He opened the letter. There stood the Barbarian Sage behind a shattered coffee table. He grinned and waved a broken-off table leg. Zane waved back.

“Zane!” said the Sage cheerfully. “You haven't forgotten about me, have you?”

Zane had just been thinking about him actually.

“It's high time you got over here,” said the Sage. “I—”

He was cut off by an eldritch screeching in the background—it sounded like glass shattering blended with sharp edges grating. He frowned. “Quiet, Fluffy!” he yelled.

The screeching cut off.

“Anywho—I’ve got cart-loads of Titan Rhino flesh here ready for you. And a mine’s worth of raw Heaven-grade Steel too! I saw how that lizard clawed you up…”

He harrumphed. “Well, it won't happen again once I’m through with you! What’s that old fart Noughtfire teaching you out there?”

He paused. “I suppose that white light is a pretty good gimmick. But don't you forget your roots, you hear?”

He wagged the coffee table leg at Zane.

Zane had spent a good deal of time at the Azure Flame Faction. He could do with changing things up a bit. His trip home to Earth to meet up with his friends was coming up, but he knew what he was doing after.

“You’ve been up to a lot, eh?” said the Sage, rubbing his hands. “You’ve Ascended and gotten that third sub-class evolution too. Good stuff! Then right after we feed you up, next up on the docket—it’s time to graft in your first Godbeast body part and take your Spirit Weapon to the next level.”

He crossed his arms.

“Remember that despicable elf—that Ancestor Arandor?” The Barbarian Sage wrinkled his nose. “I've still got to teach that guy a lesson… Well, anyway. You remember how he grafted that Rhino tendon into his Spirit Weapon, don’t you? It’s still his number one trump card! But it won’t be as strong as if he had a Titan Rhino Bloodline. I’ll tell you that.”

He pointed the coffee table leg at the ceiling.

“Well—on the far reaches of the Dragonspire Galaxy, there’s a safari deep within an asteroid belt. Little minds will call it ‘dangerous’ or ‘life-threatening’ or whatever such nonsense—I, for one, think it’s one of the best training grounds there is! There, herds of Titan Rhinos—and all kinds of interesting creatures and Monsters—make their homes. They call it the ‘Desolation Belt!’ We’ll head out there for a quick stint. I’ve got some friends among the Elder Rhinos who’ll be happy to spare us some prime parts. It’ll be a great time.”

Zane nodded.

“So what are you waiting for, get over here!” The Barbarian Sage grinned toothily. The scene dissolved.

What a charming old guy, Zane thought. There was a little wildness to his eyes Zane quite liked, something that said he wasn’t all the way there, but in a good way.

He would go over soon.

But first he had to collect a few prizes.

***

He had a very restful sleep that night under a spread of pretty, twinkling stars. Because the Lightning Constellation was hidden in its own pocket dimension, there weren't many stars out there. But each one burned brighter and larger than any back on Earth. They almost looked like moons.

Stormhaven itself had its fair share of moons. There was a post office on one of them, and he sometimes saw Jawl beaming up to snag the day's post.

That morning, eating a Magma Ostrich egg in his bathrobes, he got the news from Jawl.

“The Phoenix Rankings have updated, my Lord,” said Jawl, all excited. “You’re Rank 99—that’s halfway up the Inner Faction!”

He must’ve seen the blank look on Zane’s face.

“That’s very good, my Lord,” he explained. “It’s unheard of for an Ascendant to make the Inner Faction—much less get halfway up the list!”

“Cool,” said Zane through a mouthful of yolk. He wondered if everything on the planet tasted really good, or if the Storm Drake Tribe just had good cooks.

Zane had never been too fussed about these rankings. They changed quite fast in his experience anyway. He supposed they made a decent indicator of who he should fight next.

***

Meanwhile—halfway across the star system, Lin Rai also got this news.

She was only Rank 72. It wouldn't be long now until she got passed up…

She sipped her morning tea on the balcony of her mountain-peak bronze palace and sighed. She watched the clouds swirl gently below—and the rolling green fields beneath, the tens of millions of common folk dotting distant kingdoms, folk who still thought of her as some untouchable goddess. There was a time she’d thought of herself like that too…

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She remembered smugly zooming up the ranks without thinking much of it, leaving common talents in the dust. There was a time when she was the youngest Outer Faction disciple—then the youngest Inner Faction disciple.

She stared into the distance, feeling a bit depressed.

She wondered if maybe she should retire and take up farming.

…She would’ve been heartened to know that she was not the first top-of-her-era genius to have such thoughts after coming across Zane.

***

Later that morning, Zane made it up the stone steps and reached Noughtfire’s cabin. He eyed the rafters dubiously this time, dipping his head deliberately. He made it safely inside.

“Well done, Zane.” Noughtfire was sitting at his spare little desk, as usual. He closed his book. There was a little twinkle in his eyes. “I suppose I owe you a few treasures. But first—what grade did you achieve in your Ascension?”

“Eternal,” said Zane.

Noughtfire nodded. “Fascinating...”

He scribbled something down in a leatherbound tome. “I believe that is the first of its kind. It ought to be recorded for posterity,” Noughtfire explained.

He closed the tome and steepled his fingers. “Well then! Your rewards.”

He spread his hands.

