As the Barbarian Sage saw Zane ascend the steps, he was puffed full of confidence.
Zane would do well, he knew. The lad took stupid well to the Titan Rhino’s blood. You came across these cases sometimes, especially in folk from Ur-Planets. They called them ‘super-responders’—every drop of Bloodline seemed to have several times the effect on them—and Zane was unusual even among those gifted few. Some men were born to be strong.
Now—Zane was going up against the best of the best—of all time. Every one of the fifty names on that Ascendant Stele was a legend—the top few were household names, heroes of the era, Patriarchs and Ancestors… and they’d all had their Ascendant training.
All Level 499, with the essence and Law to boot, where Zane had barely crossed 400. Maxed-out on their Ascendant Bloodline capacity, filled to the brim with Primordial Godbeast Bloodline...
But the quality of Zane’s foundation had a say.
Would it be enough to make up the gap? He hoped Zane could do well enough to enter the top 20—maybe even the top 10—but it would be a mighty hard thing…
All these things floated vaguely through the Barbarian Sage’s head, making a muddled picture.
But the Barbarian Sage’s heart said that Zane could stand with the best of ‘em.
And he always followed his heart.
“Knock ‘em dead, Zane!” roared the Barbarian Sage.
Then Zane began.
***
The hammer soared high, stilled—then fell with a terrible momentum, and you could see its front face streaking with white flame, like a meteor crashing through the atmosphere—
Slamming over the blank face of the anvil.
BANG!!
A shockwave blasted through the air. It rippled through the Plaza of Titans—out to the distant mountains beyond, parting the mists as it went…
It left nothing but shocked silence in its wake.
Then the gauge began to shoot up.
0.8. 1.5. 2.2. … 2.7… 2.9…
3.1 Apocalypse Units.
It halted there.
Zane stood heaving.
3.1 F-ranked Planets exploded, huh.
That seemed a good number to him. He was pleased with it.
That had been an all-out effort from him. He wiped a line of sweat off his brow—he was surprised how much it took out of him. It had been just one blow, but that really was a maximum effort.
He looked over to the Stele. Under the ‘Ascendants’ column, the entire list of names was moving down.
Forced out for a new name.
Zane Walker. Ascendant. Shooting up all the way past #20.... #15… #8… moving into the top 5, and not done yet—
It halted at #2. All-time.
Around Zane, there was an utter silence.
The first-place there was listed as Thalgrim Titanborn, at 3.4 AU.
The Founder of the Steelheart Conclave had managed higher as an Ascendant.
That was almost surprising to Zane.
He wasn’t used to being outdone when it came to physical powers. And that really was his best.
He had burned his Primordial Godbeast Titan Rhino Bloodline, put in all this cultivation base and cranked his Asura State to its maximum—he even blasted Stormfire, pumping himself full of energy, giving himself that extra boost of firepower…
But there was still room to grow at his level.
It was strangely heartening for Zane to see. There was still room for him to grow. He eyed that #1 spot.
He had something to go for.
But things weren't done.
The bottom of the next list over was also reshuffling.
A new name was rising through the ranks, under ‘Minor God.’
Zane Walker (Ascendant)—muscling past ‘Hrein Halfhand,’ 2.9 AU, past Genji Drakeslayer, 3.0 AU—coming to a stop at #48, all-time.
He had made it onto the all-time Minor God ranking too, as an Ascendant.
Zane nodded to himself.
Now he knew his starting point. He wondered where he’d be after he started his training.
He turned to make his way to go down—and found himself staring into a crowd of wide-eyed faces.
***
“Nüwa’s sagging tits,” swore Grand Elder Thorin. “Freaking…He’s godsdamned early Ascendant—and he’s not even started his training!”
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Thorin himself had recorded 2.7AU as a half-step Minor God. He’d had a lot more Bloodline in him, and ninety-odd more levels to boot. And they’d called him the strongest in ten thousand years back then.
Thorin had had an inkling Zane would be something else. The lad was declared the #1 talent in the damned galaxy, after all—but he’d thought it was for his soul. Or his Law.
He wheeled on the Barbarian Sage, expecting to see a smug grin. But even the Barbarian Sage seemed a bit surprised.
Then the Sage broke out into full-throated laughter.
“Fuck yeah!” roared the Sage, waving a fist. “You show ‘em!”
***
Zane blinked, looked around.
He was a bit confused why they were all looking at him like that.
#2 was fine—but to him, #1 was the thing that mattered.
For a long moment, no-one broke the silence. Then—
“Fuck yeah!” someone roared from the crowd. “You show ‘em!”
Then the crowd exploded in cheers.
“Zane! Zane! Zane!”
Soon the whole crowd took it up—“Zane! Zane! Zane!”
They started stomping their feet, pumping their fists.
As Zane made his way back to the Barbarian Sage, still feeling a bit befuddled, he got many a hearty slap on the back. The crowd seemed quite taken with him. He’d just come here—all of a sudden, though, it felt like he was their guy.
The Barbarian Sage scooped him up into a one-arm hug. "Never a doubt in my mind!" cackled the Sage. “Never a doubt—we’ll make a world-shaker of you yet!”
Grand Elder Thorin was shaking his head. Over his shoulder, Wendel gaped at Zane.
“Fuck me." Thorin whistled. He grinned. “You’ve Alright! Deal’s a deal."
He tapped a ring on his finger and brought out some beer cases. He and the Barbarian Sage shook on it. "You’ve got yourself a monster, Drake.”
“Don’t I know it,” said the Barbarian Sage with a proud grin. "Zane—how’d you feel about giving the rest of ‘em a go?"
As it happened, Zane was still feeling pretty pumped up…
***
Next up was the lifting stones.
