Eik allowed only Chop to accompany him up to the room where he would undergo the mythical transformation that would make him X-rank.

  Both kids had wanted to come along to witness it with their own eyes but Eik had forbidden it and had even made Grandpa Gul promise to never let go of Goo’s shirt collar, just to be on the safe side.

  As the only person to have ever experienced an X-rank evolution, Chop had been consulted about the safety of the process but unfortunately he had already been deep in seclusion by the time he actually hit X-rank himself, leaving nobody to observe him as he went through the evolution. And, having been unconscious through it all, he couldn’t exactly reveal any great insight about how it affected the surroundings.

  He could promise one thing, however. “I will step in if anything happens that could bring the rest of you in danger.”

  “How?” Ihasu asked him.

  The old geezer just shrugged. “I don’t know. Kill him?”

  “Chop!” she hissed.

  “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Can’t an old man have a bit of fun here and there, hmm?” he cackled. “I’ll obviously just restrain him and keep him down until the evolution is over and done with.”

  “What if you can’t handle it?” Eik asked with genuine concern.

  Chop raised an eyebrow and scoffed. “You might be a big, bad Worldbreaker, son, but I’ve been an X-ranker for more years than you can track your family tree. Whatever residual energies might be released during your evolutionary process will be a piece of cake for me.”

  Eik narrowed his eyes. “On second thought, I think we had better find a place that’s a bit more remote. You know, just in case.”

  “Whatever you say,” Chop muttered.

  “Andi?” Eik called to the man.

  “Yes?”

  “Can I borrow one of the beds in your guest room?”

  The muscled elf nodded. “Of course. Use whichever one you would like. It’s no wonder that fight took it out of you. Go and get some sleep. You deserve it,” the man said with a soft smile.

  Eik cleared is throat awkwardly. “Ah, no, that’s not… I mean, can I borrow one of your beds? Like, as in, do you mind if I take it with me for a little bit?”

  Andihar frowned, confusion total. “Uuh, yeah, sure. That’s no problem. Where are you taking it?”

  “Oh, just… You know, somewhere in that direction, I guess,” Eik said, throwing a thumb toward the deep wilderness bordering the far edges of Andihar and Molanda’s gigantic property.

  Well, one might be tempted to call it a wilderness but it was constantly combed for any kind of beasts that could even remotely pose a threat to the population of Gimleh so long as people didn’t venture recklessly out there. Predators and other dangerous flora and fauna were necessary to maintain a healthy ecosystem after all.

  “Yeah, you… can go ahead and do that, sure…”

  “Hey, thanks man,” Eik said and took a few slow steps toward the mansion. “I’m just going to go and… get it then…” Before it could get anymore awkward, he whirled out of existence only to appear again a couple of moments later with the ridiculously large five-man bed slung nonchalantly over his shoulder, complete with sheets and covers strapped down by bands of Profound Toxin.

  “I want to come with you, daddy!” Bin yelled and ran to him.

  “Me too!” Goo agreed in a rare moment of letting actual words past his lips.

  “Both of you are going to be staying here with mom,” Eik said as two Profound Toxic beasts manifested from behind his back and carried them back to the table where everyone was staring. “Well, I’m off to become an X-ranker, I think. See ya in a little bit, yeah?” he said with a wave. It was difficult to keep up the casual facade with the jitters of uncontrollable excitement running through every muscle in his body. “The bed’s just for comfort, in case anybody was wondering… Not for anything weird.”

  Fuck. Why did he have to say that? It just made it all seem way worse than it was…

  Wasn’t he supposed to be cool and smooth now that he was a powerful S-ranker about to be X-ranker with his own elixir emporium and whose influence spanned the Unified Mass? So then why the hell was dumb shit like this coming out of his mouth still?

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Note to self: invent a potion that paralyses lips, tongue, and throat whenever the imbiber is about to spout embarrassing nonsense, and then develop a permanent pill version so he could never say anything like that again.

  At second glance, people barely seemed to notice his words. It was only then that he realized what they were all looking at.

  They weren’t just looking at him. Not just at him as a person. What they were seeing—what they were feeling—was a turning point in history. The imminent birth of a brand new myth. The ascent of a legendary X-ranker.

  Without another word, Eik leaped into the air with the bed on his shoulder, Chop the Blade following on his heel.

  They spent a good ten minutes just soaring through the air, Eik’s restless heart somehow urging him simultaneously to both just land and get it over with and keep going endlessly. But eventually they touched down, Eik summoning a crystal katana and whipping it across the landscape in a horizontal slash that felled many trees and cleared an open area for them.

  He put down the bed and sat on it, completely unable to get his breathing under control.

  “Do you think this is far enough?” he asked Chop.

