“Hey Rare! Did you mow your own initials into this lawn just now? In cursive?”

Burmin Trivvis paused, looked up from his manual mower, and wiped the sweat off his forehead with one gauntlet. “Yes, sir.”

“Love the originality! Keep it up, kid. You'll make something of yourself some day. I have an eye for these things.”

“Thank you, sir!”

Chapter 7 continued its kindness, and Rares climbed up in level. 52, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, not quite 60 . . . the rate slowed, but they had nothing else to do besides Public Service and some minor hauling, fingerprinting, and poison-tasting. They Warp Enhanced everything they had once, and some managed to Exceed Refine their weapons to reach the next equipment level cap of 40. At last they started hitting level 70 themselves, giving Inferno Reapers stats such as 12,054 Attack and other numbers of no value or interest.

“Hyune, help us,” the aspirational Rares begged.

“I agreed to do so earlier. There is no need to carry my chair out to the entrance with me in it.”

The sky was orange above Brenlond, and every other country, but definitely Brenlond. Quille Treten, Ulrik, Dennet, and Vinnette Melban set down Hyune Giling's chair and allowed him to stand.

“Can never do too much for a guest,” Quille said by way of explanation.

Late in the day, after Public Service ended except for the jobs that players would leave going all night before accepting the rewards the next day, the party stole out of Freegate and hustled across Perandra Regna to the Trial location. Selecting the first party to attempt the feat seemed difficult, until Burmin Trivvis announced he would gladly yield to anyone, whereupon Saptres Muria looked up, said, “You aren't bringing Storms, are you?” and turned back to the chess game he was losing against Leaznalo.

None of the Rares admitted they had forgotten that General Mummy was an actual boss with actual abilities whom they had to fight and beat. They did however reconfigure all their paradigms and refresh their perspectives till they came to the inevitable conclusion that the party needed all three Infernos, the lone ambitious Medic in the world, and either Reginald or Dennet. Stan landed on heads, which meant Dennet went and Reginald stayed to explain what made officer-flipping a reasonable method of decision-making. (“Because it's fun.”) The true loser was Ulrik's Pride of Dovesk passive, which suffered both the invalidating presence of fellow Doveskan Dennet and the indignity of claims such as, “It doesn't matter,” and, “There's no fight we win with an extra 4% to Attack and Defense for one of our number that we lose without it.”

The warriors left behind waved their handkerchiefs as the chosen left Freegate, or else stamped their feet and ran off to a tent in the wilderness. Sindze U. Radalo may have had one of her fingers raised behind her handkerchief, but her tears of chagrin were genuine.

Hyune Giling sat up and stood for battle, displaying for the first time to other Rares his action-ready appearance. A robe of vermilion color with pale blue trim that matched his eyes, night-black hair that was straight but uneven to show he had no time for barbers, a book in one hand and a sword in the other. He might have looked as impressive as an SR had he enjoyed better texturing or a design on his robe and more shading and highlights for his hair and face. “Victory is not assured,” he told them. “Not with your stats. Fight hard and try to have high health when he Novas.”

“Excuse me, when he what?” Dennet chased Hyune into the ominous tomb. “What was that last part?”

The others followed them into battle. First Brenlond Warriors confronted them, but not the polite, one-shottable kind from earlier chapters. Those six serious foes did serious damage despite being of the Quake persuasion, even to Quille Treten.

“This is more dire than I predicted. Scorching Strategy! Scorching Contingency!”

Bolstered by Inferno Intensification which increased elemental advantage for Infernos and Quake Fortification which reduced damage taken from Quake enemies, the three Infernos manhandled the Brenlond Warriors, leaving them with victory over the first wave and questions. “Why did you wait to do that? Are you a double agent?”

Hyune pushed up his criticism-deflecting glasses. “Timing is essential in this fight. My skills have a gap between their durations and cooldown, as most do, and they must be available for the Nova.”

“Timing. Fine. I can Nova next wave. Do I? The right answer is yes, but I promise I'm listening.”

