87. The Power of Friendship

There was a stunned silence. The crowd of World Rankers took in what just happened with slack faces.

Evan stared at him, eyes shining. "Woah... you're really strong!"

"Thanks." Zane turned to go.

"Wait!"

He looked back, frowning. "What?"

But Evan wasn't there anymore. Zane felt his soul behind him. He turned again and found the boy staring up at him with wide, innocent blue eyes. When had he...?

He'd moved—somehow without disturbing the air. Without making a sound or leaving a trace. Zane frowned. This guy was fast, faster than that Javier even.

Zane didn't like fast things. Especially fast things with high Dexterity. He associated them with birds. And birds were the worst thing ever. That was just common sense.

He checked the boy out.

𝔼𝕧𝕒𝕟 𝔸𝕣𝕞𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟡𝟚

𝕊𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕝𝕖: 𝔾𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕟 𝔹𝕠𝕪

ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤: 𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕓𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕖

𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤:

𝕄𝕒𝕛𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕖𝕕 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥)

𝕄𝕒𝕛𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕠𝕝𝕒𝕣 ℙ𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥)

𝕄𝕒𝕛𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔸𝕣𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕪)

𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡 (ℙ𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝕊𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝]

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕣'𝕤 𝕓𝕠𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕓𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕖𝕟𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤, 𝕒𝕤 𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕝 𝕒𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕤.

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝔻𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 (ℙ𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝕊𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝]

𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕗𝕒𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕕𝕕𝕤 𝕠𝕣 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒 𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕖𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕒 𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕘𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕙 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕧𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝.

𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕓𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝔸𝕣𝕔 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝕊𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝]

ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕛𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕤 𝕒 𝕓𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕝𝕪, 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕒 𝕣𝕒𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥. 𝔸 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕒𝕝𝕞𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕕𝕠𝕕𝕘𝕖. ℝ𝕖𝕗𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕤 𝕠𝕗𝕗 𝕠𝕗 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕙𝕚𝕥 𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕖𝕤; 𝕒 𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕕 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕝 𝕥𝕠𝕠𝕝.

𝕄𝕚𝕣𝕣𝕠𝕣 𝔻𝕒𝕤𝕙 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕔]

𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕣𝕖𝕗𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕗𝕗 𝕒 𝕞𝕚𝕣𝕣𝕠𝕣, 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕖𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕠 𝕞𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕒𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖𝕗𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕 𝕒𝕥 𝕙𝕚𝕘𝕙 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕖𝕕, 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕓𝕖𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕒𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕖𝕤. 𝕍𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕖𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕔𝕜 𝕣𝕖𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕕𝕠𝕕𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤, 𝕠𝕣 𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕚𝕟 𝕠𝕟 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕖𝕤.

𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 ℝ𝕖𝕗𝕝𝕖𝕩𝕖𝕤 (ℙ𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕔]

𝔾𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘-𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕔𝕜 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖.

Zane did a double take. 'Power of Friendship'? 'Power of Determination'?

What?

Those didn't even sound like real Skills.

"You're the Savage Sage, aren't you?" said Evan.

"…Maybe."

"We're Ranking Buddies!" Evan beamed. "I'm Rank 17 and you're Rank 16. Hi, I'm Evan. It's nice to meet you!"

"Hi?"

The boy still felt nervous, but not anxiety-attack nervous like before. He came up to Zane cautiously, like he was approaching a grizzly bear to try to feed it a fish.

He mostly felt hopeful.

"I've heard all about you—you're one of the good guys!" gushed Evan. "You freed Washington from that horrible Marcus Blackwell, right? And then you freed Oregon from that demon Fire Cult up there too! Are you here to wipe out those Tomb Kings and clear this dungeon, and save Northern California once and for all?"

Every feeling Zane got from the boy was weirdly pure. Quite vivid too. He was just full of earnest hope. With pretty much everyone else, Zane felt a little dark undertone—maybe some greed or deception lurking in the back of their mind. Evan felt like a puppy or something.

Zane didn't know what to do with him.

"Uh. I am not one of the 'good guys,'" Zane clarified hastily. He didn't even know what that was supposed to mean. "I like clearing dungeons. That's it. Marcus and the Cult just… happened to be in the way."

Evan blinked. "But… you're here to clear this dungeon too, right? And save Northern California once and for all?" He said hopefully.

"I mean. I'm here to clear the dungeon," said Zane. He still wasn't sure what the boy's game was.

"Great!" The boy's earnest smile came back on in full force.

"We should team up. I have this Skill. It's called… uh…" he flushed a little. "Nevermind that. Basically, it's a team-buff skill. We'll be stronger together—and we'll also have a better chance of clearing the dungeon, and saving—"

"Northern California once and for all. Right."

