There was a stunned silence. The crowd of World Rankers took in what just happened with slack faces.
Evan stared at him, eyes shining. "Woah... you're really strong!"
"Thanks." Zane turned to go.
"Wait!"
He looked back, frowning. "What?"
But Evan wasn't there anymore. Zane felt his soul behind him. He turned again and found the boy staring up at him with wide, innocent blue eyes. When had he...?
He'd movedโsomehow without disturbing the air. Without making a sound or leaving a trace. Zane frowned. This guy was fast, faster than that Javier even.
Zane didn't like fast things. Especially fast things with high Dexterity. He associated them with birds. And birds were the worst thing ever. That was just common sense.
He checked the boy out.
๐ผ๐ง๐๐ ๐ธ๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ฃ๐ ๐๐
๐ผ๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ก๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐: ๐พ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐ ๐ช
โ๐๐๐ค๐ค: ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐
๐๐๐ช ๐๐๐จ๐ค:
๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ ๐๐๐จ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ (๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ)
๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ ๐๐๐จ ๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ โ๐ ๐จ๐๐ฃ (๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ)
๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ ๐๐๐จ ๐ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ โ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ (๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ช)
๐๐๐ช ๐๐๐๐๐๐ค:
๐๐๐ โ๐ ๐จ๐๐ฃ ๐ ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ก (โ๐๐ค๐ค๐๐ง๐) [๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐]
๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ'๐ค ๐๐ ๐๐๐ค ๐ ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ก, ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ค. ๐๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ค, ๐๐ค ๐จ๐๐๐ ๐๐ค ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ค๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ค ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ค.
๐๐๐ โ๐ ๐จ๐๐ฃ ๐ ๐ ๐ป๐๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ (โ๐๐ค๐ค๐๐ง๐) [๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐]
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ง๐๐ฃ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ค ๐ ๐ฃ ๐จ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐, ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ค ๐ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ช. ๐๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ค ๐๐ ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ง๐๐.
๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ฃ๐ (๐ธ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐) [๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐]
โ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐ค ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐ค ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ค๐๐ช, ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ช ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ. ๐ธ ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ฅ ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐. โ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฅ๐ค ๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ค ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ค; ๐ ๐ก๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฃ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ ๐ ๐.
๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ ๐ฃ ๐ป๐๐ค๐ (๐ธ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐) [๐ผ๐ก๐๐]
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ ๐ฃ, ๐ฅ๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ค ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ค๐ค ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ก๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐๐ค. ๐๐๐ฃ๐ช ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐ฃ ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ ๐ค๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ค, ๐ ๐ฃ ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ค.
๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ โ๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค (โ๐๐ค๐ค๐๐ง๐) [๐ผ๐ก๐๐]
๐พ๐ฃ๐๐๐ฅ๐ค ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐-๐ข๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐.
Zane did a double take. 'Power of Friendship'? 'Power of Determination'?
What?
Those didn't even sound like real Skills.
"You're the Savage Sage, aren't you?" said Evan.
"โฆMaybe."
"We're Ranking Buddies!" Evan beamed. "I'm Rank 17 and you're Rank 16. Hi, I'm Evan. It's nice to meet you!"
"Hi?"
The boy still felt nervous, but not anxiety-attack nervous like before. He came up to Zane cautiously, like he was approaching a grizzly bear to try to feed it a fish.
He mostly felt hopeful.
"I've heard all about youโyou're one of the good guys!" gushed Evan. "You freed Washington from that horrible Marcus Blackwell, right? And then you freed Oregon from that demon Fire Cult up there too! Are you here to wipe out those Tomb Kings and clear this dungeon, and save Northern California once and for all?"
Every feeling Zane got from the boy was weirdly pure. Quite vivid too. He was just full of earnest hope. With pretty much everyone else, Zane felt a little dark undertoneโmaybe some greed or deception lurking in the back of their mind. Evan felt like a puppy or something.
Zane didn't know what to do with him.
"Uh. I am not one of the 'good guys,'" Zane clarified hastily. He didn't even know what that was supposed to mean. "I like clearing dungeons. That's it. Marcus and the Cult justโฆ happened to be in the way."
Evan blinked. "Butโฆ you're here to clear this dungeon too, right? And save Northern California once and for all?" He said hopefully.
"I mean. I'm here to clear the dungeon," said Zane. He still wasn't sure what the boy's game was.
"Great!" The boy's earnest smile came back on in full force.
"We should team up. I have this Skill. It's calledโฆ uhโฆ" he flushed a little. "Nevermind that. Basically, it's a team-buff skill. We'll be stronger togetherโand we'll also have a better chance of clearing the dungeon, and savingโ"
"Northern California once and for all. Right."
