“You?”

Kaito Ren turned to Keynes, his face was calm as if nothing had happened yesterday. In truth, Keynes needed some of the red-haired man’s indifference. Everything he learned turned his world upside down and in all of this, he didn’t even ask if his parents were alright. He was so self-absorbed that he forgot about his family.

Am I a bad person?

It terrified him because he didn’t know how to answer this question.

“Why are you surprised?”

There were many reasons why he should be surprised but Keynes kept them for himself. Too many eyes and ears were in the gym. Beside Kaito Ren stood Director Wolf and several others who looked like baseball coaches. They even had stopwatches hanging from their necks.

The gym itself was fairly standard with a ring, punching bags, weights and various equipment whose purposes Harter would’ve known. Considering how little time they had, they did a good job of making this place comfortable and easy to use. It didn’t feel cramped like the small gym in the underground base. The lighting was sharp, keeping his mind alert.

“This is Head Trainer Kaito Ren,” Christopher Wolf said. “He is the man who will help design your training and make sure you stay on track.” The director turned to the seven standing near the wall to his left. “These are your personal trainers. They are the head trainer’s eyes and ears. If you encounter issues, speak to them.”

Oh man, I feel sorry for the one who will get Lazark. That man doesn’t shut up.

A month ago, Keynes would have had a hard time imagining the skinny teenager to survive Kaito Ren’s training. But how much different did Keynes look from Lazark? The answer didn’t satisfy Keynes and so he pushed his thoughts elsewhere.

“Isn’t there any other scientific way to fix this?” Lazark asked, referring to the pain caused by the rift essence. “The World Government has the most impressive science department.”

“No. There is not,” the director said. “And this training is not only to make farming the rift essence easier.” He paused for a dramatic purpose surely. “One day you will become special operatives. You will be the ones to fix issues no one else can. The top brass decided that it is not enough to just level you up. We must make you stronger than others, regardless of your Talents.”

Oh. This was unexpectedly very bad news. They were way smarter than Keynes gave them credit for. Fixing the painful process of absorbing the rift essence was only one reason to introduce the training. The second reason was to create more powerful underlings. Would the World Government change their minds down the road and proliferate this among ordinary troopers?

Kaito Ren had to come to the same conclusions, right? His presence here was still confusing after what had happened yesterday. But with so many people around he wouldn’t risk a chat with his trainer.

“Levelling makes us stronger, so shouldn’t we level as fast as possible?”

Christopher Wolf opened his mouth to reply to pesky Lazark when Kaito Ren helped his hand up.

“Please, director, let me demonstrate.”

“Fine, you have the floor. Have them ready for the first rift in two hours.” The director left the gym.

As he closed the door, Kaito Ren turned to the seven trainees. While his face remained composed, leaking very little emotion, his eyes were where all the action happened and in them, Keynes found something disturbing—

“Let’s start with running.” He pointed at the treadmills. “The winner will get a fifteen minutes break before the rift excursions start.”

“I love a treadmill,” Samuel King exclaimed and being in his element he didn’t notice the rest of the gym go ghastly silent.

“What do you mean by that?” Lazark beat everyone to the question.

“Every question from now on will earn you extra workout.”

Lazark’s eyes bulged and he covered his mouth with his hand.

Seeing Daiyu Fen staring daggers at Kaito Ren, Keynes expected some nasty remark from her but none came and she was the second one to join Samuel King on a treadmill.

“Treadmills will record your distance and time. And as I mentioned, only the winner will receive a rest before the rifts so make sure to win.”

“It’s easy,” Oxford Sioux said. “We all need to get to the same distance.”

They heard Samuel King already on the treadmill and he didn’t seem like he heard Oxford Sioux.

“Or not,” he added. He stepped on a treadmill third.

Butchereyev and Tulli followed him.

Only Keynes and Lazark remained.

“Postponing won’t save you. It means you will have to work harder later to keep up with the rest.”

That man took too much inspiration from the captain!

