Alex closed his car door and quickly turned the vehicle on to warm it up.

After getting access to the Adventurer’s Guild App last night, he had barely been able to sleep. He was so excited and overwhelmed with the amount of information that was suddenly available to him. Not only that, but he had a goal now- something more to do than just spend all day using his [Mana Shaping] skill.

He decided that he was going to try and get a Mana Stone that very day. After making his own copy of the list of gear that the Adventurers Guild recommended Rift essentials, he got a few hours of sleep before waking up and going straight to his local Walmart. While there, he was able to get all of the missing items from his list. Most of them came from the camping section in the back of the store since he wasn't much of an outdoorsman.

Now that he had everything he needed to pack in the new hiking backpack in his backseat, Alex planned to head west out of his city toward High Bridge or some of the areas around Round Valley. Some of the tips for finding Rifts mentioned that being in the city made it hard, as there tended to be more of a presence of Hunter’s Association members or even other Awakened looking to get stronger.

Hopefully, an hour or two away from the city will make it a bit easier to find a Rift that’s not as contested.

There was a tab in the app that allowed someone to look at an interactive map and see locations of Rifts around their area, but it was limited to full members, so for the time being, he needed to search for them and rely on the app’s notification for nearby Rifts.

Alex rubbed his hands together before taking off.

He’d been driving for about 35 minutes when his phone chimed. He glanced at it and saw that the notification was from the AG App. The banner still showing at the top of his phone was a nearby Rift notification.

Should I check it out? Or just stick to my plan?

Deciding that it wouldn’t hurt to check things out, Alex got off at the next available exit and pulled into a gas station parking lot before checking his phone for more details.

When he opened the notification, it showed that the Rift had been marked by a small party of Guild Members in a park that was still about ten more minutes in the direction he was already traveling.

After clicking on the notification, he had more options than before when he’d gotten the dropped pin notification from Nexus Hub. Now, it had details such as who was a contact at the Rift, who was in control of the site, a price to enter, and an available slots counter.

There are still plenty of slots. I feel like I should check it out, at the very least, to see how the Guild Members handle something like this.

The counter currently showed 4/100. He could click the ‘Interested’ and ‘Nearby’ buttons that he assumed would be visible to the group in charge of the Rift.

He continued on, using the geolocation feature to get directions toward Lord Stirling Park.

It didn’t take him long to reach his destination, and he parked in the public lot that led into the national wildlife refuge.

Looks like I’ve got to go the rest of the way on foot.

Alex grabbed his bag from the back seat and began walking down the trail toward the Rift. It was a short 10-minute walk, just enough to get him warmed up in his winter clothes.

“Hey!” A shorter, stocky man called out.

Alex raised his hand in greeting, his steps faltering for a moment as three other men stood up and moved beside the one who had called out.

“You’re NotXela from the AG app?” the man asked.

Alex couldn’t help but snicker at the username he’d chosen to register with.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Nice, welcome! We’re the group that found the Rift and reported it to The Guild.”

“Yeah, this is my first time doing this. Can I ask some questions?”

“Sure, come have a seat.” The short man scratched his beard, and the five of them moved together back around the bend that they had walked from.

Alex was surprised to see that they’d brought a portable butane heater out this far down the trail.

The small plastic wheels couldn’t have made that easy.

Alex followed them over to the logs that were around the heater and looked around.

All four of the men seemed to be strong and dressed in sturdy outdoor clothes.

Comfortable and warm, definitely prepared to sit outside all day if needed.

“So, what did you want to know?” Another one of the men asked. This one had on a red beanie, making it easy to distinguish him from the others.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“Well, I guess first, where is the Rift? I thought it would be here.”

“Ah, it’s just down the trail a ways. The energy in the air is a bit unsettling near those things, so we decided to stay a bit further down the trail.” Red Beanie said.

Alex nodded in response. That made sense.

“So, how does all this work? You guys seem like a strong group. Why aren’t you going into the Rift?”

The short man picked up this answer, “Well, we might end up entering later. But for now, we earn some reputation within The Guild for reporting a Rift and extra for being able to maintain the entrance. Normally this is just ensuring only people from The Guild enter. Part of the benefit, though, is that we can set a price for entry.” The man smirked a bit guiltily.

“Yeah, I saw that. One Mana Stone? I’ve only ever been into one rift before when I awakened. I went in alone and left shortly after awakening. Part of my whole reason for finding a rift was to try and get a Mana Stone to change from a Recruit to a Guild Member.”

Red Beanie seemed to sympathize a bit, making a face that told Alex he felt a bit bad for charging entry.

Short Beard didn’t seem nearly as bothered. He shrugged and answered, “Yeah, but even that isn’t all that expensive. This is an Uncommon Rift, too, which means the rewards will be higher. Even entering by yourself, you’re likely to get at least one Mana Stone drop, not to mention the rewards if you manage to finish your personal quest.”

“That does make sense… but I don’t have a Mana Stone to give you. I’m assuming I can’t just promise to pay you later?” Alex asked.

“Oh, yeah, you can.” Red Beanie said.

