Samantha found herself standing in front of an ornate podium and took a second to get her bearings. She wore the same clothes, carried the same items, and Silas still sat across her shoulders identically to a moment ago. It was as if she had simply blinked and the world around her changed. Immediately she let out a deep sigh of relief. She may still have to fight the rift guardian soon, but at least it wouldn’t be right now.
“Hello again Samantha.” a woman’s voice warmly greeted, “I admit I wasn’t expecting to see you again quite so soon.”
Samantha’s gaze snapped upwards at the sound. In front of the podium was a tall, raised wooden desk. Sitting behind it, looking as inhumanly beautiful as she remembered, was none other than her ascension representative.
“Who’s that?” Silas asked, peeking his head around Samantha’s shoulders.
“I met her when we were ascending from the first floor. She’s from outside the World Spire and is supposed to help me, I think.” she mentally replied to Silas first. Then, she bowed to her representative, “Greetings. I believe last time we spoke I was so caught up with everything I neglected to ask for your name.”
“Theora.” the woman answered the unspoken question with a smile.
Samantha raised her head, “Theora, could you please tell me what’s going on? I ended up in this rift by chance while fleeing the rift guardian and have spent the entire time feeling lost and confused. I don’t even know where I am right now.”
“I certainly can. However, before we get to that, we need to take care of some business regarding your quest.”
“The quest I just completed?”
Theora nodded, “You have yet to be rewarded, remember? I’m here to help with that.”
Samantha wanted to be excited at the prospect of quest rewards, but the emotional whiplash of switching between panic, sadness, and relief just left her feeling conflicted.
Theora continued, “First, let’s review the grades for your performance. You were tasked with four objectives: one main and three optional. There’s not much to say for the main goal of killing all the hostiles in the city. This was the minimum expectation for the quest, and thus you receive a passing grade. Now, onto the optional objectives. In regards to limiting collateral damage to structures you did exceptionally well. There was superficial damage to multiple buildings, but that’s to be expected. There was only one building that sustained significant damage, and you even went so far as to do some repairs to the rest of the town. This commendable work has earned you a grade of ‘A’. You also excelled at resource collection, turning in over 90% of the total points possible. This thoroughness has earned you another ‘A’ grade. For rescuing survivors, you managed to escort eight of the nine individuals to safety within the first three days in the quest. Impressive work, especially considering you didn’t have a party of cultivators to assist in the efforts.”
Samantha opened her mouth to ask one of the many burning questions bubbling up in her mind, but Theora forestalled her by holding up her pointer finger, “Patience, Samantha. I remember you getting me sidetracked before. I’m able to spend more time with you here, and I’ll answer as much as I can after we deal with this.”
Samantha closed her mouth and felt her cheeks redden slightly.
Theora gave her an amused look, “Now, as much as I’d like to give you another ‘A’ grade here, there’s more to this objective than the number of people saved. It’s also about how you did it. So… let’s hear from them.”
Samantha’s heart dropped as motes of light began to coalesce in a line, dividing the space between her and Theora in half. The particles began gathering into eight, vaguely human-shaped blobs before a bright flash temporarily blinded her. After she blinked the spots out of her vision, Samantha saw eight familiar faces looking back at her. Some were visibly happy to see her while others glared angrily.
Theora cleared her throat politely and the eight survivors turned towards her, “Which of you would like to give your account first?”
----------------------------------------
Samantha rubbed at her face tiredly as the last survivor was dismissed back into motes of light. It had gone about as well as she’d expected, but she was emotionally exhausted by it all the same.
Trista, the old farmer, and the young couple had given her rescue glowing reviews. The old shopkeep spoke harshly of her and told Theora that Samantha murdered his wife in front of him. Samantha was permitted to give her own testimony of the shopkeeper's rescue before Theora dismissed him.
The wealthy family gave a mixed opinion. The mother was thankful that Samantha had been more forceful and took her son away first. She wanted to escape with her son earlier, but felt she couldn’t go against her husband's wishes. The son admitted he was unhappy initially, but realized after being reunited with his family that he felt incredibly relieved to be out of the oasis. The father, like the old shopkeep, did everything he could to paint Samantha in a bad light.
