It took Leo and Taylor another two weeks to make it just shy of the colossal plane. After leaving the spiky-tree plane behind, the two of them leapfrogged from one plane to the next, steadily getting closer to their target while honing their skills and cultivating their souls along the way. Some planes were on the smaller side and were capable of being traversed in mere hours, while others were far larger and required them to camp out a few nights in a row.

  With each and every plane they ventured through, Taylor ‘opened’ her soul and took stock of the plane’s various rifts, and Leo recorded the numbers into his ever-growing map, more confused than ever by the readings she was getting. They ended up passing through two other small settlements during their trek, but they were nothing more than freshly settled planes with fewer than a hundred people living within them. This section of the planarverse had clearly only been explored within the past few years, which explained how the new colossal plane had only recently been discovered.

  After their heart-to-heart discussion about comforting people, Leo had been surprised when Taylor, seemingly out of nowhere, began sitting immediately next to him during their evening meals. He’d been a bit embarrassed after receiving what he couldn’t help but think of as a pity hug from her, but it seemed that hug might have ignited a desire for physical, human contact Taylor hadn’t even realized she’d been lacking all these years. She didn’t exactly start clinging to him or anything, which might have been a bit concerning, but she was quick to give him another hug anytime their late-night conversations turned toward more sensitive, depressing topics.

  And boy did those start cropping up more and more frequently the more comfortable they got with one another.

  Finally, after all these weeks, Leo truly let those defensive walls he’d put up after the loss of his home plane come crashing down as he told Taylor everything. He talked about his friends who died without even knowing why their plane was collapsing. Finding the house he grew up in, that he’d always planned to come back and visit as he got older, engulfed in flames. What he’d felt finding his father’s charred body and watching the man who raised him die before his very eyes while he stood there, utterly helpless and unable to do a damn thing to save him. He even talked all about Francy and the life they might have had with one another if things had gone differently.

  For her part, Taylor mainly spent these conversations listening quietly, nodding along as he teared up and opened his soul to her in a completely different fashion than how she normally did. She rarely asked questions, and in fact, didn’t really say much of anything, content to simply stare into the crackling flames as he spoke. But she was there, and she listened, and that was all Leo really needed. Every so often, she’d lean over and give him a quick, too-tight hug when he hit a particularly rough topic and his voice began to waver. Her warm, reassuring body was comforting in a way Leo couldn’t even describe, and he always thanked her, returning the hug with one of his own to try and show her how much he appreciated her listening and simply being there. He always invited her to talk as well, but she’d usually just shake her head, quietly muttering something about not being able to mourn things she couldn’t remember.

  By the time the two of them finally made it to the colossal plane, Leo hadn’t just grown stronger physically or improved his soul rank. He felt as though he’d finally taken the first few steps toward healing after the horrible tragedy the Planar Lords’ agents had forced upon him.

  Soul Rank: 16 (1 available)

  Physical Evolution (Dash): Increased speed and reflexes

  Beast Gem: Ogre (7)

  Skill: Minor Strength

  Beast Gem: Sand Scorpion (6)

  Skill: Venomous Jab

  Beast Gem: Tunnel Rat (2)

  Skill: Darkvision

  On top of strengthening his soul, Leo had also swapped out his Poisonous gem for one more fitting his slowly developing fighting style. At first, with how Taylor enjoyed throwing herself straight into the thick of things and fighting in melee combat, he thought he should probably try and learn to fight from range so that their styles would compliment one another. However, the more they fought together, the more Leo realized that was the exact opposite kind of support that she needed. Taylor was fast and fought with a feral fury that anyone else would be hard pressed to match. However…

  She didn’t actually hit all that hard.

  Taylor was definitely stronger than a regular gem holder at a similar soul rank would be, thanks to her strange body. But that strength only took her so far as they began going up against higher and higher-Grade magical beasts. The spiny, fake trees had only been the start. They quickly found themselves encountering beasts with defenses too strong for her teeth or claws to really make a dent in, which helped Leo figure out what role he needed to fill.

  They needed a powerhouse.

  It was a role more commonly seen in mid-rank gem holders than anyone who truly made a name for themselves. But the moment Leo got his hands on the Minor Strength skill after a shocking battle against a rather angry ogre that hit hard enough to send Taylor flying, he realized it was exactly the kind of fighter he wanted to be. While the thought of commanding the elements and taking down magical beasts with the snap of his fingers was highly tempting, the sensation of raw power and pure strength flowing through his muscles as he stood his ground before a magical beast’s rampage or punched a beast hard enough to shatter its defenses never got old.

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  A thought Leo had for the tenth time as he dug his foot into the ground and met the charging magical beast they were currently fighting head on.

  There was a loud crack like thunder as the raging bull slammed into his shoulder, nearly coming to a dead stop after pushing him back almost a full dozen feet. Leo’s full might was focused on keeping the bull still as he grappled with its horns, so he didn’t even have the breath to spare to shout to his partner that she had her opening.

  Of course, by this point, he and Taylor rarely needed to say anything to know what the other was planning.

  Taylor landed on the back of the stationary beast, having launched herself from relative safety like a cat pouncing on its prey. The moment she landed, she got to work, her fingertips morphing into wicked claws as she began slashing her way through the dense muscle of the bull’s back. Rather than cry out in pain, the magical beast roared in anger, literal smoke blasting from its nose as its eyes went red and it redoubled its efforts to try and gore Leo to death.

