A week and a half after Lisa finished making her ambassadorial appearances worldwide, a human broke through and mastered all fourteen professions. Lisa wasn't sure how she should feel: was it surprising that Dean was the first one? While he had a head start with the many enhancements Bath had already given him, Dean didn't seem very enthusiastic about COTD or his role in it. Lisa was aware of Dean's inner conflict and uncertainty about his future.

When he'd been assigned to the second city-seed, Lisa hadn't known what to expect from her former schoolmate. While he was certainly physically strong, he didn't have an air of authority or confidence. Even though Lisa gave him her best advice, she truthfully hadn't had very high expectations for Dean's leadership. When she'd heard that he named the city Jerboaland, well...her expectations fell even further. Who the hell named a city Jerboaland?

When she'd visited Jerboaland on her tour of Earth 10 days back, she hadn't noted anything significant. The city looked like a typical Basalith city-seed, despite the rather bizarre inscribed pattern weaving through the city's streets.

And now, as she returned to the city's now expansive territory, she realized that Dean had been seriously busy. The deep inscription-like gouges throughout the city had been repurposed into rail track, providing an easy and efficient way to transport dragonleaf goods. Giant, stadium-like amphitheatres had sprung up all over the city and its nearby territory. In the air, numerous Jerboalanders appeared to be playing some odd, field-hockey-like game atop the backs of devilbats.

"Are those...schools?" Lisa wondered, visoring her hand to block out the harsh sun. They hadn't even bothered with actual children's schools at Basalith. Instead, they simply funneled children into the child educator training rooms and relied on Basalith's own citizens to found their own educational institutions.

Now that Lisa focused her attention on the types of buildings present, she realized that Jerboaland had all kinds of grocery stores, clothing stores, and the like. Many of these had simply come as Jerboaland swallowed up the surrounding territory. However, while the territory around Basalith was still distinctly separate from the city-proper, Jeroboaland wasn't so clearly demarcated. The urban, dragonleaf sprawl continued as far as Lisa could see.

"Did those people just pop out of a hole?" Lisa wondered to herself, narrowing her eyes in concentration. Actually, she now spotted several holes in the ground all throughout the city. While many people were obscuring them by running about, she could now clearly see that people were using the holes--tunnels--as subterranean pathways. Lisa wondered idly how far they extended.

She quietly made her way to the Spire, seeking out Dean's office building.

"Is there...air conditioning?" Lisa murmured, rubbing an arm. While extreme temperatures wouldn't kill Lisa, she still preferred a toasty 75 degrees for normal operation. The cool 67 degrees Fahrenheit of the office actually caused her skin to break out into goosebumps. The Spire in Basalith had no such amenity, as Lepochim seemed impervious to weather conditions and Lisa didn't mind Virginia's mild fall climate.

"Lisa," Dean smiled welcomingly. "It's nice to see you in person."

"I can't believe what you've done with this place," Lisa smiled back. "Jerboaland, huh? Why'd you choose that name?"

Dean shrugged. "Why not?"

Lisa raised an eyebrow, but decided to let the topic drop. "I'm glad that everything here has been working out. Now, since you're the first person to finish all fourteen professions, it's time for you to choose a specialization."

Dean nodded. "I know."

"And?" Lisa looked at him expectantly.

"Artist," he said.

Lisa hadn't been expecting that one. "Really?" She shook her head. "Fine. We're going to put on a big ceremony back in Basalith, so you're going to need to come with me. It'll be super quick, then we'll get you back here on a falcon."

"Fine." Lisa had already informed him about this over instant message, so he knew what to expect.

They arrived at Basalith without fanfare. Dean found traversing the city's streets somewhat disorienting, and somewhat enlightening. Contrasting the relatively unchanged Basalith with his own Jerboaland, Dean realized just how far Jerboaland had come.

Dean had been mildly surprised that Lisa still hadn't gotten the artist boon. If she had, he knew she wouldn't have been so skeptical when he'd voiced his decision.

While entering Basalith was low-key, things didn't stay that way. At exactly 5 pm, the Path Ceremony kicked off with a non-hypothetical bang. Bath had prepared a rather intensive mental sequence to relay to all COTD followers via dragonleaf, much like the one he "broadcast" to major cities worldwide from Tokyo. All of the hierarchy's many paths were represented as roots extending out from a tall, stable tree. The roots started as fourteen, then diverged into numerous other roots that soon became uncountable.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The scene was, unsurprisingly, engrossing in its vividness. Dean also thought it was cool that Dragon Bath was flapping its wings over his head the entire time.

At the finale of the ceremony, Bath breathed a stream of hot fire all over Dean's frame. Dean was surprised to find that the fire was real. His natural instinct was to flail and scream; however, Dean quickly noticed that his boons steeled his mind from the pain, protected his skin, and gave him the presence of mind to think clearly.

He knelt down on one knee, then tilted his head upwards, as though looking off over the horizon. The flaming Dean remained in that pose until the flames died out in time with the setting sun. He then stood up and exited the staging area, heading swiftly back to his former residence to take a much-deserved break.

---

Dean hadn't expected the fire to burn a full thirty minutes. Clearly, Bath had influenced the flame in some degree to perpetuate its burn until the sun fell from the sky. The Dragon sure loved his symbolism.

