“What should I do with this?” Keynes asked aloud.

The fastest way is to swallow it. The slowest way is to keep it pressed against your skin. The latter option will take days, master.

“The former?”

Seconds to minutes.

Keynes raised the skill shard to his mouth and swallowed it. He expected to choke on it, judging by its size but nothing like this happened. It felt like the skill shard started dissolving the moment it touched Keynes’s tongue.

He took the opportunity to sit down on the grassy hill. The sky was covered with clouds but the air was still. The climate in this rift was mild and pleasant.

When a spiritual message popped up, Keynes focused on his newly acquired skill.

Flight (active, channelled)

The skill grants an ability to fly up to an altitude of 1000 metres. Cooldown: None. Mana cost: 1 per minute, each additional person carried by the ascender will increase mana cost (depends on Level and spiritual stage). The maximum flying speed is 70 kilometres per hour (alone).

Mana cost was prohibitive. One point per minute would give him 130 minutes plus 11 minutes that would regenerate over 2 hours. It allowed Keynes to cover a distance of 150 kilometres at the maximum speed.

Suddenly, mana wasn’t some abstract feature but the real bottleneck.

One more thing to worry about. It seems I have to start looking for proper rift items.

He needed something to boost his mana and health regeneration or at least his Vitality attribute. Currently, it took him too long to regenerate to full health.

The time of the day in the rift didn’t change but Alice told him that he'd spent two hours inside. It was time to leave. With [Flight] he wasn’t bothered by the hounds populating the island. Fighting them was pointless…

Wrinkling his nose, he cursed himself for being an idiot. He had to train his attributes and the island full of rift monsters was exactly the thing he should use. He took out a fruit that boosted his attributes by 2 points for 3 hours and went to the exit.

Expecting the instant assault he found something else. Vivena, moving like a demigoddess, slew the hounds with her bare hands. They died from a single slap. Essence rushed Keynes’s way and he immediately started circling it around his core, employing Karim’s techniques. Keynes’s control was firmer now but at the same time more flexible.

It took Vivena less than twenty minutes to clear the island. Keynes killed only 18 monsters, all in self-defence as he lost appetite for a fight. There weren’t many left in Vivena’s stead anyway and he didn’t want to risk coming close to her either. A single mistake on her part would see him dead. She was using her Talent.

Crunching numbers in his head and seeing what these numbers represented in real life was a shocking difference.

Keynes put on the Cloak of Shadows to hide his wounds but left the hood off. Vivena wore her signature green coat. He had to avert his eyes because she looked like Athena returning from a conquest.

“Keynes,” she called out as if this wasn’t a big deal. “You look terrible.”

“What are you doing here?” Was she going to babysit him like this all the time? Keynes needed to have a word with Wagner. That man needed to be more assertive with her.

“You aren’t the only one who must get stronger,” she replied with a cheeky smile. “And judging by your state, I’ve come at the right time.”

“You haven’t. I had it all under control.”

“I see.” I see? What is that supposed to mean?

Keynes huffed while Vivena signalled the helicopters to land. They didn’t speak for a while then she said.

“My grandfather would like to meet you.”

“No.”

“Wagner approved…”

“Still, no.”

Keynes turned his back on her, took off from the ground and flew away.

***

He landed fifty-five kilometres south of the island with the uncommon rift. Vivena stubbornly followed him here and here was the northern coast of the African continent.

People on the beach had pointed at him and the helicopter landing nearby. The beach was over a kilometre wide and not very populated this afternoon.

Vivena exited the aircraft and came his way. He kept his Cloak of Shadows on, ensuring that his face was hidden by the hood. People were taking pictures of them by now.

“You have a flying skill?” she asked, perplexed.

“Yes. It’s called [Flight]. Is this why you were following me here? Because if it’s about your grandfather, then my answer is still a no.”

“For how long have you had that skill?”

“Three hours.” He turned to go.

“The rift… Wait.”

She joined Keynes in his walk toward the line of palms. Behind them, the helicopter took to the air. Keynes softly sighed, understanding what it meant but he didn’t say anything. He wasn’t in the mood for an argument. Everything was going according to his plan and Vivena wasn’t going to mess it up.

“Where are you going?”

He increased pace and grimaced seeing that she kept up with him just fine. She was still using her Talent. Wagner must have got her a better serum or she somehow got the serum from her father.

“I am going south.”

She frowned, mulling over his words.

“The only thing south of here is the World Reserve.”

