The four of them walked back out into the blistering heat. Instantly Mathew pulled out his ritual and activated it. The temperature around him instantly lowered by several degrees. Cherry did the same, relief washing over her.

Zachary watched them both. “Those look useful and cool. Where did you get them?”

“I made them.” Mathew said with a bit of cockyness.

“A crafter on this floor? You are a crazy guy. This is for warriors and fighters, not crafters.” Zachary said. “Whatever, your funeral.”

“Sure. Keep thinking I’m the weak one here. Without me, you would have been stuck in that Challenge forever.”

Zachary laughed. “Nah, I would have resorted to tearing down the walls, floors, and ceilings. Anything can be solved with enough brute force. That’s how the world works. The strongest rule, the weak serve.”

Mathew almost agreed with him. Almost. “Sure buddy. What’s the reward?”

He opened the box and sifted through the items. “System said I have a mind tempering potion for an illusionist, a circlet for detecting disguised individuals, and some UC. In the box are the circlet and potion.” He pulled out the potion and tossed it toward Mathew.

“I’m taking the circlet. You can have a little more Universal Currency.” A notification popped up, showing Mathew gained 10,000 UC. “See you Matty. Hope you learn to be a bit nicer to me next time.”

“Wait!” Mathew half demanded. “Just. Wait. I want some answers. Quid Pro Quo if you want. I have information as well.”

Zachary glanced at Mathew for a moment thinking. “You make me one of those cooling rituals, and I’ll hang around for a little bit. Having some company…won’t be too bad.”

“Find me a rock to draw on that’s mostly flat, and you have a deal.” Mathew stuck out his hand and they shook on it. Mathew had him pegged for that kind of guy. A handshake was an official agreement in his eyes. Not words.

“I don’t want to use up the ones I already made for Cherry and I. Plus, I can show off a little bit. Maybe impress him enough to not be unfriendly with me in the future.”

They wandered the rolling desert in search of a place for Mathew to draw on. “I have to ask, how did you get so high in level? Surely you know something everyone else doesn’t.”

Zachary sighed. “Everyone asks that question. My answer is always the same. I don’t honestly know. I kill everything that gets in my way. The System gives me quests. I completed them and claimed the rewards. That’s how this works. I used to play video games when I was a child. It works the same.”

Mathew imagined he had several solo themed titles just like he did. “What about your home? Are you the leader of your Safe Zone?”

“I dont’ have one. Never wanted one. Let me guess, you have one and want to try and recruit me? I’ll save you the effort and tell you no. Not unless you own an island somewhere out in the middle of the Indian ocean. That has my friends on it.”

“That’s an odd request. He seems American, not Indian or any ethnic group from that ocean area.”

“You can always claim one yourself out there.” Mathew said. “I’m sure there is a Heart Crystal in the area, or a Dungeon.”

Zachary shook his head. “Look, it’s not your problem. I’ll solve it myself. Now I have a question for you. What do you know about Cultivating? Or perhaps what the requirements are for going to Student rank?”

Mathew looked out across the sand, “I know you need a few things. Primarily a Glint Axiom at the minimum.”

“So I was right. What else?”

“Four techniques in the Student rank, along with all Class Quests completed. Those are the minimums. Not to mention the obvious level requirement.”

“Good. So I was mostly right. I thought I needed five Student rank techniques. Just means I’m going beyond what is required.”

“What did you think was needed?” Mathew asked. “Also, how did you get this far without knowing that much?”

Zachary smirked. “Like I said. Enough brute force gets through almost any problem. No need to worry about me. I do that enough already. Go ahead and ask your next question.”

“Okay…Fine. How about this, Where did you learn that we get a wish for completing this floor?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m just hoping I can get what I want.” Zachary said, looking solemn. “I need to find my friend. He’s…he’s all I have left out there.”

“Let me guess, he is on an island in the Indian Ocean?” Mathew asked.