"Exactly!" Evan beamed. "Oohโthat reminds me."
He looked around at the rest of them. "Hey everyone!" He said. "We should all team up and go together. That way we'll have the best chance of clearing the dungeon! And we can watch each other's backs along the way, too, so none of us get hurt. What do you say?"
The World Rankers exchanged skeptical glances.
Zane got the impression saving Northern California once and for all was not the highest thing on their list of priorities.
The burly Faction leader in a camo tank topโMarcus Washington, a Geomancer of the Colorado Loggers Factionโspoke up. And said what was on all of their minds.
"So. Say we do clear this thing together," he said. "Who gets the rewards?"
"And what if we come across a treasure chest?" said another Faction Leader. "What then?"
"Oh," said Evan, blinking. He looked taken aback. Like the thought hadn't occurred to him. "Well, uhโฆ I guess we can just split whatever we get evenly among all of us. That sounds fair, doesn't it?"
They did not like that answer. Zane got the sense the only split they liked was the one where they got all the treasures to themselves.
"You guys can have my share. I don't need it." Evan smiled sheepishly. "I don't really care about that stuff."
That only made them more skeptical. And they were plenty skeptical already.
You didn't need Sage Mind to sense the mood in the clearing. Looking at their dubious faces, Evan wilted a little. You could see him deflating in real-time. He just looked embarrassed. He started playing with a curl of hair. "Orโฆ notโฆ that's fine tooโฆ" he mumbled.
Zane winced. The boy felt crushed.
"Yeah," rumbled Marcus Washington. "We're good on our own. Thanks for the offer, kid."
He gave a little two-finger salute, and his band of a dozen or so marched off.
The Lightning Mage, the Ranger, even the Berserker lady who'd gotten walloped shuffled off too. The rest of the World Rankers followed suit.
"Ifโif anyone wants to join me, I'm still here! โฆAnyone?"
No one took him up on it.
Evan was left standing there alone.
...He was taking it pretty bad. Zane could feel exactly how bad. There were tears in the boy's eyes by the end of it.
Zane just sighed.
"Uh," he said for reasons he couldn't fully understand.
Sniffling, Evan looked up. "Noโit's okay, I get it," he mumbled, putting up a wobbly smile. "It was really nice meeting you."
"That's not what I mean. You...you can come with me."
Evan blinked. "Waitโฆ really?"
And he felt such a surge of pure joy Zane literally had to take a step backโit felt like staring directly at the sun.
Zane used to be totally insensitive to his own feelings, much less others'. Now he had Sage Mind it sometimes felt overwhelming being around people. He felt things he never usually felt. He couldn't help picking it upโlike overhearing in a crowd.
And this Evan felt things more vividly than pretty much anyone he'd met. It was disorienting at times.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" beamed Evan. "You won't regret this!"
"One condition," Zane said.
"Mhm!"
"I'm here to kill Monsters. Don't mess with my kills. Stay out of my way."
Evan nodded vigorously. "You got it. Can do!"
***
They made their way toward the tree, and soon they crossed the faint translucent blue wall that marked the dungeon boundary.
๐๐ ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ป๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ ๐: ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐
๐น๐ ๐ค๐ค: ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ฅ
โ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐: ๐๐๐๐ช ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ฅ
(๐/๐)
๐๐๐๐ค ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ ๐'๐ค ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ค ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ช ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐. ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ช ๐๐ค ๐ โ๐ -๐ฝ๐๐ช ๐ซ๐ ๐๐.
"Just one Boss, huh," Zane muttered.
"Mhm. That's how some of these B-rank dungeons are," said Evan. "But the catch is, a lot of their 'normal' Monsters are like C-rank dungeon Bosses! So it ends up being way more dangerous. Plus there's all the traps and stuff. But yeahโclear the Final Boss, and we're good."
Zane grunted acknowledgment.
He assumed it waited for him at the tippy top of this thing. He couldn't even see the highest canopy from down hereโit was lost beyond the cloud layer.
As Zane crossed the border, the full extent of the boundary briefly showed. It was lair-lock blue, running over the ground floor before curving up near the edge of the trunk. Then he passed the threshold, and it went invisible again.
So you couldn't just fly from the bottom to the top. You had to actually climb the thing.
He looked up that great trunk, ridged with thousands of passageways, puffed with canopies stuffed with metallic leaves....
It was so vast, so weird, it felt like setting foot in some other world.
