I didn’t rush the grieving process. Instead, I leaned into it, taking advantage of the first real sense of privacy I’d felt in decades to work through all of my feelings.

Eventually, I fell into an exhausted sleep.

I didn’t fully trust in the safety of the entry room, but between it and my hidden emergency talismans, it was enough to allow me to rest.

Sleep, I’d found, was an excellent way to reset one’s mental state.

After storing the few items I’d removed from my inventory and casting Cleanse a few times, I focused on the first of my immediate needs.

The stone room did not have a bathroom, or anything that would work as such. And since I didn’t feel like defiling the room I’d be using as a quasi-residence, I needed to find a solution to my needs.

At Tier Eight, my body was remarkably efficient, but it still wasn’t perfect.

Donning one of the [Invisibility] talismans I’d set aside to sell when I returned to the dungeon, I carefully made my way through the open doorway leading out of the entry room. I was not confident the item would hide me completely, but it was better than nothing.

From inside, the doorway looked like a normal arch, though it was impossible to see or sense anything on the other side.

As soon as I stepped through, I turned and looked behind me. The doorway remained; however, it appeared hazy, like a mirage. It was also somehow attached to the face of a sheer cliff, partially concealed by a deep shadow from a pair of nearby trees.

Now that I was outside of the stone room, I extended Spatial Sense to get a better idea of my surroundings.

Detecting nothing dangerous in the immediate area, I silently crept to the trees and dealt with my body’s needs. After carefully covering any evidence of my presence and cleaning myself once again, I stealthily headed away from the hidden room.

When I’d connected to the rift the previous day, I’d learned several things about the challenge, even if I hadn’t consciously paid attention to any of it at the time.

First, there were five bosses that I somehow needed to defeat. Each had their own territory, complete with subordinate mobs and resources. These five groups were basically five separate factions, each of which fought against the others in a never-ending war of dominance.

The species making up these five factions were unclear since my connection to the rift had been tenuous, but I’d gathered enough to know my opponents would be more than mere rift beasts.

I was fairly certain they were all humanoids of one sort or another. Such mobs were far more common in higher-tier rifts, after all.

The hardest part about fighting against humanoid mobs was that they tended to be far more clever than their beast counterparts.

As an added complication, I found myself uncomfortable at the thought of harvesting and using the bodies of such creatures, given how similar they were to people – at least on the surface.

That wasn’t to say I wouldn’t make use of their bodies, but I would be far more circumspect about how I used them. They certainly wouldn’t be going into my MealMaker, that was for sure.

Thankfully, the unknown humanoids weren’t the only creatures in the rift.

In fact, I got the impression that several species of more traditional beasts were spread throughout the rift. Further, those beasts were on the lower end of Tier Nine, making them a much easier target for me.

It still wasn’t going to be easy, given my tier disadvantage. But at least I had a chance.

In the distance, I sensed several beings engaged in a skirmish. Wanting to learn more about my opponents, I Phased and then Teleported close to the fight.

I remained within the weave while I observed from atop a nearby tree. Remaining outside the physical world made observing the fight more difficult, but it wasn’t impossible. And, short of encountering another Space magic user, it was also the safest place I could be.

The entities in the first group appeared to be a mix of elves and monkeys. Their ears were large and pointed, and their facial features were sharp and angular. Thick fur erupted from the edges of their smooth leather armor, which looked far better crafted than I would have expected inside of a rift.

The same applied to the bows and javelins I noticed being wielded by the furry warriors.

Since this was my first time inside a high-tier rift, I couldn’t confidently say that the appearance of quality armor and weaponry was odd, but it certainly caused me to raise a brow.

“It is not an unusual occurrence,” Lisa informed me. “Rifts have long been a source of inspiration and innovation for crafters.”

I shook my head silently, annoyed at my lack of education on such matters. I’d probably need to attend an academy or two someday. That was especially applicable if I was going to remain in this realm for any amount of time.

With Master Kairos likely to ascend without me because of my delay, the pressure I felt to rush my ascension had mostly been alleviated.

