When you can see the life force of another person through the tombstones he was trying to hide behind, it is hard to take him seriously.

“Hey, marvel, we can see you,” I called out to him. It was the henchman from the town who said he loved Marvel movies.

“Oh, hey!” He stood up from behind the headstone twenty yards away. “What’s up?”

“Not much, man. Just ending another threat to humanity.” I tried to put as much dry humor into it as possible. “Whatcha doin'?”

“We saw you and some other people come this way. Figured you were going to kick it and wanted to check it out.”

“You wanted to see if you could grab anything interesting off our bodies,” I deadpanned.

“I mean, we were partially right, yeah?” he asked. “Looks like one of you bought the farm.” He pointed to Carter’s body when he said it.

“Nah, she’s just resting it off,” I said. “She’ll be good as new in a bit.”

“So, what did you do to Dominic?”

“Wow, we don’t even know each other’s names,” Chavez said. “Why don’t we get introduced before you start asking me for my number?”

“I’m Luis,” he said, walking toward us.

“It’s nice to meet you, Luis,” Chavez said. “You’ve already met Ward.” He gestured to me, then to Andy. “That’s Andy, Carter is the one sleeping on the job, and I’m Chavez. Oh, and the tiger. Heard you met her too.”

“So, you’re a team, huh?” Luis said. “Some kind of leftover special forces unit?”

“Actually, Ward and Andy are the only ones who were part of any official military unit, though good luck trying to get them to tell you about it. Carter and I were Border Patrol Agents before borders stopped meaning anything.”

“I was never really a fan of borders either,” Luis said.

“What did you do to end up in prison?” Chavez asked, gesturing to the pants he wore, which were the distinct inmate orange color.

“You killed someone, yeah?” I said.

He shrugged.

“That’s what the tattoo on your right arm means, right?” I pointed to the symbol on his forearm. “Usually those go on the face.” I touched my face, just below my eye.

“Wasn’t a target,” he said as if this explained everything.

“You killed someone you weren’t supposed to?”

“I don’t expect you to believe me. Not like anyone does anyways. But I ain’t gotta put up with this shit.”

“You’re right, you don’t,” I said. “But you wanted to know what I did to Dominic.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So I want to know what kind of person I’m giving this info to.”

“Aight, I see. You wanna be all superior and some shit. I get it.”

He turned to walk off.

“Dominic didn’t tell you what I did?” I called after him.

“World’s all gone to shit, but Dominic is still a fucking cop. He don’t tell us shit.”

“Then why should I tell you?” I asked.

“We all gotta live, don’t we? I figure I’m gonna find out sooner or later. Might as well ask.”

“The world is a wondrous place, Luis. I just found something that could heal him and open his eyes to some of the wonders.”

“Aight, you be all cryptic and superior. I get it.”

“I like him,” I said, just before I thought he was out of earshot.

“He seems alright for a criminal who earned tattoos for killing someone,” Chavez said.

“I mean, who hasn’t killed someone?” Andy asked.

“Basically everyone, until a week ago,” Chavez said nonplussed.

“Enough of the witty banter,” I said. I placed the spear on the ground next to Carter, then I picked up the core of the spear-wielding Angel and tossed it underhand into my bag, some yards away. I was going to have to clean it out soon, given how much crap I was constantly throwing in there. “How long was I out when I ranked up?”

“I don’t remember,” Andy said. “I was busy missing an arm.”

“You’re still missing an arm,” Chavez said. “I’d say it was about thirty seconds though.”

“I wonder if it’s taking longer because the dungeon core was stronger than Corey was at the time.”

“That’s as good a reason as any,” Andy said.

“I’m going to scout around,” I said. “Just to make sure no other monsters are in the area.” I walked over to where I’d put my swords on the ground. I picked up X-Ray’s sword – my sword – and sheathed it on my back again. I bent to pick up my new sword, the stronger one. It looked different from when I’d placed it down. The colors in the mana were ever so slightly off, like a painting left in direct sunlight and the colors fade. Not that I’d learned what that looked like from personal experience. I would never hang one of my wife’s paintings on the wall next to a window, right where it gets a lot of light. That would take a special kind of stupid.

