While Keynes discovered the insane wealth of the hidden rooms, the world didn’t remain without its own big breakthrough.

In an exotic Level 2 rift in Northern America, a young soldier found a schematic of a mana container. It didn’t go well for the young soldier as he disappeared but some time later, the production of the first mana container commenced. It contained 100 mana units and revolutionised the world. PROFOUNDLY.

At first, only a few people in the world understood the implications. Those were the first adopters and investors who would become obscenely rich in the future. Slowly, the wider public gained a better idea of why the mana container was a game-changer.

And then, came the tipping point and mana became hot stuff.

Still many asked - ‘why is a mana container so important?’

The answer was the runes.

While they’d existed for as long as Talents, they were ignored because they required mana to function. A Level 1 ascender possessed 100 units of mana which was regenerated over a day. It was enough to power up a few situational runes. And that was all.

Without the ability to store mana there was no way to continuously power up the runes. This had killed off any notion of complex runic structures.

A mana container shifted this particular landscape, arguably as much as the outbreaks had done.

Unlike formations, runes were extremely malleable in their application. Mostly thanks to the runic scripture which could be seen as the programming language of runes. The runic scripture was a form of describing variables of the runes like, their shape, sequence, size, type or materials and their effects. The research into the runes was quite advanced even though it was applied mostly in science circles.

In a matter of weeks, every runic expert became a superstar.

Obviously, nothing too complex could be constructed as some runic structures required way more than 100 mana units per second but complexity wasn’t the point.

The runes were used to dimensionally expand space, sustain barriers, increase durability of materials, provide important resources like heat, light, electricity and so much more. All of this could be manipulated through changes to the runes which opened countless new fields to researchers.

The renaissance of runes didn’t mean the end of formations. The two had simply different applications. Formations were very rigid but at the same time stable, reliable, powerful and precise. Unfortunately, they were extremely difficult to modify and materials required to activate them were hard to find.

But not everything was as straightforward as it supposed to be. The insane demand couldn’t be satisfied no matter how many people worked on the assembly of the mana container and things were tricky at the factory as there was only one schematic and the owner didn’t trust anyone but himself. Without the schematic, creating the mana container wasn’t possible for reasons none of these men understood. Although, it didn’t stop thousands of crafters and counterfeiters from trying.

Then came the issues of the raw materials required to build the mana containers. Lucky for Wagner and his company, one of Columbus Curt’s rifts in South America had one of the rare ingredients which added a substantial chunk to their income.

Lastly, the uprising was still going on without signs of slowing down. Actually, the mana containers refuelled the zeal of the White Mask rebels who demanded the equal distribution of the mana containers for everyone, not just the rich.

The mana container spurred the growth of crafters and alchemists as they finally had the mana to work on their projects. Wagner entertained the possibility of buying the schematic and taking over the production of the mana containers but he soon learned that such offers had been thrown at the owner of the schematic on a daily basis without an effect.

The idea of stealing the schematic also floated between Esopp, Wagner and Columbus but most of Columbus’s forces were tied up near Baikal lake as the gigantic monster horde was pushing outwardly, while the owner of the schematic had built a stronghold and got a small army to keep him safe. It was not worth the risk with all the income the three men generated. Wagner estimated the profits to be less than 10%, although he was aware that there was a limiting factor as the production wasn’t anywhere near the demand.

The appearance of mana containers was widely regarded as the beginning of the golden magical age.

It also introduced the second formal currency after a dollar: mana. With varying rates, on average 100 mana was worth 50 dollars.

***

Pandora’s words hung there, pestering Keynes. Only after she’d pointed it out to him, he began taking the idea of focusing on a certain affinity or fighting style into consideration. It led him to think about classes. The Level 3 rift introduced them. He was aware that RPG computer games had many classes with different focuses but in the world dominated by Talents, classes weren’t a thing, except the world wasn’t like that anymore. Some people had already focused on something, either by double downing on their Talents, like Hawthorne or picking a separate path like Bill.

What Keynes didn’t like was how much the hidden rewards seemed to force him into gardening. He enjoyed tending a garden and discovering new stuff but gardening was too immobile for him. He and others had plans to leave Earth eventually, to open rifts on other planets. While a garden would be a nice addition to his travelling set-up, it’d never be something he could solely thrive on or use to fight with.