***
The Tree roots loomed ahead of him. They looked like elephant trunks laid outโbut much bigger, colored a brown-streaked metallic grey. They rose up to meet the tree trunk maybe a mile away, tangling all over each other.
He saw the routes going between them on the mini-map. From a birds-eye view it looked like a maze. There seemed to be plenty of ways through this mess. And plenty of routes up the tree once you got there, too.
All of them were smothered in red dots. All the way through. Zane didn't see any Monstersโat least not immediately up ahead. Were they underground or something?
"Woahโฆ" gasped Evan, looking straight up, blinking at the foliage. "It's beautiful."
One route looked as good as another. So he just started walking, and Evan followed happily behind him. Their steps swished through ankle-high grass.
Something about this place felt odd to him. And it wasn't just how big everything was. There was a constant low-level noise. Not sound noiseโsoul noise. He felt it spread up from the ground as though a crowd hid under the dirt. He felt noise pouring out from either side of him too, from those giant rootsโฆ
Something caught his ankle.
He hadn't felt it coming. Or rather he hadโbut it was lost in so much soul noise he might as well have felt nothing at all. He frowned down and found a spiky shiny silver vine thick as a python coiling around his leg.
๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ โ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ (๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ)
๐ผ๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐
Then it tried yanking him under.
It didn't get very far. With a flicker of will he was a heavy block of Spirit Steel. Frowning, he tried jerking himself out. It was surprisingly hard. He raised his arm to slash at the thing, but before he could, it slithered away whip-quick.
"โฆ"
He kept walking, frowning. A few seconds later, another lashed him so hard he almost tripped. When he went to cut it, it was gone.
Zane stopped moving. He just frowned at the ground, waiting for one of these stupid ground birds to show its face again. It didn't.
Then he started walking, and a vine caught him mid-step.
It got him knee-deep into the ground before he yanked his leg back out. Before he could throw in a Rising Storm Slash, the earth closed back up.
"Are you okay?!" cried Evan, pattering up to him.
"Yeah," grunted Zane. It was just annoying. He frowned up. Could you walk on top of this root-maze? Only for a little. Soon as you got a few hundred feet in you ran up against the Lair Lock ceiling.
He decided to just ignore the ground birds. Whatever.
He tripped and stumbled the next hundred feet or so, getting more and more annoyed.
Then came a buzzing. It got louder the deeper they went, rattling down the giant root-walls. They made a turn and saw the source of it.
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐๐ฃ๐ (๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ)
๐ผ๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ ๐
There were so many little red-tipped dots hovering there he couldn't even make them out. Just a vibrating cloud of black and red. He blinked.
Then they rushed him all at once. And the stinging began.
They were getting in his nose. They were getting in his eyes, his ears, stabbing teensy burning needles up all up and down his body, and he roared and they got in his throat too. He started to gag. Rising Storm Slash! It ripped out a chunk of them. There was a beautiful glorious burning; then more took their place.
Freaking bug birds!
They weren't even doing anything real. Their stings did almost nothing to his body. His health was still well over 90%. They were just...
That's it.
He got out his Axes. He felt a little ridiculous busting out Stormfire Cyclone for some stupid flies, but he'd do it, damnitโ
His world exploded in light. He felt powerful brilliant Laws envelop him. Never touching him, just arching around him, making a spiderweb of light.
Then the bugs were gone. Roasted to a crisp. Turning to essence, floating into a cringing Evan.
"Sorry!" he said. "I... I know you said not to get in your way, butโ"
"No," said Zane, blinking. "No. This is good. You can kill birds?"
"What?"
"Little annoying things that don't do anything," Zane clarified.
"Iโฆ think so?"
"You do that," said Zane. "I will beat up the strong things. You have permission to kill all birds."
"Oh. Okay." Evan saluted like a Boy Scout. "Will do!"
They kept going. Ten steps later Zane felt a ripple of Law go by his feet. He looked down.
There lay a severed Titansteel Root. The other half squirmed trembling back into its hole.
Zane stared at Evan.
"Wasโwas that okay?" Evan said nervously.
"How did you do that?"
"Oh! I dunno. Reflexes, I guess?"
Zane kept staring. He saw it now. The truth. You had to use a bird to beat a bird. Evan was a very good bird.
"I like you."
Evan flushed; he scratched the back of his head. "Aw, geezโฆ"
They kept going.
Zane got the sense Evan was capable of a lot more than just pest cleanup. Like driving a Lamborghini exclusively in a Walmart parking lot. Some of Evan's Skills made him soundโฆ important?
But Zane was happy with his performance, so he saw no need to change things.
Fifty steps and a sharp turn later, they ran up against what Zane considered their first real Monster.