After a quick bath and grabbing Steve some nighttime snacks, I retired to my room and started using my sugar glider companion as a particularly chatty and hungry rubber duck.

"Okay, so Katarina isn't really going to help us move things forward. Or probably really can't for a bit if she doesn't have liquid money or political power at the moment. I think Aleksandra Podlipa should have good connections in Pitola at least to help us figure out who the people were that tried to kill us on our trip back. Maybe she can help on other things too?"

I sighed dramatically and Steve imitated it. At feeling my mirth through our bond, he decided that deserved head scritches while I fed him instead of just talking to him.

I complied with my tyrant-to-be.

"Right, right, good point," I said in the same tone I used to talk to my ex's dog, pretending she said something deeply insightful I needed to consider instead of showing her stomach for belly rubs.

For some reason, this just works for thinking out loud. I think I like animals far more than people.

"So, we still need to talk to Ratmir about your circlet and the weird stuff going on with rifts suddenly going from normal to breaking. And we need to get potions, that's true too. We've got that supposedly easy delve tomorrow… yeah, that feels like enough things to do tomorrow but I want to go talk to Aleksandra too. I need to prevent an attempt on our lives while I'm here."

I got up and paced to Steve's indignant chirp. "So tomorrow, the plan is go pick up your backpack, delve, then talk to Ratmir. I want to check in with Gabor about the investigation into the Milica assassination plot too. And then Aleksandra for the Pitola shenanigans."

"Oh yeah, your essence affinity change is tomorrow night too. Big day. Damn…"

[Task Deleted: Figure out how to get more information on second assassination/kidnapping attempt; ask Melandra and Aleksandra Podlipa about Pitola dynamics]

[Task Added: Figure out how to get more information on second assassination/kidnapping attempt by asking Aleksandra Podlipa about Pitola dynamics]

***

I met the rest of The Order of the Ever-Consuming Glider minus Vidas downstairs a bit after first light.

Inara was now the full-time leader and shot caller for the group as Romie wasn't the most talkative and Pavel was too close to the action to call out changes normally and hated leading outside of battle.

I wonder where Vidas is staying and if he's even in town. Don't much care as long as he stays out of our way though.

The rift was supposedly the easiest near Velez and they kept it low on essence on purpose to allow Tier 1.0-1.1 people to train and hone their skills while generating a bit of coin for the city. It was how someone like Milda had her Cores Ignited at thirteen and was Tier 2 by fifteen: rifts like these provided a way to advance moderately quickly for those who wanted to take it and were willing to borrow gold to do so.

Inara got all our attention over Vana's lovely breakfast. "I've sent you all a lot of videos of this rift but really, it's a single enemy and they are slow. They hit hard but telegraph their punches. Ugly as sin and no one wants the meat so this is just a full clear for us to get used to each other in this new iteration. We'll start with single monsters and use our regular weapons but I got us some blunted ones for upping the difficulty and training coordination. We've got a few potions but DO NOT make us use them." Inara gave us the order to meet at the gate for the 30 minute run to the rift in a little over an hour, giving me enough time to go collect my backpack bathysphere for Steve.

As we arrived at the rift, the tear in space glowing very dully like it was barely holding on to existence, a man was waiting holding a clipboard and sporting a bored expression. He looked like a simple low-level bureaucrat, utterly nondescript.

Or starting IT workers before the furry colleagues get their claws into them.

Without looking up, he spoke in a monotone. "Greetings. This is a restricted rift and is not open to the public currently. Please either book an appointment through a guild or a direct request to the Council. Thank you." He said the last like it was a complete dismissal, final and with no recourse for dissent.

"Yeah, we have a booked delve for <10 minutes> from now. Don't you have your schedule?" Inara was giving the guy some deserved grief with her tone but he didn't seem to notice.

"No, I have a children's group coming. The Gluttonous Glider or something." He glanced up briefly and rolled his eyes after looking at us. "Are you really trying to tell me that a professional team is named that?" He scoffed and went back to working on his tablet.

