Keynes and Kora waited for another shot but didn’t come.

  “Intelligent monster?” Kora mused. “That’s new.”

  “Every five Levels, rifts pass a milestone. Each milestone imbues rifts with many different characteristics.”

  “Lem Solaris said this would start at Level 5,” Keynes said, recollecting his first conversation with the otherworldly being. “Level 5 rifts didn’t feel much harder than Level 4s.”

  “I have information about this,” the spacesuit said. “Would you like me to share it?”

  Keynes and Kora exchanged glances.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Lem Solaris was under the impression that this universe has Level 0 rifts, which would correctly put Level 5 rifts as a milestone but this is not the case for your universe where rifts start at Level 1 moving the milestone to Level 6.”

  That revelation stunned them on many levels. It appeared that Lem Solaris wasn’t omniscient and missed some fundamental things. Also, Level 0 rifts? That seemed impossible because Level 0 items had no spiritual energy.

  “So, in that case, we’ve been operating under an incorrect impression regarding Level 5s. Dangerous. Are there any other things Lem Solaris might have missed?”

  “None that I know of.”

  Keynes and Kora exchanged another look. Even without words, they shared the understanding. They charged into Level 6 with a conviction that it was going to be a slightly harder Level 5 rift. This wasn’t the case though. It appeared that Level 6 rifts were a whole different breed.

  “Alright, there is no point mulling this over,” Keynes said. “Won’t do us any good right now. So, that said, stay here I’ll deal with the pesky monster.”

  Not waiting for Kora’s reaction, Keynes shot from behind the cover and activated [Spirit Form]. Initially, he’d wanted to the monster attack him a few more times to better understand the nature of the spell but decided against it after the AI’s revelation about Lem Solaris’s mistake.

  Three steps away from the boulder, Kora joined Keynes.

  “No way I’ll stay behind the boulder,” Kora said and not sooner the next attack came. But Kora had activated [Empower] so she easily evaded the invisible shot. This attack gave them intel. The monster couldn’t detect Keynes while he was in [Spirit Form]. Technically, if Keynes had mana he could keep the spell active indefinitely but cost was too high unfortunately. I’d have to carry many mana containers with me… Well, that isn’t a bad idea actually.

  The duo—discounting Alice—continued toward the direction the attacks were coming from. Thanks to [Empower], Kora overtook Keynes and shot forward with ease. Keynes cursed, knowing he couldn’t compete with Kora on pure attributes ground while she was using that unfair skill.

  Ten seconds after they left the cover of the boulder, Keynes felt an explosion of spiritual energy and then a rush of essence.

  Shit, Kora already got the monster…

  Keynes reached the scene a few seconds later.

  Fuck.

  He wasn’t ready for what he found there.

  “How’s this possible?” he asked, watching the corpse of a man with a crushed face.

  “Humanoids are a normal part…” Keynes stopped listening to Alice’s explanation.

  [Target Mark] - a magical shot that marks the target… Marked the target for who?

  “FRESH BLOOD,”a creepy voice seemingly all around them said. “I CAN SMELL YOU EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE TRYING TO HIDE.”

  “Keynes?” Kora mouthed.

  A bloodthirsty presence spread. It was powerful and suffocating. Keynes’s blood reacted to it. His heart started to beat faster, his veins felt ready to burst. Passive effect of [Pure Body] stepped in and partially blocked the Blood Resonance debuff. Unfortunately, the passive component wasn’t strong enough to remove it completely.

  Keynes shrugged, shaking his head. Kora nodded, then made a gesture that showed a blast. She was about to use [Light Bomb]. Keynes dropped [Night Sight] and covered his eyes.

  A second later the world turned white. Keynes spread his spiritual aura, searching for their enemy. It was clearly hiding and despite its bloodthirst it appeared quite cunning.

  The monster tried to remain invisible to Keynes’s spiritual senses but [Light Bomb] overwhelmed the monster’s sight and its composure failed for a moment.

  There!

  “[Mana Shot],” Keynes whispered to himself and 50 mana points vanished. A shot of pure mana exploded toward the hiding monsters. A human-like grunt but essence didn’t flow, which meant the monster didn’t die.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Before Keynes’s sight fully recovered, Kora was already upon another humanoid monster. Just like the slave marksman, this one wore clothes, albeit far superior to the first humanoid; a posh-looking coat with long oversized sleeves and white shirt with ruffled neck. Its face resembled a male human face but was slightly deformed.

  It was also capable of speech. Keynes didn’t know it was possible.

  “INSOLENT FOOD,” It said in his ephemeral voice.

  Kora sent a punch into the humanoid in the face but it somehow managed to block it with its forearm. No, it wasn’t that. Kora’s fist didn’t actually touch the humanoid monster. Her fist stopped a centimetre from the monster’s arm. Unbothered, a fraction of a second later, she kicked, then punched again. A flurry of kicks and punches continued to meet an invisible wall even as the monster’s movements lagged behind Kora’s abnormal speed. There had to be a limit of how much the monster’s shield could withstand but Keynes wasn’t going to merely stay back and wait.

  He shot another [Mana shot], this one only with 20 mana points and got the monster in the leg. Whatever protected it from physical blows didn’t work on pure mana attacks. It also turned out that using skills while [Spirit Ghost] was active so Keynes’s skill wasn’t fool proof and revealed him to the monster.

