The world beyond the portal almost broke Ash's brain to look at.

  Directly in front of him was what seemed like the outskirts of a forest. Behind him was the swirling vortex, the entrance. And behind that was the edge of the rift where land fell away. But when he looked up to get a look at the sky he found the forest followed his line of vision. He was able to follow the mass of land in a giant loop around the sky.

  Beyond the ring of earth was a blue haze in every direction, the same as he'd fallen into previously. The space between dimensions.

  "Looks pretty wild, right?"

  "Y-Yeah…"

  "Some of the wilds, actually most of them, have crazy geometry that doesn't make much sense. This one is a good example. We think it might have been some crazy archmage or god's experiment to create a ringworld, but there's no way to know for sure."

  "How the…"

  "Don't get too distracted now."

  Ash forced himself to look back down at Brent. It was slightly nauseating.

  Brent stood next to a large nondescript box, like a rectangular chest. Opening it, Ash saw it was lined with green and blue bottles.

  "All of the rifts designated as beginner have level 1 health and mana potions. Don't take more than you need, please. They're not worth much, but we do have to restock these every day."

  "Thanks, but I don't have anything to hold them with."

  "Right, you need some starting gear. Sorry about that." Brent held out his hand and Ash saw a dazzling azure ring adorning one of his fingers.

  The ring flashed and then they waited for a minute. A long, awkward minute.

  Several items materialized out of thin air. A backpack, belt bag, notebook and pencil, and an iron sword and shield fell onto the ground before him.

  "What's the notebook for?"

  "For keeping track of everything. Everyone who levels up eventually has to branch out to other rifts, which each have their own unique threats and environments. We use notebooks to record monster weaknesses, unique traits of the environment, anything useful. You can make maps too, but it'll be mostly useless once the rift is reborn."

  "I thought the environments stayed the same?"

  "The noteworthy features and most of the notable landmarks always stick around, but they always get jumbled up and thrown back together in different ways.

  "Alright. Time to explain the quest. You're here to pick mushrooms, but that doesn't mean this place is an idyllic paradise. None of the wilds are. The only beasts that roam this rift are a type of wolf monster, around level 2. They're not too dangerous and they aren't aggressive, but they do travel in pairs and they're territorial."

  Brent hesitated before adding, "They also like to eat the mushrooms you're after." The man looked like he regretted saying anything when he saw the smile on Ash's face. It looked like he'd be able to kill two birds with one stone.

  "The mushrooms themselves are green with yellow spots on the top."

  "Spotcaps."

  "Jeez, you're really knowledgeable. That's right, you're looking for spotcaps. Grab about 10 of the decently sized ones and throw them in your backpack. Bring them back, and I'll pay you."

  "Seems like it would be more profitable to bring back the monster materials."

  Ash could swear he saw a vein bulge on Brent's forehead, "You're here to collect mushrooms. If you happen to come back with monster materials then yes I'll buy them. But don't forget you're here for mushrooms."

  "Yeah, I get it." As he put on the gear Brent had given him he asked, "By the way, how big is this place anyway?"

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  "This rift is on the smaller side, usually about 40 square miles."

  "That's… pretty big. How huge can the larger rifts get?"

  "Nobody's bothered actually measuring them, but I'd estimate they can get up to three thousand square miles."

  I don't even want to think of how absurd that is.

  He finished strapping the small round shield to his arm and said, "Alright. Ten mushrooms it is. If I can't find them all do I fail?"

  "We'd simply try again tomorrow. We aren't fond of penalizing failure. It just leads people to be stupid and get themselves killed."

  "Alright. I'll be back later."

  "Ash, there's one more thing I need to mention. It's perhaps the most important thing of all. I advise you to stay somewhat close to the edge of the rift. If you find yourself in serious danger throw yourself into the void."

  "What? I'm pretty sure I came within an inch of death when I did that before. Why would I risk that again?"

  "So you threw yourself in, huh?"

  Shit. I didn't mean to say that.

