Reina asked Zane if what Elias had said was true. When Zane confirmed it, she went into full worry mode.
She couldn't concentrate on anything after that. Her brain started going full speed; Zane could almost hear the whirring. Zane, meanwhile, felt pretty calm about the whole thing. He knew exactly who he wanted on his team if it came to it. Reina, Avery, and Evan. He figured if they were together, they'd be okay.
He tried to reassure her, tried to help, and by now he had a good idea of how to do it. When Reina got anxious, she had a habit of holding onto him like he was a big stress ball or something—even just an arm or a hand seemed to calm her down a little. Just standing there with her, being calm, talking her through it slowly and gently—it all seemed to help.
Eventually he convinced her they could figure out what to do about it tomorrow; it wasn't like they could figure out an answer overnight. They didn't need to—it sounded like this would all take a while to play out.
He knew there were a dozen or so A-rank dungeons just in North America. Plus the S-rank Marianas Trench.
The A-ranks weren't such a big deal right now; by the time VGI finished up, he and Reina could probably handle them by themselves.
As for the S-rank... nobody knew much about S-rank dungeons. Those might take a bigger team, sure. And the Super-dungeon was an even longer way off. They'd get to it when they got to it. When the time came, Zane promised her he would be ready to punch the things. There was no need to worry right now. It would be okay.
It seemed to work—by the time they got to the hotel and started cuddling, Reina was okay again. She still insisted on dropping by the Beacon and sending a bunch of messages—scheduling a bunch of meetings that'd take place over the next few weeks. But she wasn't worry-spiraling anymore, which pleased Zane.
The issue was she was too smart. So it was easy for her to worry about a lot of things. Zane was happy to make it dumb for her.
As far as he was concerned, there was very little that couldn't be solved by punching hard enough. At least when it came to dungeons.
***
Reina wanted him to make her forget about it all, and he did best, which turned out to be more than enough. A few hours later she was four Levels up and totally spent. She fell asleep relaxed and satisfied.
Then came morning. Zane yawned and blinked at the thin shafts of early-morning sunlight coming through the drapes. Then he got excited; all this future dungeon stuff could wait until after VGI. For now, he knew what time it was.
Fire Law time.
There was only one problem—Reina had taken her favorite sleeping spot. That was, with her head on Zane's chest, using him as her personal pillow. This was her happy place. Unfortunately, it made getting up to go do his Fire Laws rather hard.
He made a plan: he would do a sneaky transfer. He started gently sitting up, cradling her head, about to move it over to a real pillow—
She growled at him like an angry lioness. He froze.
She kept growling.
As slow as he could, he lay back down.
She made a happy noise, held onto him tighter, and kept sleeping.
He lay there blinking at the ceiling.
…Hmm.
He supposed this was his life now.
A little more than an hour later, she woke up. She didn't seem to remember any of it—she was back to being her warm self. She gave him a smile and a kiss, then went off to portal back to headquarters to do her politics stuff.
He wondered if she realized how scary she could be.
Anyway.
For Zane, at last—Fire Law Time.
***
The Fire Law Treasure Area lay on the other side of campus; Zane was pretty bad at reading maps—he used to get lost in amusement parks all the time. Eventually, he ambled his way there.
It was called the 'Lake of Fire,' which was a very descriptive name, actually.
𝕃𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖 (𝔸)
𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕕𝕖𝕖𝕡𝕖𝕣 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕘𝕠 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕙𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕤, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖. 𝕆𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕠'𝕧𝕖 𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖 𝕞𝕒𝕪 𝕓𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕗𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕕𝕖𝕡𝕥𝕙𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕃𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕞𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕓𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙 𝕠𝕗 𝕒 𝕓𝕒𝕓𝕪 𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕟. 𝕀𝕥 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕧𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕒 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕪𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕞.
It looked like a normal lake, except all the water had been replaced with flames. Redder near the edges, streaked with yellow the deeper you got into it—the middle was white-hot. It looked like the surface of the sun. The crackling and smoldering and roaring got louder the hotter it was. Tufts of sparks carried on the winds, fluttering into the bright blue sky.
So he had to get to the bottom of this, huh.
There was a cluster of yellow dots in there on the mini-map—people already in there. He couldn't see them, probably because they were underwater. Under-fire? Could you even breathe down there?
You probably could, actually. When he looked closer, he saw the fire wasn't burning on anything. Just essence. It was a bunch of floating flames.
The whole place was fenced off with Spirit Steel wire. At first Zane thought this was a safety thing because of the heat; there was no greenery within a hundred feet of the thing, probably because it'd all burned down.
Then he realized it was an exclusiveness thing. When he got close, he saw a line stretching all around it. There was an entrance, but there were Silicon Coven folk doing ticketing. A blonde girl was arguing with one of the officials.
𝕃𝕚𝕫𝕫𝕚𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕠𝕟
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟠𝟞
ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤: 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖 𝔸𝕣𝕔𝕙𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕖
𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟: 𝔼𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝕃𝕖𝕘𝕚𝕠𝕟
"This is ridiculous! I've got a VIP Pass!" She cried, waving a black-gold card in front of him.
