There was a surprising amount of information to be found on delving rifts — commonly called ‘rifting’ — in the earmarked rifting section in Isaac’s collection of information packets, both from Baphomet and Richy-O, and from Claire, who had taken her exam in ‘98, which was… fifty-six years ago.
Wow Claire’s old. She doesn’t look or act it though.
I’m definitely finding out what Tier she is once we’re back.
Rifting was a big part of society, a big part of its troubles, and therefore just as important for adventurers, if not more so than even delvers. They had buyout rights for every corporation-, private-, or guild owned rift, gained preference for invitations to auctions, had massive tax benefits as they could write off just about anything as a government expense, and enjoyed as much prestige as the greatest local delving parties as a baseline.
During the exam, there was always one portion that revolved around rifts. Some years you were expected to run a certain amount, another time you had to contain an artificially induced rift break from murdering a horde of innocent test dummies, sometimes it was all about getting enough loot from the rifts to prove that you could be relied on not just to delve hard, but smart.
Everyone in their group besides Chessica had delved a rift before, everyone knew what to expect, as far as the basics went.
Rifts dropped loot. The biggest loot came from defeating the guardian, a rift-critter roided up so much it was effectively one tier higher than the rift’s norm. Clearing a rift implied going in and beating up everything inside, making away with the essence, mana stones, and some rare loot if they were lucky.
They were certainly lucky to snag a few slots in the gym’s private sparring booths. There were more than should have been possible, even with the rather large size of the airship, but nobody thought to complain about that small windfall.
Tom had his [Bash], which he could use a handful of times, and a [Charge hammer], which would take his entire mana pool to use. He was confident that it would be a game-changing move, but if the enemy survived that, they’d have to deal with a frontliner sluggish from mana-loss.
Chessica had [Telekinesis] supported with an [Efficiency] skill to move herself around. She could conjure a [See-through brick wall], which was more invisible than see-through, and would likely allow her to take at least one enemy out of the fight with a surprise chomp. Sophia was quiet, Andri was quiet and lethal, and Isaac? Isaac would hold the front side-by side with his minotaur-esque buddy, pushing and pulling the tide as required. His skill would see the most use in creating openings for others to exploit, and when he’d told Andri as much, the catman’s displeasure at everything grew a tad more subdued.
It was a well thought out plan, or so he’d thought. But Andri just loved poking holes in it.
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
All reasonable and warranted concerns. However, Isaac didn’t have answers that satisfied the nagging catman, or himself for that matter.
“If things go south, everyone has to do what they think is best. Two days simply isn’t enough for learning group cohesion. We’ll avoid other groups as far as possible. If things go south, we scatter, then regroup.”
Andri grumbled and gnashed his teeth, but what was he to say? The kill teams and groups that had trained for years for this would get to show their best side, and from just looking around there were still an awful lot of kill teams around.
Nobody could change that they had the disadvantage, so Isaac decided to worry about that later.
Training took the better part of day two, and the entirety of day three. By the morning of day four, the airship had already started slowing down for what was doubtlessly a landing approach. They’d been called to the bottom deck in their full gear, nad were now waiting for the pre-test speech, or whatever else the adventurers had planned.
“Things are finally starting,” Sophia said, giving Isaac a nudge with her shoulder.
“Uh-huh.” There was an odd stain on the ceiling. It was a good point of focus, better than literally anything else in this house of glass. “Just tell me if people start staring.”
“People will always stare, out of curiosity, or because they are looking for your weakness. Show none, or show some on your chest, for an obvious weakness might be a trap.” Tom said, probably with a wise nod and a tap to the book over his heart. He had a shield now, and a club. It was just a log of wood with a handle, but scaled up to minotaur size, it would definitely be able to hurt.
“You didn’t do that terribly, for a quote unquote ‘leader’.“ Sophia was not usually as uplifting as today. Maybe it was the crossbow she’d bought and even learned to use fairly easily. Maybe unlike Isaac, she’d be fine failing here, content in knowing that she’d given her all. “If we fail, we fail.”
“If we fail, Zach is the one that has to pay.”
If they failed, all Isaac was losing out on was the potential to go see the stars from up close. It didn’t seem to matter much, that old dream, not when he could go back home and watch the night sky with everyone. All he had to do was win here, and then he’d have that choice, some cash to spend, and stories to share about that one time he went hunting bald rabbits with a mink, a mimic, and a minotaur who really wanted to be a warrior.
Sounds like the beginning of a fairytale.
“You did read his message, didn’t you?” Sophia asked.
Isaac blinked. He looked down at her. “The what?”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
She showed him their family group chat on her phone with a cracked screen that somehow refused to stop working.
<
It was followed by a row of fish emojis, and sunflowers.
“Huh.” He took a moment to sit down and just stare wordlessly ahead.
What… what? Why? Since when? How?
He shouldn’t be confused. Zach was well, all was good and proper. It never should have fallen onto Isaac’s shoulder to fix something that required a six-digit salary to fix.
But it should’ve been Isaac. That was the plan, that was the whole reason he even filled in his name on the exam’s entrance form. If Zach was alright…
Why am I here again?
Maybe I really do deserve my bane. All skills on me, all responsibility, all things good and bad and ugly, all me.
As Isaac steeped in his thoughts, people stirred, which he followed with only half a heart.
“Attention all adventurer-wannabees, you mmmaggots, you mangyform luddites.” A screen high above the crowd crackled to life, more of a spherical ball projecting the chattering head of O-BEE in all its painted wooden glory. He had painted two eyebrows on his face in a prominent V-shape.“Get your ears jacked into this. It’s the start of the third test, and the tests name is: The grrreat rifting competition!”
