“Worldbreaker, huh?” Heath said, lips pouting as he digested Eik’s story. “I mean, that sounds absolutely awesome but why are you so worried about it?”

“Didn’t you hear me, dude?” Eik said, throwing his hands in the air with exasperation. “If a strong force, like a nation or an S-ranker or- or… an X-ranker catches wind of it and doesn’t like the sound of someone like me getting too big to handle, they’ll kill me and they might kill you in the process.”

“But that won’t happen if they don’t find out about it before you get too big to handle, right? We just have to keep it a secret for a while.”

“I know that but I also have to make us an attractive investment for the Nidafjeld Alliance. We need them to be willing to step in and keep the Gohkamorians at bay. At least for now. Right?”

“Yeah, makes sense to me,” Heath said. “Then you just have to find the balance between stealth and flamboyance.”

“Easy for you to say, Heath… Are you guys okay with all this?”

“That you have an extra super superpower?” Heath asked. “Sounds like its going to help us all in the long run. My problem was the fact that you kept it a secret from us. I know it probably is more dangerous, but I feel like we're about to die all the time already, so...”

Michael nodded.

Sonja sat in Eik’s bed with her knees pulled to her chest. “I’m not really sure what to think…”

“Well, are we still a team?” Eik asked.

She looked at him somberly for several seconds before offering a small nod. “Yeah, we’re still a team.”

Eik leaned back in his chair. “Phew. I have to say, I've been wanting to get this crap off my chest since I learned it myself. Though I probably shouldn't have told you.”

Michael picked up one of the vials of potion from the pile on Eik’s table. “What’re you going to use all of these for?”

“Sell them.”

“To who?” Heath asked.

Eik cracked a toothy grin. “Whoever wants it.”

***

“It’s been a while, eh, Mis?” Eik said as he set her down to run freely through the house for the first time in weeks. She ran straight for her favorite spot — a blanket folded on the windowsill. “We’re home. And look, they finished the wall!”

The fracture spluttered closed once Mikla and Atla had stepped through. They didn’t waste any time and headed straight for town and Travis Lockwood’s office.

Forest hadn’t changed whatsoever since they left, with the exception of one thing. People in Eik’s immediate neighborhood were staring as they passed. Word must have finally gotten around about everything in which he had been involved.

Most people in Forest didn’t know who he was and what he looked like so even if they knew about some guy named Eik, they wouldn’t know who to gawk at. But close to home they sure did. Atla, with her voluptuously recognizable pink hair, wore a hat from Eik’s house. Before Eik’s debrief it had felt like everybody had watched them constantly, but looking back on it it had been a small minority.

Along the way they split with Michael who wanted to go straight home to see his mom.

Travis’ office was not a particularly impressive building. In fact, it could have been anybody’s house. Eik’s coerced visit to Boulder Fist Gary’s office before the debrief had been the complete opposite. As lavish a building as the man could reasonably get away with.

The same assistant who had helped organize the Great Raid led them to a waiting room even smaller than the one in Warden Harfol’s prison. “He’s been waiting for you to come back,” she said to Eik and then glanced at Atla. “And you too.”

“Me?”

“If you hadn’t noticed, he’s a bit of a battle maniac. Getting beaten up by you lit a fire in him. He’s been training like crazy.”

“Does he have time to talk to us now?” Eik asked.

“He probably won’t mind if it’s you guys, I suppose.”

“What’s he do—”

A high pitched screech tore into their ears, accompanied by a flash of light through the window facing the back. The assistant just rolled her eyes, sighed, and gestured with a thumb.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

They filed back out into the sun and around the building where Travis stood in the middle of a small backyard surrounded by a dense copse of trees. On the far side was a massive boulder almost as big as the house. Both the boulder and the trees had scorch marks, cracks, and other signs of damage.

Travis wiped his forehead with a towel and turned to greet them. “I wasn’t sure you’d ever come back.”

“We’re not traitors, even if people say we are,” Heath spat.

“I know.”

“How’d you know it was us?” Eik asked.

Travis tapped his head with a finger. “B-rank senses. You just hit E-rank, right?”

“Just hit D-rank, actually,” Eik corrected.

“You’re all D-rank already?”

“You’re D-rank?” Atla exclaimed. “How?”

“We’re not,” Heath grumbled. “Only he is…”

“How?”

Eik just shrugged. “Risk, I guess. Isn’t that what you advised, Atla?”

“Yes, but…” Her eyes were glittering, as if he’d just pulled five bars of gold out of his ass. “Good. This is very good.” Eik offered a tepid smile in return.

“What kind of a monster are you?” Mikla asked, face a painting of disbelief.

“How about we duke it out to test your new strength then?” Travis suggested. “My little training garden here has gotten a little worn, and I miss going all out.”

“If you went all out against me you’d turn me into ground meat,” Eik muttered.

“We didn’t come to fight,” Atla interrupted. “We’re here to hear your response to the invitation to join the Championships. Have you made your decision?”

