As Monty and Jack sat there eating their dense ration bar, thoughts raced around Jack’s head. He had been given a brief crash course with Turrel over the last week but most of his time was spent training. He knew Monty was at least Tier 10, meaning he had at least five traits or passive skills as every even Tier was granted one.

  He wasn't sure about the body enhancements but he assumed at least five as well? Monty’s skills must all be high tier as well, with what Jack could see on his own they would be modified or enhanced as they progressed as well.

  “Go on, ask your questions. I can see them bouncing around in your skull. You remind me of myself and I have always found I learn best if I stick to what works for me: Observe, understand and recreate. You have seen a lot more today, so ask what you need to so you can try to understand,” Monty said.

  Jack thought about Monty's words; it made sense and was very similar to how he recalled his learning in the past. Reading how to do one specific thing never helped him learn. He needed to know why, to get the fundamentals down and tinker until it made sense. Fundamentals it was; hopefully it wasn't rude to ask.

  “How many traits do you have? How many body enhancements as well? Do you only get those on the even Tiers? What Tier are your skills? How are you so strong?” Jack rattled off the questions as they came to his mind.

  “Woah, slow down. We really need to work on getting you to ask one question at a time. Umm... I have 6 traits. I won't go into them, and I suggest you be vague about yours in the future. You get one at the even Tiers and something additional happens at the tenth Tier.” Monty rubbed his face as he tried to recall the next questions.

  “Body enhancements are different but for simplicity's sake you get one at every Tier. What it is and what it does varies greatly so I will leave it there; you will see when you undergo the process. My skills are mostly all above the fifth tier, the highest is tier eight. They rank up independent of your body modification tier, but the tier upgrades can be modified or enhanced by your traits or body modifications.” Monty smiled as he thought about the answer to Jack’s last question.

  “I practised a lot, Jack. I was near suicidal in my early days and became borderline obsessed with gaining strength and obtaining riftshards. Add to that the enhanced lifespan from multiple body enhancements and the ability to constantly heal myself, I have had time to grow,” Monty said.

  Jack looked at Monty and noticed his smile seemed fake during his last words. He thought over everything and it was making more sense to him now. After his experience so far in this rift, he was also beginning to get a better understanding of why they had reacted the way they had to his amplification.

  Given the right circumstances and access to mana Monty was a one-man army, being able to bring Jack along and have that power anywhere given enough time was scary. This was before Jack had acquired any traits or enhanced his body. If he could increase his capacity and maintain his amplification rate. He thought the advice about keeping things to himself was sound.

  “Thanks, sorry if it was rude to ask. How do the creatures in here stand up to higher Tier rifts?” Jack asked.

  “Hmm, it varies, they are weaker but still dangerous. Higher Tier rifts generally have higher mana concentrations, meaning the monsters absorb more and can sometimes have more traits or abilities because of it. Higher chances of encountering evolved creatures like the one we saw, as well as there just being way more creatures and a wider variety.” Monty responded between bites of his ration bar.

  “So there's no, like, experience for how many creatures you kill? When they die, what happens to their bodies?” Jack asked.

  “No, well I mean you get combat experience, but no number that goes up. The creatures after a period of time revert to the mana that created them and it is recycled through the rift; eventually the rift may reform them or create a different creature.” Monty replied.

  “So should I be trying to attack some of the weaker creatures here? All I can do is shockwave,” Jack asked. Since putting the ring on he had noticed that some of the fear he had been feeling earlier may have either been amplified or not been his own. He was still scared; his life was on the line but he didn’t want to feel useless.

  “No, don’t worry Jack. You have proven you can act in the moment and follow instructions, even when you are scared. Any other training you could get here you could do in safety outside. You can observe and try to understand some of the skills I use for when we get back, but I will take care of it from here. Honestly, Life mana is not the best for direct combat use, I have adapted it to be able to use it effectively. Even I struggle slightly against swarming enemies like the rodents here, the closer to me you are the easier it is for me to deal with them in numbers.” Monty explained.

