Jonathan wiped sweat from his forehead as he moved through the old ruins. The warm breeze carried the scent of old stone and vegetation. He really disliked the heat and grumbled his complaints quietly under his breath.

Thick vines wrapped around crumbling pillars, their bright green deceptive at a first glance. He had learned that the leaves could change colors and during the day, they would change to green to entice the creatures of the Rift to eat the leaves.

He adjusted the tactical vest he’d gotten the previous week. It was another tempting gift from the Hunters Association, and he knew that they were doing the best they could to entice him. They still believed, despite Agent Carter’s insistence, that physical objects could sway him to their side. While Jonathan was happy to take the gifts, particularly since he kept ruining his clothes, he still had no intention of joining their organization.

At least the gloves were earned.

He flexed his fingers in the System-awarded leather gloves. The leather was soft on the inside while the fingers and knuckles were somewhat padded. They only had a single enchantment on them, but he’d already been impressed with the Self Repair functionality.

Thinking about how useful the gloves were made him snort in remembrance of the most recent Rift reward. While Elijah had been excited, Jonathan had been disappointed, hoping for more magically repairing gear. The box of twenty Mana Stones had prompted the most recent round of gifts from Elijah’s higher-ups.

The ruins opened into what might have once been a courtyard. Broken fountains and toppled statues littered the space. He noted how they could make for natural cover points from the particularly annoying beasts in the Rift. His boots crunched on loose gravel as he moved between the obstacles, checking his corners out of habit.

Movement caught his eye, and he saw a faint purple glow pulse from behind a fallen column.

Jonathan’s hand moved to the greataxe on his back, but he held his position. The light was steady and pulsing.

The plants?

The vines had turned into bright yellow glowing lights at night, so he wasn’t sure why the light would be purple. It also wasn’t the expected flurry of movement and feathers that he’d seen from the harpies that he was hunting.

He needed more practice with his new skills, but the unknown threat caused his heart to begin to race. If he needed to activate his {Rage}, then he’d need to wait on the practice since skills weren’t usable while blacked out.

Circling wide, he used the ruins for cover and made sure to step slowly. Heel to toe movement caused his weight to distribute in a way that the gravel was quieter than his natural gait. As he pied the corner of a massive chunk of fallen masonry, he spotted a group of humans.

Five people moved through the courtyard with practiced efficiency. Their gear, similar to his own, marked them as Awakened. He could see bladed weapons like those he’d seen in the Hunter’s Association use- like his greataxe. Two of their weapons glowed and one man’s ring gave off an odd light that he recognized as item enchantments. The group worked in pairs and moved around an individual who carried a bag in one hand while picking up glowing crystallin stakes from the ground.

He recognized the purple glow as what he’d seen from before he found the group. If it weren’t for the small warning, he would have likely run into them on accident.

Definitely not military.

Their movements were coordinated, but too loose. They were informally trained, lacking the rigid formation discipline that comes with a ranking superior yelling at lower enlisted until it is a smooth-running machine. At the same time, he could tell they weren’t amateurs. They maintained clear fields of view and proper spacing as they moved around rubble.

He pulled his greataxe clear of its new scabbard, the hardened leather doing a great job of clipping the broad head into place despite its back placement. The red sheen of its blade caught the sunlight, and he held it ready. The team wasn’t the first set of Awakened he had encountered, but something about their organized movements set him on edge. He wondered if these people were avoiding the government interference at larger Rifts, since he and Elijah had been sent to this one purposefully because it was so secluded.

The one in the middle crouched to pick up the next marker in line, and Jonathan caught a glimpse of an emblem on his shoulder armor. He had to squint to make it out, but the bright sun made the embossed metal cast a shadow onto the emblem and he could see a broken chain wrapped around a sword.

The group’s rear guard suddenly stiffened and called out. “Contact, five o’clock, 20 meters.”

Someone has military experience.

Jonathan was already moving as heads snapped in his direction. He kept the axe low but ready, positioning himself so that a fallen pillar partially covered his right side. The Awakened responded smoothly by spreading out to cover different angles while maintaining line of sight.

“Wait,” one of them called out. A woman with short-cropped hair stepped forward with wide eyes. “Holy shit. You’re him, aren’t you? The guy from the Idaho footage?”

