"Why'd you just give up?" Jessie asked me from her blanket nest.

I stared at her. "What do you mean? That was Deborah Callahan. The real question isn't why I gave up. It's why she was even there. She shouldn't have been anywhere near that portal."

"You think she was there for you?" Jessie asked. "I don't know. That seems far-fetched. It's a high-rank portal breaking in the middle of Phoenix, near her guild's territory. Of course she's going to be interested. Why do you think she was there for you?"

"Because she's not the kind of person who lets things go. She has to win. She has to be the best. And she can't do that if she lets what she perceives as a slight go unpunished."

"So, why'd you give up?" Jessie asked again. She waited a second, and when I didn't respond, she kept going. "You didn't give up when Carter tried to take over your portal, right? What's different about this?"

"Two things. First, I don't want a fight with Deborah. Not right now. Probably not ever. And second, she had a legal, GC-approved reason to take over the portal." I sighed and pulled up my status. "Jessie, I can't fight the whole GC."

I didn't add on the 'yet.' But I thought it. The God of Thunder had promised power, and I could feel it working. Sometime soon, I'd be able to fight Deborah—or even Angelo Lawrence—and win.

User: Kade Noelstra Reforged Core, C-Rank Stamina: 390/390, Mana: 490/500

Skills: 1. Stormsteel Core (C-10, Unique, Merged, God-Touched) 2. Thunderbolt Forms (C-10, Altered, Merged) 3. Mistwalk Forms (C-09 to C-10, Altered, Merged) 4. Cyclone Forms (C-09 to C-10, Altered, Merged) 5. Stormlight Bond (C-07 to C-10, Altered, Merged) 6. Shadowstorm Battery (D-01 to D-05, Altered, Merged, Dual) 7. Stormbreak (E-10 to D-01, Unique)

Path: Stormsteel Path Laws: First Law of the Stormcore, Law of the Shadowed Storm, First Law of the Hungering Abyss, First Law of the Unbroken Storm

I had five skills ready to push. Five Laws I could learn. And two—the First Law of the Hungering Abyss and the First Law of the Unbroken Storm—that were ready to consolidate. It took five Laws to consolidate into a rank-up. I had potential for eight.

I was almost ready; I just had to bring three skills to B-Rank, and I could push my whole build. The promise of a controllable aura, B-Rank spells, and the next rank's raw power was intoxicating.

"Jessie, I'm going to push to B-Rank," I said after a second. "Can you call Ellen and have her come over?"

"Seriously, Kade? You're just going to do it?" Jessie asked.

"Yes."

"And you want Ellen here, why?"

"To make sure it goes well." I pushed off the couch and walked to my room. "Don't worry about letting me know she's coming. I'll figure it out myself. See you soon."

Three Laws to B-Rank.

I settled on the three I wanted quickly: the Third Law of Stormsteel, the Third Law of the Thunderhead, and the Third Law of the Clouded Eye. The first three skills I'd merged. The real core of my build. Spells, Cheddar, Mana flow—all of that would come. But first came the sword and the skills to use it.

The Law of Stormsteel was first. I wanted no chance of my core being weak—and if it was, I wanted to know early. Strengthening Stormsteel Core preemptively made the most sense. But before I began, I reviewed what I knew from the Laws I'd learned and consolidated already.

The First Law of Stormsteel was that destruction was protection. The second was that no shelter could withstand the storm. Taken together, I could only assume that the third Law would be about safety and violence, but I had no idea how my reforged core—or Ellen's presence—would change that. I was counting on some modification, though. The lightning-gold-core I'd replaced my flawed one with wasn't the end-all/be-all of cores. I could add to it. Make it even better. She'd get here for the consolidation, but I didn't need her for the Law-learning. That I could do myself.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

The lightning in my mental space wasn't blue-white, and it wasn't the dark, shadowy green that I'd briefly seen in Ellen's presence. Now, it was lightning-gold, bright and shining against a jet-black sky like spiderwebs. I'd seen the inside of my mental space, but not like this—not on what was clearly a moonless night, with the glow of Phoenix blotted out and nothing but blindness and lightning-gold all around me.

Blindness, lightning-gold, and the raging storm trapped within my core.

It pushed against its bounds, straining to break through the Stormsteel and lightning-gold bands that entrapped it. I did nothing to stop it. Now wasn't the time for a test of wills—though it was approaching quickly. Now was the time to learn.

The first leak took the form of a burst of blue-white lightning that heated the air over my head as it connected to the mountain below me. Ozone filled the air, and the stink of burning hair. I resisted the urge to reach up and touch my hair. What I was seeing was too important and too strange. My core hadn't broken again. If anything, it was stronger than ever. And yet, the storm was escaping through the six gray and gold bands. My core didn't even seem to be trying to contain the storm.

