Zane woke up feeling fine. More than fine—good, actually. Which was surprising because he'd gone out feeling like he'd been run over by a truck.
Even his soul—which had taken quite a beating—felt good. Whole, at least. There was still a lingering exhaustion but that was from Law Comprehension. All the damage he'd taken in the fight was just… gone.
Huh.
There was a warmth pouring into him; an essence that felt like being bathed in sunlight. Every cell of his body sang with the joy of it. His head lay on what felt like soft pillows. Something was softly stroking his head. He felt a soul very close by—a soul that was just gushing warm and tender feelings. Feelings directed at him.
And he was drinking something he realized; a sweet liquid trickled through his mouth, down his throat… he opened his eyes.
It was Reina. She held a little bowl to his lips. She seemed to be feeding him broth. She'd been fondly stroking his head—which lay in her lap.
This was pretty close to heaven as far as Zane was concerned.
"You're awake," said Reina, blinking. Then, in a rush—"How do you feel? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No," Zane said. "I'm good."
"Oh!" Relief washed over her. She smiled at him. She had these cute little dimples and these warm brown eyes… she was really very pretty.
This lasted all of about five seconds. And then she frowned. Like she remembered just what had gotten them here in the first place.
And suddenly she started getting angry again.
Uh…
For a second Zane wondered if passing out again was an option, but he wasn't sure he could do it on command. Maybe he should've said he was still mortally wounded or something.
Then, to Zane's relief, she just shook her head. And started deflating again.
Zane wasn't sure what was going on. It seemed like it had been a few hours; she probably had some time to let things sit. She wasn't about to erupt anymore, it seemed like—it was a more low-burning kind of anger. Still, Zane watched her nervously. If things flared up he did not like where his head was placed right now.
Reina took a deep breath. "Look, I know you won't stop fighting," she said softly. She gave his head another stroke. "And I don't want you to. It makes you happy…I don't want to get in the way of that."
He was cautiously optimistic. So far so good.
She paused. "Even if every time I saw that guy hit you, I just—I wanted to—" she gritted her teeth and cut herself off. Then she closed her eyes and took another deep breath.
Zane was getting a little less optimistic.
"I…" she let out a frustrated sigh. "I want to be there. With you. So I can help if things go wrong. I don't want to sit here on the sidelines always hearing about it. Especially if you get hurt!"
"Uh—"
"I told you I was training second-in-commands to take some of the work. Things are running smoothly enough now I don't need to be there all the time. And now that Elias has built a portal, it's perfect! I could be with you more."
"Uhh—"
"You could do with someone watching your back," she went on. "My Signature Title gives me some of the strongest healing powers there are. And I can make shields with my Skills too—I can defend myself, you don't need to worry about me. You can just focus on you. Just… let me help."
"Reina—"
"And besides," she said. She held up a finger. She was just getting started. "Consider this. What if you're in a situation where—"
"Reina—"
"Zane, I promise this will make sense. You just have to hear me out—"
"Reina," said Zane, exasperated. "Okay."
"… What?"
"Okay," he said it again. "Next dungeon, we can go together."
Reina blinked at him, stunned. Zane got the feeling she had a whole speech prepared. Probably two or three drafts of it, knowing her.
It was always kind of funny to him how hard she tried to win these arguments. Considering, well, it was her. She could probably convince him the sky was green.
"First I'll finish up here," he told her. "I want to get my Fire Laws done. Maybe some of the Electricity ones too."
Then he could start upgrading his Stormfire—which wasn't even real Stormfire yet; it was technically pseudo-Stormfire. And it could already go toe to toe with elemental laws.
"I want to use the Dojos and their saunas. And that Hell Array. Squeeze all I can out of the...week... I have left here. Then we can tackle an A-ranked dungeon. Together."
She kissed him. Then she was back to being Happy Reina again.
"Actually," she said after they pulled apart. "This reminds me. While you were sleeping, we got a message from a Scandinavian Guild—they have a custom Quest they want to issue just to you. It's to clear an A-rank water dungeon that's started leaking recently—they've had to evacuate all their nearby Safe Zones…"
She frowned. "It seems like a lot of A-ranks are starting to leak now. And the monsters coming out are as strong as B-rank bosses. Entire continents are banding together to make World Ranker teams, just to tackle them."
She bit her lip. "There's one in Alaska that might even spread down to us, if it gets bad enough… and the breaks are only accelerating."
"They are?"
She nodded. "The strongest fighters in the world—like you—" she felt a burst of pride for him as she said it—"Are still strong enough to deal with A-ranks. But what happens when the S-ranks start leaking?"
She was starting to worry again.
"I'll be ready then too," he promised her. He said it with such confidence it warmed her.
Then he finally looked around. A chandelier dangled above them. There were sofas that look like they could have been taken from a royal palace. Those velvet drapes probably cost more than his whole house did back before the change.
"Where are we?"
"The penthouse suite," she said. "It's your new room now."
"Huh."
"Someone leaked where you were staying," she said, wincing. "Only World Rankers are allowed in this hotel. Even then, we still got mobbed. Three dozen different Faction Heads came knocking, trying to land a meeting with you. After that fight... well. You have a lot of new fans."
"Ah." He blinked. "I… have fans?"
