Goodman didn’t have a headache since he’d ascended to Level 1 but today one was almost upon him. He passionately hated dealing with the VIPs. He understood the need to level people up. He’d be a hypocrite if he thought otherwise since he was Level 4 himself and that was the sole reason he coped with the workload. But to Goodman, being in charge of a rift cluster meant something else. It was the thrill of discovering new resources and monsters. Every time a carry team entered a variable rift, Goodman had goosebumps.

What people weren't aware of was that some rift monsters were worth more alive than dead and the difference in value wasn’t even close. Some shed old skin, others produced milk-like liquid or various types of venoms, not to mention the value of manure.

Then there were more esoteric mechanisms. Most of them were too complex or difficult to grasp. A red-horned buffalo increased the amount of nutrients in water just by standing in it. Other monsters could purify or even affect Levels of non-organic surroundings. Possibilities were endless and Goodman loved the fact of being on the forefront of these discoveries. The top brass hadn’t hesitated with substantial investments into his projects and many teams working with these animals. Technically, Goodman projects encroached on territories of other departments that were responsible for similar activities but so far no had called him out so he pressed his luck.

But he no longer felt lucky. Staring at the rift, his mind tried to grasp the events of the morning. A boy out of nowhere in charge of nothing, came here like he owned the damned place, and even kicked a member of the only carry team in the cluster. It couldn’t … shouldn’t get worse than that, right?

Wrong.

Goodman’s boss—Cyrano—warned him to not mess with the boy and that he was a big deal. Great. It felt like walking through a vault full of cash with a torch. One wrong move and things would go terribly wrong.

Then the second big deal revealed himself in the group. Goodman was sure both men used fake IDs but Cyrano knew of their presence here and it terrified him. Goodman only wished they would not disrupt the flow of work he’d manage to build up here.

***

“Now that we are all gathered,” Natalia said, facing the six VIPs. She sounded displeased. “Let’s go over the rules again.”

They stood inside the first rift. It was a forest/field biome with over two hundred metres of clear space between the rift exit and the line of the forest. Not a single monster was in sight.

The other three members of the carry team stood behind their leader, watching the perimeter.

“My name’s Natalia and I’m the leader of the carry team. My word inside a rift is the law. Now, first things first: you don’t use your Talent or—if you are lucky to have one—spells. You don’t attack or leave the formation. You follow my commands and you don’t question them. If you wish to argue, wait until we’re out of a rift. If you won’t stick to my rules, I’ll have you removed. Is that understood?”

Everyone but Keynes promptly acknowledged her words, even Esopp, who gave Keynes an irritated glance though there was no heat in it.

She pinned Keynes with a look but he didn’t feel like agreeing to her superiority. He knew he was unreasonable but it changed nothing. He squinted at Esopp wondering how was he going to deal with the situation if a Hated Foe would appear? There was no answer on Esopp’s face, only impatience.

“You.” Natalia pointed at Keynes. Other VIPs cleared space around him. “I must abide by the rules if you wish to proceed.”

A stubborn, dark speck of Keynes’s personality was about to say that he could just throw them out of the rift and clear them with Esopp. There was that resistance inside him that grew stronger at the mere thought of following other people’s orders. Especially the ones who didn’t understand what he was capable of. With his [Chaos Aura] he’d have defeated the carry team in a few seconds…

Esopp broke away from the VIPs, gently grabbed Keynes’s arm and walked some distance away from the rest. Natalia seemed like she wanted to follow but the black-haired girl said something and the team leader didn’t move.

“Let them do their jobs,” Esopp said flatly. “We aren’t here to attract attention but to level up quietly and without disrupting the ongoing operations.”

“I’ll remind you about it when a Hated Foe appears,” Keynes countered, a little too sharply.

Esopp stared at him, not betraying any emotions. It was strange to remember the same man who had had the appearance of an old man barely a year ago. He banished the stray thought and focused on the moment.

“I hate being looked down on,” Keynes whispered.

“Understandable,” Esopp said. “But we’re pretending. We aren’t here as who we really are.”

“I know what pretending means.”

“Good. Then play your part.”

Keynes and Esopp returned to the rest. Natalia was already tapping her foot. Keynes quickly agreed to follow her rules but didn’t mean it.

Still displeased, Natalia started to introduce her team.

“As I mentioned, I’m the leader of the team, but that’s not all. I’m also a healer.”

Keynes knew she didn’t have any spells so it meant a healing Talent. This was unexpected. Healing Talents were rare.

“This is Kora, she’s our spotter though it is her secondary role. Her primary job is a secret.” Keynes checked the black-haired girl and saw that she had a spell — [Essence Detection].

It was another surprise. Spells were outrageously expensive, even the common ones like [Fireball] or [Create Water]. Actually, to say these things were common was false. There were only a couple of hundred of them listed on Artefact Exchange, the last Keynes had checked, while demand was what? Millions? Billions? So yeah, any spell meant a fortune. How someone so low in the chain of command had gotten a hold of a spell was beyond Keynes but he wasn’t going to bother them about it, even if it’d been a theft.

“Miguel here.” She nodded toward a lean, dark-skinned man with eyes that stared at them with clouded hesitation and lack of trust. “Is our area damage dealer. Don’t get close to him. Unless you wish to die a horrible death.”

An area damage dealer, huh?

Must be Talent spell, Alice clarified. Yes. Apart from Kora, no one else in her team had a spell.

It has to be an aura, right?

Not necessarily. There are many damage dealing AOE spells. Keynes couldn’t wait to see the man in action.

She pivoted and pointed at the last member of her team.

“Ulf, he’s our boss and champion killer.”

