Keynes didn’t find it in the seventh Level 6 rift. In truth, he didn’t have a clue what he actually searched for. His intuition hinted that he was close but he’d been close for a while now. Each rift he cleared he felt like there would be enlightenment at its end. Instead Keynes found disappointment. None of the remaining seven Level 6 rifts was similar to the blood affinity rift. All of them were common rarity and stable type. The blood affinity one was rare after all.

  Actually, Keynes wasn’t sure if rarity affected the rift itself. It affected loot and monsters’ skills as far as he knew, so it was a good question. One he might ask Willow about. The old researcher would likely know the answer to it.

  For a moment, he even entertained using the comms to speak to Willow about this but he decided against it. He didn’t want to speak to anyone right now. The issue of rifts’ rarity wasn’t pressing or even that important. Keynes didn’t chase any specific rifts. Or wait, maybe he was?

  Was it not the sole purpose of why he had come here? He wasn’t sure.

  Perhaps the old researcher’s philosophy had infected Keynes; that rifts had a higher purpose. But no, that wasn’t it. By now, Keynes’s comprehension of the System and beyond was deep enough to know that most of that was the work of either the System or the Greater System.

  But even his mind struggled with comprehending what either of these entities really meant. To know that reality was ordered by a semi-intelligent god-like being was difficult already. To add to this a concept of higher purpose was to entertain a dark concept of being a piece on some incomprehensible game board.

  Keynes exited the rift, the hostile planet welcomed him.

  The reason I am here is not because of the System. It is because Lem Solaris wanted to teach me a lesson despite what the visage says, he told himself. As far as he knew, the visage was just following a script. There had to be a reason why Lem Solaris had chosen this star system. Because the other possibility was that he’d been thrown here without any reason.

  And for all his dislike of a higher purpose, he wanted there to be meaning to his presence here.

  Enough of that, he chided himself for brooding. He’d find his answers in due time and no amount of thinking would change it right now.

  He jumped into the air, delegating part of his awareness to cycle essence around [Flight]’s core. Like before, all of this was an intuitive guesswork. Inefficiency screamed at him but there was very little Keynes could do about it. For all he knew, there might be only one person more knowledgeable than him on the subject of skill improvements — Shaper.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  But that one was out of Keynes’s reach, and he wouldn’t trust him anyway. All Keynes cared about was related to the vision of the end of the world…

  Lem said there is nothing I can do to help them. But what if there is? What if this is the goal? Could this be? Could Keynes return to Earth in time to save it from the invasion?

  He considered this as he flew toward the eighth Level 6 rift and realised that the answer was very simple. Not at the moment. Right now Keynes couldn’t even beat Vivena. Wait. Vivena. She’s the key to this. If I cannot defeat her, I have no business returning to Earth.

  And there was more of course. All other powerhouses would go after him either to trap or kill him. If Keynes returned to Earth he had to be sure no one could stand in his way and it seemed that Vivena was perfect to gauge this.

  In that case, I have to improve and fast. His recent duel in the dream revealed a wide chasm between them, and given her absurd Talent, it would only widen unless he found a way to bridge the gap as Lem Solaris had warned him.

  I have to find a way to deal with overwhelming attributes.

  Orbs of Perfection sounded like the most obvious solution. Using them on his attributes significantly improved them in a way that was still a mystery to Keynes, but it worked. The downside was that upgrading attributes made them far harder to master and Keynes didn’t want to give up on Perfect State. The amount of benefits was astronomical. Not to mention all the synergies that stemmed from Perfect State, Defier of Chaos and high spiritual stage.

  So as much as he wanted to upgrade all his attributes he had to be careful to not shoot himself in the foot. There also was no guarantee that they would bridge the gap between her attributes and his.

  The next obvious option was [Chaos Aura]. It was his most powerful and destructive skill. Since becoming a Defier of Chaos, his ability to control chaos affinity had skyrocketed. But there was a clear downside to this skill, especially, in relation to Vivena. Her high Agility made her insanely fast. There was no way [Chaos Aura] could keep up with her while he actively controlled it for a concentrated effect. On the other hand, passive [Chaos Aura] might not be destructive enough to overcome her Vitality. The second issue about [Chaos Aura] was that the skill was the last resort. It wasn’t designed to defeat the enemy, its sole purpose was utter destruction. There’s no middle ground when this spell is involved.

  That complicated the matter. Some fights, even against enemies, weren’t about killing others. The problem was akin to his sparrings with Kora. Keynes couldn’t defeat her without killing or heavily injuring her.

  No. He couldn’t rely here on [Chaos Aura]. What about spiritual aura then? For a while now, Keynes had believed that the spiritual aura was an answer. The way Shaper had been using it left a deep impression on Keynes. There was a merit to this idea, especially, after witnessing the encounter between Shaper and Columbus.

  Except Columbus was only Level 7 in the weakest spiritual stage while Shaper was Level 10 in a spiritual stage that was far higher than mine is right now.

  No, spiritual aura won’t cut it. I need something better.