“That’s right, you have to delve rifts. Many rifts. How many? Who knows!” A map popped up in front of everyone, showing a rectangular area that was mostly forested, but did include what looked like a couple farms and open fields. “This is Everglade Falls, co-owned by Everglade Inc. They owned a mine here, and the abandoned mining town, an old railcar network, what have you. It’s all dilapidated so watch your step! In this newly instated 100 square kilometer nature reserve, there are rifts carefully curated and controlled to be packed to the brim, ready for you to plunder.
“The rifts range from ubiquitous Tier 1, to the odd Tier 2 and the rare Tier 3, each of which gives 3, 6, and 12 points respectively for defeating the guardian. Once you’ve defeated the guardian, exit the rift, and there should be a machine nearby that will confirm your kill and pay out the points pronto. Yes, manipulating these machines through skills or augments will get you disqualified. Only the top forty points earners will make it to the next round.”
“How are you going to make it down there?” He chuckled to himself. “You are going to do what we like to call a ‘hot drop’. Sometimes a location needs the help of an adventurer. Sometimes it needs an adventurer so quickly there isn’t time to calibrate and warm up the teleporters. That’s when we shoot you from the sky like falling stars, and rely on you to find your own way to the target.”
O-BEE’s face glid around with glee as pops filled the air. An opaque bubble appeared around Isaac, and it was only idly that he noted that everyone else had one too. Sophia poked it curiously, while Andri carefully put his anti-claw-gloves back on. Tom snorted with as much stoic nervousness as anticipation while Chessica licked her lips and giggled quietly to herself.
I wonder if Zach would approve of my choice of friends and allies.
“We’re at roundabout three clicks up. The sky is looking clear. The sun is shining.” If a grin could have spread on O-BEE’s face, it would have split to splintering. “That being said, good luck.”
The floor opened up like a packing box and whatever thoughts and troubles had bothered Isaac were lost among his screams.
+++
—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Nobody had told Isaac that the wind was strong this high up. The airship was big, so he had only noticed in passing, but his bubble was small, so so small.
It felt like all his nightmares squished into one as he was thrown back and forth. The bubble twisted and turned against every movement. It felt leathery to his back, and yet when he thought of grabbing something, anything in the wild tumble, his fingers slipped right through.
—Aaaaah — shit, magic bubble. Don’t think. Don’t fall. No falling thoughts. Only floating bubble thoughts.
He lay down spread-eagle and the bubble’s twisting and rotating slowed down. He looked up, looked to his sides. The glittering of human-sized bubbles filled the sky as they all caught the wind at differing angles and speeds. Already there were ones that were spreading to the left and right of the group, and with horror he saw that he was way at the back, and his friends were all falling further to the front.
He yelled to catch their attention, but the bubble threw the sound right back at him.
It was high time to start panicking. Which was of course when his brick started ringing.
A call? Now!?
He picked up. Because what else was he supposed to do while falling and drifting away, without an ounce of control?
“Isaac. You there?”
“Sophia? I-I’m here. I’m freaking scared.”
“Me too. But Isaac, get it together. The bubbles are permeable for non-living things. Get your rope. We need to connect before we drift apart.”
“...ok.”
Within seconds, he had torn through his backpack and fished out the lightweight cable he’d purchased all the way back on Seagull Island. Throwing it was a tenuous plan, seeing as it didn’t have weight attached at the end, nor had Isaac learned to throw, but well…
Maerdon guide my aim.
He tossed the rope. It cut through the air like it was nothing before flopping past a bubble and swinging below him in a pendulum motion.
“Too short.”
Sophia was a spotter, but as far as his aim plus the conditions of wind and rapidly distancing bubbles was concerned, he might as well have thrown it at random.
He tossed it again, this time with enough force he was scared of breaking the bubble. It went straight for Sophia’s bubble, this time it was blown to the side by a gust of wind. Everything was further away than he expected, and the bubbles were growing small.
“You almost had it. More to the left.”
“At least you’re uplifting,” he said, sardonically, before adding. “I think me and Zach never quite got to appreciate your support. I do now. Thanks, Sophia.”
“Less talking, more throwing. We’re getting far away. Last chance.”
This next line went far, very far. It fell towards Sophia’s bubble, then fell past it. He almost thought he’d missed again, when something tugged on the rope.
“You caught… you caught Andri! Hold up, I’ll tell him to reel you in.”
She hung up and for a few moments Isaac was just sitting there, floating in his bubble towards the growing landscape. Some people were trying similar things as he was. One person had encased their bubble in ice so it would fall faster. Another one was using the backblast from some sort of explosion spell like the world's most deranged propulsion engine.
In one instance, he saw a bubble suddenly change direction, picking up speed before barreling right through another. The other bubble didn’t pop, but instead careened way into the distance until it was just a sparkle.
Didn’t know you could use [Charge] inside a bubble like that.
There came another call.
“Sophia here, Tom is with me. Chessica is sinking fast, she’s heavier than anyone.”
<
“Still a bit rude,” Isaac said before catching himself chuckling. “We’re approaching the ground. Talk again when we’ve landed?”
“Sure.”
“And Sophia? Thanks a bunch. I mean it.”
“You get a bit stuck in your head at times. You’ll have to ask Andri to get you out next time.”
There was an annoyed yowl and a click.
“Look forward to the loot, and to me finally tiering up!”
One more click and he was alone again. But this time, he was alone and smiling.
I am blessed with good friends. I’m here for them now, aren’t I?