I winced and Inara did too but apparently for different reasons. "Ugh, should we have gone with The Gluttonous Gliders? That sounds pretty cool. And then we show up with Steve looking all trim and fit and everyone is confused. But nah, I think alliteration rules but Ever-Consuming is just so much more ominous." She was apparently talking only to herself and Pavel rolled his eyes while Romie looked on with a slight smirk.

The man looked up. "Why are you still here? Wait, are you really— Ugh, grow up. You have to wait <7 minutes> for the instance to cycle. There are some kids who went in before you. I'll set a timer so wait for my tablet to beep before you enter." He pressed a few buttons and murmured loud enough for me to translate, "That way, I don't actually have to deal with you buffoons again."

We all chuckled at his cheek, mingling while going over our preparations one last time and checking our allocation bracelets. Romie had learned how to change the settings through a few hours of training with Ratmir so they were our technician. Since Romie, Inara, and Pavel were all peak of Tier 1, the allocation was mostly to Steve and me with a small percentage to the others for powering up skills and enchantments.

As the timer went off, we headed inside.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The rift was a dirt path lined closely with tall trees that swayed in a non-existent breeze. The path had rather sharp curves always alternating between right and left. Just beyond each curve, blocking visibility from the previous, was a large, two-armed and four-legged gorilla-like monster with the squished face of a pug.

Worst and weirdest centaur ever.

As Inara said, they really only punched and could definitely do damage but they made a loud mooing sound before they swung. And, just like the path through the rift, they alternated hands. They weren't exactly easy to kill but a full-powered swing from my morningstar seemed like it should do it based on Romie's calculations.

Steve popped up to the top of his backpack, his head poking up in a domed window of Tier 3 glass, sitting on a small seat. There were more glass domes mid backpack facing directly behind me and to the left and right as well as one at the base like a glass-bottomed boat. It looked bizarre but had a slow feeding system for snacks in addition to good views so Steve didn't seem to mind being cooped up in the slightest.

Pavel started fighting the first monster with his spear and took time to show exactly how they telegraphed moves so I could see the monster's attack style live.

I was up next and accidentally brained the beast before using it for training. I knew Risto and probably Jasna would be annoyed but it was still a bit funny to accidentally win instantly.

We spent the next hour slowly working on our teamwork and me reacting to callouts, including a few without my AAI, finishing the delve with a pittance of a lump of gold that added up to a bit less than two full gold pieces.

I split off to grab Jasna for my conversation with Ratmir as Tiesa had business in Zalano for the day.

***

The usually odd researcher – and coot – was acting more unhinged than normal when we showed up at his door.

"You! You knew and kept them from me! Why should I let that stand?" He was pointing at me wildly and pulled out chunks of his hair as we stood on the doorstep. Stubble slowly regrew from the new bald patches before my eyes and I remembered cultivators could get some weird powers.

Jasna pressed Ratmir back inside, motioning for me to follow. "Please explain. I am not sure why you are upset this time. What did Terry do?"

I rolled my eyes at her and she ignored me completely.

"He had six— Yes six! Six interesting items and didn't let me examine them! He sold them! I know, Milenka told me!" He was pacing back and forth and throwing small bits of carrot at me, which Steve happily tried to catch and eat.

"I didn't think she'd be able to tell you that with her guarantee," I said, non-plussed.

"She couldn't say much but she gloated. GLOATED! Didn't put in a no gloat cause, did you? Stupid! Always add a no gloat clause!" He spit to the side. "There are multiple objects I won't ever be able to analyze! And just where did you get six – six! – unique items? What are you holding out on me?" He came at me with a giant bowl, pointing it at my chest like it was a sword.

Jasna was at the ready but didn't do anything.

[Incoming Message from Jasna Zupan: This is your circus and he is your monkey. I considerably like this phrase you've taught me.]

I chuckled and then brought out the circlet. "We wanted you to be the only person to actually be able to test this. Did Milenka get to test any of the good items? No, she only got a few bad ones. We still have the three interesting ones."

"What!? You sold her some of them?!"

"Who else did you think bought them?" I asked before thinking it might upset him further.

