Return of the Tower Conqueror

  Graveyard of Swords (I)

As soon as the group stepped past the perimeter formation, audible gasps filled their corner of the world. Dozens of strange creatures were sitting around leisurely, some on boulders, some on floors, and some merely levitating, appearing to merely enjoy the weather more so than anything else. They quickly became the target of dozens of pairs of eyes, causing everyone save for Cain to flinch and withdraw slightly, even Senna who inched slightly closer to the party.

Cain merely smiled and led the way through a sea of creatures, some as tiny as a foot and some as tall as the snake coiled around an angled, rusted sword that looked to be nearly forty feet long. There was no pattern to the creatures' spacing, and though this sight might be strange to the beginners, it was nothing new to Cain.

Creatures would always gather around either quasi-dungeons or the complete ones. Sometimes it would be for trades, sometimes for quests, and sometimes they would offer to fill up the last required spot that the party was missing. Naturally, however, this early on nobody trusted them -- but eventually, people would come to realize that they can often have far more impact than another human would.

As they had no means of acquiring any more items without giving up something they needed, Cain automatically ignored the creatures and continued toward the center where a massive, slightly slanted gate was standing, its mouth shimmering in faint cyan. It was framed with stone blocks stacked on top of each other, with vines digging out of the hardened dirt and coiling around the edges.

Though others were pensive about the creatures, they followed right behind him in silence, alert at any movement.

"Relax, they won't do anything," Cain said with a chuckle as he stopped in front of the massive gate.

"Yeah, the same way that a tiger won't do anything to you as long as you back away slowly..." Jamal mumbled, looking around aggressively.

"..." Cain looked at him strangely for a moment before shaking his head. He waited for a few moments before turning to the side where he saw a hooded, somewhat humanoid figure approaching them, using a stick to walk.

"Difficulty?" a queer voice asked from beneath the hood.

"Three." Cain replied casually.

"Five offers better rewards." the voice said.

"Yes, it also has twice the bosses~~" Cain grinned at the figure who turned silent right after, waving its hand forward and 'opening' the gates, turning the shimmering cyan color into radiating white. "Let's go guys." Cain hollered as he stepped forward, walking through the gates fearlessly.

Others followed right after, not wanting to be left behind, tossing themselves into a tunneled vortex that had them spinning around in circles.

The journey, however, was short -- barely two seconds. Cain landed squarely on his feet while Emma, Jamal, and Diya struggled for a moment to stand up. Only Senna was launched onto her back, appearing disoriented.

Damn... clips did it no justice... Cain mused inwardly as he sucked in a cold breath, looking around. They'd found themselves in a seemingly completely different dimension. In front of them was a behemoth of a sword, at least half a mile wide and so long its tip faded into a distant mist in the horizon, its blunt side laid out like a road at a slanted angle. Smaller, yet still somehow at the very least skyscraper-sized swords orbited it at every imaginable angle, appearing almost like jagged cliffs and mountains strewn about at random.

Even the ground beneath their feet felt eerily not like the ground, but more akin to the surface of a sword drenched in the dirt. There appeared to be no creatures anywhere, and the only thing that could be heard was the buzzing of the wind. Cain was pulled back from his inspection by a notification window that popped out in front of him.

//Welcome to the Graveyard of Swords!

The resting place of the Last War of Giants, the Graveyard of Swords has since been heralded as one of the Heritage Sites of Histories!

In order to complete the stage fully, seek out the locals!

You can leave by finding one of the ten exits scattered about!

There is no time limit!

All Classes with Swords as their main weapon gain a 10% bonus to experience, both for levels as well as masteries over their sword-tied skills.

Good luck!//

Though it didn't say much, at least on the surface, it actually spelled out everything. This was why people preferred dungeons and raids over field bosses and explorations -- the former two always offered a notification window that, if not spelling everything out, at the very least gave everyone the general idea of what was going on.

For instance, with the Graveyard of Swords, it being called one of the 'Heritage Sites of Histories' said as much as the rest of the lines combined, even if people would only come to realize this a bit later down the line. It meant that the world they stepped in was massive and that it was a living, breathing world, with likely hundreds of thousands of not-necessarily-hostile natives living about either in villages or towns or even large cities.

