Each of them decided to touch one skill shard and say its name aloud.

“[Cooking],” Haruka said.

“[Create Poison],” said Bill.

“[Evade],” Vivena said.

“[Chaos Aura],” Keynes finished, barely finding his voice. He definitely didn’t wish for [Evade] or [Cooking], and [Create Poison] was clearly for Vivena.

Alice… What is [Chaos Aura]? Is this related to my debuff?

When she didn’t answer he pulled at their bond bringing her back to him. She was shaking, looking terrified.

“What’s the matter, Alice?” Keynes asked aloud, forgetting about others.

Mas—master, this aura, it should have not dropped here, or anywhere for that matter. The System, it does not function correctly, you should not absorb this skill shard.

Why? Keynes asked with force behind his question.

She didn’t answer and he sighed.

“What’s going on?” Vivena gave him a worried glance.

“It’s nothing. Let’s deal with the skills.”

“Mine will be [Cooking],” Bill said with a grin. “It will pair nicely with the cooking technique I’ve gotten.”

“[Evade] for me,” added Haruka quietly. He didn’t share the same excitement as Bill.

“[Create Poison],” Vivena muttered. “For me.”

There was no doubt that [Chaos Aura] was for Keynes. It also proved that conscious desires weren’t always taken into account.

***

After they returned from the rift, Keynes tried to take into the sky but his body gave up and he fell unconscious.

When he woke up, he found Vivena by his side, watching him with worried eyes.

She was beyond beautiful.

All this time they’d spent together made him want her so much more but a damned part of him used the very same desire to train his Will. He was dumb to do so but the more he actually wanted to give up on this idea, the harder he clung to it. It was madness.

Keynes opened his mouth but nothing came out.

“You were only out for an hour,” Vivena assured him. “Haruka and Bill went out hunting. Bill says his [Cooking] skill is a passive class skill that boosts all cooking activities and skills. Our stew is about to get upgraded.”

She didn’t sound excited.

“Have you absorbed your shard?”

Vivena nodded.

“It creates a random poison so it isn’t much of a help but Isako says that spells become stronger with levels and can be modified. There’s hope for me.”

“Isako?”

“My spiritual companion.”

“Ah, sure.” At least someone else’s spirit companion is helpful.

Alice didn’t react to the jab.

“Also, I talked to Wagner.”

Keynes stiffened.

“Don’t worry. He won’t be coming here. He has his hands full. But he was glad we’re thriving.”

“Did you…”

“Tell him we are delving a Level 3 rift? No.”

Keynes exhaled. Who knew what Wagner would do if he heard they got a Level 3 rift opened.

“I am sorry.”

Vivena blinked, surprised.

“What for?”

“For being a jerk. If you haven’t come with me. None of this would have happened…” he went silent and then added. “After Jamaica, I’ve become obsessed with strength and then … I’ve started to believe that I don’t need anyone else, that strength alone was enough. I still think that being self-sufficient is important.”

“Keynes,” Vivena interrupted him. “You should never blame yourself for Freeman’s wrong-doing. That man is sick. What he did to you…”

“Other powerful people aren’t different from him,” he countered.

“You think so? What about Wagner? What about Columbus and Esopp? Even Ronald Rugman seems to have left you alone. And there are plenty of other people who will help you. You are not alone.”

She wasn’t wrong but she also didn’t include her grandfather and other prominent figures who wanted Keynes for themselves.

Some time later, Haruka and Bill returned from their hunt carrying meat from a Level 2 monster.

“You just wait!” Bill exclaimed seeing Keynes in the garden. “It will blow your mind.”

Keynes decided that it was finally time to identify a Level 2 common herb he had. It turned out to be star oregano. He handed it to Bill.

“Will it make a difference?”

Bill glanced at him. “I can’t say for sure. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a recipe book with the cooking technique or skill but I will make some use out of this.”

They spent another two days testing their skills and upgrading their camp – Bill finally decided to create utensils and more bowls out of wood. It wasn’t an easy process and the outcome left much to desire but they badly needed them. It also prompted Keynes to go forage. The jungle didn’t lack in fruit and vegetable departments.

Haruka and Keynes brought dozens of bizarre fruits, vegetables and plants. Keynes didn’t know any of them. According to Haruka, they were all edible and used daily in his village.

