The Arcane Emperor

Chapter 184: The Second Tower of Conquest

The Dungeon, named the Second Tower of Conquest, was a sight to be seen. A massive valley, cut down the center by a wide road, stretched seemingly endlessly into the distance.

“Well?” Rainer said, glancing over to his grandfathers. Both shook their heads, confirming that the notes were correct. Magic which increased speed or allowed flight was unusable in the first stage. It was meant to be a slow grueling run to the finish, fighting Monsters every step of the way. Of course, they guessed teleportation might be blocked as well. Which proved true. Just in case, Rainer decided to check as well. A quick use of [Void Detection] showed that [Void-walking] itself wasn’t the issue, but selecting the destination with [Void Detection] was.

He nearly laughed out loud as he wrapped the group up in a Void-Travel, his Avatar included, and rushed to the end of the first stage. Whatever block existed didn’t seem to account for the uniqueness of [Void-Traveling]. It wasn’t technically teleportation after all. He was just slipping in and out of the Void.

The final point of the Dungeon was quite simply a massive portal that towered over them. A monster of particular strength was waiting for them here. Rainer didn’t spare a moment as his Avatar pinned it down with both [Arcane-Spatial Domain] and an overpowered [Void Hold]. It was a three-story tall humanoid with four arms, covered in scales. The Arcane and Void in his Soul that allowed him to use those two abilities at once was always a welcome thing.

With their ability to fly restored after reaching this point, Rainer soared into the sky. With an overpowered [Eldritch Flight] he descended like a comet. The suppressed monster roared impotently as a flash of violet streaked across the sky and its neck.

Whatever abilities it had were left for the notes.

Rainer’s improved Tier 6 [Arcane Blade] combined with [Soul Presence] and [Soul Consolidation] was simply too much for the beast, whose power barely touched the 3rd Tier for a monster.

His Avatar nearly died from overcharging his own spells with [Soul Presence], but thankfully the fight had ended quickly enough. His Avatar’s help hadn’t even truly been needed.

As soon as their journey started, it was already time for the 2nd Stage.

Rainer’s party had ended up with an extra slot, which had been filled with a disciple of Ren’s. The Sixth Emperor was happy to not pay the fee that 14 Magi charged. Given it was the same as buying three enchanted items, at minimum, it was hardly anything approaching cheap. Especially as they didn’t accept the money of their world and only certain rarities as payment. While the non-Pioneer rewards of a Dungeon were far lesser, the first run for anyone was rarely unnoteworthy. It was still a Rank 6 Dungeon after all.

Said disciple was staring blankly at the fallen Monster. He rapidly looked between the weird and varied members, and on those that had normal enough faces to read, he couldn’t find any surprise. This was a normal occurrence?

In fact, it could be said that the 1st Stage was the reason the Dungeon was priced so high by the Mages. It was a grueling challenge. But it was so blatantly ignored here…

Not to mention the guaranteed reward. Even if they became more common with every run of both Dungeons, [Spatial Ring]s were never cheap. Not to mention the Second Tower gave a larger ring than beating the First Tower. For the first time anyways.

His Master had mentioned this Rainer was almost as strong as a 3rd Tier, but Uldan found that hard to believe. The difference between even the strongest 2nd Tier and the weakest of the Seven Emperors was an uncrossable chasm. Even watching the strongest of his fellow disciples, some preparing for their own 3rd Tier Trial, fight his Master was like watching an adult playing with children.

No wonder his Master was so reverent towards these otherworlders, or why he believed their claim at all. The only thing that could explain the scene before his eyes was exactly their story. What sort of unspeakable creature would this man become when he reached the 3rd Tier in truth? In fact, had it not been for this very Dungeon, he might have doubted the man’s claim of being in the 2nd Tier, no matter what his Master had said.

The reward that followed stepping through the portal came at no surprise.

[Road of Monsters has been completed. 2% Static Experience Gained for the first time having cleared it]

[Bonus Item: Spatial Ring]

[Contribution Reward: none]

The rewards matched the decreased difficulty of this place. A unique factor of Rank 6 Dungeons it seemed, where their difficulty from the Pioneer runs decreased significantly. Along with any rewards which were now standardized like most Dungeons rather than tailor-made like his Master’s had been.

Uldan looked joyfully at the small ring before slipping it on. He could now sell his old one. He glanced over to Rainer with quite a bit of envy. Given that he soloed the monster, the entirety of this stage’s contribution bonus would be added to the size of his ring. It would no doubt be impressive.

Uldan stepped through the portal and onto the next forested stage. Yet before anything could be done, Rainer was already flying forward. Violet flames raged through the forest as he tore through with abandon. Some even seemed to be taking the shape of animals, though it was unclear.

Uldan just stared blankly, realizing the man intended to deal with the stage alone yet again… This was far from the epic tale Uldan expected, even if he was just to be a watcher due to the blocking of his Aura. His reverence for the Dungeon quickly faded and he even became bored in a place he should otherwise be fearful.

