Week 3 Day 1

Alia looked like she barely slept, but she made it in time.

“We’ll deliver this to your parents, Miss Redwoods.”

Alia nodded, and turned to Ethan. “Thanks for waiting.”

The rifts were closed for two weeks, and the entire area around the Tower seems lifeless, at least, at this hour. Instead, there were students headed out of the Garden, and the station was crowded. They’ve increased the total cabs to accommodate the outbound traffic.

Basil was already there. “You look like you could use some sleep.”

“I will, later in the train.” Alia admitted, and she had a backpack behind her.

“Alright. Fortuna, here we come!” Ethan nodded, and walked to the counter to get tickets.

“Tickets to Fortuna will cost 10 gold. This part of the trip is not subsidized.”

The train was packed, and the three of them sat in the commoner’s cabin. For longer distance trips, it seemed that the train was segregated to commoner and noble cabins. The cabin itself was arranged into two rows, three seats on each side, and each cabin could fit a total of 180 passengers at a time, and was powered by magical crystal cores that are supposedly level 20 or higher.

“Does the train go anywhere else?” Ethan asked Basil and Alia, and they shook their heads. As it turned out, the person opposite them had the answer.

“The train system is the brainchild of Grandmaster Goldtown.” The strange looking boy said. “He’s the only reason why it even got built, though I hear that the Imperial Court is now considering an expansion of the train system to the Capital.”

Ethan saw him before, but couldn’t point a name to his face. “Sorry, you are?”

“Ewen Cyantree, the third-year batch.”

“Oh! Hi.” Ethan said. “We’re uh... freshmen.”

“I could tell. Why are you peeps headed to Fortuna? It’s a little early for you guys to start hunting rifts.”

Indeed, as Ethan looked around, the train was mostly filled with 5th years and the 3rd years. They were almost the only 1st year-commoners.

“Uh... exploration?” Ethan said frankly. “I’m planning to visit some temples.”

Ewen stared at the freshmen like he was some kind of alien. “Really?”

Ethan felt like hiding. He had a legitimate reason, but letting others know that he had godly powers was going to be trouble. Basil chuckled, and nodded. “Yeah. He’s a fan of old buildings. Strange, but we’re coming along to see Fortuna for ourselves.”

“Ah, it’s your first time then. Fortuna’s a mountainous city.” Ewen said. “Good place for good high quality minerals and metalworks, if that’s your thing, though you’ll have to get it enchanted back at the Garden. They used to be a pretty sleepy town, but then the train came along and now it’s bustling again.”

“What about you?” Basil asked.

“Like everyone else on this train. It’s a place to hunt rifts and wild creatures. Fortuna’s close to the Glades of the Eternals, and there are wild creatures in the rifts that spawn there, suitable for high 2nd-realm and early 3rd realmers.”

“I don’t recall seeing that-”

“It’s an open secret. Are you guys in the 2nd realm yet?”

“No.” Basil said. “But these two are.”

“Oh. Common grade?”

“Yup.” Alia answered. “How’d you know?”

“It’s just a hunch. Please save GP and upgrade. It’ll help a lot. About a third of the 5th year commoners already have a titan-grade, and the longer you languish in the common-grades, the longer you will suffer.”

Alia nodded. “We know. Everyone’s telling us the same thing.”

“Or you could hunt for one, but you usually won’t get something compatible. But you could sell it for GP and trade it in for something compatible.”

“Oh.” Alia’s eyes brightened. “How do we do that?”

“Cores come from monsters after all. It’s just that manufactured rifts only produce ‘energy cores’, not ‘cultivation cores’. If you see boss-grade monsters out in the wild rifts, there’s a chance they might have a cultivation core, though, by my own estimates, it’s like one in fifty boss-grades have cultivation cores. I personally have sold one rare-grade core from a wild rift.”

“Huh. One-in-fify.”

“It’s not too bad, honestly.” Ewen explained. “If you attempt a wild rift every day for two months, you’ll usually get one.”

“Actually, that raises the question, why doesn't everyone have dragon-grade cores?” Ethan asked.

“Problem is a lack of supply. Not a lack of GP.” Ewen explained, and Alia was too interested in the conversation to fall asleep. “Dragon-grades are only found in the wild, and getting one means defeating a really strong monster, for that remote chance of having a cultivation core. What usually spawns is common or rare-grade, and titan-grade. Dragon grades are just.... exceptional.”

“But it feels like every famous person has a dragon grade.”

“It totally does feel like that.” Ewen laughed. “Dragon-grades and titan-grades are privately sold in the noble circles first,, and only after they had their cut they’ll sell it to the open market. We won’t even see it on the market unless by some fluke, no one wants the dragon grades. Titan-grade would be the best most of us can get, unless you happen to have connections like Grandmaster Goldtown or Greenwood. The duchies pretty much have their first cut, and they all get snapped up. Grandmaster Goldtown, for example, got lucky. He found his dragon-grade core in the wild, and kept it for himself.”

“Oooooooooh.”

“People will go to great lengths over dragon-grades. Thankfully, it’s not possible to extract cores from dead bodies of people, or we’d see a lot more murders of nobility.” Ewen said.

