Chapter 354

13 Days (V)

Cain was bored. Not bored in the sense of having absolutely nothing to do, but bored in the sense of having no one to do it with. Even Quinn and Harmony and Nature had wandered off once again, vaguely telling him they were ‘exploring his world’, while everyone else was well into the vestiges of the Tower, seeking items. Even Rick had vanished, tossing himself into overwork due to their conversation. Cain’s only companions were a cat and a thing perched on his shoulders while he sat by the poolside, endlessly bickering with incessantly more annoying voices.

“Stupid cat, you will never be a Primal Tiger! To be a Tiger you must roar! But you meow! Meow, you stupid cat!” Domin had grown quite comfortable, letting his true personality out--and his personality was that he simply never shut up. What’s worse, he was beginning to corrupt even Te’gha. While the little cat had a sharp tongue, he wasn’t much of a talker. Like most cats, he preferred spending most of his days asleep. Not anymore, however.

“Bah, stupid thing! What do you know?! Great Te’gha sees all and sees you as pathetic! Of course, great Te’gha is a Primal Tiger! You bundle of nothing!”

“Hah, better be a bundle of nothing than a bundle of lies... you liar!”

“Great Te’gha is not a liar, stupid nothing! Take it back!”

“Liar, liar, liar, liar!”

“...” and thus the few days passed, with the two bickering over and over. Te’gha would occasionally retreat into the inventory to sleep or at least recharge. The young cat clearly had issues keeping up with the chatty Domin. While Te’gha rested, Cain became the newcomer’s target.

“Great Master--”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Loving God--”

“Or that.”

“Greatest of All--”

“Just call me Cain...”

“Domin cannot in good conscience call upon my Light’s Name in vain!”

“I’m not your light...”

“But you shine so brightly, illuminating the path I must take! There, by your graces, I see all manner of treasures and coins and gems!”

“What the hell would you do with any of that?”

“Give them to you, my Savior! All of them! You can have it all!”

“I don’t want it either...”

“You are extremely strong,” Domin wove around Cain’s neck, jumping from one shoulders onto the other. “Yet starly humbled! And I am humbled to serve by your side!”

“Sweet Christ...”

“I may not be as braggy as that stupid cat, but I myself will become much stronger, too! In fact, in the future, I might just dominate anyone you point toward, Master! I will lock down entire worlds and have them worship you! Not that I would need to--everyone should naturally love you and be awed by you and listen to you! But some things, like that stupid cat, are stupid and blind! And, heh, great Domin will have to teach them a lesson!” as much as Te’gha had picked up from the little bundle of shadows, Domin had picked up quite a few mannerisms himself from the cat, Cain noticed. By now, having realized that Domin had a memory of a goldfish, forgetting orders within minutes, Cain was practicing to turn the voice into the background noise.

“Heh, stupid cat is finally away! Master, keep it away!”

“Will do, will do...”

“When we come ahead, great Master, nobody will talk back to us like that! Because the skies will be split by our combined roar, yes, yes! We will be the sword of domination, for certain! Who would stand against us?”

“I don’t know,” Cain replied nonchalantly as he suddenly perked up--a newcomer. He saw a shadow flicker through the front gates, standing in front of the mansion for a little while, looking about, before noticing Cain by the pool and walking over. It was a young lad, Cain noted, somewhere in his mid twenties, draped in lavish, silvery robes of a priestly healer. He recognized the item, at least shallowly, specifically due to the sigil of the eight-sided star widening across the man’s chest. It was a robe only the ‘Antecedent’ could wear, an Awakened subclass of the Bard, leaning less musically and more toward the holy.

“Hello,” the young man called out in a calm tone with a faint smile, nodding. He had short, curly, brown hair and a pair of gem-like green eyes framed within a handsome face, though also one that seemed very limiting in its expressiveness.

“Hello right back,” Cain waved, smiling. “You looking for someone?”

“Yes,” the man nodded. “I was told to report here after the trial.”

“Trial?”

“For the main raid spot.”

“Ah, the raid spot,” Cain said, taking a sip of some cherry-tasting cocktail. “Right, well--come, have a seat,” Cain gestured at many of the free chairs around the pool, some hidden in the shade of colorful parasols, and some yet sitting out in the open. “Let’s have a chat.”

“If you do not mind me asking--who are you?” the young lad asked, moving into the shade of the parasol, though never sitting.

“Uh, right now, I suppose, I’d be a watchguard? Or something? See, everyone’s gone places,” Cain said. “Running about like headless chickens. The raid’s pretty hard, you must know, and thus they are very busy.”

“Yes, I have heard that the raid is incredibly hard. I am up for the challenge, though.”

“You sure?” Cain probed. “The last time they went, they all nearly died, getting out in the nick of time.”

“Yes, I am confident in preventing that from happening,” Well, goddamn, Cain chuckled inwardly.

“Confidence is a good thing to have, I suppose. Alright,” Cain said, yawning. “Domin, you can finally work out your muscles a bit.”

“Master?” the shadow that stayed hidden and silent thus far snapped to reality, startling the young man who immediately backed away, whipping out a wooden staff with a silver-tinted orb floating atop of it.

“What’s your name, lad?” Cain asked.

“... Shawn,” the man said after a moment of hesitation.

