The lifts were out of power and Keynes had to climb down, which turned out surprisingly difficult. The structure was designed to give the minimum purchase for the animals from the hunting ground.

An hour later, when the entire place was bathed in shadows, Keynes reached the bottom. Claw marks were everywhere and he instinctively took the rifle out of his dimensional space. Animals didn’t ascend. They didn’t have levels or Talents but some of them were strong. A grown lion could kill a Level 3 and there was no telling where the beasts from the hunting ground stood in the hierarchy.

Keynes walked for some time, always following the source of the roars. They came from the north. What he found unnerving was the complete lack of fauna. He’d stopped several times to listen to his surroundings in case something dangerous was tracking him, which was unlikely given his buff.

The first sign of life came from a pond covered by something resembling duckweed. Keynes would have fallen into the pond if not for a crocodile that appeared a second before Keynes’s foot touched the water.

The crocodile’s jaws snapped, hoping to bite off Keynes’s leg. Keynes jumped back, retreating to a safe distance. He was going to give the pond a wide berth as there was no point fighting the crocodile.

The loud splash had alerted birds on the trees, some of them flew away but those that stayed made a lot of noise.

Then the roars came. The crocodile slid back into the pond, leaving Keynes alone.

“Great,” Keynes murmured. “I should have waited until the morning.”

When the trees started shaking and several bear-like monsters appeared on the other side of the pond, Keynes knew he was looking at the rift monsters. In the shadows, he couldn’t see the details but everything about them felt unnatural.

He placed the rifle in his dimensional pouch. Unless they were Level 1 monsters, the rifle would mostly be useless. The monsters spread around, searching for the source of the noise. They didn’t sense Keynes, which was a good thing. But he still wondered how he was going to kill them. A chef knife appeared in his hand. This was his best weapon.

Once he got close, he decided to mess with them and threw a heavy piece of damp wood into the pond. The dumb crocodile reacted instinctively and exploded out of water. The monsters went berserk and lunged at it. The pond was thirty metres wide and over fifty metres long. It also appeared to be quite deep because the rift monsters, which had entered it, submerged completely.

While the pond turned into a boiling cauldron, Keynes spied one rift monster that hesitantly watched the water.

The monster turned at the last moment as Keynes attacked it. Its jaws opened but the chef knife stabbed its neck before it could make a sound.

Keynes ducked, avoided claws, then stabbed the monster again. He didn’t have time to read the monster’s description as it attacked him again. It was Level 2 though.

Their one-sided fight lasted less than a minute as the creature drowned in its own blood. As it collapsed, Keynes felt the essence enter his body and immediately used the cultivation technique.

Wild Bear (Common)

Level

2

Abilities

-

Details

Common dweller of rifts.

Wild bear? Is there a non-wild variety somewhere? The wild bear was of a common rarity, giving it no abilities. That was for the best given the circumstances. Keynes’s first encounter with an uncommon rift monster hadn’t been the most fortunate. Not to mention the earth trolls with their plethora of skills. Facing them here would be a pain.

Keynes waited for the wild bears to get out of the pond but when essence started rushing him he relaxed and it almost cost him dearly as the surface erupted and one wild bear jumped out of the pond. Keynes slammed the knife into its eye, killing it instantly.

Whatever happened underwater remained a mystery but four wild bears had perished there. I hope this crocodile isn’t the tree-climbing variety and will stay in the pond. If it survived.

The crocodile didn’t come out and Keynes left the pond, moving toward the north, where he guessed the rift was. The hunting ground resembled a rainforest, which couldn’t exist in southern France without some serious engineering. It obviously made Keynes think back about Hugo and his plants. What kind of secrets did this place have? It was a dangerous question to ponder as it could derail Keynes’s plans. Running around the hunting ground and trying to figure out what was special about this place wasn’t a priority for him.

Over the next hour, Keynes encountered several packs of the wild bears. He was very careful to pick them off one by one. Without a proper weapon, he didn’t want to risk being overwhelmed.

Eventually, the groups of the wild bears became too large and he knew that the rift had to be close. But this wasn’t all. Keynes wondered where the animals from the hunting ground were. His guess was that they had been slaughtered by the wild bears. It was the most logical conclusion.

As he started to search for a suitable place to sleep, ideally a very tall tree, he found a metal construction with a ladder. It was a lookout. He climbed up, opened the locked trap door and entered the large room. The lookout was over fifty metres high and got a good view of the surroundings. It was also powered by an independent source of electricity with the possibility of mana-powering. The devices that ran on mana were supposed to be military-grade. The wealthy were truly ahead of the curve.

Keynes turned the surveillance system on, monitors flickered to life, showing the area in infrared. Keynes needed a moment to figure out what he was seeing. The wild bears were there, but they weren’t alone. Keynes saw things that moved with a startling fluidity. He observed their interaction with the rift monsters and found that the wild bears weren’t very perceptive creatures as these strange hunters easily picked them one by one.

Obviously, there were many wild bears and in a group, they could easily overwhelm their killers but they were too dumb to notice the danger.

