Keynes finished off the last monster with an offhand punch. He had gone through over twenty Level 5 to Level 6 rifts in the last couple of days. The Greater System’s words stuck with him, accusing him of being slow. Was he? He kinda was.

  He had been distracted lately, losing sight of his goal. Though now that others didn’t need his input so badly, he could return to his primary objective of Levelling up.

  But first he checked his attribute mastery.

  He had a long way ahead of him but he decided to go after Level 7 rifts, making an occasional detour to open a Lower Level rift for others or check on his bond. His bond with the Thunder Hippogryph was nearly synchronised, although Keynes hoped to get to Level 6 before the little creature would join him. Unlikely, but he would try anyway.

  Apparently, a second bond had been found and already synchronised with someone else. According to Alice, every bond was unique and there were no rights or wrongs.

  They grabbed the loot from the treasure chest, checked for hidden compartments and rooms and then left the rift when found nothing. The barren, deadly wasteland welcomed them.

  He hoped that Persephone would soon finish the spatial anchors, it would make travelling so much easier, despite what the visage had said. Keynes had nothing against organic growth but, yeah, he was in a hurry, so they had to start taking shortcuts.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  The first one would be going straight for a Level 7 rift. Alice agreed with him that he had a solid margin of error and shouldn’t have any issues with Level 7 monsters. If it turned out to be the case, Keynes would push higher and hit Level 8 rifts.

  At this point, a Level 5 rift didn’t progress his attribute mastery at all and Level 6 rifts barely nudged it a percent. It was way too slow, given the fact that a mastered attribute only remained mastered for a year before regressing back to 0%. Why that was the case he nor Alice didn’t know.

  Can you point me to the nearest Level 7 rift? He asked Alice.

  Not going to be easy, Alice replied. I can sense rifts up to a few hundred metres. Given the size of the planet, it's gonna be hard. I think we still need to rely on orbital scans for that. Unless… hm. I don’t like that.

  You don’t like what? Orbital scans? He asked, confused.

  No, no. I don’t like the knowledge in my head I don’t know anything about, and I don’t know what it suggests, she explained.

  Let’s give it a shot, Keynes prodded her. He’d already told her where her knowledge came from but her understanding of the Greater System was suspiciously lackluster.

  Well, okay. The place you went to when you tried to enter the Spiritual Realm can be used to find rifts. But Keynes, even with your Chaos buff, this place is deadly. You’re not ready to go there, she said. Keynes considered her warning, and to her credit she sounded sincere. And to be honest, Keynes didn’t actually believe he could do it. Sometimes he acted goofy but he wasn’t stupid. Chaos wasn’t a force to be trifled with.

  I agree. Let’s get the scan.

  ***

  Kora raised from her knees and glanced at the tiny part of her larger garden. This part was focused on edible flowers, she was trying to propagate. She’d received a lot of help in the basics from Rell. It was bizarre how one could be both an expert and ignorant in the same field. She knew how to do things Rell had no clue about and yet when it came to the very basics of gardening she faltered. It showed how much had been handled behind the scenes during their competition in the Inner Sanctuary.

  “Are you sure about this?” Natalia appeared behind her, nearly making Kora jump. A few days ago, Natalia found [Blink] in a Level 6 rift and had been using it since.

  “Please, for your own sake, don’t do that, Nat,” Kora warned her softly.

  “I don’t think I have anything to worry about, sis,” Natalia replied, stepping beside her. Where Kora wore a flannel under a soil-crusted apron, Natalia was dressed in an official uniform that marked her station. With the recent influx of people, it became harder to discern who was who.

  “Yeah, perhaps you don’t. Anyway, yes, I’m sure about this. Rell’s goals are different from mine. He’s focused on producing food, while I want to experiment with plants. The possibilities we saw in the Inner Sanctuary… Nat. If we only managed a part of what we were going back there, we’d be able to fix many of our issues.”

  Natalia acknowledged Kora’s words with a silent nod. Natalia turned to go but Kora grabbed her forearm.

  “Did you notice?”

  Their eyes met.

  “I did,” Natalia replied via their [Mental Link]. “There’s an unexplained hurry in his behaviour.”

  “So I’m not imagining things then,” Kora said. “Any idea what’s the culprit?”

  “I inquired him about this.”

  Of course you did, sister. Kora rolled her eyes in her mind.

  “And?”

  “He said he must get back to Levelling.”

  “Yeah, he mentioned as much to me but his spiritual aura… it felt erratic. It’s unlike him. I’m worried about him.”

  “Sister, Keynes is one of the most resilient ascenders I’ve ever known. Whatever drives him right now, will make him stronger. We should accept this and give him space.”

  Kora nodded, though at the tip of her tongue was a sharp reply. She didn’t want to give him space! She wanted to share it with him. A part of her feared that if she left him to pursue Levels, he would leave her behind.

  She kneeled down, gently rubbing a leaf of a newly created flower. Its colour seemed a little dull.

  Her spiritual sense touched the flower a second later. Kora closed her eyes, letting the Trait of Nature do its job, clearing her mind.