Seeing the younger sister who was glaring at Rainer as he slowly disappeared over the horizon, Uldan went over. She was quite beautiful. He wondered how old she was, but by his guess, she couldn’t be a day over 40. How impressive to reach the 2nd Tier at such an age.

“You are worried about the risks your brother takes?” he questioned with his best smile, only to get a glare back. She huffed and ignored him entirely. Quite embarrassed, Uldan just rubbed the back of his head and found a rock to sit on. Perhaps it was for the best the sister of such a powerful man rebuked him wholesale, now that he thought about it.

After some time, Uldan glanced across the group before his eyes fell on one of the skeletal… men? He wasn’t exactly sure what either of the two were. What was even more baffling was that one of the skeletons gave off a reverent and holy feeling. Were they not creatures of darkness like he originally assumed?

Following his Master’s orders, he walked over to the black and violet-flamed skeleton who was standing alone. He was told to try and create friendly relations, and how better to do so then to be friendly to their strangest and most weird looking members? Given his quick failure perhaps it was better to stay away from the women lest his Master punish him afterwards.

“Greetings, friend from a distant land,” Uldan said, far less confident in his smile this time. He extended his hand in the gesture common to these people. For all that his Master seemed to be a relaxed man, he was also an observant one. Uldan had been firmly taught in how to interact with these people. He had of course not been encouraged to flirt with anyone, but some things couldn’t be changed.

Uldan inwardly grinned as the skeleton ‘seemed’ surprised at his gesture—somehow he could tell that—and used his impressive bodily control to avoid showing any discomfort as he shook hands with the bony man. Now that the Aura user thought about it, it could be worse. At least he didn’t have to worry about what might be on these hands as much.

“Is this the usual for him?” Uldan asked, repeating his earlier question in a different manner.

“Sorcerer is an impressive one,” the skeleton replied with a nod.

Uldan and him talked a bit more, getting into a conversation about Aura. After the skeleton mentioned the Aura skill he had created off of the ‘Sorcerer’s’ own magic blade, the man grew ever more interested. He glanced around the rest of the party as some left into the forest before noticing that the beautiful long-eared woman with the strange hair was incredibly close with the other skeleton. What was going on? He was deeply curious. When had he ever seen such a beautiful woman? The skeleton he learned was named Gunthar seemed to notice his gaze.

“My father and her are in fact getting married in the future,” Gunthar said, happiness leaking into his voice.

“That… um…” Uldan’s curiosity only grew deeper. But it wasn’t an easy question to ask without implying offensive things about this skeleton and his apparent father.

“The woman and her race are a bit special. They see attractiveness in terms of Mana rather than anything else.”

Uldan nodded, that made far more sense. A shame for himself however.

“Of course, such a handsome man like my father doesn’t need that. She is quite taken with him.”

Uldan just stared at Gunthar blankly. The Aura user’s mind was scrambling as he thought of a polite way to change the subject.

“I was wondering if-”

“Apologies. You are not my type,” Gunthar quickly interrupted, and started walking away.

Uldan stood there, completely and utterly confused. Had he just been rejected a second time? But he hadn’t even been trying to flirt… did the skeleton misunderstand him? And what sort of world did these people come from that a walking skeleton was considered handsome? How did they even...

“Perhaps that was a bit much, Sarah,” Gunthar said, looking at the pale faced Uldan sitting by himself. No doubt imagining just what was meant by their earlier conversation. Sarah had asked him to strike up a conversation with the Aura user and gave him several ideas on how to mess with him, but the man had approached Gunthar himself.

“Who told that old man to try and hit on a 17-year-old girl?”

“I would imagine you being 17 is not a possibility he ever considered. And are you sure he was even trying to court you?” Gunthar asked, she had explained what ‘hit’ meant in this context earlier.

“Did you see his face after you rejected him?” Sarah asked with a laugh, completely ignoring Gunthar’s point.

“I can see why you and Sorcerer enjoy these types of tricks,” Gunthar replied.

Rainer flew through the forest, violet flames surrounding him as he tried to finish what he had started in the last dungeon. Despite his need to burn this place—and all its Monsters—down, no runes came to mind. No spells formed. It seemed it wasn’t something that could be artificially created. He had missed his chance at the spell that could create semi-sentient violet monsters of flame, and that was that. No matter how he tried to force the spell, it wasn’t something that could be recreated. It looked like if he ever wanted that spell, he’d have to create it normally.

Some time later, he sent a message through his [Soul Mark]s telling the rest of his party go ahead. There were no limits in this second stage, so it was hardly an issue. Both his grandfathers were here to level newly gained 2nd Tier classes; the two still completed Trials with ease, not to mention their newly gained items on top of Rainer’s tattoos lowered that difficulty even further. Having access to Rainer’s [Sleep Learning] on top of centuries training skills and spells the hard way made getting their Tier 1 class skills maxed a chore rather than a challenge.

Art, Furtak, Gunthar, with Gunthar’s father and soon-to-be bride, along with Luna, Sarah, Sophia, Rainer’s Aunt, were all here as well. The remaining numbers were filled with one of Rainer’s Avatars and 2nd Tiers from his mother’s side of the family. And then of course the apprentice of Ren.