“Yes.”

“Ah. There are rifts, right?”

“Yes. At least a dozen uncleared rifts.”

Their appearance stirred interest and brought them unwanted attention. They crossed the wide, stone-paved boulevard. On the other side, buildings rose from the ground, mostly absurdly high hotels. In between, were smaller hotels and tourist attractions.

Keynes chose to head to a shadowed alley and swapped his cloak. He was drawing too much attention in his purple cloak.

To his surprise, Vivena did the same.

“Dimensional pouch?” he asked the obvious question.

“Yes. My family sent me one together with poison serums.”

“So, they don’t want you back?”

“Not for now…” she replied and wanted to say more but stopped herself.

Keynes nodded and walked out of the alley. He’d memorised the city map just before leaving Wagner’s estate, so he knew where to go. Getting over the wall that fenced the World Reserve had been an issue before he received [Flight].

Despite being populated by 17 billion people, the African continent had urbanised only its coasts. Over 90% of the landmass was turned into the largest reserve in the world, dwarfing the Amazon forest. The only people who lived in the World Reserve were the natives who had made a deal with the World Government.

There was a lot of speculation about the deal. Details were confidential apart from what had been publicly available, which wasn’t much. The entrance to the World Reserve was severely limited and required expensive licences depending on the purpose of the visit.

Some people came here to hunt or research, most simply came for sightseeing.

Interacting with the natives was forbidden, for reasons unknown.

Conspiracy theories floated about; some talked about secret government bases and illegal operations, others were wilder and touched aliens and experiments on humans.

Keynes was a believer in the former. After everything he’d seen, he was confident that the World Government used the reserve for some dark purpose.

By the evening, they reached the hundred-metre high wall. It was quite a sight. Like space colonisation, the World Government didn’t bother itself with budget and cost.

The city splashed against the wall, like a frozen wave. There was an official gate that led to a tourist exposition where anyone could cheaply enter an enclosed park on the other side.

To go outside that human cage would mean getting a licence. Keynes didn’t have a licence. And he didn’t care about one. He had [Flight].

“This is where we part our ways, Vivena. Goodbye.” It sounded a bit melodramatic, though he didn’t plan to make it so.

“Wait.”

He stopped, turning slightly to her.

“Please, allow me to go with you. I need to level up too. I promise to not ask you to meet with my grandfather or anyone from my family.”

He blinked, sensing a tightness in his chest.

Master, you are experiencing strange emotions… for some reason, Vivena Sael is always their source. Why?

Never mind, he muttered in his mind, fighting the overpowering urge to say yes.

He eventually crushed the fire, leaving glittering embers in its place. Refusing her was not an easy task…

“Don’t you think it will be easier if I join you? With my Talent active, you don’t need to lift a finger. If there are a dozen uncleared rifts, the number of monsters should be substantial by now. It has been almost half a year since the first outbreak.”

She wasn’t wrong but she missed the point.

“Vivena, your understanding of the System is flawed…” he said quietly. “Besides, I am not going there to level up. I have to max out my attributes. To do that, I have to struggle.”

He turned to go.

“I won’t use my Talent then. I will struggle with you.”

Like a phoenix, the fire returned, born from the embers, and Keynes knew he lost to her.

“Fine, but you’ll follow my lead or we’ll call this off.”

“Sure.”

***

They waited until the night.

Vivena closed her eyes as Keynes embraced her. His skill lifted them from the ground with shocking smoothness. In a matter of seconds, they were flying above the wall. It took every fibre of her willpower to not inject the poison serum into her body. From this height, she’d indisputably die.

Why was Keynes so… solemn when she was around him? She could understand his negative attitude toward her family. After all, they had promised him a lot only to disappear without a word. But there was more than that. Harter told her that Keynes simply had become a different person and it wasn’t about her.

But she didn’t think it was the case…

Keynes didn’t land on the other side, instead, he kept flying south for another ten minutes. The same darkness that hid them from the sentries on the wall, hid the forests from them. Vivena didn’t know how Keynes managed to land safely but somehow he did.

The thick, damp air was very different from the salty, refreshing one on the other side of the wall. She wasn’t aware of the drastic climate disparity.

All around them, the plethora of sounds turned her skin to gooseflesh. Her hand twitched to take out the poison serum but she’d promised Keynes to not use it.

“Wouldn’t it be better to fly further south? Ten minutes from the wall isn’t far enough.”