The father’s first complaint was that she hadn’t respected his ‘sovereignty of choice’, which should’ve been protected by army regulations. Theora shockingly acknowledged the grievance as legitimate, but allowed Samantha the chance to respond to the accusation. Thinking on her feet, she’d argued that although his decision to remain in the residence was valid, it conflicted with his wife’s desire to escape with her son. By destroying her means of communication with the family, she was unable to coordinate a way to safely extract them, thereby essentially holding his wife and son hostage. Despite his threat of violence and attacking Samantha upon entry into their home, she did her best to keep him in a safe place while she carried out the mother’s wishes. She took the son first because he was a minor and the mother insisted he be taken to safety first, then the mother. She considered leaving the father as he requested, but ultimately felt the frenzied spirit beasts nearby would locate him and didn’t want his death–and subsequent grief of a wife and child–on her conscience. Theora didn’t comment on Samantha’s defense, but instructed the man to voice his next complaint.
The second issue he brought up was an accusation that she’d robbed his mansion. He claimed that the true reason she ‘evacuated’ him and his family was to get free access to their treasures. This time, however, Theora was the one to rebut him. Apparently, soldiers were permitted to requisition a variety of supplies in the interest of completing a mission. One spear, one set of armored robes, an enchanted shield, an enchanted notebook, and food/board were–according to the representative–well within Samantha’s rights to seize. The fact that Samantha had left most of the armory’s items untouched actually worked in her favor.
He continued to accuse her of more and more outrageous crimes, but Theora had heard enough and eventually dismissed him.
“In addition to these eight testimonies, I’ve also received a report that a certain guardman thinks very highly of you.”
Samantha’s looked up at that, and Theora gave her a knowing wink.
“He vouches for your honorable character, and claims that you’re the type of person to treat even those weaker than you with respect. Though not strictly counted as a survivor, this report will also be taken into consideration for your grade.”
Thanks, Tobias.
“With that, four survivors have given your performance the grade of ‘A’. One gave it a ‘B’, one a ‘C’, and two have given you an ‘F’ grading. Using my own discretion, taking your defense into account, and factoring in Tobias’s affirmation of your character, I determine all your rescue efforts to be lawful and enacted without malice. I will throw out the ‘F’ grading given by the father due to his own infractions of attempting to assault a member of the army and inhibiting the rescue of others. I also think it’s fair that the shopkeeper's ‘F’ can be raised to a ‘C given how obviously his grief is affecting his judgment. As much as I’d like to raise it higher, I can’t deny there were better ways you could’ve handled that situation. So, averaging everything out and doing some rounding, that’s a final grade of… ‘B’ for this optional objective.”
Quest Reward Evaluation Completed!
Main objective reward: +5,000
Bonus resources collected: +9,142
Optional objective grades*: A, A, B [A = x1.5, B = x1.4, C = x1.3, D = x1.2, F or Unpursued= x1.0]
First time completion bonus: x2.0
Total: 89,095 points (14,142 * 1.5 * 1.5 * 1.4 * 2.0)
Samantha looked at the point total unsure of what the number meant or if it was any good. She also did some quick math and frowned. If she’d scored an ‘A’ instead of a ‘B’ on the optional objective she would’ve come out with 95,458 points instead. It seemed a harsh penalty when for the most part she did well.
“Don’t look so disappointed.” Theora said lightheartedly, “All in all you’ve come out of this quite wealthy! If you were in a group, you would’ve been judged individually and only gained points based on your own accomplishments. I think the small loss of points from one ‘B’ rating won’t hurt too badly once you see what you’ll be able to buy with what you already possess.”
“As tempting as that sounds, can I ask you some questions first?”
Theora laughed, “Sure. Let’s speak somewhere a bit more comfortable.”
The representative snapped her fingers and Samantha was once again blinded by a flash of light. When her vision cleared, she found herself in a new room. There was a circular wooden table in the center of the small room with plush chairs on either side of it. The back wall had a closed door with a polished brass handle, and the left wall was made completely of windowed glass. Outside the window was the astonishing sight of floating buildings resting on clouds encircled by shining scripts of qi. The buildings possessed architecture completely alien to anything she’d seen before. They seemed to curve and twist impossibly in ways that mesmerized her. The sun was setting, which made everything glow in shades of gold and red.
