Sarff’s Rest, Eastern Togavi.

Along the coast, a city-sized dome extended partially out to sea. It stood steadfast against the relentless assault of waves, tempest winds, and lightning bolts being tossed down by a tantruming indigo sky.

Walking towards the dome was an azure-haired giant and his protégé clutched tight in his grip.

Henry karate chopped a clod of frozen dirt about to smack him in the face.

“So were you imitating Sarff's Rest or the Maelstrom? If it was the latter, your impressions are rubbish.”

In the sea to the east of this coastline was a magical whirlpool, the ‘Maalundi Maelstrom’, which was generating the miserable weather. This was the same Maelstrom that’d blocked access to Henry’s old base near the Celaris mountain range.

“Wrong on both accounts, my unimaginative protégé," replied Karnon. "That is our destination; this is merely our journey's launching point.”

When they drew close to the dome, it became apparent that its walls were formed of interlocking roots, much like the protective dome summoned by the Earthfriends of Suchi using their Community Tree. That wasn’t a coincidence.

"Why didn't we teleport directly inside?" complained Henry. "We could have avoided getting drenched."

"Dramatic contrast!"

At Karnon’s approach, a section of roots split open like a curtain, revealing a scene a world apart from the outside.

The interior housed a quaint town that looked like it belonged on a Spanish coast. Tourists in swimming gear were flooding in and out of resorts and villas and stores. In the bay's tranquil waters, hundreds of children were splashing each other under the supervision of their parents, who lounged on a white-sand beach, sunbathing in the warm light filtering through dome’s roof.

The centre of the bay, out in the water, was dominated by a skyscraper of a mangrove tree, whose roots formed the protective dome. Eight piers converged to this from various points around the beach, each being built from the spinal column of a once gigantic monster.

That giant tree would be where Henry would switch to the Earthfriend class.

Karnon swept his arm majestically over the view. “Are you familiar with the origins of this haven?!”

“A bit," Henry replied.

This was Sarff’s Rest, one of Saana's world wonders, built by none other than the azure-haired God who'd brought him here.

Ever since recorded history began again, following the first death of The Redeemer 6600 years before present, the story of Togavi had been one of constant colonisation by its stronger neighbouring powers. This dynamic changed in 2293 BP, when a Tier-8 Karnon led a successful rebellion to expel the foreign rulers.

In this mission, he was assisted by a sea serpent named Sarff, who destroyed and repelled their enemy’s naval forces. Together, they protected the region for a couple centuries, until, during a devastating invasion in 1808 that led to the permanent loss of the Western half of Togavi, the sea serpent was slain by a Tier-11 turtle-monster God.

If Karnon hadn’t himself reached Tier-11 soon after that, Eastern Togavi would’ve been conquered, too. Unfortunately for his enemies, he did, and they were forced to withdraw their armies when the infuriated blue-haired God began to annihilate their civilian populations using his global teleport ability.

After the war’s end, he forged the sea serpent's remains into a piece of paradise along this battered coast. To this day, Togavians with the financial means would make an effort to pilgrimage here at least once in their life out of respect for Sarff, who'd sacrificed himself for their liberty.

Karnon finally plunked Henry down. “Make yourself presentable! I promised old Sarff that when I chose a protégé, I’d bring them to this beach to meet him.”

“Except you built this place after he passed.”

Karnon plucked a few drops of water from his storm-soaked hair and wiped them down his cheek. “Yes, Sarff, buddy old pal, here we are. It may have taken eighteen centuries, but I’ve now fulfilled that promise I made on this sunny shore long ago. Are you proud of me?”

With Henry rolling his eyes, they began to make their way to the giant mangrove tree.

As soon as they reached the shore, though, Karnon suddenly stopped and winced.

A squad of mounted guards were riding hard upon them across the beach. Their horses were sluggish, due to having been bred to have extra muscle mass to provide stability in the Maelstrom winds. Thus, they arrived too slow to apprehend Karnon before he could shapeshift into a mole and dive into the sand.

The guard captain studied the abandoned Offworlder with caution, unsure whether to afford him respect or not.

