“Proximity to the rift doesn't matter when it breaks, it isn't like a door being busted open. The barrier that keeps the riftspawn inside breaks. When that happens, waves of mana are pulsed out, and from there they work out where the biggest concentration of origin essence is. Most of the time that is where the highest population is.”

  Monty opened the doors and they proceeded in. He stopped speaking for a moment as the hum got louder. He touched the same panel from last time and retrieved two of the sound-dampening headsets, handing one to Jack.

  Jack put it on and the buzzing faded. Monty motioned for Jack to follow him through the next few sets of security doors.

  “Two problems with that: one, the smaller portal links back to the original rift. Depending on the interior of that rift, just the environment flowing through could be dangerous. Two, the portal won't close unless the rift is closed.” Monty entered a code on the wall.

  Jack was imagining that horrific wolf roaming the streets of a populated city, it would cause some serious damage before it was taken down, just by its sheer size. Once they were prepared though, Jack could imagine with the right weapons and monitoring on the portals it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. The death mist fog stuff making people scared would suck but there would be smart people to handle that. If it was something like lava though… that could be a problem.

  “I know what you are thinking and yes sort of. Most technologically advanced societies might be able to deal with the riftspawn at a Tier 2 level. It depends again and is based on chance and the ability they have. If they happened to have a phase ability like the Rift Guardian did, well that would suck and there are others that would make things difficult as well.” Monty waved his hand as the doors opened and he walked through.

  “Regardless, I’m getting off track. A Tier 2 Rift break is manageable. It would not be an extinction event but it would be a war of attrition. The Riftspawn would continue to do what they do, spawn. Until a powerful enough group is able to enter and destroy the core the portal will remain.” Monty said.

  “Oh, and don’t misunderstand, it isn't one portal. There will likely be dozens, depending on the concentration of populated areas there could be hundreds.” Monty’s hand clenched into fists and his muscles tensed.

  “In the meantime, people are dying and struggling, an entire planet is under siege. While a man powerful enough to stop the entire thing is sitting by, watching.” Monty paused.

  “... That is why we are going. That is why I am asking you to help me here, so we can save as much time as possible in arriving. Chances are when we get there we will sit in orbit while the incompetent leaders of the planet struggle with coming to terms with what is happening. But as soon as they are ready to ask, I will be there to offer assistance.” Monty said passionately.

  “It has to be me, Rummi said she talked to you about the Origin and how it handles agreements and bonds. Other vessels may be in orbit ready to offer assistance as well, or they may be on their way. They will leave when we arrive. They come seeking profit and renown. I can offer a deal that they cannot; because to me there is no cost, I can honestly tell them that I desire nothing more than to save the people of their planet.” Monty winked.

  “The exclusionary rules and the overseer enforce that a fair and valid arrangement must be in place; their own rules state that the agreement must be made and accepted by the Origin. In this I am happy to play by their rules as it benefits me.”

  Jack listened as Monty talked; it was easy to tell how passionate Monty was about this and while it was noble it still made Jack a little hesitant. Jack really did like Monty so far, but the way he talked about this and his dislike of the Origin bordered on fanatical. He said he didn’t enjoy politics, but his goals meant he would always be knee-deep in it. Jack was a realist and he knew there were always two sides to a story. Something like what Monty accused the Origin of doing wouldn’t be done if there was no reasoning to do so.

  “Fair. It sounds pretty shit all around. I don’t really know what I can do to help in this situation though. I struggled against some basic wolves so I wouldn't put myself too far in front of a basic civilian myself. I can charge up your vessel though so that’s something,” Jack said as they stepped into the massive inner room.

  Once again he marveled at the massive crystal in the centre. It was as big as the Rift Core but much more uniform in shape. The cylinders all around the massive room housed crystals that were bigger than he was tall, each of them pulsed occasionally with differing hues of light. Monty led him to the back of the room where there was a section of four large crystals that all gave him the familiar sense of Life Mana.

  “I think you underestimate yourself, Jack. That is fine for now, you have potential and I have seen the drive you have to achieve. What you do with that will be up to you. Our agreement will only extend to situations in which you want to participate in. Once we assess the situation if you decide against it then there will be no issues if you stay behind.” Monty said as he took a position between the two inner cylinders.

  “I know you said you weren't interested, but if something like this were to happen to your planet during the induction period, they would be very fortunate if you were there to provide assistance. Many lives could be saved, Jack.” Monty said as he sat on the floor.

  “Make yourself comfy. I don’t know how long we will be here but Rummi only agreed if we fill the two of these.” Monty laughed.

  Jack smiled and sat down; he was actually a little excited about this part. He had noticed when he woke up that his mana skin was still active and remained active all through breakfast and the walk here. He had emptied his body of mana with Turrel the previous day and had nothing flowing through his system.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Something he worried about after talking with Turrel and Monty was what he would do if he ever found himself in a situation where there was no Life Mana present. If he had a gem, or there was something in the environment he was fine. But assume he was stranded with nothing, in a hostile environment; he would be just a normal helpless man.

  He did not like the thought of that at all, not after starting to feel a little more control over his life and self as he learned to control this new part of his life. If he could keep a passive charge in his skin at all times, well, that gave him a small sense of safety.

  Jack tried to pull in from the mana in his skin; it felt strangely connected. More so than when he did it from the environment or a gem, this felt like he had some ownership of it, like it belonged to him.