I looked from the monkeyoids (my label since I couldn’t use identification spells within the weave) to their opponents – small, humanoid bird creatures that almost looked like short angels except they were covered in feathers, and their hands and feet were tipped with sharp-looking claws.

On second thought, the creatures looked far more like feathered harpies than angels. As I watched the two sets of fighters attack each other, my opinion on the matter solidified further.

They were definitely not angelic, though they did hold an obvious tactical advantage against their opponents. Unfortunately for them, the addition of ranged weapons and magic did a lot to even the fight.

Even so, the monkeyoids eventually found themselves struggling to defeat the sheer volume of aerial opponents. After losing several fighters, the monkeyoids opted for a tactical retreat, fleeing deeper into the thick forest beyond the reach of the aggressive flying mobs.

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The feathered harpies screeched in what I assumed was a victory cry before abandoning their dead and darting away. The moderate-sized flock headed straight for a floating island that I hadn’t yet noticed in the distance.

Still invisible, I exited the weave and carefully collected the fallen fighters and their weapons. I also collected several broken branches and nearby flora that pinged my Herbalism skill.

I’d moved a fair distance away from the site of the fight and was still collecting materials when a pair of beasts entered my sphere of perception.

Knowing I could easily teleport to safety if necessary, I decided to see where I stood against some of the weaker creatures inside the rift.

Unmoving, I watched as a pair of large wolverines emerged from between a pair of bushes. Both were nearly hip-high and radiated a sense of threat unlike any I’d encountered to date.

The two wolverines slowed down dramatically as they got closer, sniffing the air hungrily. I cringed when I realized that my talisman wasn’t nearly good enough to hide my scent from the higher-tier creatures.

Since there was little I could do about it in my current position, I activated Haste and moved. I would have preferred to test myself against a lone opponent, but two didn’t seem like an impossible challenge.

My weapons were only Tier Eight, but that didn’t mean a whole lot at the speeds I was moving. And tier really wasn’t everything. Simply being a higher tier certainly didn’t make one invulnerable to lower-tier enemies, after all.

The closest wolverine somehow sensed my attack and started to dodge as I swiped my mana-coated blade toward the creature’s neck. The beast’s speed wasn’t enough to entirely avoid the blow, but it was sufficient to avoid a potentially fatal hit.

Instead of cleanly decapitating the creature, my blade lodged into the wolverine’s collarbone. When a sharp tug didn’t immediately free the blade, I released it and teleported several meters away.

It was a good decision since the second wolverine flew through the space I’d just abandoned less than a half-second later.

I pushed more mana into Haste and attacked again. This time, I used a pair of batons connected to form a quarterstaff. Though I’d trained and grown accustomed to other types of weapons, I still deferred to staves and dual batons whenever a melee fight grew difficult.

Being in the dungeon where almost every opponent was the same tier, it had been a long time since I’d engaged in a truly difficult fight.

Heart pounding, I darted forward, stabbing the newly-formed blade at the end of my quarterstaff into the already injured wolverine as its uninjured companion chased me.

I was fast enough to kite the angry beast without getting hit – a fact the beast realized far quicker than I expected.

I was caught a little off guard when a blade of compressed Air impacted my Barrier and caused me to stumble slightly. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t already been in motion, but the movement put me just within reach of the already injured wolverine, and it took the opportunity to lash out as I hastily stabbed it a second time.

Already weakened, my Barrier shattered. The sneaky creature’s razor-sharp claws cut into my leg faster than I could teleport away.

I immediately cast Restore and took a couple of deep breaths as I watched the creatures from my perch a few dozen feet above.

‘Better to fight at range anyway,’ I told myself. It had been stupid to engage in close combat with creatures that much stronger than me.

A good portion of my stored arsenal was comprised of ranged options, so I started cycling through my stock of wands, staves, and consumable talismans.

I didn’t normally use a lot of consumable talismans since they weren’t usually worth the effort involved in making them, but they sold well enough in the dungeon that I had a small supply mixed in my inventory.

The wolverines were not stupid, so they didn’t stand there once they realized I was attacking them from a distance.

