Because Zane broke through in such a secret place, few were there to witness it. One of them happened to be a servant called Wang Lin.

Wang was a Chosen of an Azure Flame sub-Faction called the Verdant Flame, which ruled of a tribute planet near the Azure Flame frontier. He’d been sent up to the main Faction to experience the standard of the true elites of the Dragonspire Galaxy.

So far he was halfway through a century-long stint as a delivery boy, ferrying letters to secret pocket dimensions where Azure Flame Elders and disciples stayed in deep seclusion. It could be a boring job sometimes, which he liked to complain about with the other delivery boys over drinks. But there were some perks.

Sometimes he got to see living legends in person—just the other day at the Caldera Market, he could swear he saw Sage Skysear stroll by after buying some true dragonscales. Though when he scrambled after to make sure, the Sage had mysteriously vanished.

Today Wang was slouched at his desk in one of the warehouses, eyes glazing over a very technical tome on Meteor Laws, when a delivery phoenix dropped by in a puff of flame.

He yawned, took a brief gander at the packages, not really seeing them, and went back to his tome.

Then he sniffed. “Hey… what’s that smell…?"

It smelled very good. Almost unreasonably good. Wang went to investigate.

It was a little care package full of chocolate chip cookies. A whole batch—instantly Wang’s mouth started to water. He wondered if anyone would miss if one cookie went missing. He snuck a quick peek around. Surely not… right…?

Then he saw who it was addressed to—and the thought instantly fled his mind. He went pale.

"Zane Walker?!"

The letter came from a certain 'Evan Armstrong' in script that practically radiated enthusiasm. Nestled in the cookies was a little bundle of letters and other trinkets—there were some sunflowers that glowed like the sun, ‘Elixirs of Luck,’ and two hand-knitted mittens, inexplicably.

Wang snatched it, yelled, “Out for delivery!” to his supervisor, and scrambled off in a giddy rush.

He couldn't believe his luck. Zane Walker had become a mythical existence in the Azure Flame Faction—secreted away in the Lightning Constellation but dominating every list, from the Rising Dragon Ranking to the Outer Faction Rankings...

Few even knew what he looked like. It was said Zane was twenty feet tall, had rhino tusks for teeth, and practiced a special tempering technique that made his face indestructible.

So it was with some eagerness that Wang snatched his special Lightning Array token—for special deliveries—and made for the teleport hub…

Soon he was beaming out into space. It wasn’t long before he touched down at the Lightning Constellation’s landing. The full spread of the Constellation lit up before him, a gorgeous panorama of witchy purples and blues and whites—he took a moment to just stare

He had heard a rumor that Zane was in seclusion right now—even trying to break through. Maybe if he was lucky, he could catch a glimpse…?

“Wait.” He squinted at he distance. “What the…”

He put a hand over his eyes, squinting against the light of the suns. There, in the far distance, was a canvas of puffy black. But marked out stark against it—brighter than even the stars—was a single line of white, a pillar of absolute brilliance streaking up, vanishing into the far distance, splitting the galaxy in two…

Then there was a fluctuation. A wave so powerful it visibly distorted the fabric of reality—rippling across the entire galaxy…

Wang panicked for a moment, but it was upon him before he could even move. Rolling right over him—he felt a lurch of queasiness—before rippling away.

“What in the Nine Hells…?!” he gasped. “Was—was that…surely—surely that couldn’t be…a Heavenly Tribulation… right?!”

He dropped off his package as fast as he could.

Then he shot off right to the servants’ quarters. Within an hour even his supervisor had heard about it.

Within a day, though only a handful had seen it in person—pretty much everyone in the Azure Flame Faction knew.

Zane Walker had just broken through.

And it was no ordinary breakthrough either.

There was some speculation—could he have hit Celestial-grade, even? Others expected it after the things they’d heard of him. But no one knew for sure.

It stayed the number one topic of discussion, in tea-houses and temples across the galaxies of Azure Flame.

His ranking, for the moment, stayed unchanged, since no one was sure just how strong he was. But the Scryer’s Guild was watching closely.

As it turned out…. They’d all soon get a chance to see.

***

Zane woke, feeling… new.

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He propped himself up to an elbow. Looked down—no great seam in his chest. His flesh was hale and hearty as ever, his body pretty much how he remembered it.

He felt flush with life, burning up even. His heart was still going strong, but it was settling fast…

He was still a little woozy.

Level up!

Essence Level 400

The last few moments felt rather fuzzy in his mind. He’d taken that last bolt right to the dome, he remembered—and felt… something. He was still having trouble wrapping his mind around it fully. It came and went in a flash. But he still felt it, even if he was having trouble describing it. Seared deep into his being.

Just an impression of it.

But he had seized it. He could feel it with him, even now. A subtle aura in his soul, in his body... a glimpse of Destruction.

It pleased him just feeling it there.

He knew he wasn't ready to seize it yet in full. But he also knew he would get there. One day.

It was a strange thing—he’d almost died, he was pretty sure. He’d just taken the two hardest hits he'd ever taken. But he still couldn’t get the feeling out of his mind… all he wanted to do, in that moment, was to face it again. Seize as much of it as he could. Just the thought of it got his heart beating faster again—made him smile.

But it would have to wait for next time.

He looked around. So… Level 400. He wondered what—

You have grazed the Law of Destruction…

He blinked at it.

Then the notifications started pouring in in a massive rush—

Skill evolved!

