“Anyway, if you’re asking why this place made me so good in the Floraverse, I don’t know,” Bugz said. “Call it a glitch, call it the nexus between the real world and the digital world. Whatever it is, when I come here to do something in the ’Verse, it supercharges it.”

Feng spun his phone in his hand, listening intently. He spun the phone again before bringing it to rest under his chin. “Still, you have some pretty crazy reflexes,” he added. “I bet anyone could come here and they still wouldn’t understand the ’Verse the way you do.”

“This is only half of my secret.” Bugz looked off into the distance beyond the nest. “There’s another stone formation like this in the Spirit World, at the bottom of Lake of the Torches. We found it when Mishi-pizhiw and the Thunderbirds were tearing up the land. A stone ring buried deep underground. Now it’s Mishi-pizhiw’s nest.”

“So you can supercharge stuff there too.”

Bugz nodded. “It’s more than that,” she said, preparing herself for his reaction to what she was about to reveal. She inhaled. “It’s a respawn point into the Spirit World.”

“That’s not possible. You have to respawn in AR first and work your way back to the Spirit World.”

Bugz shook her head. “Put your headset on and go to Mishi-pizhiw’s nest. It’s at the bottom of the lake.”

Feng quickly followed her instructions. “Okay, now what?” Feng asked from behind his headset, his ’Versona swimming around on-screen near the periphery of Mishi-pizhiw’s nest.

“Destroy my ’Versona,” Bugz said.

“No. It’ll take you forever to get back.”

“Just do it.”

“No. I don’t believe you.”

“Fine.” Bugz put her headset on. After a few blinks, her ’Versona slumped to the seafloor in the Spirit World and her gamertag rose slowly. Feng’s jaw dropped.

In the real world, Bugz lifted her headset and walked to the center of the nest, phone in hand and AR mode activated. As she reached the middle of the real-world nest, her ’Versona suddenly reappeared in front of Feng in the center of Mishi-pizhiw’s nest in the Spirit World, sparkling and shimmering with energy. Her experience points, bitcoins, and gifts returned at their previous level. Her ’Versona, operating under AI, stepped out of the digital nest in the Spirit World completely rejuvenated.

Feng removed his headset and re-engaged with Bugz in the real world. His eyes widened. “No wonder you’re so much better!” He shook his head in disbelief. “While everyone else wastes their time clawing their way back to the Spirit World, you can just dive right back in.”