I froze, my mind searching for everything I'd learned about rifts while in the Hidden Crystal Dungeon. Tears in reality led somewhere else, to different worlds. And here was one that the beetles were coming from.

What would claiming it do? More importantly, what would leaving it unclaimed do?

I wished I could ask Noseen about it, but I didn't have time to take a nap. Instead, I selected yes. My territory awareness increased, covering the open areas all the way to the rift.

[Lakeside Landing has leveled up.]

[Lakeside Landing has leveled up.]

I jerked back in surprise, but resisted opening the stat page for the territory. Instead, I slowly crept away from the rift, and then hiked back across the no-man's land to the others.

Lenna stood with her bow, ready to go, Dengu standing beside her. My father spoke with Mary, and Hammy was already gone.

"What'd you find?" asked Lenna, lowering her bow.

"A rift…"

"Strange," she said, jerking back. "Maybe a world with a ton of beetles? I wonder how stable the rift is, and if we can explore it."

"Well, I claimed the rift for the settlement, though I'm not sure what that did. I need to ask Noseen next time I see him." I almost chuckled at Lenna's expression when she mentioned going to explore the other world. She was really eager to get off-planet.

"Rift?" asked my father.

"Unstable portal that leads to a different world," I explained. "It's different from a teleportation portal, but I don't know how. Maybe because you can close these?" I shrugged my shoulders, having given all the info I had. Too bad I couldn't go back to the library.

"That's just…" He closed his mouth and shook his head.

"Frustrating," said Mary. "How do we stop them from coming through?"

"No clue." I shook my head and turned back to the dead beetle. While I didn't want to eat its heart, that Awareness skill might merge with my new awareness skill. The one that gave me info without asking, Perceptive Awareness. I flipped the beetle over and cut it open, trying to be careful around the hole from my spear.

Yet, cracking it open I only found more goo, and nothing like a heart. I got a little of the gunk on the backs of my hands, but ignored it, not wanting to waste the water in my inventory.

"I must have destroyed it when I killed it." I'd need to remember that if I wanted to harvest anything from future kills.

"Can you take a watch with Lenna until the next round of people come out of the dungeon?" asked my father.

I turned to Lenna, and she nodded.

"Yeah, no problem, though I'll only take out the strong ones…"

"Good, somehow I need to catch up to you," said Mary with a big grin.

I chuckled, opening my territory stats.

A new line appeared, indicating that I needed to designate a leader. I already knew what my plans were for that and picked Abby.

Territory - Lakeside Landing

Claimed by Alex

Leader: Abby

Level 5

Citizens: 15 (3 applied)

Benefits:

- Minor increase in recovery rate for citizens if they consume calories

- Minor increase in experience earned in the dungeon by citizens

- Minor increase in defense for citizens from Sanctuary

- Temporary increase to stats when citizens use rift

As I watched, the number of citizens went up by 3, Abby must have accepted them. I assumed it was the guys from the mine. Hopefully she'd keep everyone in line, especially if I planned to go back into the dungeon once this beetle problem was taken care of.

Lenna climbed up the empty tower that Hammy had abandoned, while I stayed next to Dengu and Mary.

After the first five minutes, I dropped my backpack on the ground and sat next to it. I pulled out the silver crystal from the dungeon and studied it.

"Is that another healing crystal?"

"Just a basic water crystal at the moment, though you can make them into healing crystals." I tilted it this way and that in the sunlight. "I'm going to make a smaller healing crystal, but I want to see what else I can do with this." Splitting the crystal in half took only seconds, and I got to work, not even noticing a beetle creeping out of the rift. Lenna took care of it.

"Hey, let me have something!"

I rolled my eyes and blocked them out.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

[You have created a healing crystal.]

That brought a smile to my face, and I set it off to one side. Having one out here where the fighting was made sense. Eventually, I'd put it near a tower, but for now I switched my focus to the regular water crystal.

This felt bad, but I wanted something to make it easier to clean myself. Was that even possible?

I dove inside the crystal, feeling the presence within as colder than normal, but not like frigid. It wanted to be helpful, it was just cold. Slowly, I pictured water washing away dirt, like waves lapping at the beach. It didn't understand. Confusion.

Then I tried picturing the waterfall from the dungeon, and how it cleaned the rocks.

It went silent. Then questioned.

I focused more on the cleaning of the rocks. Then I pictured my dirty hands, the goo from the beetles, and washing it away.

Still, it questioned, but then stilled.

[You have leveled Crystal Singing.]

[You have leveled Crystal Singing.]

A gush of energy left me, and I tilted forward before catching myself.

[You have created a fountain crystal.]

I blinked a few times, taking a deep breath, then stuffing myself with meat from my inventory. The amount of gopher meat I had, even while getting rid of half to buy this crystal, would last me a good amount of time. Once I felt a little less light-headed, I held the crystal up and used Insight.

[Fountain Crystal, you can convert energy into water.]

"Really?" I immediately tried to use it. Energy flowed out of me and then a trickle of water dribbled from the side of the crystal. I used it to clean the goo off the back of my hands.

"You are amazing…" I whispered to the crystal. It wasn't exactly what I'd wanted, but it was close. I'd need to figure out how to carry it, since I disliked using a backpack. Maybe someone could make me a fanny pack. For now, I molded it into a small version of a drinking horn, which fit into one hand, with a loop to attach it to my belt.