  “Now rest or do what you need to so you can settle your mind and we will move out soon,” Monty said.

  Jack nodded, thinking to himself. He could see how other frequencies could be more combat oriented. That being said, Monty was downplaying how impressive what he did was. Jack was dreaming of the things he wanted to try when he learned some of those skills, how quickly he grew the plants and made spears or roots do his bidding.

  He shook his head and instead pulled out the folder that Rummi had given him before he left. If he wasn’t going to contribute through combat he would at least try to find some rare loot on the journey. Jack wasn’t sure if the description came directly from the Origin or was something Rummi had put together herself but it was fairly detailed. Along with the descriptions was a collection of images of the objects in the natural environment and close up.

  [Dark Quartz (Raw)]

  Type: Crafting Material / Mana Source Rarity: Rare

  Traits: Mana Siphon, High Density Capacity Value: High

  Description: A naturally occurring crystalline structure formed in mana-dense environments with a Death or Void affinity. Unlike standard mana crystals which act as passive vessels, Dark Quartz possesses an active absorption capability.

  Effect: Siphons mana from the immediate environment or any organic matter it touches. Also has a much higher storage capacity than regular mana crystals.

  Uses: Primary component for Mana Drain enchantments and high-tier Mana Containment insulation.

  [Wraithcap Fungus (Raw)]

  Type: Alchemy Material / Consumable Rarity: Rare

  Traits: Potent Psychoactive, Highly addictive Value: Very High

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Description: A pale, translucent mushroom that grows primarily on decaying skeletal remains within high-density Death Mana zones. It emits a faint, silvery luminescence and feels cold to the touch. It is infamous for inducing a state of "living death" in the consumer.

  Effect: Upon consumption, it induces extremely vivid, dissociation-type hallucinations, often described as stepping into the "spirit realm." It completely severs pain receptors for the duration.

  Uses: Primary ingredient for high-tier narcotic Ghostwater.

  [Rigor Toadstool (Raw)]

  Type: Alchemy Material / Consumable Rarity: Uncommon

  Traits: Potent Paralytic, Poisonous Value: Medium

  Description: A squat, dense mushroom with a textured cap resembling grey stone. It is incredibly tough and difficult to harvest without crushing it. Naturally forms in areas of dense death mana.

  Effect: The toxins in the toadstool rapidly bind to muscle fibres upon contact with the bloodstream. It induces immediate, full-body rigidness. The victim remains fully conscious but physically immobile.

  Uses: Used to create weapon coatings and ingredients for high-grade paralytic traps.

  [Corpse-Cloud Puffball (Raw)]

  Type: Alchemy Material / Consumable Rarity: Rare

  Traits: Poisonous, Necrotic Spores Value: High

  Description: A large, spherical fungus that looks like bloated, discolored flesh. The outer membrane is extremely fragile. It grows in clusters where large concentrations of death mana have pooled.

  Effect: If the membrane is ruptured, it violently ejects a dense cloud of heavy, black spores over a wide radius. Inhalation or skin contact with the spores causes rapid necrosis (rotting) of organic tissue.

  Uses: Primary component for alchemical gas grenades, and poison coatings.

  Jack scanned the rarer ones and committed as much as he could to memory. He checked his bag and found the gloves, bags and extraction tools in a neat little kit as Rummi had mentioned in the documents. After reading some of the descriptions he wasn’t so sure if he wanted to try his hand at harvesting them anymore but made sure he had the option anyway.

  Left to his own thoughts afterwards he waited as he ate his rations and continued to purge, slowly filling the area with life mana. A few hours passed like this and the two men shared some occasional meaningless conversation before Monty pulled out a little disc-like device from his bag.

  “Okay, time to get back on track now I think. This should be able to do a quick scan of the rift and point us in the right direction. We are at a disadvantage if we go directly into the Rift Guardian's lair, your power and hence mine will work best if we have a safe spot to set up and prepare. Once the scan is done we will start heading towards the Riftcore and find a suitable place along the way.” Monty said as he pressed a number of dials on the disc and it opened out like a flower extending its petals.

