Alex took the stairs two at a time, rubbing his fingers through his bedhead as he went. He didn’t think the Grants would mind his appearance and wanted to get downstairs to talk with them and support Sam if he needed it. The sound of raised voices could easily be heard as he took a left through the foyer and into the living room.

“You’re not going back there,” Mrs. Grant was insisting while pacing back and forth. “We nearly lost you once already.”

Alex cleared his throat, not wanting to catch anyone by surprise.

Three heads turned in his direction.

“Mr. Moore.” Sam’s father turned from where he stood in front of the seated teen. Alex noted the way he gripped his cane tighter. Despite the slight hunch of his shoulders and the grey creeping into his hair at the temples, there was nothing frail about the farmer. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes that spoke of a generally happy disposition were stretched with worry. “Can you explain why you’re planning to drag our son back into that death trap?”

“I understand your concerns and don’t want to sugarcoat any of this. The Rift is dangerous… but so is what’s coming for all of us.”

“What could possibly justify you taking—”

“Mom, I told you about the Continental Event,” Sam interrupted.

Alex could tell immediately that he was frustrated with his parents and attempting to remain calm.

“The sun elves will be level 60 to 90 when that Rift opens. If we don’t prepare, things are going to be bad. Worse than bad!” Sam said, his voice climbing.

“There are thousands of other Awakened, right?” Mrs. Grant pleaded. She had several strands escaping her messy bun, and her frame looked so small next to her seated son. “Why does it have to be you?”

Alex kept his voice steady. As much as he didn’t want to butt in, Sam looked like he was about to explode, which would only weaken any argument they had. “Because Sam is uniquely gifted. His healing abilities have already saved lives, including mine. You’ve seen that at the hospital. More importantly, though, he chose this path for himself. I’m not dragging him anywhere.”

Eric Grant’s face darkened. “He’s sixteen!”

“Dad! I told you already! I should be older than eighteen by now!”

“You said that aging doesn’t work the same. Your body is still—”

“Mom. We’ve talked about this too. More than once! We have no idea what the aging process looks like on our bodies now. Not just from the time dilation but from stats, too. I’m pretty easily going to live more than a hundred years, you’re not going to still call me old at 60 if it’s not even half of my life expectancy, are you?”

“Sam,” His father said while placing a hand over his face.

Mrs. Grant looked like she’d been slapped in the face, quite clearly being near or above sixty years of age herself.

But Sam continued to push ahead. “I’ve seen what these creatures can do. I’ve helped people who would have died without me being there… I need to go with them. I need to keep getting stronger and do what I can to help.”

Mr. Grant glanced at Alex as if needing confirmation, so he picked up from there. “The Rift does offer the chance for us all to grow more. With the time dilation, we can train and get a lot more done while there. Sam could gain months of progress in just a few weeks.”

“And what about us?” Mrs. Grant’s voice cracked as she clutched at the front of her shirt. “You just expect us to sit here and wonder if he’ll be coming back li—like last time?” Her voice cracked, and Alex couldn’t help but appreciate how much they cared for their son.

“Well, there are some big differences this time around. To start, we’ll be there with him.”

“I am starting to wonder about that…” the mother said with skepticism.

“Mom,” Sam groaned.

“Well, we came here because we thought it would be safe. Then, a week later, there are holes in both buildings!”

Alex took a deep breath. “Mrs. Grant. This is a crazy time that we’re moving into, not just in our lives here but around the entire world. I’m not forcing you or your son to be here, but I cannot stress this enough… I believe it’s safer here than almost anywhere else you’d be able to go.” He looked at her seriously. “I’m not saying that to scare you. But we’ve both been to the Safe Zones and seen how bad a state they’re in. I’ve also seen some of the areas surrounding it, and they’re even worse. If you want to find a place outside of the Safe Zone to live, you’re at risk of dealing with not just robbers but potential Rift breaks as well. For now, there just doesn’t seem to be a great alternative.

“This is one of the biggest reasons I do want you to be here, though. I told you both a few days ago that I want you to help me begin making this place more self-sufficient. Part of that will include hiring some more security and adventurers to guard the house. I have a meeting with a few people tomorrow. I don’t know if Sam shared this with you, but I also gained several titles that I think are going to lend a lot of power and credibility to my name.”

“How do you mean?” Mr. Grant asked.

“Well, in a few hours, I’m supposed to meet with the director of the Hunters Association. They control the Celestial Rift, and I hope we can join them there. If I had to guess, they’d be setting up a sort of central camp and sending in a lot of other Hunters to gain levels and train in there as well. We definitely won’t be alone. I wouldn’t say that I have a lot of pull with them, but we have some pretty great connections being built, and Sam is a part of that.”

While it was clear that the parents weren’t convinced, they were at least contemplating the idea with the new information. Alex decided to pull them off topic for a moment, as it was something that both of them seemed to get excited about previously.

