“We’re leaving.”

Keynes had a bad feeling about the visit of the two women. Bill’s reaction only supplemented his conviction.

Over the four months, Keynes and Vivena got bits and pieces of information about the tribe and they realised how startlingly little had been told to them. They were still high on the discovery of the Level 3 rift and the hidden doors. Neither Keynes nor Vivena paid much attention to the bigger picture and to where the tribe fitted within the World Reserve’s politics if there was such a thing. Keynes wasn’t interested in this while Vivena didn’t mention it.

As they left the grove, the night was in the full swing.

“Don’t you think that going to the Level 3 rift defeats the purpose? If they have bad intentions, they will find us there.”

“I’m not afraid of them,” Keynes explained. “I just … want to get back to delving a challenging rift. Plus, I have to level up.”

Vivena fixed her eyes on him but said nothing else. After they’d crossed over a kilometre of the savannah, Keynes suddenly stopped upon hearing Alice’s warning.

“They are already coming after us.”

Vivena didn’t wait and took her serum out of the pouch but didn’t inject it yet.

They waited.

A minute later, a platform with Bonolo and Hawthorne landed nearby.

“How did you detect them so early?” Vivena asked.

“Perks of being in the Elevated stage.”

Chief Bonolo and Hawthorne stepped off the platform and raised their hands, seeing the hostility in Keynes’s and Vivena’s postures as it was unlikely that they saw details in the moonlight.

“I need to speak to you, Keynes,” Chief Bonolo said.

There was no harm in talking. The chief had never been a bad host to Keynes or Vivena. It would be reasonable to hear him out.

Keep an eye on the vicinity, he said to Alice.

They still needed to be careful. Keynes’s ability to open the hidden door was unique as far as he knew. Many people would kill for it and it wouldn’t be the first time a good person made a terrible decision.

“Okay,” Keynes said, trying to sound neutral.

Both men relaxed and allowed their hands to drop.

“This isn’t about your ability to open the hidden door but it’s about the Level 3 rift you have discovered.”

So Bill was right. Keynes let the other man continue.

“My wife informed me that…” Chief Bonolo hesitated, looked to the side at Hawthorne who softly nodded, and only then did Chief Bonolo seem to make up his mind about his next words. “Other tribes aren’t happy that we have this rift only to ourselves.”

It was a potential issue with the Level 3 materials moving further away but it was inevitable. Keynes didn’t see a problem here. And he said so.

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“Tell us what you want, chief,” Vivena said, edging on being blunt which was unlike her. “It’s painfully obvious that you’re circling the subject. If you need our help, start talking.”

“Show some respect, girl,” Hawthorne grunted. “This isn’t your peer you’re speaking to, this is the Chief of the First Tribe.”

Vivena glanced at Hawthorne defiantly. During their delves, Hawthrone had revealed his Talent to be Beast Taming. He’d also gotten a few taming-related skills, techniques and items. He, like the chief, was Level 3. They weren’t a threat to Keynes and Vivena.

“Vivena’s right. They need to know,” Chief Bonolo admitted. “It’s more than tribes that want the rift. It is also the Capital.”

“The Capital? Do you mean the people who run the show?” Vivena asked while Keynes mused about the relevance between the location of the rift in the south and this capital.

“It’s more complicated than that. Our relationship with the Capital is… well, odd. The World Reserve is home to thousands of small tribes. It’s always been. But, at the same time, the Capital has always been here too. Most tribes live their lives in isolation and rarely trade or communicate unless required by the tribal customs and laws. On the other hand, a few tribes have a deeper connection to the Capital through the royal line. My wife is the eleventh daughter of the current ruler. It elevates our status making our tribe a bit different but still a tribe.

“Until now, every conflict and argument between tribes was resolved through the Covenant of Tribes. The most important rule of the covenant was that only tribes took part in it. The Capital has always remained neutral. But this time they want the rift to themselves.”

Politics. That’s something for Vivena.

Keynes lost interest in whatever the chief was about to propose.

“What’s a big deal?” Vivena asked, mildly curious.

“Tribes won’t like it. We have been honouring our arrangements with the Capital over the years because they have stayed neutral, projecting a perception of a peacemaker. If they enter the Covenant of Tribes, they’ll destroy that perception, destabilising the centuries-long peace.”

“I don’t see what you expect from us,” Vivena said truthfully and Keynes agreed with her. “It looks like the royal family has become greedy.”

“Be careful how you speak about the royal family,” Hawthorne warned her. It earned Hawthrone a glare from the usually soft-mannered chief.

“Don’t mind him,” he told Vivena. “What I need is Keynes to join the Covenant of Tribes.”

“No,” Keynes replied without thinking. “I am not interested in politics.”

Chief Bonolo seemed confused by Keynes’s words. Hawthrone realised their mistake first.

“They don’t know what the Covenant of Tribes is.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. The Covenant of Tribes has nothing to do with politics. It is a tool for settling disputes and arguments. In other words, it is a race.”