  A small orb popped out of the centre of the disc and started to hover in the air. Monty then channeled life mana into the orb and Jack felt a rhythmic pulse of mana start to emanate from the device.

  “Soo, how likely is it that other creatures in the rift will sense this as well?” Jack asked as he slowly pressed his back up against the wall behind him again.

  “Pretty likely; that's why I did it here and after we had some time to charge the area.” He winked at Jack as he stood up again and took his sentinel position in the middle of the clearing and began to scan the area. Jack stared down at the device as it pulsed and zeroed in on his purging once more.

  After a long stressful few minutes the device stopped pulsing, lights flashed, and it started to spin. Monty took one last scan of the area and walked back to the device.

  “Maybe we cleared out most of the creatures in this area... or maybe your mana is putting them off. Interesting.” Monty pondered as he walked over and pressed down on the centre part of the disc.

  A holographic display popped up from the device, just like in all of the sci-fi movies Jack had seen, looking like a 3-D projection of the area, centred on their current location. Monty twisted a ring on the device and the projection zoomed out. He spun a different ring and the projection spun with it.

  “Hmmm, okay, this rift is bigger than I expected. Let’s see..” Monty said, continuing to twist dials and spin the image around. Jack barely had time to look at part of what it was displaying before it zoomed away.

  “Okay, there we are, that is the Riftcore, Jack. It is about a day-and-a-bit’s walk away. There looks to be a cluster of trees about a kilometre away that would be a good spot for us to set up.” Monty pointed to a large circular object in the projection. In comparison to everything else it was massive, Jack thought it might just be a scale thing but after seeing the mutated creature from before, he wasn't so sure.

  Monty started to pack his bag and put everything else away. He took the mapping device and attached it to a loop on his belt after he collapsed it back down.

  “The risk starts again when we start moving. Keep purging as we are moving. As long as there is a faint connection back to here I should be able to draw on it within a few kilometres. Once we pass that distance, I will likely draw it all into myself and purge what I can here. I will lose probably half of it by doing that so I will avoid it for as long as I can. Stay close, keep your eyes open for anything you want to collect and tap my shoulder if we need to stop. Otherwise, let's keep the talk to a minimum. Got it?” Monty asked.

  “Easy,” Jack replied as he nodded and prepared to follow Monty out into the dark. Now that he was wearing the ring the area looked more like it was a dark night and he could make out vague shapes in the distance, compared to the pitch black nothingness it was before.

  They set off and Jack followed closely behind Monty; he looked around as they were walking for the first few hours, trying to pick up any signs of the mushrooms or quartz but he had no luck. One time he thought he felt a slight suction-like pull on the death mana in a direction away from them that might have been a quartz deposit. He wasn’t interested enough to stop Monty to investigate when they were still so far from their destination.

  They stopped and Monty motioned for him to come closer.

  “Okay, it's been about four hours I think; we are going to take a quick break and I will pull our mana base here. Most of it will be lost but there should still be plenty.” Monty said as he turned and took a deep breath.

  As he did so Jack felt all the life mana in the area, everything he had purged as they walked and what he was currently purging rushed into Monty. He had a slight green glow about him for a second before Jack felt the area around them slowly fill with life mana again.

  Monty looked around and suddenly put his arm out, pushing Jack back behind him.

  “Shit, I should have expected that. Seems like we caught something's attention. Stay behind me and if anything gets past me, blast it. We should have a minute or two by the looks of it. No lupines but a lot of rodents. And I mean a lot.”

  He moved over to a half-rotted tree beside them and again multiple spear-like appendages grew out of it. He snapped each one off and placed them into the ground. He held one up and started to create his shotgun log again.

  Jack kept looking all around; he tried to calm himself and stayed behind Monty. He just had his breathing under control when he started to hear the sound of hundreds of tiny feet pounding through the damp rotted soil.

  Why did Monty have to jinx it by saying swarms were his weakness...