Frustratingly, I had only gained a single level when the Zone Lord died. Each level gave +1 HP, +5 Mana Pool, +3 Mana Regeneration, and a free point per level. I put the free point into Physical Defense. I knew from experience how painful firing a Mana Crystal could be, using the rune patterns inscribed on my body. Increased Physical Defense would mitigate that.

Name:

Jarek

Level:

40

HP:

50/50

Physical Defense:

31

Strength:

30 (+5)

Mental Power:

14

Dexterity:

10 (+5)

Agility:

24 (+10)

Perception:

20

Luck:

22

Mana Pool:

146 (+10)

Mana Regeneration:

81 (+10)

Available Points:

0

Coins:

2,441,000

Class:

Mana Modulator (D-rank)

Profession:

Rune Master (C-rank)

Titles:

Region Lord (E-rank)

Skills and Spells:

Identify (E-rank)

Mana Modulation (D-rank Core)

Death’s Defier (A-rank)

Mana Sensing (C-rank)

Healthy Magic (E-rank)

Aquatic Respiration (E-rank)

Polyglot (E-rank)

Soul Communion (D-rank)

Cursed Lightning (D-rank)

Spiritual Traveler (D-rank)

Soul Explosion (D-rank)

Mana Control (C-rank)

Affinities:

Internal Mana (D-rank Low), External Unattributed Mana (C-rank Low), Soul Magic (D-rank Low)

Equipment:

Vampiric Blade (D-rank): +5 Strength, +5 Agility.

Bloodied Battle Robes (D-rank): +5 Mana Pool, +5 Mana Regen.

Greedy Gloves (D-rank): +5 Mana Pool, +5 Mana Regen.

Bonded Blades (D-rank): +5 Dexterity, +5 Agility.

Axillary Auxiliary Unisuit (B-rank)

Personal Mana Shield (E-rank):

Interdimensional Pouch (D-rank):

Missions:

Zone Offense

Renegade Bounty Hunter

Dawnbreaker and I collected the loot that the Zone Lord had dropped. Predictably, there was a Hydrokinesis skill book, a D-rank water-attuned Mana Core, a Capital City Token, and a few other lesser pieces of loot.

Everything would be split evenly three ways, but we hadn’t discussed how we would do that split. The value of a Capital City Token far outweighed the other loot, and it would be hard to actually split control of a capital city three ways. Hopefully, we would also kill two more Zone Lords, so that we could each walk away with our own token.

Of course, potentially even more valuable was the C-rank Treasury Token that I could have claimed if Dawnbreaker had let me take the final kill.

But since this was Dawnbreaker’s first kill of a Zone Lord, we were essentially forfeiting a Treasury Token.

Once we collected all the loot, we started swimming up to the surface in silence. We weren’t able to talk under water, and Abelino was still in the Aviaton.

Dawnbreaker seemed to be in something of a hurry, and I had to struggle to keep up.

***

Dawnbreaker floated just a foot above the surface of the water. Abelino was testing out the Aviaton—flying in circles around us—and I was left treading water in the ocean.

I could fly, too, using the runes that Samantha had formed on my body, combined with a Mana Shard—but it would be a waste of money.

Dawnbreaker took out a C-rank Treasury Token and waved it exaggeratedly for Abelino’s benefit.

“What?” I blurted out. “I thought you had to kill two Zone Lords to get one.”

Dawnbreaker just smiled casually back at me. “Did I ever tell you what my class was?”

I shook my head, not seeing the connection.

“I’m an Apostle of Mira, the goddess of hope. You probably saw the churches in Daybreak. Apostles are like paladins, but we get special attention—I “prayed” and it looks like the heavens were smiling down on me.”

I frowned. The existence of gods in the Schema wasn’t news to me. Ethan loved to talk about Barith, the god of war. I knew it was theoretically possible to ascend to godhood if you leveled up high enough.

But I hadn’t actually heard of real-life interactions with gods so far.

“How is that possible? Like, how do the mechanics work out?”

