222. The Lake District (II)

Val Arandor met his father in the Evergreen Grove, situated on the highest bough of the World Tree. The floors were thick wood branches, clustered tight. The ceilings a spray of silver and lush green. Sunlight streamed through in clean shafts. Light birdsong warbled throughout.

It was a cheery scene. But Lan Arandor seemed anything but.

"Father!" said Val, grinning as he strode in. "Why the glum face?"

"The Mistress Maker has been reborn," rasped Lan.

"Ahh," said Val. He cocked his head. "But that's hardly cause for concern. Who is it? The Sylvarii, perhaps? Or Elia, of the Amaraels? Lovely girl. She still sends me flowers. Isn't it as you always say, Father? No matter who it is, the Mistress Maker will need a Maker consort…. And she would only choose the best of the best. In that, the choice is obvious."

He made a little bow, smirking. "You needn't fret, Father. One way or another house Arandor shall reign."

"That's the trouble," said Lan heavily. "It's none of the Great Families. A pre-Integration native girl has been chosen as the next Mistress."

Val had to frown at that. He knew all the elite heiresses—knew they were all quite comely, of high breeding. Some native, on the other hand… "Show me?"

His Luthor produced a still, gathered straight from the scrying glass.

At the sight of her, Val's eyes popped. "She's…heavens—she's lovely!" he breathed. His face went slack.

"Her name is Reina," said Lan Arandor primly.

"Reina," breathed Val again, enjoying the taste of the syllables. He nodded, still grinning. "She will do nicely. Oh, yes. I wouldn't mind—"

"Focus! We're left with two likely scenarios," snapped Lan. "Either she does not survive the Superdungeon, in which case none of this matters. Or she does—and she comes to inherit the mantle of the Temple of the World Tree, as is the right of her title…"

"She'll also need a Maker consort, won't she?" said Val. "Yes—of course! Young, inexperienced, naïve… she won't know what to do with such a large, unwieldy empire! Why she'll be overwhelmed, the poor thing. She'll need a most capable husband to guide her every step."

He smirked. "You needn't worry, Father. In such matters, I have extensive experience. I'll sing a sweet little song to her and she'll be as good as mine. Our future is well secure."

Lan pursed his lips. "And here I always felt your… lascivious tendencies… were your worst weakness. Never could I imagine they might actually come in handy."

"It must be Fate," said Val.

"You'll turn her naivete into our opportunity," said Lan. "Should she make it out alive… I'll entrust this matter to you."

"She won't know what struck her," Val promised.

"There is, however, just one problem." And here Lan's face turned dark again. "She's rather fond of one of her traveling companions at the moment—"

"A childish infatuation, I'm sure," snorted Val. "It means very little, in my experience, once I enter the picture…"

He turned eager. "Luthor! Tap the live feeds. Show me my future wife."

"About that," said Lan quickly. "Perhaps now is not the best time—"

"Show me!" commanded Val.

"Yes, my prince," said Luthor.

And a new scene faded into view. They were all treated to the picture of Reina with her hands on Zane's sweaty bare back.

Val's face went black. "…Who is that?"

"The traveling companion in question," said Lan flatly.

Zane seemed to finish breaking through just then—his eyes came open. He looked back, exchanged a few words with Reina. Then they started making out passionately.

Lan watched stone-faced. Val gaped, quite white. Luthor stood there shuffling awkwardly.

"What in the Nine Hells," snarled Val. "Is he doing with my future wife?!"

"That is Zane Walker," said Lan. "The current #1 pick in this year's Integration draft—"

"#1?!" choked Val. "What could he possibly have done to warrant it?!"

"Do not underestimate him!" said Lan, eyes flashing. "He may be a native, and seem foolish, at times—" As though on cue, Zane looked around, scratching his head, like he smelled something funny. Then promptly went back to kissing Reina. "But he is extremely dangerous. And talented."

"Him? He looks like the king of the cave-men!"

"He's already on his second Concept," said Lan. "He's broken through to Core—and not just any core. A high-peak Core, we believe… perhaps even higher! In the scarce few years he's had, well under a decade, by our scouts' best estimates!"

That stopped Val in his tracks. That… happened to be faster than Val himself.

Suddenly the Prince of Flowers felt a niggling of doubt. Which only made him more incensed.

"Wait until I get my hands on him," he breathed. "I'll butcher him where he stands! She'll forget this little—this little fling—soon enough—"

He trailed off weakly.

By now the two of them had broken apart, gasping, breathing heavily. Reina's warm brown eyes were staring at Zane like he was the only person in the world.

Val's face was going from white to red, very fast.

"He cannot be allowed to live," Lan agreed. "The Mistress is far too attached to him. It will not do."

"I've got half a mind to portal down there," said Val, red-faced. "And take him on man-to-man! I'll strip off his skin, I'll cut him in a dozen pieces, leave him wriggling like a stranded trout—we'll see how much she likes him then!"

Lan wrinkled his nose.

"Control yourself," snapped Lan. "You won't get that chance anytime soon. Say he makes it out of the dungeon, what then? Would you assassinate the top candidate in the integration in broad daylight? In direct violation of the system's grace period? Have you lost your mind?!"

He bellowed that last bit. His aura flared.

For a moment Val looked surly. But he quailed in the end.

"As soon as the grace period ends, then," Val muttered. "I'll challenge him to an honor duel. And end him then!"

"What is smarter, and vastly preferable," said Lan. "Is if we can orchestrate a way for him to die in the Superdungeon itself. Without the world knowing of our involvement."

Lan frowned. "Ideally the Superdungeon will do it for us. And there's still a good chance of it, given how low he's been dropped… but that is not enough of a guarantee. Thus far he's made it through everything it's thrown at him. Granted, it's early yet…"

Lan paused. "Our best scrying shows his journey will grow much more difficult. Especially in these next sections, when the Monsters send forth their true strength. Still—with the strides he's made lately… the odds are fifty-fifty that he'll survive the first floor."

