Eric hummed to himself as he drove them to the next delve sight, pausing only to gaze in admiration at the magnificent stegosaurus and ankylosauruses that were far more massive than any earth equivalent, contentedly munching on a plethora of giant conifers as the air turned increasingly hot and humid.

“Fuck, Eric, I don’t care if I’m level 49. I’m fuckin’ dying back here. AC please?” moaned Jack.

“This is the part where you turn on the force fields and give us all a blast of cool air,” Yuki said helpfully, grinning through the cute wet sheen on her face, cheeks flushed like she had just…

Eric cleared his throat and looked away. “Yeah, there’s a little problem with that.”

“And that would be?”

“I don’t actually know what the hell I’m doing. See those nobs and that swivel? I have absolutely no idea what the fuck any of that does.” His grin widened at their dismayed looks. “I’ll tell you another secret.” He lifted up his hands, the odd half-dome steering wheel moving itself. “I made an arcane mastery check. Turns out I can steer this veli with just a steady stream of Arcane Energy! Which is good, because I haven’t exactly figured out how to drive this veli at all.”

“Look out!” Emily screeched, but Eric was already on it, pulling to a neat stop before they could crash into the massive fern that had popped up out of nowhere.

Yuki gave him a look. “Dude… do you even have a driver’s license?”

Eric chuckled. “No one needs licenses in post-apocolyptica, baby!”

“No. Seriously.”

Eric mumbled something.

“I’m sorry? What was that? It sounded almost like you said you FAILED your driver’s test!”

“Um… maybe?”

Yuki’s scowl deepened. “I heard that when Elonia was doing Love-Bug Three, she didn’t even use a stunt driver. That was her behind the wheel, tearing up the curves at sixteen!”

Eric nodded. “Which is why I never needed to learn at all.”

Rich sighed. “Get out of the driver’s seat, Eric. You’ve been demoted.”

“Okay, fine. Just wake me up when we get there.”

Eric closed his eyes to meditate, when he realized that they hadn’t moved an inch.

“Eric?”

“Yes, Richy Rich?”

“I’m not a Contender. My interface isn’t telling me jack shit about the terrain… so I don’t exactly know how to get wherever the hell we’re going.”

“That does sort of complicate things, doesn’t it?”

Richard sighed. “Get the fuck back up here and let me show you how to actually use this thing.”

Eric chuckled, rubbing his hands like a supervillain. “Excellent. My master plan is finally coming to fruition.”

“Sure. Now the right pedal is what we call a BREAK, Eric. Can you say break?”

“Fool should have learned this shit half a fucking decade ago,” Yuki murmured.

Emily snorted. “I know, right? How did he ever manage to date?”

“You don’t need cars in New York City!” Eric snapped, earning a snort from Steve.

“For a guy who was talking major badass J. Bourne style smack with Yuki before cowing an actual Goblin Seer into submission, you sure are defensive about your lack of game.”

Eric suppressed a groan.

This was definitely going to be a long ride.

“Well shit, you did it, Eric. Led us right to it.”

Eric look back at Yuki, after admiring the glaring slit in reality bleeding ebony darkness and red light the exact same shade as blood.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Did you really have any doubt?”

Yuki smirked. “I’m not going to answer that directly, just count the number of times we nearly crashed.”

“Sure, but you can’t count those bear-wog things that kept chasing us.”

“You mean the animals you found any excuse to leap out of the car and chase down, running about five times as fast as you can drive this thing, eager to show off at something you don’t suck at?”

“Exactly.”

“Duly noted.”

Emily gazed solemnly at the glaring sliver of alien energies pouring into their world. “Um… so, yeah. So, we’re in a territory full of aggressive six-limbed bear abominations that could chew through a tank, Rich is only halfway certain our forcefields will protect us, this rift looks a hell of a lot less peaceful than the one we learned the ins and outs of, and we don’t know anything about what’s on the other side.”

Eric gave an enthusiastic nod. “I know. Isn’t this exciting?”

“More like, perilous as hell, but to each their own, I guess.”

Eric caught Emily’s nervous smile. “Don’t worry, we’re all still partied up. So I’ll take a quick look inside, and you all can anchor me from here. If things look doable? We’ll go in as a group.”

