A pristine white sand beach split the ocean like a line. A curved beach atop a barrier reef surrounded a patch of calm water. Without, angry waves chopped. If one ignored the absence of fresh water, plant life, and shade, it was a tropical paradise.

  Hector’s eyes reflexively scanned the horizon for murderous flying orcas.

  Darius held his hand away from everyone and told Hector to let him know when he was ready. Hector gave the signal and the bolt materialized as a rapidly dispersing beam of light. That was only the smallest part of it, though. The beam was mostly composed of cosmic energy that was invisible to human eyes. Hector’s mental sense reported the good news.

  “This is so strange,” Darius commented. “Usually the tunnel to the primordial slams shut from pressure the moment the bolt breaks. I think I could hold this open all day.”

  Hector forced a laugh. “I could do my part all day, too. Let’s hop into the fun zone.”

  Riley, Esther, Isabel, and Hector stepped into the beam. The energy emerging was ultra pure, but turbulence rapidly mixed it in with the other energies of the world. They obviously could not simply open up their auras to draw it in unfiltered. But the concentrations were excellent for normal aural cultivation. It was better than any cosmic chamber Hector had ever heard of. About twice the energy density of Tian, by his estimate. Which was great. Just not enough.

  “Riley, can you stand last in line and fire a bolt back this way?”

  The woman positioned herself and hesitated. When he waved impatiently, she turned her aim aside before firing. It became immediately obvious that Hector had no trouble converting two chaos bolts at once, so she dragged her hand back to aim at her friends. Now Darius and Riley stood at opposite ends of the lineup, firing cosmic energy at one another. In between, the final three Xian of their group absorbed the beams of energy from both sides.

  Hector pumped his aura hard to maximize his benefits. The method was slightly better than using his externality. If he took into account the fact that he was power-leveling his friends at the same time, it was more impressive. In the end, though, Hector would need to figure out a better way to restore his reserves. If being around miasma made him too woozy to cultivate with his domain, his big power-up by creating a realm might actually hold back his progress.

  Hours passed with Cruiser Erin hovering ten feet above the sand, granting them a bit of shadow that didn’t matter in the slightest due to the bright light from two converted chaos bolts. Everyone cultivated like mad at the start. Gradually, the monotony wore on the others. Hector continued without any regard for his mental state.

  It was only when Riley spoke that he relented. “Can we be done? I’m tired.”

  With his permission, the chaos bolts cut off. They jumped up through the open hatch and found their way to the dining room, where a meal service was already under way for the Jinn crew. They squeezed into a corner and compared gains.

  For the others, it was like months of cultivating on an unempowered world. Definitely worth the effort. For Hector… five hours amounted to what it would normally take him three days to match with his externality. It was good. Not great. He’d experienced far better gains during his time with the Reconquest. His miasma cultivation blew every other method out of the water.

  He retired to his room to draw forth chaos with his externality that evening, getting as much energy restored as he could. When the next morning arrived, Cruiser Erin already hovered above the final rift on that world. She’d fired her lasers a couple of times to deter flying monsters, but otherwise their relocation was uneventful.

  They gathered in the shuttle bay and studied the scene from an open hatch. Very little of the island was clear. There was lots of foliage and lots of monsters. “I think it’s easier to jump,” he said.

  One of the pilots stood nearby. “That’s a long way down.”

  “We’ll fly,” Esther explained.

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  Hector added his reasoning. “The shuttles can’t be replaced. It’s better to expend some energy on our descent. You can pick us up once it’s cleared out.”

  The controlled descent relied upon Xian domains for everyone except Conflagration, who stood atop an angry red flare as he lowered towards the swarming beasts, flicking sparks that became white hot eruptions on contact with their foes. Hector reluctantly accepted the cable around his waist from Isabel, knowing his pride wasn’t worth more than his safety.