Furthermore, it meant that there were at least three Inheritances that could be found within the world. In the Graveyard of Swords, two were discovered and the third one remained a mystery even twenty-five years into the future. Of the two, one was a 'Knowledge' Inheritance, where whoever got it would be afforded a slight boost in their skills' mastery, while the other was a rusted sword that would start a quest eventually ending on a 23rd floor with the reward being an S+ ranked skill.

Though the Inheritances would never really make someone immediately strong, they often offered those intangibles -- like the quest, for instance, which guided the Inheritor through a very select set of quests that, if they knew what they were doing, would increase their intangible battle prowess considerably.

While they weren't hunted nearly as much as something game-changing like Talents, they were still a focus of virtually every expedition into new areas.

"Man, this is kinda nutty..." Jamal mumbled. "Just imagine how tall those freakin' Giants musta been if these were their weapons of choice..."

"Approximately... around two and a half miles," Diya mumbled. "If their weight was adequate... and laws of physics a bit different... and--"

"So, you have no idea?" Senna interrupted, frowning.

"Uh..."

"This entire place is a giant," Cain tossed out a bomb specifically because he also wanted to feel the sense of satisfaction Dree must have felt when he said the same sentence on the video.

And a bomb it truly was -- everyone froze and looked at him in horror before their eyes veered to the side and around them. Seeing the perfect opportunity, Cain decided to drop another bomb.

"All these massive swords are sticking out of its body as battle wounds."

"... ah, he's fucking with us." Jamal said.

"Should have realized it sooner..." Emma echoed the sentiment.

"Tsk, cheap..." Senna clicked her tongue and glared at him.

"It... it was a cool story..." Diya said.

Cain looked at them strangely for a moment, wondering just how far in the land of the paradoxes did they go -- sometimes, they would hold unquestionable faith in him. And sometimes... they would doubt every single word he said. I guess it's kinda difficult to comprehend it... wait till they fight Yh'o, though. He he, I'll get another 'I told you so'...

"Let's head up." he said, walking toward the central sword and hopping onto it. 'Hop' might be an understatement as he had to use Wind to heave himself good eighty feet into the air. He then glanced down and watched the fuming anger in everyone's eyes before chuckling and helping them up as well.

"Elementalist is a broken class, I swear," Jamal grumbled. "You guys can fight, you got mega damage, you got shields, you got blinks, you got all the shit. What do I got?"

"Not running out of breath after running for 10 seconds?"

"That's not on the class, though," Emma said. "That's entirely on you."

"Fair enough," Cain chuckled, wondering whether they'd hold the same sentiments if they saw other Elementalists right now. After all, though his display of skill was quite limited by his level and stats, he was showcasing an Elementalist after twenty-five years of min-maxing while they were stumbling virtually blind through something that was pure fiction just a few months ago. "But I can't heal. So, I can't do everything."

"I'm sure that if we were in a desperate need," Jamal said. "You'd find a way."

"... dude, where was this unquestionable faith when I sourced you knowledge of this place? Do you just doubt everything I say and then trust whatever bullshit you make up about me?"

"Hey... yeah?"

"Were you being serious?" Emma asked with a somewhat befuddled expression, certain he was just messing around.

"Yeah," Cain nodded. "Didn't you read the notification? The 'Last War of Giants'?"

"Yeah, but... like... just how massive the world would have to be if the giants were this fucking big?" Emma said.

"I dunno," Cain shrugged. "I don't think others were as big. I don't even know who the Giants fought. I'm not an encyclopedia."

"Your age is showing there, old man," Jamal said. "Don't trust him, Emma. He's 100%, undoubtedly, just messing with us. That's what the bastard does all the time..."

"When have I ever messed with you?"

"WHEN?!"

"... khm, alright, let's pipe down," Cain looked away awkwardly as he stepped forward and began climbing the sword. "Long road ahead of us and all that. Gotta keep ourselves in peak condition. Can't falter--"

"Oh, shut up..." a collective call-out caused Cain to chuckle as he glanced back, shaking his head. He once again found himself drifting in his memories and thoughts, wondering whether he ever felt as free-spirited as a part of a group as he did right now. The likelihood was slim -- even negligible. If something like that did happen, it would have long since been seared into his brain amidst the thousands of memories contrasting it completely. In virtually a couple of years, parties like these would become so fringe they may as well have not existed. Can't let it collapse, he mused. Whatever happens, can't let it collapse...