Wish came into the world and showed the full potential of his Solar Flare.

  It wasn’t just an explosion. It was a focused funnel of a gold so bright it blurred to white, yawning out, sweeping, punching through all it touched.

  Then he felt a great CRUNCH, and he knew he got them.

  It was the meatiest crunch he’d gotten yet.

  It wasn’t just the bees, he felt. There was a greater, thicker crunching, like he was punching through something huge and thick. He felt cracks rippling through it, felt it giving way—and then he was through.

  The gold blasted high into the void and joined the shooting stars.

  When it vanished, it left clear sky in its wake.

  He blinked.

  Sure enough—a little meteor shower shone down on him, and glacier-light flooded through the gap. That was outside. Between there and here lay a tunnel fit for giants.

  It seemed he’d just blasted straight through the Bone Hills.

  There’d been too many of the bee Monsters to count before. Now he only saw piles on piles of ash, spread all over the place. Quickly dissolving to essence.

  One good shot was all it took.

  Sure enough— Level up!

  Essence Level 485 -> 486

  Skill up!

  Heavenly Solar Flare Smash III -> IV

  But it heartened him most to see—

  Skill up!

  Asura Titan’s Body, First Form IX -> X

  For a while, he just stood there, breathing heavily. Then—

  “Fuck these birds,” said Zane.

  ***

  On his way back, he was still feeling pretty pleased with himself.

  That went pretty quick. Just one more to go.

  He was making good progress digesting that Transcendent-grade steel, too. He was still running pretty hot after that.

  That fight had powered his Asura state all the way up, and the bulk of it was finally breaking, melting through.

  He could feel more and more of its powers melting into his body, making of him a new and stronger alloy…

  He felt a tingling in his gut.

  Just then—

  Bottleneck reached

  Sacred Bone required to advance

  Skill: Asura Titan’s Body, First Form contains overclocking capabilities

  Skill level overclocking….

  Huh.

  Skill up!

  Essence Level X -> XI [Overclocked]

  Overclock levels convert to normal levels after the bottleneck has been cleared

  That was new.

  He wasn’t sure what to make of it—it didn’t say how these Overclock levels were different from normal levels. Often when he leveled his body, he felt a little different. Each time a little faster, stronger, heartier. But after that Skill-up, he felt pretty much the same.

  ***

  Quite a few Rhinos were delighted to see him. There was no fire-watch party this time. Lots of Rhinos were still napping after the big stampede. But the Rhinos here had guessed what’d gone down after they saw his blast torching the skies. He got lots of horn-bumps as he came through.

  Then— “Jogo’s lad!” came a roar.

  It came from old Nog, over by the fire. It was rare to see the old fellow awake—he was a bit surprised at first. The Rhino Chief seemed in good spirits.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “You come on over!”

  Zane did. Up close it was clear Nog was almost twice as big as some of the other Rhinos. Nog eyed him, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. When they did, though, the old fellow brightened.

  “How’re you getting along with those damned pests?” “I just finished off the second one,” said Zane. “Eh? Already?” Nog wheezed. He nodded. Then the old fellow squinted harder. “You’re at peak Titanform.” “That’s right.” “Just the Bone to go. Mm. You’re knocking on the door, lad,” said Nog. “Can’t open it yet, but where you’re at, you can get a glimpse of what’s coming. Can you feel it?”

  Zane thought about it. He tried looking within himself.

  At first, he didn’t feel anything special.

  Then he paid closer attention, brow furrowing…

  “I do,” said Zane, surprising himself. Like some invisible door at the edges of his soul, of his being. Somewhere he could only reach at his peak. It’d take a Bone to unlock it—but he felt he could just about stand on the threshold if he put his mind to it.

  “Now that’s your Sacred Bone Skill you’re feeling,” said Nog. “Ties into the Titanform. Could get a few things. Annihilation Charge, for one—now there’s a mighty one! Or Quake Slam—good and reliable. There’s a few others, though. Ancient Skills.”

  Nog harrumphed.

  “Skills only the old ones knew, long-lost. Don’t you think just ’cause they’re ancient, they’re no good, lad! The ancients knew things about this universe that no one knew. It was one of those Skills the first Rhinoceros used to break off a chunk of the Undying Cliffs, all on his lonesome.”

  He did like the sound of that.

  “You go lick that turtle shell, you hear?” said Nog. “Then you come back, and take the Bone, and you’ll know. Sure would be something if it’s one of those ancient Skills… it’d give an old Rhino some peace, knowing the Rhinos’ll be alright.”

  Nog yawned, trundled back around, and put down his head. In seconds he was snoring.

  Zane considered this for a while. He still wasn’t sure what it all meant. But the more he looked within, the more he felt something was unlocking in his Titanform.

  That Transcendent steel was light, but strong. He could sense the quality of each chunk that merged in.