“We have. We’re going, of course. As you mentioned, it’s a great way to deepen the relationship between Earth and the alliance, isn’t it?”

Atla looked surprised. “It definitely is, yes. I didn’t realize that the Forest leadership was particularly interested in a closer relationship.”

Travis snorted. “They weren’t really, but let’s just say that your thorough whipping of Gary and me did a number on their confidence. Turns out they would really like to keep at least a modicum of power and influence, and now that a relationship with the alliance seems to be the best way to do that they’re suddenly starting to change their tune,” he said. His voice was full of vexation. “The old bastards basically only abandoned Gary because they couldn’t use him anymore.”

“Do you think we’d be safe here now?”

Travis tilted his head from side to side. “Probably? More or less? I think they’ll want their position to be more stable before trying anything — if they ever try anything. They used to have a lot more support than they do now.”

“That’s… something, I guess,” Heath said, Eik nodding.

“I might have something that can make me a few more friends, actually,” Eik said and unslung the awesome rucksack of holding. He held up a hand and wiggled his fingers theatrically, smirking at an uncomprehending Travis, before plunging his arm in to the shoulder.

“Whoa, what the hell!” the B-ranker shouted, taking a step back.

“Pretty sweet, eh?” Eik sung. “If we join the alliance we can buy stuff like this, and we can teach craftsmen to make it, right?” he said with a glance at Mikla who nodded.

“If you can help facilitate that then you will make friends for sure, including me. I mean, holy shit, I’ve been hoping for a bag of holding for years! Now monsters just need to drop loot and—…” — He caught himself and cleared his throat — “I mean, that would do a lot for our society, certainly.”

“That’s actually not the main thing I wanted to show you,” Eik said and pulled up a single vial of the purple potion. “This is.”

Travis took it and held it up to the sun. “What’s this?”

“Drink it,” Heath said with a grin.

“Actually,” Eik said, holding up a hand. “It wouldn’t be that effective for someone of his level. We need someone weaker whose strength he knows. How strong is your assistant?”

“Jen? Mid E-rank. She mostly does administrative work at this point. Why?” He looked slightly suspicious.

“Could you call her out here?”

He called in through a window left ajar and she came around the corner a minute later.

“What will it do to her?” Travis asked.

“Nothing bad, I promise,” Eik said. “But I’d like it to be a surprise.”

She snatched the vial out of Travis’ hand, her ponytail almost whipping him across the face. “If they wanted to hurt me there are easier ways.” She eyed Atla and Mikla pointedly.

Travis sighed and stepped aside. Jen sniffed the contents and pulled a face before downing the whole vial in one. “Oerh!” she uttered throatily.

“Are you okay?” Travis exclaimed, coming to her side. “Do you feel sick?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she said and pushed him back.

Travis took several involuntary steps back, surprise evident on his face. Jennifer looked no less so. She stared at her own hand incredulously. “What did I just…?” She walked over to an extra thick and sturdy makiwara in the corner of the backyard and laid into it with abandon, crushing it with power far beyond what she should have been able to, judging by both Travis’ and her own face.

For someone who only did administrative work she sure seemed happy to let loose.

Travis’ eyes whipped to Eik. “Is- Is this a… stat potion?” His eyes had turned into saucers and goosebumps had broken out across his bare arms.

“Potion of Mighty Strength, yes,” Eik nodded with satisfaction.

“Oh my god, that’s awesome! Where did you buy this? At the headquarters as well?”

“Travis, I made this myself.”

“Wha—?” the B-ranker breathed, appearing to lose his breath. “But we’ve been trying to create something like that for… since the beginning. I thought it was impossible. How’d you do it?”

“Specific ingredients and…” Eik released his aura in a sudden burst that took Travis by surprise, a powerful flash of electricity reflexively manifesting in his palm. He inched closer as he waved his fingers tentatively through the shroud of Ak’ki.

Shivers seemed to run up his spine at the contact. “What’s this ability? You’re a D-ranker but I feel overwhelmed by your presence alone.”

“Such control over your aura… You really are a monster, Eik,” Mikla remarked, a pinch of worry flashing through his features. “And it’s not an ability. Anybody can learn it, given time. On Earth it’s not feasible yet, but it will be at some point.”

“And this… stuff is also necessary for the potions?”

Mikla gave Travis a rundown of Ak’ki.

“So, short of buying at inflated prices for credits we don’t have, Eik is our only source, and likely will be for the foreseeable future?”

“Pretty much, yes,” the fracture specialist nodded.

Travis eyed Eik hungrily. “Let me try one.”

“With the strength of the class 1 potion it would have minimal effect on B-rankers,” Eik told him.

The man pouted. “Can you make them for my level then?”

“Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“I’ll take ‘em. Mission Central needs whatever possible to get an edge.”

“Great!” Eik said, “How many?”

“All of them.”

“I’ll sell you forty five vials now. I can get you more later.”

Travis frowned. “Forty five? That’s way too few. Can’t you spare more?”

Eik shook his head. “I need the rest to hype the market.”