With a sample of each, Keynes planted seeds and offshoots in Level 3 soil.

That evening Bill had made his best stew ever. It was incredibly tasty and infused them with so much energy that it was difficult not going into the rift. They had more testing to do before they returned though.

***

Keynes, Vivena, Haruka and Bill agreed that the hidden rooms were the true source of wealth. The Explorer buff was powerful but it was active only once upon entering a rift for the first time.

Bill’s cooking technique had removed their greatest limiter – food. So far, they’d been forced to conduct the ritual of purification to be able to safely eat the rift meat, since he received his technique he didn’t need to do that. The [Cooking] class skill boosted all cooking activities—including the purification process—and Bill was convinced that he should be able to make a safe dish out of Level 3 monsters. It’d have eliminated the need to leave their camp and hunt weaker monsters roaming the area. Although it wasn’t a big deal with Keynes’s spiritual sense and [Flight]. It was usually a matter of an hour or two.

What Bill truly wished to discover was the way to preserve the rift meat for longer than three days. Everyone agreed that the rift monster meat was too energising to give up on and being able to store it for a long time would be a huge advantage.

Not everyone was so excited though. Vivena was frustrated that she didn’t have the tools to tell her what kind of poisons she produced. Without the tools, she couldn’t start experimenting. Although she was going to use the poison on the monsters and observe the results.

Haruka’s [Evade] was an incredible thing. The skill allowed Haruka to evade an attack he didn’t see once every 4 minutes and gave him an active evasion that cost 33 mana but didn’t have a cooldown. The cost was prohibitive and combined with [Wind Burst]’s 20 mana cost turned [Evade] into an emergency skill.

It didn’t bother Haruka in the slightest with his high Dexterity, [Evade] gave Haruka what he wanted – more survivability. It trivialised most rifts for the man.

Keynes didn’t absorb [Chaos Aura] following Alice’s warning. Others inquired about it but he told them he wasn’t ready to absorb this particular skill. It prompted more questions and Keynes blamed it on Alice.

As they settled down, they reached a decision. They had to figure out how often the hidden room was spawned. It would be better if they had other types and rarities of rifts as it would allow them to find out how much influence types and rarities had on the spawn rate. An idea floated to go and delve Level 1 and 2 rifts in the area but they decided to leave it for later and stick to the Level 3 rift for now.

The only issue was that one rift, even recharged twice a day, wasn’t enough to produce much data. Keynes and others hoped to find more orbs of faster recharge. If the next orb decreased the recharge time by 50%, it would double the number of delves they could do. That would be a significant upgrade.

The orb of relocation would be extremely valuable as well. Keynes was considering visiting Haruka’s village. If they had an orb of relocation they’d be able to take the rift with them. Eventually, he postponed broaching the idea with others.

With their new skills and tasty food, another two weeks passed.

In fourteen days, they’d delved 28 rifts. A tiny sample that produced only one hidden room. It was 18 rifts apart from the previous hidden room.

Like the first one, the loot from the room was very useful, though confusing a bit as they got two skills, [Create Water] and [Create Fire], an uncommon dagger that retained the last poison it’d been imbued with and an uncommon crown that granted a chance of gaining insight, and weren’t sure who should take what.

While the poison dagger was easy to deduce, the two skills and the crown weren’t. Bill argued that he hadn’t desired anything like the crown and he had [Create Water] already. He took [Create Fire] which made sense. While cooking, he tended to manipulate fire as part of the cooking process.

When it came to Keynes and Haruka, things got a little bit harder to figure out. Keynes desired [Create Water] as it solved the most critical problem for him. Water created by the spell was perfectly good to drink. Keynes would also be able to get rid of the purification water schematic he had. He’d never had a chance to use it.

On the other hand, the crown of insight seemed like something he’d love to have. Lately, his mind was consumed by the ideas of growing better plants and cultivating the essence. With the latter, he knew he was closer to figuring out how to cultivate the six small cores. As for his garden, well, he was a long way from where he wanted to be. Though he had one success in this department.

Eventually, Keynes settled for the mundane but practical choice – [Create Water]. Haruka took the Crown of Insight, which he said would help him reach the next spiritual stage.

During their 29th rift, Keynes finally got the system message:

Your [Will] attribute reached Maximum Advancement.

Level up to gain the improvements.

