The encounter with Sakura turned into a disaster and now even the grey walls glared at Keynes accusingly. It gave him chills and he started doubting his resolve. Maybe the best course of action was to do… well, what exactly? They’d told him very little about his ailment and even less about what would happen next.

Worrisome as it sounded, Keynes didn’t think they would let him die, especially considering his new contract. They wanted him to level up not perish.

The anxiety hit him then. It was something unlike he’d ever experienced. He called it anxiety but soon it morphed into pure fear. He didn’t know what he feared. It no longer mattered.

Kaito Ren found him curled up in a corner, fidgeting at the slightest sound. Keynes squirmed being unable to go any deeper. The corner wasn’t the best place to hide he realized, but it was too late. He was found.

Fear reached a crescendo as Kaito Ren placed his hand on Keynes’s shoulder.

“It’s okay.”

In reply, Keynes whimpered.

“I need a medic to Keynes Kid’s room,” Kaito Ren said to a device on the wall.

His words sounded ominous. Keynes started shivering, afraid of what the medics would do to him. Experiments. Dreadful, painful experiments.

Five minutes later, a doctor came inside with a group of people. Fear paralyzed Keynes to the point that his mind went white…

He woke up with a start and headache.

“My head,” he groaned as he took stock of his situation. Kaito Ren was in the room, standing behind the doctor and three nurses. His eyes showed concern but his face remained neutral. The doctor and nurses didn’t possess the same mastery of aura or facial expression and Keynes sensed a breath of relief coming from them.

“How do you feel?” the doctor asked him.

“As if someone hit my head with a brick.”

“Which emotion do you feel now?”

“None in particular.”

“Good,” the doctor stood up and turned to Kaito Ren. “He’s good to go.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

Keynes noticed Sakura’s absence. He knew she didn’t have late shifts but still expected to see her here. Stupid, irrational thoughts. The medics left his room. Without them, the atmosphere gained unexpected heaviness. A difficult conversation was encroaching.

Kaito Ren wasn’t the tallest of men but his presentation was imposing in a similar way to that of Lord Earl. He stood with his side to Keynes, his hands behind his back.

“Are you up for another rift?”

“Yes.” Keynes wasn’t going to pass on the essence and chance to train with the flow.

“Good. But today’s excursion is different.”

“How so?”

“They expect a boss encounter today.”

“Boss?” Keynes didn’t know if he was more excited or scared. Either way, he wanted to see it.

“Yes and because of that, we won’t go inside alone. Captain Ventura will be joining us.”

“Captain Ventura?! He’s still here?” Keynes hadn’t seen him since arrival and he was surprised to meet him again. Especially, in these circumstances.

“Let’s go, we don’t want to delay the recharge cycle too much.”

Captain Ventura was on Keynes’s mind the whole way to the rift. An additional ten soldiers stood arranged in the pre-rift room. They were armed heavier than usual. The boss had to be a serious deal to provoke such a response.

The last man to appear was Captain Ventura. As expected, he didn’t wear any armour. His arrogance was plain on his smiling face. But the smile didn’t seem natural, it felt forced. What was wrong?

“Kid, what’s up?”

Keynes blinked. Uneasiness was an old friend of his as show-offs had always made him a centre of unwanted attention. Ridiculing others was their pastime.

“I am fine,” Keynes replied, sensing soldiers’ stares at him. They still had been giving him the looks. Something was up with them. He might ask Kaito Ren about this.

“Good stuff,” captain Ventura said then turned his head to Kaito Ren. “Do you have my weapon?”

The guards stationed near the rift stepped aside revealing a black chest. Captain Ventura’s expression changed. Fakeness receded giving way to something more natural but not fully genuine.

He approached the chest, trailed his fingers over the edges before he reached to clasps.

“This is good stuff, Kaito.”

“Not at my Level.”

Captain Ventura waved to him dismissively. The captain’s behaviour baffled Keynes. What was going on?

Clasps clicked and Captain Ventura lifted the heavy lid. From inside the chest, he pulled out… a sword.

A sabre to be precise.

Soldiers in the room stiffened, leaking spiritual energy. The room atmosphere became heavy as the amount of spiritual energy climbed up. The researchers were the first to speak up.

“HIDE YOUR SPIRITUAL ENERGY!”