“I’m not saying that this conversation has to be done, but I did actually want to speak with both of you. Even if Sam doesn’t come, I’ll be leaving in two days… er…” He scratched his head and checked his phone. Tomorrow. Sorry, the last few days have blurred together. So much has happened since we spoke last Saturday. I guess it’s technically Wednesday now that it’s two in the morning. So, I’ll be leaving on Thursday. I wanted to reapproach my proposal about hiring both of you. The idea would be to awaken you both and have you lead and manage the project for building greenhouses and managing the crop rotation. When I get back and have the time, I want to start getting this place more magically secure. That means defensive wards and looking into ways to enchant or empower the greenhouses.”

The Grants exchanged startled glances.

“You both came to me because you wanted to contribute. This is genuinely the best way I can think to do so. Even outside of what we develop here, you have the chance to pioneer a field that could help the Safe Zones and contribute to the threat that’s coming. Even if you don’t want to fight, this isn’t just about Sam. The entire continent is facing a threat that pretty much no one is prepared for at the moment.”

Sam stood from his seated position. “Mom, Dad… I need this. Not just to help Olivia or gain levels. But I need to go back there. I need to see if it’s different. I need to see how I’m different.

Silence stretched between them, and Mrs. Grant hugged her husband’s arm to her side.

“Bring him back,” Mr. Grant finally said. “You promise to bring him back in one piece?”

“I promise I’ll do everything I can to bring him back safely,” he said with a nod.

Sam’s shoulders relaxed.

“We’ll consider your offer,” Mrs. Grant said a bit more formally.

“That’s all I ask.”

Mr. Grant turned to study his son’s face. “When did you get so grown up?”

Sam gave a small smile. “When the world changed, Dad.”

The tension in the room eased a good amount, and Alex excused himself to give the family time together. As he left the room, he caught Sam’s grateful glance.

His feet dragged with each step as he went upstairs. He was surprised at how sore his body was from a few days of abuse, recognizing that Agility and Vitality could only do so much. When he reached his door, he paused and let out a sigh.

Shaking his head, Alex turned around and walked to his office door. There were too many things to get done and not enough time.

Sleep’s a waste of time. I need to look through those body tempering—

All planning ceased as he opened the door and remembered the gaping hole in the wall where his desk should be.

Great. Just great.

He groaned and looked to his left, and found a sleepy dragon curled up in his tree. Holding onto the door handle, he looked behind him and quickly decided not to return downstairs. Instead, he walked to the bookshelf and realized that the only books that were present were mundane books on leadership and philosophy he’d ordered.

Deciding his workshop was likely the best place to continue his planning, he looked once more at the door before walking to the jagged opening in his office wall.

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He looked down and stepped off with confidence. He activated [Feather St—

Alex fell through the air, pain lancing through his mana channels as he fell into the bushes.

“Mother f—” He rolled to the side and out of the bushes. Somehow, the thin branches were just strong enough to prevent him from actually being able to touch the ground. As he cleared the bush, he landed on both feet, looked up with a glare, and continued to walk around the side of the building. The night air was crisp, and he pulled his sweatshirt around himself a bit tighter while stifling several curses.

He saw a figure’s silhouette in the night, standing in wait near the workshop. If the posture were any different, he might have taken a defensive stance. But it was clear who waited for him even at a glance.

“Jesus, Edwin. That trait is a bit freaky sometimes.”

“I thought these might be of use, Master Moore.”

Alex accepted the offered steaming mug and leather-bound book. He noted it was the body tempering manual.

“Freaky. Do you ever sleep?”

“I wouldn’t need to be awake to provide service, sir, if you ever decided to do so yourself,” Edwin replied. His proper tone wasn’t quite hiding the tired amusement in his eyes, though.

“Point taken. Go get some sleep, Edwin. Thanks for this.”

Once inside the small building, Alex was pleased to note that the repair on this

broken wall was at least partially complete. It could keep out the night’s chill, but still wasn’t enough to stop him from contemplating pushing through the pain of laying a heating ritual down. Instead, he wrapped his fingers around the mug and blew on the liquid before cracking open the book.

Without warning, his Status Screen flashed into view, startling him. He hadn’t summoned it, but at the thought, he realized that the other half of his mind had.

He opened the line between them, allowing himself to process the memories there and what was currently happening. He realized Maelis had very awkwardly asked to see his Status. The spirit remained oddly quiet now, though.

Then, he exploded.

“What in Istrael’s lopsided ti—”

“Maelis? What’s wrong?”

“Your Willpower stat is… that isn’t possible.”

“You knew it was high, what are you talking about?” Alex replied to the empty room. “I told you before.”

