After chatting with the Miix for a while, I stepped into the bathroom and changed my clothes. The dark fabric shifted, flowing into an ivory white. My hoodie melted into a tech jacket, and my mask into a pair of white sunglasses. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and secured it with a glob of Ivorshroud.
Just like that, the Anarch Nyx was gone. Warden Moon had absolutely no connection with that horrible fiend that’d dare attack a Warden in broad daylight.
I pulled out my Glass, got on the Tower app, and reserved Ysron Caves. I still needed to go get Ether Physique again. It’d be a good place to lay low for a bit too. I arrived by cab a few minutes later and went through security. The cyborg on guard was a bit hesitant about letting me go in by myself, though he didn’t actually try to stop me.
I stepped through the rift, immediately summoning out an ivory spear and shield. I didn’t waste even a moment and raced down the mineshaft. Speed clearing was the name of the game here so I could go do some other stuff.
The first Faceless miner didn’t even have time to react to me. I didn’t stop for even a moment and chunked the spear at its head. The ivory spear flew perfectly through the air, lancing straight through. The Faceless dropped dead before I even reached it.
My Ebonshroud spear flowed down across its body, tearing into it like a grinder. By the time I passed by, it’d already extracted the ether core. It flowed up my leg, creating a white backpack to store the core in. Another spear formed shortly after.
The process continued until I got to the main chamber with the supervisor. It’d barely been a minute since I entered, and everything on the way here was dead and extracted with minimal effort. Best of all? My clothes were still white. Since they were made of Ebonshroud, I didn’t have to worry about them staining anymore.
Pling!
I plucked an Ether String, coating my spear in fire. Another throw felled the supervisor and burned its grotesque body to a crisp before it could even scream. It didn’t stand a chance. And, since it didn’t screech, the rest of the Faceless just kept mining without a care.
I left them to it and moved on through the chamber to the Muffled Musketeer. It stood just the same as last time, mindlessly stabbing its bayonet into the dead corpse of a Faceless.
Wumph!
A single shot from Thorn’s Defiance killed the boss before it could even realize I was there. The heavy sniper’s thorn through lanced through the Muffled Musketeer and pinned its corpse into the wall before it could even enter phase two.
[Code: EC-0]
[Rift: Closing - 29:59]
Ether condensed to form loot… and then promptly burst out in a wave, not forming any item. Unlucky. It looked like this would take more than just one run through the Ysron Caves to get the Skill.
[Skill: Flame Spear]
[Accept?]
[Skill: Harvest]
[Accept?]
I accepted both of them. I was back up at five Skills now. It’d probably get rid of most of them, but it was fun playing with new stuff. Before going any further, I twirled my spear around and used Flaming my newest Skill.
[Flame Spear - Coat your spear in flames]
Fire arced down my spear. Unlike the resonant Ether String that did the same thing, it didn’t drain nearly as much ether. Ether Strings unfortunately didn’t come cheap. Getting the strings to resonate was taxing, and took a lot of focus. Focus I might not always have.
[Nighteye’s ears twitch. What gave you that idea? Poor Lucia passing out off one spell?]
I didn’t need the sass, cat. Flame Spear was definitely interesting though. Instead of giving me an Ether String Skill itself, the OS was giving me the effects of its spells as a Skill. Skills were cheaper and quicker to use, so it wasn’t a totally useless one.
I headed back through the caves, easily getting back to the entrance of the rift. Could’ve moved a bit quicker to clear the place if I had some kind of movement skill. After Ether Physique, I had one in mind from a C-rank rift. I’d have to party up with a fireteam for that one though.
A startled guard shot to his feet on the other side of the room when I stepped out of the Rift. His arm half transformed into a gun, though settled back down once he recognized me. “Warden!”
”…?”
”Are you- are you done with the rift already?” The guard eyed me over.
“Yep.” I pulled my bag off and dumped all the cores onto a nearby table. “How long?”
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”For- oh, you mean till it's ready again? Usually five minutes.” The guard moved over to a terminal and checked it. “Um… you have the twenty-sixth fastest clear time as a solo… do you want to leave a record?”
They kept records for this kinda thing? Should I- should I aim for first? Record setting would probably look good on Cernobog, wouldn’t it? I’d probably have to clear it a couple more times anyway to get Ether Physique.
[Nighteye’s ears twitch in interest. How do you plan on going quicker? Does your string magic have anything?]
Unfortunately, no. First string magic was limited to pretty basic effects. If I could use second string though… I shook my head. Getting two strings to resonate was already hard with the Weave. Without it though? It’d take me a while to figure it out.
“Yep.” I replied to the guard. Kinda just left him hanging there.
The guard tapped around on a terminal. “All set… at this rate—how much do you want to clear Ysron Caves? You’ve got the rift to yourself until another group comes in. Should be around four hours or so.”
“Skill.” I waved a hand to the rift.
He nodded his head a few times and then settled back down into his chair. “Can I, uh, can I get you something?”
I shook my head—wait. “Coffee?”
The guard cheerfully popped out of his seat and moved to a side room. “I’ll go start a pot now!”
I waited around for five minutes until the rift reset. Unfortunately, the coffee wasn’t ready yet. I had to go back in empty-handed.
This time around, I didn’t just run it down. I summoned the spool of Will Wire and double reinforced it with white Ebonshroud and Etheric Reinforcement. I linked it to a shorter spear, completely forgoing the shield from last time. Not much could threaten me here anyway.
