No one in recorded history had glimpsed a divine Concept so early. Noughtfire would never have even considered suggesting it before….

Then there was his new disciple.

The earth-man called Zane, scratching his head across the little tea table.

Noughtfire had never known anyone with that kind of intuition. It was stunning at times.

Zane could become a monster like the Dragonspire galaxy had never seen if he walked that path—Noughtfire was sure of it.

And selfishly Noughtfire wished to see it done, too. Of course he did. He'd devoted his entire life to the study of Stormfire. It would take a man like Zane to dare to push its limits….

But tribulation lightning was a dangerous thing. Noughtfire drummed the stumps of his fingers against the table.

Face that lightning head-on—comprehend it—and you might claim a share of its powers as your own… but fail—and you would leave yourself exposed. Often to lethal damage.

To Noughtfire, it was the duty of the master to show the paths—and no more. It was the choice of the disciple to walk them.

In his eyes the most irritating folk were those who dictated what others ought to do. It was why he secluded himself in the Lightning Constellation, this secret enclave, to pursue the ends of his path without being bothered. Most who wished to impose their will on Noughtfire he charred to a crisp.

Few dared try nowadays.

"Thanks for the tip," said Zane.

Just by looking at his face, Noughtfire knew his disciple's choice.

This was a man who sought out the hard fight.

Noughtfire gave a hint of a smile. "That is all, then."

The meeting was over.

Zane turned to leave—

"Ah. Right. One more thing," said Noughtfire.

Zane stopped and promptly face-planted into a roof beam. He blinked at it, baffled, as though it hadn't been there a second before.

"What's up," said Zane.

"See that planet?"

Noughtfire pointed. Out beyond the bands of a meteor belt, there was an enormous chunk of dried volcanic rock. Barren as far as the eye could see.

"Sure," said Zane.

"You ought to break through there."

Zane blinked at it. A pause. "What makes that thing special?"

"Nothing," said Noughtfire casually. "It's simply a spare planet. No one will miss it when it's destroyed."

“…”

***

Finally, Zane was ready.

Sitting cross-legged, down on this barren planet. He was in the middle of nowhere—a great stretch of desert—on a planet that also seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Noughtfire seemed to think this heavenly tribulation thing could take quite a bit of space. And get quite messy too.

It was pretty here at least. Clear skies, nice stars. The air was still and warm. Nothing here lived save for him; there was an utter, blanketing silence. All he could hear was the sound of his own heart. That, at least, beat strong.

He took out Reina's gift. Let the liquid drip down the walls of the vial, and considered Noughtfire's words.

It was hard for Zane—after hearing about a power like Heavenly Stormfire—to resist trying to seize it. It was exactly the sort of thing that got him pumped up… it was also the sort of thing that could get him in trouble, he knew.

He thought about his preparations—the treasures he'd taken and was about to take. Mulled it over a bit…

One last thing Noughtfire told him was that comprehending tribulation lightning was quite dangerous—but the more you comprehended of it, the less dangerous it was. It was tricky that way.

In the end, Zane made a decision.

Two things were true—it was a dangerous thing.

But he also knew what he was capable of.

It was time to see what all the fuss was about, he supposed.

He moved to grab the stopper on the Vial of World Tree Prime Extract. It popped off easily.

And out came a whirlwind. A blast of crispness and freshness and essence leaking howling into the world, painting the skies light-green—for a moment Zane wasn't sure what to do. Then he did some quick thinking and put his face on top of it.

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This stopped the leaking nicely.

But now all that energy was rushing into him. Not even the liquid itself yet—just the jet streams of raw essence it was giving off… he blinked, mouth on the glass.

…He seemed a little stuck.

Eh.

He was already here, he supposed. He just picked it up, tipped it over, and started chugging as fast as he could.

Soon he tasted the liquid inside. It tasted like it looked, to his surprise—like honey.

Then came the explosions of essence.

Level up!

Essence Level 393 -> 394

But it was more than just essence. It was a subtle tingling warmth spreading through his whole body with each drip, starting at his belly… a layer of strange energy washing over him then vanishing—seemingly without a trace.

Level up!

Level up!

Level up!

Essence Level 394 -> 397

He wasn't quite sure where that strange energy went. It didn't seem to upgrade his body in any way… maybe it would help his breakthrough somehow.

He would have to see.

By then he was feeling quite full. And the energies were still rushing into him—in such a fury he saw shimmering sheets of it steaming off his skin…

Level up!

It wasn't long before—

Level up!

Essence Level 389 -> 399

And then the essence hit a wall. A hard wall inside—

A wall that began to crack, more and more….

It felt as though a gong chimed in the Astral Plane.

A gong at the center of Zane's body—and everything began to tremble.

