Seeing Tobias appear on the list of purchasable resources soothed her regrets about not being able to say goodbye to him properly. She’d need to double check with Theora, but Samantha was pretty sure that everything she bought from this shop would come with her to the outside world upon exiting the rift. That meant she could take Tobias along with her if she ‘purchased’ him, but she didn’t know if leaving the bounds of the rift would fundamentally change him in some way or not. She definitely wasn’t opposed to having another ally when confronting the rift guardian or ascending the World Spire, but she’d have to mentally prepare herself if the ‘Tobias’ she’d get from the shop was not the same one she’d met during her quest. She’d need to complete at least one more rift quest to have enough points to buy his construct anyway, so she tucked it away at the back of her mind as a priority for later. For the moment, she had more pressing needs.
The first thing she did was evaluate what scenarios she was most interested in pursuing. Looking at their qi reserve cost alone it seemed that there were more options than she could feasibly complete before the reserves reached 0%, but that might not necessarily be the case. If the rift continuously replenished itself, it was possible that she’d end up with more than just the remaining 95% to spend on scenarios.
Another important factor to consider was how willing she was to attempt scenarios with main objectives that she found morally questionable. For example, the Assassin scenario looked to be another option that played to her skills and paid well in terms of points, but she was unsure what kind of targets she’d be assigned to kill. The ‘High’, ‘Mid’, and ‘Low’ value targets listed in the possible main objectives could really be anything. If the quest happened to put random innocent civilians on her list, she knew she’d have a hard time following through with it even with the awareness that they were qi constructs. At the same time, she questioned if she could afford to pass up such a good opportunity to gain points when her and Silas’s lives were on the line. Could she rationalize such a decision to herself and live(or die) with the consequences?
There was also the fact that the scenarios would become more challenging as the qi reserves dropped. That meant it might be beneficial to take the higher difficulty quests up front while things were still relatively easy. Alternatively, the possible payouts for quests might also go up with the difficulty, meaning it could actually be a better strategy to save the harder ones for last to earn the greatest number of points. There were many things she’d like to clarify with Theora before making any plans that were too long-term.
After mulling the choice over, she reluctantly decided that the next scenario she’d purchase would be for the role of ‘Intelligence’.
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
…
…
…
…
…
Intelligence
Completions: 0
> Spy - Steal and report sensitive data
> Sabotage - Corrupt enemy intel
> Double Agent - Assimilate into enemy forces and report
> Conversion - Turn an enemy into an informant
> Counterintelligence - Identify and report threats
- Remain undiscovered
- Raise no suspicions
- Leave a false trail
- Frame someone else for your deeds
- Gather additional resources
- Gather additional intel
Difficulty: Hard
Reward Yield: High (20% reduction per completion)
Points: 12,000
Rift Qi Reserve: -3%
…
…
…
…
Though throwing herself into a ‘Hard’ scenario was nerve wracking, she wanted to get an idea early on for what she should expect. This was the easiest these quests were ever going to be for her, so she didn’t want to risk taking her first ‘Hard’ scenario when the qi reserves were lower and being caught off guard by its difficulty. This was also one of the only high difficulty, high reward scenarios that played well to her current skill set. Most of the others were ‘morally questionable’ or too far outside of her experience to take on right away. For example, besides the ‘Assassin’ scenario, she was fearful of what ‘Interrogator’ (coercing information out of a captured enemy), ‘Saboteur’ (weakening or destabilizing cities), or ‘Propagandist’ (sow discord or cause revolts) might entail. For the ‘Strategist’ (planning squadron movements and attacks) or ‘Researcher’ (development or analysis of technology) scenarios, she wouldn’t even know where to begin to tackle some of the listed objectives.
In terms of morality, there was really only one of the ‘Intelligence’ scenario’s optional objectives that she found potentially concerning: purposefully framing someone else to take the fall for her actions. Ironically, she could acknowledge she’d accidentally done something similar to Harold on the first floor; however, that didn’t mean she was totally comfortable with doing it again intentionally. She knew she could always choose to ignore that particular objective at the expense of precious points if she needed to, but that didn’t quite sit right with her either.
After she mentally set aside 12,000 points for purchasing the ‘Intelligence’ scenario, she was left with 77,095 points to spend. Her next order of business was to figure out what qi density was the most efficient to purchase for the cultivation chamber. Five days later–and 1500 points poorer–she had her answer.
Abysmal qi density felt similar in potency to the rare nexus she’d found on the first floor–perhaps just a bit weaker. The difference was that her cultivation advancement was significantly faster than she expected since the qi was already perfectly balanced. Low qi density was difficult to judge, but felt slightly stronger than the nexus that had appeared when she killed the Rat King. She was able to cultivate the low density about twice as effectively as she had the abysmal density. This was where her ability to compare to similar past experiences ended.
