50 Familiarization

While having a basic grasp of each other's abilities was important, it could never make up for actual experience. Knowing this, Linnaeus came up with a variety of different formations and discussed the various ways in which they could deal with different types of enemies.

Eliza's [Gravity Rule] was one of their most powerful assets but, as it required her to be stationary and could easily damage allies just as easily as enemies, it was necessary to come up with measures that covered for this weakness. They also couldn't just have her use [Crush] on every enemy they came across as, while this was certainly an option in many situations, it would heavily restrict the potential growth of everyone else in the Party.

Fortunately, while they lacked the utility of a true Support class, Linnaeus' and Emilia's Blessings were extremely versatile. So long as he had the SP, Linnaeus could mitigate damage almost completely, not just for himself, but everyone in the Party. As for Emilia, she could disorient enemies and make it extremely difficult for them to fight back by obscuring their vision and blocking their airway, giving them an advantage against all by the fastest and most powerful foes.

The only restrictive factor behind using their Blessings to great effect was, as was often the case, the limited SP a person had access to. Though this became less of an issue at higher levels, especially if you could get access to powerful equipment, it was going to be a big issue in a world where they were unable to increase their Level.

This was where Linnaeus' previous mistake actually became a boon as, while his Health was almost comically low, his SP reserves and SP Regeneration were bordering on the extreme for his Level. It wasn't a match for Eliza's but, considering she was fifteen Levels higher than him, that was to be expected.

So long as he was careful, Linnaeus could regenerate upwards of 220SP per minute, effectively allowing him to upkeep his [Barrier Aura] on their entire Party at all times. This allowed them to tide through most environmental hazards and made exposure a non-factor. At the same time, he was still able to develop his [Barrier] and [Barrier Aura] further so, while his Level would stagnate, he was able to continually strengthen his foundation without any discernible limits.

This wasn't something that was exclusive to Linnaeus either so, while their ultimate goal was to reach the top of the Crucible of Souls, he discussed the topic of Skill, Ability, and Magic training as part of their familiarization with each other. Since they knew the requirements for certain Skills, they could help each other further strengthen their foundation and, by the time the returned to the Tower, their growth compared to their peers would potentially put them far ahead of the curve.

While Eliza and Krone didn't benefit nearly as much from this, as they had already graduated from Fledgling status, Linnaeus and Emilia had a chance of earning various rewards if they were thrown back into the earlier Floors. Other Fledglings would be hard-pressed to compete against them and, while this would require them to split up, it was possible for their Party to regroup on the tenth and twentieth Floors.

Krone didn't particularly show any interest in returning to the Tower but, with his arms crossed and a solemn expression, he stated he would help them leave. He personally felt that the Crucible of Souls was his just punishment and, even if he managed to earn the right to return, there didn't seem to be much of a reason to.

By reaching the top of the Crucible of Souls, they would have had to overcome various challenges and, while he may not be the strongest, his position would be near the top of other wayward Souls. Since returning to the Tower only meant a return to an endless struggle, he would rather repent in the Crucible of Souls until he felt absolved from his past sins. In his opinion, it was better to be one of the strongest people in the Crucible than one of the weak struggling in an uphill battle against those who had already lived for hundreds of years.

Linnaeus couldn't really argue with this logic as, prior to entering the Tower, he would have been content just to have enough power to protect himself in the outside. There didn't seem to be any limit to how strong people could become inside the Tower so, even if his foundation allowed him to compete against his peers, those that had ventured forward ahead of him would force him into a difficult position.

Despite this, he wasn't even remotely deterred as, after learning that his sister was already inside the Tower, Linnaeus was determined to reunite with her and Saht. He would protect them both until they reached a point where they were either satisfied with their progress or, much like Rebecca, they were ready to leave the Tower. Then, they could build a life together and, with the power they gained for themselves, live relatively free of worries...

---

To prepare for their battle against one of the Kings, Linnaeus' Party spent the better part of a week hunting around the den to develop their coordination and stockpile a sizeable amount of supplies. For all they knew, the next Floor would be a desolate wasteland so, in order to avoid having to go without food, they had been salting and drying meat in bulk. This was to conserve SP as it was much cheaper to keep preserved goods than use additional SP to preserve them yourself.

This week of training was also an opportunity for them to grow a little closer with each other and, while there were still a number of issues, predominately related to Krone, a status quo had been established within the Party after a few days. It was a little awkward, as Eliza and Emilia were far more friendly with him than they were with Krone but, as the man often kept to himself and focused on his own duties, this was just a matter of course.

