Keynes’s consciousness returned with a snap and alarm. Instinctively, he flooded his surroundings with [Chaos Aura], then reached into his dimensional bag and took out two shortswords.

Nothing assaulted him though, so he turned the aura off.

As his awareness settled down, he allowed himself to have a better look at the room he was in.

The room was spacious, with vaulted ceiling and tiled walls. The tiles were polished and smooth. There were several narrow alcoves with metal hooks attached to the top, and stone benches. Keynes had been laying on one of them before he got to his feet.

But the element that stood out the most were the bright runes on the walls. There were four of them and they were the sole source of light, making the room quite bright.

Still, one question more than others pressed on his mind.

“How have I survived?”

Before he lost consciousness, he’d defeated the rift boss. But there were two champions after him, plus, the heat of the rift alone was enough to kill him.

Someone helped me then … but who? There weren’t many people who could defeat two Level 3 epic champions and save him.

Keynes inspected the room some more. It looked too clean but with little wear and tear. It appeared to be some sort of a locker room. There were two exits. One door was locked--not a problem for Keynes--but he decided to go with the unlocked door.

After crossing a short corridor, he found an open door. Inside was an auditorium with space for around fifty people. Like the locker room, the auditorium was lit by runes, although the runelight was dimmer here. Also, many elements here were made out of wood rather than stone.

When Keynes’s eyes fell on the dais with the board and the desk, his spiritual sense seemed to pick up on something, while his other senses found nothing. If not the encounter with the invisible person, Keynes would have attributed it to his exhausted state.

And he was exhausted.

Judging by his health and stamina levels, barely an hour passed since he’d fallen unconscious.

“I can see,” Keynes said, looking at the spot and wondering if he was right.

When no answer came forth, Keynes decided that overreaction was a better choice. He activated [Chaos Aura] and augmented it with the spiritual aura then hit the spot with them.

He felt a spike of spiritual energy and then [Chaos Aura] deactivated on its own. His spiritual aura unravelled like a fabric being pulled by its many threads simultaneously.

Facing an unknown threat, Keynes activated [Spiritual Ghost] but before he could hide a shape materialised on the same spot he’d sensed something. From an outline emerged a person wearing a plain black cloak and a black crown.

Without thinking, Keynes reached for the desk with [Telekinesis] but again, his spell unravelled before he could fully grasp the item and throw it.

Shaper lowered his hand, his eyes watched Keynes with interest. Before Shaper’s hand hid behind the fabric of the cloak, Keynes noticed three rings on Shaper’s fingers.

“[Chaos Aura], [Telekinesis] and [Spiritual Ghost]. Quite the spells you got there.”

Keynes needed a moment to collect himself. Not only Shaper hid from him but also nullified his spells. That was impossible, wasn’t it?

“What are you doing here?” Keynes asked, moving the topic away from his skills.

“I have to ask … I have to know,” Shaper said quietly, striking a dangerous figure. “How have you acquired [Chaos Aura]?”

“What is this place?” Keynes asked instead, giving Shaper an answer to his question.

“You do not understand the stakes, you do not comprehend the importance of everything we are doing here. Stop fooling around, boy!” Shaper’s voice boomed in the auditorium like thunder. Then an invisible weight fell on Keynes driving him to his knees.

Keynes grunted, trying to use [Chaos Aura] again but the skill seemed elusive this time.

“As long as you’re in my power, your skills are useless. The gap between us is greater than you can imagine. I could squash you like an insect… But isn’t why I’ve saved you from the rift… I see you aren’t surprised. You’re smart. That is good. There is nothing more annoying than working with fools and idiots. Now, I must know how you have come into possession of [Chaos Aura]. That spell may render the vision unworkable, and it’s my last vision.”

The weight was lifted from Keynes’s shoulders. He had to admit that whatever Shaper used on him had a serious punch. Windsor Freeman was right to fear this man.

Keynes considered his options. He didn’t think Shaper would actually harm him, it appeared that the vision centred around Keynes and something that shouldn’t be there upset the other man. The question was--how far could Keynes push it before Shaper snapped? For all his quirks and mystery, Shaper was only a man.

“I found it in a rift.”

“Impossible,” Shaper replied. “This skill cannot drop before--”

Shaper cut himself off but Keynes wasn’t keen to let the other man get away with it. He knew that Esopp, Wagner and Columbus had struck a bargain with Shaper getting something in exchange for sticking to his plan. Keynes didn’t take part in it. It was time to fix that mistake.

“I’ll answer your questions, Shaper, but I need some answers in exchange.”

Shaper snorted quietly, then squinted at Keynes after he’d turned away earlier.

“I cannot guarantee that I’ll be able to answer any of your questions. I follow the vision to the letter.”

An interesting point. So, if the vision didn’t force Keynes to answer Shaper’s question in the first place, the question wasn’t pivotal to the future. Or was Keynes missing something? Shaper admitted himself that the vision hadn’t envisioned Keynes to possess [Chaos Aura]. It appeared that Shaper’s visions were less certain than he tried to make Keynes believe.

“How did you hide and deactivate my spells?”

“These are two questions,” Shapers noted then added. “Though the process is similar. I guess I can make an exception here.