Then he remembered, belatedly, the guy from the Steel Law crater. And that boy he'd met in that one ice tribe up in the Cascades. He wasn't sure why this kept surprising him. He wasn't quite sure what there was to be a fan of, exactly.
"Of course you have fans," said Reina, and she was feeling proud of him again. "Look!"
She pointed to a corner of the room. There lay an assortment of flower bouquets and random treasures—vials of elixir, healing pastes, wines, even boxes of what looked to be chocolate. A neat stack of letters too.
"They seem like a good bunch," she said, smiling fondly. "They like how strong and determined you are. And how you fight."
Then she frowned.
"Well," she said, "Most of them seem like a good bunch."
Now she was full-on glowering. "Some of them do not seem to understand that you have a girlfriend," she said frostily. "But I've made that quite clear."
Why did she say it like that? She made it sound like she murdered them or something.
…She wouldn't... Right?
Reina was a very nice, caring person. He knew that. Something about the look in her eyes right now, though...
"Don't worry about all that," she said. She smiled and leaned down and kissed him again. She held his hands and snuggled up to him. "Everything else—the politics, the Quests, the fans—leave it to me," she said, sighing. "You focus on doing what you do best, alright?"
He nodded. She kept kissing him.
***
A few hours and a lot fewer clothes later, they stopped kissing. It was interesting. Dual cultivating was still a great way of getting Levels. Still one of the quickest for them, about equal to an A-ranked treasure. And a whole lot cheaper.
Partly this was because Mephisto's Pleasure Sutra had somehow become one of his highest Leveled skills. After this latest session it was Level 5, which qualified for 'high Level.'
Which was mostly due to Sage Mind. It was based on intensity, after all—and especially after the upgrade, his feel for the right thing to do got a lot more sensitive.
By the end of it—
𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕦𝕡!
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟙𝟘𝟜 -> 𝟙𝟘𝟝
Reina, meanwhile, gained five Levels. She went from high 70s to low 80s. But they'd have to get her to Level 100 or higher if they wanted to do an A-rank dungeon raid. Well—a good deal over Level 100, just to be safe. It was important to do this as much as possible. Reina mumbled the argument to him with her head on his chest, floating in a warm haze.
***
Then they heard a few knocks on the door—
"Hey hey, it's us!" came Avery's voice. "Your favorite people!"
Zane got up in a bit of a panic, threw on a shirt and pants, and stumbled to the door. Reina took a bit to react; she was still kind of out of it.
He cracked open the door. "Hi!" said Avery. There was Evan with her too. She waved. So did Evan.
"You're alive!" she said, grinning. "Huzzah!"
"Yeah."
"I thought your fight was really awesome," said Evan.
"Thanks."
"So what'd I tell you?" she said. "I knew you two big lunks would get along! Eze went into seclusion by the way. He went right back to grinding Levels as soon as your fight was done. I don't know if that guy even sleeps. He said he likes you! Anyway—Evan and I are off to do more Law stuff."
"Yeah!" said Evan.
"He's making the final push. He's going to break through the Elemental."
Evan was very excited.
"You'll get it done," Zane told the boy, nodding. "I know it."
"Aww…" Evan flushed.
Just then Reina limped over, still wobbly. Zane winced. She took it like a champ.
"Sooooo. We just wanted to drop by to check up on you," said Avery. She gave him a little salute.
"I'm just glad you're okay!" Evan told him, blinking big bright eyes at him. "We tried coming earlier but you were still watching that horror movie. I don't like scary movies. I get nightmares really easily."
Avery gagged. She seemed to be trying to tell him something with her eyes.
"What?" said Zane.
"You kept screaming Miss Reina," said Evan earnestly. "You must've been really scared!"
"…"
Reina went very pale.
"Uh... aaaanyway," said Avery, alarmed. "Bye!"
And she quickly dragged Evan away.
***
Zane decided he'd spend the rest of the day at the Warrior Dojo, checking out that soul sauna Elias had told him about. The one that'd wipe out his comprehension fatigue. He was eager to get back to collecting his Laws. He could tell Stormfire had a lot of room to grow. It just needed more Fire and Electricity—and with the A-rank treasures he'd gotten from Elias, he was sure he'd snag at least one full Elemental set before VGI was done.
He thought about trying the Asura Hell Array and seeing if he could set another high score. But he figured he could do it after he made his Law upgrades.
It was decided Reina would spend about half her time here for the next week. Zane also suggested she start focusing on her Wood Laws—checking out the Wood Law treasure area here.
He walked her there first.
They got mobbed right out of the door of the hotel, even with a line of extra Silicon Coven officials acting as security. Then Zane flared his aura and did an impression of the look Reina gave when she saw other girls staring at him a little too long. It worked wonders; the crowd cleared out at once.
He dropped her off at the Wood law Area, which was called the 'Thousand-Year Grove'—a spray of lesser trees surrounding a very old-looking, very fat silver-leafed oak. There was a hollow cut out of the middle of it where Wood Law folk could meditate. He gave her Elias's A-rank treasure, and she got to it.
Then he was off to the Dojo.
It was on the way there that he got a notification.
𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝔾𝕝𝕠𝕓𝕒𝕝 ℕ𝕠𝕥𝕚𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟
𝔸𝕝𝕝 ℂ-ℝ𝕒𝕟𝕜 𝔻𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕔𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕕!
ℙ𝕣𝕠𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 ℙ𝕙𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝟙: 𝟠𝟚%