One of the two men who had been quiet so far stood and walked over to the tree line before beginning to relieve himself.

“We just mark it in the app, and the debt gets marked against your Recruit ID. The Guild will pay us a Mana Stone, and you can pay one later to one of the available people from the Guild when you get one. Mind you, you can only put one or two stones on your name through credit.”

Well, damn, that’s convenient.

“Smart,” Alex responded out loud. “Well, I’m going to need to do that.”

“Mind telling me a bit more about what an Uncommon Rift is? Anything I should be worried about?”

The third man returned while fixing his jacket. “Damn, he’s green, ain’t he?”

The fourth man shoved him as he sat down, “Shut up.”

Short Beard just gave the man a look before answering Alex’s question.

“This is pretty common knowledge, and you should definitely be able to find this information, even as a Recruit. Have you been reading articles on the app?" When Alex nodded confirmation, he continued, "But yes, there are two things that govern Rifts. The first and most important is Rank. E Ranks are the most common by far, though more D Rank Rifts are beginning to be reported. Whatever you do, don’t enter a D Rank. They’re significantly harder than the E Rank Rifts. From what we can tell, Rank directly affects the difficulty of what nasties are inside the rift. You shouldn’t be entering a D Rank Rift until you’re at least level 30.”

“Maybe higher.” Red Beanie chipped in.

“Maybe higher,” the other man affirmed. “There just aren’t that many people leveled that high yet, so it’s hard to know. The Guild is trying to copy this difficulty range to the Ranks that it gives out to members, and as far as we know, The Hunter’s Association is trying to do the same.”

“Alright, good to know,” Alex said.

“Well, to come back to your question. The second factor is Rarity. They have a few different Rarities, but the main ones that you’ll see are Common and Uncommon. A few things change as the Rarity bumps up. One, the quests that the System gives you get harder or more complicated. Two, the area within the Rift gets larger. And third, time seems to stretch while you’re in the higher rifts.”

The man paused dramatically, looking at Alex with eyes wide.

What?

“What?” Alex asked, realizing he’d not spoken his thoughts.

“Each increase in Rarity doubles the time-stretch effect. So, in a Common Rift, time passes normal. But in this Uncommon Rift that we have here, you could spend two whole days inside, but when you leave the Rift, only one day has passed.”

Fuck.

“That’s crazy.” Alex translated his thoughts aloud again.

“It’s definitely something weird to experience,” Pissy-man said.

I don’t like his tone. He gets a stupid name.

“So, what about aging? Are you’re saying if I just move in there, I’ll live twice as long?” Alex asked in bewilderment.

“In theory. The Guild has some really good sources that they keep secret, they write a lot of the articles on stuff like this. I don't remember aging being mentioned,” Red Beanie answered. “If you decided to move in, though, you’d have to contend with monsters and whatever else is in there.”

“That’s crazy,” those seemed to be the only words that Alex could find.

Short Beard laughed. “It is. Well, what else do you want to know? We’re here all day, so you’re welcome to hang about for a bit if you want. Otherwise, we can mark your credit in the app and escort you over to the Rift.”

“Might as well get in there,” Alex shrugged.

“I like that mentality,” Red Beanie answered. He pulled his phone out and clicked for a few seconds before motioning for Alex to follow him. Before leaving he called over and told Short Beard to continue his watch on the trail.

When they got to the Rift, Alex’s heart began to beat faster in his chest.

Fuck.

“Good luck in there. Hey, also you said this was your first time going into a Rift after awakening?”

The pair stopped a few yards from the two-story tear in space.

“Yeah,” Alex said. He found it odd how quiet it was. Seeing the movement of the portal in the corner of his eye, he felt like he should be yelling over some sort of ambient noise.

But everything was so still.

“Well, just as a heads up. You’re going to get a blue window popping up in your face as soon as you step in there. Don’t freak out. Just dismiss it and make sure to check your surroundings. This was a tip someone else gave us, and it’s been really helpful.”

“That's the Quest Window, right? I think I read about that,”

“Yep, it’s going to be the Personal Quest and Rift Quest that the System assigns to you.”

“Ah,” Alex said.

“You know what they are, right?”

Alex just nodded, glancing repeatedly toward the spinning blue mass of energy.

That leads to another freaking world.

The concept was still insane to him.

“Alright, good. Well, If I were you, I wouldn’t leave until you’ve at least completed the Personal Quest. If you’ve got the time, stay and finish the Rift Quest as well, or at least contribute as much to it as you can before you leave. The System will still give you rewards if the Rift Quest is finished, even if you’ve already left the Rift.”

“Alright, thanks.”

“No problem. Good luck again,” Red Beanie said before waving and beginning to make his way back toward his group and the heater.

Shit, should I have asked what the inside of the Rift was like? The last one seemed so peaceful.

Deciding that it would just be best to rip the Band-Aid off, Alex forced his body to move before any more of the fear could set in.

Alex walked toward the Rift and reached his hand out before leaning into the feeling of weightlessness as his body was pulled to another plane of existence.