When the last monster dropped dead, Keynes’s laser-sharp focus shattered like a glass thrown against rocks. He collapsed to the ground. It took him a moment to climb up to a sitting position and lean against the carcass of a hornless rhino. Keynes’s body felt like it was falling apart.

“Alice, what’s the hell happening to me?” he mouthed.

You have exhausted your spiritual energy, master.

Exhausted his spiritual energy? What did it even mean?

His first attempt at checking his spiritual core ended in a failure and a warning from Alice. Keynes wasn’t in shape to use his Spirit right now. He gave up on the idea, he wasn’t alone anyway.

Vivena approached, her entire body, including her blonde hair, was soaked in the monsters’ blood. There was something disturbingly enticing in the way she looked and carried herself. Keynes had to avert his eyes.

“Is everything alright?” she asked.

“I am just a bit worse for wear.”

“Is that so?” She didn’t sound convinced but luckily didn’t press the issue. Instead, she sat across from Keynes.

Despite fighting for an hour without break, Vivena looked far from exhausted. She was Level 3 now and her poison serum additionally boosted all her attributes. It was no surprise that the fight had been a breeze for her.

But they didn’t really have time to go over their fight as some introductions were in order.

The two men approached Keynes and Vivena, slowly and making sure the pair spotted them.

“Hi,” said the one with very dark skin. “Quite a show, you two, put on. My name’s Haruka and this is Bill.” He pointed at his tall, tanned companion.

Keynes took a good measure of the men: both were muscular but on a lean side, which raised some questions in Keynes’s head about the ascenders’ anatomy. But it’d have to wait.

Haruka wore very little. A sash covering his private parts, a leather pauldron decorated with feathers and a great number of colourful necklaces made out of beads and tiny bones.

Haruka’s braided hair was many shades darker than his skin. He had a pleasant face with an easy smile. Bill on the other hand seemed murkier but nothing ominous. While he had short black hair, his eyes were grey like Captain Ventura’s. There was a distant resemblance between the two but not something a person without photographic memory would have picked up.

Bill wore a shirt and shorts topped with heavy boots, while Haruka was barefoot.

Both men wielded strange wooden batons with knobs at their ends. The fact that they didn’t hide them could mean that they didn’t have dimensional pouches.

“Keynes and Vivena.”

“Thanks for saving our sorry asses,” Haruka said but it wasn’t like he was trying to hide his curiosity.

“Killing rift monsters is nothing but pleasure,” Keynes replied, drawing a surprised look from Vivena. He decided to cut to the chase. “You’re strong, why did you run from them?”

Keynes’s question somehow didn’t catch them off-guard. It was Bill who replied.

“We’ve been on our feet for two days straight, running from that horde. We are tired.”

“We made a mistake of engaging the horde in the first place,” Haruka added.

“Aren’t there more people to fight the rift monsters here?” Vivena asked and from their body language it was clear they weren’t comfortable answering her. Haruka’s body stiffened a little as he took a deep breath.

“You’re technically in our territory, and we’d like to know what you are doing here.”

“Killing rift monsters,” Keynes replied without hesitation.

“Why here though?” Bill asked.

The true reason was buried deep inside him and he wasn’t going to disclose it to them. But Keynes didn’t need to lie. There were many other reasons that were perfectly valid.

“I’m not sure if you’re aware but the world beyond the wall is in a state of war. Most rifts are either claimed or contested. This was the best place to go to.”

“Didn’t your government forbid you from coming here?” Bill asked.

“The government you’re speaking of has become a tyranny of one man. It is no longer the same government.”

Haruka and Bill exchanged glances.

“The old rules still apply though.” Bill countered after a moment. “Without—”

“It’s fine,” Haruka interrupted. “We are roughly aware of the situation beyond the wall and if you wish, you can join us in our hunt here.”

Vivena was about to decline but Alice and Keynes noticed that those weren’t ordinary ascenders. Bill had maxed out two of his attributes: Strength and Dexterity, twice. His Spirit Core was in the Medium stage. Haruka was even a bigger mystery. Everything he wore carried the signature energy of rift items but it wasn’t. Keynes’s spiritual energy was too weak at the moment but Alice was convinced that the other man was at least in the Elevated stage though he somehow hid his core from Alice’s senses. She was only able to tell that like Bill, Haruka was Level 3 but she couldn’t tell if he’d maxed out any attributes.