  The humanoid turned toward Keynes and extended its hand, but that was also the moment its protection gave out and Kora managed to land a solid blow to its face. It was thrown several metres away. Kora went for a kill but an invisible shot came from the side and she was forced to duck.

  “Another slave marksman?” Keynes murmured.

  Yes. There are other monsters converging on your location, Alice said through their bond. Keynes relayed the message to Kora.

  Her answer was a conjured spear that pierced the humanoid right in the head. The essence hit them a moment later. A lot of essence. These freaking humanoids were packed with essence.

  Keynes read the monster’s info. So this Blood Clan was what gave the rift blood affinity. Strange how it worked. But the issue of rift affinities was a problem for another day. They needed to clear this rift first.

  This time, the magical shots came from two different directions at roughly the same time, which meant there were two marksman slaves. Keynes also assumed that the lesser members would also lurk around, though he couldn’t be sure as Alice wasn’t able to sense them. However, she said that other types of monsters were coming together with the slaves.

  Keynes and Kora split, both going after the marksman slave each. These humanoid monsters didn’t seem as dangerous as they initially thought. The magical shots only paralysed the target causing no damage. It was annoying but not something Keynes or Kora couldn’t deal with.

  Because of [Spirit Ghost] both slaves targeted Kora as Keynes remained invisible to them. He wondered at what Level, monsters would stop solely relying on spiritual sight.

  Ten seconds later Keynes reached the first marksman slave. This one didn’t use the rock to redirect its shots. The slave stood straight like a proper human, its arm extended in Kora’s direction. Keynes felt the convergence of spiritual energy and mana inside the monster.

  For a moment, Keynes wanted to observe and analyse the monster, but there was Kora on another end of this and while she was more than capable of evading two magical shots, they hadn’t even reached the middle of the rift. They had to be careful with their mana.

  Without further delay, Keynes approached the marksman and struck its neck. It crumpled into a lifeless pile. The amount of essence was intoxicating and Keynes swiftly wrapped it around his spiritual core for later cultivation. From there, he moved further toward the castle. Far to the other side, Kora reached and killed the second marksman, but at least two lesser members of the blood clan were already on her. Or at least, the only two that revealed themselves because Keynes felt more than two pockets of spiritual energy. That wasn’t all.

  The other monsters mentioned by Alice made their appearance. Bats and wolves. They came in numbers but against [Empower]ed Kora they stood no chance, dying to a single punch or kick. The humanoids were harder to deal with, as they kept their distance, using some blood spells, which Kora kept dodging.

  I think she needs your help, Alice said and Keynes almost agreed with her but then he sensed something new, something dangerous.

  She’ll be fine, Keynes replied to Alice. So far, she didn’t bother using her Talent and that says a lot.

  Oh, you’re right, Alice said and her presence withdrew from their bond.

  The new presence washed over the area, pressing onto [Spirit Ghost] but the skill withstood the strong spiritual pressure.

  “I can smell your blood, ascender,” the voice said. It seemed to be all around Keynes. “I can’t see you, yet.”

  Gently, Keynes unfolded his spiritual senses, trying to locate the new monster. Though it seemed similar to the lesser member of the blood clan, its presence was far stronger.

  What the hell is wrong with this rift? Since when rifts have fodder mixed with a powerhouse like this? And I don’t believe it is anywhere near the strength of what awaits us in the castle.

  “Ooh. I think I know where you are,” It hissed into Keynes’s ear. Keynes whirled punching the spot where the face of the monster should be.

  There was nothing.

  Shit. It’s messing with my head.

  He checked the debuff status but showed nothing new, the blood resonance had already been gone with the death of the lesser member.

  Fuck it.

  Keynes blasted the area around him with his spiritual aura.

  “You-argh!”

  Like a rock, something fell from the sky, landing hard among the trees. Unfortunately, for Keynes, [Spirit Ghost] broke from the spiritual strain but it didn’t matter. His spiritual aura blast would be felt in an entire rift so hiding was not much of an option.

  At the spot where the object fell, a person was slowly rising. Where slaves and lesser members had humanoid features, this one looked very much like a man. His coat looked majestic and seemed to consume light. The golden sleeves were adorned with small, luminescent runes.

  The man had long black and lustre hair with pointed ears that stuck out. Its face was white but had a blue hue that seemed to match the full moon’s shine. When finally straightened, it towered over three metres high.

  Fuck. That’s a lot of question marks.

  It was the first time Keynes encountered a monster he couldn’t see information about.

  Alice, tell Kora to be careful, Keynes told Alice. This lord looks like trouble.

  What—oh, this monster is powerful! She said. I can feel his strength out here.

  It looked like trouble but trouble was a relative term. If Keynes wanted, he could kill it with [Chaos Aura] in a second or two. However, the issue was he didn’t want to be a one trick pony. He wanted to defeat this thing without his cheat-of-a-skill.

  “Bring it on,” Keynes taunted the monster, wondering if it was capable of understanding human speech.

  “Oh, I will, maggot,” the lord replied, demonstrating his ability to understand Keynes. It smiled, then a crystal-like dagger appeared in his hand he shot toward Keynes with a speed that left Keynes in shock.