And as Zane went up to them he heard his name chanted behind, loud and clear. The crowd was on his side.
He didn’t get swayed much one way or another by crowds, usually. But it was his first time here. It was still quite nice to be welcomed like this
These stones were pure-black and craggy, rugged things, chunks of some kind of space-rock. The air swirled around them for several feet, bending inward, making a strange warped halo of reality. And to Zane’s surprise there were no Laws inside. Nothing creating that effect.
That was just simple gravity. Pure density. They felt a little like how the head of that hammer had felt—only moreso.
The Barbarian Sage said they were carved from the hearts of Neutron Stars, things that had survived even the collapse of the last Chaos Cycle. He said only a dozen names had managed to lift just the first stone as an Ascendant.
Zane stepped up to that stone.
Grabbed both sides, held firm. Crouched down deep into a squat.
The crowd seemed to hold its breath. Now they knew what he could do, there was a heady rush of anticipation in the air. He lifted his head to the Heavens—snarled—flared all the powers he had—and began to strain against the steel.
A heartbeat. Two—
The stone did not move.
He willed harder, began to roar with the sheer effort of it, veins standing out against his neck—felt bursts of raw energy, of Stormfire, exploding down his muscles as he pushed them to the limits of their powers—
The stone came off the ground. Gasps rankled the crowd—and Zane shoved. Heaving all the way upright until he stood proud, arms trembling—the first stone borne all the way up.
And his name went down in history for the second time that morning.
The 13th Ascendant in history to lift the First Stone.
After that—still dragging in deep breaths—Zane learned that no Ascendant in history had lifted the Second Stone before.
That got his attention. The crowd went ballistic when they saw what he was about to try to do.
It was twice the size of the first—and he would have to stomp down hard just to avoid falling into its gravitational pull when he got close.
It was not possible. Everyone there knew it—even Zane sort of knew it. But he didn’t really believe in limits. That mindset was how he grew best.
He was already feeling a bit woozy with the exertion. But you couldn't dangle a challenge that juicy in front of Zane and expect him not to go for it.
The crowd had gotten boisterous and rowdy; the nearby mead-halls had quickly wheeled out stands, and glasses were clinking all throughout. It was becoming something of a spectacle.
Zane grabbed the Second Stone—wrapped his arms all the way around—bit down, and heaved.
His Bloodline burned. He stomped down as hard as he could. Heaved some more—fired up all his Bloodline, his muscle, his Asura state, until his whole body and mind was in a state of excruciating tension, each muscle-fiber stretched as taught as it could go, burning up at the limits—
He let out a full-throated bellow. For a moment his eyes blazed white.
The stone wobbled.
The crowd almost fell over themselves.
“No fucking—” yelled Elder Thorin.
Then Zane keeled over.
The next thing he knew, he was flat on his face.
Smoking—his whole body quite burnt out.
He blinked, came to a few seconds later—felt strong arms helping him up. To the right of him there was the Barbarian Sage, grinning kookily. “Hell of an effort, lad. I’ve got you.”
Even he was a little surprised who was propping him up to his left.
“You are strong, Zane Walker,” said Wendel, patting Zane on the back. The giant looked sincere, to Zane’s surprise. He nodded his shaggy head. “Next time, you will get it.”
When the crowd saw Zane back on his feet, they let out another round of cheers. “Zane! Zane! Zane!”
They might’ve been the nicest folk Zane had met in a long time. It was like they’d known him years rather than minutes.
“I told you, lad,” said the Barbarian Sage, chuckling at the look on Zane’s face. “We like strength here! That’s strength of body, but also mind. When we see a man give everything to a lift—leave blood sweat out on the plinth—that’s when we know he’s a man of the Conclave, through and through.”
Wendel nodded.
“Huh,” said Zane, blinking.
“How’re you feeling?” said the Barbarian Sage. “Ready for another one?”
***
The next one was something called the ‘Gravity Gauntlet.’ It was a strip of about ten meters where the gravity was turned up a few thousand-fold. You were meant to explode across the plinth and aim for the fastest time. It tested explosiveness.
It turned out—even with Zane’s tendons—this was the area he most needed to work on. It took him four seconds to stomp himself across. That was good for the #4 Ascendant of all time.
This was a bit surprising to Zane. He wasn’t used to placing so low in matters of the body. It seemed like there were some real physical freaks in the history of the Conclave.
It also lit something of a fire in his heart.
The last trial was called the ‘Atlas Crucible.’
All you had to do was stand there—under a massive piston. And the piston would start crushing down over your shoulders.
It would drop the weight of one world on your shoulders. Then two. Then three—it was a test of resilience and durability. Once you began to crack under pressure, and went to a knee—that was when the trial ended.
To everyone’s surprise, though, this was where Zane did the best. Even better than his raw power.
He ended up #1 all-time.
That was because he cheated, in a way.
For most folk, once their major bones started shattering under the pressure, they would be forced to bend the knee.
Zane just didn’t go down. He kept standing there, bearing the mind-bending pain with gritted teeth. Forcing his body upright.
The trouble was—after the weight of six worlds were stacked on his shoulders, his body was breaking at such a rapid pace—it was clear he couldn’t hold it forever. When he broke, it would be all at once. And that would be quite messy.
When all his leg-bones and feet-bones had shattered, the Barbarian Sage ended up throwing in the towel for him.
“Fucking hell!” said the Sage.
Thus ended Zane’s first try at the Titan’s Trials.
Suffice it to say, he made something of a first impression on the Steelheart Conclave.
Before today, there’d been some folk in the Conclave who were skeptical about this mysterious #1 talent who would split his time between the Azure Flame and the Steelheart. Who were yet to be convinced Zane was Steelheart material.
The very next day, these same folk acted like they’d been Zane fans all along.