"Miss," he tried explaining. "We're at capacity. You'll have to wait until someone exits—"
"And how long will that take?!"
They kept going back and forth.
Zane scratched his head. Elias had said all the Coven's resources were open to him. So… he could just go on through, right?
Shrugging, he went for it.
It turned out he didn't even need to say anything. As he got close, it was like he had a force field. The whole line scrambled to get out of his way. The ticketing official took one look at him, got wide-eyed, and bowed his head.
"Ah! Right this way, sir!"
For a second the blonde lady was furious—"Why does he get special—"
Then she seemed to identify him. And cut off mid-sentence, mouth slightly open. She flushed. "…Oh."
Zane just kept walking since no one seemed about to stop him. As he passed, he heard the ticketer say behind him—"Miss—there are VIPs, and there are VVIPs."
Zane got the feeling it wasn't even about Elias's permission. Once you got to a certain level of power, it seemed like you could pretty much do whatever you wanted.
Zane got to the edge of the Lake. He hadn't even set foot in it, and he felt like he was on fire already; a wall of blisteringly hot air brushed him head-to-toe.
He knew his limit today would be something like two Major Laws probably. Then he'd take tomorrow off to recover in that Soul Sauna. And rinse and repeat until he cracked this thing. Sounded good to him.
He got out his treasures. First, six or seven B-rank Law Fruits. At this point, it didn't even really matter. His comprehension speed wasn't the bottleneck here. He chomped them all down; sweet, light juices dripped down his mouth. He swallowed.
Then, Zane got out the A-rank Law Treasure Elias had given him: the Phoenix Feather.
𝔽𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝔸𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕒, 𝔽𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕩 (𝔸)
𝔽𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕩𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕖 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕩𝕖𝕤. 𝔾𝕠𝕕𝕓𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕣𝕦𝕟𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕧𝕖𝕚𝕟𝕤. 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕖 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕩𝕖𝕤, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕣𝕟 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕗𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕡𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕔𝕖𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕦𝕟𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕖. ℍ𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕝𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕖𝕩𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕖: 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕖𝕣𝕦𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕗𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝔸𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕒, 𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕥 𝕡𝕖𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕍𝕚𝕟 𝔼𝕝𝕚𝕟, 𝕀𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕣 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕚𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕫𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕖 𝕗𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟.
It was slick red-yellow, big as his forearm, and it floated in its own corona of dazzling sunset light.
The moment he grabbed hold of it, it exploded. The force almost ripped it out of his grasp; he felt an instinct to jerk away like he'd touched a hot stove—but he held on.
It was a lucky thing he'd gotten a Perfect Steel Body first. As it was, the blast singed his face, sent his hair in a bit of a frazzled tizzy. But he was mostly fine. The Elemental Fire there was very volatile. It felt like it had its own will—he had to clamp down hard to wrangle it.
Just having it close made him a lot more sensitive to the Fire Laws around him. They flared up brighter, clearer, in his perception.
He took a deep breath and waded into the shallows.
The moment he did, the fires grabbed hold of him. They couldn't quite catch on his body, but the heat sank in fast. It felt like he was walking into one of those industrial-grade ovens, cranked all the way up…
It felt a little like wading through boiling hot water, but without quite as much resistance. No wetness either—just pure heat washing over him. The ground started caving in. The deeper he went, the more punishing it got. It was rather hard to see—just a bunch of bright flickering reds and whites and yellows. All he could hear was crackling and roaring. The only smell was smoke.
He didn't really need to go that far in yet. His Fire Laws weren't that advanced. Maybe for Elemental he'd need to push it, but for now this was plenty. He sat down, crossed his legs, closed his eyes. And opened himself up to feeling.
The more he meditated, he noticed, the easier it was to click into that detached, observing, curious, zen-like mode. One long breath, in and out. And the physical melted away, grew ghostly, intangible… he was there.
He was smothered by Fire. Soaking in it—he barely had to reach. There was so much to see he didn't know where to start.
He went for the way it was burning him. The way its heat sank into him. It was interesting—it worked even better because his body was a Steel hybrid. It spread easily through him, down through the core of him, radiating out to his toes, his fingertips… the longer he sat the more poured in and stayed.
He held up a hand and saw it reddened with heat—slightly glowing. Then its inner secrets came into focus for him; the Laws running up the color…
He felt like a cup slowly filled. Not with water, but with heat; it was pouring the burning of inside him. It fascinated him. It was one of Fire's simplest and most fundamental secrets—
𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕!
𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝔸𝕓𝕤𝕠𝕣𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟
Huh. …That was easy. Almost a warmup Law.
There was a flip side to this too, he felt. An exchange; for his cup to fill, another had to empty. A give and a take. He blinked at his glowing hand again… he was pouring too. He saw the way a certain Law shifted along with the heat, giving it out unconsciously. But when he set his will to it, he found he could influence it. Flare it so more heat poured out, baking the air—or cut it off, sealing it all in…
𝕃𝕒𝕨 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕!
𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝔼𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟
He'd barely gotten started, and he was already halfway to the Major Law. Time was always hard to judge in Law trances, but he was pretty sure it'd hardly been an hour or two.
He kept on chugging.