Ulf nodded then turned around without a word.

The introduction left Keynes with multiplying questions. What did it mean he was a boss killer? What was Kora’s primary role? Why was a healer the leader? What was so special about Natalia?

“The maximum range before essence efficiency starts to plummet is fifty metres. So, you’ll stay around thirty to forty metres away from Miguel who is our forefront fighter. I’ll remain with you to ensure the right distance while Kora and Ulf will be located half-way between us and Miguel. For stable, common and uncommon rifts, we go fast. Rare and higher rarity rifts require a slower pace while variable and higher type rifts have to be evaluated first. Is that clear?”

Everyone acknowledged this time. Even Keynes. A few VIPs raised their hands but Natalia shook her head.

“You can ask questions after we’re out of the rift. Now, let’s move. We have only twenty minutes to clear it.”

***

It was something else.

Taker and his team had meant to be Untainted Paradise’s elite but Keynes had been disappointed with them. Their failures were dragging Keynes’s expectations down so when Natalia’s team moved toward the forest nothing had prepared Keynes for what was about to happen.

Miguel threw a grenade.

It exploded with a loud bang and a hint of something else in the periphery of Keynes’s hearing. Whatever it was, it drew monsters out of the woods almost instantaneously. Most of them were several variations of wargs and bears. None got past Miguel, neither it was a pleasant sight. One VIP emptied her stomach, while two others gagged.

Anything that stayed too long in a range of Miguel’s spell or aura was cut to shreds. Very effective but gruesome Talent. The carry team looked unperturbed.

The essence hit them but at common rarity and stable type, the rift’s essence was pitiable. It was further penalised by the number of people inside the rift, taking away 25% of the total essence reward for killing monsters.

Miguel didn’t waste any second after the last warg had died. He instantly moved forward, others keeping with him.

Some of the VIPs needed a verbal or physical push from Natalia to get moving.

From there, it went smoothly and quickly. Groups of monsters were dealt by Miguel and strays, mostly the ones to either side, were picked off by Ulf. The man’s Talent got ohs and ahs from the VIP and even Keynes agreed, it was insane.

A laser beam punctured through monsters’ heads with merciless precision and deadliness.

Nothing got close to the VIPs throughout the run. When they reached the reward chest, Natalia picked an item, while Kora took a video. Interesting.

Keynes made Alice check for the hidden reward but there was none.

They exited the rift thirteen minutes after they’d set out. Esopp smirked once they were out of the rift and on their way to another one. He must have seen them in action.

“They’re good,” Esopp whispered. “Effective and very efficient. Kill monsters with minimal damage to the environment.”

Keynes frowned at that, sensing a jab at his [Chaos Aura]. He also had to reevaluate his attitude toward the team. Ulf alone would be able to kill him if Keynes couldn’t get close quickly. That laser beam of his looked impressive. There had to be a downside, right? Nonetheless, it was impossible to inspect another ascender’s Talent without their permission. Then there would be Miguel to deal with and Keynes didn’t know if his [Chaos Aura] could kill the other man faster than Miguel’s slicing AOE spell.

Kora and Natalia were the two unknowns though. What kind of healing Talent did she possess? Depending on the way it worked it could make it impossible for Keynes to deal any real damage to anyone from the group.

Without knowing what Kora’s Talent was, fighting the team would be a huge risk. She hadn’t shown anything inside the rift. It must be a passive Talent then. But what did it do?

The next rift was a mountainous biome with goats, many variations of eagles and an occasional rock golem. Once again, the carry team went through the monsters like a hot knife through butter. They understood the behaviour of the monsters and the rift’s environment. The way they acted around themselves also told him that there was a strong rapport among the team.

He understood—at least as far as the secondary Kora’s role went—why Natalia and the cluster manager had reacted so badly to him kicking Kora.

They were like dancers, but delivering death instead of a feast for eyes.

***

The first true testament to the group’s synergy came at a rare and variable rift. Natalia and someone else who Keynes hadn’t seen before but the person had to be some kind of a rift scout, had deemed the rift safe for the VIPs.

The VIPs had a right to refuse to enter a rare or a variable rift without repercussions. But no one was willing to walk away from 6 times the essence of a common and stable rift.

Natalia gave them a gist of what waited inside. Lava and ash. It was a volcanic biome.

From the get go, Natalia took the initiative, by ordering others from her team. Kora went ahead to scout the position of monsters. At the rare rarity, monsters were going to have one active and one passive skill, making them much more dangerous than their common counterparts.

Keynes walked with his mouth hanging wide open, while Ulf and Miguel ridiculed the difficulty of the rift. Kora sniffed out any surprise and often killed it before others even realised what happened. It was far too easy to forget that they were Level 5 rift essence ascenders with crafted items giving them additional +10 to all attributes. Keynes suspected they could deal with all previous rifts without using their Talents.

On top of that, all of this happened in a very short time, even when it came to the unknown biome and rare monsters.

They trivialised a Level 4 rare and variable rift, Keynes complained to Alice.

I am sure, you would do well too, master, she said with a hint of mockery.

Upon exiting the last rift, still circulating the essence around the core, Keynes was approached by Kora.

“Can I ask you a question?”

He looked at her, noticing Natalia’s frown but otherwise neutral expression. The other VIPs were hastily leaving, including Esopp. The carry team didn’t hurry up though they didn’t linger around either.

“You can but I can’t guarantee you’ll receive an answer.”

She nodded, appearing thoughtful. From close, she looked so delicate but Keynes had seen her cut through monsters effortlessly.

“That’s acceptable. What is it that you do with the essence?”

“Oh.”

OH! It was Keynes’s eureka moment.