“The answer is spiritual aura. Once you reach higher stages, you’ll learn how to use your spiritual energy in a way that would boggle your young mind. Spiritual aura is the way ascenders mean to interact with their surroundings. After all, the world is made of spirit itself.”

“But how did you do it?”

“The answer won’t help you. You aren’t equipped to understand the complexities of my spiritual stage.”

“Try me!” Keynes said with reawakened curiosity.

Shaper smiled mirthlessly.

“Fine. I use threads of my aura and turned off the parts of your spiritual matrix responsible for spells or your senses.”

Seeing that Keynes’s brows were climbing ever higher, Shaper shook his head.

“You are stuck in the Elevated stage and you want to learn what took me ages? Impossible,” Shaper said. “But if that isn’t enough to dissuade you, then you should know that to progress after you pass the Elevated stage, you’ll have to rebuild your spiritual core. Good luck figuring that one out.” Shaper’s expression reverted to a mask. “Now. Tell me about [Chaos Aura].”

Keynes cursed, Shaper only caressed his curiosity, but still he answered Keynes’s questions.

“I got the spell from the hidden room.”

Shaper went quiet for a moment, most likely discussing with his spiritual companion, then his attention returned to Keynes.

“Your Talent works on the hidden doors too?”

“Yes…”

Shaper picked up the hesitation in Keynes’s voice.

“But?”

“I am pretty sure you are aware of hidden rewards. First, you have a hidden compartment, then hidden room starting from Level 2. But we once found the hidden door belonging to Level 3.”

“And?”

Keynes shrugged.

“It was impenetrable even to my Talent. I couldn’t even attempt to use my Talent on the door.”

Keynes explained how the door looked, which prompted even more silence from Shaper. Eventually, Shaper nodded, seemingly to himself.

“It appears that these hidden rooms exist beyond the usual rules of the System. I presume that you have received it because of your chaos debuff. Lucky for us all, it remained in a semi-dormant state.”

With that, Shaper turned to go.

“Wait, where are we?”

Shaper glanced at Keynes, surprised by the question.

“Near the Labyrinth of Worth. There are several ways to access that place. It happened that you used the worst one.”

“It wasn’t my choice to go there, it was your damned vision.”

That gave Shaper pause.

“Was it? Hm. Another unexpected turn of events.”

He turned to go again and once more Keynes asked, “You wouldn’t know anything about the reward from the rift I killed the boss of, would you?”

Shaper stopped a few steps later.

“Ah, I’d have forgotten. Not everyone is blessed with your kind of memory.”

He opened his hand and a silver sphere the size of an apple appeared on it. Keynes used [Telekinesis] and moved the sphere toward himself. What he found took his breath away.

Rift Orb of Relocation

Rift (Epic; Mayhem)

Level

3

Status

-

Requirements

-

Modifiers

Lesser Orbs drop more commonly. Monsters are stronger than usual. A small chance of a Deadly Encounter.

Details

This rift contains a higher number of monsters, champions and a boss (overcharge effect).

Affinity

-

Special Status

Modified, Relocated.

HOLY SMOKES!

It was the rift Keynes had fallen unconscious in. How? Why?

“How did you…” Keynes found no one in the auditorium and his voice trailed off.

And to make matters worse, the runes started to fade away. He needed to get out of here.

Still in the state of shock, Keynes shot toward the last rows where he saw the outline of an exit. He found an unlocked door there. Using the technique of lesser wind currents, he headed toward the source of a draft. The corridors outside the auditorium didn’t have active runes and Keynes had to use [Night Sight] to not walk into a wall.

Ten minutes later, Keynes emerged from the well-hidden exit. Not only was it covered by a thick bush but a solid canopy spread above as well. Keynes spied a fallen log. Only after he sat down, his mind started to process what had just occurred. He repeated his conversation with Shaper several times, cursing his stupidity. He missed so many good questions. He should’ve been more precise.

And why didn’t I ask about the Capital and the labyrinth? Shaper appeared familiar with this place. Heck! He must have something to do with it. But what?

A thunderous roar snapped Keynes out of thoughts. Then he heard the sounds of battle. He quickly checked his health and stamina. Both were extremely low. He wasn’t in a state to fight, though monsters always fired him up.

Softly, Keynes lifted himself into the sky to better grasp the situation. What he found stunned him.

He knew that the third outbreak was in progress and understood what it entailed. What he saw didn’t have much to do with the outbreak though. A giant ape, at least twenty metres tall, battered the gate of the Capital with a wooden club. Defenders from the wall shoot at it, or at least tried to. They were being interrupted by swarms of flying monsters.

Some of the tribesmen exited the Capital but were blocked by lesser monsters. Keynes had never seen monsters working together. Here, not only the monsters worked together, they seemed to have a plan. They wanted to take down the gate.

Dominion of Monsters… he remembered. The System warned him that this might happen. Keynes didn’t have time to check it out and so he didn’t know what the whole dominion was but judging by the change in the behaviour of the monsters, it meant serious trouble.

What do I do now? He asked himself. The Capital betrayed him, he didn’t owe them anything. But it wouldn’t hurt to get a better look at this monster, right?