“Again, no,” Keynes replied. “Not interest—”

A vision of fire and death flashed before his eyes. A world that crumbled, destroyed by hatred. No, no, no. Are you kidding me? Wh—ah, of course. I see. The rift in the south. It seems this is the only way to get there. It only multiplied Keynes’s questions and confusion.

Keynes shook the vision off.

“Tell me everything.”

“Keynes, you aren’t considering this, are you? They’re trying to use you. Their race is nothing but a trap. This isn’t our issue, we don’t owe them anything.”

How could he explain his decision to her? Telling Vivena about the vision and Shaper’s part in it wasn’t possible as he was bound by the ritual of secrecy. What else he could say that made his words sound reasonable? Greed? More secrets to uncover? Death wish? The list was rather short, especially in the face of going against the Capital and its royals. Chief Bonolo didn’t possess anything Keynes needed.

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“We will give you all our knowledge, training, items and rift’s essence,” Chief Bonolo said, hoping to convince Keynes.

“Why Keynes though? Why not Pandora or Haruka?” Or you, Vivena?

Did they even know about Vivena’s poison serum? Haruka and Bill knew but it was becoming obvious that neither man had shared it with their fathers. Unless, there’s a second bottom to this and strength isn’t what they are after.

“They are not allowed to take part in the race,” Chief Bonolo explained. “That is one rule the Capital wouldn’t violate because it’d make their position in the race disadvantageous. Most tribes have started to invest in their young royals and they are on average stronger than the rest of the tribesmen. But Keynes is more than any person I’ve heard of. Being a Perfect Ascender and in the Elevated stage is beyond anything even the Capital can match.”

Vivena’s aura control slipped, betraying her emotional turmoil. She felt conflicted about it. Why Keynes couldn’t tell.

“I will need more than that,” Keynes said. “Also, why do you care so much, chief? What’s wrong with the Capital winning the race? Aren’t you technically a part of the royal family now?”

“That’s most likely because of it,” Vivena added. “My father’s siblings are his fiercest rivals. Family’s politics is the worst.”

“That isn’t the reason why I wish to see the Capital lose. I’m happy to share the rift with others but that isn’t what the Capital wants. The bloodshed must be stopped.”

Vivena got her aura under control and asked Keynes to reject the offer again. She quickly grew frustrated when he didn’t listen to her. Even without the vision, he was compelled by the sense of competition. That would be the first time.

“How much time until the race?” Keynes pretended he needed more time to think it over.

“A month.”

“Alright, I will think about it while I delve the Level 3 rift.”

***

Keynes and Vivena returned to the Level 3 rift the next day. Hawthorne accompanied them and answered their questions about the Covenant of Tribes. They had to be careful, the news about the covenant was meant to be kept secret which added to Vivena’s exasperation. She didn’t like the whole situation and tried to convince Keynes that it was a trap. It was just a race. Even if Keynes lost the race, he didn’t care. Anyway, he had other things to worry about now.

With only one month to go, the Level 3 rift would provide him with around 75% of the essence required to level up. The attribute max-out penalty was cruel. It diminished Keynes’s essence gains by 70%.

In the case of the Level 3 rift, Keynes was only awarded about 1.2% per instance with up to 4 people. The uncommon rift provided 2% of level progression. On top of that, there were two bonuses:

* 50% for the variable type which translated to 1% of level progression (before penalty).

* 50% for the rift being a Level higher than an ascender which also translated to 1% of level progression (before penalty).

The boss instances doubled essence but for the uncommon rift, they were every 18 instances. It still wasn’t going to be enough. Hunting monsters outside the rift was out of the question, so Keynes was forced to circle between the tribe’s other rifts and the Level 3 rift.

During that time Keynes discussed with Hawthorne the makeup of the race track. Keynes’s initial assumption that he’d use [Flight] to beat the competition was shattered when Hawthorne revealed to him that the track was underground and it was full of traps and dangers. There was more to this race than the chief and Hawthorne had given out. Keynes’s initial reaction was to tell them no there and then. Vivena was right.

Only it didn’t change anything. Luckily, no one knew Keynes’s true mind.

Keynes of course pressed for more information about the danger. Hawthorne assured him that dying was unlikely and in Keynes’s case almost impossible.

Vivena didn’t share his optimism and after their tenth argument about the race, she stopped speaking to Keynes. She still delved the Level 3 rift with him, Haruka and Pandora but usually left right after clearing it off. What also surprised him, was her decision to postpone the levelling up to Level 5 in favour of gaining another spiritual stage.

Keynes didn’t know how well she fared in that regard.

One thing surprised him though and it didn’t come from Vivena but Pandora.

