"I finished it," Zane said. "And added it to a Skill." He stood, ready to get going.
Evan still looked baffled. "Heh?" He said again.
"What?"
"It's been like half an hour!"
Zane didn't understand. Then—oh. He could see the confusion. "No," he said. "I didn't learn the whole Major Law at once. I got the Minor Laws from the Beetle fights. I just put them together."
He could see why it would've been a little shocking. Thirty minutes was pretty fast to learn a Major Law from scratch.
But if anything Evan looked more baffled. "Heh?!"
"…"
"You learned a whole Major Law just now?"
Zane shrugged.
Evan scratched his head. He looked like he was realizing a lot of things at once.
"Yes?" Zane prompted.
"Oh!" Evan snapped out of his thoughts, looking sheepish. "It's just that I've never really been around other World Rankers. I spent most of my time up till now up in Idaho, see, around my uncle's farm. So… wow… I thought maybe I was okay, y'know? 'Cause I only talked to folks back home. But I guess compared to normal World Rankers, I'm kind of a dummy, huh. It takes me like half a day to put Minor Laws together… And I didn't even know you could add new Laws to Skills! I don't think I could do it if I tried…"
He wore a bashful grin. He didn't seem too cut up about it. "Well. I guess you've just gotta do the best with what you've got, right?"
"Sure." Zane frowned. "You come from a farm?"
"Yeah!" said Evan brightly. "This is my first time out of state. Everything's so big! Uncle Sammy took me to Boise a few times for repairs on the tractor, and we saw some buildings like ten stories high, but it was nothing like this stuff. I mean, I guess that could just be 'cause of the Change. I heard redwoods were pretty big. But not this big."
He stared up at the Tree again, and whatever little lingering sadness he felt about apparently being a dummy was washed away by wonder again.
Something still felt off to Zane. "You're from somewhere rural."
"Yup! It's just cornfields for miles."
"Were there strong dungeons there?"
Evan shook his head. "Nope, not really, just a bunch of F-ranks."
That sounded like Zane's starting point. Maybe even worse.
Just how had Evan gotten to Level 93? He didn't seem the type to go around killing people. Or solo chain-clearing dungeons like Zane did. And Evan didn't care about treasures at all.
He checked the boy out again.
𝔼𝕧𝕒𝕟 𝔸𝕣𝕞𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟡𝟜
… Level 94 now.
Zane frowned. What had Evan even killed up till now? A few Roots, maybe a Beetle or two, some Locust Swarms? Maybe he'd been pretty close to the next Level already.
But that Elixir just now had Zane thinking about talent. Hmm.
Maybe there were different kinds of talent. He couldn't know for sure, just a hunch, but he got the feeling Evan's Leveling talent wasn't quite the same as his. And it was the other way around for soul talent, whatever that meant.
***
Now that the Beetles were gone, the path ahead was clear. A tunnel burrowing through the wood. His mini-map showed it winding up in loops, popping out on the far side of the trunk.
The walls were faintly shiny yet hard, like sap crusted over the Titansteel bark. There wasn't any light but Evan brought out his sword. It acted like a big glow stick. They went in.
They found the tunnel was quite uneven. It had thousands of little divots, like the whole thing was made by a swarm of giant bugs chewing through the bark. You could see the places where their teeth sank in. That sap might be dried insect saliva, now Zane thought of it.
Soon a buzzing started to echo down the tunnel. Not a Beetle buzzing—higher pitched and broader, like it was coming from a bunch of places at once. The farther they got into the tunnel, the louder the buzzing. Red dots popped up on the mini-map. They were up around a bend, swooping in fast. Coming right at them.
Zane saw them maybe thirty or forty feet off, blotting out the way ahead.
A swarm of hundreds. Wasps the size of birds. Their stingers looked gnarly, like the spikes on vines, tipped a lurid poison-purple. Their fat bodies were brown streaked green, and their wings were almost translucent. They glowed a sickly green.
They seemed angry.
