The orange flaming tail swished back and forth, sliding against Ethan’s ear while he stood a few yards away from the rift. The cat was purring and even though he’d expected her to come down and examine the rift as well, she seemed content to hang around atop of his horns, purring up a storm, ever since he’d made the mistake of admitting he actually worried about her.

  “We’re here. You can get off now.”

  “[No.]”

  Ethan stared ahead at the paw dangling in front of his face and sighed, then looked past it.

  The rift hung ahead of him, crackling with wild energies. The air smelled like a mix of sea water and dead algae, oddly enough, which he assumed meant he was about to drop into the territory of the moss-covered lord. Or on a beach.

  Ethan took a step back and kneeled down to touch the still smoking lizardling-shaman, and for a moment, he looked past them and drew his lips in line before he pulled the Harvester’s dagger from the dimensional pouch. Or, more accurately, what remained of it.

  Stupid lizard, he thought as he turned over the deformed pommel, and eyed the broken edge. Ethan had swung by the area in which he fought Edwin’s group. Having thrown the dagger to the side in the heat of the fight and having had to scram when the tier-2 creature had shown up, he couldn’t stop and pick it up then but after having gone back, he quickly found it, at the edge of giant footprint left by the lord of the swamp.

  Oh well, at least I got both a new spell and a level out of the little adventure. Though I did end up using Scorching Ascendancy, which means I’ll have to be careful until it recharges.

  You have defeated [Human (I) - Level 50]

  …

  You have defeated [Lizardling (I) - Level 47]

  You have reached Level 52. 1 stat point awarded.

  With two stat points still unassigned, he put both in Toughness. Things had been close against Edwin and his team, and Ethan was pretty sure if he hadn’t been investing this heavily in the attribute, he wouldn’t have survived. All of those metallic shots, electric blasts, and stabs could have been much more severe if they’d managed to get through his Toughness. Even that blindness could have easily lasted a while longer. Probably.

  Next, Ethan had some fragments to spend and before doing so, he checked his interface to see if there were any upgrades he could afford on the Prime Arcanum.

  That’s… 13 Essence. Most of it from that one encounter.

  It hadn’t been as impressive as that odd state Ethan had channeled a few hours ago, but it was nearly as profitable.

  Just gotta keep running into danger. Easy enough.

  Ethan eyed the list of upgrades and hummed. He really didn’t have the time to dwell on his choices for too long, but he wished he had enough for the Form Bonus upgrade or for the Prime Echo, but both cost 20 and 50 Essence respectively, without accounting for fragments. In that case, the best he could do was grab an extra slot in the wand for capacity. After all, he had quite a handful of new spells he should be integrating in his arsenal.

  Prime Arcanum: [Capacity: Increase by 1 - 100 fragments, 10 Essence]

  It was a cheap upgrade all in all, so with the remaining fragments, he turned his attention to the Lesser Arcanum and paused. He didn’t need more capacity here, he had one free spot already, and it would be enough for what he had in mind. On the other hand, he was not too far off from another form bonus update. Less than 200 fragments, in fact, and he would get a sizable boost to the stats provided by the Arcanum.

  Alright, I’ll hold off on that, he thought as he began moving spells around and when he was done, he pulled both screens and confirmed everything was just like he wanted it.

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  Prime Arcanum of the Juggernaut:

  Spells: [Small Fireball]

  Spell Forms: [Mana Heart], [Sapping Scales]

  Lesser Arcanum of the Fire Elemental:

  Spells: [[Homing][Crystal Dart]]

  Spell Forms: [[Scorching][Extended][Draconic Claws]], [Draconic Wings]

  I won’t be able to cast the fireball from my claws anymore, but this will allow me to use the Prime wand’s effect of breaking the spells in the fireball’s path. As for the [Crystal Dart] and [Homing Projectile], they should be a surprise. And I’m due some real range anyway. Now the question is: Do I leave [Extended Enhancement] in or do I replace it with [Arc of Force]?

  As soon as he considered it, he knew he didn’t want to take it out. It was too valuable against large monsters, and even though he hadn’t used it against Edwin and his troupe, the surprise effect of his claws suddenly doubling in size would win him the fight. A range option was nice and all, but he had two range spells ready. Flexibility was nice and all, but his strengths and advantages were still the most impactful when he was up close and personal.

  Ethan rolled his shoulders and summoned the scales on his face and head, summoned the wings and claws, and grabbed the black and red form of the Prime wand as it popped out of thin air. Ember stopped purring and hopped down and before her feet touched the ground, her anklets were manifested. She looked up at him, eyes glowing. “[Ready?]”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Ethan took a step forward and reached forward to the white light. Before he even touched it, he felt world slip by around him in a flash of blue light, as if he’d just stepped on top of the fastest moving walkway in existence and as soon as it started, it stopped, and Ethan stumbled right as the bright daylight blared into his retina, quickly followed by the pungent scent of decomposing plant matter and stagnant water.

  Next, a prompt popped in front of him Ethan quickly parsed it before he dismissed and looked around.

  “Ember?”

  Ethan flared his wings, ready to fly up just as they’d planned, but the cat was not at his feet.

  He cursed. They’d considered this a possibility, but the Ignisra had not been able to know for sure. She’d said some rifts separated the people who challenge them, and some allowed groups to stay together, and it seemed like this one was of the former.

  Thankfully, they accounted for that, and the cat said she’d be able to find him thanks to their connection so all Ethan had to do was find a dry, high spot, and secure an area for them. Which would certainly not be this spot. Already, scaly, moss-covered heads began popping out of the murky, duck-weed covered waters, and as he focused on one, he quickly realized he really had to take to the air before he got dragged into a risky fight.

  [Moss Monitor (I) - Lvl 62]

  A bit too intense for the moment. Especially when Edwin could be watching and preparing a trap for him. So, for now, Ethan jumped up and beat his wings, and within a couple of seconds, he passed the sparse canopy, and his jaw slackened.

  They were in a bubble. A giant, rainbow-colored bubble that seemed to encompass a tropical island. The island was divided into mainly three biomes. First, the swamps Ethan was currently flying over. Right next to them, a large, imposing mountain that was riddled with caverns, almost as if it was just a giant ant-mound. And finally, a rocky beach–no, a lagoon, and on the shore, countless water monitors were lounging around, taking in light of the sun.

  Wait… there’s no sun…

  The light seemed to be coming off of the walls of the bubble itself.

  This is crazy… but I’m honestly glad I can take a break from the blue lights of the mushroom trees.

  Hovering in place, Ethan looked around once more and knew he had to make a decision, but first, he wanted to re-check the prompt.

  Rift challenge: Defeat the three lords (0/3)

  Rift restriction: Exit is not possible until the challenge is finished.

  That’s perfect. Means Edwin has nowhere to go. And the three lords?

  Ethan looked down at the biomes, recalled the two lords he’d already seen, then his eyes swiveled to the beach. Considering he’d already seen the lord of the swamp and the lord of the cave, he assumed the third would be the boss of the water monitors, which brought him back to the question; which area should he start with?

  If I want to meet Ember, I feel like she’d be at the cave. She doesn’t like water much. But the issue is, the caves might give the advantage to Edwin and his webs, and to the shadow-hopping woman.

  Ethan eyed the three biomes for a few more seconds, enjoying the fresh air as he thought things through, and came to a decision.

  I’ll start with the caves and see if I can find Edwin’s tracks… otherwise, I’ll spend some time in the area between the cave and the lagoon, and get some levels. It’s not as if he can leave. And in the meantime, I can start working on the first lord.

  Ethan beat his wings and smiled as the air ruffled his hair. He wondered what kind of reward a rift had.

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