“What’s your relationship with Lord Karnon?”

“That dude? Nothing. I was finishing up the tutorial when he jumped out of the bushes and told me he was going to take me somewhere awesome.”

The guards, on closer inspection, noticed that the Offworlder was dressed in basic Adventurer gear and had no indicators of a proper Martial Class. They shared meaningful looks, while their captain pulled out a Communication Stone and informed someone that their target had been lost.

“How do I get back?” asked Henry. “I’m supposed to meet up with my friends at 9.”

The guard captain, holding his lips tight, tossed the unlucky Offworlder an admission token. “The next caravan to Karnonia leaves in five days. In the meantime, present that to any guards who question you. If Lord Karnon contacts you again, inform us immediately.”

“Sure.”

The guards rode off to continue hunting the mischievous God elsewhere.

While Henry was standing around, wondering what to do now, an eight-year-old boy in swimming trunks with antler stubs ran up to him and gave a proud thumbs up.

“Nice acting! I would expect no less from my protégé.”

“What was that about?” asked Henry, ignoring the fact that Earthfriends weren't supposed to be able to shapeshift into other people and there hadn't been time to transmogrify.

Karnon sneered in contempt. “Pobtsuas has been nagging me to stop messing with our neighbours. His spirit is even weaker than his father’s was.”

King Pobtsuas, the current ruler of Eastern Togavi.

None of the Zone Guardians controlled their territories directly anymore. They were like older, graduated brothers who would show up at the middle-school parking lot in times of desperation to beat up the bully.

“Pobtsuas is correct," said Henry. "Anyway, continue!”

Moving down the beach, they stepped onto one of the piers made from Sarff’s spine. The material was so robust that, all along its length, not a mark had been left by any of the millions of footsteps that'd crossed it in the past.

Where the piers converged in the middle of the bay was a platform covered in tourists who were admiring the giant mangrove. Many were queuing to have their portraits created by an Artist speed-painting on her canvas with four brushes. Her current subjects were an elderly couple posing under a fire-truck-sized skull that’d been mounted part-way up the tree trunk - old Sarff himself.

“I apologise if this is culturally insensitive,” said Henry, “but it was poor taste to convert your companion’s body into a tourist trap.”

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Karnon laughed derisively. “You lack the imagination to envision the larger plan. What if I told you that his offspring were inside there, being fed by the energy syphoned from the visitors. Day by day, they grow larger and longer and mightier! Hahahaha!”

“Oh...well, that seems reasonable then.”

“Of course, there’s nothing that I, Karnon, cherish more than reason!”

When he proclaimed himself to be himself, an azure-haired family gave him a kindly smile, mistaking him, with his child form, for a son of Togavi who’d gotten carried away copying their mischievous patron God.

Their smiles were wiped away, though, when Karnon cast a spell that invoked a giant wave to surge up from the sea. Screaming along with the other tourists, they tried to flee as a wall of water marched over them, whisking them off the platform like ants from a dirty dinner plate under a firehose and conveying them back to shore.

Henry, being held at the ankle by kid Karnon, saw in the surging water a confused school of White Herring being swept along, too.

After the platform was cleansed, Karnon released him and folded his hands behind his back in a sagely pose.

“The first lesson begins! Tell me, my protégé, what comes to your unimaginative mind when I ask what it means to be an Earthfriend?”

“We should skip the lore. That antic is definitely going to attract the guards.”

“Wrong! An Earthfriend is a follower of The Path! Now, you're thinking that ‘The Path’ refers to a specialisation, like The Celestial Path or The Elemental Path.”

Karnon hadn't bothered preparing enough to handle any divergence from his planned lesson.

“Sure.”

“Wrong again! The abilities of the Earthfriend are but tools to aid in accomplishing The Path, which is a subtler concept, impossible to define.”

“A mission-slash-philosophy-slash-existential-purpose.”

“Impossible to define! ‘There is one true Path and great Karnon, with his priceless wisdom cultivated over countless lifetimes, will set me along it.’ These are your crude thoughts.”

“Sure.”