Moderate density was a more potent concentration of energy than anything she had experienced before. The weight of it pressing down on her from every direction felt like being submerged underwater, and although she cultivated as quickly as she could, she couldn’t help but feel she wasn’t utilizing the ambient energy around her to the fullest. It was like trying to grab overfull handfuls of rice but having multiple grains slip between your fingers. Still, this was about 75% faster for her cultivation advancement than low density had been. This pattern continued into the high and saturated densities, which increased her advancement speed by about 50% compared to moderate density and 25% faster than high density respectively. She could hardly concentrate at all in the saturated density due to the intense spiritual weight crushing down on her, and wasn’t sure how well she could withstand such pressures long-term.
With this new data at her disposal, she sketched out a chart in her enchanted notebook to approximate her gains for each option. Assuming that abysmal density represented a baseline ‘100% advancement speed’, there was consistent advancement each day, and she only spent 50,000 points on the chamber; she filled in the final column of the table with her rough calculations.
Density
Advancement Speed
Cost
Afforded Days
Approximate Gain
Abysmal
100%
100
500
100% * 500 = 500
Low
200% (100% * 2.0)
200
250
200% * 250 = 500
Moderate
350% (200% * 1.75)
300
166
350% * 166 = 581
High
525% (350% * 1.5)
400
125
525% * 125 = 656.25
Saturated
656% (525% * 1.25)
500
100
656% * 100 = 656
Surprisingly, high qi density was a better overall-value than saturated was. She had her suspicions that this was objectively untrue due to the fact that she cultivated less efficiently the higher the qi density became, but for now she would move forward with the high density option. Perhaps when she achieved a higher rank or tier or gained a better cultivation pattern she would repeat her experiment and find the results turned out differently.
She hoped that she wouldn’t need to spend the full 50,000 points to advance to Mid Bronze, but she was willing to suffer the hefty cost if it was necessary. Most of her attribute gains over the last year had come within the first six months of her training. As she neared her physical limits her training became more ‘pain’ than ‘gain’, and she was feeling more hungry for visible progress than ever. Furthermore, she still had too many meridians open for her rank, which would continue to slow her advancement until she achieved High Bronze and regained the Golden Ratio of 1 meridian per rank.
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In regards to her and Silas’s physical needs during this extended period, whoever had designed the cultivation chamber had been considerate of ascendants’ circumstances. The chamber itself was reminiscent of a small home with an open floor plan. There was a cushioned seating mat in the center of the room to comfortably cultivate on; a simple bed against the far wall; a small bathroom on the left side of the room with a basic toilet, shower, and washstation setup; a long jade shelf attached to the right wall on which some food and water appeared each day; and a smaller version of the jade pillar outside which she could use to purchase more cultivation time instead of going to the main pillar and returning.
Another nice thing about the chamber was that it didn’t kick her and Silas out as soon as their purchased time inside of it elapsed. Active cultivation significantly reduced both her and Silas’s needs for food, water, and sleep due to the fresh infusion of qi energizing their bodies, but didn’t completely eliminate them. Using her experiment as a point of reference, she estimated she could cultivate for around a week at a time before being forced to take a break and take care of her bodily needs. Rather than waste her purchased cultivation time for these necessities, she could postpone use of the basic facilities until after the time ran out, then use the smaller pillar to purchase another week of cultivation and start the process over. The only important limitation was that food and water wouldn’t appear on the jade shelf on days where she hadn’t paid for cultivation.
Before committing to this new routine, there was one particular item in the shop she felt she needed to get first. She placed her palm to the main Jade pillar and navigated through the menus until she found what she was looking for.
Rift Reward Shop - Floor 2
Current Balance: 75,595 (+12,000 Reserved)
Rift Qi Reserve: 95%
Filters: [Misc] -> [Books]
Rarity: [Mundane], [Common], [Uncommon], [Rare], [Epic], [Legendary], [Mythic]
Name
Category
Rarity
Cost
…
…
…
…
Advancement for the Uninitiated: Bronze and Beyond
Books
Rare
1,000
…
…
…
…
She gladly spent the 1000 points, and [Prey’s Awareness] drew her attention to one of the many ‘stars’ surrounding her cloud platform twinkling brightly. Stepping away from the pillar and squinting in the general direction of the shimmering light, she noticed it had broken away from its previous orbit and was now on a direct course to the platform. Over the next few seconds the light grew larger and larger, until in a blink, a thin, leather-bound book floated in the air in front of her. Once she grabbed ahold of it, she felt whatever art was holding it aloft dissipate and the weight of the tome settled into her hand.