At first he thought it was just him. Then he noticed the rocks around starting to float.

…Hmm.

A notification popped up.

Ascension Initiated

Assessing potential… following the strings of fate…. Tribulation strength determined.

Begin.

The whole planet began to shiver. Fissures crackling down its length, making thousand-foot-gorges, splitting new tectonic plates—a deep rumbling began to sound, a vast, unending groaning, like the planet itself was in great pain….

A tingling feeling swamped the air as though it had become suddenly charged with an immense amount of static electricity. And Zane heard crackling all around him, discharging—

The air began to shimmer, began to bend. In the Astral Plane as well as the physical.

He looked up.

He couldn't see the stars anymore.

In their place was one great ink-black cloud. Pouring into existence as though out of nowhere—blocking out the skies with speed...

***

Reina watched as a regiment of Minor God archers whizzed about in tight formation, shooting streaks of silver into the twilight, moving in such coordination it was as though they were dancing.

These were the elite World Tree archer units—the fabled Silver Winds. Hard at work training for the Monster Waves soon to come. But she had trouble focusing. She wished she could see into the Lightning Constellation—but save for a few special areas, it was totally sealed off from scrying. She couldn't even send messages.

She felt a tightness in her chest and sighed.

"Come on, Zane," she whispered fiercely.

***

A second cloud was billowing into existence above Zane's head.

The first had choked off half the sky. The second blew out and was quickly smothering the other half… and more still seemed to be coming…

They had their own auras. Staggering, beating down oppressive, like a mid-day heat in the Astral Plane…

A third Tribulation Stormcloud was burgeoning into existence, quickly joining the others, thickening them all into a swirling mass…

***

"It's just as expected," said Burnwater. "Four Tribulation clouds—that was what the Patriarch drew too… Zane's just hit it."

Noughtfire said nothing.

They—Noughtfire, Burnwater, and a pale, scarred man in a straw hat—were all sharing tea around a little table on Planet Thousand Clouds, Noughtfire's private study. Watching the gathering darkness through the little window. Though it was some distance away to mortal eyes, they could all see the action as though they stood right beside Zane.

"Hold on—is that—that's a fifth cloud!" gasped Burnwater. His hands were getting a little sweaty. "Oh… oh dear. That's what you hit, Master—it's almost unheard of for Ascension!"

"You've found an impressive one," said the straw-hat man in a voice so hoarse it was nearly a whisper. He took a sip of tea.

Burnwater took a breath. He was really not made for watching this sort of thing—he had taken quite a liking to his new junior apprentice-brother, and he got nervous far too easily.

Then he caught sight of a new darkness on the horizon—"Six?!"

Six tribulation clouds were almost only ever seen at godly bottlenecks—there were only a few times in recorded history they'd been drawn at the Ascendant bottleneck. And then, only by talents so great they would've threatened to upend the Galaxy if they succeeded.

But no Nascent Soul had ever survived the lightning of six Tribulation Clouds…

"He will survive it," said Noughtfire. He said so forcefully, confidently. "Zane is…"

He trailed off all of a sudden.

Then there was a sudden sharpness to his gaze—he went still.

Another cloud was joining the crowded sky. A cloud bigger than all the rest—and the aura it gave fell so heavy you could see it melting the stones on the planet's surface… Swirling into the others, making a devilish whirlpool…

It was a sight that should never have happened. A sight that should've been impossible.

"Seven," croaked Burnwater. He went very pale then.

A pause.

"Well," said the straw-hat man. "Shit."

They all looked at each other. Then at the swirling whirlpool, quickly descending—

But none of them could interfere now.

"There is a way—the only way," said Noughtfire with a sudden intensity, tea forgotten. He only had eyes for the stormcloud in the far distance—so big now it dwarfed the planet on which it raged. They couldn't even see Zane anymore. The big man would be less than a dot in comparison…

"He has to take the path!"

Three strikes of tribulation lightning—each harder than the last… "Here they come!" cried Burnwater.

***

As Zane watched the sky, he felt calm.

Maybe it was the weekend with Reina, which had gotten quite a bit of stress out of him. And the treasures too, which had an effect on him like very good tea.

He felt the pressures hammering down on him quite intensely. His body felt like it'd been plunged into the deep-ocean depths—pressurized nearly to its limits—every little breath was a challenge.

But he could keep his eyes clear and sharp. And his mind open.

Zane had come to comprehend. And for that, he needed a certain state of mind. An extreme intensity of focus…

He would not let the darkness rattle him.

Not even as it reached a frothing peak above—the powers in those clouds swirling to one point, a point quickly brightening, a piercing, utterly pure white slicing through the black—

Zane clenched his teeth. Braced himself.

He refused to flinch as the first bolt lashed from the sky.