“It drains too much mana,” he replied quietly. “Besides, this is perfect.” Then he added with delight in his voice. “Try to keep up.”

Without a warning, Keynes shot forward. He’s insane…

Vivena started following him after she’d put on her rare coat. As her Mind attribute climbed up, she relaxed and focused more on the surroundings.

Without poisons, she couldn’t keep up with Keynes. He was faster than she anticipated. His fight with the Level 5 had been an eye-opener for her. A Level 2 should not have been able to defeat a Level 5. Even a non-combatant Level 5 ascender was too powerful for anyone on Level 2.

Vivena and Keynes were on the same Level and she couldn’t gain distance on him. He didn’t even use his swords that boosted his Dexterity.

After ten minutes, she only focused on not getting lost as there was no way she could catch up with Keynes. After an hour, she was struggling to not use the serum as her stamina was at the bottom.

She collapsed in complete darkness. Her face dropped and touched the forest bedding that seemed to be alive. Everything crawled and made odd noises. She was so tired that she didn’t care.

Where is Keynes? Has he left me behind?

Something dropped next to her and she twitched, a serum appeared in her hand. She didn’t inject it though as someone caught her hand.

“You promised,” Keynes whispered. “Do you remember?”

She exhaled.

“Keynes…” she muttered, her tautened muscles loosened, her mind relaxed. “I am going to kill you.”

Keynes released her hand. She debated injecting the serum anyway, then she abandoned the urge. He didn’t speak for a while, letting her catch her breath, she realised with surprise.

“You’re too strong for a Level 2; have you levelled up by any chance?”

“No.”

“Then how is that possible? Rift items? Wagner’s plants?”

“No.”

“Impossible.”

“Says she who has an insanely overpowered Talent.”

“What does my Talent have anything to do with your unnatural strength?” She didn’t understand his reasoning. He had his secrets, he’d admitted it before.

“Nothing. What I was trying to say is that…” His voice trailed off and he froze.

Vivena perked up, listening to her surroundings for it had to be something in their vicinity that snatched away Keynes’s attention. She heard nothing.

Not for the first time this night, she suspected Keynes of having an alternate source of power. What he did was outside the realm of possibilities of a Level 2.

“Wait here,” he said softly, his voice distant.

Vivena was exhausted beyond caring. She heard him running somewhere. Was he chasing something? Were the rift monsters so close to the north?

In the distance, a terrified squeak announced prey that fell to a predator. A few minutes later, Keynes returned, pulling something behind him. The darkness was too deep to see and she wondered how he could see?

Keynes’s answer was dismissive. Evasive. Vivena let it go, for now. Instead, she inquired about the animal he’d brought with him.

“African boar. I can’t tell if it is the golden striped specimen or not. If yes, we’re for a treat.”

She sat up stunned, listening to him as if they were on some big adventure. She had enough food in her dimensional bag to last for two weeks. They didn’t need to eat a boar, golden striped or not.

“Keynes, why are you doing this?”

“Hm?”

“We don’t need to hunt. I have food, don't you?”

“That’s not the point of this.”

“Then what’s the point?” she asked, feeling tired. She already regretted agreeing to this.

Keynes took his time in replying to her.

“I have to be self-sufficient.”

That was all he said.

Vivena left him to his own devices and against her instincts, decided to close her eyes for a few minutes. She needed to recover her stamina some more.

An aroma of roast meat woke her up and for a second she thought she was back on her aunt's farm where they’d served grilled pork and beef when she’d been a child.

Then reality hit her. She was no longer ten years old, and it wasn’t her aunt’s farm but the northern African jungle.

A fire happily danced beneath the carcass of a boar. Somehow, Keynes had removed its skin, found dry wood and made a roast pit. Vivena was impressed.

And hungry.

***

You are getting better at his, master, Alice said.

Thanks.

He looked to where Vivena was sitting, watching him cut off slices of meat. It wasn’t the gold striped boar and so the meat was not as tasty. It would also help if he had seasoning. He’d need to think about that the next time. Salt and pepper were a must.

He ate in silence, while Vivena took out her own food from her dimensional pouch. What was left of the boar, Keynes cut away and packed, putting it into his pouch. Then he took out a tent. There was enough space for two but… no. Keynes’s Will attribute barely sufficed when she offered him to share the tent.

Why does she offer me a spot in my own tent?

In the end, he slept outside the tent with Alice keeping watch.

The next day, they continued south until the first rift monster leaped at them.

A spider.

The rifts were close.