It appears that some of the animals from the hunting ground are stronger than a Level 2 rift monster. How—no, after Hugo, I won’t ever ask how. Whatever lives in the hunting ground is artificially created and judging by the magical plants, the animals might have undergone the similar process.

It was a chilling but exciting realisation. More secrets to uncover. But first, Keynes needed some sleep. He locked the trap door. The lookout had a surveillance room, a bedroom and two utility rooms—a bathroom and a small kitchen.

Despite the bed, Keynes decided to sleep on a sleeping mat.

***

Unlike the hunters from this habitat, the wild bears didn’t care about the time of the day and kept walking out of the rift, one wild bear per minute. Keynes struggled to imagine what happened to all the rift monsters that should be here. He calculated that there should be over ten thousand bears.

Sure, the hunting ground was about fifty to sixty kilometres long and twenty to thirty kilometres wide but it still didn’t explain what had happened to all the rift monsters.

He decided to figure this out. Each morning, Keynes descended from the lookout, killed dozens of the wild bears, foraged the area but didn’t eat anything. He didn’t want to risk poisoning himself.

The wild bears weren’t much of a challenge. They were stronger than anything Keynes had encountered, except for the earth trolls, but easily dealt with. When he didn’t kill them, he followed their groups around searching for the clues. The rift monsters were truly mindless. They just existed, killed and destroyed.

On the third day, Keynes woke up to a growl that sounded dangerously close. The lookout was built out of metal and had the windows secured by metal bars. He also guessed that the windows were bulletproof.

His breath caught in his throat as he heard scratching above him. Something was on the roof. Then another growl came.

He didn’t know if the thing on the roof knew he was inside. He didn’t think so but he wondered how it’d gotten there. For safety reasons, he checked the trap door, it was still locked, then he turned on the monitoring. Keynes shivered upon seeing the creature, it didn’t look like anything from the hunting catalogue. He’d gone over each animal and plant there. Heck. It didn’t resemble anything from Earth.

Whatever it was, the monster had a face of a bat, the body of a dark-furred lion, and three muscular, hairless tails that ended with a sting each. When Keynes started contemplating wild ideas of how the creature had gotten on the roof, its leathery wings appeared out of nowhere and it flew away.

From there, things got only harder to believe. The monster’s paws produced sets of intimidating claws, as it neared the ground. Two wild bears looked up and a second later died to the monster’s claws.

What the heck is this thing? It looks like a hybrid.

Keynes had never seen the rift monsters killing each other… unless, it wasn’t a rift monster but that was hard to imagine. Where had it come from then? Perhaps a monster from a different rift? That was plausible.

As the monster landed, it started killing the wild bears and the hybrid did it with ease that made Keynes worry for the first time since he’d levelled up. Even his escape from Windsor and the earth trolls hadn’t made him shiver like this formidable predator.

After killing over thirty rift monsters, the strange hybrid grabbed a corpse of one and flew away.

Wait. Is it going to eat it?

For all this time, it hadn’t occurred to Keynes to eat the rift monster's meat. Was it safe for consumption? Seeing the flying hybrid, he had an odd feeling that eating the rift monster’s meat might not be the best idea though he’d gladly eat something other than fruits and vegetables.

Keynes remained in the outpost for another two days during which he’d killed over a hundred wild bears which amounted to 2% toward the progression. At this stage, the progression didn’t matter. He was going to max out all the attributes first. The Orb of Perfection was too good to be ignored. On top of that, there were extra attributes and other benefits like a Purified Body.

Every time Keynes returned from the hunting, he kept the essence circulating in his body. It wasn’t easy as it tried to get absorbed or dissipate but he persisted.

By the evening of the fifth day, he was rewarded with a system message.

Congratulations!

You achieved the Medium Spirit Stage!

-

Spiritual Companion unlocked!

-

Spiritual Aura strength increased!

-

Full Profile unlocked.

-

[Spirit Ghost] improved!

Keynes stared at the message for a couple of seconds when—

“Hey, master!” an enthusiastic voice shouted into his ear. He jumped to his feet, the chef knife appeared in his hand. When he whirled around he found—

“What the…”

A tiny being made out of light was floating in the air.

“I cannot be harmed, master,” the being had a female voice and she sounded cheerful.

“What are you?” Keynes asked warily, not putting the knife away.

“Master, I’m your spiritual companion.”

Yes, he’d received the message but the sudden appearance of the miniature being made out of light still shocked him. It shouldn’t though because another message had mentioned the spiritual companion when he’d levelled up.

“Why are you surprised?” she asked.

“Sorry. It’s complicated.”

“Why?” She flew closer and Keynes made a step back but her attention was already on something else.

His Spirit Core.

He could feel it and he could feel her as well, as if she was a part of him.

“Oh, boy, master. This doesn’t look good.”

Keynes frowned. He didn’t like the sound of it.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re Level 2 already.”

“So?”

Her tiny hand slapped her forehead.

“Am I being punished for something?” she asked although it didn’t seem she was asking Keynes. Words failed him and so he waited.

“Why aren’t you saying something?” she asked when she noticed his silence.

“I have questions,” he replied.

She made a circle around the surveillance room, finding everything interesting. Keynes could feel her curiosity but also her hesitation.

“Do you have a name?”