Keynes had never seen a scientist being angry. It wasn’t an oxymoron as scientists were humans and therefore weren’t immune to strong emotions. And yet it was quite a sight to see a man in a lab coat, yelling at the room full of armed soldiers, looking daggers at the captain.

Kaito Ren and Captain Ventura didn’t lose control of their Spirit. Kaito Ren stepped in front of Keynes like a shield.

“You flatter me,” the captain said cheerfully, no fakeness present in his voice. “But this is unnecessary. I don’t have ill intentions.”

Kaito Ren gestured to the soldiers to lower their rifles as some pointed them at the captain. Keynes was seriously out of the loop here. Was the sabre that provoked them? Why did they give it to him in the first place?

“At ease, soldiers,” Kaito Ren said when not all of the soldiers lowered their rifles.

Tension was still stupid high. Keynes felt its choking hands on his throat and chest. The resolution came from the very unexpected source—adding the truth to the song’s title: Not all heroes wear capes—it came from the researchers. One of them called out, “Ten seconds to the rift’s opening,” and the entire room’s focus shifted.

“Let’s see what the big deal is.”

“Ready,” a researcher declared.

Captain Ventura didn’t wait as strode forward into the rift. The soldiers stood wary waiting for the specialist’s order. Kaito Ren left Keynes’s side and approached them.

“This will never happen again,” he said in a much colder voice than he’d ever used with Keynes. “Whoever goes against my order, will lose the opportunity to enter the rift. Is that understood?”

“YES.”

“Then inside, secure the perimeter and wait for us.”

In a heartbeat, twenty soldiers vanished inside the rift. Only the usual guards and the researchers remained outside. Kaito Ren turned to Keynes.

“Leave the room,” Kaito Ren said to them.

Researchers were the ones who argued against this but Kaito Ren held Lord Earl’s authority and they had to relent in the end.

“This shouldn’t happen,” Kaito Ren said to Keynes when they were alone. “And I am ashamed of them for reacting like this but they did so because you are the most important person in this base and their orders came directly from the President.”

“I don’t think I follow, sir.” That was a partial lie. Lord Earl had already told him that they needed him to open more rifts. It was not a secret that the rift essence was precious. Then came rewards. The World Government wanted better stuff and better stuff was in the higher level rifts. This in turn made Keynes a very valuable person. Until they find another person with similar Talent or figure out a way to open the rifts without my Talent. Keynes felt a pang of jealousy and a hint of unease at the prospect of being replaceable. It felt good to be a VIP. There was no point in deceiving himself.

He needed Kaito Ren to explain the part with the captain in it. Why did the soldiers react as if he was a foe? He asked the specialist about it.

“This is a topic for a longer conversation and one that cannot happen without permission from Lord Earl. Now we should get going. You don’t want to skip on the essence from a boss encounter.”

No. Keynes didn’t want to. He’d appreciate it if curiosity took over him so he could ignore the pain and focus on the flow of essence inside his body. Ignoring Sakura’s warning he ‘tried’ to stimulate his natural curiosity.

It didn’t work and then they were through.

This rift contains a boss.

The number of rift monsters increased by 100%.

Rift monsters in the vicinity of the boss are empowered.

Rewards from the boss encounter are more profitable.

Confirmation from the system about the boss. Wait a second…

Rift (Common)

Level

1

Status

Open (Ruptured)

Requirements

-

Modifiers

-

Details

This rift contains a boss. The number of rift monsters increased by 100%.

Affinity

Nature

Special Status

-

Oh, shit. The details actually changed and Keynes could see them.

“How did you know?” he asked but no one answered, the cacophony was overwhelming. Wargs were coming at them from all directions at once. Many beasts lay dead…

He bent in half as the essence assaulted his body. There was so much of it he wanted to throw up. Where previously the essence flowed like a stream, this was a river. Only sixty seconds into the rift and Keynes wasn’t sure if he could withstand the pressure and pain.

“You alright?” Kaito Ren’s words got through somehow. Keynes ground his teeth, what was he supposed to tell him?

“Y-yeah,” he grunted.

“FORWARD!”

The pain eventually eased as the soldiers moved away from Keynes. Kaito Ren placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You shouldn’t lie in your post-rift evaluation.”

