Savage Awakening 101. Show and Tell

They lay there for who knew how long. Zane was happy just being Reina's pillow, listening as best he could, and being curious. He could tell she was a little pent-up. He wanted to help her vent a little.

She started telling him about it. Things were going better actually. The Harbormasters were her main headache—that was squished now. She had no big sudden threats. The Faction was getting to be a well-oiled machine. She had all these measures in place to take care of dungeon breaks, or wars, or petty intra-Faction disputes. She was even training up trusted underlings who could take over for her if need be.

"Maybe then I can go with you on one of your adventures," she murmured, looking up at him. She smiled softly. Zane was a little hesitant. He stroked her hair silently. He didn't want to put her in danger. He also didn't think she would approve of the kinds of things he got up to. Like how that last dungeon ended… he'd gloss over some things when he told her the story. For her blood pressure's sake.

In the end though, if she wanted to come and they were together, he didn't think it was right to stop her. One of these days, he promised her. And she felt satisfied.

She kept updating him about the Faction. Now that things had settled some, not everyone had to be an active duty dungeoneer. Most folk still trained for battle, but a few just weren't cut out for it; some became diplomats or messengers or council members. Some tried picking up crafts.

Crafts like smithing. Or alchemy. It was possible—those elixirs had to be made some way. But they'd had scant success. They were still better off buying from the Beacon. The System made it a lot harder to level craft Skills than combat Skills. And you didn't get essence from crafting.

"Why do you think that is?" he said.

Reina bit her lip. She was frowning a little; he could almost hear the gears in her head start to whir. "It's clearly by design. I don't know, but if I had to guess, the System gives you problems. Dungeons. It wants to incentivize learning Skills that solve those problems. That is, Skills that kill Monsters. I've heard theories that the System is an apocalypse—it's sent to end mankind. I don't buy that… I don't think it's about us. I think it's about Monsters."

"Huh." Zane thought about it. "What do you mean?"

"Well—" She sat up. She held up a finger. She was getting into lecture mode now.

"Monsters don't need dungeons. Monsters want to break out of dungeons. So what does that tell you?"

"…Monsters don't like dungeons?"

"Exactly." She smiled. "Dungeons and Monsters act in opposition to each other. Dungeons hold Monsters."

"Hm."

"If you look at it that way, dungeons keep us safe. I first heard Avery say this, and I think she's right. Dungeons are really a prison."

She was getting into it. Making hand gestures and everything. She was so pretty when she was being smart.

"You said you could feel Monsters souls—they've been corrupted. I think dungeons are a place to hold corrupted souls. We know souls aren't destroyed, only bodies. If you think of it that way, Monster spawning is just another kind of reincarnation."

"Huh."

She would make a good professor. Zane had never been one for school, but he could've sat there forever just having her teach him things.

Her mini-lecture ended, and she slumped back into him.

Zane had no clue what to make of all that. "So there'll always be dungeons and Monsters?"

"It's not so bad," she murmured, snuggling up to him. Now she was whirring down. She was back in cuddle mode.

"Think of it this way," she said sleepily. "If corrupted souls recycle, pure souls do too. So long as there are Monsters, there will be people there to fight them. People like you." And she nuzzled him in the head. Then she paused. "But… that's just a theory."

He figured she was probably right. She was usually right about pretty much everything. He just liked hearing her talk.

She'd finished rehabilitating most of their Safe Zones now. There wasn't a Legion to go to war with or anything. But somehow she still kept herself busy dawn till dusk—there was always some problem to take care of. She was such a perfectionist.

The flipside of that was she always seemed to find some way to stress herself out. Things seemed great around here to Zane, but all she saw were things to fix. She still wanted to revamp their warrior training protocols, recruit more scouts, build up a deep Skill knowledge reservoir, put a fully staffed healing ward in every Safe Zone…

Zane wondered if there was a way to make her not-stressed. But Reina was just the kind of person who had to throw herself at big, hard problems, he'd realized. Kind of like how he threw himself at fights. She was born to help people, to lead people out of the dark. She wasn't happy if she didn't do things that made her stressed all the time. It was a bit of a paradox.

Zane told her she was brilliant and she was already doing great, and she kind of looked at him side-on. But it was true. He was her number-one fan. He just didn't know how to express it without sounding corny.

***

Then they had a bit of a show and tell. After Reina got her Signature Title, her comprehension speed more than tripled. Her big problem was still that she had no time. But she had been working at it the past couple of weeks, and she had two Major Laws to show for it—the Major Law of Living Harmony and the Major Law of Resilient Vitality. Both Wood Laws.

She'd only woven one of them into her Signature Skill—the one that let her heal anything, animate or inanimate. But it still made Zane happy to see. She could repair plant-based buildings faster now, which was quite useful given that was most of the Luminous Faction.

He gave her his haul—the Vital Bark Pinecone to help with her Law, and the Tome of Deeproot Healing too. With boosted regeneration and super healing powers, she'd be a force to be reckoned with.

When she saw them, she let out a little, "Oh, Zane…" And she was kissing him again. She was still up to her neck in work—a little too busy to put all her focus on it. But she said she'd have it learned by the time they went adventuring.