Ten minutes later, Keynes checked the scores displayed in front of them on a glass panel.

Keynes Kid (5102m) Daiyu Fen (4123m) Samuel King (4004m) Tulli (3877m) Oxford Sioux (3432m) Lazark (3123m) Butchereyev (2732m)

He was the FIRST? How? He didn’t even push himself. But this wasn’t all! Butchereyev looked winded. Lazark’s face was contorted in a painful grimace. Perhaps he wasn’t a quitter but he had a hard time keeping up with the rest. On the other hand, Daiyu Fen and Samuel King looked determined and focused in their pursuit of the first place.

“How much longer?” Lazark asked, breathing heavily.

Kaito Ren and the seven personal trainers looked at him with pity.

“Until you collapse and then you start again.”

“What?!” Lazark missed footing and fell. “This is madness. I demand to see scientific proof that this works.”

Kaito Ren nodded toward Keynes.

“A few weeks ago Keynes was a welp like you. Now he doesn’t even sweat beating the rest of you.”

Oh, thank you, Kaito. Thank you for putting me in the spotlight. That’s very smart of you— and very kind.

“How did you do it?” Samuel King asked, interested in Keynes for the first time.

“I ran,” he lied. A question popped in his head though. Why was there so much discrepancy between Level 1s? According to the current knowledge, Level 1s’ attributes were the same. Why then Butchereyev lagged so badly while Daiyu Fen and Samuel King were so far ahead? It was something Keynes needed to figure out.

Four minutes later with a distance of 3672 metres, Lazark fell off the treadmill for the second time. He wailed frustrated, beating his fists against the floor.

“This can’t be right! What is the point of this?”

“To get stronger.”

Keynes cleared nine kilometres as Daiyu Fen and Samuel King put extra in effort to catch up to him. He wouldn’t let them. It itched him a wrong way that Kaito Ren was giving away their secrets after all they had learned about this new World Government. The stronger the six besides Keynes became, the stronger it would make the World Government. This wasn’t the point, right? Why then did the red-haired idiot force Lazark back on the treadmill? If he had to train them, at least he shouldn’t be so thorough.

Butchereyev was the next one to give up. He stepped off the treadmill, puffing like a steam locomotive.

“I—c-can’t,” he rumbled under his nose. “It-it feels like my body is about to take damage.”

“ Get back on the treadmill.”

After thirty minutes mark, only three people were still running—Keynes, Daiyu Fen and Samuel King—the rest was walking. Kaito Ren didn’t allow rest.

“This is too slow,” he said to the seven personal trainers. “Up the speed for everyone.”

While the trainers looked at least confused, everyone else was horrified—well, maybe with exception of Keynes who dreaded what Kaito Ren was trying to achieve here.

“You are the best-looking sadist I have ever met,” Oxford Sioux said even though his voice trembled from exhaustion.

The new speed hit them then and, holy shit, it wasn’t a joke.

“Maybe—” one of the personal trainers tried to say something but Kaito Ren cut him off.

“This is nothing yet.”

Yeah, but soon it will be, Keynes thought bitterly.

The new pace was murderous even for Keynes. Not even a minute later he was the only one left on the treadmill, his body screaming to stop but there was something stubborn inside him that would never let him do it.

Never.

His eyes met Kaito Ren’s and he ground his teeth. You don’t have what the captain has! Which is a good thing.

Keynes's stamina ran out at that moment and he staggered almost falling off the treadmill but he didn’t need stamina to keep him going. He pulled hard at his Will and it gave him a bit of extra time.

“Faster,” Kaito Ren mouthed to the personal trainers.

Keynes didn’t see them anymore. His focus reached the edge of his capacity. He was in the realm of his father now. His world narrowed to a simple motion of moving foot after foot. Always forward.

Then he blinked and found Kaito Ren staring at him from above. Keynes was on the floor, somehow. What? Did I pass out?

“Your fifteen minutes rest passed, Keynes. Join the others.”