𝕎𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕎𝕒𝕤𝕡𝕤 𝕊𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕞 (𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣)
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟡𝟙
Yeah, Zane wasn't doing this.
"Evan," he grunted.
"On it!"
The boy leaped through and started slashing. It felt like watching helicopter blades—so fast you couldn't even see the parts, just a sense of incredible movement. "Sunblade Arc!" Evan cried. Out loud, for some reason.
The tunnel came alive with light. Evan must've fired off two dozen shots in the span of a second. Just dizzying dexterity. Light and lightning raced down the tunnel, lighting up wasps, ping-ponging between the Wasps. It wasn't enough—there was quite a lot of them. A few looked like they were going to make it through.
But something odd happened. The closer they got, the fiercer Evan got too. They zipped up until they were within striking range. It was like they hit a wall.
Evan held them there, downing them in light. His slashes just kept getting faster and faster.
It was this way with the Beetle, too. Zane got the feeling the stronger the challenge, the stronger Evan got. It wasn't even a mental thing. His powers seemed to literally grow. Zane wondered if it was that 'Power of Determination' Skill, or 'the Power of Friendship.' Maybe both?
At the end of it, the Wasps were all dust. And there stood Evan, panting. He seemed to be a burst fighter—he didn't seem to have a great deal of stamina. Though Zane got the feeling if he was defending a friend, he could last quite a while.
"Good job," Zane said. He ruffled the boy's hair. Evan beamed up at him. Zane felt warmth gushing out of him—he was already looking at Zane as though at a big brother. "Aww geez…" said Evan, flushing.
Zane usually felt a little uncomfortable about this kind of thing. But for some reason, he just liked the boy. Just this once he was fine with it.
"Why did you shout your Skill?"
Evan blinked. He looked confused. "I dunno…I guess it just felt right?"
They made it up the rest of the winding slope. Not long after, a circle of bright blue light opened up to them. The exit. Zane passed on through and took everything in.
He stood on a bark ledge—one of those ridges he'd seen from way down at the bottom. From up here, the whole world opened up to him.
Far east, you could see the white-streaked mountains. They looked a little unreal from this high; little white triangles cut out on a bright-blue sky. Look west and he could barely make out the Pacific Ocean. A glimmering suggestion of deep-blue, stretching horizon to horizon…
He turned his gaze closer. Branches stuck out like girders, carrying vast platforms of steely glinting leaves. They puffed up all around him. He saw a few down below but most were up ahead, spiraling up and up and up, all the way through the clouds…
There was one a few dozen feet down. And on them, he saw these fat, shiny-gray chickling thingies. They were fat and round, kind of fluffy-looking, with tiny steel wings and massive yellow beaks. Wrecking balls of steely feathers.
𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔼𝕒𝕘𝕝𝕖𝕥 (𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣)
𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟡𝟘
A few glared up at him. But they were hopping around. They didn't seem to be able to fly. Fake birds then. Good.
He spotted a few yellow dots blanketing the platform too—they seemed to be hanging off the boughs.
𝕍𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝔹𝕒𝕣𝕜 ℙ𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕖 (𝔹)
𝔸 𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕕 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕖. ℍ𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕝𝕪 𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕚𝕟 𝕎𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤, 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕒𝕚𝕕.
Reina—at his encouragement—had started setting aside a little time to do some Law work. She was drawn to Laws having to do with life. Earth Laws, Wood Laws… they seemed to match her Signature Title. He figured he could collect a few of these for her.
There was another treasure which he couldn't quite make out on the bough below. He squinted up at a bough above—he could barely see it out around the curve of the tree. A giant leaf, shinier than the rest, smoking with Steel Laws...
𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕃𝕖𝕒𝕗 (𝔹)
𝔸 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕗 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝, 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕚𝕕𝕤 𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕝𝕪 𝕚𝕟 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕖.
He'd need to get himself some of those too. He could see quite a few sticking on the upper boughs.
The wind was pretty heavy up here. It howled past him, tugging at his hair and his arms. The path up was jagged. There was no safety rail or anything. You had to climb a wood ridge barely wide enough to hold his foot. It'd be like walking a tightrope.