I threw the spear wrapped in the Will Wire down the shaft, skewering the first Faceless into the wall. Mid motion, I used my other new skill.
[Harvest - Rip apart the dead]
Ether spewed forth from my body, rapidly breaking the Faceless’s body down into chunks. Anything that wasn’t considered ‘valuable’ melted away under the onslaught of the ether tide, leaving just the core.
Primo? I could just use Ebonshroud to do the same thing though, and save on ether. Might be a scrap Skill… although I guess it might be helpful if I didn’t know what was valuable on a creature or monster. That’d have to be a first clear type rift though.
The Will Wire shrunk with a mental command, yanking me down the shaft like a grappling hook. I slammed into the far side of the shaft and tossed another spear, moving down the walls faster than I could’ve sprinted.
I flew past several Faceless, blades on tendrils popping out from my spine to smoothly kill each and every one of them. It was maybe thirty seconds when I broke into the supervisor chamber.
Flame Spear coated my ivory spear in fire once more. The flaming comet struck the supervisor in the chest for an instant kill, and a second spear pulled me to the boss room. Thorn’s Defiance formed of ether and dropped into my hands.
Wumph!
The boss dropped dead, no more a challenge than any of the rest of the monsters in this place. It would be time to move on from F-rank rifts soon.
[Code: EC-0]
[Rift: Closing - 29:59]
Ether condensed on the boss once more, though again didn’t drop the Skill. Said ether burst out into a wave, filling me with the warm substance. No Skills popped up this time.
I sprinted back out of the rift, clearing it in half the time that it took me the first time around. The guard stood off to the side, waving at me excitedly from a terminal. “Impressive, Warden! You’re up to ninth place now.”
”First?” I took the offered cup of coffee and sipped at it. Not the highest quality, but coffee was coffee.
“Three seconds.” The guard shrugged. “Warden Delete. That’s S-class for you, though.”
Delete… that name sounded familiar. Three seconds though? That was- he must’ve had some kind of teleportation or massive AOE to kill the boss without leaving the rift’s side. I could probably shave off another minute if I really pushed myself hard, but simply traveling to the boss and back took too much time to get three seconds.
Why come back and clear Feeble rifts at S-rank? Just to brag? So much for taking first place… not like it really mattered. I was here for a Skill specifically to begin with. I waited five minutes and then dove in again, cup of coffee in hand.
— — —
While certain people worked on gathering Skills, certain others were busy working hard in a different way. Miss Thariya leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath. A diffuser sprayed off on the side of her office, sending a soothing scent proven to increase productivity through the room.
She checked the masterpiece before her. It was good. Golden, even. The eggheads down in advertising really knew what they were doing. They’d better with how much Obelisk Corporation was paying them.
She watched the video one more time, enjoying the thrill and dramatized fighting. She froze it right on the scene when Bombastic Bowman raised his sword to meet Nyx. They clashed, both attacking with full strength. Or so it seemed. She had a feeling Nyx was holding back, but she skillfully hid it.
The taciturn woman may not speak much, but she made for a damn fine Anarch. Not to mention the horns gave her a perfect wicked vibe. And yet she had a certain knightly nobility that elevated her above the common Anarchs hoping to strike it rich. The refinement was discernible in her every motion.
Sparks and blood were added in post-editing, making the fight all the more epic and eye-catching. This level of subtle manipulation could only be expected from her corporation’s advertising services. They prided themselves on being the best in the business, and their prices definitely matched.
Bombastic Bowman picking up a sword to protect the civilians of Bastion even after he threw his body into harm's way just to save a girl… there truly wasn’t a better set up then that. It was the perfect story to sell to the sheep throughout the city.
Even better? The girl had been streaming the entire thing. Thousands across the city watched it live, and clips of it were already trending across the Grid. Now was the time to capitalize and lead the sheep just where Obelisk wanted them.
Bombastic wanted a full rebrand too. Something about wasting away as a boring stealth archer. It didn’t really matter the reason. What mattered was he already got his alias changed to Stark Shadow. Of course, he’d have to completely rebuild his Skills to work around swords like he wanted to, but that much was fine. He was still early in his career.
To be honest, it was the best call. The only truly successful stealth archer was Huntsman, the Guild Master of Lodge. Stealth archers were just… boring. Clashing in close quarters combat though? Or even hauling around big guns and massive explosives? Now that got blood pumping.
This was the moment. The moment that would catapult Bombastic- Stark Shadow into the eyes of millions. Add in the rebrand? It couldn’t have been better timed. He was rising out of the ashes after a humiliating defeat, blazing a new path forward.
If they played their cards right, it would all sell millions of more products and merch. The corporation behind Stark Shadow expected nothing else from Obelisk’s expert services. She’d been slightly worried the contract would fall through if they couldn’t get anything good, but as always, she synched another long term contract for Obelisk Corporation.
Thariya watched the ad one more time and then finally hit accept. In the process, she unwittingly scattered sparks that would one day grow to become a raging wildfire. A legend was growing, and nobody could hope to contain it. This was the first moment the Anarch Nyx truly stepped into the public view with an overwhelmingly dominant showing.
Ironically, Nyx’s counterpart, Warden Moon, wasn’t much behind. She too was just about to step into the public eye. Though not in the way anyone could’ve foreseen.