Jonathan suppressed a groan. He was still angry at Elijah for not getting others from his organization to keep back media at the Rift in Idaho. As he emerged and the Rift closed, he’d been covered from head to toe in black goo and blood after slaying the boss monster in the Common Rift. Most of the cameras had been on and there was ample footage of him stalking from the giant blue portal as it closed behind him.

The group stopped at her words and they looked at him with curiosity. Jonathan wanted to avoid fighting humans where possible, so he let them move as they pleased, not feeling very threatened by the presence that the group was giving off. The promise of combat sung to his most recent passive skill, and he forced himself to clamp down on the emotions and remain calm.

“Ike.” One of the men closest to Jonathan called out.

“On it.” A man had somehow gotten high up on one of the nearby pillars.

In the few seconds that had passed, Jonathan wondered how he could have gotten so high up. The man held a bow and held up a hand in front of his face. His uncovered eye glowed as he activated a skill. Even from his spot on the ground, he could see the man’s skin pale.

“Boss, he’s… he already has a class.”

A tense silence fell over the courtyard and the only sound that Jonathan could hear was the wind blowing through the vines near his pillar.

The woman who had recognized him made the first move and stepped forward. Her hands were raised to show they were empty. “I’m Sandra, and we’re part of a group called the Untethered.” She gestured to the emblem on her shoulder. “We’re documenting Rifts, mapping them out properly and distributing it to our larger, sister-group to give them information without government interference.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Jonathan held his position, but lowered the axe slightly. The man on the pillar, who they had called Ike, maintained his vantage point but lowered it to point at the ground. The purple beacons continued to blink steadily in his peripheral vision.

“He’s got a Berserker Class,” Ike called down. “Never heard of it, but I can guess what it does. Be careful down there, his level is high so his stats have got to be insane.”

Jonathan raised his eyebrow at the public declaration of his class. “How can you see that? The guy I know who can [Analyze] stuff, said I’m too high level to scan.”

Ike shrugged, “Any of the skills that scan items or people are based on Willpower. Yours must be high compared to someone who hasn’t leveled, but I put a lot of points into that stat. It’s my second highest.”

Jonathan looked at the man and noted that with his bow and green cloak, looked like an archer from medieval times.

I guess Agility is his highest then?

“So if yours is higher, you can just see my information? What can you see?”

The group seemed more uncomfortable at Jonathan’s casual questioning.

“Uh,” Ike looked at Sandra. When the woman nodded, he answered, “Your name, level, class, Primary and Secondary stats, and your most used skill.”

He couldn’t stop his eyebrows from rising even higher toward his hairline. “That much, huh?”

Sandra’s eyes softened. “Hey, um- look, I know this is going to seem out of left field… I’m sorry about your son. I’m a mother of three, I couldn’t imag-”

“How do you know about that?” The friendly and relaxed attitude Jonathan had adopted fell away at the statement.

“The Untethered,” she gestured around at the team, who had tensed at his change in tone. “Our whole purpose is to document as much as we can about Rifts, including what the government tries to keep quiet.” Her voice carried genuine sympathy. “They were completely unprepared for those early Rifts. Still are, in many ways.”

Sandra's eyes lit up, though the sympathy remained. "Listen, we could use someone like you. The government's keeping things quiet, trying to control who gets access to Rifts and who gets to level up. But we're building a network for information sharing. These markers?" She pointed at the nearest crystal stake. “They're part of a mapping system that can record monster spawns, safe zones, everything.”

The man carrying the map stepped forward next to Sandra and handed her a rolled piece of parchment. His armor was a mix of cloth and leather, though the modern construction kneepads ruined the fantasy-ninja effect that he was going for.

She unrolled the map and held it vertical so Jonathan could see what was on it. He could see detailed illustrations that formed an extremely detailed map. The ruins they stood in were marked on the page and had a small red dot. There were elevation lines and icons clearly depicting more ruins to the west.

“Enchanted items,” the man explained, tapping one of the crystal stakes. “The beacons feed information to the map through a skill our scout developed. We’re documenting everything that the government doesn’t want people to know about.”

Jonathan studied the map and was impressed by the detail. It was far more impressive than the ones that the Hunter’s Association had shown him in briefs before entering any of their Rifts. He could see marked spawn points for the harpies he’d been hunting. The skill had clearly marked their nesting areas, and they had been marked with a warning symbol.