“One Plasma Phoenix Core…”

A pitch-black bead floated above one hand; bright purple wafted off it in thick waves.

“It grants your channels a supreme affinity to Stormfire—equivalent to that of the Plasma Phoenix itself. It will boost your firepower substantially. The Phoenix, incidentally, is an extinct species,” said Noughtfire. “It was also one of the only known species to have a supreme Stormfire affinity… to call this treasure rare would be to sell it short.”

Zane accepted it with a nod and carefully put it away. “I won’t lose it,” he assured Noughtfire. The old man looked mildly amused.

“Next. The Skyfire Lotus.”

He opened his hand, and a treasure popped into being in a burst of flame. It looked like a burning flame itself—white and yellow at the center, a brightening red at the edges; the petals looked like they were smoldering, melting into each other.

“Consume this treasure and it'll burn out every last mortal impurity, setting a perfect foundation for body cultivation.”

Zane put that away too.

“So,” said Noughtfire. “Now you've Ascended, you’ll want to have an idea of what you're in for. Do take a seat. Would you like tea?”

“Sure,” said Zane, and soon he was sipping. It was quite good—it tasted like lazy Sunday afternoons. “What’s up?”

“There is a saying,” said Noughtfire, flicking his sleeves. “‘The difference between Heaven and Earth’—it means a distance that might as well be insurmountable. That saying originally referred to the difference between mortal and immortal. Once you cross the bounds into immortality, the nature of cultivation changes. In scope, scale—and time taken—they cannot be compared… where Concepts took mere years before, they will now take centuries.”

Zane nodded.

“I am serious,” said Noughtfire, amused again. “I know you think this does not apply to you.”

Zane had in fact been thinking this.

“But it does. Perhaps—weeks, or months, rather than days in your case. But things will take time. You are stealing secrets from the Heavens now… the scope of your knowledge will widen exponentially. Until, at the highest of levels—it encompasses the whole Universe. Or so the theory goes. No one, as far as I know, has reached that tier. Not even the Creator of the System.”

Noughtfire waved an absent hand. “But that is for another time. Let us turn to you. Your Ascension was of the Eternal grade—a new fourth grade. There are three grades of Ascension beneath yours—Heaven-, Sky-, and Mortal-grade. Each grade is a sharp increase in strength. In essence, and stat gain per Level, the leading scholars speculate that there is a 25-50% increase from one grade to the next.”

He opened his palm and a little flame burst to life. It began to extend and flicker, slowly taking shape. An illustration in fire.

“But this increase is not the reason you ought to seek the highest grade you can. You seek that grade because it makes a better foundation. The weaker your foundation, the lower you can build. The common analogy is of a pyramid. Mortal-grade Ascensions will at most reach Minor God.”

He made a thin block of flame. It could only support one smaller block on top.

“Sky-grade can only hope for True God…”

A block twice as thick, which could support a block, then a block on top of that.

“Heaven-grade can reach higher still… It is for that reason that most Outer Faction Disciples ascend at Sky-grade—and the talented few manage Heaven. Then there’s you.”

Zane nodded.

“Which grade you achieve depends on the quality of your Law…”

***

Burnwater came to visit Noughtfire for their weekly tea session, only to see Noughtfire making power diagram illustrations through the window.

He did a double-take.

Noughtfire never deigned to personally teach disciples. The old Sage’s time was extremely valuable. The best Burnwater used to get when he came with questions was to have seventeen tomes tossed at him. Tomes helpfully bookmarked, sure—but it was always up to him to find the answers.

So it was quite the sight to see Noughtfire taking time out of the day to inform Zane on the basics of how godly tiers worked. It was a little like using a sledgehammer to crack an egg. Burnwater chuckled.

“You really do like him, don’t you,” murmured Burnwater. Maybe it was because the two were alike. Both were straightforward folk of few words. Noughtfire was usually not the talkative type, but Zane made him look positively gabby.

It was also that Zane was quickly becoming the old man’s best hope of reaching the end of the Path of Stormfire. Every teacher had favorites, Burnwater supposed.

He headed off, tickled, and left the two of them to it.

***

“Now let us speak of your future. You stand at the peak of Tier 4 now—that is, Heavenly Stormfire. After you break through…” said Noughtfire.

A new foundation flickered to life. Thicker than all the rest. It was hollow in the middle.

“This will be your Tier 5 Law. Think of it like a new layer of the pyramid. It is empty at first. Each Concept you comprehend fills out the layer a little more. There are four possible Concepts per Law Tier—each more difficult than the last…”

He filled the layer with four thick lines, until it was complete.

“A complete Tier—all four Concepts—is called making a ‘Great Circle.’ That is the most robust foundation for your breakthrough, and the only one that does not limit your future potential. It is also the most difficult to achieve by far. Now—it is possible to rush in enough essence to reach Level 500—and break through as is…”

He removed two of the Concepts, leaving the layer half-filled in. He made a new layer on top of it—but it was a very narrow thing, and could only support one more Concept, it looked like.

“…But that would make a weak Minor God. A Minor God with few prospects to even learn another Concept—much less climb higher.”

He regarded Zane carefully.

“I ought to note that the higher quality the Law, the harder it is to make the Great Circle. The Path of Heavenly Stormfire will be an undertaking like no other. But likewise, your power—should you achieve it—would be unmatched.”