There could be no falling off. He thought about using his Axes, sinking them in, and climbing up Axe by Axe. But once you got out from the ridge the winds got a lot fiercer. The Wind Laws up there looked to be trouble. And if he got attacked, he was less sure of himself dangling than if he was on two feet. There was also Evan to think of.
Probably better just to climb the normal way.
Speaking of Evan. He took a step, then frowned. The boy wasn't behind him. Zane felt a glut of simmering fear back in the tunnel; he backtracked and found Evan hyperventilating, staring out into the bright blue abyss. He was going "ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh" over and over. "C'mon...You can do it," he whispered to himself. "C'mon!"
"Evan," said Zane. The boy jerked up; wide eyes met his own. "Take my hand."
And he held it out. The boy hesitated; his eyes trembled a little. He was swamped with fear.
"Look at me," said Zane. "There are birds out there. I need you. Do you understand?"
He was about to say 'I won't let you fall,' but he didn't need to.
The moment the words 'I need you' left Zane's mouth, Evan stilled.
His eyes went wide. His breath caught.
Then he bit his lip. His whole face went flush. And fierce determination swelled in him, rising above the fear—and in seconds his whole demeanor changed. Huh.
Evan nodded. "Okay!"
He took Zane's hand, still trembling. But he was full of new bravery. He didn't look at the sky anymore. He just looked at Zane.
Together they stepped out onto the ridge.
Then slowly, surely, they started climbing. At first Evan's fear spiked again. But when they'd taken ten steps, then twenty, it slowly started to ebb. Zane was satisfied. He'd be fine.
They were making a slow spiral around the trunk, shimmying their way along. There was a platform of branches coming up a quarter turn away. But before then, they hit on a treasure.
It was like Quicksilver pouring down in a thick, gooey stream right in front of them.
𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕊𝕒𝕡 (𝔹)
𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕒𝕡 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕤 𝕒 𝕗𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕔𝕖. 𝕀𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕚𝕟 𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖.
"Here!" stammered Evan, thrusting some empty vials at him.
Zane blinked. "Why do you have empty vials?"
"Was a B-boy Scout," Evan said proudly. "Always p-prepared."
Zane scooped in three full Vials before the Sap dried up. They kept moving.
The first bough loomed up ahead of them, drowning them in its shadow. But between here and there, there was a red dot.
A chunk of the trunk detached itself. It looked like a man made of bark. And it blocked the path ahead.
It kind of looked like Groot from that one movie but shinier. A humanoid wood monster. Like an ent. It put up its hammers for arms, like a boxer.
𝔹𝕒𝕣𝕜 𝕊𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕝 (𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣)
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟡𝟛
𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤
𝕄𝕒𝕛𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕌𝕟𝕕𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕄𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝)
𝕄𝕒𝕛𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝔻𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕪 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝)
𝕄𝕒𝕛𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕎𝕠𝕠𝕕𝕖𝕟 𝔹𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕎𝕠𝕠𝕕)
𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:
𝕊𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕥 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝔹𝕠𝕕𝕪 (ℙ𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕔]: 𝔾𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕕𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕕𝕦𝕣𝕒𝕓𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕥 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝. 𝔼𝕩𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕠𝕥𝕙 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕔𝕦𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕖. 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕤𝕔𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝.
𝕄𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝕌𝕟𝕒𝕣𝕞𝕖𝕕 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 (ℙ𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕔]: 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕥-𝕝𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕤𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕦𝕟𝕒𝕣𝕞𝕖𝕕 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘.
𝕀𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕨𝕠𝕠𝕕 ℙ𝕦𝕘𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕔]: 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕞𝕓𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕕𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕣𝕦𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕤, 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕓𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕒𝕝 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕙 𝕠𝕗 𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕨𝕠𝕠𝕕.
Oh, interesting. This thing had Spirit Steel Body.
Zane's Axe was too unwieldy and too heavy besides. So were his Chains. He'd go plummeting over the side if he used them here.
He didn't mind doing this the old-fashioned way. He put up his fists and grinned.
Time to fistfight on a tightrope.