161. Training Camp (I)

He found the dungeon chest at the top of the mountain, right next to the Beacon. There was no peak like the tip had been blown straight off—maybe courtesy of Zane's little explosion.

The chest lay on a flat stretch of ash.

It was smaller than he'd expected, but the material was clearly high caliber. Some kind of Spirit Steel.

Inside, he found a host of essence stones unlike any he'd ever seen.

After the Auction, the Luminous Faction's spending money was pretty low. Even now, they could barely scrounge up 200 high-grade essence stones, which made Reina's job a lot harder. She needed them for trading, or buying access to portals, or just keeping the whole thing running.

And Zane just found—

ℙ𝕖𝕒𝕜-𝔾𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖 (𝔸+)

He lay a hand over it. The essence aura washed along his palm, a strange heat. They felt about ten times denser than high-grade essence stones, which tracked. Mid-grade stones were worth 10 low-grade stones, high-grade stones were worth10 mid-grade, and so on. There looked to be about three dozen of these peak-grade stones.

So this find would triple their coffers. He smiled. Reina would be quite happy with this.

He turned the little marble-like stone in his hand, marveling at it. A little galaxy of shining colors swirled under the glass, like filaments in a light bulb.

The other folk didn't follow him up. Maybe out of respect? He wasn't sure. He'd recognized two of them—there was that British guy and also Vanessa, the girl he'd met at the Abyssal Crater Dungeon. She'd flushed quite red when he looked over—she looked away.

It was kind of awkward, with how he was dressed and all…

He wondered if he should leave treasures for them… Eh.

He wanted to give this to Reina. Those guys could get the treasures in the places they'd cleared. He'd cleared the dungeon. It seemed fair to him.

He went onto the next treasure.

𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕗𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝔼𝕩𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥 (𝔸+)

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕗𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕞𝕤 𝕠𝕟 ℙ𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕥 𝔹𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕖𝕟 𝔽𝕚𝕣, 𝕒 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕔𝕖 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕆𝕦𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔼𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕣 ℝ𝕪'𝕝𝕠𝕔𝕜 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕖 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟, 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕤 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕤𝕠𝕝𝕕 𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣. 𝔼𝕩𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕚𝕟 𝕎𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕤, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕙𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕒𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝔼𝕝𝕚𝕩𝕚𝕣𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕖𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕗𝕦𝕝 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕔𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕎𝕠𝕠𝕕-𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕡𝕙𝕪𝕤𝕚𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤.

He set it away in his bag of holding. Maybe Reina could make use of this.

The next one was a Skill manual. So thin it was almost a handbook.

ℂ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝔹𝕖𝕒𝕞 𝕊𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙 (𝔸+)

𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕦𝕟'𝕤 𝕣𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕓𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕦𝕕𝕤, 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕖𝕕𝕪 𝕊𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙 𝕔𝕦𝕥𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕕𝕖𝕗𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤 𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖, 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕕𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕝𝕪 𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕞𝕪. ℝ𝕖𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥.

This one could be good for Evan. He pocketed it too.

The last three treasures were chunks of steel so black they seemed like chunks of obsidian.

𝔸𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕥𝕖 𝕆𝕣𝕖 (𝔸+)

𝔸𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕥𝕖 𝕆𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕥𝕤, 𝕣𝕖𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕟𝕚𝕒 𝕚𝕟 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕖𝕩𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕖 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕥. 𝔼𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕙 𝕚𝕤 𝕡𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕡𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨.

Each had an extremely tough feel to it, like tempered titanium. When Zane looked at them, he got a weird feeling.

He felt kind of hungry. His body had a weird reaction.

He frowned.

On a whim, he picked up a chunk. He opened his mouth. His teeth blazed with Stormfire. He took a chomp—his teeth sank through easily enough, and he started to chew. It tasted, as expected, like steel. It melted in his mouth, literally. He swallowed.

As he ate, he felt the steel trickling slowly down his throat. Then it started to disperse—his body seized on it as it came in. Letting it nourish him. It melted straight into him like an alloy…

He felt kind of silly doing it. But he kept eating. He didn't mind trying strange things. It felt like the right thing to do, so he went with it.

Soon he'd swallowed all three chunks.

Then—

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕦𝕡!

𝕀𝕟𝕕𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 ℍ𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕀𝕀 -> 𝕀𝕀𝕀

A silvery glow rippled over his skin and vanished. He flexed his fingers, curious. He couldn't prove it, but he was sure he was a good deal tougher than he was a few seconds ago.

Could he do this with all metals?

Interesting.

Maybe he could do with collecting some more of these…

***

He went home soon after.

'Home' now meant the penthouse suite of a tower a little removed from the center of things, for privacy's sake.

He found Reina waiting for him when he got up there. She'd been stewing the whole time. First, she'd gotten all worked up from watching him fight. Then she got an eyeful of him afterward that did strange things to her.

He found this rather strange, since she saw him naked every day, often many times a day. He figured she'd be used to it by now. In any case—he'd barely made it through the door before she was all over him, kissing him. They stumbled toward the bedroom.

It took a few hours to work it all out of her.

He got a pleasant surprise midway through—

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕦𝕡!

𝕄𝕖𝕡𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠'𝕤 ℙ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕊𝕦𝕥𝕣𝕒 𝕀𝕏 -> 𝕏

𝕎𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕦𝕡𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖?

Zane accepted.

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕖𝕧𝕠𝕝𝕧𝕖𝕕!

𝕄𝕖𝕡𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠'𝕤 ℙ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕊𝕦𝕥𝕣𝕒 [𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕔] 𝕏 -> 𝕄𝕖𝕡𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠'𝕤 ℙ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕊𝕦𝕥𝕣𝕒 [𝕄𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕔+] 𝕀𝕀𝕀

The essence flows nearly doubled on the spot.