  The moment he got that Bone, he knew he’d shoot straight through that bottleneck.

  ***

  That evening he ate with the Rhinos around the mess bowl, munching alongside a dozen other Rhinos. He took a few hours to soak in a nice mud bath, floating, eyes closed, just drifting. Half the herd floated there too. It was pretty peaceful. Every so often the currents would bump him into another Rhino, but they’d soon float away too.

  The Barbarian Sage still hadn’t come back yet. He asked about it through a mouthful of one of Shaman Guri’s leaf-cookies.

  Guri set down a giant branch she was using to poke the bonfire.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about him, dear. Sometimes these hunts can run long. Knowing Jogo, he’s having a great time of it out there.”

  She sighed. “These next few years’ll be good for him, I should think.”

  He looked at her questioningly.

  “It’s been a peaceful few millennia, dear,” she explained. “Some folk are made for peace, some for war. But most can learn to settle down, with time. That’s the thing about Jogo. He’s got that itch in him… he’ll raise his beasts, and train his strength, but horns were made to war.”

  Zane could relate, now he thought of it.

  “This Monster could be just what he needs,” she said pleasantly.

  ***

  It had only been a few days, but he was starting to feel like just another Rhino. He slept with the Rhinos, just another one of the herd.

  He went to sleep thinking about the million-year Bone. His belly churned deep into the night.

  Just one more Monster Prince to go. It’d be the toughest one yet, he knew. There he’d see what half-step True God was cracked up to be.

  He was looking forward to it.

  The Barbarian Sage landed on a lily pad in a crouch, sniffing, eyes darting.

  He grinned wildly.

  He was damned close—he could feel it.

  It was a tricky beast, this two-tailed scorpion. It liked its ambushes—and there were few better spots for that than the Devil’s Cauldron.

  It was the great swamp of the Desolate Wilds. Like all the Wilds it was made of broken-up chunks, a biome spanning thousands of asteroids. The bog slushed through it all, rising here, falling there. Even the waterfalls here moved lazily, slowly, dumping sewer-like waters from chunk to chunk.

  The bog was constantly bubbling. Bones would pop up here and there, and only from the strongest Minor Gods, and only briefly—most anything else dissolved in blinks. Even the creatures that lived here wouldn’t dare dip a toe in—the only folk brave enough to live in it were the Cauldron’s apex predators. The Devil Croc.

  He looked left, and saw a serpent camouflaged as a vine, ready to snap your head off. He looked right, and saw the Giantkiller beetle—no bigger than a fist, its bite could crack even peak Heaven-grade Steel.

  “Nine Hells!” chuckled the Sage.

  He leaped between the lily pads. It’d been ages since he was last here, but the dank, faintly sour smell, that chirping, screeching, slurrying hum, it was all coming back. Coming here was like stepping into the maw of some great beast. What more could a man want?

  Truth be told, not much got him going nowadays. It’d been ages since he had a good tussle. He had a good feeling about this one.

  Though his movements were swift and forceful, he left no ripples in the bog water.

  He slipped right under the noses of Overlord Cobras. Leaped over a nest of Agrorantulas, and kept making good pace on the hunt. They hadn’t even managed to wound this Scorpion-beast yet, so Guri couldn’t get a read on it. That suited him just fine. He was happy to track it the old-fashioned way.

  This last day he’d grinned damn near every second. He was almost sorry it had to come to an end.

  But it was coming to an end, and fast. They were in the deep forest now, and there he caught the trail.

  Bones drifted down the bog. Sacred Bones.

  Scales like emeralds. Beautiful spikes of white teeth.

  Those were Croc bones.

  This thing wasn’t like the other Monsters. It’d left the riffraff alone. It was only interested in hunting the apex predators.

  “Proud one, aren’t you?” muttered the Sage.

  He leaped a few more lily pads. He could smell it. It had to be around here somewhere….

  His eyes darted back and forth.

  Then he went still—and leaped.

  At the same instant, the bog erupted beneath him. Two stingers swung through like wrecking balls and came within feet of skewering him. He landed on the banks.

  His foe rose from the bog.

  Kalagor, the Reaper Scorpion (Monster King)

  Essence Level 718

  Its body was one sprawling bone-white skeleton, so big the bog’s water levels plummeted as it rose. Six red eyes like blood pearls sticking out of a wide shield of a head. Its stingers drifted overhead, shivering faintly, bulbous ends tipped void-black.

  Then its Distortion field crashed out of it, and the world changed.

  A new world intruded on this one. A world of bleak skies. Beneath, mountains of skulls stacked atop each other—a desert of skulls, rising and falling, stretching endlessly into the horizon… this was no domain. It was not even a reality distortion field. It was the Scorpion’s inner universe, overwriting this realm—and there its powers were absolute.

  It was the realm of an Empyrean.

  I have been waiting for you… hissed the Scorpion. Barbarian Sage.