It took us fifteen minutes to console Ratmir enough that he agreed to look at the circlet. We arranged for him to look at Tiesa's strength-enhancing wrestling belt and Jasna also acquiesced to an examination of her cape. She even hid throughout his dingy place, both before and after being spotted, to show him how it worked.

"Okay, okay, I don't have all day," he said, despite spending quite a bit of our time already. I handed him the circlet that supposedly increased mind cultivation in some way for the person who gave it essence. "Oh, this is interesting. Can you give me the exact details Milenka sent you?"

He examined it for another ten minutes, muttering the whole time. He proceeded to pull down a curtain where there were multiple monsters in cages, each with a silence enchantment based on their snarls not causing a peep. He pulled a howling one out and killed it with ease; the circlet lit up on his head. "Hmmm, interesting. Well, I have no idea the damage it will do to pathways but yes, I do think it could get a bond to a decent intelligence level. But it would probably cripple them."

"What if a bond had some special ability to not have that be an issue?" I asked, realizing too late I had already revealed too much.

Thus began another fifteen minutes of back-and-forth negotiation for the AAI-backed guarantee Ratmir would take in order for me to elaborate further.

"Yes, fine, you win. Now tell me why you asked that." Ratmir looked like he was simultaneously about to strangle and hug me in his anticipation. I sent him a copy of Steve's Innate Capability readout and he gave me a look that could kill.

"You hid this from me too!?"

"Uh, no. It's just not something you share," I said, getting annoyed.

"Well, then yes, I think this will be fine. Hard to know 100% until he reaches the peak of the Tier but I have an essence stone for him to test with." Ratmir went directly to a garbage can and reached down into what looked like a disgusting mess. His arm disappeared into the illusion and popped back out holding a slightly glowing stone about the size of a marble. "Okay, have him absorb from this and put some essence into the circlet."

It took a bit to first convince Steve to not try to eat the stone, then teach him how to absorb essence from the stone, then to channel a very small portion of his essence into the circlet.

Ratmir ran more tests for twenty minutes, nodding and talking to himself the entire time before crashing down with a whump. "Okay, you wanted to also talk about these rifts and the odd behavior. I have been collaborating with a number of my colleagues – well, more like chuckleheads than colleagues – across the area in a number of other cities. It seems mostly contained to the—"

"You didn't tell us if the circlet works or will harm Steve. We need that information," Jasna said and I was glad she did. I was too confused to even interrupt the wacky scientist.

"Oh, well yes. Have him direct some essence into it in a rift. He can keep the essence stone since that's about the only thing he'll get that matches his affinity."

"Until tonight," Jasna said before I could cut her off.

That set off another round of ranting and raving about not informing him about this incredible research opportunity on changing affinities and I gave him Melandra's contact info so he could go on and on at her instead.

"Yes, back to the rifts," I said, trying to focus him on what we needed.

He explained, in both no detail on many aspects and excruciating detail on others, that the sudden change in rift behavior was new to the last few weeks. It first started happening about ten days before I arrived so none of the people Ratmir was speaking with believed it had anything to do with me. The phenomenon of rifts suddenly going from not very full to breaking was mostly centered around the null zone, about 80% of incidents happening in the area.

I pressed further on what could be causing it and Ratmir explained that he – and "all the rest who aren't morons" – believed it was a man-made issue, that someone was testing something on rifts.

Luckily, it was only Tier 1 and the occasional Tier 2 rifts thus far as a Tier 3 rift break with no preparation was usually enough to destroy part of a town or even significantly damage a city if they didn't have enough strong guards on duty.

Completed Tasks

[Conversation with Ratmir to investigate the weird rift occurrences]

[Ask Ratmir about intelligence circlet]

[Task Added: Have Steve test circlet in a rift]

"So, do you have any idea who could be doing this?" I asked, confused who would spend the time and money on suddenly spiking a rift's essence.

"I've never seen anything like it. Doesn't feel natural. If I were a crackpot, I'd blame aliens," he said laughing.

Well, shit…

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