Stormfire [Rare (S)] -> Heavenly Stormfire [Uncommon (H)]

‘H’ had to mean Heaven, Zane supposed. It seemed to have jumped almost a full rarity grade… he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen that happen.

He stretched out his hand, and called just a bit of it up.

A flame flared to life in the center of his palm—

Violet at its core, white at its edges, so vivid it seemed painted in different colors than the rest of reality. It stood out even more starkly against the blackened ruin around him. It cackled, and sizzled, and writhed so fiercely it made his old Stormfire look docile.

He was surprised to see little slivers of reality tearing all around the flame’s edges, crisping like burnt paper.

He wasn’t sure what grade this now-ruined planet had. But it was pretty high, he was sure—certainly his old Stormfire had been quite far from burning it.

He liked this new flame. It was strangely pretty, too, for something so dangerous… there was something indescribable to it, a subtle aura. A sense that he held in his hands something ancient.

Ascension achieved!

Calculating Ascension grade…

Grade: Eternal

That word didn’t mean much to Zane.

But he could feel the difference it made quite clearly.

There were little things. For one, he felt a lot more sensitive to essence. He could see it in a vast sparkling field, stretching far into the distance—he could sense it like some animals could smell blood for miles off. When he breathed now, it was more for essence than for air. His body felt more robust than ever, too—he was now immortal, he remembered.

Then there was the big thing. There was a subtle glow rising off his skin. Colors the same as his Stormfire, the same as his Law—edged in flickering purple and white…

His domain.

He played with it, fascinated. It took very little to expand it. Just a flicker of will and it blew out of him, making a flickering sphere, a sphere that tinted the whole world the colors of his Stormfire—he could easily change its shape, its scope, as he willed. He willed a little essence into it, and the colors intensified in a sudden rush—a waterfall of blistering purple, tinged with the white specter of raw Destruction…

He let it go, and found himself floating in space.

There seemed to be a wide gulf all around him…His domain had just hollowed out the core of this planet.

The insides were glowing a molten purple. He saw steel going to molten steel, and evaporating—he saw sheets of diamonds melting all over.

He nodded to himself.

Nice.

That had been at a fraction of its power. He would have to see what he could do at its maximum.

Next up—

Class sub-evolution unlocked!

This sub-evolution grants an evolution to the user’s Weapon Soul. At this stage, the Hammer Forme of the Prometheus Chains will be refurbished to suit the user.

Skill learned!

Heaven’s Hammer [Passive] [Uncommon (H)]

The Hammers are infused with the essence of destruction, which makes null and void material boundaries. They strike all it touches with crippling force, bypassing defenses of flesh and soul alike.

He took out his hammers—and they had gone the same dark steel as the rest of his chains, and his weapons. Cracks of Stormfire purple shot through their centers, spreading to the edges…

The sight of them brought joy to Zane’s heart.

He was quite eager to test them. But something told him, just looking around, this planet couldn’t stand up to much more abuse.

Well. He put them away. He had an idea of when he’d get to use them. Soon.

The notifications stopped after that—that appeared to be the end of it.

The first thing he planned on doing was to let Reina know he was fine, since he promised her he would. He had to go make a quick teleport out to do that.

Then… he thought about his Incentive List. And the prizes still waiting for him there.

He had a few errands to run.

***

“Congratulations!”

It was the first thing Jawl said to Zane when he touched back down on planet Stormhaven. It was also spelled out in colorful balloons. The old steward had made a welcome-home feast for him.

Three long tables with felt tablecloth, overflowing with plates of steaming Yak meat.

“Hey thanks,” said Zane. He had developed quite a liking to Storm Yak meat in the time he’d been here.

“You put on quite a show there, my Lord,” chucked Jawl. “We of the Storm Drake Tribe are just glad you’re home safe. We were rooting for you.”

The other serving-boys and serving-girls, dressed in furs and juggling giant plates, all nodded.

Besides the meats, there was also a plate full of delicious cookies from Evan—along with some quite thoughtful and excitable letters detailing pretty much everything that happened to him the last few weeks. He’d gotten up to a good deal of training with the Constellation King—in swords and baking. He was learning some kind of strange footwork technique that would make him ‘one with sunlight’—it required being blindfolded and running around obstacle courses. It sounded pretty out there, but Evan was having a lot of fun, which was what mattered in Zane’s view.

Just when Zane had made himself comfortable, a fluffy-haired boy tumbled out from beneath a nearby table, rubbing his head.

“Oww…” said the boy.

“Rei?” said Jawl. “What are you doing here?”

“Sorry Uncle Jawl,” said the boy sheepishly. “We just wanted to see Zane…”

Then he turned around, and blinked at Zane. Zane blinked back.

“Zane!” cried the boy.

“Hi,” said Zane through a mouthful of meat.

“Hold on,” said Jawl, frowning. “‘We’?”

Then—from underneath yet another table—there came something of a rumbling…

“Don’t tell me…” groaned Jawl.

A bunch of teens in furs rolled out all at once. A girl and three boys, all in a heap. They scrambled up, looking a bit embarrassed. They gasped when they saw Zane too. Zane waved.

Jawl face-palmed.

“These are my nephews, my Lord,” said Jawl. “They’re princes and princess of the Storm Drake Tribe—they ought to know better.”

He gave them a stern-uncle look. “I’ll have them sent home right away. And that’s Lord Zane to you.”

“It’s okay,” said Zane, who didn’t mind.

“Lord Zane! Did you just break through?!” cried little Rei.

Zane nodded.

They gasped again. “Can we see? Please please?”