She realized that the glittering treasures all around her must be the many items purchasable from the shop, and she immediately tried to pull one to her with [Telekinesis]. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she was completely unable to grab hold of any of the items. The best way she could describe it, it was as if the items themselves were visually but not physically present–like projections. She also tried to explore beyond the boundary of the cloud platform using [Spectral Projection] and [Cloud Step], but ran into an invisible barrier similar to when she’d first entered the rift. The sphere completely encompassed the platform, preventing passage of both her spiritual and physical forms.
She gave up her attempts to bring the floating items to her with a shrug.
Figures. It was worth a try, though.
Returning to her original task, Samantha read through her newly purchased book. Up until this point she’d been completely winging her Bronze-Tier advancement, blindly cultivating new qi into her dantian in hopes that she would stumble across what the next step was. As it stood, her spiritual center was filled with energized vapor that slowly swirled around her liquid droplet of condensed power. She’d first thought she needed to feed the vapor into the droplet to grow its size, but the two substances felt completely incompatible and were impossible to mix together no matter what she’d tried. She prayed this book held the answers she sought on how to move forward, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
First, she was given a general overview on the advancement process. Going from mortal to Low Copper was unique in that the cultivator needed to fill their dantian with qi for the very first time. The Copper Tier was also unique, because it required the cultivator to form their first droplet of condensed qi and create the initial layer of their core shell to contain that concentrated power. Beyond Bronze Tier the advancement process gained consistency.
Essentially, each new Tier was representative of how many qi droplets a cultivator’s dantian contained. The Rebirth Core itself was essentially an outer shell surrounding her dantian and encasing her condensed qi. Before she could form a second droplet and reach Silver, she’d need to first create another shell layer on the inside of her Rebirth Core to strengthen it enough to safely hold the energy. This was done by pressing the gathered qi vapor against the inside of her core and pressurizing it until it solidified. When the vapor condensed to mist she would reach the Mid rank, when the mist condensed to liquid she would reach the High rank, and when that liquid crystallized and bonded to the previous core layer she’d reach the Peak rank. Then, the formation of another qi droplet inside her reinforced core would advance her to the Low rank of the next tier.
From Peak Bronze up until Peak Silver (when the third core layer was solidified) she’d potentially have the option to imprint her second layer with a ‘core art’. The general description of core arts were vague, but she reasoned that it was a similar process to when her dantian had become a rebirth core. Based upon factors such as her marks, accomplishments, abilities, and bodily or spiritual transfigurations, she could imbue her dantian with a personalized art that would grow in strength as she did.
The mention of transfiguration called to mind when she’d successfully saturated her body with qi, and the system notification had dubbed it ‘the first state of spiritual transfiguration’. Sadly, even double-checking the shop contents, there was nothing in the rift shop specifically covering the topic. There was nothing regarding core arts, either. She suspected that if she wanted more information on either, she’d need to purchase that knowledge with a third eye insight. That was how she’d come across qi saturation in the first place, after all.
She purchased a week of high density cultivation before closing the shop window and making her way to the chamber with Silas. If she wanted another insight point, she now knew exactly how to get one.
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After 30 days of near-constant cultivation, Samantha finally got a new notification… it just wasn’t the one she was expecting.
Congratulations, your spirit bond has increased in rank (Rank 5 Low -> Rank 5 Mid)!
[Mongrel] Bloodline => New evolutionary branch conditions have been met: Soaring Lunar Wolpertinger.
Silas has chosen to follow the evolutionary branch!
Silas has received +1 to Strength and Resilience, +3 to Endurance, and +4 to Agility.
Silas’s aptitude for Endurance has increased to Exceptional (+2 to Endurance due to increased aptitude).
Silas’s aptitude for Agility has increased to Heroic (+4 to Agility due to increased aptitude).
Silas’s aptitude for Resilience has decreased to Low (-1 to Resilience due to lowered aptitude).
You have received +1 Bond Ability Point.
Silas let out a squeak of pain as he fell over onto the ground. Samantha grimaced as she watched his body morph, remembering all too well how painful it was when her body had changed due to an aptitude increase. As his bones and musculature shifted, his form became more slender and lengthened. Though his base, hare appearance was still clearly recognizable, his body shape was more cat-like than before.
His wings–which were previously a bit stocky–seemed to exchange some of their inherent sturdiness for a more frail, but refined, structure. His feathers elongated, became more narrow, and new plumage sprouted from the outside of his rear legs near the ankle joint going up towards the knee. They reminded her of a bird’s tail feathers, and probably functioned similarly in terms of improving his maneuverability and control during flight.