I watched as a long, thin band of cloud pushed through a momentary gap before a rotating Stormsteel ring cut it off. Rain fell, glistening in the lightning-gold light. Then the cloud slowly dispersed. More lightning burst forth, touching down all around my mountain. The Stormsteel Core should have been containing the storm and holding it in reserve for when I needed it. Why wasn't it?

The six bands rotated around my mental space like massive blades, intersecting and crossing over and under each other. Waves of fury and power washed out from between them. The energy crashed down around me. And I watched—and tried to understand.

The Stormsteel Core wasn't containing the storm. In its original form, it had. What was wrong with this version?

Or…

What had been wrong with the original?

Yes, that was it. The Stormsteel Core had started to fracture at C-Rank. The energy inside of it had grown and grown, and it hadn't been able to grow fast enough or strong enough to compensate. As I'd added more Laws and more energy, the storm had grown uncontrollably.

My reforged core didn't have that problem. It wasn't trying to control the storm. It wasn't a vessel for me to overturn when I needed power. From here on—from the moment I'd hit C-Rank on, in fact—my core had been an engine, constantly producing power, and the old design had been doomed to failure. Power and fury couldn't be contained or controlled, could only be harnessed and directed.

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That was it.

Power cannot be controlled.

Fury cannot be contained.

Law Learned: Third Law of Stormsteel Stormsteel Core: Rank C to Rank B

Your storm has been bridled. It has not been broken.

It still seeks conflict. It still rages. But destruction overcomes protection—even the protection of the storm. Its might is tempered by its own power, and by that of others, and it is that might that you must now claim. By reaching out to embrace the maelstrom in all its pain and power, Kade Noelstra, you have taken a step along the Stormsteel Path: fury cannot be contained.

I stopped. My eyes didn't open, but inside of my mental space, I carefully checked every last piece of the Stormsteel Core's six bands and the lightning-gold that had welded them back together. Any single sign of strain or fractures, and I'd stop immediately. I had no interest in a second core break.

But no. The Stormstell Core—the new one, the one that didn't try to contain the uncontainable—was intact. Flawless. I could keep pushing.

So I did.

The Laws of the Thunderhead had to do with control, too. The first said that control is chaos, while the second claimed that chaos was predictable. I focused on those two Laws, expecting the leaking storm overhead to redouble. Instead, nothing happened for a long time. For long enough that I blinked.

Control is chaos. Chaos is predictable.

When I opened my eyes, the storm was raging. But it felt distant. Muted. Far away across the desert of my mental space. The sun was out, shining on the sagebrush and Palo Verde trees below. In the distance, Phoenix's shining towers poked out over the top of the 303 Wall. The air was cool and wet with the storm's rain, but the storm itself was nowhere to be seen.

I didn't relax. The Laws of the Thunderhead had as much to do with chaos as they did predictability. At any moment, the storm could reappear overhead, or the one on the edges of my space could plow toward me. I kept my eyes peeled, waiting for anything to happen.

Nothing.

No rain, no wind save for a light breeze. No lightning and thunder. A perfect, calm, spring day in the White Tank Mountains, the flowers blossoming on the sajuaros and prickly pears. I couldn't help it. I started to relax; the closest thunderhead was miles away—I couldn't even hear the booms, and the flashes were so far away I could barely see them.

Then the storm opened up overhead. A single, massive thunderbolt slammed into the mountaintop, throwing me to the side. I clung to the cliff and looked up, trying to find where it had come from.

Nothing.

The booming thunderclap echoed across the desert. The air smelled like storm winds and melted sand. But the sky was clear, the wind was still, and it felt just like it had a minute before. Calm, relaxed, inviting—a far cry from the wrath that had suddenly hammered down on me.

This time, I didn't relax. This time, I kept my senses focused above me. And this time, I saw it a moment before it happened. No. I felt it in the hairs on my neck and head. They stood up. I threw myself to the side. And the lightning hammered down.

How was it doing that? It made no sense. The nearest storm was miles away; was its reach that long? Or was it even longer? Was there ever a moment when the storm couldn't find its target?

No. That was the Law. That was what the Thunderhead wanted to teach me. With my core in its current state, I had no hard limits—and plenty of energy. The storm was the same way. It could reach wherever it needed to.

That was half of it. But not the whole thing. I studied the storm in the distance, then the next three bolts of lightning that hit my mountaintop. And when I'd finished, I realized that, for all the storm's power, at this range, it was surprisingly delicate and precise. Not a strong, crushing grip, but a light, guiding one—that was the way.

The storm's reach was everywhere.