This convinced Keynes to accept their invitation. Obviously, he’d need to be vigilant. But it wasn’t like they were defenceless.

“We would like that,” Keynes said, forestalling Vivena.

***

They left the killing ground and moved back to the northern edge of the forest where they cleaned themselves in a stream, encamped and started a fire.

Haruka and Bill explained that the main concentration of rift monsters was in the south, as all the uncleared rifts were there. They were rather reluctant to speak about the exact details of the rifts but solved a mystery of why there weren’t any rare monsters present.

Any rift with dangerous monsters had been cleared a long time ago. Indirectly, it answered Vivena’s earlier question about others living here.

Their discussion moved to Australia. To Keynes’s surprise, both men were aware of the situation there and shared some insight that Keynes didn’t know about.

“The monsters by themselves aren’t that much of a problem if you have able warriors. The true issues are the monsters with certain skills: poisons, venoms, debuffs, crowd control. That sort of thing. Australia’s many rifts had such monsters it was impossible to fight them at the time of the first outbreak without rift or crafted items.”

“Crafted items?” Vivena asked. “What do you mean by that?” And how do they know so much about Australia?

“Don’t you know?”

The fact that neither Vivena nor Keynes knew about craft items surprised the other men but they didn’t hesitate in explaining what crafted items were.

For the System to acknowledge an item as ‘crafted’ each material had to be at least Level 1. Crafted items had properties like the rift items but the major advantage of crafted items was their repeatability and reliability. While the rift items could be extremely powerful, finding one was difficult. Finding the same item twice or even similar was borderline impossible in terms of very high rarity items. It was where the crafters stepped in. Crafted items could never compete with pure rift items but they didn’t need to, their job was different.

Haruka showed Keynes his weapon.

“It’s called rungu and it was crafted by my uncle.”

Rungu (Crafted)

-

+6 Vitality

-

{Enchants: Self-repair; Durability}

[Club]

Level 1

Keynes stared at the system window. He’d seen an enchant in Vivena’s battle coat, so it wasn’t a major surprise. What raised his eyebrows was the lack of rarity. He asked about it.

“We were as surprised as you are. We still are. Though I personally believe that items crafted from non-reward materials cannot have a rarity.”

“Has your uncle tried to craft an item from rift rewards?” Vivena asked.

“He has but not much has come out of it so far.”

Keynes handed the club back, instantly feeling the absence of 6 points of Vitality. If they were able to craft items that could increase his mana regeneration it would allow him to fly for far longer. But the time wasn’t right for this conversation. The other men, despite their friendliness, were clearly reserved and Keynes didn’t blame them.

Eventually, everyone grew hungry and to Keynes’s shock, Haruka went to bring some monster meat. At the same time, Bill produced a sizable cauldron and bags filled with dried herbs and seasoning. So they had their dimensional pouches after all.

How can they eat the rift monster’s meat, Alice? Keynes asked, distressed. He remembered what had happened to animals on the hunting ground. She didn’t reply!

“Isn’t rift meat dangerous to eat?”

Bill nodded.

“It is unless you carry out a ritual of purification.”

Keynes didn’t ask more questions as he didn’t want to trample their goodwill. Those weren’t ordinary people. They possessed important and useful knowledge. As he prepared to watch the ritual, Bill noticed Keynes’s attention.

“I guess you haven’t heard about the ritual of purification too. It’s very basic and can save your life. You still need rift ingredients but they are quite common. At least here.”

“Are you okay with sharing your knowledge with us? You barely know us,” Vivena asked.

“Are you one of those people who would take their secrets to their graves rather than share it so we all can prosper?” Haruka asked from behind.

Everyone turned to him.

“We have survived only because our people worked together. If my uncle decided to keep his crafts to himself, we’d perish by the second outbreak. And who knows when the third outbreak will arrive?”

“It will NOT!” Vivena snapped so forcefully that everyone went still. She saw how they were looking at her and added a bit softer. “There won’t be another outbreak.”

Keynes couldn’t meet her eyes even though he knew she was staring at him. Something in the way she vehemently rejected the idea of the next outbreak scared him. The other two men had no way of knowing that Keynes stood behind each outbreak.