"Exactly!" Evan beamed. "Ooh—that reminds me."

He looked around at the rest of them. "Hey everyone!" He said. "We should all team up and go together. That way we'll have the best chance of clearing the dungeon! And we can watch each other's backs along the way, too, so none of us get hurt. What do you say?"

The World Rankers exchanged skeptical glances.

Zane got the impression saving Northern California once and for all was not the highest thing on their list of priorities.

The burly Faction leader in a camo tank top—Marcus Washington, a Geomancer of the Colorado Loggers Faction—spoke up. And said what was on all of their minds.

"So. Say we do clear this thing together," he said. "Who gets the rewards?"

"And what if we come across a treasure chest?" said another Faction Leader. "What then?"

"Oh," said Evan, blinking. He looked taken aback. Like the thought hadn't occurred to him. "Well, uh… I guess we can just split whatever we get evenly among all of us. That sounds fair, doesn't it?"

They did not like that answer. Zane got the sense the only split they liked was the one where they got all the treasures to themselves.

"You guys can have my share. I don't need it." Evan smiled sheepishly. "I don't really care about that stuff."

That only made them more skeptical. And they were plenty skeptical already.

You didn't need Sage Mind to sense the mood in the clearing. Looking at their dubious faces, Evan wilted a little. You could see him deflating in real-time. He just looked embarrassed. He started playing with a curl of hair. "Or… not… that's fine too…" he mumbled.

Zane winced. The boy felt crushed.

"Yeah," rumbled Marcus Washington. "We're good on our own. Thanks for the offer, kid."

He gave a little two-finger salute, and his band of a dozen or so marched off.

The Lightning Mage, the Ranger, even the Berserker lady who'd gotten walloped shuffled off too. The rest of the World Rankers followed suit.

"If—if anyone wants to join me, I'm still here! …Anyone?"

No one took him up on it.

Evan was left standing there alone.

...He was taking it pretty bad. Zane could feel exactly how bad. There were tears in the boy's eyes by the end of it.

Zane just sighed.

"Uh," he said for reasons he couldn't fully understand.

Sniffling, Evan looked up. "No—it's okay, I get it," he mumbled, putting up a wobbly smile. "It was really nice meeting you."

"That's not what I mean. You...you can come with me."

Evan blinked. "Wait… really?"

And he felt such a surge of pure joy Zane literally had to take a step back—it felt like staring directly at the sun.

Zane used to be totally insensitive to his own feelings, much less others'. Now he had Sage Mind it sometimes felt overwhelming being around people. He felt things he never usually felt. He couldn't help picking it up—like overhearing in a crowd.

And this Evan felt things more vividly than pretty much anyone he'd met. It was disorienting at times.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" beamed Evan. "You won't regret this!"

"One condition," Zane said.

"Mhm!"

"I'm here to kill Monsters. Don't mess with my kills. Stay out of my way."

Evan nodded vigorously. "You got it. Can do!"

***

They made their way toward the tree, and soon they crossed the faint translucent blue wall that marked the dungeon boundary.

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝔻𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕠𝕟: 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕖

𝔹𝕠𝕤𝕤: 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕟𝕥

ℂ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟: 𝕊𝕝𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕟𝕥

(𝟘/𝟙)

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕕𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕠𝕟'𝕤 𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕖. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕒 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕘𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕡𝕪 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 ℕ𝕠-𝔽𝕝𝕪 𝕫𝕠𝕟𝕖.

"Just one Boss, huh," Zane muttered.

"Mhm. That's how some of these B-rank dungeons are," said Evan. "But the catch is, a lot of their 'normal' Monsters are like C-rank dungeon Bosses! So it ends up being way more dangerous. Plus there's all the traps and stuff. But yeah—clear the Final Boss, and we're good."

Zane grunted acknowledgment.

He assumed it waited for him at the tippy top of this thing. He couldn't even see the highest canopy from down here—it was lost beyond the cloud layer.

As Zane crossed the border, the full extent of the boundary briefly showed. It was lair-lock blue, running over the ground floor before curving up near the edge of the trunk. Then he passed the threshold, and it went invisible again.

So you couldn't just fly from the bottom to the top. You had to actually climb the thing.

He looked up that great trunk, ridged with thousands of passageways, puffed with canopies stuffed with metallic leaves....

It was so vast, so weird, it felt like setting foot in some other world.

***

The Tree roots loomed ahead of him. They looked like elephant trunks laid out—but much bigger, colored a brown-streaked metallic grey. They rose up to meet the tree trunk maybe a mile away, tangling all over each other.