“Mmmm…” Chavez interrupted my musings when he came up beside me. “Can’t tell if you’re going to throw that away in disgust or propose to it.”

“The feelings aren’t mutually exclusive, you know?” Andy said from my other side. “You know, one morning he was expounded on why marriage is amazing, then that same evening we had to meet up at the range so he could talk about how his marriage was on the rocks.”

“Rough,” Chavez said.

“Nah, he’s just a special kind of stupid.”

“If you’re quite done insulting me, I was looking at the mana in the sword,” I said.

“Interesting,” Andy said. “It doesn’t look like it’s shining as much as it was before, does it?”

“Can I see?” Chavez held out his hand.

“Corey said Carter and I would be the only ones who could use it,” I said.

“Yeah, but Corey doesn’t know everything,” Chavez said. “He’s said so himself.”

“Can’t hurt,” I said, and I handed the weapon over, hilt-first.

Chavez took the sword from my hand, hefting it easily.”

“Not really as heavy as your usual sword, is it?” he asked. “Which is bizarre, since it’s a good bit longer. The cross guard is also wider.”

“That’s the thing though,” I said. “I could have sworn it was heavier when I first picked it up.”

Chavez shrugged and gingerly touched the index finger on his free hand to the edge of the blade. “Still sharp,” he shrugged. Then he swung the weapon down at a tombstone.

The weapon shattered on the stone. Not shattered like in the movies, but in the way a real weapon pushed past its point of durability breaks. Halfway up the length of the blade, the sword cracked. The broken tip of the blade flipped end over end into the distance.

“Guess we can be glad you didn’t try to use that one,” Andy said.

Chavez stood up, his hands shaking from the impact and the sudden release in tension as the weapon broke. “Well, I was not expecting that.”

“Is it because you aren’t Citrine rank yet?”

“I don’t think so,” Chavez said. “At least I hope that’s not the reason.”

“We should still hang onto it,” Andy said. “Who knows? This new world, maybe someone will find a way to fix it?”

“You think people will be focusing on swords when there are guns around?” I asked.

“I think that if we reach Jade rank,” Andy answered, “a bullet won’t even be able to hurt us. Be honest, with as strong as you feel now, Forrest, do you really think a bullet would slow you down all that much?”

“It would definitely still bury itself inside of me, causing me a lot of pain.”

“But unless something hits you directly in the eye, do you think anything is going to stop you before you kill whoever shot you?”

I thought about it for a moment. Really thought about it. I’d had off-hand ideas about being so strong that a bullet couldn’t hurt me, but I didn’t think I was there yet, and I said as much.

“I’m stronger now,” I said. “A bullet would do less damage, but I don’t think I’m bulletproof. I’m not superhuman. It feels more like I’m at the edge of what’s possible for humans. It’s not like I’m lifting more or running faster than Olympians who train to do this, but it feels like I could compete with them. What Jade rank brings? I just don’t know. Corey said it’s about Will, not about power.”

“Yeah, you said that before,” Andy said. “You have to condense your Will – what does that even mean?”

“I think it has to do with my memories?” I said. “He said that my Will is connected to my mana through my memories. I don’t even know what that means though.”

“I thought you said that you’ve used your Will before though,” Andy said. “How can you use your Will, if you still have to…?” He trailed off, looking to Chavez for help.

“Condense it?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Is it…?” I trailed off, then shrugged. “I have no idea. It’s like we’re flying over the drop zone and I have to make my parachute on the way down. In the dark.”

“You’re being dramatic,” Andy said. “In a jump, you hit the ground eventually. In this case, you don’t even know if you’ll hit the ground.”

“Very helpful, thanks,” I deadpanned.

“You’re quite welcome!”

“So, what next?”

“We wait for Carter to get back on her feet,” I said, pointing over at her.

Carter was sitting up, looking around in amazement at the world around her. She ran her hands through the long grass as if she’d never seen it before. She dug her hand through the grass into the ground underneath and pulled up a handful of dirt, her eyes wide in amazement.

“It might take some adjusting,” I said, walking over to her and crouching so I could look directly at her.

She looked up at me, and I saw her eyes widen. I could tell she was seeing in me the same thing that I saw looking at her. Well, not quite the same thing.