“High? HIGH?” The spirit sputtered. “This isn’t ‘high,’ brat. This is freakish. No one in D Rank should have Willpower like this. No one! You’re an absolute freak.”

Alex frowned. “Well, now. That’s just hurtful. Wait… Istrael?” Something teased at the edge of Alex’s mind. He knew he’d heard the name before and let his mind split again to figure out where it had come from.

“Just how… I’ve known System users for centuries. I’ve been one. This isn’t normal. What ARE you?”

“Okay, again. Ouch? It comes from my Trait. What are you so confused about? I had another mentor who was B-Rank, who knew some things about the System; they didn’t react like this. It makes Willpower a weighted stat and multiplies everything by three.”

“Kid, if I were in a body, I’d faint. You have absolutely no idea how ridiculous that is. There’s no way that your body is able to utilize this much Willpower, even in D Rank. Honestly, that’s probably a good thing. You’d start experiencing side effects and probably not have the intellect to keep up with the speed of your mind. We’re going to have to find a way to patch this up for you soon. It’s not optional.”

“Well, shit.” At that moment, Alex’s other mind connected the dots from where he’d heard the name Istrael. It was from a single System prompt that appeared. “Overseer Istrael,” he whispered.

“What did you say?”

“Overseer Istrael,” he said louder. “That’s what the System said when I combined my two skills. It said it was going to take me to Overseer Istrael for final judgment, and then it’s just… hazy. I remember the System going through some options on how to handle me, then a list of options for compensation. That’s when I got you. Then again, more recently, the event announcement said it was directly from the Overseer.”

“Kid… what in the hell have you been doing on this backwater planet?”

“Why are you sounding so surprised by all of this?!” Alex threw his hands in the air and spun away from his table in frustration. “I told you this too when we met!”

“You said the System took your skill and gave you an item, not that it took you to the Overseer and stripped your skill from you because you broke the integration parameters. How did you not mention this?”

“You mean in all of our heartfelt talks about our personal lives? You really have such personable conversation habits, sometimes it’s just hard for me not to over-share,” he said. Each word dripped with as much sarcasm as he could pump into it.

“Okay, okay. Point taken. Look, it can’t have taken you to see the Overseer. They’re literally Gods. It would smush your aura like a bug. You’d definitely not forget it.”

“My aura?” Alex sat up a bit straighter. “Wait… Sarah can see auras. She mentioned that mine had a crack in it after the incident. I just assumed that it was from the System taking the skill from me. Would it be from being near the Overseer?”

There was a long pause before Maelis responded. “All right, brat. Focus on your little ritual book, and let me chat with your smarter half, and we’ll dive into everything you’ve been doing while the amulet is still so charged.”

Alex grumbled about both halves of his mind being the same and refocused on his surroundings. He turned and flipped through the leather-bound manual that Eura had gifted him. He felt his chest tighten again as he thought of the celestial mentor.

Clenching his jaw, he flipped through the pages until he found the section titled “Channel Tempering Rituals.” Most of the pages in the book were worn at the edges and showed constant use and great care over the years.

Muttering to himself, he ran his finger across a drawing of interconnected lines that formed a complex ritual. Two circles were layered on top of one another and had interwoven curved lines that reminded him of branching rivers or veins. Somehow, none of the arching lines crossed one another, giving it all a very symmetrical look.

He scanned the ingredients list below the sketch of a man in a seated position.

*Required Materials:*

Crystal Lotus Pollen (2 grams) - Assists in purifying channels and stimulating increased flow

Powdered Azure Mushroom Cap (3 tablespoons) - Increases channel resiliency and elasticity

River Pearl Dust (10 grams) - Smooths pathways

D-Rank Mana Stones (Minimum 12) - Power source and binding reagent

Alex removed his leather notebook from his spatial ring and began to sketch the circular pattern after jotting down the list. The individual circles weren’t overly complex, especially not compared to some of the modified circles he’d been making for his spell circles. Where this did get trickier for him was the concept of layering the rituals.

He finished sketching the design and let a small smile slip onto his face. If nothing else, he’d refuse to lose his love of drawing in this crazy new life.

The ritual design had a larger center node than he’d seen in any other schematic. It reminded him of a lattice-work donut. According to the instructions, the hole in the center was where he was meant to sit during the body tempering, and the twelve pathways of arching lines from all ended in small nodes at the outer edge of the ritual.

‘The provided qi-rich minerals will be placed within these twelve points to increase the yin energy around the cultivator. This allows the ritual to draw in and absorb the qi throughout the tempering process.’

There were more notes on how to prepare the necessary materials, and he was surprised to see that most of what was needed could be achieved with just a knife or a sharp blade. Extracting the pollen seemed the most in-depth, but even that came with small sketches and notes.

He also took more notes on the steps listed in the manual: sit in the center, meditate while directing mana flow through channels with maximum control, minimum duration four hours, pain expected, cannot stop once started.