  Hector filled his realm to the brim with cosmic energy to resist the resonance while his team cleared out the entire island. When they were done, he asked them to hang out while he tried something. Instead of bringing combined realm and domain into action against the open rift, Hector sat nearby and let his realm strain solo against the rift’s miasma.

  Instead of closing a rift in ten minutes, he sat there for half the day. The aftermath left him exhausted and more sore than ever in his soul. He’d filled his realm with energy seven times, though. Each time the energy vanished, absorbed into his aperture. Any gains he’d made from cultivating the previous day and night were undone in the first two rounds. Every one after that ate into what he thought of as his reward for killing the Dragon. He was down to only ten percent reserves and that would continue to decline just by virtue of the fact that his soul was saturating still.

  He was pondering how to address the unfortunate deficit caused by the difference from his energy restoration to his energy consumption as they sat in the rec room when the Sage of Conflagration approached him, looking uncharacteristically agitated. “What is the detailed explanation of your insight?”

  The demanding tone caused Hector to swallow. He felt a certain degree of danger from the frustrated Sage. “Sure. I can do that for you. It’s a set of topologies –”

  “Topology? No. Keep going.”

  Hector blinked. “Right. It’s a set of topologies that encode meaning onto space. Basically, a mapping of how actions matter. And also a set of transformations –”

  “Transformation?” Conflagration shook his head violently. “It does not capture the essence. What are these transformations?”

  He stared at the Sage for a moment before continuing. “Uh, yeah, transformations for miasma becoming cosmic energy. Or any flavor of chaos, really. Miasma is just chaos imbued with a specific intent.”

  Conflagration’s intensity finally relented. The man rocked back on his heels and spoke to himself. “That could work. Yes. I like it. Chaos.” Then, as if making an official pronouncement, the Sage drew himself up and pointed at Hector. “You are Chaos.”

  Hector could only stare in confusion.

  Then Zelda gasped. “You’ve been named.”

  Conflagration looked inordinately pleased with himself.

  “I already have a sobriquet.”

  Zelda laughed. “Well, now you have another. You are the Lord Dragonbane and also, as of five seconds ago, the Sage of Chaos.”

  Hector blinked. “I didn’t think a Xian could be a Sage. A real one, I mean.”

  “I say you are, so you are,” Conflagration said.

  Zelda clarified. “A member of the College of Sages can nominate a Sage. If another member seconds the nomination, then provisional status is granted. The votes of a hundred members of the College makes the title formal.”

  Conflagration snorted. “The College doesn’t matter. I never went there.”

  “You are a member, though,” Zelda insisted. “They named and raised you even if you didn’t attend in person.”

  “It’s enough that one true Sage recognizes another true Sage.”

  Zelda made eye contact with Hector and shook her head, indicating that Conflagration’s interpretation of the rules was inaccurate. “Let’s find Persuasion and see if she wants to be the second.”

  Conflagration shrugged and wandered away. “It matters not. I named him. It is done.”

  Esther raised her brow. “You’re collecting names.”

  “From now on, I’m calling him War Barge Hector,” Piercing joked.

  Movement caught Hector’s attention and he turned just in time to see Zelda disappear into the stairwell. No doubt she was going in search of Persuasion to make his second sobriquet provisional. He rubbed his forehead to avoid the eyes of the others. Having been given one honorary name was about the maximum of ‘very special status’ he could handle. Being named a Sage was too much.

  The clanking of feet on stairs announced Zelda’s return. Persuasion strode inside, placed hands on hips, and smirked. “Why if it isn’t the Sage of Chaos!”

  “You realize I’m a Xian, don’t you?”

  “Sage status isn’t limited to Arahants. There have been several Alfar granted the honor by the College. Also an Orisha whose realm could stabilize extra-dimensional pockets. She was critical to the Dream Engine project that let you become what you are today. The Engine couldn’t target other worlds from inside a dimensional envelope.”

  “This is a bit much,” Hector said.

  Piercing patted him on the back. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, War Barge.”