Her single core in her chest was a sphere, like my core, but the colors and proportions were different, given the different nature types of cores she’d absorbed. There was more metal in her core. All of the metal mana I’d encountered after I got the sword had been absorbed by the weapon.

“Shit,” I said, standing up.

I walked back over to where I’d dropped my sword, and I picked it up. It weighed more.

“You sneaky son of a bitch,” I said, looking at the weapon in my hand.

“What?” Andy asked.

“It absorbed most of the mana from the other sword,” I said. “I left them lying on the ground, and it sucked the mana out of the other weapon.”

“Is it a sentient sword?” Chavez asked. “Like the sword of Masamune?” He had taken my place, kneeling next to Carter.

“Masa-what-now?” Andy asked.

“Masamune was a famous Japanese smith. One story about one of his swords was that it could cut anything, but only cut what was needed. You could lower it into a river, and it would only cut the dead leaves that floated by while living things could float right through the blade unhurt.”

“That doesn’t seem to fit,” I said. “It has no issue cutting anything.”

“Well, it’s just a comparison,” Chavez said. “Maybe your sword has some type of sentience like that?”

“Where it knows when a weapon is nearby, and it can steal the mana from it?” I asked.

“Your sword!” Charter exclaimed.

“Yeah, I know,” I said.

“It’s so bright!” She said. “How can you look at it?”

“You get used to it,” I said. “Also, I don’t have to look directly at it.” I lifted it over my shoulder and slid the weapon home into its sheath on my back.

“Wow!” she gasped. “How did you do that?”

“Not me,” I said. “It’s the sheath. It’s shielding anything from seeing the weapon. Maybe that means it’s stopping the sword from absorbing the mana around it as well.”

“What about the handle of the weapon?” Carter asked. “Why did the handle go dark, and it just looks like an ordinary sword now?”

“No clue,” I said.

“Oh! I have a guess!” Chavez looked like a kid in a candy store, he was so excited. “It could be – and this is just a guess – but, it might be…”

“Yes?” I asked after he’d paused overly long for the dramatic effect.

“Magic!” he said at last. “It could just be magic!”

“That’s the worst explanation ever,” Andy said.

“Well, it’s not like we understand all of this anyway.” Chavez shrugged. “So, it’s magic. Magic we don’t understand yet, but still magic.”

“Magic we understand is science,” Andy answered. “Though in this case, I think it’s cool to just say magic, and we move on.”

“You’re going to think it’s just as weird when you hit Citrine rank too,” Carter said. “Just you wait.”

“Oh, that is probably the best way to guarantee I will never bring it up,” Chavez said.

“I’m with Andy,” I said. “‘Because magic’ is the worst explanation for anything.”

“Oh, yeah?” Chavez asked. “How do we absorb energy from a rock in someone’s chest where their heart should be? How does that energy go from that rock in that person, into the rock inside of us, using just our own body as a conduit?”

“I don’t–“

“Magic!” Chavez cut me off. “How is it possible that you’re both stronger and faster than any human in history has a right to be? Magic! Because magic! You might not like it, but I think it’s super cool. Because magic is awesome.”

“Fine,” I groused. “Because magic. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and figure it out later. Are you happy now?”

“Yeah, bro. So, now Carter’s awake, what do we do next?”

“Well, since Carter is now as awesome as Ward,” Andy said, “we should use her as bait.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Carter said.

“We roll into town, having dealt with the zombie problem, and we use you to see if any of the men are scumbags. If they are, you kick them in the balls, and we can throw them out off the little settlement on their asses.”

“Okay, I do like the sound of that,” Carter amended.

“For you to be bait though, you’ll need a wash,” I said. “You smell terrible.”

“You were worse,” Andy said.

“Worse than this?” I asked. “There’s no way.”

“You have no idea. I’m glad we didn’t stay in the locker room of that pool any longer because the stench was almost unbearable in the morning.”

“I didn’t hear you complaining,” I said.

“Complaining would have meant we would have been there longer. When complaining hurts what I want, I don’t complain.”

“She doesn’t exactly smell like flowers right now,” Chavez said, “but it was a whole lot worse with you.”

“How is that even possible?” I asked.

Chavez opened his mouth.

“Don’t say ‘because magic’.”