He saw the routes going between them on the mini-map. From a birds-eye view it looked like a maze. There seemed to be plenty of ways through this mess. And plenty of routes up the tree once you got there, too.

All of them were smothered in red dots. All the way through. Zane didn't see any Monsters—at least not immediately up ahead. Were they underground or something?

"Woah…" gasped Evan, looking straight up, blinking at the foliage. "It's beautiful."

One route looked as good as another. So he just started walking, and Evan followed happily behind him. Their steps swished through ankle-high grass.

Something about this place felt odd to him. And it wasn't just how big everything was. There was a constant low-level noise. Not sound noise—soul noise. He felt it spread up from the ground as though a crowd hid under the dirt. He felt noise pouring out from either side of him too, from those giant roots…

Something caught his ankle.

He hadn't felt it coming. Or rather he had—but it was lost in so much soul noise he might as well have felt nothing at all. He frowned down and found a spiky shiny silver vine thick as a python coiling around his leg.

𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝 ℝ𝕠𝕠𝕥 (𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣)

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟟𝟝

Then it tried yanking him under.

It didn't get very far. With a flicker of will he was a heavy block of Spirit Steel. Frowning, he tried jerking himself out. It was surprisingly hard. He raised his arm to slash at the thing, but before he could, it slithered away whip-quick.

"…"

He kept walking, frowning. A few seconds later, another lashed him so hard he almost tripped. When he went to cut it, it was gone.

Zane stopped moving. He just frowned at the ground, waiting for one of these stupid ground birds to show its face again. It didn't.

Then he started walking, and a vine caught him mid-step.

It got him knee-deep into the ground before he yanked his leg back out. Before he could throw in a Rising Storm Slash, the earth closed back up.

"Are you okay?!" cried Evan, pattering up to him.

"Yeah," grunted Zane. It was just annoying. He frowned up. Could you walk on top of this root-maze? Only for a little. Soon as you got a few hundred feet in you ran up against the Lair Lock ceiling.

He decided to just ignore the ground birds. Whatever.

He tripped and stumbled the next hundred feet or so, getting more and more annoyed.

Then came a buzzing. It got louder the deeper they went, rattling down the giant root-walls. They made a turn and saw the source of it.

𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝𝕗𝕒𝕟𝕘 𝕃𝕠𝕔𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕊𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕞 (𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣)

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟠𝟞

There were so many little red-tipped dots hovering there he couldn't even make them out. Just a vibrating cloud of black and red. He blinked.

Then they rushed him all at once. And the stinging began.

They were getting in his nose. They were getting in his eyes, his ears, stabbing teensy burning needles up all up and down his body, and he roared and they got in his throat too. He started to gag. Rising Storm Slash! It ripped out a chunk of them. There was a beautiful glorious burning; then more took their place.

Freaking bug birds!

They weren't even doing anything real. Their stings did almost nothing to his body. His health was still well over 90%. They were just...

That's it.

He got out his Axes. He felt a little ridiculous busting out Stormfire Cyclone for some stupid flies, but he'd do it, damnit—

His world exploded in light. He felt powerful brilliant Laws envelop him. Never touching him, just arching around him, making a spiderweb of light.

Then the bugs were gone. Roasted to a crisp. Turning to essence, floating into a cringing Evan.

"Sorry!" he said. "I... I know you said not to get in your way, but—"

"No," said Zane, blinking. "No. This is good. You can kill birds?"

"What?"

"Little annoying things that don't do anything," Zane clarified.

"I… think so?"

"You do that," said Zane. "I will beat up the strong things. You have permission to kill all birds."

"Oh. Okay." Evan saluted like a Boy Scout. "Will do!"

They kept going. Ten steps later Zane felt a ripple of Law go by his feet. He looked down.

There lay a severed Titansteel Root. The other half squirmed trembling back into its hole.

Zane stared at Evan.

"Was—was that okay?" Evan said nervously.

"How did you do that?"

"Oh! I dunno. Reflexes, I guess?"

Zane kept staring. He saw it now. The truth. You had to use a bird to beat a bird. Evan was a very good bird.

"I like you."

Evan flushed; he scratched the back of his head. "Aw, geez…"

They kept going.

Zane got the sense Evan was capable of a lot more than just pest cleanup. Like driving a Lamborghini exclusively in a Walmart parking lot. Some of Evan's Skills made him sound… important?

But Zane was happy with his performance, so he saw no need to change things.

Fifty steps and a sharp turn later, they ran up against what Zane considered their first real Monster.