“That power ranking is called the Phoenix Scroll,” said Jawl. “It’s got five hundred-odd ranks in total—though it depends on the death counts during dungeon season, and if it's an Integration Year… the usual ups and downs.”

He produced a scroll out of thin air and started to unravel it. It went on and on—the more he unrolled it, the more parchment there seemed to be, faded yellow with golden names scribed on top. A great many of them.

“There you are!” said Jawl brightly. He had gotten down to the four hundreds—sandwiched between ‘Gorax the Conquerer’ and ‘Elior Brightsword,’ a certain ‘Zane Walker?’

“What's with the question mark,” said Zane.

“That means you're provisional, my Lord. The scryers can't be sure where you sit since there's not enough information. I’m sure they'll move you up once you put on a few good displays… and four hundred and six is quite a solid rank to begin with—nothing to scoff at.”

Zane still wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Jawl rolled back the scroll. “If there’s anything you’d like to know, do ask. I was steward for the previous Stormhaven Lord as well—though that was some decades ago, I make it my business to keep up with things.”

He puffed up with pride at that. He held up the bundle in his other hand.

“Should we start with the letters?” There were quite a stack—a lot more than Zane would have expected.

“Sure,” said Zane.

The first came from a certain ‘High Prince Yarrow of Elistria.’

Jawl opened open the letter, and out leapt a tiny projection. It was of a handsome-looking youth, with skin like a porcelain doll and sleek black hair tied back in a neat bun with a red ribbon. He wore white silk robes and wielded a sword so clear and shiny its blade could’ve been a mirror.

He took out his sword and leveled it straight at Zane.

“Listen carefully,” said the High Prince. “For I shall only say this once—my name is Yarrow, the Spear of the East!”

His eyes flashed as he said it. It looked quite valiant, Zane thought. Zane wondered if he could get his eyes to flash on command too.

“I am the Champion of planet Gar, Slayer of True Dragons. I’ve heard of your arrival, Zane Walker—how you’ve leapt straight to Direct Disciple! Skipping past the rest of us—too good for the Outer Faction, are you? The scryers have placed you at Rank 400, without a single duel on record… well—I don’t believe it! You’re a fraud, Zane Walker, and I’ll prove it. I hereby challenge you to an honor duel! Accept, and I’ll show you what a true Azure Flame Disciple looks like!”

The scene faded.

A pause.

Jawl coughed awkwardly. “May I be blunt, my Lord?”

“Sure.”

“That one is… err… small fry compared to you. When they start tacking on their old planet's titles that means they haven't got any new ones here. And I seriously doubt he’s slain a real True Dragon. Not unless it was a very old one and he caught it sleeping.”

“Hmm.”

“He’s ranked #473—nearly at the bottom. He wants to use you to make a name for himself,” said Jawl amiably. “He doesn’t have much to lose. The last Stormhaven Lord was challenged by these types often too.”

Zane nodded.

“Next up…”

A man with feathers lining his face, and a neat-looking gold crown too—a birdkin. “It is I—Thakon, Ruler of the Seven Skies, Lord of All Who Soar!” roared this man.

He ended up challenging Zane to a similar duel.

“Same thing?” said Zane.

Jawl nodded. “He’s rank #468—near the bottom. On their home planets, they used to be big-shots…they could get away with calling themselves all kinds of things.”

Jawl presented another letter. It was a similar story there.

At the letter after, though, Jawl paused.

“The Brothers Kane? That’s a surprise.”

“Who are those guys,” said Zane.

“They’re some of the highest-ranked Outer Faction Disciples—triplets. On the overall ranking, they’re 185, 186, and 187,” said Jawl. He frowned.

“You usually wouldn’t see them challenging below the rank… I suppose it’s because you’re something of a name, my Lord. Everyone seems to want a piece of you,” he said cheerfully.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

He opened the letter. There were three bald giants, each in monks’ robes. Their skin was mottled blue and had the consistency of stone. Each held a golden staff with magma-molten flames burning at their ends.

“Coward scum!” snarled the first.

“You make a mockery of the Azure Flame,” snarled the second.

“If you are a man at all, you will accept our challenge,” snarled the third.

“Is it always like this?” said Zane, blinking. It seemed to him that insulting someone was a strange way to get them to do something.

“You’d be surprised how well it works,” said Jawl, shuffling the letters away. “Folk up here have a bit of an ego. Usually they’ll also send a copy of their challenges to the main square, where they show up on the big board—the main square being the hub planets where all the teleporters intersect, that is! You’ll see it as soon as you leave the Lightning Constellation. Can’t miss it.”

“Huh,” said Zane.

“It is quite a public thing. A matter of face. Ah! There’s one more.” Jawl picked out the final letter and blinked. Paled a little. “…Prince Throck?”

“Who’s that?”

“Ranked #3 in the Outer Faction—#135 overall!” said Jawl. “He’s a royal of Lava Ape lineage, which is a heaven-grade Godbeast Bloodline, my Lord… It’s one of the most powerful of the fire element Bloodlines! He’s one of the few Minor Gods in the Outer Faction... surely he can’t mean to challenge you?”