The large brute nodded. “Yup. He’s there. Waiting for me. I know it.” Zachary said with determination. “I see a rock over there.” He pointed to the right once they reached the top of a sand dune.

“Why didn’t you go find him if you are from that area? You both should have appeared in your bedrooms. Were you on vacation there?”

“So many personal questions with you.” Zachary sighed, shaking his head. “Most people don’t bother with that. They want to know my class, techniques, cultivation path, titles, all that stuff. Why don’t you? What’s your angle here?”

Mathew stopped walking and did a half shrug. “Why does that matter to me? I don’t care what path you follow. It’s not mine, and I have no reason to view you as an enemy. I was just curious how you leveled up so fast. My personal guess was a lot of fighting. Close cases to death. A few unique titles as well as a very lucky encounter of some sort. ”

“If we were to fight, without proper preparations, you would beat me most of the time. Unless I get lucky. Knowing what you can do, or not do won’t change that enough to help me survive. Also, asking you will probably piss you off. So, I’m trying to be friendly and get to know the world's current strongest person.

“So, you are doing it to not make me upset.” Zachary grumbled. “Fair. How about this Mathew. What about you? What reason does Mathew McGonald have to be here?”

“That’s a mixed answer.” Mathew said as he looked out toward the rock they were approaching. “Some of it I don’t want to say, for my safety. The other because it’s my own reasons. I will say this much, since you shared some of your own personal life. I am doing this to become stronger. Not just in a greedy way, but I’m at a point of life or death. Either I become strong, or I die.”

“At least on that, we agree.” Zachary said with a chuckle.

They walked to the short rock. It had just enough flat space for Mathew to work on the ritual. “I won’t lie, this isn’t a smooth surface, so the chances this will work is slim.”

“You are going to try at least. I can accept that.” Zachary said with crossed arms.

Mathew started to draw the circles and markings for the ritual. He used his [Mana Text] skill as always, even with it being [Writing]. What he noticed was that all the lines remained perfectly straight. Seemingly to ignore the rough texture of the rock.

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He paused. Looking closer at the markings. “Is the drawing hovering over the hole?” Mathew went to draw a marking in the air, and a line of blue mana stuck in place.

“I thought you needed a flat surface, how are you drawing in the air?” Zachary questioned.

Mathew’s mind ignored the question. A thousand ideas of how to apply this swarmed his mind. He finished the Ritual of Cooling and handed Zachary the finished product. “That will keep you cool for a few hours, and keep the sand off you.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Zachary said. “I thought you needed a flat surface to draw your magic circles.”

“I did too. I had a recent skill upgrade.”

Zachary looked at Mathew with an impressed look. “Nice. Congrats then. I have a question about your rituals. What’s your limitation on them?”

“Trying to gauge my limitations? That’s a bit rude. I didn’t do the same to you.” Mathew said somewhat jokingly.

“I’m curious now. Is it a set number you know or can you create an infinite number of them? I used to read comics back…a long time ago. One of my favorite’s was a spell caster who used rituals and spells to fight bad guys.”

“I’ll be happy to tell you, but I don’t think I will. We aren't exactly allies here. Just two strangers going the same direction. I will say, there seems to be no limit to the number I can use.”

Zachary looked over at Mathew with a hopeful expression and rubbed the back of his neck. “We don’t have to be strangers. I wouldn’t mind traveling with you here. I’ve been alone too long. I miss talking with people.” He said with a hint of more to what he was implying.

Mathew almost said no, but he thought it over. “To be honest, I don’t think I can complete this floor alone. And with the hoards coming soon, I’ll need help. I’m strong, but not on his level. Not yet. Cherry is not even level 15 yet to earn her first free class related technique. It’s safer this way. Rewards be damned for doing it alone. I’ve made it this far, and I have gotten more than I ever could ask for or even think of. Doing it the normal way can’t be any worse.”

“Sure. We can team up for a while.” Mathew looked around at the empty desert. “If I’m being honest, I was worried about the upcoming hoard. I’ll need to find others to team up with.”

