“Should you choose to merely pursue three Concepts, or even two, you’ll still become among the strongest in the Dragonspire Galaxy,” said Noughtfire. “Any True God with a touch of Destruction is sure to become a world-shaking force.”

Zane frowned. He didn’t quite like how that sounded—"among the strongest.”

“Should you pursue the Great Circle of Tier 5, on the other hand… it could take double the time! But achieve it and you’d stand at the peak.”

Zane nodded. He liked this far better.

“I will achieve the Great Circle,” he informed Noughtfire. He said it more like a fact than a plan.

Noughtfire nodded, like he knew Zane would say that. There was a feeling on his face Zane couldn’t quite place—something like pride.

“Then I will guide you as best I can. Incidentally—completing the Great Circle is your fifth Incentive. Your fourth and next incentive is to finish off Ragnos, the Killing Star, up to the second planet. But that is locked until you break through to Tier 5 Law—meaning it will be some months yet before you get there.”

Zane nodded.

“The next step, then, is to seek out the places where Stormfire evolves… you’ll find it deep in the Astra system. It will take time. A curious system, Astra—it’s a unique treasure. I did not create it; I found it and transposed it from a strange dimension, where reality was much more flexible than it was anywhere else… there are parts there even I have never explored. Sometimes visiting it is like wandering through some ancient deity’s dream. You may get lost, but you will end up exactly where you must be. Explore it when ready—you’ll find what you need there.”

Zane didn’t fully get what that all meant, but he nodded again. He would come back for this Concept after he visited the Barbarian Sage.

His future was looking neatly mapped out now.

First, though—it was time to eat.

***

By now, Zane had a process for eating treasures.

Noughtfire had assured him that his new pickups were not too explode-y. Most of the explosions would be taking place inside Zane, anyway. So he went to his courtyard on Planet Stormhaven and sat down.

He had lots of cold towels and ice cubes and arrays scribed around him so that any explosions that leaked out would get funneled away.

As he settled on down, Jawl gave him a salute. He and the rest of the servants headed off.

Zane took out the Plasma Phoenix Core first.

The bead was about the size of his knuckle. It looked like a miniature model of a black hole. It was shrouded in a pale purple halo. Scalding hot to the touch.

He picked it up and readied himself.

Both these treasures were meant to help set his foundation. That was the phase he was in, he knew—a long phase of training and grinding… but he would come out much, much stronger than before, in the end. Strong enough to fight the powerhouses of this galaxy. Strong enough to make sure his friends and his home were safe once the Monster Waves came.

All he cared about needed strength.

He was willing give his all for it.

Those were the things in Zane’s mind as he popped the bead in his mouth and swallowed.

He didn’t start feeling it until it hit his Core. He expected an explosion of essence at first—but it worked more subtly. It started dissolving—melting into him, flake by flake, going to a scorching liquid—until it vanished without a trace in the core of him.

A heartbeat. Two.

His heart started beating faster. His face started to redden. Little beads of sweat showed on his head….

It was beginning.

He felt it working—a searing heat rising from deep within him, spreading its molten tendrils like tree-roots—tendrils radiating outward, up his arms, snaking down his legs—

It wasn’t some foreign heat. Instead that heat came from Zane’s own body, urged on by some unseen force. Zane’s own Stormfire began to move in a peculiar pattern. Began to carve their way through Zane’s body—carving new lines to flow through, snaking into each other. Washing through his veins, and each vein they touched stayed white-hot, began to smolder…

He sat there, sweating hard, and took it with clenched teeth.

He could feel new channels quite intensely. He wondered briefly why all these breakthroughs hurt so much. They were never pleasant things. Maybe all great change was painful.

But if it was just this, he was fine with it. He was used to pain—and in Zane’s mind, pain was the feeling of getting stronger.

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Just sitting there he could feel his essence flowing smoother through his body—linked through so many more wider channels. More places for essence to flow free, and strengthen. And the channels that existed gained a new, bright-purple quality, taking Stormfire as easily as his veins took his lifeblood…

When it was done his veins were lit up Stormfire purple. It faded—but when he ran essence through his body it lit up that color again.

Then he was a creature as much of Stormfire as iron.

He could feel his raw power output had shot up drastically—a solid twenty, thirty percent, if he had to estimate. Even his domain when he unleashed it came out denser. He marveled at the thickness of it, projected out of his hand. It came so easy.

Onto the next one.

The Skyfire Lotus was a curious treasure. It was meant to burn out his impurities—he wasn't totally sure what that meant. He supposed he’d see—he popped that in too, and swallowed.

When it hit his Core he felt it blossoming within him—petals of heat rippling out around a searing white star…

This one did come with an explosion of essence.

But to his surprise—though it was quite some essence—it didn’t go all that far toward filling out his capacity. His new capacity, that was.

After he’d Ascended it had jumped quite a bit. It felt like his whole body could carry a lot more density after taking those Tribulations. Essence just took to him better now.

It was like Noughtfire said—everything did come harder after Ascension.

