Zane made his way to the teleporter. A beam later he was off to Ragnos.
Ragnos was an angry star. Its solar flares looked like flesh wounds still bleeding over its surface, falling back into a mass the color of dried blood. It looked a little like Mars, back when that still existed—just shining.
Zane ended up standing on an outpost asteroid on the system’s far edge. It looked to be a hub of teleporters—his portal circle sat at the center. Seven others lined the asteroid’s edges. From here, he had a good vantage to see the whole star system.
The nearest planet didn't even look like a real planet. Maybe a planet that had been dropped too hard—a billion chunks of shattered rock barely held together by gravity, some the sizes of continents, others little more than floating islands. Deep ravines laced through its entirety, running deep into the core of it. Churning continent-wide storms raged over its surface, picking up islands and spinning them about, sending them shooting back into the mess…
The next planet was a glut of crystals that rose as tall as mountains. Mountain rages spiked down its face like great spines. The third planet was a shifting world of bog and quicksand, melting fast into each other, swirling in planet-wide whirlpools. The fourth was so distant it was a pearl in his vision—it seemed studded with volcanoes, spewing Stormfire like cannons erupting. On and on the planets went, going deeper still…
That Lin Rai girl told him he would level his Stormfire Skills here much faster than anywhere else. It did sound something like that one killing array at the Ventor Global initiative—just much, much bigger in scope…
He inspected the teleporters and saw faint trails running out from them in the astral plane, linking to each of the six planets. The seventh teleporter went deeper still… to Ragnos itself? He wasn’t sure.
Just then, a beam of crystal light flared down the third teleporter.
A smoking girl came tumbling out. It was Lin Rai, to his surprise, groaning and coughing. Sizzling, panting, smoking—she looked alright otherwise.
She frowned and looked up. Not at him, but over her head. Letters crackled in air.
Lin Rai
Planet 3
Progress: 53%
High Score: 58%
She cursed. “So damned close!”
Then she noticed him. “Oh hey there,” she said, grinning. “Zane! What are you doing here?”
Zane nodded. “I will give it a try,” he informed her.
She blinked. “Wait… right now?”
He nodded.
She blew a lock of smoky hair out of her face, then stood up, still patting off soot. “When I said Ragnos would be useful to you, I meant after you hit Ascension, at least. Don’t get me wrong—it’s good to aim high. But take it from me, you don’t want to overdo it!”
Her cheeks colored a little. “I came in here day one, just like you, and… it was brutal. Physically Ragnos will heal any damage you take but it was… quite a painful reality check, let’s just say. Planet One starts at Peak Nascent—Level 399.”
That would be equal to the strongest Monsters Zane had ever fought.
“It only gets worse from there. You’ll be facing Ascendants, and fast—everything you’ll fight will have a domain.”
“Sure,” said Zane.
“…You still want to give it a try?”
Zane shrugged. It actually sounded more fun, now that she put it that way. He had been worried would just be peak Nascents.
She looked like she wanted to say more, but then hesitated. “Well,” she said. “…Good luck, I guess.”
She clapped him heartily on the back.
“Thanks,” said Zane.
“Don’t get too discouraged if things don’t go how you expect,” she called after him. “It’s just your first run!”
“Okay,” said Zane.
He went off for the first portal.
***
Lin decided her new junior apprentice-brother was quite alright.
He kind of reminded her of herself when she first showed up, actually.
They were both a little thick-headed, especially at first. Maybe getting a reality check would be good for him in the long run. You never wanted the newbies getting a big head.
Although—it was true he was a lot less arrogant than she would’ve thought…
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
She thought he’d be a lot more like her when she first showed up—she still cringed sometimes, thinking back. But he seemed like he had a good head on his shoulders. Earnest—if a bit clueless.
…There was just one thing still irked her, though. Just a bit.
She did wonder what exactly made Zane #1 on the Rising Dragon Scroll. She didn’t really get it. He was big, sure—so much so she had trouble keeping a straight face the first time she saw him. But it should’ve taken a lot more than size to top the lists. The Rising Dragon Scroll measured not just your physical gifts, but the whole package. It took a real fighter, someone with that killer instinct who could wield their talents like a weapon.
She watched Zane scratching his head at two portals, shrug, go after the wrong one, smack face-first into the invisible barrier, fall over blinking, turn around, and amble into the other one.
“…”
Lin wasn’t convinced he had it in him.
Still, she supposed it wasn’t his fault the scryers got caught up in the hype…
The transporters fired up.
She pursed her lips.
…Even if he did have potential—eleven ranks above her was a bit much, wasn’t it?
She put her hands on her hips.
Ragnos was the one part of the Lightning Constellation open to scrying, due to how it affected the rankings. The scryers would be watching this too, she knew… so would a few of the Azure Flame scouts. Anyone who chose to take a look. She supposed they’d all have to see.
***
The teleporter beam dropped Zane straight onto Planet One.
