Chapter 32

While watching the competition, Keith took some time to get to know Rhea. It was mostly just him inquiring about her life as a wanderer, as he didn’t have many things to share about himself. However, learning of her many exploits made him question his choices in life so far. Rhea was just a few months older than Keith, yet she had already accomplished many incredible things. It was both demoralizing and motivating at the same time.

The competition had ended some time ago, yet Rhea and Keith still sat where they were as Rhea shared the story of her tribe’s coming-of-age ritual. “My tribe has a tradition that we must survive in a Rift for a month before acquiring our innate gift to show we can excel without it. Oh, we also aren’t allowed to bring in any supplies or equipment.”

Keith gasped. “That’s intense.”

“The start was annoying for sure,” Rhea nodded with a grimace. “In the Bog Marsh Rift, it's each monster for themselves. I did my best to stay hidden until I found a wounded beast on the verge of death. After killing it, I harvested everything I could and crafted a pair of bone daggers. Things became much easier after that. Every kill meant new equipment, and every herb meant a new potion. Eventually, a month was over.”

Seeing Rhea shrug with indifference, Keith shook his head in disbelief. She made it sound easy, but he knew better. Harvesting, crafting, herblore, potion-making, cooking. She used the skills she honed for years as a wanderer to create a path to victory.

“Jeez, hearing about your feats makes me feel invigorated.” Keith’s eyes were practically shining when he thought of how much effort and work she put into cultivating such a diverse skill set.

Rhea observed Keith and found he was genuinely impressed. “Y’know, most people either try to suck up to me upon learning who my dad is or feel jealous when they learn about my strength. And yet, you feel motivated instead.”

“Uh, sorry?” Keith scratched his cheek and wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Don’t apologize,” Rhea smiled with a shake of her head. “I meant it as a compliment.”

Neither of them spoke as the mood turned awkward, and it was only after a few moments when Rhea turned to Keith. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t sit here by chance.”

Keith met Rhea’s gaze and wondered if this was a confession. Just the thought caused his heart to race. Unfortunately, he was way off the mark when Rhea revealed, “I recognized your movement skill earlier and guessed your identity based on some rumors going around. I approached you to learn what sort of person you were.”

“Oh.” Keith felt strangely disappointed, though he didn’t find it too much of a stretch for Rhea to recognize his movement skill. Considering she was Ska’dur’s daughter, she was probably privy to top-secret information. Hell, she might have met his dad and Yara for all he knew. Pushing these distracting thoughts aside, he met Rhea’s gaze and asked, “So what did you find?”

Rhea shook her head. “When I first saw you, I almost couldn’t believe it. I wondered how Yara’s grandson could be as harmless as a pet rabbit.”

Keith gawked and grew embarrassed. Rhea didn’t care about his reaction and continued, “But then when I sat here and started talking with you, I learned that you’re a genuinely good person.”

Keith almost had whiplash from the change in Rhea’s evaluation as she said, “Honestly, you’re a breath of fresh air. I hope you stay the way you are with the things to come.”

“What do you mean?” Keith didn’t understand what she meant by her last sentence.

Rhea looked at Keith in puzzlement. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?” Keith started to get an ominous feeling from Rhea’s reaction.

“About the gate-“

“Enough.” A deep voice suddenly cut Rhea off. Keith glanced behind him and found Ska’dur sitting a few rows back. At some point, the man had arrived and sat behind them without either of them noticing. Now that he revealed himself, Ska’dur stood up and glared at Keith. “If he remains in the dark, it isn’t our place to inform him. It’s time to go.”

Rhea sighed as she watched her father leave without leaving any room for negotiation. Standing up, she gave Keith a warm smile, “Sorry about him. We’ll meet again.”

Keith watched as Rhea followed after her father and disappeared out of sight before sighing to himself. Learning about Rhea left him torn. The two weren’t even comparable. While they were the same age, Rhea had already accomplished so much while he merely lived off his family. However, rather than becoming jealous of her achievements and strength, Keith considered her a role model to strive towards.

Starting tomorrow, I need to train twice as hard. Keith clenched his hands and mustered his resolve.

Sometime later, Annallee and Uncle Ridger sought out Keith, and the group returned home. When they entered the front door, Annallee turned to Keith and said, “Thanks for coming. I appreciate it.”

“No problem, it was fun. I didn’t expect to see someone like Ska’dur there,” Keith replied.

Uncle Ridger caressed his beard and asked, “I saw him talk to you earlier. Did he say anything?”

“Not really.”

“Hm.” Uncle Ridger found it strange. “He’s a good friend of your father, you know.”

“Maybe he thinks I’m too weak to talk to,” Keith joked when recalling Rhea’s comment.

Uncle Ridger simply nodded in agreement, much to Keith’s dismay. Shrugging helplessly, Keith asked, “I’m going to my room. When’s dinner?”

“Give me a little to unwind,” Uncle Ridger stretched his shoulder. “It’ll be in an hour or so.”

After entering his room, Keith started looking up any upcoming performances for professional bands. Halfway through, he decided to send a message to his Aunt asking about the military-grade training arrays.

There was good news and bad news.

Serilla could grant him access, but he needed to join a queue. She didn’t feel comfortable allowing Keith to cut in line, considering anybody wanting to train there needed to spend their military contribution points. That meant Keith needed to wait around two months.

After eating dinner with his family, Keith prepared for bed and began thinking. In just a few weeks, he’d leave home and move in with his Dad. He didn’t know what that entailed, but it made him uncomfortable.

In the meantime, all he could do was wait for Zeidrick to get back to him. Keith hoped the world’s greatest craftsman could resolve some of the orb’s shortcomings because otherwise, he would need to find another way to fight.