Chapter Twenty-One - Olive, Part 2

Despite my edgy attitude, I was well-liked in my village. Ok, that’s a lie. I wasn’t edgy, but that was the look I was going for with my natural black fur. I was always told that I was different from all the beastmen. That pissed me off, as if saying that those like me were inferior. But I guess I never showed it, as if I had a god-given poker face.

I knew I wanted to be a fighter since I was little. My parents had climbed one floor, and the stories of their adventure made me wish that I could go on one myself. My parents did not object to my dream, but I realize now that it was difficult to let their daughter go and never return. I had many teachers. Most were strange, but wise. Where their personalities did not match their superb abilities and knowledge of the battlefield. They all stayed in Canata while preparing to march towards the climb.

There was Rererere, an American. He had the ability to turn the dead into the undead. A sickening ability, but under his control the undead performed mundane tasks. He was always frugal since he had bad spending habits. He’d buy anything that looked remotely interesting, but would only provide five minutes of use before being discarded after a failed attempt to negotiate with the shop’s seller. During training however, the undead zombies had overpowering strength and speed. They were able to execute coordinated attacks with little to no error. As one zombie struck with a slash, one behind it performed a horizontal strike and the one next to it would go for the neck with its jaw. Attempting to fight three at once was difficult, but if you did manage to take one or two down that would just lead to an endless barrage of zombies that would pick up where the last left off. Rererere’s solution was elemental triangles. The natural weaknesses in the form of physical objects and materials. The concept of a weakness applied to every living thing, just like how fire could burn away plants and water could put out the fire. Additionally, plants would thrive on water. Normally, zombies would perish from attacks to the head cutting out its connection to the mind and Rererere’s magic as a whole. Additionally, fire and water can be used to accelerate the decaying progress. He taught me what each probable creature living in this world and the floors beyond could die from. After he taught me everything I needed to know, he ascended to the third floor.

My second teacher was Longshot. A bird-humanoid who had lost a wing-arm climbing the first floor. Despite his impairment, he was a master marksman. He always had these blank stares whether it was people, the sky, the ground, or anything else. He’d just stare as if he was somewhere else. Perhaps he was pensive, or just not there mentally. Either way, he was a great warrior. He was not born with any magic, but he had found a relic in the form of long range attacks. It fired beams of energy in short bursts and with his limited flight capabilities, he had multiple vantage points for striking. My weapon at the time was a wooden sword, or swords. Many happen to break during my training exercises. I had to owe a lot of favors to the craftsman of our village like fetching materials or attending his grandchildren’s parties as the storyteller.

Anyways’s Longshot taught me the effectiveness of an ever-changing battlefield. The use of natural cover and steady ground. Methods for a non-flight creature to gain a high ground advantage and using the terrain to your advantage. Luckily for me, the leaves on the ground serve as a further use of my combat capabilities and amplified my being of threat in combat. Unlike Rererere’s combat simulations, Longshot was not much of a threat to my instincts and speed. However, he always had the upper hand when it came to a last strike. Both of us could dodge each strike and shot thrown at us, but when it came to the decisive strike, I would always lose. Longshot left suddenly in the middle of the night. All things considered, I think I was doing well and was still pouting over my prospective victory.

My first and last teachers were my parents. They taught me everything about my magic and swordfighting. Without their training, I don’t think I could’ve stood a chance against Rererere and Longshot. I learned early on that leaves were my magic as I was playing in a pile at a young age. The leaves reacted to my playfulness and danced around me like a carousel. My parents took me to the head shaman shortly after. The head shaman entered the Library and emerged with knowledge of my magic [Dead Leaf Magic]. An ancient art of assassination techniques utilizing nature and blending the colorful beauty of the world with the circle of life of trees. Additionally, with the passage of time and evolution of trees, there were surely more leaves yet to be discovered and the magic would naturally also improve adding more abilities for the user.

“Awesome!” I remember pumping my fist and the appalled look of my parent’s general concern at hearing their daughter become excited at the concept of violence.

Despite it all, my parents caved and taught me their culture of fighting. Attacks, defenses, and dances. Once my mind had matured further, the leaves followed along with the sword dances. I started applying the magic to my strikes and I felt even more powerful and adaptable. It was a surprise feeling of achievement, and right there and then, I wanted to climb the floors. Reaching the surface would teach me more and I wanted to reach heights that I had no grasp of knowing. I trained and studied for the day that I would be given Toben, the legendary sword of a warrior descended from a god that stayed behind on the first floor.

I participated in my ceremony, looked into the Door of the Future, and learned of the Guardian of the Forest. I bid farewell to my parents and village and headed for the Spiral Staircase. I climbed the third floor effortlessly. I extensively used all my training and knowledge to climb the fourth floor. The physical climb and the mental exhaustion proved to be too much and was much tougher. I knew that despite my superior skills, I would need to join a party.

I equipped my Green Leaf Armor and set out to find my next task and for fellow adventurers looking to climb to the fifth floor. I battled a good amount of enemies and I collected samples of ocean water, sand, dirt, and tree bark. I found piles of leaves near Banks in which I deposited all of these items for further use. As I spotted a celestial tower worthy of being a climbing mechanism I decided to follow it in hopes of finding more people with my same mindset. I ran into demonic creatures of nature and I went back to Rererere’s teachings. Salt was a common deterrent against demons in his world, so I applied salt to my blade as per his suggestion. And it worked! Normal strikes and my magic would harm these powerful creatures, but not enough to kill them.

I emerged from the forest and saw a field of four-armed lesser demons and two other warriors battling one that they had separated from the horde. I decided to showcase my skills in the hopes that they would recruit me and we could climb together. I had climbed by myself for two floors and was desperate for a personal connection. Plus they were girls, so it would make it easier for us to talk together.

I unleashed my abilities and performed my dance of attacks. I had no choice but to use my ultimate attack in the end to vanquish all the remaining enemies. We had some friendly introduction after that. Except for the cloak girl who was not happy, but the lizard made every effort to convince me that those two were not demons.

They invited me to their party of Ocean Slugs and I just could not hide my happiness. They talked about climbing to the fifth floor which made me even happier. They talked about this weird adventure with some sort of fox made of leaves and that was just so weird.

“Okay Olive, as a new official member of the Ocean Slugs, your first quest is to get us up onto the Tower of Stars!” Gabriela the lizard girl welcomed me with a task.

“How do I accomplish that?” I’m confused, I don’t possess anything that can let me fly. Let alone get me in the air. My [Orange Leaf Magic - Teleport] only works if the pile of leaves is on a surface, ground, wall or ceiling. The air does not count. And I never tried to teleport with multiple people. But surely enough, this Gabriela reminds me of Rererere. Sure, she and him are both Americans, but they both look like they have a lot of plans in their brains.

“With this.” Gabriela said with confidence.

Her tail began to glow and increase in size, forming an absurdly large fox tail made of leaves. The description of her story had just clicked. As if a locked door was just unlocked my mind just comprehended her Tail Magic and how she acquired it.

“Oh no, you killed that fox.” I groaned.

These two are enemies.