“As I recall, your Nova is a wide cone AoE, is it not? Do it.”

“All right!” The next six Brenlond Warriors rushed across the tombquarters's floor made up of joined stones that themselves seemed yellowed and rotted with age. Ulrik met them with his scimitar for a couple slashes. “While the Intensification lasts! Flames of Dovesk!”

For the first non-boss time, the fullest expression of Ulrik's Inferno power and rage failed to wipe the wave, or in fact kill any of the foes, merely mostly killing them. A Warper might have been dismayed, but Reapers knew leftovers were a great way to build their Novas back up.

“Champion, save your Taunt for after General Mummy deploys his AoE.”

“Should have said something earlier, Strategist.”

“No. You will have it again by the time you need it.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Astounding!”

“Wait, you think basic math is astounding? What if I told you Cracking Bolt! That I can Cracking Bolt again in 16 seconds?”

Quille ran a Warrior through and shook his head. “Can't understand how you fellows do it. Simply phenomenal.”

“Ulrik, is it strange for me to know my own cooldowns?”

“No, Dennet.”

“Vinnette?”

She shook her head.

“I didn't lose my mind to a mummy curse then. What a relief! Preparatory Bolt!”

Wave 2 succumbed. The tomb darkened except for torches affixed to the columns, which flared to herald the entrance of the man himself. Epaulettes and a broad blue cape! Rows of medals pinned into fresh white wrappings! Silver-tipped, calf-high boots! The legendary campaigner who had commanded a thousand battles and won almost half of them, General Mummy, had arrived! A couple Warriors flanked him on each side to fill out the third and final wave.

“Concentrate on him. Our AoE Novas can handle the henchmen. Follow this strategy for victory! Grasping the Tail of the Phoenix!” Hyune Giling's glasses flashed. He threw his arms wide, flames rose from the ground, and he clapped his hands together in time with an explosion that damaged all the enemies a bit and inflicted Burn. It further carried the Phoenix Arrow (1) property that stripped one instance of Phoenix from the targets if they had any, which General Mummy assuredly did.

“Two out of five! Needs more tails! Desperate Defense!” If an Inferno's Nova bolstered by Inferno Intensification failed to kill the Trial's Warriors, of course a Flood's knocked off less than half their HP. Dennet, counting on Ulrik to finish the job, began bolting General Mummy and hoped his Speed Down and Nova Delay debuffs would trigger at least a couple times.

Not even a novice would put up with that kind of treatment, much less an overly seasoned veteran like General Mummy. He raised his hand and invoked Timeless Command, which rocked all the Rares with damage and Nova Delay while adding some Defense to his subordinates.

“Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!” A part of Ulrik's soul tore itself off and launched itself from his body in a scream as he cried and assailed General Mummy.

“Has something gone wrong?” Hyune Giling asked.

“What's wrong is that he's a Reaper. Hey buddy, we only lost 30 Nova, OK? That's one or two hits from you, so buck up.”

“Even so! I'll never forgive you! Flames of Dovesk!” The arc of flame passed through the enemies and left none but General Mummy. Quille Treten Pierce and Bashed him as Hyune had instructed in order that the Taunt would give time for Vinnette's group Regen to restore the party. General Mummy counterattacked with Timeless Saber, an odd choice since he wielded no saber or any kind of sword at all, but rather a rod of command tipped with a yellow sapphire. Perhaps General Mummy had never forgotten his days as a young cavalry officer, bursting with enthusiasm and passion, enjoying wine, company, and victory. Perhaps “saber” is a cool word.

Quille endured the blow, and the fight continued. “Save your next Taunt. Use it after he Novas,” Hyune Giling advised while holding onto Scorching Strategy and Scorching Contingency himself. He used Scorching Involvement on cooldown however, since it was nothing but a single-target attack.

“Hey Hyune, do you think you were made specifically for this fight? I mean, your kit seems awfully specialized.”

