Reina got the updates. She heard it from Elias first, but within hours she'd verified the news.
The Tomb Kings had crushed the Cartel. They'd totally absorbed them and added another dozen World Rankers to their roster. By sheer firepower, they could be the strongest Faction in all of North America.
Reina paled a little when Zane told her about his run-in with the Marquis. He hadn't sensed any witnesses nearby, and something told him Vanessa wouldn't blab about it. Reina mulled it over.
"You're not the only one who's killed a Marquis," she told him. "They feud with a lot of Factions. Elias has killed a Marquis too. The Silicon Coven has been skirmishing with the Tomb Kings in Central California for weeks. There's high tensions there. They'll wipe him out before they come for us, and that's if they find out. They'll probably blame Vanessa."
On the Vanessa front, Zane decided not to mention the whole kiss thing. Reina was very reasonable most of the time, but she could get โฆ territorial about him.
Even with all those caveats, Reina decided to take precautions. She'd double the guard on the Luminous Faction's southern border and sign a mutual defense pact with the Kootenai Rangers out eastโjust in case. They could provide ranged support in case a war broke out. She didn't like to take chances.
The Beacon also gave Zane an update on the world's dungeon clear percentage. It stood at 67%โright under Integration Phase: 0. Put that way, it looked like a progress bar.
Zane wondered what would happen when it hit 100%.
***
โ๐ฆ๐๐ค๐ฅ: โ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ป๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ ๐!
๐๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐ช: โ๐ ๐๐ค๐ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ ๐ ๐ โ๐ ๐ฃโ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ค
๐๐๐ ๐น-๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐ค ๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ค ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ค ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ โ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฃ๐ โ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฃ ๐จ๐๐๐๐ค. ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐, ๐๐ฅ ๐จ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ช ๐ ๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ ๐โ๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ค ๐ ๐๐๐ช ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ค ๐๐ค ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ค ๐ โ-๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ค๐ค! ๐๐๐๐ค ๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ค ๐ ๐๐๐ช ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐.
๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฃ ๐ฅ๐๐ค๐ ๐๐ค ๐ฅ๐ ๐ค๐๐๐ช ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐ ๐ค๐ค ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ค ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฅ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฃ ๐๐๐.
โ๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ค๐๐ฅ๐: ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฅ๐, ๐ช๐ ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ โ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ ๐ฃ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ โ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ.
โ๐๐จ๐๐ฃ๐: ๐ฝ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ช ๐๐๐๐-๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐น-๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐ฝ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ค. โ๐๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐ค ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ช ๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ช ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ช๐ค๐ฅ๐๐. โ๐๐๐๐ช ๐๐ ๐ฃ ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ช ๐ฆ๐ก๐ ๐ โ๐ฆ๐๐ค๐ฅ ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐.
And underneath all thatโ
โ๐๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ฅ๐ค: ๐๐
๐๐๐๐๐ค: ๐ก
Zane assumed a good chunk of them were not World Rankers. But stillโthat was a lot in one place. To be a World Ranker, you had to be in the top 100 out of the hundreds of millions. Sometimes it was easy to forget it was a very small percentile in the grand scheme.
At least 9 World Rankers in one place? That was surprising. Even with the great rewards.
When he brought it up to Reina, she had a theory for it. As she seemed to have for pretty much everything. Elias had been inviting a lot of World Rankers over lately. Many probably just happened to be nearby.
He seemed to be making the Silicon Coven headquarters a kind of World Ranker honeypot. Reina said he had one of the only A-ranked Essence Beacons in the world, which let him buy all kinds of special treasure areasโand he wasn't afraid to spend.
He gave carte blanche invitations to all World Rankers to stay and use them. The only price was to have dinners with him and attend his parties so he had a chance to butter them up.
Zane wouldn't be surprised if he managed to hustle a few World Rankers. He had a way of squeezing deals out of people. Not everyone had a Reina to keep him straight.
โฆShe really was the best.
Reina also said she knew for sure World Rank #3, Emeka Eze, Signature Title' Touch of Death,' had been in San Francisco the past few weeks. Elias had bought a supposedly extremely expensive treasure area just for him. It was to help him break through the Level 99 bottleneckโyou needed an Elemental Law, at least. He'd stay there until he got past it.
Reina said it was clear Elias was using his presence, plus that of a few other World Rankers, as a kind of buffer. Now that the Cartel was squashed and the Tomb Kings could turn their attention up north, Elias was getting nervous.
Still, thoughโฆ things would come to a head sooner or later.
***
After Zane handed over all his recent earnings, they made an accounting of their treasury. Even with the new high-grade essence stones, it was a little too expensive to upgrade the Beacon to B-rank. With their resources now, once they did, they wouldn't even be able to afford any of the unlocks anyway. At least this was the logic Reina gave him when he proposed upgrading.
Then he said why he wanted to upgradeโso he could be with her most nightsโshe went ahead and did it that afternoon.
When she told him, she was blushing a little. She cleared her throat. "After some further consideration, I've decided it's the best move for the Faction going forward."
"Right."
"The teleportation function is critical. It's important to be able to move quickly in emergencies," she said defensively.
"โฆ"
She was getting a little flustered under his cocked brow. "And also, I need you. For mental health, stress reasons, I mean. So I can perform well on a day-to-day basis. It's important for the Faction. Andโand this way, we can also Level you, our best asset, with theโฆSkill. If you think about it, it's perfectlyโ"
He just kissed her.
