Chapter 365

When the Stars Alight the Sky (III)

There were quite a few shifts after every member of the raid group got beat at least twice by Cain. The massive group of nearly 80 was broken down into smaller chunks, each led by one of the members of the main party who were responsible for slowly getting the rest’s abilities up to par. In the meantime, the main members would gather in isolation after the fact for the rounds against primarily twins, but also Cain on the occasion.

The few exceptions included the healers that were exclusively taught and trained by Cain, and tanks that were just about to receive their first lesson with Quinn.

Emma, Kramer, and Chriss stood by the side of a small lake just outside the mountain valley where they built the town. All three were staring intently at the woman in front of them, who was currently roasting a chicken, mumbling something under her breath.

They’d all seen her here and there, though never much else; inspecting her yielded literally no information whatsoever, as though she were some high-end boss that they were too low level to interact with. They’d already asked several questions and called her out, but it was as though she was deaf to their words.

“What’d Cain say about her?” Kramer asked again.

“I’ll sock you,” Emma replied, tired of answering the same question several times over.

“Why don’t we just attack her?” Chriss asked, getting impatient. “Maybe that’s the part of the bitch’s training philosophy. Maybe she’s waitin’ for us to come at her.”

“Alright--go,” Emma said. “And do your thing.”

“I meant--I meant all three of us.”

“Just shut up and wait.”

“He’s right, you know,” the woman suddenly spoke, startling the three. “You’ve been standing there like braindead moose for six hours. Cain told me you were talented, but I guess he just really likes you. From where I stand, he’d be better off just becoming a tank himself. Or letting me solo the entire thing.”

“...” even if they knew she was just trying to rile them up, it still stung.

“The most important aspect of a tank,” she said as she took an abrupt bite out of the chicken she was roasting. “Is initiative. An aspect that none of you three displayed in any capacity. The job of a tank is to initiate a fight, get the boss’ attention, and hold on to that attention for dear life. Yet, for six hours, you three just stood there, counting your childish frustrations. Why’s that bitch not movin’? When is she gonna start training us? Aah, if I had known, I would have stayed back and rubbed one out.”

“... you--you can read minds?!!” Chriss cried out.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” the woman replied with a faint smile. “Why would I need to read minds to be able to read your thoughts? Anyway, you have all failed the first test. Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“If you had--”

“If you had this, if you had that,” she interrupted. “Do you always expect to be told what to do?”

“...”

“It seems to me that you have never realized the luxury,” she added. “Of having Cain with you. When I was climbing, there was no shield to hide me. To nurture me like I was a child. Instead,” she slowly began walking toward them. “I had to cling and claw and bite and be beaten an inch away from death hundreds of times. There was no one to usher me into the nice fields, sit me down, and teach me.”

“...”

“There was nobody to feed me items, to feed me ideas, to feed me abilities beyond my means,” by now, all three had felt the kind of Mana pressure that was only ever matched by Cain’s--they couldn’t breathe. They realized... the woman in front of them was beyond strong. So, strong, in fact, that she, just like Cain, could kill U’nul with her eyes closed. “When Cain told me to train you, even if I never expected skill, I expected countenance. Instead, I found a heap of children who should have never climbed as far as they did.”

“Y-y-ou’re right,” Emma mumbled through the shaking teeth, barely so. “H-h-help... us...”

“... help you?” the woman undid the pressure, causing all three to collapse to their knees, panting heavily. “Do any of you have even the faintest of clues as to just how strong Cain is?”

“... no,” Emma replied honestly. “We don’t.”

“Well, I do,” the woman said, crouching in front of them. “Just the faintest clue, however. What he wants to do... what he’s aiming to do... do you believe you can aid him?”

“--are you just building up to telling us to let him go?” Emma asked with a faint grin.

“... no,” the woman replied. “I’d be a grosser moron than you to do so. That man would rather skewer my head off my neck than ever let go of you.”

“...”

“So, what have you been doing for the man willing to do so much for you? Feeling proud that you climbed to the twentieth floor ‘all on your own’? Is that your crowning achievement?”

“...”

“I went through your Towers,” she added. “And looked through your Conquerors. A middling world that somehow, someway birthed someone great. Usually, people like that end up being those insane solo Conquerors, who blaze their path to the top on their own, leaving their worlds in dust. You got lucky. Incredibly lucky. And you’re wasting that luck. So, Cain told me to train you.”

“...”

“He told me to break you,” she added. “To undo who you are, and rewrite the very core of what makes you tick.”

“No... he didn’t,” Emma said.

“You’re right. I added the last part,” the woman grinned, suddenly grabbing Emma’s hair and yanking her forward. “Because none of you are even remotely fit to stand in front of the King. Being able to fight is irrelevant. Hell, even tanking can be taught and learned over time. Classes, items, titles, levels... none of it matters. They’re all decorations. After all, two of you have Classes of much, much, much higher quality than mine. And yet, I guarantee you, if all your stats got scaled up, if you learned how to fight like the best of them... I’d still grind your asses across the ground as though you were children. Wanna know why?”

“... why?” Kramer grit his teeth and asked.

“Because all three pissed yourself,” the woman said. “Just because I bled a tiny bit of killing aura. Even a wild animal would have been able to resist it. Not only that, but your brains are so enamored with themselves, that you concocted the idea that I, for some reason, used Mana. Why the fuck would I need to use Mana? If I had used Mana, even the tiniest smidgen, all three of you would have combusted out of existence. Do you know why people like me, the twins, and especially Cain keep our Mana tightly locked? So much so that we appear like completely normal people to everyone?”

“...”

“Even if the tiniest drop leaks without our direct control,” the woman added, raising her finger and pointing it toward the sky. “It would immediately lord over every ounce of Mana within miles upon miles around us. In fact, neither the twins nor I will dare use our Mana against you for decades. The only reason Cain can is, well... because he’s that much stronger. And you... you wish to follow him?”

“H-h-help us...” Emma asked again after a momentary silence.

“... well, at least you passed the second test,” the woman stood up and stretched. “All three of you look just about ready to lacerate my very soul. That means you at least have some pride.”

“That... was a test?” Kramer quizzed.

“No? Just a lucky coincidence,” the woman replied, looking down at the three. “That was simply the overview of how pathetic you are. And here’s my final, honest answer--none of you will ever truly be able to follow him to the very top. It’s not even that large of a slight. Chances are, where he’s going, even I will eventually stop being able to follow. However, that’s not what he requires of us. At some point, nobody will be able to follow him. What we need to do is build an army that can withstand the rage of the cosmos... and not die. When he’s fighting the main cunts, the rest of us need to be able to deal with the cunts’ dogs and servants. Alas, that’s too big of a concept for you to grasp just yet. How about we first start with something small. Like the third test. Here’s a rock,” the woman pulled a tiny, fingernail-sized pebble and set it down onto the ground gently. “Pick it up.”

After she finished, she turned her back to the three of them and went to the lakeside, where she took out a chair and sat down, seemingly in want of a nap. The three exchanged looks between themselves, as well as the woman and the pebble, before Chriss marched over, boiling with anger. Just as he reached for the pebble, he felt an excess energy blast back at him--soon, he found himself aflight.

He’d flown full hundred yards backward and rolled for half that length more before stopping, spraying blood and crying with broken bones.

“HOW DARE SUCH A PATHETIC THING TRY AND TOUCH ME, THE GREAT AGGAN?!! TRY AGAIN, AND I SHALL RENDER YOUR SOUL NON-EXISTENT, YOU PATHETIC VERMIN!!” the pebble yelled angrily into the wind.