  It flowed in and he felt strange for a moment, as if he had taken off a layer of clothing that he could barely even remember wearing. His mana skin faded as the mana flowed into his body. Monty raised his eyebrows.

  “Thanks, man, I appreciate it. Look I said I am not looking to be a hero or anything like that, but obviously if my home planet was invaded by killer wombats or some other riftspawn I would try to help out. I just don’t want people to expect me to do it, you know?” Jack said.

  Jack got the mana flowing through his body and when he reached what he felt was a comfortable amount, he started to purge about half of what he was circulating. As he purged, he noticed that after about the third purge enough mana was trapped and used to reestablish his mana skin.

  “How long do you think this will take?” Jack asked as he tried to get comfortable.

  “At this rate, I don’t know, probably a few hours at least. That is still a very efficient use of both of our time if I am being honest here.” Monty replied.

  Jack looked around the room, trying to trace some of the strange coloured etchings on the wall. He wasn't sure if they were wires, painting, or actual metal. They had an almost golden metallic look to them but seemed to almost be sunken into the material. They had a strange pattern, instead of straight lines it was like someone had taken a gear and made it straight with the ridges forming a path.

  The patterns flowed up the wall and across the ceiling, they never intersected, however. Instead, small bridge-like overpasses were used to continue a pattern where they needed to cross. There was an indent in the ceiling that all of the lines seemed to be heading into. Some came back out but others did not, it was intriguing.

  As Jack watched he saw occasional pulses of light flow down the golden pattern like highways. He assumed this was somehow transporting mana around to be utilised elsewhere.

  “How does all of this work, Monty? What's with the strange pattern?” Jack asked, head twisted at a right angle as he stared directly up.

  “Hmm, I don’t know exactly. I could get one of the engineers to explain it if you wanted? I never really cared much about mana tech. It’s a way to transport the mana to power things. The pattern? What do you mean?” Monty asked, glancing up at the same pattern Jack was looking at.

  “What do you mean? Why does it do the weird zig zagy back on top of itself? Why not just a straight line? Power lines are normally just like straight on earth.” Jack said

  “Ahhh. I don't know exactly, Jack. It is something to do with efficiency. Mana doesn't travel longer distances well in a straight line.” Monty said.

  It didn’t really make much sense to Jack at all, but he was on a spaceship in a galaxy far, far away generating mana with his body. So in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that big of a concern. There had been one thing he was wondering, however.

  “Ok so these are all different frequency mana crystals, right? You can convert mana from one thing to another? The tiny testing machine could do it too. I am guessing you have something here that does it too?” Jack asked.

  “Yes, it's a pretty common device. Some mana frequencies are just harder to source so there is always a need to convert. The issue is the amount of mana lost during the conversion. There are a lot of different frequencies of mana but for simplicity's sake they fall into different bands. Say blue, at the ‘lower’ end of the band we have the ice frequency. The middle of that band is water and the end is mist or steam.” Monty held his hands up and motioned three distinct sections.

  “Converting mana within that band is pretty simple and there is minimal mana loss. However, if we look at red which is the other end of the spectrum and we tried to go from blue to red. By the time we converted the mana we would likely lose almost all of it. Life is right in the middle of the green band which is in the middle of the spectrum. It is pretty safe and easy to handle so is used often as a catch-all.” Monty explained.

  Jack understood most of that, it seemed pretty simple when it started to click. If Monty could do that with a skill, there had to be a way for Jack to be able to do the same. If Jack could do it, the possibilities were endless. The loss wouldn’t matter for him in the long term. Plus. Fireballs.

  Jack knew he needed to start thinking about his future. He had some ideas and most of them depended on what was possible with his skills. He liked watching Monty grow the bunker. He could picture himself making a cosy little house and living a quiet peaceful life somewhere. Actually, he had always wanted to live in a giant tree house. Not like a kids toy treehouse, the ones he had read about that elves live in. Trees as big as a skyscraper. With enough time, he would have enough mana to keep growing the tree so that was an option right?

  Monty left him in peace while he daydreamed, it was one of the things he really liked about Monty. The man knew how to enjoy a silence. After about an hour and a half, Monty tapped him on the shoulder.

  “That’s enough for now. It went a little faster than I thought but damn, Rummi might just demand I take you hostage at this rate.” Monty laughed.

  Jack stood up and smirked.

  “No need yet, I’ll pay my way for now. I should find Turrel, we were going to work on [Imbue] and [Grow]. Oh, also Rummi called him Master Turrel. Is that like some cultural thing?” Jack asked as they left.

  Monty laughed as he patted Jack on the back.

  “Oh, no. I forget how fresh you are. No, Master is an earned title, much like my own. You see Turrel is a bit of a big deal, in his own circles anyway. Kind of like a famous researcher? He is one of the most knowledgeable people in the universe when it comes to skills and the origin. His research helped me create a brand new skill which is my Body Enhancement skill.” Monty said as he flexed.

  “Look, he might not act it but he is richer than me. He only does this job because he wants to build connections with new inductees, like me and yourself. So that he can observe them and learn more about skills and the Origin.” Monty looked around conspicuously and leaned in to whisper to Jack.

  “I don’t know for sure, but I think he has at least two skills at or above Tier 10. Jack, that is insane, he is probably more dangerous than me in the right situation.” Monty said as he straightened back up to his full height.

  Jack nodded as they walked. The picture of the wizened karate master with a white headband popped back into Jack’s mind. Wax on, wax off. Time to train.