There were several notes about the dangers involved in the tempering rituals. The one he’d picked seemed to actually be one of the least dangerous options. Where others spoke of certain death upon failure, his merely mentioned a “destroyed cultivation.”

He felt like he could remember several of the materials required coming from the Celestial Rift, though he didn’t want to get his hopes up. At the very least, he remembered Eura talking about a Crystal Lotus in his garden, and he’d seen many various mushrooms in the tunnels below ground. The other two things might be reagents that Edwin could find.

At least I know how to get the D rank mana stones. That’ll just be a matter of time and fighting the creatures of the Night… which is the plan anyway.

He couldn’t help but think of how much harder that would be with his currently injured channels, but found that he wasn’t too worried about it. Pain was something he could push through.

Outside, the sky began to lighten imperceptibly. The morning was approaching fast, and with it, his meeting with the Director. Alex closed the book and tucked his notes away before walking back to the house.

He crossed the yard back to the house, stowing his notebook and the ritual manual in his ring. He walked through the courtyard and into the living room. Swiping his laptop off the table as he passed, he opened it and sat down on the couch. The clock on the locked screen showed 6:52 AM, and Sarah had scheduled his call for seven.

He rolled his shoulders and tried to ease the tension he was feeling before dialing the number a few minutes early. To his surprise, the call connected almost immediately.

“Mr. Moore. You’re prompt.” Director Matthews appeared on the screen. His silver-streaked hair was immaculately combed back, and Alex once again noted his fit appearance despite his older age. His office backdrop resembled a mix between a military command center and a display of past excellence.

“Appreciate you making the time, Director.”

“Certainly.” Matthews nodded in response. “I believe Sarah informed you about the Hunters Association’s acquisition of Guild territory and the D-Rank Rift that they had? I hope these moves don’t strain the relationship we’ve begun to build, but with Rylan’s recent developments, we can’t let them continue to build like they had been.”

“She did tell me, and no, it won’t cause any strain. I left the Guild at the same time we brought the sun elves to your attention through Sarah. I was calling to actually discuss my team’s access to the Rift.”

“I thought that’s what this call would be about. I had the memo sent to Ms. Lee’s tablet for that reason. Since you’re the Integration Champion, I believe allowing your team access serves our mutual interests.”

Alex willed himself to keep his face still. “That’s… more accommodating than I expected. Also, it’s a System-granted title… not a position. I’m not going to be the planet’s protector here. You have to realize that.”

“I’m a pragmatist, Mr. Moore. Your performance against the sun elves proved your value not just to me, but to the whole continent. You did enough that the System decided to announce it to everyone, I feel like that says something, no?” He raised an eyebrow, but moved the conversation on. “The Continental Event requires as many capable Awakened as possible, and we need them to gain as much strength as they can. The time dilation of this Rift, and others like it, is going to be our greatest asset in the year to come.

The director folded his hands and continued. “Here are my terms. As you did on the previous mission, your team will operate as contractors. I’ll authorize four slots — I’m aware Ms. Santoro has already entered. You’ll be responsible for your team’s actions within. Under no circumstances can you attempt to close the Rift. Maximizing leveling for everyone on each rotation is our priority, and closing the Rift early could prove catastrophic for the coming Continent-Locked Event.

“That’s understandable.”

“The deal for your team will be the same as everyone else entering as a contractor. You’ll need to sign non-disclosure agreements and contribute two D-Rank mana stones per person before exiting. Consider it payment for services rendered and resources provided.” The director gestured to someone off-screen. “We’re building a base inside… really just a small town for the rotations that we send through. Some non-combat personnel will also cycle through, but we’re limiting those slots.”

“What’s the cycle you mentioned?”

“One month Standard Earth Time, which gives you eight months inside. No extensions for anyone. That should give us 12 full rotations of awakened leveling and growing strong enough to at least compete with the elves in the upcoming conflict.” Matthews checked his watch.

“Sir, we need to leave,” a feminine voice said from the director’s side of the connection.

“I need to go, Moore. But do you have any questions for me?”

Part of him wanted to ask more about the Guild, who all had been detained, and what Elana’s situation now was.

He pursed his lips in thought for the barest moment before answering. “Not at the moment. This all seems more than fair.”

“Good, I’ll have the paperwork sent to Ms. Lee later today. Sign your NDAs, and you’ll be assigned quarters when you arrive at the Rift. Come when you’re ready — teams have already begun to set up, and we’re working to remove the extra bodies that were already in the Rift.

“Great. Thank you, Director.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Mr. Moore. When that event timer finishes, we will need as many powerful people as possible working toward the same goal. It’s just going to be a damn shame if that goal is ‘survival.’” He offered a tense smile. “Looking forward to working with your team again. Get in there soon.”