“And if not?” Rich asked, gazing intently at Eric as he closed his eyes and whispered a string of syllables that caused light to shimmer in the air.

Steve jolted back and cursed when a heater shield scribed with crimson sigils manifested upon Eric’s left forearm.

“This guy actually knows magic! Shit, what spell is he casting?”

“Runic variant,” Eric said, his eyes opening once more, gazing fondly at the shield on his arm. “This one was formed from the runes for resiliency, strength, blood, and wood, with the form of a historically typical round shield and a one day duration.”

Emily was gazing at him far too intently for comfort.

“Eric, what the hell? I’ve never heard of a spell that works like that!”

Jack shrugged. “Must be some eccentric class power.”

Eric smiled. “Actually, it’s a node power that pretty much anyone can claim, so long as you have access to both a Mana Pool and a Qi Pool. It allows for unlimited magical flexibility, so long as you can learn the appropriate runes. And for those truly committed, a second properly invested node will even let you take the runic chants you master and transform them to fast-cast spells.”

He frowned thoughtfully, ignoring their odd looks. “Though honestly, unless you’re a gifted genius, you might be better off learning them directly from me, and investing a character point or two helping to imprint the spells you want with your future level up.”

“Unlimited casting potential manipulating two potency pools? Needing only one or two nodes to use as well as any wizard’s carefully hoarded handful of spells? Fuck, do you have any idea how valuable this information is?” Steve said with a breathless whisper.

Eric just smiled. “Probably worth a fuck ton. I don’t care. I’d happily give it away. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just feed capital for the most precious investment of all. The blossoming of our race into its full potential, so that our enemies can no longer slaughter and enslave us in the middle of our own ascension!”

Eric’s eyes flashed with unmistakable heat before he laughed off his own outrage. His friends had done absolutely nothing wrong, and didn’t need to be subjected to the fury he held only for his enemies. Never his allies.

So instead he flashed a maverick grin. “As far as making an absolute killing goes, I’d rather have my enemies foot the bill, not a bunch of struggling survivors just trying to make it through the day and take care of themselves and their families. And that, my fine friends, is where our multi-billion dollar heist comes in.”

“And maybe taking over the world when no one’s looking?” Jack said with a cheeky smile.

Eric’s laugh sent shivers down everyone’s spine. “Trust me, Jack. When I decide it’s finally time to pull out the dominion card, people will know.”

His glare eased to a cheeky grin once more. “For now, however, I’m all about that sweet, sweet twenty percent. And of course, earning those twelve point titles for myself and all my closest friends.”

Eric then leaped for the portal, laughing like a madman about to face his greatest fears as he jumped through.

* * *

For long moments, silence filled the velimobile, the distant sounds of massive six-limbed bears putting everyone on edge.

“Keep a sharp eye out, Ron,” Richard warned. “Yuki, take the wheel. If we see any shit head our way, be ready to race out at full speed if we don’t think we can handle it. The rest of you, it’s time to build basic fortifications just like with our former base.”

Steve peered at the rift thoughtfully. “Do you really think he’s going to be okay, daring that delve alone?”

Rich nodded. “He should be. We’re still group linked. He’ll hopefully have no problem sensing right where the exit is, just like we can sense the pull of his presence. It’s only if we’re forced to drive away at full speed that we risk snapping it, and Eric getting lost in there.”

“There are worse outcomes,” Ron slowly suggested, before flinching at a party-full of hard gazes. “I’m not saying that’s optimal. Only that it beats us dying out here in a lost cause fight, if we’re swarmed by abominations no one’s studied, let alone cleared.”

Yuki slowly dipped her head. “Of course we’ll save our own asses if we’re in peril. But I’m not going to abandon a teammate who put his life on the line saving ours, and found a path to earn us twelve fucking level-up points with every first clear! And what’s he asking in return for a carry that would net him an absolute fortune if he sold out to our racial enemies?”

Emily flashed a pained smile. “Nothing. Except maybe friends who won’t fuck him over the minute it’s convenient to do so. Right, Ron?”

The older man flinched before her angry glare. “My mission is to keep you safe, Emily. If we can accomplish that while making new friends and boosting our abilities, I’m all for it. But make no mistake, your lives matter to me far more than a wildcard maverick who nearly got us all killed.”