“Shawn. Simple, clean, nice, easy to remember. Good. Anyway, Shawn--this here thing is a cub of mine that will limit itself to about, what, fifteen-twenty percent? That should be scary enough. He will attack you for thirty seconds. You won’t be able to evade it, block it, suck it, whatever you will. You will have a simple job--if you can last all thirty seconds, you will immediately get into the raid party, will get the best gear we have, and a single wish, no matter how insane. If you can last twenty seconds, you will immediately get into the raid party, and get the best gear we have.”

“And if you can last ten seconds,” Cain added, ignoring the man’s somewhat angered expression. “You will get into raid immediately. Anything less than that, you will just have to stick around and practice. Domin, be gentle. If I see you trying to show off, I’ll get Te’gha out here and have him yell into your ears for hours while keeping your maw shut. Got it?”

“Yes, Master!” Domin replied excitedly. After all, he didn’t care for the intricacies--he was just happy that he could be of help to Cain.

“Alright. Don’t make a mess. And you, don’t worry--if you’re about to die, I’ll save you.”

“There is no need--” Shawn was unable to finish his sentence as his lips grew mute. The tiny shadow suddenly expanded into a twenty-feet tall giant that turned the bright day into night. Beyond just the appearance, the atmosphere chilled as his body froze--every instinct he had was telling him to run... or he would die. In the meantime, the strange, middle-aged man remained sitting on his chair, sipping away at the drink, and even pulling out a book from nowhere, opening to read it.

“Here I come, stupid human! Try to survive, he he he!” the grating voice vanished, seemingly summoning a Mana-infested aura that overwhelmed Shawn immediately.

He realized right after why the man said he’d be unable to block or dodge or do anything about it. It was just a classic raid boss mechanic of dealing consistent area of effect damage. However, it was on steroids in comparison to what he experienced thus far. Hurriedly ignoring his instincts of running away, he began spell-chaining heals, some big, some small, some set-ups for bigger ones. Within five seconds, he realized, he’d at best last ten. And even that was with several lucky procs in a row. The damage never diminished or grew bigger--it stayed consistent, on half-a-second basis. Just as the ninth second ticked, Shawn saw his health speedrunning toward 0, having no more tools to stop it. Just then, it paused at 63 despite the aura continuing to pulsate. A moment later, the aura vanished, and his health climbed back up to 100%. Glancing at the man, he felt... odd.

Though his pride was hurt, he didn’t mind; he was well aware that he was walking into the den of the beast by joining the spearheading party. Everyone in it, he knew, must be a monster--it was just that the world knew very well each and every one of those monsters. In fact, they were world-renowned celebrities. And yet... the man in front of him was entirely unknown. If even he was benched, just how strong were the others? Shawn’s mind was rattled.

“Not bad,” the man said as the tall shadow transformed into a tiny mote once again and rested on the man’s shoulder. “Almost ten seconds. With some polish, you’ll be raid-ready.”

“Thank you for the lesson,” Shawn said humbly.

“Lesson?” Cain looked at the strange lad with a look askew. “Right, sure. Come, sit now. Tell me something about yourself,” this time around, Shawn listened and sat down onto the chair next to the man’s.

“I was born in Philadelphia, though moved very early on because of my father’s job. He was a software engineer, by the way. We moved to Austin when I was two, and stayed there through my childhood and until the Towers fell. Because of that, I don’t have higher education--officially, at least. I did struggle to study on my own time and at my own terms, but I am uncertain as to how efficient it is. I’ve been told by others that I am cold, insensitive, and rude--I am trying to work on it. Both my mother and father are still alive and are living on this floor, in fact. They are both very proud of me, and are always telling their friends about me. I visit them once or twice a month because only mother can make my favorite dish--fish soup. And...”

“...” Cain was... floored, to say the least. From one chatterbox, he found another. It was just that this one was even... stranger. “Alright, stop. I meant more, like, your class, your strengths, weaknesses, how you rotate your healing and so on. Not your first love, man.”

“My first love was Tina--”

“Not your first love,” Cain interrupted. “Ah, whatever. You’ll be my only company for a while. May as well get to know you. So, Tina?”

“Yes, Tina. Tina McTillen. She was a year senior, and I first met her when I was ten. While I found her absolutely delightful, she found me strange and weird. One time, after I called out her name in a greeting, she hissed at me.”

“Hissed? Like... like a cat?”

“Yes.”

“Ouch.”

“She was very cute doing it.”

“...”

“After her, I grew to like Anna.”

“... Anna?”

“Anna Reygon,” Shawn said. “She was also very delightful, but similarly found me strange. She did pity me, however, and agreed to have sex with me.”

“Nice.”

“Wasn’t very good.”

“Oh.”

“After her, I devoted myself to the Tower. Love is secondary.”

“... right. Well, you’ll find that in here, love is always in the air.”

“Really? Isn’t competition? Considering how strong the party is?” Shawn asked, clearly curious.

“Ah, you’re an oddball. You’ll fit right in and see what I mean. Would you like a drink?”

“Do you have some warm milk?”

“... no.”

“Then no.”

“How about a beer?”

“I don’t like alcohol.”

“... how about we meditate in silence for a while?”

“I do like meditating.”

“Who would have guessed?” Cain sighed, closing his eyes. It was nostalgic, though slightly annoying. But at least it confirmed that he was back to his roots, to who he was at the far core of his being. And... it was good.