***

They were sitting on the ground when their rift escort found them. Kaito Ren and the personal trainers were gone. The number of curses and obscenities from the seven trainees was staggering despite their wrung bodies. At least, they allowed them to take a shower and change into clothes prepared specifically for them. They were dark wetsuits with their names on them. Were they going to swim? As long as there weren’t any crocodile-infested rifts, Keynes was alright with swimming.

He almost sighed in relief when the time to enter the rift came. Keynes missed the feeling of guiding the essence throughout his body. It was no longer painful although it could be itchy if he tried to absorb too much essence at once.

But seeing who their escort was made the relief go away.

High Lord Esopp Earl.

“Why the sombre faces?” he asked, almost friendly. Maybe it was a Level 7 thing that made him sound inhumane. It was difficult to describe but in Keynes's head, he sounded something like the Vision.

“High Lord!” Their enthusiasm was weak. “We need more rest.”

“Rest while I am killing the monsters. That’s all the rest I can give you. Your new head trainer has already prepared a class for when our rift tour is over.”

“What about the Geneva convention?” Lazark fired. “We have human rights!”

The High Lord ignored him, turning away from them.

“Let’s get going, we cannot delay the schedule. The logistic department takes their job seriously.”

Rift (Common)

Level

1

Status

Open (Ruptured)

Requirements

-

Modifiers

-

Details

This rift contains basic rift monsters and a small chance to encounter a boss.

Affinity

Nature, Cold, Snow

Special Status

-

Cold and Snow affinities? Interesting. The High Lord hadn’t told them what awaited inside as he’d left them too quickly and troopers had to step in and usher them to the rift.

Keynes, Daiyu Fen and Samuel King had been the only ones capable of moving without help. The stares their group received were mixed. There were lines of workers carrying raw material from the cleared rifts. There was a one hour break between a rifts recharge time so only their rift saw no activity.

The number of workers though. Easily over a thousand moved through the massive multi-segmented and layered building. The scale of the operation was crazy. If similar scenes happened in other rifts controlled by the World Government then Keynes feared to imagine what they were planning with all of this.

“Always stay behind me,” the High Lord said as he took a sword from a rack next to the rift.

“A sword?” Lazark asked. “Why can't we get a squad with live ammunition?”

“With more people inside we would earn only twenty-five percent of essence while the eight of us will get seventy-five percent each,” Keynes explained, his pre-Level 1 nature kicking in. Others looked his way, shocked by his knowledge. Right. After the spotlight Kaito Ren had put him in this surely was what he needed. Bravo, Keynes. You have now the attention of the freaking High Lord, enjoy.

“I forgot you had gone into the rifts, boy,” Esopp Earl said. “Anyone else?”

“Me,” Daiyu Fen replied. Keynes didn’t like how she squinted at him.

“Alright. Tell the rest what they can expect inside.”

“Pain,” she said without hesitation in a grim tone. Her words didn’t inspire confidence but it was what their group needed right now. Everyone besides Keynes and Daiyu Fen looked pale.

The High Lord rolled his eyes.

“Nevermind. But yes, if we admitted a squad inside the rift with you, you’d gain three times less essence. Besides, bullets aren’t the most efficient way to deal with the rift monsters.”

“The rift number one has recharged,” a voice came from a speaker near the rift.

The High Lord stepped forward but Keynes spoke up before he entered the rift.

“I’d like to carry a sword as well. I wish to fight.”

“Me too,” Daiyu Fen added before the High Lord even turned to them.

“Suit yourself.”

He entered the rift.

Keynes glanced at her and she defiantly looked back at him.

“I will beat you before you know it.” No, you won’t, unless you know what I know.

They both picked Level 1 katanas this time although Keynes considered wakizashi. It was shorter and he could use it with one hand. In the end he gave up on the idea. With monsters it was always smarter to keep distance.

“You two are mad,” Samuel King commented. “I don’t mind Gordon Ramsay’s style training but fighting monsters? Plain stupid.”

Daiyu Fen went into the rift without a word and Keynes decided to mimic her.