***
Before he left, as they cuddled in bed together after a particularly intense session, she brought up the possibility of going with him. She could. She was a World Ranker nowโWorld Rank 82. It would've been a lot higher just a few months ago. Folk were Leveling fast.
She set out a strong, airtight, three-pronged argument with the kind of self-assuredness you'd expect from a girl who'd once been student body president. But then again, Reina could probably take any position and make it sound convincing. It might've actually convinced him if Zane couldn't feel that underneath it all, she was a mess of affection right now. She just really wanted to be with him. Of courseโmore useful than all her new powers was her mind. Which she had to use to run their ever-growing Faction. Here.
A big benefit of her new powers, from Zane's perspective at least, was that he could rest easy leaving her here. She was already basically Joan of Arc when she led an army just with her strategizing. At least in Zane's eyes. Her new Signature Skill took that to a superhuman levelโbeyond her already superhuman level. And there was her world-class healing powers, which could mass heal a whole army. And the Skill boosts they'd get just from being near herโฆ
She'd be fine.
***
Bright one morning, he set out on his journey. With the new B-ranked Essence Beacon, he could blip right over to the Abyssal Crater Dungeon. You could go from headquarters to any Faction Safe Zone, and vice versa, at the cost of a few mid-grade essence stones. The longer the teleportation, the greater the payload, the more the cost.
Soon he was back in the thick of the icy mountains, forging his way across the slopes. Out here the Cascades ran jagged. Most of the dungeons here weren't cleared. They were mostly D-rank or E-rank. A bunch of golems and ice spirits and frost giants, and banshees spewing icy winds, and frost serpents and Yeti-like things too. None of them could touch him. It just took a while to wade through.
For a while, all he could see on the horizon were more white peaks. The System seemed to have an affinity for crystalsโthey studded these dungeons like wild ferns.
Eventually he neared the end of the range, where he came to his first notable dungeon. Molten Mountain, a C-rank dungeon around where Mount Shasta had been.
It was a bunch of volcanic underground tunnels with rivers of lava and geothermal vents. Kind of like Mount Saint Helens, but with more lava, evenโhe spent most of his time frog-hopping between molten rock islands. After slaying a lion made out of molten rock and an ash wyvern, he made out with two treasures.
One was a Baby True Dragon's Claw. Another was an Obsidian Shard called 'Tear of the Volcano.' Both were C-grade Law treasures.
By now he'd recovered comprehension-wise. But he planned on saving himself for Titansteel. He suspected he'd find the best Law treasure areas there.
The one thing he did do was take a few hours, and upgrade Inferno Cyclone.
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐!
๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ โ๐ช๐๐๐ ๐๐ [โ๐๐ฃ๐] -> ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ โ๐ช๐๐๐ ๐๐ [๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ช]
It jumped two rarity tiers instantly.
He tried it out on a few passing Monsters, but they couldn't even last one revolution. He'd need something really hefty to really test this thing, bring out its potential.
When he came over what felt like his fiftieth mountain, it was a surprise seeing a green, frost-caked valley snaked through with heavy mists.
It turned out to be a Safe Zone run by the aptly named Misty Vale Faction. As he descended, he found it full of charming little groves and freshwater streams. The folk here were mostly Priests, mystic-types, with a little self-sustaining community out here. After he made it clear he was just passing by, they were quite friendly. They confirmed he was on the right track.
They were quite happy he'd cleared the Molten Mountain. It was starting to leak, apparently. A lot of dungeons seemed to be leaking nowadays.
From there on, Zane went west. Titansteel was where the Redwood National Park used to be, near the coast. Soon he was wading through another mountain range. Less snowy. The air here was crisp and fresh; it was a pleasure to drag in lungfuls of it. He'd left civilization behind again. He trekked through the vast unknown under perfectly clear, bright blue skies. It just felt like adventure.
He knew he was getting close when the trees started popping up in force. If he thought Luminous Faction trees were huge, these things made him feel like an ant. Thick brown bark on a trunk like a giant's leg, going up, and up, and upโฆTheir branches prickled with needle-like leaves.
Then he saw it.
He didn't know it was the dungeonโbut what else could it be?
He thought 'Titanwood Tree' might be a metaphor. A singular Tree, as a dungeon? But no.
It looked like something straight out of a myth. A tree that could hold up the sky. It must've run hundreds of feet in diameter, maybe thousandsโa trunk of warm brown streaked with gleaming silver, piercing through puffs of white cloud, stretching far out of sight. It was thickly grooved and ridged, making natural staircases spiraling up its sides. Giant holes like cavern mouths dotted it all over. It could've been an ancient tower if not for the branches.
They split out of the trunk in their multitudes, like the many, many arms of some Greek monster. Each was as wide as a highway. They held up vast canopies blanketing the sky in layersโcanopies dappled bright greens here, bright silvers there. He could make out vague Monstrous shapes crawling around on them.
He got closer, summited a hill, and made out the base of the Tree. A mazelike tangle of roots sprawled out, burrowing deep into the earth for nearly a square mile in all directions. Light gleamed off of what seemed to be giant steel-shelled beetles milling about the roots.
But those weren't what interested him.
A circle of suits ringed the bottom of the Tree, sealing it off in a wide loop. Familiar suits. Zane squintedโit looked like the one Javier had worn. Tomb Kings?
There was a glut of folks standing up to them, making some commotion. There were several dozen of them. The other teams, he guessed. But the suits held firm.