  “The guest room in the Dayarunar estate had been far enough, so yes, this is plenty. Your family and friends will be in no danger at this distance.”

  “Phew. Good,” he said with a deep exhalation. “Shall we get to it then?”

  The old geezer waved his hand. “Please. I still have cake on my plate back at that table.”

  “No.”

  Chop looked at him askance. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

  “I mean, Goo ate it, so you won’t have any cake on your plate anymore.”

  “You saw that little rascal eat my cake?” Chop asked, showing more emotion than he had the whole day.

  “I didn’t see him eat it, per se, but Goo eats cake. That’s basically a law of nature at this point. So if you left cake on your plate, it’s gone. Sorry for you loss, I guess,” Eik deadpanned.

  Chop clenched his fist as his mind worked at top gear. “I’ll… I’ll just get another piece then!”

  “No, you can’t.”

  “You’re trying to forbid me from getting more cake?” Chop asked incredulously.

  Eik shook his head and sighed. “No, that’s not it. The natural law of my son’s sweet tooth applies to any cake within a certain radius. There is no cake from which to take another piece anymore,” he said and gave the old man a friendly pat on the shoulder. “It’s all gone, buddy. The fate of that cake was sealed the moment we left that black hole of a boy alone.”

  Chop slapped Eik’s hand away. “Just get on with your damn evolution, you elder-abusing cretin! And you’re buying me another cake after this!”

  “I’ll feed you cake until you get diarrhea if that would make you happy,” Eik chuckled as he got comfortable under the covers.

  “As a matter of fact, it would.”

  “Good,” Eik said. “All right. Here I go.”

  ***

  “How long do you think it’s going to take, grandpa?” Bin asked.

  Ever since Eik and Chop had left about fifteen minutes earlier, she had been unable to tear her eyes from the spot she had last seen her father.

  Clan Leader Gul took her little hand in his and squeezed. “I can’t say that for sure, sweetheart, but what I can say for sure is this: your father is one of the strongest people I have ever met. But don’t ever tell him that, all right?” he said, flashing a rare grin and held up his pinky finger in a gesture she had taught him.

  “I pinky promise, grandpa,” she giggled, hooking her own finger in his.

  “That’s my good girl!” Gul said. “How about, while we wait for your father, you tell grandpa about what you’ve been learning in school recently? Anything fun?”

  “Lots of stuff! English is fun but math sucks!”

  Gul laughed. “Mathematics was never my strong suit either, so I guess it runs in the family, huh? Have you been having fun with your friends?”

  “Yes! Every day at school! One of my best friends is Philip and he’s sitting over there with his mom and dad!” she exclaimed and waved at her classmate who waved back.

  “Right,” Gul muttered, his face darkening. “You say you like this boy?” he asked, sending a glare at the boy who suddenly found himself shivering inexplicably.

  “Yes!”

  “Well, you tell him that your grandpa said that if h—”

  Suddenly, from one moment to the other, all conversation around the table ceased at once, breaths caught in throats.

  At first, everybody simply exchanged confused glances among each other in puzzlement. However they tried, words just wouldn’t come.

  Then, as if something was ramping up, a pressure settled in their chests, mounting with each second. Even Andihar and Gul—S-rankers in their own right—found it slightly difficult to breathe steadily.

  What followed was a deep rumble in their ears that seemed to originate from all directions at once as their bones seemed to grow colder and colder. Concern began to take hold around the table as the possibility of a reemergence of the terrifying monster became evident.

  “Reactivate the barrier, someone!” a family member of one of the estate workers called.

  “I’ll do it!” responded another, nearly stumbling over his own feet as he scrambled to step over the long bench he had been sitting on.

  But before he could make it anywhere, they all abruptly felt the advent of a titanic presence. It was heavy and oppressive, and it felt like it was studying the depths of their very souls.

  “Wh-What’s… happening?” someone managed to stammer.

  Gul and Andihar met each other’s eyes, both of them feeling frozen as fear was forced through their bodies. Andihar’s golden armor appeared on his body as his fingers trembled on the handle of his massive blade. Dark, purple energy swirled about Gul’s body but it shimmered terribly as if he didn’t have a proper hold on it.

  Both Goo and Bin were the only two there who seemed unaffected by the transcendental force washing over them like a flooding ocean. “Bin, G… Goo,” Gul said, having to force the words through his tightening throat. “Get be… hind me now. It’s dangerous.”

  What they felt was power that seemed to permeate the world and all of existence so utterly and thoroughly that it could break at any moment.

  “No, it’s not, grandpa,” Bin said and looked up at him with puzzlement.

  Goo nodded almost imperceptibly as he stared into the wilderness on the horizon. Again, he spoke. “That’s my dad.”

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