“Wow!” Silas hopped down off of her shoulders for the first time and bounded over to the window. He pressed his nose to the glass, staring out in amazement.
“It’s beautiful…” Samantha couldn’t help but agree.
The sound of wood scraping on wood drew her attention away from the enchanting sight and to Theora, who was taking a seat in one of the chairs. A rolling food cart had mysteriously appeared beside the table while she was distracted by the scenery, and her representative was setting out some small desserts and tea for the both of them.
Theora caught her eye and gestured to the other chair amicably, “What would you like to know?”
Taking the cue to sit, Samantha struggled to organize the many uncertainties swirling in her mind. To buy herself some time to think, she sipped the sweetened beverage and took a bite of the cake in front of her before speaking. “My most urgent concern is the rift guardian–an Ancient Cliff Drake–likely waiting for me as soon as I exit this rift. I’m afraid I won’t be strong enough to deal with it in my current state. Do you have any advice?”
Theora started snacking on the items in front of her as well, “Treat it as you would any other enemy. Prepare yourself to defend against its strengths and strike at its weaknesses. There’s not much more to say.”
Dissatisfied with that response, Samantha persisted. “It’s connected to this rift somehow, isn’t it? I can’t do anything from here to weaken it or give myself a better chance?”
“Well now… those are different questions entirely.” Theora said with a wry smile, “They’re also questions I can’t directly answer.”
“Why not?” Samantha questioned. “Are you able to at least give me some sort of hint?”
Theora opened her mouth to speak, winced, then closed it. For the first time, Samantha saw something akin to frustration or disappointment on the woman’s face. Theora let out a sigh and shook her head, “All I’ll say is you may find something helpful when you look through your quest rewards. Ask me about something else.”
Silas finally returned from looking out of the window and stared up at their table of food longingly, to which Theora responded by setting down a thick bushel of fragrant herbs for him. The greenery seemed to come from nowhere just like with the rolling cart, but its mysterious appearance didn’t bother Silas whatsoever. He happily took the bundle in his mouth and started chowing down. When Theora sat back up, her expression was as pleasant and carefree as it had been at the start of their conversation.
Theora’s odd reaction made Samantha even more curious than before, but she knew better than to keep pressing. “In that case, there is something that’s been bothering me and I’m hoping you can clear up. The people inside the rift… what are they?”
Theora tilted her head thoughtfully, “That’s difficult to answer. In a way, they’re ghosts of the past. You can think of them as… memories being given form through constructs.”
“Whose memories?”
“That isn’t my area of expertise, I’m afraid.” Theora admitted, “I’ve been told that the memories specifically related to the scenarios are fabricated. The other memories, as well as their personalities, are either copies or composites from various sources. Whether they are duplicated from those that are reincarnating, the records of those who have ascended floors, or something else… I couldn’t say with certainty.”
“They aren’t real, though?”
“What do you mean by ‘real’?” Theora asked.
Samantha didn’t have a good answer for that.
Taking some small pity on Samantha during the lengthening stretch of silence, Theora elaborated, “If you’re asking if they’re human, then no. If you are asking if they’re ‘alive’, well… that depends on how you define it. Sure, these constructs are ‘born’ with memories they didn’t live through themselves, but we who have reincarnated could claim the same thing. They need qi to function like we need food and water to live. They possess autonomy in movement and choice as we do. They can learn, grow stronger, be injured, recover, or be destroyed as we can. You could argue that they lack a soul, but you could also say plants lack a soul and most would agree that plants are alive.”
Rather than comforting her, this explanation only disturbed Samantha further, “So these constructs keep reliving stressful situations or dying for these quests?”