Still—

Level up!

Essence Level 400 -> 401

Level up!

Essence Level 401 -> 402

That much essence would have been good for at least double those Levels under 400.

Then his whole body began to feel feverish. His temperature started to skyrocket. A smoldering heat lit up his core—spreading fast, until it felt like his whole body was burning…

A black smoke began to trickle out of his mouth, out of his nose, out of his skin, even, and he groaned.

…This one was also quite painful.

Another hidden bottleneck for these treasures—they were tests of willpower and determination. You couldn’t get this far without a great deal of it.

Still—this treasure was nowhere close to pushing Zane’s limits in that department. He took it fairly easily.

It only lasted an hour, though—and when it finished, he felt the peculiar sensation of being scrubbed clean from the inside-out. His whole body was tingling with a lingering heat, skin to muscle to bone… he sniffed. He smelled something rancid, rotten and smoky. He had a suspicion it was him.

Skill learned!

Purified Body [Passive] [Mythic (S)]

All impurities of the body have now been removed. The body will permanently reject all impurities from now on. All physical skills get a boost equivalent to one rarity grade.

Zane stood. He had no way to prove it then, but he did feel all the tiny weaknesses in his skin, his muscle, his bones had been cleared out—he felt the holes that cleansing fever had left, little pinpricks of lingering heat where the impurity had been burned out. Quickly being filled up by whole flesh and muscle and bone…

He got the sense he’d only see the full effects of these upgrades in the coming weeks.

When he glanced down—just like the last time he'd done an impurity cleansing—he found a thick sheen of gunk all over him.

He took a dip in the Great Lake below, which burned it off nicely. After he toweled off he felt like a new man. His skin was as clear as he could remember—no blemishes. He could swear he was glowing a little. His skin even felt a little smoother—still firm, yet not so rough anymore.

Reina would appreciate that, he thought. She did complain jokingly to him sometimes.

Speaking of Reina—it was time to go home.

***

His Transporter dropped him off at the main square of the Luminous Faction, on the morning of the weekend they’d agreed to have their homecoming.

The smells—fresh bread from a few bakeries heating up for the morning, the chirping of songbirds Reina had specially imported, the splashing of the fountains, the floating watch-tower anchored to the ground, casting its peculiar shadow…

He hadn’t really been gone that long, in the grand scheme. But he still felt a twinge in his chest.

Then he saw Reina rushing over, all dazzling in a light dress and a straw hat, and felt the twinge grow.

“Zane!” She threw herself at him and kissed him.

“You’re home,” she breathed after they broke apart.

Then he saw Evan and Avery bounding up too—“Zane, Zane!”

There were lots of hugs to go around.

They’d all jumped a few dozen Levels since he last saw them. Evan and Avery were both in the high-300s. They’d be getting ready to make their own Ascension breakthroughs soon. Avery said her new Faction was feeding her well—after they decided she was their #1 talent this Integration Cycle, she was just getting showered with elixirs. Evan nodded—it was the same with him too.

It seemed to be that way with a great number of Earth’s warriors this cycle, Reina mused.

Then Evan gasped and tugged on Zane's arm and dragged him away to a nearby field. He brought out his sword. It must have undergone a sub-Evolution because it was giant now—twice as tall as Evan was.

“Look!” cried Evan. Then he turned into a shooting star—a straight-line charge then blazed across the battlefield, leaving only a blinding streak of after images behind. There came an earth-shaking slash, a biblical flash of light—

There was a ravine the size of the Grand Canyon in its wake.

Then Evan came on back and looked hopefully up at Zane.

“Nice one,” said Zane, and ruffled his head. Evan beamed.

“Master Silas says I’m on track,” he said happily. “If I do really well he says maybe I can even fight on the front lines once the First Wave comes!”

Evan, like Zane, had been living a simple life in the Constellation Order. He was learning new Skills and new baking recipes too. He was learning to bake two-tiered cakes now. It turned out that a lot of the Concepts that went into his Law—heat and focus and so on—were actually involved in making cakes. The Constellation King, had been secretly preparing Evan this whole time. It had been pretty mind-blowing for Evan to find out.

When he arrived in the Constellation Order capital, a thousand-year-old bell had also rung which was said to only ring when the hero of the Thousand-Year-Propecy set foot there. Evan was quite curious who it was. There were a few dozen people who’d teleported in about the same time—it could be any of them.

…Zane had a sneaking suspicion who it was.

Evan had also gone on a few side-quests here and there—saved some planets on the frontier of the Constellation Order from some loose Monster Knights, once and for all. They’d been cropping up more and more lately.

Zane was just pleased he was happy.

The only thing Evan still seemed to be having some trouble with was moral dilemmas. He’d asked his master, who said the only choice was to save the greater number of people. But Evan had a hard time with that.

“I’m still working on it,” said Evan sheepishly.

***

Then came Avery’s turn in their little show-and-tell.

Avery blinked.

“Sooo. You’re not gonna believe this,” said Avery.