Return of the Tower Conqueror

  Reentry (II)

As soon as the group landed onto the Second Floor, Yuki gasped in shock and awe as his eyes quickly began dancing around the mirror, the city, the steles, and the distant mountains. Nothing has changed since they were last here, at least on the surface. There was a constant stream of newcomers going both in and out of the city as the information about it was widespread by now. Cain suspected that most of the plots of lands were already in the hands of someone in the city, but at least they still had a place they could call 'home' if need be.

However, he had no intention of going into the city just yet; on their way to the portal to the Second Floor, Cain had gained a few levels and reached Level 38, slowly catching up to everyone. He didn't want to begin the climb through the City's 'hierarchy', so to say, until everyone was at Level 50 -- not because they needed to be, but because it would make things much faster since it was actually almost impossible to solo the whole thing since quite a few boss fights were more akin to 5v5 duels.

As such, he had a clear route beforehand in mind instead, which is why he immediately spun around and headed southwest, toward a plot of land juxtaposed between Fiery Lakes and the massive Hallowed Graveyard -- Masashi Desert. Even though there were a few things he wanted to do in the desert itself, his ultimate goal was actually the isolated 'Flying Island' aptly named 'Stairs of Light' that rested beyond and was only reachable by the bridge extending from the edge of the desert.

Though Taima and Lek were still stuck in the city, they should be fine for a little while longer since, last Cain checked, the former hasn't crafted all the items yet, and the two got along well enough that they could live in the small, cramped space together.

They quickly reached the mountains in the distance dividing the lake from the rest of the land and began the relatively short climb; the higher up they went, the less lush the world around them became, and the temperature began to grow, bit by bit.

By the time they reached the summit and began the descent to the other side, the temperature had turned sweat-inducing, forcing everyone to coat themselves in a thin sheen of Mana, cooling themselves down.

As soon as they descended beneath the clouds, the world in front of them opened, the scorching sun ringing out across the sand-colored world; countless dunes made of soft-seeming sand expanded in front of them in a sort of an endless loop, where all four corners seemed exactly the same.

As far as the eye could see -- which, fairly enough, wasn't that far -- there was nothing but sand in the shape of hills and craters. The group took some twenty minutes to descend from the mountain and enter the scorching 'world' of sand. The horizon began to blur and wobble as though liquefied from the sheer heat, prompting others to break out in sweat; if they couldn't cool themselves through Mana, would they even be able to survive here?

"Around 160," Cain replied casually causing others' eyes to widen like saucers as they glanced at him. "So, if you're planning on getting some tan, I'd suggest otherwise. Unless that tan color is 'redder than a fucking tomato'."

"160 Celsius," Yuki mumbled.

"Na, it's 160 Fahrenheit," Cain corrected. "It should be like half that or something in Celsius, right?"

"Around 70," Emma said. "Which is still 15 degrees Celsius higher than the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth. Shit, just what kind of life evolved to survive in these conditions?"

"A lot of underground kind," Cain warned. "So, be careful. If you see a mouth opening up, it's likely not a 'natural phenomenon', but a literal maw of some monster."

Everybody gulped once before they took their first step onto the sand. It was soft and gave slightly under their feet, even appearing to shimmer faintly as though magical. The desert itself actually wasn't that dangerous of a region; since its own 'natural dangers' could easily be ignored through just a faint Mana shield, the entire difficulty rested mostly in learning to navigate it -- which was helped with frequent-enough landmarks. As such, it was actually second-best grinding spot for quick leveling, just after the Hallowed Graveyard. Cain, however, still chose the desert since it was the only way to the 'Flying Island'.

Some two miles into their journey, Emma came to an abrupt halt and drew out her warhammer, digging it downward in one, smooth motion. She kicked up a heap of sand as though it was water, prompting others to draw back and spread out. A moment later, a roar broke out from underneath, quaking the ground slightly, before a monster leapt out -- it was a fifty feet tall, snake-shaped creature with yellow, scaled skin and a pair of twilight-dyed eyes staring coldly downwards.

Despite its dangerous appearance that startled the group, the creature was actually rather easy to kill; with its attention on Emma, Senna, Jamal, Daniel, and Sigmund unleashed a swift array of strikes that quickly began tapping out the creature's HP. After all, it barely broke 70,000.