Theora leaned back in her chair and sighed, “I don’t know the answer to that either. I’ve never encountered the same construct twice, and they don’t seem to retain memories of surviving other quests, but it’s not impossible I suppose.” Theora stared at her for a moment before straightening her posture, “Distressing yourself over it won’t change anything. Why don’t you ask me about something else? You said you had other things on your mind.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Samantha didn’t really feel like changing the subject again, but the way Theora suggested it made Samantha feel like the topic was effectively shut down for now. “Alright. Then could you tell me more about these rifts and the quests? When I spoke to someone who’d delved a rift before, the way they described their experience was much different.”
Theora brightened up, “Now that’s something I do know the answer to. I assume the person you spoke to was a resident of this floor?”
Samantha nodded.
“These rifts were made for the express purpose of strengthening ascendants. Creating such a detailed quest is very qi intensive, and while we don’t want to completely exclude cultivators from the experience in case they ascend in the future, we also don’t want to invest a lot into their progression if they end up staying here.”
“So I’m getting the ‘ascendant’ rift experience with this quest and reward system, while the ‘non-ascendant’ experience is more similar to finding powerful items hidden randomly in the wilderness?”
“That’s mostly correct, but you’re actually getting the ‘premium-ascendant’ experience right now.” Theora clarified. “Which is to say… I’ve been much more involved in this quest than most representatives usually are. Luckily for you, my request to mark you as a high-priority ascendant was approved shortly before you entered the rift. If it hadn’t we wouldn’t be speaking right now and I wouldn’t be permitted to answer so many of your questions.”
Samantha was unsure exactly how she should respond to that. She eventually settled on a question, “You’ve been more involved in my quest?”
“I’ve been looking out for you from the start. You were originally going to be given the Foot Soldier scenario, but your current skill set is a terrible match up for that. You’re almost perfectly suited for the Advance Guard scenario though, so I gave you that instead. I even changed what type of spirit beasts you’d be facing to give you the best chance of success and maximized the time dilation so you’d lose the least amount of time upon exiting the rift.”
“In that case, I should be thanking you.” Samantha said, lowering her head in gratitude, “What do you mean by Foot Soldier and Advance Guard scenarios, though? My quest said it was for extermination. Also, how much time dilation is the maximum?”
“You’re very welcome. To answer your first question, these rifts have a secondary purpose aside from strengthening you. It also helps us get an idea for what roles you may perform best in when you exit the World Spire. Different scenarios and objectives are testing your aptitude for different types of tasks. As for your second question, a year inside this rift is approximately one day outside of it.”
Samantha choked on her tea. That meant time was flowing close to 350 times faster than in reality. Such a thing seemed impossible.
“And how many scenarios are there?” Samantha managed to ask between coughs and splutters.
Theora tactfully ignored Samantha’s struggles for air and hummed, “Rather than telling you directly, why don’t we talk a bit about the rewards you’ll be receiving. I’m sure you’re wondering what to do with all those points?”
Finally getting her spasming lungs under control, Samantha took a few breaths before responding, “I’m not sure what the rewards have to do with it, but I’ll play along. I am curious what I’ll be getting for my year-long efforts, and you mentioned already that they might help me with the rift guardian. What do I need to do to get them?”
Theora stood and started walking towards the door on the far wall, beckoning Samantha to follow. Samantha picked up the still-snacking Silas and caught up with her just as she opened the door, revealing a solid wall of white mist swirling beyond its threshold. Theora stepped off to the side and gestured towards the mist, “After you, ascendant.”
Gathering her courage, Samantha stepped through the door. Her jaw dropped open at seeing what lay on the other side, and even Silas paused his eating to stare in awe. She now stood on what could only be described as a cloud platform. Countless glittering treasures orbited around them, making it seem like they stood in the center of a vast sea of stars.
Theora stepped up beside the both of them and laughed at seeing their reactions. Samantha hadn’t seen the woman come in, and realized that the door they’d all just used had disappeared, leaving them seemingly stranded on the isolated cloud island.
Unbothered by the vanished doorway, Theora pointed forwards and instructed, “See that Jade pillar over there? Go ahead and touch it.”
Emboldened by Theora’s delighted tone, Samantha made her way to the pillar and placed her hand on the cool stone.
