Chapter 42

Adventurer University was as bustling as ever. Famed as the number one institution for learning, it guaranteed that all students would possess excellent combat ability, a level over 300, and a wide breadth of knowledge upon graduation. It was a school for the elite, and as such, only the best among the younger generation could enter.

Upon its creation, Wes Mirion, the headmaster, strategically built the campus between four Rifts suitable for adventurers between levels 100 to 400. Afterward, by using his innate ability, he customized the Rifts so that they would forcibly teleport the students out upon receiving a deathly blow.

Unknown to the public, Wes Mirion was, in fact, the original leader of a hero family, having lived for centuries. Due to his guidance and love for teaching, over 80% of the Innate Dimension’s current elites grew under his care. An even more secretive fact was that Wes Mirion artificially created the four Rifts surrounding Adventurer University’s campus. Not only could Wes’ innate ability customize rifts, but he could also create them from scratch.

For that reason, Keith arrived at one of the entrances to Adventurer University, wearing a white cloth shirt under a black leather tunic and a capelet over his shoulders. His expression was bright as a youthful and heroic aura surrounded his being. He was now 21 years old and at the prime of his life.

Three years ago, Keith resolved to strengthen himself and incorporate all sorts of knowledge. Under the best instructors Markus could find, each mission Keith completed cut away his imperfections, revealing a genius with monstrous talent. From an uncut gem to a sparkling diamond, he grew at an astonishing rate. All the while, his Grimoire grew alongside him.

Keith acquired around 500 million gold over the past few years thanks to his father’s rewards, the farm, hunting monsters, and Adeiv’s business partnership. Keith invested 100 million in various items to increase his CV and CP, then another 100 million into his farm. After numerous upgrades, Keith’s farm made him 1 million gold a week. Interestingly, he produced so many rare and precious herbs he needed to swap between them every week to ensure the market didn’t crash.

Thanks to all his hard work, Keith’s current status was incomparable to before.

[Keith Walker]

Level: 412

Age: 21

Titles: Philantropist, Born With A Golden Spoon, Troublemaker, +10 others

Health: 63,400/63,400

Mana: 101,100/101,100

Strength: 2130

Agility: 2243

Intelligence: 4201

Vitality: 2593

Endurance: 2612

Skills: Sensory Link, Mind Enhancement, +245 others

A third of Keith’s stats came from eating top-grade food, a third from his Grimoire, and the last from levels, training, and other methods. Not only that, Keith’s core skills almost reached level 400 on average, with Void Shadowstep breaking through level 400. All in all, Keith was several hundred times stronger than three years ago.

Most importantly, Keith still had 300 million gold saved up. If he spent all that to increase his CV and CP, he would likely gain a few thousand extra stats, and the only reason why he didn’t was that there might be a better way to spend his gold. That was why he arrived at Adventurer University – to seek out Wes Mirion.

With classes in session, the campus was mostly empty. After passing the security checkpoint, Keith took a stroll and admired the scenery. Colorful trees and plants gave the school grounds a fresh look, while the buildings looked modern and new, with a creative design.

When he got a feel for the school’s atmosphere, Keith made his way to the administrative building and told the receptionist he had an appointment with the headmaster. Once the receptionist confirmed his identity, she led Keith to the elevator, inserted a key, pushed a few buttons, then returned to her desk.

Taking the elevator up to the top, Keith found that the entire floor was one massive room with glass windows and housed several streams where sparkling fish swam about. Grass made up most of the floor, with only a single cobblestone path winding its way to a desk, where Wes Mirion currently rested on a chair with his eyes closed.

Looking like a middle-aged man, Wes had pure white hair and a trimmed beard, wearing a simple silk robe embroidered with floral patterns.

When Keith approached, Wes slowly opened his eyes and scrutinized Keith from head to toe with a smile. “Young man, you’ve certainly changed since the last time we talked.”

“I’ve been busy,” Keith said with a grin as he sat down across from Wes.

Wes asked curiously, “Is the reason you came here today the same as last time?”

Seeing Keith nod, Wes grew doubtful. “It’s only been a short two years. Knowing your father, he wouldn’t give you handouts, so I find it hard to believe someone your age could come up with the materials worth several hundred million gold.”

“Haha, I’ll be completely broke after today. I’m taking a huge gamble doing this, you know? If my idea fails, then I’ll have wasted two years of resources for nothing.” Keith removed a ring from his finger and tossed it to Wes. The ring was an Epic grade Pocket Dimension full of materials needed for Wes to construct a Rift according to Keith’s specifications.

Wes’ innate gift required numerous materials and a ton of Mana to create a Rift. Different materials caused different monsters to spawn inside the Rift. If Wes wanted an undead Rift, he would need all sorts of bones from various monsters. Due to this, Wes could create all sorts of Rifts, and by extension, the cost varied greatly.

Two years ago, Keith had a sudden epiphany: what was stopping him from collecting a Rift into his Grimoire? Upon testing his idea, he discovered the System owned all the Rifts, so he didn’t have the necessary authority to collect them. Later, Keith learned about Wes’s innate gift and sought him out. Since then, Keith has been saving his money ever since, and only as of last week did he get all the materials Wes needed.

Keith hoped that collecting a Rift would unlock another minigame. The farm already gave Keith 1 million gold a week without doing anything, so what would a Rift minigame do? The payoff would make all his efforts worth it, while at the same time, failure would be devastating.

Wes took the Pocket Dimension ring in hand and inspected its contents. “Oh, you’re going with this type of Rift?”

With five hundred years of development, Wes’ innate gift was quite mature in its growth, so he had considerable influence over what type of Rift he could create. Rifts had all sorts of invisible modifiers that only Wes could interact with. Some had an abundance of herbs, some had monsters that gave greater experience, and others dropped more gold. No two Rifts were the same.

Based on the materials inside the Pocket Dimension ring, Wes could tell Keith wanted a well-rounded level 400 Rift with a mountainous terrain filled with elemental monsters. Since Keith didn’t know whether his idea would work or not, he didn’t go with anything crazy.

“Okay, everything looks good,” Wes said as he stood up and straightened his robe. “Where do you want it?”

“I found a remote place that should work,” Keith responded as he created a portal to an uninhabited field far from civilization. Once on the other side, Wes looked around and nodded before withdrawing all the materials inside the Pocket Dimension. After that, he took out a wand and began carving undecipherable runes both in the air and on the ground.

Several hours later, an illusory sphere larger than a house and full of strange characters hovered in the air above the field. Sighing in exhaustion, Wes wiped his brow and exclaimed, “Finally done. Now for the last step.”

“Ready for something amazing?” Wes gave Keith a grin as the large pile of materials worth 300 million gold melted into liquid before shooting into the sphere, turning it solid. A moment later, the sphere suddenly flew into the sky and expanded rapidly. Mountains, creeks, rocks, dirt, and flowers flashed into existence, covering the vast field in its entirety, accompanied by the trademark dome that represented a Rift. In seconds, what was once an empty piece of land turned into a small mountain range.

Keith took a few steps back in surprise and shock, his eyes full of wonder and awe during the process. “Awesome, so awesome. That was like an act of god!”

Wes couldn’t hide the pride on his face. “Haha, if you say so.”

It took a few moments of deep breathing for Keith to calm down. Eyes shining, he strode up to the Rift and placed a hand on the barrier before shouting, “Collect!”

Determining authority…

Authority confirmed. The user holds ownership rights of the item intended to be stored.

With a familiar flash of light, the massive Rift shrunk until it was the size of a palm, then flew into Keith’s grimoire. Overwhelmed with joy, Keith jumped in place. “Success!”