(Remaining time: 1 year)

Current essence absorption: 60%

Further [Will] attribute improvement for Level 2 is impossible.

He smiled. This was his third maxed-out attribute. His Vitality stood at 91% after he’d gone into a berserk mode and had pushed himself beyond his limits. He could afford it now as his Level 0 kale became Level 1 and gained a property they badly needed: eaten raw, it increased health regeneration by 100% for 30 minutes. Though it didn’t stack, it also didn’t have a limit of uses so Keynes kept eating it the whole day. He was going to try the vegetable with different soil, curious what else he could get.

His Perception was 78%. Almost at the threshold of the temporary boost. His Mind was an issue though. This attribute progressed very slowly without a proper stimulus. It stood at 33%.

Vivena, Haruka and Bill had already levelled up to Level 4 a few rifts earlier. They were now clearing the rift in less than an hour.

Knowing that he was so close to maxing out his attributes, Keynes was excited. He’d inquired about Haruka’s sister and her way of maxing out Mind but Haruka didn’t know the exact process. He knew only that some mind-altering mushrooms were involved.

“We may need to go to your village very soon,” Keynes said standing on the beach of the nicest rift he’d ever encountered. It was a paradise with palms, fruits, beautiful sights and an azure sea. The monster crabs as large as cars had been easily dealt with hours earlier. The boss and four sub-bosses were some variations of the crabs.

They hoped for the hidden room but it was too early for it to spawn. Their reward was an unidentified lesser orb. Upon seeing it in the reward chest, Keynes got excited but then he saw it had the prefix ‘lesser’ and knew it wasn’t the one affecting rift’s status.

Shortly after clearing the rift, Bill had started preparing the crabs. The prospect of eating the Level 3 crabs appealed to Keynes’s stomach. Upon reaching Level 4, the trio could eat Level 3 meat without issues. Keynes wasn’t sure if he could too but he was going to risk it.

“Are you sure about it?” Haruka asked about them going to his village. “It will mean revealing all this.”

In the distance, Vivena was checking the shallow waters around the island. He couldn’t tell if she was actually checking on anything or simply having fun. This rift made him feel relaxed. All the tension was gone once they’d killed the crabs.

It baffled Keynes that a paradise like this existed inside a rift. What would it be like to have a mobile and empty rift like this just for himself? Is that even possible?

It is, Alice admitted quietly. Since the day he’d found [Chaos Aura] she was very timid.

Keynes still hadn’t absorbed the skill shard, unsure about the consequences after Alice’s reaction.

“We have been here for a month now. We are running out of space to store rift materials and items, and I feel like all these materials should be put to good use. It was a fine idea but the truth is, we are unprepared. My garden lacks proper tools and basic seeds. It’s all so random.”

“I understand and if this is your wish, Keynes, who am I to say no to you?”

Keynes squinted at the other man.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Haruka showed him rows of white teeth. He was grinning.

“You will see when you meet my sister.”

“Hm?”

“She has a temper,” Haruka added with a smile. “Bill once tried to flirt with her. He’s regretted it since.”

“I’m not going to flirt with her,” Keynes replied and his eyes jumped to where Vivena was in the water. Haruka saw it but said nothing. “All I need is to find a way to max out my Mind attribute.”

“In that case, I think we could pay my village a visit.”

Haruka walked away and joined Vivena in the sea. There seemed to be something at the bottom.

Keynes sat down, then rested on his back. It was such a blissful place.

The group stayed a few more hours in the rift. They ate the crabs and Keynes had to go for a swim to burn the excessive energy. He also saw what Vivena and Haruka had found at the bottom. There was a small shipwreck! The water was only several metres deep and perfectly clear.

When the time came to leave, they stared longingly at the rift but they couldn’t postpone it anymore. The instance of the rift had already changed and they needed to prepare for another quick delve before travelling to the village.

As they were leaving the rift, Bill first, then Vivena and Haruka – Keynes zoned out and bumped into Haruka’s back.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, then looked ahead and saw what had stopped them.

In front of the rift stood a group of people, clothed the same way Haruka was. There was one person though, who stood apart, closer to the rift than the rest.

Her honey eyes stared daggers at them as they stumbled out of the rift. She could be pretty for all Keynes knew but her expression killed off any notion of beauty on her face.

This had to be Haruka’s sister.