Dawnbreaker laughed. “As far as I know, all Hell Mode challengers were approached by one deity or another in the Tutorial. Once the link was established, we can mentally petition our god, or our god can give us certain nudges every once in a while. Their actions are limited, and they rely on the mana that they receive from mana tithes that believers give through their church’s mana arrays. Their actions are generally higher-level, interacting with the Schema itself rather than slaying monsters for us. They can give us missions.”

It finally clicked. “You prayed for the mission to defeat the Zone Lords, before we killed the serpent. But, why wouldn’t the other hell mode challengers do that too?”

“There are only so many times a god can intervene for a human,” Dawnbreaker said. “It’s not some all-powerful ability. And if you’re thinking about Abelino, he didn’t contract with a god, so it’s not an option for him.”

Abelino was still flying around, testing the Aviaton. It made me a little nervous, thinking how he could just leave us in the water and fly away.

Trust, I thought to myself.

“Why not? What’s the downside?”

“If I am to stay contracted to Mira, then I am giving up my claim to godhood, should I reach a high enough level,” Dawnbreaker explained. “But it was an easy decision for me. Abelino seems to think he can give it a go.”

I slowly processed what Dawnbreaker was saying. If I had been in her shoes, what would I have picked? More power now, in order to protect Earth? Of course. But Abelino seemed to be doing very well for himself, without a god’s help.

“What will you do with the C-rank token?”

“I’ve had something in mind for a while,” Dawnbreaker said, activating it without missing a beat.

There was something in the way that she said that that rubbed me the wrong way. But Dawnbreaker’s eyes were distant, flicking back and forth as she interacted with the virtual screen in front of her.

A few minutes later, a vial appeared in her hand. It fit neatly in her hand, housing a mirky green liquid.

To my complete shock, she held it out to me. “This is for you. Drink up.”

The potion obviously came from the treasury—Dawnbreaker had not activated her Interdimensional Pouch—meaning that the potion must be a C-rank item.

Dawnbreaker’s right hand held out the vial to me, but her left hand hung by her side, just an inch away from the sword sheathed at her side.

About thirty yards away from me, Abelino had stopped doing tight spirals in the Aviaton, and he was facing me, mana cannon pointed towards me, with the Aviaton’s shields up.

I Identified the potion.

Mind Control Potion (C-rank): Places the drinker in the thrall of the first person he sees.

My stomach dropped.

Why. Fucking why.

The end of the world wasn’t enough to deal with. The invasion of millions of monsters. Facing death a hundred times. Being mind-controlled by the Mentalist Cooperative.

By now, betrayal was no longer a surprise. I just felt numb. Evangeline had already tried to kill me.

But this was perfectly planned and executed. My Mana Pool was already low from our previous battle. “Everything into Luck” meant I had completely drained my Mana Pool just a minute ago.

We were in the middle of nowhere, Abelino had control of the Aviaton, and he was obviously in on this mind-controlling plan. It didn’t take 20 perception to notice that the mana cannons on the Aviaton were pointing at me.

I couldn’t outrun, outswim, or outfly the Aviaton. Long-distance, I wasn’t faster than Dawnbreaker either.

The best option would be stealth. But, before I had left with Abelino and Dawnbreaker, Justin had asked for my Invisibility Cloak.

Justin never asked for anything, really, so I had given it to him without much of a second thought.

Was Justin in on this too?

Dawnbreaker reached into her Interdimensional Pouch and pulled out a wrinkled envelope.

I froze.

The envelope was clearly old, with a red thumbprint that had once formed a seal. It was a letter from Petra, to me, written years ago, sealed by her own bloody thumb print. Not a smear of blood—somehow, she had managed to actually capture the rings and ridges of her thumb in a perfectly rolled, artsy print.

I knew the envelope, and its contents, like the back of my own hand.

Just the thumbprint itself, not to mention the message inside, spoke volumes about Petra. I had kept that letter in my old apartment, for years. I never told anyone where I kept it.

Petra read my mind, and learned where I kept the letter. Then she gave it to Dawnbreaker, just so Dawnbreaker could show me the letter, right now.

Justin asked for my cloak, before I left.

They both want me to take the potion.

Samantha asked, sounding genuinely panicked.

Listening to Samantha’s panicked voice, everything clicked.