Inside the rift, he found another forest but this one was covered with snow. Cold hit with the brutality he didn’t imagine. Even with their wetsuits, the cold was cutting to the bone.

The High Lord waited for them. Unlike his son, he didn’t hide his annoyance. He didn’t speak, waiting for the rest to emerge. They eventually did with Lazark coming the last. From the go, he started pestering the High Lord with questions. Level 7 ignored him and instead said, “Rift essence is potent. Your bodies are very weak and you will find it a painful experience. Over the weeks, your head trainer will hone your bodies to make it painless. Now, stay behind me. I will take care of the rift monsters.”

“What about us?” Daiyu Fen meant Keynes and her.

“If you can keep up with me…” he didn’t finish, exploding forward.

Daiyu Fen and Keynes rushed after him, barely hearing Oxford Sioux’s remark.

“The cold is the real monster in this place.”

Esopp Earl’s pace was diabolical. They heard the rift monsters’ die without seeing them, only moments later they saw the bodies. They stopped by the first body, everyone except Keynes seemed uncomfortable. This was only the beginning of the essence shower they were about to experience.

“A deer?” Samuel King asked.

“A stag,” Lazark replied before Keynes, then asked, “Where are the monsters?”

Keynes touched the corpse.

Stag (corpse)

Level

1

Abilities

-

Details

Basic dweller of rifts

“That’s our monster.”

They heard more of death and soon the flood of essence came crushing on them. They reeled on their feet.

“What the hell is that?!”

Keynes stood motionlessly guiding the essence inside his body. He missed that feeling. He saw Daiyu Fen stagger and gave him a stink eye. She mouthed a curse then started in the direction the High Lord had gone. Someone had serious issues here.

“How do-do you do i-it?” Butchereyev rumbled.

I went through hell and figured out a thing or two.

“The trick is to be cold,” he jested but they didn’t laugh for some reason. Didn’t they get it? What was wrong with them?

Soon more essence reached Keynes and he guided it smoothly. He was getting so good at it that he didn’t need to stop moving. Ahead of him, Daiyu Fen hissed in pain but moved forward. Always forward, right?

Keynes frowned, annoyed that he wouldn’t see the fighting. He wondered how strong were these stags. A whole concept of a rift monster like a stag sat uneasily with him. Maybe because wargs were meat-eaters while stags were not.

Eventually, he passed Daiyu Fen who succumbed to the pressure of the essence as the High Lord slew the monsters with abandon and then Keynes reached the clearing where he found the man standing by the reward chest. It was already opened.

Keynes wondered if there could be another hidden compartment but he wouldn’t risk revealing the existence of the hidden compartments to these people.

“I see you got used to the pain,” the High Lord said as he put the items into a bag. “Maybe there is a way to salvage my son’s failure.”

That last sentence didn’t seem like it was addressed toward Keynes and he tried to make himself invisible as the High Lord walked away from the reward chest. The rift was cleared. They didn’t need to stay here.

As he followed the man, he noticed that the cold had eased. But as soon as he remembered about the cold, its oppressive strength returned. He tried to not gnash his teeth. He had to do something about it. Could he use it to supplement his training? What did the cold affect? His body for sure.

What else?

Sensory receptors, more specifically, thermoreceptors. Didn’t they belong to the domain of Perception? He was quite sure they did. Obviously he’d done something that stopped the cold. Whatever it had been it wasn’t important now. If he could train his Perception in this rift. He’d solve one of the problems he faced.

Kaito Ren had shown him how to train a Strength attribute and a little of Dexterity. Captain Ventura had filled the gaps, showing him how to train Will and Spirit, and a very tiny bit of Mind and Perception.

This wasn’t enough. Strength and Dexterity alone weren’t enough. Especially when everyone else could train them too. This cold forest would be a good start to training another aspect of Perception.

He returned to the rift exit, finding Daiyu Fen waiting for him. She stared at him with determination.

For a heartbeat, he thought she would charge him. Instead, she said, “Tell me your secret.”