It was a sea of shattered rock, just as he'd seen from a distance—though up-close the chunks were much bigger than he’d thought. He stood on a mass that had to be the size of a small city; some were as big as continents. Ravines snaked all over those stone platforms—ravines that ran seemingly without end, some dipping straight to the heart of the planet…
Above swirled a world of bleak stormclouds running horizon-to-horizon.
He looked around. He’d thought he was meant to kill a bunch of stuff here. He wondered where the stuff was.
Planet 1
Begin
Then the stuff started dropping from the sky.
Storm Serpent (Simulated Monster)
Essence Level 399
Storm Serpent (Simulated Monster)
Essence Level 399
They had bodies like those thick, tightly-wound cables running between lightning towers—cables strung up with vivid purple electricity. They came crashing down in a spiral pattern, spinning up mini-tornadoes, their eyes blocks of solid light, crimson tongues flickering out of gaping toothless mouths…
And at the same time, rumbling up through the gaps between the islands—
Hypergolem (Simulated Monster)
Essence Level 399
Twenty-foot-tall blobs of electrified steel—like high-voltage wrecking balls. Their arms were ribbed cables with grasping claws stuck to the ends—the sort you might find in those toy claw machines, but scaled to horrifying sizes. They rolled toward him, strange limbs flailing, grasping for his throat, more and more coming up each second…
Zane saw that great horde of enemies spread before him. Drawing in. This wide net of violence.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes. Hands out.
He found himself in a familiar place.
It had been so long since he'd had a fight like this… there was something different to his feeling, and it took him a moment to place it.
There was no stakes to this. Nothing to worry about. It was just him—and how much he could crush. Like back in the very beginning.
He felt his heart going in his chest. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. He pictured what he was about to do and felt each beat coming faster, harder, the vigor of the Titan Rhinoceros raging to life—the powers of the Heartstring making their presence known…his blood began to seethe.
His eyes opened. He let out his breathe, and a gust of heat clouded the air.
His weapons dropped to his palms. Twin hammers crackling Stormfire-bright, roaring as they burned, carving out their own little sphere of fire amid the chaotic windscape…
Zane dropped into a crouch. Set his eyes on the wall of Hypergolems ahead, closing in fast…
His tendons flared—that second critical godbeast body part, the final parting gift of the Barbarian Sage. It was the first time he’d used it in battle. The first time he’d stretched his legs in what felt like forever.
He stomped. And struck.
One moment he stood there—football fields apart—and the next he was in their midst, a blur of after-images trailing a funnel of shrieking air—
He dragged two falling stars low to Earth.
The golems wheeled on him, whirring, lashing those electrified claws at him. But it was his meteors that landed first.
And crushed straight through mounds on mounds of living steel. Driving them deep into the bowels of the earth, where they belonged.
BOOM-BOOM!
Skill up!
Stormfire Smash IV -> V
There was a silence.
That felt good.
Smoke billowing all around, the aftermath of the blow—clouding his vision—how many had he struck down? He’d felt at least two fat steel masses crumpling under the force of his hammers—crumpling into the floating island, then chunks of the island itself breaking away, crumbling down the sides of the ravines…
He felt the pounding of his heart, and smiled.
He was well and truly warmed up now.
The smoke-wall broke open before him. He blinked.
He was staring at a wall of steel.
He ate it straight to the face.
CLANG!
It was the body of a Hypergolem. Rolling straight at him, at full speed. This he only registered as his head whipped back.
It didn’t get him off his feet. His body was too heavy to be moved like that—and the golem found itself bouncing the other way… it did leave his face smarting. Especially his nose. And it off-balanced him. Flailing, he tried to get upright—just as more Hypergolems burst out through the gloom, vice claws latching onto his arms, shooting immense bursts of electricity down his body, making him spasm.
Even as more and more kept coming…
At the same time, the Storm Serpents attacked. Spitting chains of white lightning—raining fury from above, dozens of Peak Nascents in all, crashing right over his head…
Zane bared his teeth.
Without warning he wrenched at his arms in a vicious fury, firing up his Bloodline, his strength, all at once—and broke the chains of the lightning. Shucked them off his body like a grown man throwing off children. He brought two Hypergolems hurtling through the smoke at mach speed. They met mid-air in a shower of sparks, flattening out against each other, falling useless as scrap metal to the ground. At the same time Zane lashed left with a meteor. Found a meaty bulk of targets, felt the satisfying crunched—lashed right, crushed down a new row there too—
Skill up!
Stormfire Smash V -> VI
Looked up at those Storm Serpents frittering high above, and unleashed a new weapon.
A red moon flared behind him. Flared in his pupils. He raised a hand.
Redness burst into the world. An indiscriminate tide, far more in that world than this one—and it struck in that world too, a brutal extinction.
The lights in their eyes went out, one by one.
They fell keeling, soundless…
Zane turned his head to the high heavens, and pounded his chest, and made a sound between a laugh and a roar. A wild burst of feeling. Like he was shouting to this world—Is that all you’ve got?
A breath. Two.
Then the world answered.
Every island in sight began to tremble.