While enduring a fire didn't take any active effort on Dean's part, blocking out the pain became more difficult over time. Dean wondered if this was because his nerves were overstimulated or because his constitution and natural healing abilities were unable to keep pace with the destructive flame. Even now, minutes after he'd left the stage, his skin was flaking into white and black bits, almost like a bad sunburn. Dean was certain that, were it not for the wind coming off Bath's wings, there would be a substantial pile of blackened skin crusting on the stage.

Just as Dean was getting ready to take a falcon back to Jerboaland, Lisa came over and stopped him. She'd evidently been waiting for him by the falcon house.

"Dean," she began, startling the hell out of Dean.

'Since when is Lisa stealthy!?' he thought, mind racing. Lisa, in truth, hadn't been stealthy at all; Dean was just too drained by travel, the time difference, and the Path Ceremony. He only jumped to this conclusion because, ever since he increased his combat boons to their maximum levels, in particular those of the administrator profession, almost nothing could catch him unawares.

"Yes?" he replied as he whipped around to face her direction.

Lisa was, herself, a bit surprised by Dean's reaction. "Uh, don't forget," she said. "The Path seed." She held out a pine-needle blue seed. It fit nicely in the crook of her palm, about the size of a jawbreaker.

"Do I just...um...stick it in the ground? Next to the Spire, beneath the Anima, or...?"

Lisa smiled in an attempt to dissolve some of Dean's awkwardness. "If I were you, I'd create a new section of your city exclusively for Path training."

Dean nodded. "Makes sense. Is that what you're going to do with Basalith?"

Lisa looked to the side. "Well..." She paused. "Honestly, we've been moving pretty slowly here with expanding the city out. Something about 'proper city planning.' I'm not in charge of the city's expansion, so I can't say anything definitive. But again, if I were you, that's where I'd put it."

"Thanks," Dean said. "This is two times now." Two times that she'd given him advice.

"Two...Oh, yeah. Don't mention it."

"Seriously," he murmured. "When I have a question, there's nobody I can ask. Gotta rely on myself." He sighed. "Aren't you exhausted trying to figure everything out?"

Lisa scratched her head. "I don't," she replied. "Figure everything out alone. I have Bath to bounce questions off of. And Lepochim, our assistant alien, if you remember."

Dean nodded. How could he forget that Lisa had an alien helping to run Basalith? "That's not what I mean. I have subordinates I can bounce ideas off as well." Virigard was the first that came to mind, followed by Amalo and Kisserin. Dean noted quietly to himself that they were all quasi-sapients.

"Then what do you mean?"

"Inventing this whole, um, system. Thinking of how to run it, how to get everyone situated and invested in COTD...I mean, come on, you were a college student like me a bit more than a month ago."

Lisa cocked her head. "Well," she began, "sure, it's exhausting, but I can't fall behind." And she truly meant this: what were her achievements compared to Bath's? If she took things at a slower pace, she'd be unable to face herself as Bath's companion.

"Fall behind?" Dean narrowed his eyes. Like Lisa, he'd been an overachiever in high school: star athlete, star student. He'd been socially inept, but he was good at playing along with a crowd by keeping silent. People typically assumed that he was just introverted. He was painfully aware of the fear of falling behind, of being surpassed by his peers. Of not deserving the many good things that came his way, scholarships, getting onto Alens' varsity basketball team, getting into Alens at all...

"You're worried you don't deserve to be at the head of COTD, right?" he asked, his words acerbic.

Lisa didn't answer him.

"Stop worrying. Anybody that's done what you've done--"

"Everything I've done is because of him," Lisa snapped. "I was just lucky that I became Bath's friend."

"Lucky?" Dean contemplated this for a moment. "I was reading up on the COTD. Found out about its connection to Daoism."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And then I started reading other ancient philosophical texts. For the scholar boon. I read something interesting along the way." Dean raised an eyebrow, then looked at her expectantly.

"What?"

"It's simple: everything is how it was meant to be." Dean watched for Lisa's reaction. "Get it?"

"You saying that everything happens for a reason?" she asked, trying to understand.

"No. I'm saying that you were lucky to be born smart, athletic, kind, lucky to be born where you were, in this time. Lisa...your entire life is just the cumulation of lots of luck. But that's just the way the world works. People pull the short stick every day, just as some people strike it rich." Dean thought of his own family, and their only moderately unfortunate lot. He also thought of people he knew that had pulled, perhaps, the worst lots of all.

"So you're saying to just count my blessings and stop worrying about everything?" Lisa said, incredulity lighting up her features. "Don't you understand? That's exactly what I'm trying to destroy."

"Inequality?"

"Luck!" Lisa huffed exasperatedly. "The entire point of this is to give everyone the resources they need to get to the top. Eliminate wealth, circumstance, the ridiculous inequity of genetics...The kind of world I'm trying to make wouldn't have someone like me, or even you."

Dean breathed in deeply. "You sure that's the kind of world you wanna make? That's sounds more like making life into a factory than making it better."

Lisa closed her eyes and sighed. She sounded more tired than every as she replied, "I don't know. Yes, Dean, I'm tired. I really am. But I'm not going to stop, not until we're done."

Dean didn't get the chance to ask Lisa to explain. She walked over, pressed the still untaken seed into his palm, and departed.