Rift Reward Shop - Floor 2
Current Balance: 89,095
Rift Qi Reserve: 95%
Search: ______________
Filters
Categories: [Weapons], [Armor], [Equipment], [Manuals], [Items], [Misc], [Rift]
Rarity: [Mundane], [Common], [Uncommon], [Rare], [Epic], [Legendary], [Mythic]
Enchantments: [Wood-Based], [Fire-Based], [Earth-Based], [Metal-Based], [Water-Based]
Theora walked up beside her again, “Look at the ‘Rift’ category first.”
She mentally selected the [Rift] filter and the window updated.
Rift Reward Shop - Floor 2
Current Balance: 89,095
Rift Qi Reserve: 95%
Filters: [Rift]
Sub Categories: [Resource Buybacks], [Constructs], [Scenarios], [Cultivation]
Rarity: [Mundane], [Common], [Uncommon], [Rare], [Epic], [Legendary], [Mythic]
Enchantments: [Wood-Based], [Fire-Based], [Earth-Based], [Metal-Based], [Water-Based]
Name
Category
Rarity
Cost
Apple
Resource Buyback
Mundane
2
Arrow - Iron Tipped (x5)
Resource Buyback
Mundane
10
…
…
…
…
She started to scroll through the incredibly long list of items, but Theora stopped her before she got too far. “I think you’ll find the ‘Scenarios’ sub-category more interesting.”
Seeing as there was no rush, Samantha accepted the suggestion and adjusted the filters to show only the scenarios instead.
Rift Reward Shop - Floor 2
Current Balance: 89,095
Rift Qi Reserve: 95%
Filters: [Rift] -> [Scenarios]
Role
Possible Main Objectives
Possible Optional Objectives
Details
Cost
Advance Guard
Completions: 1
> Extermination - Eliminate all hostiles
> Base Camp - Establish encampment
> Mark for Death - Locate hidden forces
> …
- Reclaim resources
- Rescue survivors
- Limit collateral damage
- Remain unseen
- …
Difficulty: Moderate
Reward Yield: Moderate (10% reduction per completion)
Points: 10,000
Rift Qi Reserve: -5%
Assassin
Completions: 0
> Execution - Kill high value target
> Destabilize - Kill mid value targets
> Terrorize - Kill targets in order
> …
- Kill unnoticed
- Kill within time limit
- ‘Disappear’ the body
- ...
Difficulty: Hard
Reward Yield: High (25% reduction per completion)
Points: 15,000
Rift Qi Reserve: -2%
…
…
…
…
Samantha’s head snapped to the side to look at Theora. “Does this mean…?” she asked, the words trailing off.
Theora looked pleased at Samantha’s reaction, “If you were to purchase another scenario, a new rift entrance would appear here for you to take you directly into the next quest. You could continue to do that so long as you had the points and qi reserve to fund them. Not to mention that the first delve bonus will continue to apply so long as you don’t repeat scenarios or exit the rift at any point.”
“What happens if I empty the reserve?”
Theora’s eyes shone with a hint of excitement, “What an interesting question.”
“You won’t tell me?” Samantha asked, disappointed by the response. Her representative had been so forthcoming with everything else, it seemed odd that she was holding this one piece of information back.
Theora changed the subject, “There’s a few more important items I wanted to point out to you before our time is up. Go back one window and look at the Cultivation sub-category next.”
Reasoning it wasn’t worth angering Theora or wasting time trying to finagle a proper answer out of her, Samantha obeyed.
Rift Reward Shop - Floor 2
Current Balance: 89,095
Rift Qi Reserve: 95%
Filters: [Rift] -> [Cultivation]
Element Composition
Qi Density => Cost/ day
*Neutral (Recommended)
Wood: 20%, Fire: 20%, Earth: 20%, Metal: 20%, Water: 20%
Abysmal => 100
Low => 200
Moderate => 300
High => 400
Saturated => 500
Woodland
Wood: 40%, Fire: 10%, Earth: 30%, Metal: 5%, Water: 15%
Wood Dominant
Wood: 80%, Fire: 5%, Earth: 5%, Metal: 5%, Water: 5%
…
“I’m sure you noticed the lack of ambient qi and beast cores during your quest.” Theora began, continuing only after Samantha gave her a nod, “That was intentional. We didn’t want to encourage cultivators to abuse the rifts for advancement without properly completing quests. Giving dedicated cultivation time as a reward was a better solution, and is also more efficient qi expenditure wise. The draw on the rift’s qi reserve to make a small, qi-dense space for a short time is negligible compared to, say, saturating the entire scenario’s area with ambient qi.”