But maybe I am looking at this the wrong way? Alice, what options do I have when it comes to a class or a path or whatever you call it?

Hmm, master, that is an unusual question coming from you, she replied with a hint of mockery which Keynes ignored not giving her satisfaction. At least, her mood recovered. But yes, you’re thinking about this the wrong way, at least to a certain degree. The first thing you must answer yourself is what role you wish to fulfil in the future. A combatant or non-combatant.

If you mean fighting rift monsters, then certainly a combatant role.

Which means, you still can have a secondary focus, like gardening. Now, if you desire to be a combatant, you must think about the way you wish to fight. Melee, range or support.

Support? What’s that?

Healing, casting buffs and crowd control spells. That kind of thing.

That’s a lot of information.

Once the Level 3 rifts are open and the class spells start to drop I am permitted to extend my tutorial to encompass classes. Technically, upon hitting Level 3, each ascender should start thinking about their primary focus. It does not need to be any particular class but you at least should know if you want to be a frontline fighter, a caster, a support, a damage dealer, or stay out of combat and pursue paths like crafting.

Thank you for that. Keynes had a lot to think about. His first twelve hidden rewards from the Level 2 rifts were mainly focused on gardening. [Inspect Plant] created a system window with important information about plants that didn’t have one. It was potentially a powerful tool for gardeners as the skill allowed them to spot many differences. He also got two other inspection skills: [Inspect Fungus] and [Inspect Soil]. Both worked like [Inspect Plant] but with fungi and soil.

The next skill was [Growth] and it was the same one Wagner had gotten from Persephone, although Keynes didn’t know about that particular development yet.

The other three plant-related skills were [Plant Temperature] which granted information about the optimal temperature prefered by plants. The second one was a passive skill [Plant Cultivation] which boosted the plant’s properties cultivated by the ascender. The word ‘cultivation’ didn’t stop itching Keynes. Alice was quite helpful by saying that he was misunderstanding certain aspects of this word and he was wrong about cultivating plants the same way he cultivated his spiritual core.

The last skill was extremely rare according to Alice. [Create Plant] could create almost any plant and was limited only by the ascender’s mastery and knowledge. It was clear that the spells were a dream come true to any gardener. Even Keynes had to resist the urge to absorb them. But he couldn’t as they also had a spiritual weight and this many skills would deny him other, more desirable skills. Fortunately, skills could be removed and even reused by other ascenders. Alice also shared with him that skills could be modified, Keynes asked if such modified skills would retain their modified properties. They would, creating a unique version of a skill. But it was a distant future for him.

Other than the mentioned skills, a spyglass and a mana ring, Keynes found a rare refillable health flask that instantly replenished 25% of max HP. It then needed to be fed some raw materials so it could refill which took a few hours.

The flask was great for critical moments but Keynes was keen to exchange it for something else. Unfortunately, not a single standard drop caught his eye and he kept the flask.

Over the month of constant delving, training and learning about the Covenant of Tribes, Keynes and his companions found two hidden doors in the Level 3 rift and three in the Level 2 rifts. He was a bit selfish when it came to the Level 2 rifts as he didn’t share the rewards. That was one of his conditions. He also had the first pick in the Level 3 rift even if the reward was clearly for someone else.

His greatest reward was [Telekinesis] and he immediately absorbed it. The spell didn’t work on living beings of the same Level as Keynes or higher. Level 1s resisted and it cost a lot of mana just to keep them still. With anything else, the spell was a game-changer. It came from the first hidden room and it was clearly for Keynes. Vivena had another anti-poison serum but this time Level 3, Pandora got a [Double Punch], a passive spell that gave her a chance to inflict damage twice if it came from punches. Haruka found himself a dimensional backpack with 10 cubic metres of space inside with the ability to keep inside one dimensional pouch not higher than Level 3. He couldn’t access the dimensional pouch’s content but the fact that he could keep it inside another dimensional space was a big win. The backpack was exotic and it had an exotic property – it turned ethereal if damaged and some of the damage was returned to the attacker as a random element. It had two enchants: {self-repair} and {durability}. If not for [Telekinesis] Keynes would have taken the backpack. It was an insane item and while it was of exotic rarity, it was an extremely rare drop, which raised some interesting questions about the drop chance among the items of the same rarity. They pooled the knowledge of their spiritual companions which frankly wasn’t unanimous as each spiritual companion added something to the bigger picture. They didn’t get a clear answer as neither spiritual companion was permitted to give it, but they concluded that drop even among the same rarity was weighted and there were circumstances affecting that weight. The hidden room was one of such circumstances.