***

Afterward, they went for a walk down the beach, just watching the waves. There were a few other couples there, a family or two even. It felt strangely like before the change, except for all the weird clothes they all wore. The others stared a little but gave them space.

They didn't even need to talk. Just spending time together walking quietly was enough. For Reina, it was more than enough; she hugged his arm and leaned on him as they walked, and she was in bliss.

It was kind of surprising—he wasn't even doing anything. But that was precisely it, he'd learned.

Reina was usually always 'on'; her mind was always firing. It was what got her all exhausted and stressed all the time. But now she could just turn off and lean on him and take a nice afternoon stroll down the beach. Just turn off and relax. For a while, he'd been baffled why she liked him—she was so smart and used to dealing with all kinds of complex things. He thought she'd get bored of him quickly. But it turned out she actually liked him because she filled the rest of her life with so much complexity. He was like her breath of fresh air.

He didn't mind being the simple one. He was just happy he could make her happy.

***

When they got back, Reina checked the Beacon for messages. It was like checking her e-mail before the change—even on 'off' days she still couldn't go too long without it. She was just too important.

She wrinkled her nose when she saw it. Then she turned to him. "It's for you."

The message read—

Hey there! It's your pal Elias checking in again! Just wanted to congratulate you on clearing that Titansteel dungeon. Great stuff! And hey, you're World Rank 13 too! You know I've always believed in you.

You'll be coming up on that dreaded Level 99 bottleneck soon, I'll wager. It just so happens I have the world's best Fire and Steel Caverns of Insight here in SF. They're getting popular. We've got like a quarter of the world's Top 100 down here! But for you, I'll always have a spot reserved.

Speaking of—Big news, by the way! I'm hosting a summit! I call it the 'Ventor Global Initiative,' and it'll last all through next week. I'm handing out all kinds of swag. That's Sf-speak for 'treasures,' by the way. You should really pop by and shake some hands.

It's getting to be a little festival down here, a real who's who of global powers, you know. Even the World Rankers who didn't come sent ambassadors! Your friend Avery's here too, by the way, just chilling.

Here's the kicker. I bought the single best Skill training Dojo in the world. It cost me an arm and a leg to get it, and every use of it costs another arm. But it's so worth it. It's goddamn awesome.

It's called the ‘Asura Hell Array.’ It simulates the 9 Layers of Hell. You keep killing demons until you either ‘die’ or go up a layer—but you get real essence for each kill! Which means you can grind a shit-ton of kills at once. Here’s the kicker: every time you kill something with a Skill in there, it gives a shitton more experience than real life. Get up to the sixth layer, and it's like you're Skill Leveling four times as fast! No one's gotten past there yet. But who knows how fast you can level at layer 9?

There's a high score, by the way. After Eze broke through to Foundation, he's topped the leaderboard. It's like a measure not just of Level, but also combat effectiveness…maybe you can dethrone him.

Some of these World Rank sub-30s are paying me through the nose to use it, and there's a long-ass waiting list! But your pitbull of a girlfriend… I mean this is a compliment, by the way!... squeezed some terms I now regret out of me. So you can use it whenever you like at no extra charge.

P.S. Still got those B-ranked treasures with your name on them, just sitting here waiting…

P.P.S. If you're curious how you stack up against the World Rank top 10 talent-wise, I also have a device that'll measure it for you. Two devices actually. One for comprehension talent, one for cultivation talent. Seriously, guy. You've gotta come.

"He's really trying to sell you on going," said Reina.

"Do you think I should?" Zane couldn't lie. It was a pretty sleazy pitch. But still enticing. He liked the sound of that array.

She paused. "You're dropping by the area anyway, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

She looked hesitant. "Elias is a rat," she said. "… but as long as you're not signing anything… as long as you're careful what you agree to—"

"Of course."

She was quiet for a while, mulling it over. Then—"It could help to stop by. We have a non-aggression pact. And he's right. If it's part of the terms, then you have unrestricted access to whatever resources the Coven has. We should be taking advantage of it. Just… be smart, okay?"

Zane nodded.

***

Zane gave most of the rest of his dungeon haul to her. When they came across those Merchant's Guild credits, the topic of the Merchant's Guild token came up.

It was still a bit of a mystery, but Reina did note that one of these Merchant's Guild auctions was coming up next month. You could convert essence stones to auction credits in the Merchant's Guild section of the Beacon. If they saved up essence stones, maybe they could nab something useful for him. Though neither of them was sure how exactly it worked.

Finally, Zane gave her the forty high-grade essence stones he'd gotten from the Quest. She gave it some thought.

"I was thinking of saving up to buy an A-rank consumable treasure for you," she told him. "With this…" she frowned like she was crunching imaginary numbers. "We could barely afford it. I think it's better we save up for now. Let's see what that Auction has in store."

He also wondered if she'd heard anything about those Tomb Kings. They'd just lost one of their strongest fighters—in a dungeon he was in. And if they heard he was in Abyssal Crater when their other top World Ranker died, too… could be some trouble.

But Reina said they were quiet. Almost strangely so. The rumor was that Mike Masters, World Rank #8, was in seclusion right now. Trying to break through the bottleneck like the rest of the top World Rankers.

***

It was getting late. They were going to go back to their headquarters home, but Zane called for a pit stop by the healing wards. "There's someone I want you to meet."