“This is nothing,” Keynes replied, annoyed at being handicapped by the adverse effect of the essence and because freaking curiosity didn’t come to help him.

“You barely stayed on your feet,” captain Ventura said. Keynes only now noticed his presence. “Doesn’t sound like nothing to me. What’s the matter, kid?”

“It appears that rift essence is too potent for Level 1s,” Kaito Ren replied in Keynes’s stead.

“Or maybe their bodies are too weak to handle it.”

“What do you imply, captain?”

“We both know what I am talking about. The Oriental League doesn't produce fools.”

“For a captain, you’re awfully well informed,” Kaito Ren said icily, shocking Keynes into silence.

“For a specialist, you’re punching way over your weight,” the captain replied amused.

They reached a stalemate. Neither of them wanted to step aside. If it came down to a fight, odds didn’t favour Kaito Ren. He might have had a murderous training that empowered his body but he was Level 3 while the captain was Level 5 and had a sabre.

“Impressive,” Captain Ventura said after a minute. “I didn’t expect your Spirit attribute on this level. This is not the work of the Oriental League. They train only a body. Who taught you this?” Taught him what? What they were talking about here?

“I’m afraid you’re mixing up Spirit attribute with simple spiritual energy control. I don’t know a way to train Spirit attribute.”

“Maybe,” the captain squinted at the specialist then he glanced at Keynes who didn’t expect it and started. “Did he start training you, kid?”

“Yes,” Keynes replied, his throat dry.

“Good. Stick to it but don’t forget that you have other attributes. Putting all your eggs into a single basket is an easy way to lose them.”

“What about you?” Kaito Ren decided to speak up. “Your Level is too high for a captain. The army would never let you level up past your rank. And I no longer buy the whole government taximan story. Who are you?”

It got a chuckle from the captain. With mirth, he pointed toward the soldiers who were still on the offensive against the wargs. They walked almost two hundred meters from them while they were talking.

“We should be going. At this distance, I can barely feel the essence.”

When Kaito Ren and Keynes didn’t move, the captain shook his head, still amused.

“We can talk while walking.”

Gradually, the pressure and pain returned. But this time Keynes controlled the pace of his stroll staying just on the boundary of the essence gain. It allowed him to slowly feel out the flow. It seemed random as it rampaged through his body. Like a river that lost its riverbed. Or it wasn’t there in the first place.

The river of essence required a proper riverbed to flow. Something like a… channel.

Channel.

He froze.

Captain Ventura and Kaito Ren stopped their discussions.

Understanding lay just at the arm’s reach. He imagined a channel and essence flowing through it. The vision was crude and shaky but the essence seemed to react to it. Not all. No. Most of the essence ignored the channel kept spreading throughout the body with abandon.

Pain and pressure eased up noticeably. This was progress.

“What’s the matter, kid?”

Why they were talking to him? He didn’t need distractions right now. Keeping the image in his mind was a Herculean task on its own.

“Kid?”

Keynes snapped his eyes open, almost losing control over the image of channels inside his body.

“I am working on easing the pain up,” he drawled. “It’s attention-heavy.”

The captain raised his hands mockingly. A gesture that reminded him of Kizaru and Ben Beckman. Stop. Focus on the channels. Kaito Ren remained silent, for what Keynes thanked him in his mind.

Throwing both men out of his head, he embraced the pain once more and worked up the image from there until he found another interesting nugget. Sometimes he shifted channels the wrong way, heightening the pain. It meant that positions of channels weren’t random.

This is… this… shit.

It was the worst moment for his ailment to remind about itself and it hit him with full force.

Maniacal laughter was new and funny! So funny!

Did they know how funny they looked? Red hair? Seriously? Did he think he lived in anime? Haha! Maybe he wanted to be Soma Yukihira? And this other guy, he looked so bland! Dangerously blan—

A blast of spiritual energy smashed into Keynes.

Vertigo seized him as he looked up from the ground. Bodies of wargs were everywhere. It was far stronger than Lord Earl’s spiritual wave. Keynes accepted Kaito Ren’s extended hand.

“How did you know?” Then how did Lord Earl know? Keynes wondered.

“Lord Earl gave me a tip on how to handle his attacks,” the captain said.