“Well, they know about this one. I got my information on this Rift from the Hunters Association.”

Sandra rolled up her map and took a half step back. “You’re with them?”

Jonathan chuckled and shook his head. “No. But one of their agents follows me around to report my movements and try to recruit me.” He felt a bit bad for describing Elijah in such a way, they’d become a bit closer in the last two weeks. The young agent had loosened up a bit after Jonathan constantly called him out for his professional demeanor or attempts to use his knowledge of body language and psychology to act in a way he thought Jonathan might want.

“Oh, well- that’s good.”

He could see the greed return to her eyes, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I’m not so sure. Since I’m here,” he gestured at the map, “your work has likely gone to waste.”

Ike seemed to pick up on his meaning first and groaned. “He’s going to close the Rift.”

“Can he- can you?” the heavily armored man of the group asked, changing his surprise from Ike to Jonathan.

“I can.”

Sandra stood quietly for a moment before holding out the map. "Here. Consider it a gesture of good faith. We already completed our personal quests here anyway." She reached into a pocket and pulled out a small card, placing it carefully in the rolled parchment. "If you're gonna close the Rift, we won't be able to sell this to the Guild anyway. And this..." she tapped where she'd tucked the card, "whether you're interested in working with us or not, you deserve to know what happened that day. No strings attached."

Jonathan let the head of his axe fall to the dirt and gravel ground while reaching out with his free hand. “There’s a kid outside with a car. He won’t try to stop you. He’s with me.” He did his best to firm his intentions and seriousness around the word.

Sandra visibly flinched and nodded while raising her hands once more. “No problem, we’re not here to cause issues.” With that, their group began to move away, picking up beacons with the same efficient coordination that they had shown before.

After Jonathan moved away and was certain he hadn’t been followed, he took a knee and opened the map. His land navigation training kicked in as he oriented himself and studied the detailed topography. He noted the general ruin locations and found a good order for him to travel between them, rather than wandering around in different directions.

Folding the map rather than rolling it, he slid it into one of the larger rear pockets on his vest. As he started to move out once more, Jonathan decided to check up on his Status Screen to see what information that archer was able to see on him. Part of him wondered if he should apply any points to Willpower, just to prevent people from being able to get information on him.

Status

Name: Jonathan Reeves - Level 12

Class: Berserker

HP: 210/210

MP: 100/100

Traits: (1/3)

{Rage}

Titles:

One Against Many

Physical Stats:

Strength: 30

Agility: 20

Constitution: 21

Vitality: 21

Magical Stats:

Intellect: 11

Willpower: 13

Mana: 10

Wisdom: 11

Free Points: 2

Active Skills:

[Rending Strike] (Novice - Level 6)

[Raging Breath] (Novice - Level 4)

Passive Skills:

[Blood Lust] (Tier I)

[Pain Resistance] (Tier I)

If anyone asked him, he’d deny it- but Jonathan had largely been increasing stats that he guessed might work best for how he was fighting and surviving. Many of those decisions were also made off of break points in numbers that were even or at fives.

It was hard to believe that his Strength was increasing by four points every time he leveled up. On top of that, he gained two points for both Constitution and Vitality. With his Free Points, he was getting 11 points per level. He had two Free Points left over after increasing his Strength to 30 and Agility to 20 after his last level up.

Back then, he hadn’t been sure where to put them, but with his most recent idea, he decided to bring the Willpower stat up to 15. He wasn’t sure if there was much purpose past not allowing others to scan him, as he didn’t have a desire to use magic, but if that was the only benefit he received, he thought it might still be worth it.

He remembered the skill that had come with his class and began to practice his [Raging Breath] once again, as it was something he could do while walking.

In. Out.

The outward breath was explosive and took some concentration from him. As he walked on to the next harpy nest, he brought up the skill descriptions. First was the passive skill he’d gained during his time two weeks prior in the winter dire wolf Rift. Then came active and passive skills that came with his chosen Rare class.

[Blood Lust] - The Awakened One's desire for blood and battle allows them to form a Killing Intent and makes it easier for them to enter a state of rage. [Raging Breath] - A specialized breathing technique that allows the Awakened One to maintain stamina and fight for longer periods, even during intense moments of anger or rage. [Pain Resistance] - The Awakened One’s ability to resist pain allows him to continue fighting even when critically injured.