On the other hand, Yuki panicked slightly and immediately used one of his 'ultimate' abilities of sorts, summoning a ten feet tall totem at the center of group that sprayed out thinly-veiled bubbles of light which exploded above the party, showering them in healing energy, restoring their health every second. However, when he realized that the snake-shaped creature fell within 15 seconds of emerging, his cheeks swiftly turned red as he unsummoned the totem and looked down.

The party went on after looting a few mats from the monster, while Cain asked Yuki to share the skill he'd just used as Cain had actually never seen it before in his life.

//Wellspring Totem(S)

Passive: Regenerate 3% of missing Mana every second.

Cast: Instant

Mana Cost: 25% of Max Mana

Cooldown: 3min

Use: Summon a 'Wellspring Totem' at the desired location; every second for the next 15, the totem will summon motes of light that will shower your group, healing each member for 350 Health + 5% of their missing Health per second. This healing is doubled for the members of the party below 50% of max Health. When the totem expires, it explodes into a wave of energy that heals 2 members with the lowest health for 800 HP + 25% of their missing Health. The totem can be desummoned at any point, shortening its cooldown slightly.//

Cain enviously stared at the Skill's passive component, though its active one was far more overpowered. Just the initial, active component was somewhat too good as it could heal just Cain for 400 health per second, which was effectively 1/3 of his max Health. That's not to mention that it would turn into 800 if he was below 50%. In addition, it seemed that the totem didn't actually have a cap -- that is to say, even if there were a 100 people around, it would heal them all.

No, there's definitely a cap, cap was rarely mentioned in the ability's description, but it definitely existed for most abilities. People would simply discover the limits of their skills naturally as they used them. Growing somewhat interested, Cain asked Yuki to share the skills he uses the most to heal, prompting the latter to swiftly show them to him.

//Spirit Link(A-)

Cast: 0.8s

Mana Cost: 320

Cooldown: 6s

Use: Convert Mana into spirit energy, splitting it between 3 members of your party with lowest health. Each member is healed for 460 Health flat and is buffed with 'Spirited', increasing their base 'Health Regeneration' by 800% for 8 seconds.//

//Touch of the Umbra(A)

Cast: 1s

Mana Cost: 600

Cooldown: 12s

Use: After 1s channel, connect with the targeted member of the party, healing them for 900 Health flat and applying 'Wraith' buff, decreasing damage they take by 25% for the next 6 seconds. At the buff's expiration, they are healed again for 100% of the damage the buff decreased.//

//Nature's Herald(C+)

Cast: Instant

Mana Cost: 60% of Current Mana

Cooldown: 6min

Use: Surge with the might of the surrounding spirits, restoring 50% of your maximum Mana over 12 seconds. For the duration, you echo the spirits around you within 40y, healing every member of the party for 4*Intelligence. After 12 seconds, you may choose to end the Skill, or activate its follow-up part: expunge all the Mana you recovered in a burst of spiritual energy that deals 12*Intelligence damage to every enemy within 60y and heals all allies within the same scope for twice the damage dealt.//

Though there were quite a few more Skills Yuki shared, Cain focused namely on the three above, sucking in a cold breath. Similarly to Illumity, Diya's class, Yuki's class seemed much better at AoE healing, but also had skills specifically designed to cover the tank healing, such as the 'Touch of the Umbra' that, if timed properly, can completely change the course of the battle. However, Cain noticed that they were quite reliant on 'big cooldowns' and that their skirmish-to-skirmish capabilities weren't that great. Nonetheless, the class seemed to only become stronger the bigger the party was.

The party made swift progress through the desert, occasionally having to battle the snake-like monsters that seemed to dominate this portion. Roughly eight hours into their trek, they finally came across the first official landmark of the desert as well as one of its few non-hostile settlements, one literally named 'Sandcastle' despite the fact that no building in the settlement resembled a castle in any way, shape or form. Still, the silly name aside, Cain was actually looking forward to it since, besides the plethora of quests that the settlement had, it was also one of the few places on lower floors that sold mounts -- albeit temporary ones. Without mounts, after all, the desert would be nigh impossible to actually cross or, at the very least, time invested wouldn't come nowhere near the rewards they'd get out of it.

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