Chapter 25

If looking down from the sky, you could trace the path Keith made as he ventured further into the eternally burning forest of the Crimson Howler Den from the trail of ice and snow he left in his wake. It seemed even this fire-attributed Rift couldn’t handle his constant spamming of water-attributed skills.

As Keith fought his way deeper in with Uncle Doven at his back, he grew more familiar with using his orbs as time passed. Now that there were trees in the way, he needed to maneuver around them as he battled. Really, all he needed to do was observe the wolves. They used the trees as cover to obscure their position and avoid Keith’s skills. Some even leaped across the branches to attack from above. It seemed strange to learn from monsters, though Keith figured that was the nature of combat.

And to prove his actions, his skills rapidly shot up in levels.

Mind Enhancement (Mythic) Level 75 -> 99

Mind Division (Mythic) Level 74 -> 97

Sensory Link (Legendary) Level 95 -> 105

Keith received an evolution point when Sensory Link hit level 100. From the list of upgrade options, he easily picked ‘Far-reaching.’ The upgrade reduced the rate at which the skill consumed Mana based on the distance of the linked object from Keith. As it stood, Keith’s Sensory Link skill consumed all his Mana before he could tell how far his orbs could be from him while still connected to the Mana Reactor. Keith’s effective range with the orbs increased from 100 feet to 200 feet with the upgrade. Even then, the orb’s connection to the Mana Reactor remained strong.

Not even two hours after Sensory Link evolved, Mind Division and Mind Enhancement reached level 100, each gaining an evolution point as well. Compared to a Legendary grade skill’s evolution options, a Mythic grade’s options were more potent even if they were the same. The downside was Mythic grade skills took longer to level.

This time, Keith took much longer to decide how to evolve the skills. As he was still introducing himself to his fighting style, he wasn’t entirely clear on how to proceed. Evolving a skill could make its strengths stronger or shore up a weakness. There was no right answer.

Evolving skills was a permanent decision, so Keith thought long and hard. Thankfully, going to school gave Keith a solid foundation. There were entire classes dedicated to combat theory, what students should expect as they grew stronger, and building a skillset.

Currently, Keith didn’t have any problems controlling the orbs while fighting, but two reasons could explain that. One, monsters at his level didn’t have high intelligence, so their tactics primarily involved head-on confrontation. Two, Keith limited himself to using a few skills. It was fine now, but high-level Rifts had various monsters with different roles and skills, all working in tandem.

In the end, Keith thought to plan for the future, so even though he didn’t need it now, he enhanced Mind Enhancement’s cognitive boost. As for Mind Division, he reduced the drop in cognitive ability per division.

The effects were immediate.

A quick test allowed Keith to confirm he could now control 20 orbs at once. Unfortunately, now that his skills passed level 100, their growth rate dropped drastically. It took Keith a few weeks to reach level 100, and hitting level 200 would take even longer. Only hard and steady work could progress them now.

As time passed, Keith intentionally avoided the forest's center as he fought. The Rift Boss was there, and Keith was still working up his nerve to confront it. For now, he casually slaughtered packs of wolves, netting plenty of experience, gold, and materials.

Since Keith was only a few levels higher than the monsters he killed, there was no experience reduction. He’d already gained several levels worth of experience due to how fast he killed with the orbs. Only, it would cost him around 5,000 gold to withdraw the experience from the Grimoire. While it wasn’t much now, Keith was only level 159 out of 500. How much would it take once he reached higher levels?

Keith wondered why his innate gift was so greedy. As it was a reflection of himself, did that mean he secretly loved money? That couldn’t be right. Some people based their entire ego around their wealth, and Keith knew that wasn’t a trait he possessed. Money was simply a medium of exchange.

Ah, Keith thought, that was it. Even as miraculous as the Grimoire was, it needed fuel to perform its functions. Instead of Mana, it was gold. Keith thought it made sense. The Grimoire revolved around items and drew power from them. But to transfer experience from it to Keith wasn’t a costless action. Keith had a feeling the Grimoire would require gold for other functions as well, and that sucked. Now, not only did he need to spend money to power himself up, he needed to spend money to make use of that power.

“I need a gold mine,” Keith muttered to himself.

With a shake of his head, he turned his attention to the items the wolves dropped. A few hours of hunting gave him around 300 gold. More important than the gold were the materials. The wolves dropped fangs, hide, and claws. A craftsman could turn them into weapons or armor, so they were pretty easy to sell. Keith estimated his current stock would sell for 500 gold or so.

Basically, in three hours of hunting, Keith made 800 gold. Not much, but not inconsequential either. These were low-level monsters in the grand scheme of things. The stronger Keith grew, the faster he’d make money.

Thinking that, Keith abruptly turned and made his way to the Rift Boss. After killing a few wolf packs in the way, he arrived before a small hill. On top sat a slab of rock where a giant wolf lay. The same Rift Boss that almost killed Zachery. Well, it was up for debate whether it was the same Rift Boss or a clone. Nobody knew the answer.

As Keith looked up at the Rift Boss from behind the cover of a tree, the scene of Zachery dying flashed past his eyes. Shuddering, Keith looked back at Uncle Doven, who was staring at the sky for whatever reason. Knowing that his Uncle had his back, Keith took a deep breath and decided to try one of his strongest skills to be safe.

Sensing movement, the Enkindled Wolf King lifted its head and stared warily at a lone orb that flew above it. Suddenly, blue-purplish bolts of lightning crashed down from the sky. The wind picked up in an instant as a raging storm of blue-purple bolts covered the world, spinning around with reckless abandon. Each one that happened to pass through the Rift Boss pierced straight through its body, dealing significant damage. Unfortunately for the Enkindled Wolf King, there were hundreds of them. It couldn’t avoid all the bolts, no matter how it dodged.

From behind the tree, Keith saw a wall of blue and purple. The bolts flew so fast he couldn’t perceive them. All Keith heard was the howling of the wind and the painful cries of the Rift Boss. Thankfully, he stood some distance away, so only the wind affected him.

After ten seconds, the skill faded. What remained was a small hill filled with numerous tunnels, which collapsed in the next moment. Even the burning trees in the periphery of the skill fell over. As for the Enkindled Wolf King, it died in the first second.

“Wow,” Keith exclaimed in pure amazement. With wide eyes, he cautiously walked up to the loot the Rift Boss dropped as he recalled the skill that was so powerful at level 1 and without Intelligence scaling.

[Mythic] Arcane Tempest – Level 1

Description: Unleash a storm of condensed mana bolts in a large area. Ignores 30% of the target’s defense. Intelligence scaling: A. 10 minute cooldown. Each level increases the effectiveness of the skill.

It was simply impossible for a person at Keith’s level to cast such a high-grade skill themselves. The Mana cost was too high. However, there were always exceptions. From the System’s perspective, it was okay allowing Keith to harness the power of a skill only 400+ adventurers could use since he couldn’t level it up or gain experience normally, in addition to needing a Mana Reactor. Only after all these limitations was balance achieved.