“Have you run across the Quake Dragon? You have? I assure you my skills are quite as valuable against any threatening Quake enemies. By the way, if any of you does become an Eclipse,” and there he smiled, “please keep in my mind that my Scorching Instruction passive triggers in parties which contain both an Inferno and a non-Inferno. It provides Inferno Mimicry to the non-Infernos. You would be doing even less damage and have lower Nova Growth without me, Dennet.”

“I'm a little surprised you're not still in use. Cracking Bolt!”

Hyune Giling shook his head. “What use Inferno Intensification when Sibyl has access to Elemental Intensification? And so on. This game was made to delight players via continual advancement, not for old officers.”

“Poignant. We will bury you here alongside your old rival when you die. But why wait? Come over here.”

“No thank you, Ulrik. Prepare for Nova. Scorching Strategy! Scorching Contingency!”

For everyone except Hyune Giling, that encounter introduced a hateful era of bosses with a little star icon next to the health bar which warned when the officers were about to get what was coming to them. The star flashed. Under the current boss health bar, “The Winds Are My Ally” appeared. The time of ruination had come. General Mummy crossed his arms, levitated, and unleashed gales of sand and gravel against the Rares, lacerating their HP and inflicting Recovery Curse 20% and Quake Vulnerability on all except Quille Treten, who had procced the Debuff Immunity granted by Vinnette Melban.

“One out of ten! That's how much health I have left, by the way. The boss gets a three out of five.”

“Hang in there! Emergency Diagnosis!” Vinnette's Nova healed at 80% effectiveness owing to the Recovery Curse, but her Regens suffered no such reduction and took them the rest of the way.

The battle became routine. Novas went off and actives too. Hyune stripped the second of two Phoenix stacks from the boss. The Winds Are My Ally almost killed Dennet again but did not, again. The Rares started to believe victory might be possible and pressed their attack all the harder, except not really because cooldowns and damage rolls did not heed excitement, willpower, momentum, or anything but pitiless math.

“Twelfth bar down. Out of how many, Strategist?”

“Fifteen, Champion. Prepare for Nova.”

General Mummy's third Winds failed to kill Dennet as precedent dictated, but he followed it up with a Timeless Command before Regen and Vampirism could restore the status quo ante Nova. Dennet and Vinnette both collapsed, leaving the Infernos to take it home. The loss of two officers lowered their damage less than the mathematician who had never heard of elemental advantage might have calculated, but every clock maker and clock enjoyer knew a time limit had been set.

“Die before my Regen runs out! Flames of Dovesk!”

“None of this Phoenix nonsense, thank you! Grasping the Tail of the Phoenix!”

“Here's some coal for you! Requiting Thrust!”

“That wouldn't sound that good even if you were Santa.”

“Work in progress, Dennet. Work in progress.”

“You can beat him . . . Ulrik . . . everyone . . .”

“I will, Princess Melban!”

He did not, but rather died in the reign of the fourteenth bar, leaving Quille Treten and Hyune Giling, the Strategist hampered by the inferior stat growth common to his class but with 30 extra levels to make up for it. In the end, General Mummy died without even triggering the Phoenix from Quille's Raging Resolve passive.

“Scorching Involvement! There. Done.”

“Astonishing.”

“Whoop!”

“Great . . .”

“Suffer the fate of all Nova Delayers!”

“And the prize is 10 Mummy Coins. 2 for each of us.”

“I can't believe it. What are the shop prices like, by the way?”

“180 for a weapon, 120 for any other piece. You must purchase Mummy Warpshaped Discs to upgrade your new gear of course, but those are cheap indeed compared to the time required to farm up Slivers and Chunks for dropped sets. The ease of improvement is a major appeal of Trial equipment.”

“And we got 2 each? Are you kidding?”

Hyune Giling shrugged. “This is the lowest difficulty. What did you expect?”

“And! Dennet, listen. And! The nine clears per day limit has no hold on us. Eighteen coins per day? Eight hundred if we want.”

“I never thought of it that way, Ulrik. You're right. Let's do it again!”

Full of vim, the Rares left and reentered the tomb. And lost.