152. The A-Ranks

When they got out, they found the Beacon at the top of the hill. There was a dungeon chest waiting for them. It looked more like a vault. It was the size of a house, built of Spirit Steel that could've been a treasure unto itself. When it cracked open, a golden light spread out from within.

And there they found an astonishment of riches.

There were—40 Merchant's Guild credits, 100 high-grade essence stones; it took Reina 4 seconds and one scan to count them. Which was the total holdings of some of the world's largest Factions in one fell swoop. Then there were three A-rank Vials of Essence which they devoured right away.

𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕦𝕡!

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟙𝟚𝟜 -> 𝟙𝟚𝟝

Reina was up to Level 113 now too.

There was also a strange treasure that was ranked the highest of all.

It was written in a strange script that unscrambled as Zane squinted at it.

𝟙𝟠𝟠𝕥𝕙 ℂ𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕃𝕠𝕘 (𝔸+)

He flipped it open, frowning. It didn't seem to have any Laws in it. Or much essence. It was just a leatherbound notebook. The leather was high quality; there was no fraying to it, though he could tell it was very old. He wasn't sure how—it just had that feeling. Something about the musty smell of it, the touch…

The pages were less pristine, earmarked and roughed up in places. But many were readable.

Each of them started with the word 'Candidate,' plus a number and name. Like—

ℂ𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕖 #𝟙𝟡𝟝𝟝. 𝔸𝕖 𝕍𝕚𝕜𝕒𝕚.

ℝ𝕖𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥 𝕕𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕓𝕪: 𝕊𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕥 ℍ𝕒𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕫𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕖 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

𝕐𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝟙𝟛𝟞𝟚, 𝟡𝕥𝕙 𝕄𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕦𝕞.

𝕃𝕒𝕨 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕒𝕝𝕤: 𝕞𝕖𝕕𝕚𝕦𝕞 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕡𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕒𝕝, 𝕙𝕚𝕘𝕙 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕡𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕒𝕝. 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕪 𝕡𝕒𝕥𝕙: 𝕋𝕚𝕖𝕣 𝟜—𝕄𝕠𝕝𝕥𝕖𝕟 ℂ𝕠𝕣𝕖. ℂ𝕖𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘: 𝕋𝕚𝕖𝕣 𝟞—𝕊𝕦𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕒.

𝔸𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥: 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥: 𝔼𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝔹𝟡

ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥: 𝔼𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝔸𝟛

ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤: 𝕊𝕦𝕟 𝕊𝕟𝕚𝕡𝕖𝕣 (𝔸𝕣𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕦𝕓-ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤)

𝕄𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪: ℂ𝕒𝕝𝕔𝕦𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕, 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕚𝕡𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕕𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝, 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕘𝕘𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖. ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕦𝕝𝕒𝕣𝕝𝕪 𝕖𝕩𝕔𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕒𝕥 𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕖 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕥 𝕤𝕟𝕚𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕘𝕘𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕥 𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕕𝕤—𝕠𝕣 𝕚𝕗 𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕖 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕥 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕡𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕞𝕪.

𝔼𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕜: 𝟞𝟛𝕣𝕕

ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕒𝕝 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥 𝕠𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕣: 𝟡 𝕤𝕦𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕤, 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕚𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡 𝕥𝕠 𝕒 𝕄𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 ℙ𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕥 𝕄𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕝𝕖, 𝕠𝕨𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡 𝕠𝕗 𝔽-𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕔𝕖 ℙ𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕥, 𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕣 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙-𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕜 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕤. 𝔸𝕕𝕕𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕗𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕥𝕠 𝕀𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕣 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕘𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕟 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕦𝕖𝕕 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖.

ℂ𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕟 𝕆𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕣: ℕ𝕠.

𝕆𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕓𝕚𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤: 𝔻𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 ℍ𝕒𝕝𝕝

𝕆𝕦𝕥𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖: 𝔾𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕟 𝕙𝕚𝕘𝕙 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 𝕡𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕒𝕝, 𝔻𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 ℍ𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕚𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕠𝕦𝕥𝕓𝕚𝕕.

It went on and on.

Zane handed it off to Reina, confused. She flipped through the pages—it seemed to take her just a few blinks to read each one. In a few minutes, she was done with the whole thing. Then she closed her eyes, frowning like she was trying to make sense of all the data floating in her head.

After a bit— "That's… interesting," she said at last. She sounded a little distant. She bit her lip. "I think it's to do with the first Integration Phase? I'll…need to think about this."