“Wrong, wrong, wrong! Everyone’s Path is unique, for the composition of the soil from which you’ve burst forth,” Karnon mimed bursting forth from the earth, “differs from mine! And only you who has tasted the local minerals can know what will suit the land best. In my role as your mentor, I am but a stake planted by your side, acting as a support for your growth.”

“Thanks, Teach.”

What an awful lesson.

Karnon nodded with self-satisfaction. After a brief daydream about opening his own university, he gathered Flora energy into his fingers.

“Give me a boost.”

Henry lifted kid Karnon up, allowing him to slap his hands against the trunk of the mangrove tree. Soon after, from out of the sea, a root slithered its way up onto the platform and, raising its razor-sharp end, hovered around chest height like a cobra poised to strike.

Karnon, after being put back down, switched to a solemn mood.

“For me, my Path is to revel in the glorious gift of life. What is yours, young sapling?”

Henry mulled over the question for a moment. Lying would result in the root skewering him through the heart.

“I guess, in general, it’s similar to yours, although my approach is less irresponsible. If we’re being specific, I’m choosing an Earthfriend because it’s the optimal class for winning an up-and-coming 1v1 tournament.”

His response seemed adequate since the root didn’t kill him.

Karnon raised an azure eyebrow. “What tournament?”

“The Monthly Attention Recruitment Tournament.”

Karnon, having learned of Henry’s identity as The Tyrant, squinted in confusion. “Why compete in your own recruitment tournament?”

“Winning a bet, paying back a cherished friend with a last hurrah, beating up noobs for stress relief, testing a supreme martial art that I’ll invent within the next two weeks.” Henry shrugged with boredom. “Who even remembers at this point? The fact is I said I would do it, so I will. I’m retired; I no longer have to answer to anybody or anything but my own heart. If I’m out at the markets tomorrow picking up a lamb kebab and an old dude hobbles by with an ugly fanny pack and I think, ‘boy, that’s trash; I could do better. I’m going to become a master fanny pack designer,’ then, for the next five decades, that’s going to be my Path. My fanny packs will be unrivalled under the heavens.”

No matter the mountain, big or small, he would scale it. However, the conquest of the fanny packs would have to wait for a later week.

Again, his chest remained unpierced.

Karnon closed his eyes and bobbled his head as though he were savouring a bite of a gourmet cupcake. “In my millennia of existence, that...THAT was the most genius answer I’ve ever heard. That’s what I’m talking about, the same heart. You pass!”

“There are critical differences in our goals and methods.”

“The same heart! Du. Ok. Man. Ga. Lia...”

The excited God began spellcasting while reciting in an ancient tongue for the universe to guide his hand in imparting The Gift of Earthfriendship to his protégé.

Seeming to answer his request, the mangrove tree shed a single leaf, which shimmered with pure white energy. After making a slow journey down, it landed on kid Karnon’s head, transferring its power into him and making his eyes glow.

Losing his consciousness, his body being guided by a distant puppeteer, he began to reposition himself.

But then the strings snapped.

Karnon inspected his own hands with curiosity. “Grazus.”

Henry swapped to his shabby clothes so that he could have the Universal Productivity to translate the words. His wardrobe change went unnoticed by whatever being had possessed Karnon’s body, it paying him no more heed than it might a speck of dandruff.

“How marvellous,” said the possessor with a reserved smile. “Continuing along his Path, this young one should ascend within two centuries. Well done.”

It then shifted an imposing gaze upon Henry. “You should feel gratitude, sapling, to have the guidance of one so accomplished.”

After strolling to the position that Karnon would have taken, it spread out his hand. The energy that’d been absorbed into Karnon’s body channelled into his fingertips, where five miniature stars burst into life.

The possessor gestured for Henry to come.

Despite the strange events, Henry saw no good reason to refuse. The possessor was likely the progenitor of the Earthfriend class - a benevolent Tier-14 Highgod called Zeyma.

He raised his hand, mirroring the gesture of the possessor and touching his own fingertips to the tiny stars.

At once, his soul was ripped from his body and transported across the universe to the centre point between the real star constellation, where he phased out of this plane.

