sound abhorrent, but at the moment, short of you going absolutely all-out, your entire world would be a tiny peck in the raging storm against us. The reason we’re asking to join isn’t because we’ve peaked or would be hopeless otherwise, but because we are ambitious. We don’t want to stay rooted as merely ‘among the best in our world’. We want to Conquer the Tower. Go beyond it. Discover and pull the veil of it all back. And the best way to do that is to assemble the strongest and push together.”

“... I don’t mind you joining,” Cain sighed, shaking away the pretense. “But you said yourself that you won’t be able to fight in the Tower until someone in my world advances to the Third Awakening. Are you really fine with that?”

“Why not?” Quinn shrugged. “Looking at your trajectory, it should be within ten years, possibly even faster. Until then, we can continue to come to Primal World and train if need be.”

“... fine, then,” he shrugged. “I am kind of looking forward to their expressions when I return. Heh.”

“All right. Let’s swear fealty bonds,” either Harmony or Nature said, prompting Cain to look at Quinn quizzically, as though to say ‘the hell are they on?’. “You don’t know what a Fealty Bond is?”

“Nope.”

“Haaah...”

“It’s a contract,” Quinn said with a faint smile. “Stipulating we won’t betray each other, pretty much. It’s a standard, especially in situations like these. There’s nothing complex about it, and the length is usually set to a few years. By then, you tend to know whether the cooperation will last or not. Ah, but we’ll have to go to the pocket of the Tower. You can undergo your Awakening at the same time.”

“Forgive me, for I am dumb and inexperienced,” Cain joked. “And I shall ask for your guidance as the days come to pass us and the winds and the clouds begin to swath--”

“You’re annoying.”

“You better get used to it,” he cracked a smile. “That’s precisely who I am. A child!”

“Don’t exclaim it so proudly,” either Nature or Harmony said. “Besides, we’ve figured out that much already. It’s not much of a shock or surprise. Most geniuses are weird.”

“... genius?” Cain chuckled lightly. “I suppose I am, now. I just never figured I’d adopt people decades and centuries older than me. It’s usually the young and the lost that someway find their way to me.”

“Just how many kids do you have?” Quinn quizzed.

“Officially? Two, I guess,” he replied. “But there’s an entire orphanage of young and hapless chasing the stars to prove themselves to me. Anyway, eat up. We’ll depart soon since this place will likely get overrun with the curious quickly.”

Thinking of the future, Cain sighed inwardly. He had stepped onto a path of no return, he knew. More and more he was drifting away from simply being a ‘Conqueror’; there was a story larger than him at play, one in which he was but a single piece.

“Oh, right! We gotta go pick up Lear! I almost forgot...”

“I’m so telling him that.”

“Please don’t.”

“It’s going to be beautiful.”

“Comedy of negligence.”

“All three of you are awful,” he said. “I guess you’ll fit together just fine, huh?”