"That," said Val, gritting his teeth. "Is not good enough!"

"Patience. He's still got three more floors to go—each harder than the last! And we have many ways to make his route significantly harder, if not totally impossible. Especially once we're allowed to drop tributes…"

Lan shook his head. "Leave him to me. In a moon's time, Zane Walker will be but a painful memory in her mind. All you must do is be ready to receive the heartbroken Mistress as she looks for someone to comfort her."

"…Fine," growled Val. "If you don't finish the job, though, Father—mark my words. I will!"

***

After their Leveling finished, Reina was in the Level 230s. Her Bloodline Manifestation came through too. A phantom wooden nymph with the crown of flowers rising over her head, arms spread, emerald-green eyes shining. Her regeneration buff had gotten another big evolution. When she hit Zane with it it felt like he was floating, lifted in soul and body. A subtle green glow rose off his skin… he felt flushed with her warmth—he felt super-charged with health, with essence. It even extended to his soul.

She also unlocked a new Skill upgrade—'Sylvan Aegis.' She could now summon shields of roots and vines to protect herself. They were pretty strong—they could batter away most Core attacks. She could take care of herself, she told Zane, looking all determined. She wanted him to focus on doing what he did best. He nodded.

Evan was excited—even more so than usual—with his gains too. He got a new power stack. The Power of Friendship, which was at an all-time power high, plus the Power of Determination, plus his new Bloodline Skill.

It folded in Clear Beam Slash and drew upon his Laws of Lasers too. It was called the 'Fang of the Raijuu'—and when he threw it, a baby thunder lion roared over his head.

He had to charge it for a few seconds, locking onto his target as he did. He started quivering, glowing, drawing all his peak core powers into it. Then… "Hyaaaa!" Evan cried.

A sniper rifle of a beam, pure-white, blistering laws of Lightning and Light—it ripped through the air. Gored clean through the center of a distant skyscraper some dozen miles off. When Zane blinked the light out of his eyes, he saw a big gaping smoking hole.

Evan beamed. His power output had gotten a lot stronger, he felt, and Zane agreed. That would do some serious damage. It was worthy of many head-pats.

Evan said while he was charging he was locking in the strike, so he could keep tracking his targets even if they moved. He could make little shots as well as big ones. No bird would be safe.

As for Avery—she was in the Level 220s now, and she said as long as the thing had a soul, she was pretty darn sure she could mess with it. When she squinted her eyes and a white fox glowed over her head. Her perception could pierce even the blocked parts of the mini-map. Extending far into the horizon.

She was pretty happy about it. She had been hoping she would also get a Skill which could spontaneously explode people's heads or something, but this would do.

Her new Skill would come in handy very soon. The next section would require keen eyes.

***

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕕: 𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝟚-𝟛

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕃𝕒𝕜𝕖

They walked past the last of the lava-flows. After that a wall of coiling mists loomed ahead of them. Blanketing everything, floor to stalagmite-studded ceiling. Giving in some places extending in others, but impenetrable everywhere.

Avery checked it out a bit—according to her it was all just one big lake behind that mist. Right in the middle of the Dwarven Realm.

She stretched her perception as far as she could. As far as she could tell it went on and on. More like an ocean, maybe. She thought there were more abandoned cities on the east and the west banks of it, but the compass was pointing them straight north. Right through the center.

It was deep, and boggy, and foggy—and as they got close Zane saw the turgid waters were perfectly still.

Zane could swear he saw some giant shadows looming in the fog earlier. Maybe he was just confused. A couple steps closer, though, and he felt a soft cold wet-blanket sensation on his soul. Gently, just a touch in the astral plane. It vanished as quick as it came.

Hmm.

Avery frowned. "Yeah," she said. "There's definitely stuff in there."

If Zane squinted hard, he swore he saw more shadows in the fog. Coiling over the water, serpent-like.

And now that they'd got near the banks you could hear voices whispering in the fog, like they were sharing secrets just out of hearing…

Avery said she would let them know if anything got too close, though even she looked a little unsure what was in there. The water was quite gunky.

***

They came to the banks and saw all the ways the dwarves had tried to conquer the lake. There were stone docks and piers scattered all along the bank, big flat blocks jutting deep into the gunk. Spirit Steel winches all over. A few chunky steam-ships were scattered by the docks, half-sunken, useless.

There were some watchtowers built up by the shore too—mostly listing on their sides, sagging into the bog. If you kept walking about half a mile right, you could see a once-mighty dam stretching in a loose semicircle. It was punctured, though. Thick streams of water slogged gently through.

Most of the place had rusted over, or been taken over by mosses and barnacles.

Zane saw broken-up chunks of wall too—spread far apart, but they must've linked together once. The parts that survived were dozens of feet tall, and just about as thick. Old rune etchings ran up their sides, meant to keep them sturdy. He wondered what they were guarding against.

Anyway. They were mostly useless now. But as he and his friends passed, Zane would stop occasionally, dig out the highest grade chunk of whatever steel they came across, and eat it. This led to quite a bit of snacking as they tried to find a way forward. He got pretty close to a Level in his Bones—not quite, though. Earth - Mythic Skills took a lot to Level.

They ambled along the shore for a bit. Reina considered resurrecting one of those boats with a Skill. Maybe try sailing them across.

"Wait!" cried Avery. "Over there!"

She pointed, and they went. It turned out there were a fleet of steel bridges striking deep into the lake. Mostly intact. They spanned a few islands in-between, but they would get them to the far shore.

There, miles and miles away, Avery could just make out the outlines of a castle. The final section where the staircase to the next floor lay: the Throne Room.