“How do you know there won’t be another outbreak?” Bill asked, sounding … sad? Worried? Scared?

“I just know.” The three words cut through Keynes like razors. She was so sure of it. Terrifyingly so.

“That’s bad,” Bill said.

“Yes. Without another outbreak, we cannot grow stronger.”

“How can you care about getting stronger when billions of people die?” She spun on her heel and walked away, keeping to the tree line.

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to upset her but we believe that the outbreaks are vital for our future.”

Vital for our future? How fitting. Keynes had an urge to look around. Was Shaper behind this meeting here? It was very much his style.

“It’s fine,” Keynes replied, taking a seat on a fallen log.

The other men returned to their ritual. The ritual was like a formation that worked only once. It required a basic diagram and some ingredients. Shaper’s ritual of secrecy was slightly different but worked on the same basic principles: a diagram and ingredients.

Haruka placed the large slice of meat in the centre of the diagram and then said words that sounded unintelligible to Keynes. He’d need to be told the words outside of the ritual to learn them. They were required to activate the ritual.

After a weak blast of spiritual energy, the ingredients and the diagram vanished, the meat remained unchanged.

“It’s done,” Haruka said.

“How do you know it has been purified correctly?” Keynes asked, feeling unsure.

“Use your aura, Keynes,” Haruka said. “You’re in the Elevated stage and… as a Perfect State ascender this meat wouldn’t hurt you even without purification.

Alice, would like to say something?

Alice whistled in response.

What was wrong with his spiritual companion? Did she have a crisis or something?

Wait.

“How do you know I am in the Elevated stage and a Perfect State ascender?”

Haruka dipped his head.

“I’m sorry, it was uncalled for.”

At the same time, Bill dumped the meat into the cauldron, adding herbs and seasoning, then moved his hand above the cauldron and the water started pouring out of his hand.

It was a spell. Keynes could sense its faint spiritual echo.

“You still haven’t replied; how do you know?”

“Deduction,” Haruka said, giving Keynes a friendly smile. “My older sister is also a Perfect State ascender.”

***

Vivena needed a moment to herself. Her poison serum ran out and her current Mind attribute was too low to keep her distress at bay any longer. Since they’d come to this continent, she and Keynes were having a good time.

She enjoyed killing monsters.

And this terrified her. What if … she grew unsatisfied with just killing monsters? Vivena didn’t wish to become like her grandfather. He was a kind of a man who didn’t value human life.

She took out the battle robe, finding comfort in the higher Mind attribute. Nothing the serum provided but still good enough. Anxiety started receding and she relaxed.

It wasn’t only her she was concerned about; Keynes had changed here. He thrived in this wilderness and he loved fighting the rift monsters.

And there was another ‘what if’ – what if, he grew bored with the current monsters and wanted more challenge.

The world prepared for the next outbreak. Cities and towns all over the world were raising walls, amassing weapons. But was it enough? No.

What if Haruka was right?

No. No. No.

No more outbreaks.

She felt vibrations, the call from her grandfather, and she noticed fifty unanswered calls. She’d kept the phone in her dimensional pouch, forgetting that the signal couldn’t get through.

Vivena hesitated. She knew what he was going to say and didn’t want to hear it. In the end, she had to.

“Hello?”

“Where the hell have you been?!” her grandfather shouted. “You haven’t answered the phone for five days!”

“I am sorry, I left the phone in—”

“I don’t care,” her grandfather snapped, interrupting her. “You were meant to convince that brat to meet with me. I have been waiting for five days. I am at the end of my patience. Either you convince him what’s best for him or I will do it.”

Her grandfather’s outburst wasn’t out of his character and yet it stabbed her heart to hear him be so dismissive toward her. It was no wonder that her parents avoided him.

“It’s Keynes’s decision.”

She heard a sharp intake of air and could only imagine how angry her words made the head of the Sael family.

“Listen to me, girl, you have two hours. If—”

“I don’t think you understand the situation,” Vivena interrupted her grandfather. Her hands were shaking, her voice almost cracking but she somehow held it together. “Keynes isn’t some Level 2 you can shove around as you please. Three Level 7s treat him as equal and I am pretty sure you don’t want to cross Columbus Curt.”

She turned the phone off.

And wept.