She stopped and looked at him.

“I … no. I don’t think I have.”

“What about Alice?”

“Why Alice?”

“Why not?”

“Hm.” Keynes felt a trickle of joy coming over from her through their connection. “I guess, Alice is fine.”

“So, what is your role, Alice?”

“I’m here to guide you… but everything seems wrong.”

“How so?”

The initial joy she’d radiated, shrunk and Alice hesitated to answer his question.

“I don’t know,” she replied and her attention suspiciously drifted toward the control panel.

Keynes sighed. That was going to be a tough relationship. Then he remembered another message. His profile was unlocked. He checked his attributes first.

Attributes

Permanent

Temporary

Total

Strength (0%)

24

1

25

Dexterity (1%)

24

1

25

Will (3%)

24

1

25

Mind (1%)

24

1

25

Perception (0%)

24

1

25

Vitality (0%)

24

1

25

And it told him his progress toward maxing out attributes. Very handy. He moved on to his profile.

Name: Keynes Kid

Species: Human

Level: 2 (Perfect State)

Progression: 2%

Spirit Stage: Medium

Spiritual Companion: Alice

Spells:

Spiritual Ghost

Talent:

Lockpicking

Techniques:

The Technique of Lesser Cultivation

Status:

Buffs:

Enhanced Learning (permanent), Purified Body (permanent), Photographic Memory (strong), Untraceable (medium, permanent).

Debuff:

Chaos (permanents, semi-dormant, ???).

“I can see my entire profile,” Keynes murmured. “Finally. Also this is insane.”

“Why?” Alice asked, losing interest in the control panel.

“Why?” Keynes blinked, not expecting such a question from her but he was going to answer it nonetheless. “First of all, this is more than Level 5s have access to. I checked it with Captain Ventura. He was Level 5 and he could see very little even though he claimed to have increased his Spirit.”

“A Level 5 without access to the full profile? I don’t understand, master. You should be able to see the full profile from the moment you ascend to Level 1. Also the Medium Stage is the starting cultivation stage.”

Keynes raised his hands.

“Wait, this is the second time I have increased my Spirit. How can the Medium Stage be the starting stage then?”

Alica floated for a moment, her tiny translucent finger was pressing against her lips. She clearly pondered his question, then he felt their connection brighten up and felt her inspect his core again..

“Sorry, but I still don’t understand what happened, master. I should have…”

And she floated away again. Clearly, she didn’t like to not know answers to Keynes’s question.

“Alice,” Keynes said a little louder. “What do you know?”

That got her attention.

“Every Level 1 should start from the Medium Stage in order to unlock a Spiritual Companion. Without us, you cannot advance further. The growth is extremely prohibitive and you will hit your first wall after reaching Level 10…” She went silent. “Although, I’m not sure what happens then. I think you need to increase the spiritual stages to expand my know—”

Something heavy dropped on the roof, startling Keynes and Alice.

“What was that?” she asked, equally terrified and excited.

“This is something that needs to be killed.”

“Oh, that’s cool. I want to see you fight it, master,” her initial enthusiasm returned and it lifted Keynes’s mood.

He squinted at her, feeling strange being called master.

“Call me Keynes.”

“I cannot, master.”

“Why?”

“Because of the spiritual law.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, master.”

Scratching of claws against metal made Keynes shiver. How did this monster find him? He was untraceable and it seemed like the lookout was soundproof.

“How did it find me?” he asked aloud.

“You’re blasting your spiritual aura like crazy, master, so I guess it sensed it.”

“Aura…”

And there it was, his spiritual aura. It was way stronger than he anticipated. Not knowing what to do, he activated [Spiritual Ghost].

The monster on the roof roared, annoyed that his prey vanished. But the creature might soon learn the bitter truth about who was prey and who was a hunter.

The active time increased to 90 seconds while the cooldown decreased by 5 minutes after gaining the Medium Stage.

“How do I stop being a spiritual beacon?” he asked with urgency.

“You don’t have basic techniques like Aura Control or Aura Occlusion, master. You can’t stop it.”

“Isn’t there anything you can do?”

Alice sighed then with little enthusiasm she shot toward Keynes, entering his chest. He felt a jolt of spiritual energy.

There is no other way for now. She explained. I have to manually control your aura.

You’re controlling my aura? How?

I am part of you, master.

That was true, though he didn’t understand how he knew it.

Keynes felt the difference when the [Spiritual Ghost] ended. The monster on the roof grew impatient and tried to force its way inside through the thick sheets of metal. Not happening.

But Keynes wasn’t going to stay here waiting for the hybrid to find a way inside. Certainly, his trauma from the Jamaican base was at work here because he felt compelled to challenge the monster.

He opened the trap door and slid down the ladder. The lookout was indeed soundproof. The noise outside was deafening. It also lured a lot of wild bears to the vicinity. On the bright side, the terrain was difficult to move, full of moss-covered fallen trees and boulders. Before the wild bears got close, Keynes was gone.

He was going to challenge the hybrid but first he needed to enter the rift and clear it. The rifle and the chef knife wouldn’t be of much use in this confrontation. He wanted a challenge, not to kill himself.