A moment later, he was floating in a sea of cosmic energy.

Above him, a levitating being was seated in a half-lotus position. Although human shaped, its features were indistinct due to its whole body being composed of soul lights.

Orbiting the being were a hundred other people made of light, each of whom were being connected to it by thick ropes of condensed energy. Every now and then, a batch of orbiting figures would blink out of existence and be replaced by another.

These were ‘saplings’ undergoing the ritual elsewhere around Saana.

When an energy rope entered Henry’s forehead, the glowing being gave him a brief glimpse of recognition, then returned to its meditation.

Henry felt a warmth being transferred into his mind as the being injected into him an infinitesimal fraction of its power.

A few breaths later, he was back under the mangrove tree.

His hands were coated in a faint white aura that would remain with him forever unless he dropped the class. This glow was the base visual indicator of an Earthfriend, its intensity increasing with Tiers gained. The more prominent indicators, such as antlers or star-speckled skin, manifested only if one chose a specialisation.

Finally...

Congratulations! You have become an Earthfriend, a wielder of Nature’s might and adherent to The Path.

Presently, you may only absorb Nature Energy in its raw form. To refine it into one of the four Energy sub-types, Fauna, Flora, Celestial, or Elemental, that will be used for creating your Earthfriend abilities, you will need to build a connection with each domain.

Your mentor should guide you in this undertaking.

All classes had additional tasks like these for unlocking their abilities while gaining a few levels, as well.

The Earthfriend method for ‘building a connection’ was probably the most flexible, any task sufficing as long as it was vaguely related to the domain in question. For Fauna, for example, one could get away with hunting monsters, delousing a herd of deer, or gushing at drawings of cute dogs.

If he were in Suchi, he would be fulfilling these requirements with minor jobs assisting in the reconstruction of The Slums.

Here, though...

Karnon was snickering madly at the thought of the tasks he’d planned out.

Henry poked him in his chubby kid cheek. “Yo, by the way, during the ritual, you were possessed by Zeyma.”

Karnon blinked twice. “Interesting! Did he do anything special?”

“He said you’re on the right Path. By continuing it, you’ll reach Tier-12 and enter the Cosmic Plane in about two centuries.”

Kid Karnon put his hands on his hips and laughed arrogantly. “I knew it! Haha! My stunned protégé, do you want to learn the secret of Ascension? Maybe we can strike up a bargain.”

A conniving smirk suggested that the cost of the information would be expensive.

“Nope.”

“Come on! Do you know who I am? Karnon, soon to be Tier-12, controller of—”

“I’ll pass."

He just wanted to get on with learning his Earthfriend abilities. Besides, he already knew tons of ways to 'Ascend'.

Finishing the Monster King Trials he’d encountered in the tutorial and slaying The Great Black One, that was one. Finding the Twelve Ortheerian swords, that was another. Collecting the thirteen pieces of The Armament of The Syncretist, indeed.

Flick to any page in his neglected quest logs, and you’d probably discover another.

But none of these were worth the price.

Henry turned at the sound of clip-clopping hooves. Down all eight of the piers, mounted squadrons were galloping upon them, hoping to pincer them in.

“How about we move along with the ‘lessons’?”

“Brilliant idea! Choose the Energy-type you'll start with!”

“Flora.”

The standard first option.

“Wrong! We’re beginning with Fauna. You’re going to learn to unleash your inner animal!”

“Lord Karnon,” yelled a guard captain desperately, “please stop! His Highness begs of you! This is getting out of hand!”

The God dropped his trousers. “I’m retired; I no longer have to answer to anybody or anything but my own heart! As a consolation, though, !"

To the dismay of the guards being blinded by the eruption of light beams, the God shapeshifted into a dolphin and, biting at Henry’s shirt, dragged him into the water.

Swimming down to the bottom of the seafloor, Karnon changed back to his human form and began to cast his teleportation spell to escape.

Just before they vanished, four sea serpents, the size of boa constrictors, peeked their heads from out of the roots of the mangrove tree and gave the departing pair a flick of farewell with their forked tongues.