“It’s not very pleasant,” Keynes noticed.

“It was this or you’d laugh yourself to death. I think the choice is obvious.”

“Not necessary,” Keynes attempted another jest.

Both men looked at him, concerned. Was joking really this hard? Or was there something wrong with these people? ARGH! He forgot about the essence.

He fired the image in his mind, redirecting the flooding essence from overwhelming him. The pain subsided a notch. With that taken care of, the three of them resumed their march toward the line of soldiers.

The setting of the rift didn’t change at all and Keynes knew they were close to the clearing, a boss awaited them there. What kind of monster it was going to be?

“I’m out!”

“Me too!”

Unexpected calls came from soldiers.

“Already?” the captain mused.

“We didn’t know the number of monsters would double,” Kaito Ren explained. “This is something to remember going forward.”

“I don’t think so.” Captain Ventura shook his head. He placed the sabre on his shoulder and added. “I told you already, this isn’t the right way to deal with the rift monsters.”

Essence trickled down back to a stream, even though the soldiers were still shooting. They found the cause of this as came closer to the line of soldiers. What they saw put fear into Keynes. A massive warg stood in the middle of the clearing and glared at them with hatred. Several smaller wargs near the boss had visible bullet wounds but didn’t go down.

“I think this is your answer, Kaito.”

“Fall back!” Kaito Ren barked an order.

Soldiers stopped firing and began a retreat.

“We need heavy ammunition to deal with this lot, sir,” one of the soldiers said.

“You don’t need ammunition at all,” the captain said and moved toward the clearing.

“Sir?” the same soldier asked Kaito Ren who quieted him down with a gesture.

They watched as the wounded wargs rushed the captain. He stabbed the sabre in the ground and waited.

What the hell is he doing?!

His punches were a blur. Even Kaito Ren stiffened briefly. The wounded wargs went down without much effort. None of the beasts got a chance to launch their attacks on the captain who always reacted quicker.

In less than two minutes two dozen wargs were dead and Keynes was back to tussling with the essence. He regained composure in time to see the captain face the boss warg.

“Is this wise, sir?” the same soldier asked once more.

“Leave him be, sergeant,” Kaito Ren replied.

Captain Ventura pulled his sabre as the large warg rushed at him. He evaded his charge by sidestepping the beast. The boss showed surprising agility by twisting and pouncing at the captain. It happened in a heartbeat and Keynes began wondering how could a Level 1 stand up to the powerful beast like this.

It snapped its jaws with a loud thud, enough strength in it to shatter Keynes’s bones. The captain didn’t seem fazed by this. He played with the boss as it snarled and growled, trying to catch the pesky captain in its deadly jaws.

“What is this thing?” the soldiers mused aloud.

“We may need a tank to deal with it.”

Keynes filtered out their conversation as he fully focused on the fight.

Once the captain got a hang of the boss’ attributes, he switched to the offensive.

He punched its face.

The beast roared angrily. Foam coming from its mouth turned red. The captain nodded, pleased, an annoying smug smile back on his face. This wasn’t going to be a long fight.

The captain leapt forward, a fist crashing on top of the boss’ head before the beast could react. The crunch they heard was sickening. But it wasn’t enough to put down the boss. The captain didn’t look surprised so he had to have anticipated that this outcome.

During the time the monster was shaking off the concussion, Captain Venture slashed the blade across the beast’s side.

A terrible roar came out of its throat. The pain must have stirred it up because it charged the captain without a hint of hesitation. The blade came down like a guillotine but failed to separate its head from the rest of its body.

That got the captain puzzled.

With the sabre buried in its neck, the monster threw itself to the side then attacked the captain. Its teeth and canines sank in Captain Ventura’s left forearm.

The captain grunted.

The soldiers became restless but Kaito Ren made them stay out of this. And for good reason. It seemed the captain wasn’t in trouble. He wrestled his arm out of the warg’s mouth then hit its face with a right fist. As the monster reeled from the punch, Captain lunged forward, grabbed the sabre and pushed hard into the boss’ neck.

It struggled a few seconds, but the damage proved too much.

The rift’s boss has been killed.

You gain a single instance of the Bountiful buff.

The Bountiful buff increases the chance to find a higher rarity item or skill from the reward chest by 10%.

The boss was dead.