  Brent got a sympathetic look on his face, clearly misunderstanding what circumstances had led to Ash's arrival in the Fragmented Wilds.

  "The space between dimensions acts a little differently here. As a rift ages the abyss around it destabilizes. The colors go from this blue to red and finally to black. Jumping into red is risky. Jumping into black is almost certain death. But we can always pull someone out when they jump into blue."

  "What? That seems like a total cheat."

  "Well, you lose any items that aren't soulbound in the process, so it's not like it's a get out of jail free card. So until you have a spatial ring like mine I don't advise it as a means to get home unless you get really lost."

  Ash frowned, doubtful. "You're sure it's safe?"

  Brent smiled, "Absolutely." And then he stepped off the ring of earth into the abyss.

  Ash ran to the edge and watched Brent fall until he dematerialized and his body burst into motes of light.

  I guess that's one way to give a demonstration. Oh, I see how the waystone markers work!

  If the waystone on a stand next to a portal was completely dim it meant that its owner was inside the rift. If it was shining at all then it meant the owner had returned to the city by jumping off the edge of the rift. And if it stayed dim after a rift closed… the owner was probably dead.

  Ash took a breath as he readied himself to proceed. This wasn't his first time adventuring, but it was his first time adventuring alone.

  But why force me to go alone? Wouldn't it have been better to have me join a party and have them show me the ropes? Eh, who am I to question how things are done around here.

  He looked down at his equipment and identified everything he'd been given.

  [Iron Sword - Level 1] (Poor)

  Attack: 3

  Max sharpness: 2 (2)

  Burden: 2

  Condition: 100%

  [Iron Shield - Level 1] (Poor)

  Defense: 3

  Burden: 2

  Condition: 100%

  [Healing Potion - Level 1] Currently holding: 3

  Burden: 1

  Well, I suppose I shouldn't expect anything else from free stuff. At least it isn't rated as junk. Although I should have asked for a whetstone, this sword probably won't hold up past one fight.

  Ash debated taking more healing potions, but decided against it. Even though the combined 7 Burden of his equipment was nowhere near the 40 he could handle he felt like he probably wouldn't need any more than three potions. Besides, they basically filled up his belt bag when he shoved the notebook in there alongside them.

  He hadn't bothered grabbing any mana potions. There were no spells he could use, and the one skill his class gave him used mana in the process of crafting.

  Finally ready, he headed out into the untamed expanse of the rift.

  At first, he followed Brent's advice and stayed along the edge of the ring. But he soon ran into a rocky cliff that would have been hard to climb over, so he followed it inwards.

  Once he was in the forest proper he had to marvel at how it felt as though he was in a real place when he couldn't see the blue haze beyond the edge of the rift.

  Okay, where did spotcaps usually grow again? Shoot, I can't remember.

  However, as he was walking along the base of the small cliff he found something that blew the thoughts of mushrooms completely out of his mind. It was a cluster of rusty red rock jutting out from the stone wall.

  An iron deposit? Gah, I wish I had a pickaxe so badly. Well, by the amount of workshops in the city I think it's safe to assume formations like this are pretty common in the wilds.

  Shoving thoughts of the ore deposit from his mind, he once again went back to exploring. Ten minutes later he got his first glimpse of the beasts within the forest.

  [Darga - Level 2]

  [Darga - Level 1]

  They were, like Brent had said, wolf monsters. They had luscious green coats of fur and seemed to travel in pairs.

  However, what Brent had failed to mention was the flat horn that protruded from their heads. It was almost like a jagged blade, almost a foot in length.

  Ash couldn't help but feel even more excited than he had before.

  That horn would make the perfect base for a shortsword. Or at least a long dagger.

  He put a hand over his heart, trying to steady himself. He still had mushrooms to find. There was no point in picking a fight before he completed his objective.

  But after I'm done running this errand I'll be able to focus on what matters; obtaining the means to get stronger as fast as possible.

  hell do the hunters in the old games move around the biomes so fast? I feel like by the time they went on their fifth hunt at least a year would have passed from simply moving around all over the place.