Zachary laughed. “Don’t plan to hide in a dungeon? That’s what I’ve done since the Beginner floor.”

“The experience gained is well worth it, if you can find enough people to help.”

“Sure sure. If we don’t find anyone with enough time, I'm ditching you for a dungeon.”

Mathew nodded, “I’ll be looking for one as well. What monsters are here? Have you seen any yet?”

“Only one so far, some sort of Sand Shark. I’ve only been here two days. I was grinding the previous floor for more rewards before coming here.”

Mathew didn’t know why Zachary was being so forthcoming with information when he was giving him the cold shoulder earlier. In fact, he noticed he was very…hopeful in their conversation.

“Right. Well, let’s keep going in a random direction till we find something notable.”

It was another two hours of blistering hot sun before a small group of three Sand Sharks made themselves known.

Sand was thrown into the air as the beasts rushed at them. Mathew conjured his rod to his hands. “Don’t suppose you want to help us with these things do you?”

“Yea, I can take two out myself. You take the left one.” Zachary said as his fists were covered with a blue energy.

Mathew didn’t waste time questioning his confidence and used his chains to slow down the left shark. He already used the ability on Zachary, no point in hiding it anymore.

The Sand Sharks blended into the sand very well. Their smooth skin matched the yellow sand’s colors. The only way to see them was when they moved, sand kicked up into the air behind them.

Mathew, Agnox, and Cherry all threw ranged attacks at the beast, killing it before it reached halfway to Mathew.

Zachary dashed toward the other two, taking each out with a single punch. Mathew blinked and was shocked at the little effort that was used to perform such a feat. One thing for sure, the blue hands did not incorporate an Axiom.

Agnox used his Axiom often. When it was used, Mathew could somehow tell it wasn’t just a technique. It was something more. Mathew detected none of that from Zachary’s glowing fists. It was that, or Mathew could only tell when Agnox used his Axiom of Embers because they were connected at a deeper level.

Mathew checked the UC gained for killing the Sand Sharks. It was higher than the Novice floor boss, but still less than the Beginner floor boss. It reflected well with their difficulty.

Zachary walked back over to Mathew. “Told you. These things are easy to knock out.”

There was a hint of curiosity on how Zachary did that fighting in Mathew’s mind. “I have to ask, is your speed normal, or boosted by a technique?”

“Oh yea. It’s one of my earlier powers. It was called [Sprinting]. I upgraded it on the previous floor when it reached Apprentice rank. Now it’s called [Far Step]. It has a passive that increases my speed naturally, as the first version did. And I have an active component that lets me increase my speed even further for a short time. Really handy to catch bad guys off guard.”

“I see…”

“What about you? I haven't seen any mages move their spells in the air like that.”

“It’s just the simple [Mana Bolt].” Mathew felt safe sharing that information.

“That’s cool! Why didn’t you use any of your rituals though? I’m sure it saves mana, plus they are more diverse right?” Zachary inquired. “Couldn’t you just, I don’t know, make something up on the fly, and blast them all away?”

“What happened to not asking questions about people's abilities in detail? I was just wanting to know if your speed boost was natural or not. You are the one who went deep into the explanation.” Mathew asked with a slight tease, but also annoyance.

“Right…I was just excited is all.” Zachary shook his head. “Right. No personal questions related to our powers.”

Mathew didn’t pay him any more attention. He glanced up at the sky, noting the sun was moving slower than he expected. In fact, it hadn’t moved at all.

“Why isn’t the sun moving? Does it not become night time here?”

“Oh it does.” Zachary chuckled. “I’ll let you experience it raw. We have a few hours till night. It’s nice to see the shock on other people’s faces. Reminds me that I’m not the only one bad stuff happens to.”

“Or, you can not be a jackass and tell me so I can properly prepare.”

Zachary pretended to think about it for a moment. “Nah.”