“That makes sense.” Samantha agreed, “How does this work, though? Will I need to purchase all the cultivation at once, or can I pay for a day at a time to experiment for what works best?”
“A door will appear that will take you to a special cultivation chamber, and it will open back into this same space when your allotted time is up. Purchasing one day of cultivation at a time is permitted so long as you still have unspent points.”
“Speaking of unspent points, what happens if I enter a new scenario with them or exit the rift entirely?”
“Exiting the rift will set your balance to zero, so be sure to spend everything before then. In all other cases your balance will carry over.”
“So, if I’m understanding you correctly…” Samantha spoke slowly, feeling a new plan come together, “As long as this rift’s qi reserve is above zero I can keep using points to buy scenarios, which I can complete for more points, which will let me continue buying scenarios to extend my time in the rift?”
Theora smiled.
“And I can also use these points to enhance my cultivation and get better equipment by buying the appropriate rewards, which allows me to complete the scenarios easier?”
Theora smiled wider, “This is a fantastic opportunity for growth for you. Do keep in mind though that the lower the qi reserve gets, the more difficult the scenarios become. You’ll need to plan accordingly.”
Samantha tilted her head, “I was told the first foray into the rift was supposed to be the most dangerous.”
Theora chuckled, “You doubt the accuracy of my information?”
Samantha raised both hands and backtracked, afraid of offending the woman, “Ah, no. You’re right. The ones who told me that were floor residents, and you’ve already explained how their experience in the rift is different from mine. This is all just… a lot to take in at once.”
“I understand…” Theora said somewhat distractedly, looking upwards at something Samantha couldn’t see. “Apologies, but it seems my time here has been cut a bit short. We’ll have time to speak again after you complete your next scenario, though. Good luck, and I highly recommend thoroughly looking through all the different rewards before purchasing anything.”
Samantha bowed to her representative, “Thank–”.
Theora disappeared.
“–you…”
She sighed. She’d hoped to ask Theora some more questions, but would have to wait until she saw her again upon completing the next scenario. What she’d learned about the rift, its purpose, and how it worked was good enough for her short term needs anyway.
Sitting down on the plush, cloud-like floor and navigating through the reward shop, she explored the different filters and tabs to see what was available to her. There were thousands of items to choose from in each category ranging in cost from extremely affordable to millions of points. Of the rewards she could afford, several nearly succeeded in tempting her to impulsively purchase them. Among these were the ability to add or modify enchantments on items she’d received from the rift, upgrading a rift item’s materials, a plethora of manuals and guides, alchemicals, and a variety of other fantastical options.
As she went through the [Rift] -> [Resource Buyback] category she was initially confused by why the mix of seemingly random items were grouped together. After a few minutes of scrolling, she came across a familiar-looking enchanted glaive and came to the realization that everything in this list was something that she’d turned in during the quest. To buy them as a reward was generally at least twice as expensive as what she was given for turning them in, but it also seemed that this gap grew as the items increased in rarity.
Her heart raced as she continued to scroll down the list and an impossible thought echoed in her mind.
Can I purchase any quest resource that was turned in? If so…
The appearance of a slightly-worn set of Enchanted Heavy Metal Plate caused her breath to hitch and her hopes to soar. When she finally got to the bottom of the list, the rarest and most expensive item practically jumped off of the screen at her.
Rift Reward Shop - Floor 2
Current Balance: 89,095
Rift Qi Reserve: 95%
Filters: [Rift] -> [Resource Buybacks]
Rarity: [Mundane], [Common], [Uncommon], [Rare], [Epic], [Legendary], [Mythic]
Enchantments: [Wood-Based], [Fire-Based], [Earth-Based], [Metal-Based], [Water-Based]
Name
Category
Rarity
Cost
Tobias Valund - Qi Construct (Upgradable)
Resource Buyback
Legendary
100,000