Law Learned: Third Law of the Thunderhead Thunderbolt Forms: Rank C to B

Control is not a tight grip. Squeezing too tightly cannot kill the storm, but it can weaken its force. Chaos does not mean letting go. It means guiding the storm through unpredictability and embracing it. By understanding the storm's inherent control and chaos and guiding it with a firm but gentle hand, Kade Noelstra, you have taken a step down the Stormsteel Path: the storm's reach is everywhere.

Thunderbolt Forms' Charge skills can now be used while wielding a weapon one-handed.

As I started my third Law, something changed.

The sky darkened overhead. Shadows crossed the desert below. And the lightning in the distance crackled a dark gray-green. Ellen was here.

That was fine. I'd expected her. In fact, her presence would be perfect for the Third Law of the Clouded Eye. The first two had been about protection, aggression, and deception. I'd expected the Laws of the Thunderhead to connect somehow, but if any set was going to, it'd be the Laws of the Clouded Eye. And the shadows were, by their very nature, concealing and deceiving. They'd be perfect for this process.

My core still felt fine, with none of the pain and agony of learning my C-Rank laws. These felt easy. I was ready for them. I could do even more. But I didn't need to. Not yet.

Deception. Aggression. Protection. These were the key elements I'd need to master. I waited for the storm to show me what I needed to see. Instead, it paused. The desert grew still beneath green-and-gray lightning. Even the wind stopped, and the faint drizzle of rain in the distance froze in place. I sat and stared, waiting. But nothing happened—and this time, it didn't feel like the storm was waiting to unleash its power on me. This time, it felt like…

Like…Dad.

In our later chess matches—the ones I'd gotten the closest to winning—he'd stopped giving me advice and resetting the board. It was uncomfortable. I'd gotten used to him and I battling until it was over, then resetting. We'd finished less than a dozen games, but played enough time for hundreds. I'd asked him why he'd stopped talking during our games. His response had been even less comforting.

He'd said, "Kade, you already know what you need to know. All you have to do is put it together. I can't show you how to do that."

I hadn't ever put the chessboard together well enough to beat him. But I'd been close.

Dad had stopped teaching and started making me learn. The storm felt like it was doing the same thing. I closed my eyes and thought back to what I'd seen. First, the wrath and power of the storm leaking out of my rebuilt, permeable core. The raw strength was overwhelming and aggressive, and the Stormsteel Core hadn't tried to stop it. Instead, it had tried to shape it and relieve the pressure on itself. The core wasn't trying to protect me from the storm within. It was trying to protect its own structure from its aggressiveness, and it was doing it by releasing energy in bursts.

And second, the storm hadn't needed thunderheads to produce thunder and lightning. That aggression had rained down from the open sky.

I tried to put the pieces together. Aggression. Protection. Deception.

The core wasn't trying to protect me. It was trying to protect itself.

The open sky.

It clicked. The Third Law of the Clouded Eye was the loop. I didn't need Ellen for this, and her presence hadn't helped—but it hadn't hurt, either.

Aggression—the storm's explosions of energy, and the core's leaking, intentional gaps—begets protection.

Law Learned: Third Law of the Clouded Eye Mistwalk Forms: Rank C to B

The eye of the storm can be deceived. The shield of the maelstrom can be a weapon, Kade Noelstra. And as protection lends itself to deception, so too does deception lend itself to something more. The clouded eye of the hurricane may be calm, but it is the calm before another wave of devastation. In understanding this, you have taken a step down the Stormsteel Path: aggression begets protection.

Gustrunner upgrades to Windwalk: Consume Wind Charges to temporarily walk on air and increase movement speed.

I breathed deep. My eyes opened. Ellen and Jessie watched from the bed as I went over every part of my body in painstaking, exhaustive detail. After almost five minutes, Ellen cleared her throat. "B-Rank?"

"No. Not yet. But soon." I kept feeling my calves, then feet. Another two minutes passed, and I stretched out and stood up. "I have the five Laws I need. There are two more I could learn, but I think I'll play it safe this time. I can learn them after I hit B-Rank."

Ellen nodded. "You're going for it now, then?"

"I am."

"Be careful, Kade," Jessie said. She stood up and hugged me quickly, then let go and went back to her GC tablet.

"I will. I am. It's going to be fine—all I need to do now is consolidate, and I'll be there."

Ellen rolled her eyes, and I stared at her. "What am I missing?"

"The C to B aura unlock. It'll be new, and there's no advice I can give you for it. The only information I found was that it's different for everyone—and if there's anything I know about you, Kade, it'll be even more different for you." She paused for a second. Then she took a deep breath and sat on the bed, hands on her knees in a meditative stance. "You've got this, though. Good luck."

"Thanks," I said, and I fell into my own cross-legged sitting position and started my push to B-Rank.

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