The next room gave Keynes an even bigger dilemma. There was a [Darkness Manipulation] spell which could be for Keynes as he had the Cloak of Shadows. But then he found out, with Alice’s help, that [Darkness Manipulation] didn’t affect his cloak as the cloak had a shadow affinity. The next reward was a bizarre one: The Orb of Explorer. It was a single-use item; if crushed in the rift, it applied the Explorer buff to the rift. Keynes had mixed feelings about this one. According to Alice, the Explorer buff was one of the strongest buffs to have. Keynes was so far unimpressed by the buff. The third thing was a rare wand made of two black and white intertwined sticks. It boosted the effects of all spells by 15%, decreased mana cost by 10% and added 7 points to Will. Everyone agreed that the wand fitted Keynes. The last thing was a passive spell [Stamina]. It increased the stamina pool and boosted its regeneration. [Stamina] tempted Keynes but he realised that the spell was a trap in a way. Pushing beyond stamina was how he’d maxed out his attributes. If his stamina was boosted it would make maxing out attributes harder at least in theory.

The champion drop was mostly left unidentified as they didn’t have enough Scrolls of Identification.

To the Level 2 rifts, Keynes had travelled alone even though he cleared them with three random tribesmen selected by Hawthorne or Chief Bonolo.

Some of the rewards were intriguing as they were based on other people who were inside the rifts during the clearing.

He found two [Heal]s, a passive spell [Healing Touch], [Night Sight], [Flight], an Archery technique, [Cook], two wooden maces, an uncommon wooden ring that boosted health regeneration while in a proximity of a tree and added 4 to Vitality, a rune that boosted durability of stone and lastly a glyph of calmness.

Keynes gave away the Archery technique and two wooden maces. He kept the rest. He was disappointed when he learned that neither of the healing skills affected him. He absorbed [Night Sight] that enhanced his night vision.

A week before the deadline his spirit couldn’t take any more even with the Spiritual Mantle. Of course, he was going to level up very soon which would free a lot of room for additional items or spells but most of what he wanted he had.

And then he and Haruka sensed something very faint and subtle. Upon prodding this odd energy, they found an insanely intricate set of doors. It was a piece of art with its bas-reliefs. Keynes memorised the strange vision that showed a large tree attacked by locusts. Its roots spread touching many different items no one could recognise. This was a higher tier of the hidden room. What kind of rewards were behind the doors they couldn’t even begin to guess. The room’s spawn rate was insanely low, not to mention the key spawn. These things had to be so rare, it boggled Keynes’s mind.

Keynes inspected the doors with his spiritual aura and … was rebuffed.

“It doesn’t allow me to even touch it.”

A moment later, Haruka confirmed it.

“What the hell could be behind it?”

Keynes tried to use his Talent but the doors’ runes flared to life rebuffing any attempts to even touch the doors, let alone use Lockpicking Talent on them.

“I don’t think I can open them.”

Pandora took out her newly found mace with an iron head and smashed it against the door. A different set of runes came to life and cracked the weapon in half.

“What the…” She slumped to the ground. Haruka rushed to help her but she shook her head. “Don’t, unless you want to be paralysed. It sucked all my stamina out of me.”

Despite the inability to open the double doors, their moods were uplifted. Keynes’s assumption that Level 3 rifts possessed another tier of hidden rewards was true and if there was a similar difference between this tier and Level 2 tier as there was between the Level 1 tier and the Level 2 tier then they were in for a massive treat.

No matter what they’d tried, the door remained inaccessible to their senses. It was time to get the final push to 100% and level up.