“...fuck.”

“But anyway, you guys really should try to get a rare, and then aim for a titan grade by the 4th year.”

“Are you planning to get one?”

“Of course. I’m just waiting for something compatible to pop up. There’s not much value in swapping for titan-grade but losing all my previous skills.”

Ethan popped in, curious, “Actually, how does that work?”

“Each of your skills has an element, and a type. It’s not stated, but you can guess. If the core shares an element or shares the type, it can ‘power’ the skill. It doesn’t require perfect compatibility, but perfect compatibility will bring out the most of the skill. Lets say your current core is a Fire-Sword, and you change to a Fire-Spear Core, and you have a Fire-element sword skill, you can still use the fire-element sword skill, but at a penalty. If there's totally no compatibility, the skill can only sit in storage, or it takes up a slot but doesn’t do anything.”

“So if I want an upgrade, I should get a higher grade shadow-sword core.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Yes, if you can. There are imperfect compatibilities too. Like lightning has partial compatibility to water and wind, so that comes with a lower penalty, just like sword-dagger has partial compatibility. Sometimes, we just have to adapt to the Core we can get.” Ewen explained, “Because at the titan-grade, it’s actually quite difficult to find a perfect fit.”

Ethan stewed at the future of upgrading to another higher grade shadow-blade, but then looked at the commoner.“...actually, how is life, actually? How do... nobles react to us gaining strength?”

Ewen’s face was hard to read. It wasn’t joy, but it wasn’t anger either. “It’s complicated. There is a gap, between us and the nobles, always there. They started ahead, and in many ways, are still ahead. Some are nice. Some, less so. I like to think that ultimately, our foe isn’t each other, but the monsters of the rift.”

Basil shrugged. “They still order us around.”

“In the professional army, not so much, and it follows the army’s hierarchy. If you strike out as an independent rift-adventurer, then yes, the nobles will be more... merciless.”

Ethan looked. “Do the nobles harass you?”

“They did, and they stopped.” Ewen said. “Power talks, and if you are stronger than them, they’ll shut up. They might go after your family, though, so you may want to send some gold home, let your family hire some protection.”

Alia nodded. “That’ll slow us down.”

“That’s the price of it.”

“What do you spend most of your time doing, actually?” Ethan asked, curious what 3rd years do from day to day.

“Cultivation chambers, preparing for the rifts, outfitting equipment, practicing to level up my skills, practicing with my team.”

“Oh team!” Ethan immediately remembered. “What is it like to work with a team for so long?”

“Tough.” Ewen sighed. “Any good team needs to have a balance of types and cores, but rifts are irregular, and lopsided, so there are times when we feel useless, and times where we have to carry everyone through. You can’t leave your teammate out just because he’s not the right fit for that rift, because- well- that’s just not how it works. Dealing with your fellow team members can be a pain, but it is a necessary one.”

Alia nodded, trying her best not to fall asleep. She really looked like she wanted to doze off, but the conversation was useful. “Any recommendations on the team size?”

“Four to six is good. I’d prefer six, because some rifts are really a pain, but you do lose out on the GP, so... it’s a risk you need to choose, and in smaller teams, you’ll have a lot more arguments whether to challenge the boss or not, when everyone’s not in top form. In bigger teams, it’s easier to get through bosses by hitting it repeatedly. This conflict will test your friendships, I lost a few friends already. At some point, people will snap, when you can’t meet the GP needed to pass for the year.”

Alia, Basil and Ethan all looked at each other.

Ethan could already see it, at some point, some of them will want to go faster, to catch up or keep ahead of the others.

“It’s actually hard to even keep a team together, but most students eventually find those with the same wavelength.”

“Why don't you just keep hitting Level 1-3 rifts for GP?”

Ewen smirked. “Oh everyone had that idea. Easier rifts are for freshmen! 2nd year onwards you can’t touch the easier rifts! The rift levels are apparently on some kind of curve, so the grandmaster changes which rift you can access depending on how the entirety of the batch performs. Each year some rifts are no longer ‘accessible’. That’s why some wild rifts are popular, because there are no level restrictions.”

“...shit.”

Ewen smirked, and then looked out of the window. The train zoomed across the countryside, and Ethan noticed there were protective walls along the track. Ewen leaned on his seat, and closed his eyes. “You all look like you need some sleep, and I’m also gonna get some rest. Wake me up when we arrive in Fortuna.”

Basil shrugged. “Sure.” Alia allowed her exhaustion to take over and quickly fell asleep.

The tracks of the magical train cut through thick forests, and the trees zoomed past. Ethan decided it was probably a good idea to sleep, too-

Then he felt it.

It hit him in his heart, a feeling.

Just a momentary burst, but so familiar.

The dark goddesses’ agents were on the train somewhere.

***

Ethan focused on every conversation in the commoners’ cabin, but they were all mundane conversations. His eyes tried to look at those that didn’t talk, but he couldn’t see what they did. He walked along the cabin, and up to then, across the divider between the cabins.