The still uninjured wolverine immediately homed in on me and darted up the tree, surprising me with the speed with which it could climb.

I teleported to another tree and continued my barrage against the injured wolverine on the ground. With a flash of inspiration, I used Recall to retrieve the sword still embedded in the wolverine’s shoulder. The creature squealed in pain as thick blood began dripping from its oddly hydrophobic fur.

The pain of its companion must have caused the uninjured wolverine to enter a frenzy because it immediately leaped at me, propelled by a blast of Air.

Using one of my best foci, I sent a barrage of Space-based attacks toward the creature, knocking it off course. Completely undeterred, the wolverine circled around and headed back in my direction.

“When the hell did wolverines learn to fly?” I exclaimed as I grabbed a different wand. It was another focus, but this one enhanced Time magic.

I added a little Arcane mana into my Stasis spell to give it a kick before channeling it through the wand. The wolverine dropped like a rock, landing several feet away from the injured wolverine on the ground.

I sighed in relief, glad that my attempt had worked.

With the pressure largely gone, I took a few moments to recover some mana as I eyed the pair of beasts below. One was time-locked, while the other stood next to it, growling impotently as blood seeped out of its shoulder.

I couldn’t tell for sure, but it seemed like it was already healing.

I pursed my lips as I considered the angry creature. I wanted to test some more attacks against the thing, but it had already proven itself capable of shrugging off most of my attacks.

There were a couple of Space-based attacks that I knew were effective when fighting up tiers, but they took more time and concentration than I’d been able to dedicate to the task while actively fighting and avoiding attacks.

Now that I wasn’t actively being attacked, it would be easy enough to pop a Portal over the injured wolverine’s head and snap it closed. Instant decapitation was generally effective, regardless of tier.

But jumping right to a kill shot seemed wasteful without testing a few things first.

Swapping back to the Space focus, I added a bit of Arcane mana to the Space Blade spellform and channeled it through the wand. The blade cut most of the way through the creature’s leg but didn’t sever it.

I added a bit more Arcane mana and tried the spell again, this time focusing it on the cutting aspect of the blade. The mana blade cut through; however, I got the feeling it wouldn’t work so well against the thicker parts of the creature’s body.

“That sucks,” I grumbled.

I knew it was silly to be disappointed that I didn’t have my normal, cheat-like abilities. Rather, I did. They just weren’t as cheaty as they normally were.

At least enhanced Time magic was still enough to at least neutralize the creatures. It was a small blessing.

After testing a few more attacks supplemented with Arcane mana, I decided to go ahead and verify my best Space-based assassination spell worked the way it should instead of simply assuming. With a thought, I cast a non-enhanced Portal directly over the injured wolverine’s head.

The wolverine jerked away, but my control over the Portal was good enough to slide the opening over the beast’s head before snapping it shut. The body dropped as the head fell from the exit portal several feet away.

I could almost feel the increase in experience from the kill.

A quick glance at my status showed I’d gained far more experience than I expected, even with the bonus from killing something at a higher tier.

“I wonder why it’s so high,” I wondered when I saw the number.

It wasn’t a crazy amount by any means. In fact, I was pretty sure I could gain more during the same amount of time I’d spent fighting the duo if I were back in the dungeon fighting creatures at my own tier. Even so, it wasn’t a bad amount of progress.

If I were able to make a few weapons with the materials I’d already gathered, my offensive capability would skyrocket. I suspected the amount of experience I gained would drop because of the change in difficulty, but that didn’t bother me.

If I managed to kill creatures faster, I could more than make up the difference.

It still might not be enough to take on the real challenges of the rift, but it would undoubtedly be an excellent addition to my arsenal.

While I hoped to somehow manage to escape without tiering up, I wasn’t going to plan on it. In fact, now that I’d calmed down a little, I decided to plan on the opposite: I’d work to advance as quickly as possible in hopes that I could tier-up and eventually get strong enough to defeat the bosses.

I didn’t want to be stuck in this rift any longer than necessary, and I certainly wasn’t going to let it defeat me.