Linnaeus wasn't the most personable individual but, with Eliza and Emilia having strong personalities, he was basically forced to socialize with them. Since this was a way of building rapport with his Party, he did his best to answer most of their curiosities and, while he avoided asking about anything that could be considered sensitive information, he had come to learn more about them as well.

Emilia was actually the granddaughter of her tribe's Matriarch so, while she was determined to climb the Tower, she didn't have much of an interest in trying to reach the top. Rather, enter the Tower was more of a right of passage for the Vanargandr than anything else and, after exiting, they would then be tasked with tracking down and establishing their own tribe. This was made possible due to the fact that, when you left the Tower, you apparently appeared in the same location as when you first entered.

At this point, Emilia's tribe had been venturing into the endless expanse of wilderness for countless generations so, while they could still see the Tower in the distance, a testament to its size, it wasn't something they could ever reach the base of in a single lifetime. Thus, upon exiting the Tower, they would be thrown back out into the wilderness and, while encountering others was rare, it wasn't impossible to find other tribes.

By entering the Tower and successfully exiting, Emilia would be considered for an Elder Huntress position that could easily see her become the Matriarch of her own tribe in the future. She only had to find another tribe of Vanargandr and, by presenting her Status, the Matriarch of that tribe would usually gift her with a few capable Huntresses and a number of suitable males to produce children with.

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Vahn found the social dynamic of the Vanargandr a little strange but, as it was just one of thousands of unique cultures, he didn't have much to say about it. The only thing that mattered was that Emilia was a capable Huntress and, with her Agility and enhanced senses, she had already replaced him as the Party's Scout.

It turned out that, while she wasn't fond of fighting at the frontlines, Emilia took great pride in her tracking abilities and, after coming to trust Linnaeus, she no longer believed he would just send her into a dangerous situation. He was the type that seriously considered his next course of action and, if it came down to it, he would expose himself to danger before requiring others to do the same. This had earned him Emilia's respect and, with Eliza and Krone often giving her the cold shoulder, he was the only person she could really talk to when she was bored or lonely.

Emilia ended up being quite the chatterbox when she wasn't hunting so, with his propensity to listen to what others had to say, Linnaeus often found himself at the mercy of her pestering. This was more than a little troublesome, as he didn't really know how to socialize with others that well, but Emilia didn't seem to mind his awkwardness as she was perfectly content with doing most of the talking.

The only real problem with Emilia's chattery nature was that Eliza often grew annoyed with her when they had first started living together. She didn't like to be interrupted and, as Krone wasn't really the best company, having Emilia monopolize the only other interesting person to talk to had caused her to chide the young Vanargandr on several occasions.

Fortunately, while this was something that Linnaeus had expected to evolve into serious issues later down the line, Emilia was surprisingly obedient when it came to Eliza. Since she was used to a power structure where the strongest female told the others what to do, she was predisposed to obey Eliza's words so long as it didn't force her into a compromising position.

Eliza was bothered by this behavior, as she was trying to prop up Linnaeus as the Party Leader, but she quickly learned that Emilia wasn't going to change any time soon. Instead, she used this to her advantage and, whenever she wanted to talk with Linnaeus, she only had to send Emilia on an errand or ask that she remain silent so that she could speak. While this led to a few tense moments, at least for Linnaeus, things had reached a peculiar equilibrium by the time a week had passed.

When she first began taking advantage of Emilia's nature, Eliza hadn't really minded it too much but, after seeing how Linnaeus reacted, she began to mellow out. Now, though she would often enter the conversation to give her own input, she didn't outright tell Emilia to remain silent. This led to the two girls interacting with each other more often and, as he didn't really have much to contribute to the conversation, this made things a lot easier for Linnaeus.

At this point, the only contentious factor in the Party was Krone but, as he still followed orders, it was not something that needed to be directly addressed. Rather, as they continued to work together, it felt like Krone was slowly beginning to trust in his decisions as Party Leader.

Krone's subtle changes made Linnaeus feel as though things were going well and, though he never dropped his guard around the man, it no longer felt like Krone was looking for an opportunity to dispose of him. While this could just be his way of luring him into a false sense of security, the fact that Eliza and Emilia were far more likely to side with him meant that Krone didn't have much leeway to sow discord within the Party. Thus, after a week had passed, Linnaeus felt that the Party was ready for its first real challenge...slaying a Territorial King.