Finding ways to carry crystals was hard when I didn't want to add to the crystal chest plate I had under my armor. It didn't cover too much of my skin yet, and that was the easiest way I've found so far. Still, it wouldn't take long before it got cumbersome.

Mary dispatched another beetle.

It appeared a few kept coming out of the rift every couple of minutes, but not a wave like before. At least, not yet. At least this way it was a steady stream of experience for her.

"Look who it is," said Hawk.

I stood up, grabbing the healing crystal and my empty backpack. The backpack went into my inventory.

[Hawk, Hunter, Sharp Eye, Piercing Shot, Level 37, Prey, Friend.]

[Doc, Explosives Expert, Big Boom, Level 30, Prey, Friend.]

"Think fast," said Doc, tossing something at me.

I easily snatched it out of the air and held it up, using Insight almost automatically.

[Little Boom, explosive. Charge with energy.]

"Nice! Looks like you learned something in the dungeon."

"Not like little miss highest ranking human," said Hawk with a chuckle. "Hopefully, you've left some beetles for us to do our quests."

"I just finished mine," said Mary with a smirk. "Looks like you guys have some catching up to do."

"Mine, now," I said, before tossing it into my inventory crystal.

"Wait, you're going to use it?" asked Doc.

"If the right situation appears." I glanced at him with a frown, hoping it wouldn't just explode. "Why?"

"No, nothing's wrong," he pulled out a different one from nowhere, looking the happiest I'd seen him since I'd offered him moonshine "You can have this one as well. No one's willing to try them."

[Big Boom, major explosive. Charge with energy, step back. Farther back.]

"Thanks!" I took it and added it to my inventory, wondering what type of creature I'd use it on. I couldn't wait to see how it worked. Not to mention, it probably made a very big boom, given the name.

Hawk joined Lenna in her tower, though she climbed down soon after. Doc headed closer to the white line, then crossed it and started burying the explosives. He pulled a massive bag out of his inventory and got to work.

That was one way to deal with a wave of beetles. He focused on areas outside of the line coming directly out of the rift, for those who tried to veer off.

Part of me wanted to head back to the campsite and take a nap, while the other part of me didn't want to leave the rift. That itchy feeling continued, the one that had told me to check the area in the first place. My eyes went to the sky, and I wondered where the fliers were. They'd been higher level, picking off the bugs like easy food.

"Hey, Mary, what happened to the fliers?" I asked.

"Fliers?"

"Yeah, they were hunting the beetles, mostly level 40 and above."

She shook her head in confusion. "I haven't seen any, but Hammy and Hellion were the ones who found them coming from here."

I nodded, but didn't think it'd be worth it to leave the area yet.

Dengu slept under one tower, eyes shut and everything. I trotted in that direction and one eye opened at my approach, then closed. Lenna joined me as I sat down in the shade.

"How does it feel?"

"Powerful, like this is who I'm meant to be." After I said it, I realized it was true. I wished I could test more of my abilities out, but the beetles currently wandering randomly out here were too low level for me to practice on. The others needed those levels more.

[Lenna La Dengu, Ranger, Blazing Arrow, Level 43, Prey, Friend.]

[Dengu, Bonded Raptor, Sharp Talons, Level 45, Prey, Friend.]

"Are you or Dengu going to push to rank up?" I asked, catching sight of her level.

"Quest," said Dengu, lazily flicking his tail. "Gift."

"Ah." I leaned back, resting on Dengu's side, since he didn't seem to mind.

"I finished my fourth quest and just have my naming to do, but I'll wait till Dengu and I go back. Once that's done, I'll do the final push."

Both were so close to hitting level 50, though in my experience the last couple of levels were harder. The dungeon had pushed me over though.

"Something here feels off, but I don't know what…" I mumbled, watching Doc dig holes.

Lenna nodded in agreement, staring in the direction of the rift in the distance.

"Smells strange," added Dengu, even with his eyes closed.

"Exactly."

Nothing happened for the next bit. Everyone worked together to kill the random beetles that appeared. I rested my eyes, feeling bored and tired.

I felt itchy, but ignored it.

"Took you long enough," buzzed Noseen.

I jerked upright, finding myself still sitting under the tower, butt against a rock and not Dengu.

"Woah, that was sudden. Why do I itch?"

I felt Noseen use Insight on me as too many eyes suddenly stared right into my soul.

"What did you do?" He appeared, this time about the size of a large dog. Glitteringly black eyes gazed at me, and more wings than I could count buzzed behind him. Spiky black fur gleaming with an oily sheen covered the rest of him. The six legs with talons rested in the air, like he was hovering.

He moved closer. Staring.

"Shadowstalker. That's a new class. How?"

"I ate the devourer tooth and a Cloak of Shadows," I said, before explaining everything that was offered and how I'd chosen to try something new.

"That shouldn't be possible." He landed on the ground in front of me, going quiet. "You are still squishy, but less…"

"Thank you."

"Don't get used to it. You still need to grow."

"Of course," I said with a smirk, eying the giant bug.

"What did you think of my reward?" asked Noseen. "Amazing, right?"

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