He started rapidly [Void-Traveling] through the forest, ready to sweep up the small mini-bosses required for the passing of this stage. With his experiment a failure, he didn’t want to stay here longer than necessary. The forest was technically limitless, and the stage would end the moment they had defeated 10 of the mini-bosses. Their strength each was a bit stronger than last Monster of the previous stage. They still had strength only equivalent to say a normal level 24 [Serpent King]. Their unique abilities made them a greater challenge but they hadn’t fully entered the boundary of the 3rd Tier.

He took a moment to test what happened when he tried to use his Aura.

[Warning: Aura may not be used. Attempting to ignore this warning will result in loss of rewards.]

Rainer nodded. It meant the worst case scenario of bringing Kara in here, was simply that she would lose her rewards. So if Aura was somehow integral to her survival as a Half-Demon, it wouldn’t have any consequences. How did the 10 attribute limit work then?

It also meant he had to run through this place again… Rainer sighed.

With all of them working together, along with Rainer’s own rapid searching ability, it wasn’t long until they had barreled through it. The Monsters would have troubled a full party of Dungeon goers at the peak of 2nd Tier, but this wasn’t just any party. And Rainer himself could kill any of these monsters in an instant if his party members called for him. [Arcane Blade] combined with [Soul Presence] truly defied normal reason. And that wasn’t even counting [Blade of the Void].

In fact, the main reason they even entered this Dungeon so soon was because all the stages were based on killing large Monsters. They were certainly far faster than their stature suggested, and even resistant to Magic, but not enough to really cause Rainer any trouble. To their group, nothing could be simpler. Only a single monster caused his [Arcane Blade] trouble. A switch to the Void solved that trouble in an instant.

[Endless Forest of Monsters has been completed. 5% Static Experience Gained for the first time having cleared it]

[Bonus Item: Feathered Sword of Speed]

[Contribution Reward: Staff of Bracing]

The mediocre enchanted sword and staff barely got a look from Rainer as he put them in his [Dimensional Ring]. Perhaps it was meant to be a reward that prepared someone for the next Tower where all Attributes were reduced to 10? Either way, that staff would merely explode the moment he used it. And that sword hardly warranted mention compared to even the unenchanted works of their blacksmith.

Rainer got the feeling that this Rank 6 Dungeon was only meant to be run multiple times for experience to reach 25 from 24 in Tier or the qualification to enter the next towers. Of course, without the first bonus, running through the entire Dungeon only earned 2% experience total with even more pitiful rewards and sometimes none at all. The rewards were just add ons. Something easy for him to say when he had access to so many enchanted items.

It wasn’t strange for Aura users to spend years running the First Tower of Conquest in order to reach level 25. A truly boring affair while also being life-threatening for most. The worst combination. To go through countless runs but to die at 90% experience was both a real threat and likely had already become a reality for someone. Rainer himself wasn’t looking forward to his eventual plan of beating the First Tower given the restriction on Magic. And that was only a single time.

They were teleported to a Rest Area. Other than enjoying the offered food for a bit, they quickly headed to the next stage. Rainer glanced at Ren’s apprentice as they were going through the portal. The man looked downright depressed as he was hurried away from the food.

Rainer only chuckled, looking forward to the next round.

Rainer stood back, letting his group handle the massive monster on their own. It was to be a test to see just what was required to beat this place. The 3rd Stage was simple. After a short climb down a flight of stairs, they entered a massive room with a chained Monster of some sort. The giant gelatinous blob of flesh, covered in a myriad of eyes wasn’t a quick thing to kill.

While Art used his Magic to protect the squishy members of the group from beams and limbs that attacked them, the rest sought to kill the monster.

After chopping and burning away at it, Frederick seemed to have gotten tired of waiting. Rainer watched as the man flew straight at the thing, covered in [Arcane Haste], as he simply poured Arcane Energy haphazardly in an [Arcane Domain]. Every inch of the beast was assaulted at once.

No longer able to heal itself at a normal rate, the beast finally fell as the rest of the ranged party members joined in at attacking it.

Rainer suddenly grew curious of the Mage party that regularly beat this Dungeon. Frederick may not quite be a 3rd Tier, but there were likely few in the 2nd, even universally speaking, that were his match.

[Precipice of Doom has been completed. 15% Static Experience Gained for the first time having cleared it]

[Bonus Item: Fleshly Core of an Abyssal Orbitor]

[Contribution Reward: none]

[1/2 Qualifications gained to enter the Third Tower of Conquest]

Rainer raised an eyebrow at the name of the reward. Were there such things in the Abyssal Planes or was it just a coincidence of names? A shame he couldn’t explore that interesting place until he could deal with those 3rd Tier Elementals… And Amer hadn’t even come with them on the run.

But for now, it was time to go shopping in the City of Wealth. His main body would be enjoying a ‘relaxing’ trip through the First Tower of Conquest.