New abilities have emerged! Silas has received the passive ability [Silent Flight]. Silas has received the active ability [High Speed Dive].
You have gained access to the new bond abilities [Ghost Walk] and [High Speed Strike]. Changes have been made to your status page.
Samantha pulled up the changed portions of Silas’s profile.
Silas - Soaring Lunar Wolpertinger
Rank 5 - Mid
Attributes:
Aptitude (Approximate Max Value):
Strength: 13 => 14
Average (18)
Agility: 23 => 27 => 31
Exceptional (32) => Heroic (37)
Endurance: 14 => 17 => 19
Average (18) => Exceptional (32)
Resilience: 11
Average (18) => Low (12)
Active Abilities:
Passive Abilities:
High Speed Dive
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Cost: 5 qi
Silent Flight
Offered Bond Abilities:
Bond Ability Points (BP) Remaining: 1
Ghost Walk (Rank 1)
[1 BP]
*Mongrel Bloodline
For every 1 qi point spent your footsteps will be completely silenced for 60 seconds. Secondary sounds from your movement will be unaffected.
High Speed Strike (Rank 1)
[1 BP]
*Mongrel Bloodline
Spend 5 qi points to significantly increase the speed of the next attack made within 1 second. For a split second upon impact, your base Resilience is significantly increased.
It seemed like the Soaring Lunar Wolpertinger branch evolution had a greater focus on Silas’s flying capabilities, and exchanged some of the raw attribute gains he received each rank up for a complete change in his body structure. The base Lunar Wolpertinger evolution increased his Agility and Endurance by 4, and his Strength and Resilience by 2 each rank-up, but didn’t give him as much room to grow through training. Over time, provided Silas remained diligent in improving himself, the aptitude changes would have more effect than the few lost points. She did have some reservations about his Resilience going back to a Low aptitude, but she hoped that his now-Heroic Agility would help him keep out of harm’s way.
As for his new abilities, she wouldn’t know anything for sure until he told her about them himself. Her best guess–based on what she had gotten as offered bond abilities–was that [High Speed Dive] would allow Silas to smash into enemies from above without injuring himself by increasing his Resilience on impact. [Silent Flight] probably made any sounds generated by Silas’s flying, like flapping from his wings, silenced.
Silas let out another hiss of pain and she closed the profile. She moved closer to him so that her knee barely brushed against his back, trying her best to show her support without touching him in a way that caused him more hurt. It would likely be several hours before the transformation was completed, and there wasn’t much she could do to help him apart from being nearby. As much as it felt wrong to do, she resumed her cultivation so as not to waste the points she'd spent on the chamber. Silas had chosen this path for himself in order to get stronger. She needed to do her part as well.
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She could practically feel qi being sweat out of her very pores as she strained to pressurize her dantian enough to force the stubborn vapor to condense into mist. Another 30 days of struggling had come and gone, marking two months of near-continuous cultivation. The last couple of weeks had been especially taxing. The threshold of advancement had been dancing just out of her reach, taunting her. But, no longer. Today would be the day. She’d make sure of it.
She flexed every spiritual muscle she possessed, willing the vapor to gather together into larger and larger beads of power. She smashed the elusive energy against the inside of her Rebirth Core, drawing on the reserve of power from her liquid droplet to give it the final push it needed. For a split second, everything seemed to go quiet and still. Then, the inner turmoil she’d been fighting through melted away as an explosion of qi erupted outwards from the newly condensed qi. Her body convulsed as a cleansing wave of qi passed through her, searing away imperfections and burning away impurities in her physical form. She no longer felt like she was nearing her limits, and understood intrinsically that--if she so chose--she could push her body farther than ever before.
Finally, she received the message she’d truly been looking for.
Congratulations, you’ve advanced to Mid Bronze!
Your Rebirth Core has granted you +1 to Endurance and +0.5 to Resilience, and has raised your approximate maximum values by those amounts.
For being bonded to a spirit beast at the time of your advancement, +1 Bond Ability Point.
She pulled up her attributes to see the changes.
Attributes:
Aptitude (Approximate Max Value):
Strength: 19
Average (23 => 25)
Agility: 34
Extraordinary (41 => 46)
Endurance: 26 => 27
High (32 => 35 => 36)
Resilience: 18 => 18 (18.5)
Average (24 => 26 => 26 (26.5))
As excited as she was to see her attributes and approximate max values increase, the new bond ability point she’d earned was more interesting. With two unspent bond points, she could finally make her first selection for Rank 4 of [Jackalope of All Trades].