He opened the letter.

It was another beastkin. A giant upper body. A much smaller lower body. It was quite out of proportion. He had a very flat face and beady black eyes. When he snorted, flames came out of his nostrils.

He was almost double the size of the challengers who’d come before.

“Zane Walker!” boomed the ape-man, and Zane could feel a rush of hot wind, though it was just a letter. Throck smashed his fists together. “I hear you’ve prided yourself on your size and strength…”

Throck grinned massive white block teeth. “Let us see how it measures up! Set your flesh against mine, fist to fist…May the strongest man win!”

…Of all the challenges, that one actually kind of worked on Zane.

“How does this work,” said Zane. “The more of them I beat, the better my rank gets?”

“That’s right,” said Jawl. “Well—more precisely—the more you demonstrate your strength, the better your rank... err—do you mean to accept Throck’s challenge, my Lord?”

Jawl looked a bit worried.

“Maybe,” said Zane. He was thinking about what this was all for. “For that stipend thing—how much of a difference does a higher rank make?”

“About a full grade level per each Faction level, my lord. For instance—each disciple will get a heart of the volcano as a baseline treasure, each season. But the Outer Faction disciples will get peak-Earth grade, while the Inner Faction will get peak-Sky grade! And Core Disciples get Heaven-grade. The same with their Spirit Stones stipends.”

Zane wouldn't be able to get a Chosen stipend because he wasn’t officially a Chosen, what with his split deal. But some normal disciple rewards still sounded pretty good to him. He had no pressing need for them right now, but earlier today he was reminded of his startling lack of pretty much any belongings. Some money could be nice, if only just in case. It was the sort of thing Reina would want him to do, he felt. Good planning.

It’d be fun getting a few fights in anyway, just for the sake of it. He wouldn’t mind stretch his legs a bit.

“Wait,” said Zane, frowning. There was something else.

He reached into his Interspatial Ring, rummaged a bit, and pulled out the list Noughtfire had given him. He went down to Incentive #2.

“10-man Challenge,” he read.

Jawl looked startled. “Well—yes, that most certainly applies too! Although—err—pardon, my lord. It isn’t that I doubt your ability but… you would be fighting ten Ascendants, and possibly a few Minor Gods there too—just as a Nascent—perhaps it would be wise to wait until your own Ascension first…?”

“No—I mean, what is it,” said Zane. Though he had a pretty good hunch.

“Ah! It’s a legendary feat. Defeat 10 Outer Faction Disciples while still being a mortal—that is, being below Minor God. And not 10 disciples in a row—10 disciples, all at once! It is an exceedingly difficult thing to do… only a handful have done it in the past. There’s Patriarch Azure Flame, of course—the very first. And the Triforce Sage. Sage Skyfire, the Dragon-King, who’s now an Ancestor… Sage Noughtfire, of course. And Sage Burnwater, back when he did that rampage up the ranks.”

Burnwater? Zane thought about the nice old guy talking about gardens.

Huh.

Anyway.

Zane was looking at the challenge letters. He thought about the 10-man Challenge.

“Hmm,” said Zane.

Maybe there are lots of birds here that could be knocked out with one stone.

He figured he would think about it after he finished up this Concept.

***

Zane came out of the spring feeling scrubbed clean. Like he had woken from a very deep restful sleep. One more good stint in there and he would be fresh and ready to go.

That evening, Jawl and a few of his Storm Yak tribe servants brought Zane a dinner chock-full of essence—it was a buffet of S+ Earth treasures. A giant fatty leg of prime-grade Storm Yak. Quite delicious too, salted just right with spices—imported from the south of Stormhaven, Yak said. It was something of a delicacy here. His family’s traditional recipe, which he made with some pride.

It was also so rich it gave Zane a level.

Level up!

Essence Level 344 -> 345

He fell asleep that evening in a giant puffy bed, window open, snoring below a twilight sky.

The next morning he ambled down to the soul spring, feeling quite good, still in a fluffy yak-fur bathrobe and equally fluffy slippers. It all expanded to fit his size. There was a coolness to the air—as cool as it got on a burning planet, anyway. The sky was pale purple, almost pink. The lake-flames crackled softly, as though sleeping.

He could get used to this place.

A serving-girl was tending to the soul spring.

“My Lord!” she yelped, bowing. “It’s a little early—the spring’s still warming up. We weren’t expecting you for a few hours…”

“Oh,” said Zane.

He thought about what to do in the meantime.

He could go exploring Stormhaven. Big planet, lots of forests. He was sure there were some unseen worlds at the bottom of these massive Stormfire lakes—he saw some creature-dots moving just before he went to sleep…

All that talk of fighting yesterday, though, had gotten him a bit amped.

There was one place he hadn’t checked out. One of the three major places that Lin Rai had said.

“Is that killing field place open?” he said.

The serving-girl blinked, surprised. “I believe Ragnos should be available to the Stormhaven Lord at all hours of the day…Do you mean to attempt it, my Lord?”

He figured he might as well give it a test run while he waited.