Afterward, they were in a familiar place. She was curled up on him, loose and satisfied and drowsy. He felt her calm deep breathing; they were pressed so close, chest-to-chest, he could feel her soft heartbeat. He stroked her hair slowly. They were watching the news together.

***

"Breaking news!" said a serious-looking gray-haired anchorman. He wore a thick wool parka. He was a few hundred feet off the ground, riding a wyvern mount. A landscape of icy mountains struck up behind him.

"An Evacuation Order has been issued from all major Factions surrounding the Himalayan mountain range—incidentally one of the most dangerous regions on Earth, with four A-ranked dungeons, an A+-ranked dungeon, and an S-ranked dungeon!"

"That's right, Tom," said a curly-haired blonde lady. "Until now, only the A-ranked dungeons here were leaking—which the regional powers banded together to contain! But as of this morning, the S-Ranked Dungeon—which used to be Mount Everest—started leaking too!"

"On the western side, Faction Head Srinivas Narayanan has said he's shoring up his wards as we speak," said the gray-haired anchorman. "But will it be enough? Let's get a closer look!"

Their wyverns began to climb. The camera panned over.

These mountains were like nothing Zane had ever seen—like the mountains of some much bigger planet got plopped here on Earth. The smallest ones, the ones at the base, nearly touched the clouds. You had to climb far higher to reach the biggest ones.

Soon they were so high the clouds beneath looked like a fluffy layer of snow.

In the far distance, striking up so close it seemed more in space than in sky, was a single snow-capped mountain. Wreathed in a crown of stars, shining strangely, starkly bright.

"That's the S-Ranked Dungeon known as Heaven's Peak!" said the blonde lady. She was struggling to speak, gasping with every breath. "It's very hard to breathe up here, as you can see," she said. "But the essence density is like nothing I've ever felt! Let's get a little closer…"

They swooped in closer, dropped below the cloud layer, came to a halt a few dozen miles from the foot of the dungeon.

From here, you could vaguely make out the shapes of yetis and giant wolves and blue-skinned human-like things on the side of the mountain. Unearthly ghastly sounds peeled out…

"See that?" said the gray-haired anchorman. He gestured toward the base, where dozens of those blue-skinned humanoids were pressed against the bright-blue dungeon boundary.

"Those are Ice Zombies—all in the Level 170s!" he said. "Look there—one of them's making it out even as we speak!"

Sure enough, a Zombie stabbed a clawed hand at the ward—which rippled, flexing under the weight of it all. The Monster fell through. It spasmed as it did, howling, steaming. It seemed like it took some damage. But it broke through.

Zane frowned.

Even just these base level Minions were in the 170s?

That was pretty rough. He wondered what the top-tier bosses were like. In the 190s? Over 200, even?

200 was meant to be the bottleneck to the next stage up. They probably had Fusion Laws. If creatures like those started breaking free…

They would be in deep trouble. Even if they had Zane.

"Oh…" murmured Reina. Normally she'd be more worried, but right now she only wore a little frown, still drowsy. She was too out of it to get worked up much. She'd had an intense last few hours.

"Luckily, Europe's A-Team is on the case!" said the blonde lady. "They'll be here soon to drive them back. Rest assured—the Monsters may be strong, but humanity's best are getting stronger too!"

"That's right, Sara," said the gray-haired man. "The world's best are making huge strides! We've all heard how Zane Walker single-handedly wiped out that A+-ranked dungeon. But the other world elites are growing fast too! For more on this, let's go to our Africa correspondent, Jacob McNally!"

The scene shifted.

"I'm coming to you from the Sahara desert!" shouted a bald stocky man. He could barely be heard over the winds, sweeping so fast it was like he was stuck in a hurricane.

"Emeka Eze's taking on the A+-ranked dungeon here, the Sunken Wastes of Gol!" He pointed to the distance, where shadows clashed behind a thick veil of swirling sand. "Over the last few weeks, he's been Leveling at a stunning pace. He's up in the high 150s, last we checked!"

The reporter nodded.

"Look there! He's just begun to fight the Centipede Emperor—a Level 168 Boss!"

Compared to the towering silhouette of the Centipede, rising big as a skyscraper, Eze was a little dot.

Then a dark aura started to flare around that dot. A dark star of essence, so thick and heavy it seemed to have its own gravity. The dunes around it bowed in—the Centipede's hulking body flexed, like it was fighting not to lower its head. There was something in that power… not quite a Concept, but something greater than a bare Element, too… Zane blinked.

Eze leaped, threw out a single punch.

BANG.

And the Centipede Emperor evaporated to essence—just like that.

"Looks like a pseudo-fusion," mumbled Reina. Zane had to agree.

It was interesting. The Inheritance served Eze well, it seemed like…

Zane might've opened a widening gap in Law. But Eze kept the distance between them in Level—and Eze's Laws were no slouch either. The other top guys in the world were still improving quite fast.

In terms of overall raw power, Zane figured he'd made the bigger strides since their last fight. Still, though. He figured it might be time to focus on Level a bit. Maybe take in some more essence treasures, spend more quality time with Reina.

He would be Law fried for the next few weeks anyway. He could go around hitting up a string of dungeons, getting treasures, wealth, Leveling as fast as he could. Maybe swallowing some more steel. Shore himself up before the S-rank and the Superdungeon.

The transmission kept playing.

"Now to our colleagues in Boston, here to give us an update on the fighter who's made the most impressive strides besides Zane himself. That's right—up in America, the newly minted #2-ranked fighter in the world… his brother, Jason Walker!"