***

It was sunrise when they came out—they saw people milling at the outskirts of the newly cleared dungeon. Wandering about with wide eyes, staring at the graves like they couldn't believe there weren't Monsters popping out of them. A cloud of awe and shock hung over them; they all felt like they were waking from a long nightmare.

There was a small portly old man in a black cap came clambering up to them—it was the Mayor, apparently.

Reina instantly shut off the worrying, contemplating part of her brain. Suddenly she was all warm and personable again. She greeted the man with a smile, all professional. "Mayor Allen! It's a pleasure."

"Miss Vice Head…" said the Mayor. He had dark bags under his kindly eyes; he looked like he hadn't slept in months. "You have no idea how much trouble that blasted dungeon's caused us—no more barricading at night! No more getting woken up to those damned ghoul screams! I could cry, Miss Vice Head…"

He turned to Zane, a little tearful. "From the bottom of my heart, Savage Sage, sir—I, and the city, must thank you!"

Zane nodded. He used to feel kind of awkward at times like these but nowadays it just rolled over him.

While Reina chatted the guy up, Zane looked around.

There was a cleanup crew going around at the dungeon's edge. Healers and Mages vanishing the soot and the debris, making paths through the mess. They wore uniforms and gas masks and everything; Reina had said you needed to get rid of the rubble before the terraforming could begin. She had the whole process nailed down.

The Luminous Faction wasn't the world's biggest Faction. But it always punched far above its weight class in terms of resources, morale, and its coffers—those were comparable to the world's best. Even though Zane was their lone top fighter.

That was all thanks to Reina. She was a genius when it came to resource management. And also a lot of other things. She noticed him staring at her and blinked, curious. He was just quietly marveling at her. He looked away.

She finished up with the Mayor, and they set off back for headquarters. She was back to being unusually quiet, brooding. Then—

"It seems like it's for Faction recruitment," she said out of the blue. "That was a scouting report. Making notes on who they think are the best candidates and what they're willing to offer for them."

Zane blinked.

"The Alien Factions," Reina elaborated. "Like the Azure Flame Faction, Mount Thunderclast, the Temple of the World Tree—you've seen them, right?"

Zane nodded. "Yes."

"' Integration,'… it means we'll eventually join some wider universe—some wider society," she murmured. "This isn't the first time it's happened. When the time comes—that should be Phase One, I guess, or even later—that's when they'll start making these offers."

"Hmm," said Zane.

Another silence.

"Though if they're as powerful as they seem, why wouldn't they take us by force?" Reina went on. "Maybe there's… rules? To how they have to behave? It seems like the System's the one handling the Integration, not those Factions…" She shook her head. "I don't know."

Zane wasn't really sure what to think. She made a lot of sense. But it did seem too early to tell for sure to him. He told her so, and she nodded. "You're right," she said and took a deep breath and squeezed his hand tight. "And I'm just speculating. I could be totally wrong... we don't know enough to tell, one way or another."

There wasn't much use thinking about it now. They'd deal with it when it came, Zane figured. It sounded pretty far off. They had a string of challenges to get through before even thinking about that—including clearing that supposedly hellish Superdungeon first.

Before then, though, they'd hit up a string of A-Rank dungeons.

***

There was a week or so before the auction. A week to get as rich as they could—by plundering as many A-Rank dungeons as they could.

They'd start with that A-Rank Pacific Island dungeon first. Then the Scandinavian one. And they had no portals that could take them that far just yet; they'd have to go by ship.

The one waiting for them at the spiffy new port on Olympia Beach was a beauty; it looked like a Spanish galleon. Reina had bought it off the Harbourmasters. It'd been refurbished with Dark Ironwood, a cousin of Titansteel. Its sails were something called 'Skyweaver Silk,' made from an Elemental Air Silkworm. They billowed strong even when there was no wind.

It was called the Stormseeker.

They were greeted by its Captain—Enzo, an earnest plump old man. He used to Captain cruise ships, apparently. Now he was here. The crew were mostly Warriors as deckhands and Rogues as navigators, a few Mages and Archers too; they stood stiffly to attention, saluting. All of them seemed pretty nervous to have them on board.

There were surveillance crystals all over the place—including on the bottom of the ship scanning for Monsters. There was an A-rank ocean dungeon nearby, set in a trench too deep to clear without a Water Law specialist. A few Monsters had escaped from there; they'd mounted some giant steel cannons just in case. They swiveled off the sides of the boat.