  Leo swore as the bull’s strength suddenly seemed to double, and he realized he was about to be trampled to death. Without hesitation, Leo tightened his grip on the bull's horns, jumping and swinging his body around in order to land on the bull’s dense neck. His speed-focused physical evolution allowed him to escape out from under the bull just in time to avoid getting run over, and he couldn’t help but laugh as he suddenly found himself atop the bull right alongside Taylor.

  “This wasn’t part of the plan!” Leo shouted as he held on for dear life. The bull clearly did not take kindly to having even one passenger sitting on its back, let alone two, and only Leo’s Minor Strength skill kept him from getting bucked off during the bull’s tantrum.

  “New plan!” Taylor grinned, having sunk her claws deep into the magical beast’s back to keep herself from getting bucked off. With her claws otherwise occupied at the moment, most people would probably assume there wasn’t a lot she could do.

  Most people would be wrong.

  Leo watched over his shoulder as Taylor’s teeth transformed into those of a predator, before she used them to start violently ripping chunks of flesh off the magical beast that had gotten the jump on them. While her attacks were definitely effective, based on the beast’s loud roars as it continued to jerk around to try and dislodge them, the fact of the matter was that there was a lot of magical beast under them, and it might take Taylor an hour to bite her way down into something important.

  Not too excited by the thought of trying to hold onto the bull for the next hour, Leo decided to help out. Doing his best to lock his legs around the beast’s thick neck, Leo barely managed to get his sword out of its sheath without getting hurled off the bull. Even as he was jerked around like a ragdoll, he gripped his sword in both hands, knowing he’d probably only get one shot at this. He waited until the bull reared up on its hind legs in response to yet another bite from Taylor, before he struck.

  As soon as the bull’s front half was off the ground, Leo rolled, keeping his legs locked around its neck while letting himself slide beneath the magical beast so that he was now dangling under it. Before the beast's powerfully built body could come crashing down and flatten him, he struck, thrusting his blade up and straight into the bull's more-vulnerable throat. The beast's thick hide held firm against the tip of his blade for a fraction of a second before giving way and allowing his blow to strike true.

  Not even waiting to see the result, Leo quickly released his leglock and threw himself to the side. And not a moment too soon, either. His strike must have severed something rather important, as the monstrous, bloodthirsty bull collapsed almost instantly, dropping its giant body against the ground with enough force to crush a regular human underneath.

  Panting at the close call, Leo could only laugh as he met Taylor’s eyes, his partner blinking in confusion as she looked up at him with her teeth still firmly lodged in the beast’s back.

  “Esh eh ovah?” she asked, her words barely audible around the mouthful of bull.

  “Remember what we talked about? About talking with your mouth full?” Leo teased, earning an eyeroll from the feral woman.

  Ripping out one last chunk of beast, she spat the flesh out, turning to stare at him with blood trickling down her chin. “Is it over?”

  “Yeah. Managed to get a lucky sword strike through the throat,” Leo confirmed, walking over and yanking his sword out of the beast with a quick jerk. “Nice job getting it to buck around like that. Even with my new strength, my sword wasn’t really able to pierce its muscles all that well.”

  “You need a better weapon,” Taylor said for the third time, wiping her bloody mouth off on her sleeve.

  “And just like the last few times you told me that, I agree with you. But weapons don’t exactly grow on trees.”

  “Wooden clubs? Staffs? Spits?”

  “Please. I’d love to see you try and fight a magical beast with a wooden spit. Tell me how that goes for you.” Shaking his head, Leo hopped up onto the beast beside her, getting comfortable and giving her a pointed look. “We’re wasting time. Let’s start cultivating before we lose any more power.”

  “I already am,” Taylor grinned, rubbing it in his face yet again that she was able to somehow absorb the ambient power decaying from the magical beast as easily as breathing.

  “Show off,” Leo said, unable to keep himself from returning her grin before he focused and closed his eyes. It had taken them some time to actually reach this point, but the two of them were now able to harness the power given off immediately after felling a higher-Grade magical beast that wasn’t converted into the beast’s gems. So long as they remained within the beast’s corpse, the gems would keep for a few hours, which meant it was always best to start with the ambient power first.

  Breathing in deeply, Leo created a vacuum within his core, carefully collecting that ambient power as it leaked from the dead bull before adding it to his outermost soul layer. Seeing as most gem holders weren’t able to reach outside their bodies with their souls, this complicated technique was necessary to harness the full power of any higher-Grade magical beast. Leo was pretty certain he still wasn’t doing it very efficiently, but sitting atop the beast directly helped make up for that to a degree. Eventually, he’d get to the point where he could absorb every last drop of decaying power without having to physically climb onto the magical beast, but for now, this worked out well enough.

  At this point, Leo was nearing the halfway point between rank 16 and 17, and Taylor was a little ways ahead of him as usual. With that in mind, he smiled as he carefully layered the fresh power over his soul. The colossal plane was tier 22, at least according to the rumors, and he’d hoped to hit a soul rank of 15 before reaching it. The fact that the two of them were well on their way to rank 17 was better than he could have planned for.

  “Heads up,” Taylor called out, her next words forcing him to let the last few dregs of raw power dissipate into the air as he stopped concentrating and opened his eyes. “We’ve got people.”

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