“Sorry, these cabins are nobles only.” A train attendant blocked the way. Ethan cursed, it’s likely that the agent was a noble. His eyes scanned the other fellow commoners, and none of them seemed to be doing anything unusual.

Some were reading, but most were sleeping. A few that talked mainly just gossiped about each other.

He looked around the train, and decided to walk to the rear end, and at the end of the cabin was an open air viewing deck, and summoned Kaname.

She popped up, hidden from view.

[Ethan: Dark goddess forces detected, can you sneak into the noble cabins through the gaps between the cabins?]

Kaname looked up, and studied the train cabins. She looked around a bit more, and then nodded. She deftly climbed the train, and walked outside, above the cabins. Ethan wished he could go with her, but Kaname was the best he could manage at this time.

If he had a choice, he’ll need more ninja-type summons.

“You okay? You’ve just suddenly started walking around.” Basil looked up as Ethan walked back to his original seat. Ethan frowned, and sat down.

“I had a bad feeling. Like something’s going to happen.”

Basil’s eyebrows furrowed. “That’s... how reliable is your ‘feeling’?”

“Not at all sure. But it’s just a suspicion.”

[Kaname: nothing in the first cabin. I’ve entered the second noble cabin. Sara Argos is here with some of her friends and seniors.]

Ethan inwardly cursed.

[Kaname: David Vivan is also in the second cabin, alone. I’m moving to the third cabin. Nothing particularly suspicious so far.

He felt his stomach churn, and tried his best to calm himself. The heroes are on the train, and the dark goddesses must have some kind of ability to sense them, even if it’s not accurate.

In a train barreling across the countryside, while the agents of the dark plotted something, he felt worried, and briefly panicked. What if they blew up the train, in some kind of terrorist action?

[Kaname: Third cabin’s a dining cabin for nobles. Spotted Celeste Mirrorsong. She’s with two others.]

[Ethan: Shit. Wait. That’s a good sign, if she’s here, she won’t blow up the train. Keep an eye of them, that two others could be agents of the dark]

[Kaname: Affirmative.]

***

The dining cabin was well decorated, not unlike the private dining rooms the Duchies maintained, and there were even dedicated servers.

“Nice to meet you again, Lady Kaga.” Kaname’s eyebrows furrowed as she watched a student approach her. It was one of Lady Whitetower’s friends, Julius Storm and he was a tall, handsome man, and they fought together in the rift. “I didn’t see you in the waiting area. Can I join you?”

“My greetings, Lord Storm.” Kaname nodded.

“Great.” Julius sat down opposite Kaname, and immediately asked. “How well do you know Miss Whitetower?”

Kaname paused, and looked back at the Duke's heir. “I beg your pardon?”

“Miss Whitetower speaks highly of you, and I’d like to know how well you know each other.”

Kaname shook her head. “Frankly, I don’t know her all that well. We’ve met a few times, that’s it.” Her master told her to never speak of the dark goddess, so she left that part out.

“I see.” Julius’s eyes stared, as he tried to understand the ninja-in-a-uniform. “Why did you approach her, then?”

“...I’m sorry?” Kaname frowned, Lady Mirrorsong and her two companions stood up.

“I’ll be frank, Lady Kaga, Violet is a precious friend, and I want to know who sent you after her.”

“I would like to say that she approached me, Lord Storm.” Kaname wanted to follow Lady Mirrorsong, as she returned to the 2nd cabin, but Julius kept looking.

Julius nodded. “If so, I’m relieved. I initially suspected you were one of Irina’s agents.”

“Irina?” Kaname didn’t quite recognise the name, and Julius looked even more relieved.

“It’s a good thing you don’t know who that is. She’s trouble, and I would recommend you stay away.”

Kaname nodded, and stood up. “My apologies, Lord Storm, I must go.”

“Where are you seated?”

Kaname couldn’t answer that. She didn’t even have a ticket. Thankfully, no one actually enforced ticket-checking for the nobility on the train itself. “I just need to go to the washroom.”

“Ah. Alright, my apologies. See you around in Fortuna.”

Kaname walked and wanted to follow Lady Mirrorsong-

“The washroom is in the 4th cabin.”

“I just wanted to walk around before I go.”

“Ah.”

In the 2nd cabin, Lady Mirrorsong did not actually do anything unusual, she sat in her own little corner and read some books, while her two ‘friends’ took a nap.

[Kaname: Nothing unusual so far, Master.]

[Ethan: Strange. Then what was that feeling...]

The train traveled for another two hours, and finally reached a tunneled portion, called Fortuna Tunnel. The Tunnel went through the Greater Fortuna mountain ranges, and right after the tunnel would be Fortuna itself.

[Ethan: Still nothing?]

Kaname sat on an empty seat in the 2nd cabin. It was convenient that David Vivan, Sara Argos and Celeste Mirrorsong were all in the same cabin, so she could keep an eye on all of them. David meditated quietly, while Sara just sat at her window seat, admiring the view beyond.

[Kaname: Nothing unusual, master.]

[Ethan: Kaname, I’ll need you to keep watch in Fortuna.]

[Kaname: Affirmative.]

***