Zane and Reina made their way to the living quarters inside. They were nice and comfy, with expensive-looking cushions and couches. They spent most of the voyage there cultivating; Reina had gotten noise wards installed there the day before, which came in handy. They arrived a few hours later, landing on a white sand beach. The dungeon beyond rose through a forest shrill with the cries of insects; red dots swarmed his mini-map. Everything here—the trunks, the leaves, the vines, the roots, even—were a good bit bigger than on the mainland.

"Stay here," Zane told the Captain, who nodded. "Y-yes sir!"

"We'll be back in a few hours."

He and Reina set off.

***

When Vice Faction Head Reina came into a room, everyone paid attention.

She had this air about her… poised and proud, but also kind and fair, like a queen. You couldn't help but hang on her every word—Julian Sandowski, a teenage deckhand, had seen men literally fall on their knees for her. She spoke with such authority… it was awe-inspiring.

Julian blushed. To him she was perfect, so pretty, like an angel. He sometimes thought about telling her so. Then he'd remember—why would she pay attention to someone like him? She probably didn't even know he existed.

They'd spoken exactly once, three months ago. He was wearing his favorite silk shirt with the engraved silver buttons, a lucky pick-up from a C-rank dungeon—she said it looked great on him. He was wearing it again today just for her, just thinking what a silly dummy he was, when she stopped and said, "Julian! It's so good to see you again." She gave him a soft smile. "You really like that shirt, don't you?"

He spluttered at her for a good five seconds.

She remembered him!

Then he started fantasizing all over again.

As she walked away, he tried to remind himself it was a silly crush. Everyone knew Reina was with Zane Walker.

Which stopped him dead in his tracks.

Zane Walker… Julian gulped. Something about him… just look at him, and you could sense an untamed wildness underneath. It spooked Julian a little. Even his looks—brutally handsome, with wild locks, a strong jaw, flinty eyes—made him seem like a barbarian king.

Zane and Reina just looked right together, side by side. Julian tried imagining himself next to Reina—he just couldn't. He sighed and kept sweeping the decks.

Later he saw Reina coming out of the Savage Sage's room when they made landfall. It came as a shock—Julian was used to seeing her commanding and proud. But she was on Zane Walker's arm, draped all over him; she looked kind of sleepy, dreamy. She stared up at the man adoringly, like she was drunk with affection, resting her head on his well-muscled chest—cuddling up to him.

Julian's last hope had been that it was just a political relationship. Maybe she wasn't really into guys like Zane, like all the other girls were…maybe she was into shy boys with big dreams instead…

He tried to suppress a sharp pang of disappointment.

Later—

"Stay here," the Savage Sage rumbled to Captain Enzo. "We'll be back soon."

The Captain snapped to attention—"Y-yes sir!

Longingly, Julian watched them head off.

Then—BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! There was a shrieking, a howling, a sound like a thousand death throes blended up at once.

The whole island shook; the sands on the beaches jumped a good two feet. And palm trees big as towers went fell one by one, going up in brilliant blue flames. In an instant a huge chunk of the island flattened—went up in smoke. Just like that.

Julian gasped.

𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕡𝕙𝕪𝕟𝕩, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕥, 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕟!

Not long after—

BOOM! — BOOM!

And another chunk of the island keeled over.

𝔾𝕠𝕣𝕠𝕞𝕒𝕝, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕄𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔸𝕡𝕖, 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕟!

They crew all just stared, watched, as Zane Walker made himself a living steamroller—and ran straight over the island. It was like nothing could stop him--nothing could even slow him. BOOM! BOOM!

𝔾𝕒𝕧𝕣𝕠𝕜, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕠𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕟, 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕟!

Soon after that—

𝔽𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕠𝕟, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℚ𝕦𝕖𝕥𝕫𝕒𝕝𝕔𝕠𝕒𝕥𝕝, 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕟!

By now the whole island torched with blue fire. Blue fires rising to the heavens; a new black cloud of smoke joined the tufts of white. The blues drowned out the whites of the sands, the greens and browns of the trees—until it seemed the whole island was submerged under another kind of ocean.

The whole crew just stared, blinking. They'd all seen the essence recordings--but it was a different thing entirely to see the flashes in person, to feel the sizzling heat brushing against your face... that Law—furious and powerful and domineering...

And then, finally—

𝔸-𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕜 𝔻𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕠𝕟 𝔹𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕤 𝕀𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕔𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕕!

And right there on the beach, a Beacon spawned. Along with a jeweled chest half the size of the galleon.