The Shadowed Blade Elder followed them back to the camp, where Cain set up his desk in the tent with the flap open so that the Lotus Blossom Elder, that was not so discretely watching them from the kitchen area, could see that he wasn't doing anything inappropriate with Elder Dragon Fang.
[Familiar Form: Cat] was a simple spell, one that Witches got around level 20. If received as an individual book, it was Rank F, owing to the fact that it actually reduced your combat capability due to cats not having thumbs or long enough digits to activate the gesture portion of the Witch's spells.
At twelve pages long, it was long for a Rank F spell, but it was still a simple one to write, and Cain handed it over only a few minutes later.
"There you go." He told the Elder, handing over the book.
The book disappeared the moment that she touched it, leaving the Elder with a shocked look on her face and vacant eyes as the Interface activated. That was surprising. She actually had a high enough affinity with the class that she could use the book directly and receive a class.
Cain checked her interface quickly before she finished, so he could tease the Elder, who kept her face covered at all times.
[Name] Tiffani
[Alias] Dragon Fang
[Race] Human
[Class] Witch
[Level] 708
[Awakened Immortal]
[Sect Elder of the Shadowed Blade Sect]
[Master Assassin]
"So, I see you got more than just a book out of the deal. Congratulations. You're level 708, so you should have more than enough skill points to complete the full skill tree. Look at you all fancy, getting dozens of spells all at once." Cain told her once the Elder's eyes began to focus on reality again.
"What did you do to me?" She demanded, grabbing Cain by his shirt and lifting him out of the chair.
"How rude. I didn't do anything to you. You did it to yourself by using a Skill book intended for Witches when you Cultivate a Dark Nature Magic Path. That is your technique, right? Otherwise, the book shouldn't have done much of anything other than let you read it and try to learn the technique." Cain replied.
"You knew that was a possibility?" She asked in a whisper.
"Of course I did. I quite literally wrote the book. It only works for people who already have an extremely strong affinity for the technique. The Immortal from the Light Sects Alliance mentioned that others could use the books if they had enough affinity, so it shouldn't be a secret."
Elder Dragon Fang shook her head. "Not that, the thing that came after."
Cain smiled and extricated himself from her hands, sitting down on the bed. "Why don't you transform, and we can see how fluffy you are?"
"Not happening. But I am going to get an answer from you about this interface that I see." She replied, then coated the tent in an energy barrier that blocked light and sound from outside.
"Fine. Since you are no fun, I will ask you this. Do you know the Laughing God?" Cain asked, and Elder Dragon Fang suddenly went as still as death.
"What do they have to do with this?" She asked carefully.
"Everything. They created it. They choose who gets it. It is their System." Cain told her honestly.
Happy tears rolled down the Elder's eyes and under her mask at those words.
"I will give you a bit of advice now that might save your life in the future. Never speak that name again in this world or any other Human world. Especially in the Divine Realms. There is a Legend among our Sect.
It is said that once, many thousands of years ago, the evil deity you referenced paid a visit to our Sect. That was the beginning of our spread to other worlds, but that person's very existence angers the True Gods of Humanity. Understand?" She reprimanded Cain very seriously.
"They're that mad? On my homeworld, there is a legend that the Human Gods fought with that one's people, but I didn't realize that it was more than a localized incident." Cain explained, hiding the fact that he did in fact, know that the feud was ongoing and that he had been warned about it in advance of arriving here. He had momentarily forgotten that the feud involved the Creators and not just the Ancients.
"So, you are from that place then? That explains your crazy Disciples. What would you do if I revealed your secret?" Dragon Fang taunted with a sly look on her face.
"You forget, I can turn you into a cat permanently, leaving you to live a life being cuddled and carried around by an Outer Sect Disciple of the Lotus Blossom. Plus, you're one of us now. You have a Class, and I am quite certain that if they showed up, those greater Divinities wouldn't miss the fact." Cain laughed while Elder Dragon Fang's smile turned sour.
Of course, a level 700 kitten could beat the average Elder to death with its tiny paws, and it wouldn't stop her from using her skills, but the Elder didn't know that.
"Fine, I won't tell anyone. But I need another book. I promised one to the Sect." She sighed.
"No problem, give me just a minute."
Everyone outside was looking at them strangely when the two came out of the tent, stepping through the barrier that Elder Dragon Fang had erected before she remembered to take it down.
"Oh, don't give me that look. We just needed to discuss combat techniques in private. You won't get Shadowed Blade Sect Secrets so easily." Elder Dragon Fang told the onlookers with a very serious look in her eyes that scared most of the curious disciples away.
"Elder Ling is cuter anyhow." Luna agreed, trying to be helpful.
"So is that his weakness then? I will keep it in mind." Dragon Fang laughed.
Cain leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Tiffani with an I."
Even with a mask over her face, Cain could see the blush on her cheeks. "Damn you. That's off limits."
With her business finished, Elder Dragon Fang headed out, returning to her Sect to share the knowledge that she had gained with the Disciples and other Elders. She would have actually to give them the book and show them, though. For a Witch, the skill activates automatically, and she never had actually learned the skill from scratch, so teaching it to others without a book would be very difficult.
"Why don't you all go practice? Unless you've got an idea that you want to go with to try to set a new path?" Cain asked, making sure that his Disciples weren't slacking.
"Luna is in the kitchen, trying out the new cookbook that she traded your labor for, and I have a proposal for you, but the others can go," Jen suggested.
"Alternating defense capture the flag with Sabbat as the flag?" Penny suggested.
It was a technique that they had used before. One defended Sabbat as she cast, while the others tried to get to her and disrupt her spells. It was excellent training all around, including for Sabbat, who had to learn to dodge and increase her spell-casting speed if she didn't want the defenders mad at her all the time.
The Lotus Blossom Disciples also thought this was a great game, except they had one Disciple play the part of a prisoner instead of having them be active participants. They did a fair number of rescue tasks, mostly because people in this world had a bad habit of trying to abduct low-rank female cultivators, and the Lotus Blossom Sect was a very righteous group.
With Jen and Luna out for this match, they grabbed a number of other disciples to join the game, making it more entertaining than a one-on-two battle would be. The spell that Sabbat used caused a large circle of light to fill the area but took over thirty seconds to cast, not usually something that would be used in combat, but incredibly useful in deterring hostile demons from entering your vicinity, should that be an actual concern.
It would last an entire day if it weren't dispelled, but it was perfect for the purpose of the game since it emulated many of the long buildup techniques that the Cultivators used but didn't do any damage to her opponents or the surroundings while being highly noticeable.
They began their match, with three Lotus Blossom Disciples added per side for balance, and Cain led Jen back to the tent so that they could talk techniques. Her excitement was overwhelming all of her other thoughts, which were so scrambled that Cain couldn't tell what it was that she actually wanted, only that it related to making her a better combatant when she was on the offense.
Currently, she was very good on defense, but her offensive skill was comparatively lacking, and everyone knew that it annoyed her, but it was a limitation of her class, which wasn't designed for high damage output.
"So, what I was thinking was this. The Blood Axe Sect uses double axes for all their skills, right? They can block with them and create shields over the ax heads, which fits well with the job I usually do, but they can go all RAAAAGH crazy Berzerker and chase people down while throwing blades of energy at them, right? So, if I can add that to what I already have, I could switch between offense and defense and gain some ranged attacks with a bit more area damage."
Going from Paladin to Berzerker? That sounded like a fun career path.
"Alright, let's see what I can do for you."