“You can’t fight,” Pandora said after her first sparring with Keynes. There was a clear distinction between having and not having a fighting technique. While Pandora still struggled with the monsters inside the rift, she defeated Keynes one on one. He understood what it meant to possess a technique as the word ‘technique’ didn’t tell the whole story. A technique was not only a pattern of movements but also knowledge. Nonetheless, there was a drawback of assimilating techniques rather than learning them the hard way. In the former, an ascender gained knowledge of how to fight and even their body learned to apply the technique. The issue was with the body being not accustomed to the technique which could even harm the ascender. Keynes had found two techniques in his previous runs with Vivena, Bill and Hawthorne – Flight technique and Meditation technique.

While the flight technique gave Keynes a comprehensive understanding of flight patterns, manoeuvres and many things related to how the skill used mana and how Keynes could manipulate it, it did nothing to prepare Keynes’s body for the stress associated with using some elements of the flight technique.

He learned the painful way how strenuous flight at high speed was and that a sudden deceleration caused his HP to drop.

The meditation technique wasn’t as dangerous but it also required patience and a body that could stay still for hours, and that wasn’t an easy feat.

It was something to remember in the future.

Pandora told him the same thing. Someone in her tribe also found a lesser fighting technique and learned how hard on the body it was to use it at its full potential.

“I can learn.” That was right. Keynes had the Enhanced Learning buff. God knew where it came from but it was there and it seemed to make a difference. For example, Pandora still struggled with maxing out her attributes as if it was some mystical art while Keynes hadn’t found it to be this hard. She didn’t omit to tell this to his face once every hour.

On the other hand, Keynes inquired about her Perfect Orb. She ignored his questions and he wondered why she was so reluctant to speak about this.

Keynes learned Pandora’s fighting technique but, at the same time, he realised that there was something unappealing about fighting other people. He enjoyed fighting monsters a lot, but his every fight with Pandora made him realise that it lacked something. Pandora noticed it too and asked him while they were training in one of the nicer rifts, with a sandy beach.

“If you aren’t a fighter, what are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Which word didn’t you understand?” she replied in her rough fashion.

“I mean--”

“Oh, give it a rest ,” she snapped. “For a Perfect Ascender you can be freakishly clueless. It’s annoying.”

Keynes didn’t comment on her outburst. By now he was barely paying attention to them. It took Pandora a few seconds to cool down.

“Haven’t you noticed how spells and techniques change everything?”

“I have,” Keynes replied.

“So who do you want to be? It’s obvious that you don’t enjoy our sparrings and I assure you, you haven’t tasted what I am truly capable of when I use my Talent. But there must be something you like doing?”

“I haven’t thought about this.”

“Hm. Aren’t you into gardening?”

“A little, yes. But I don’t see myself as a full-time gardener. It’s more of a hobby. I’d rather play it by the ear.”

Keynes’s reply seemed to frustrate her. Wasn’t this what she meant?

“Listen.” Pandora shook her head. “Look at your friend Vivena. She got a lot of items and spells with poison affinity. That [Poison Needle] of hers makes her good at dealing damage from distance. Now, when she combines it with [Poison Aura] she doesn’t need any weapons to fight. Most monsters die just by getting too close to her for too long. Does that ring any bells?”

It was Keynes’s turn to shake head.

Master, I understand what she is trying to say, Alice said.

It’s fine, Alice, I think I get it too but I have to say that I’m intrigued by her reasoning.

Pandora sighed.

“Unbelievable. How you have gotten so far is beyond me.” She fell silent for a moment, thinking about something. “Look at this from your perspective. You have a very strong aura. Stronger even than your poison friend. If you get an aura skill, you could fight exclusively with your aura. On the other hand, if you’re into gardening, you may use plant-related spells not only to cultivate your garden but also to fight. Haven’t that crossed your mind?”

This was quite insightful. Keynes remembered that Windsor Freeman used [Fire Aura] altogether with some other fire spells. Keynes could use his spiritual aura to fight but it wasn’t very efficient. His thoughts returned to [Chaos Aura] but he dismissed that option. That skill was too dangerous.

“I see what you mean, Pandora. I enjoy fighting monsters with any means I have at hand. Battling humans? Not so much. What about you?” In truth, he’d no idea how to answer her question. In some ways, it terrified him. In the vision, Esopp Earl became a personification of a god of cold while Wagner Zimmermann used a gigantic tree to fight in his stead. Columbus Curt’s powers were less pronounced but certainly within the same theme.

Who Keynes wanted to be? Or more precisely, what kind of magic did he wish to wield? Ice? Fire? Wind? Or maybe something more exotic?

He didn’t know.

“I enjoy fighting with my fists and I’ll take any skill and item that makes me stronger in that regard. That’s all.”

Keynes looked to where Haruka sat beneath a palm, eyes-closed, cultivating the essence with his Crown of Insight on his head. He was trying to enter the next spiritual stage.

How would Haruka answer this question? The other man didn’t have any obvious focus. Vivena had her poisons, Pandora her fists, even Bill had cooking. What Keynes and Haruka had? It was a question to ponder.

“Thanks for the sparring, Pandora,” Keynes said. “And the talk.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” she called after him. “I still hate you.”