Tori absolutely won the boss drops, and I couldn’t help but feel jealous of her luck. She’d claimed the purple-glowing item, and even though I wanted it, I couldn’t help but admit it’d be good for her.

  The Queen’s Blessing (Epic, Charge 10)

  +5 Body, +15 Mana

  This staff allows the wielder to grant the Elite status to a friendly target twice per day. The Elite status grants five temporary levels and suppresses all Tier Zero debuffs on the target for twenty seconds.

  It was solid. It was more than solid, in fact. I wanted to take it apart and string it into the Voltsmith’s Grasp; being able to gain five temporary levels would be ridiculous in a tight fight, and suppressing debuffs? That was massive. It was probably the strongest single item I’d seen—and that included the Abysslord’s Grip.

  It was interesting that both of these bosses had dropped Epic-rarity gear, though, when the final boss of the Field of Warriors hadn’t. I’d have to ask Bobby about that sometime.

  Tori also got the Tome of Insatiability. Neither of us wanted it, though, and she was almost certainly going to throw it to the communal loot pile Jessica was building to help defend the Field Museum.

  Tome of Insatiability (Rare)

  +4 Body, +2 Awareness

  User learns the spell Insatiability, which temporarily enrages a target. The tome remains intact, but loses its ability to transfer magic after use.

  The problem with is was that Enrage wasn’t a buff—it was a debuff. It wouldn’t help me fight, and as far as we could tell, it wouldn’t help Bobby, Carol, or Zane either. Worse, most monsters would treat the suicidal, pain-suppression and the desire to fight until either it or their target died as a buff, not a debuff. It was just too situational for either Tori’s kit or my Spellcoding.

  That left me with the Battle Helm of the Tyrant.

  Battle Helm of the Tyrant (Rare, Charge 20)

  +3 Awareness, +3 Mana

  For each Battle Helm worn in your party, the wearer gains +2 Awareness and +2 Mana.

  I was less than thrilled. It didn’t give the stats I needed, and it’d just take up an item slot. But on the other hand, it had potential once I had the Charge to do something with it. Not now, but maybe later. I decided to throw the thing into a bin at my Laboratory and forget about it for a while.

  A trend was emerging; even the most useful pieces of gear were less useful than tearing them apart and working with their parts—and their Charge. I felt like I was missing something that Tori and Bobby got every time we killed a boss. They got excited about the drops, while I just saw them as the Voltsmithing material they were to me.

  Tori said most of the Tier One Dungeons and Tier Two Floor Ones were on farm at this point. That groups were flattening them, grabbing the loot, and leaving. According to her, even the people who hadn’t fought a monster since their Tutorial had a good mix of common and rare magical gear, and there were a few people in gear that was almost as good as hers. I had no idea how to compare myself to them in terms of gear, because when I finished a Creation, it didn’t have a rarity.

  But I’d guess I was a bit behind her, too.

  I pulled the Battle Helm into my inventory as Tori twirled her staff like a marching band baton. That power really would be useful, but at this point, she’d equipped it. The best I could do was wait until she got something better, then try to understand what it really did.

  And to do that, I needed to pass my Rank One Trial. “Tori, I’m heading back to Cindy’s. I’ll be there for a while. If anything goes wrong here, come get me or send the twins. Only if it’s really an emergency and you can’t handle it, though.”

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  “You think I’m going to pay any attention to Museumtown?” Tori said, snorting dramatically. “Carol’s got a new meditation technique she wants to try. We’re going to try to break through to Rank One first!”

  I nodded. “We’ll see.” Then I turned and walked away. If Tori wanted to make this a race, and if it motivated her to get stronger, then I was okay with playing along. But the real reason to get there wasn’t to win; it was to clear the Seared Wilds Tower.

  Nothing else mattered right now.

  Time Limit: Two Days, Eleven Hours, Two Minutes

  I didn’t go back to Museumtown. I missed my meeting with Calvin and Jessica.

  They’d understand. They’d have to.

  There wasn’t time. Not if the risk was as high as the System’s message said it was—and Jessica had used the key to ask. The answer she got back was cryptic, but it confirmed that Museumtown was in danger. We were all in danger. So I made a choice. Sleep was a luxury, and so was any kind of rest. I’d rest when I hit Rank One. Or when the Willis Tower dungeon was clear. Or when Phase One of Integration was done.

  Eventually. I’d rest eventually.

  I tinkered, experimented, and installed component after component into the Voltsmith’s Grasp. It felt less like working on my station wagon and more like rebuilding a Maserati from scratch using Ford Pinto parts. I wanted it to do so much. To purr like a cat, to roar like a lion, and to power a dozen different gizmos from Tasers and railguns to Spellcode Scroll-Readers and shields and sensors like the Bio-Electric Scanner I’d been working on.

  But all I needed it to do was pass the Trial. None of the bells and whistles mattered. I was asking it to do too much; it just needed a few improvements.

  First, it needed more Charge capacity. Even if I couldn’t max it out, more Charge meant more options. More options meant getting closer to that luxury sports car and further away from something that might blow up in my face.

  Second, it needed something to do with that Charge. Otherwise…bang.

  It was that simple. This wasn’t a complicated puzzle—I’d just been making it harder than it had to be. Dad’s rules had been correct. Brakes and steering first, then the radio. Focus on the basics of what makes a machine a machine. On its purpose.

  The dam broke.

  The river overflowed.

  I could see everything. Every screw, every washer, every half-filled Charge Battery that needed to be socketed into the design to hold the excess, unconcentrated Charge from the Lens Array.

  Finishing the Voltsmith’s Grasp’s first Upgrade took another hour, but it was all grunt work. The thinking and puzzle solving had been done—or left by the wayside. This version was powerful, focused, and single-minded. All it wanted to do was move Charge through the Emitter/Refiner at its core and push it into either taser blasts or my creations. It didn’t have a radio. It didn’t have AC. No heated seats or self-driving features. All it did was power—a muscle car to its previous station wagon.

  Voltsmith’s Grasp (Created Item, Charge 15/30, Upgrade Level 1)

  The Voltsmith’s Grasp is a Charge-assistance device. In its prototype form, it can temporarily transfer Charge to a consumable device created by the wearer. It can also use five Charge to create a powerful burst of electricity in melee range. Expended Charge regenerates over time.

  The first Upgrade doubles the Voltsmith’s Grasp’s storage and allows up to two consumable devices or weapons to receive Charge.

  I slipped the gauntlet on and flexed my hand.

  Congratulations, [Hal Riley], on completing your Voltsmithing Rank One Trial. Your Class has ascended to Rank One.

  You may select one Class Skill to augment your Voltsmith class. An additional skill may be selected from a new list at Rank Two, and the options available at Rank One may or may not appear on future lists. Choose carefully:

  Remote Voltsmithing - Use your Voltsmithing to empower Creations even when others are using them—or when no one is.

  Core of Armor - Focus your Voltsmithing into stronger, more reactive defenses, including shields, barriers, and reinforced armor.

  Shock Trooper - Use Charge to imbue weapons with powerful electrical attacks.

  The burns on Tommy’s head had healed quickly, and as the pain receded, he’d started to see the truth.

  The Fireborn Crusade wasn’t evil. It wasn’t even something to be scared of. It was a way to survive the apocalypse that had come to Earth, and nothing more. Taven Liu, the Fireborn Crusader himself, wanted nothing more than to unite the Midwest and help as many as possible live and thrive.

  He’d even helped Tommy get to Level Forty-Four—which Hal Riley and the people at Museumtown had never done.

  The Crusade, though? They knew what value a man like Tommy had. Taven knew what kind of value he had. And that meant a lot to Tommy. That meant loyalty.

  The walls of flame around Gary, Indiana opened, and Tommy watched as a small part of the Fireborn Crusader’s army left. When it was his turn to follow, he stepped into place, marching with the other mages. He wasn’t along to fight—Taven had told him so. He was only along to try to convince the people inside Museumtown to surrender peacefully and join the Crusade.

  Tommy hoped they’d take it. Sure, that Zane kid creeped him out, and Tori hated his guts for something that hadn’t been his fault. But they didn’t deserve to die. And Jessica and Hal had been treating him like a human being.

  The burns on the sides of his head started to heat up again, and Tommy fell back into step. The Crusade was on the way to help save Chicago, and he was proud to be a part of it.

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