Monty stared at Jack for a moment with a puzzled expression.

  “I am going to assume that is some pop culture reference. I am from a completely different galaxy, Jack. Would it make you feel better if I laughed?”

  Jack pursed his lips as his eyes closed and he shook his head. His comedic genius was often overlooked. It was something he was used to by now.

  “It's fine, I think I got a good trait. Let me test it out.” Jack stood up and noticed that there was no mana running through his body; it must have been absorbed during the Trait upgrade.

  He took a deep breath and drew in mana around him. He did feel as if he could pull in slightly more mana than before, his Capacity upgrade coming into action. He would have to play around with that to get his amplification levels right again.

  He erred on the side of caution and settled for a lower level of amplification, once it was flowing he slowly started to activate [Purge]. The skill activated like before, the mental focus fading as it was activated. As the mana was pushed out of his body, there was a strange ripple-like feeling across his skin.

  He waited as he continued to purge a few more times, the feeling increasing and spreading across his whole body. He glanced down at his arm as he turned it side to side; there was a barely noticeable shimmer to it if the light from Monty’s armour hit it just right.

  It felt strange, almost like he was wearing tights but across his whole body. With his mana sense he could feel the mana there, and he knew he could draw on it if he wanted. He turned and looked at Monty with a slightly maniacal grin.

  “Do the stabby stabby cut thing again,” Jack held out his arm while he motioned with a finger on the other hand.

  “Umm, okay,” Monty said, with raised eyebrows and much less hesitation than Jack would have liked.

  Monty held out his finger and pulled in mana, shaping it around his finger to a point. He swiped down towards Jack's arm, unlike last time, however, when the mana hit his skin it dissipated. A shimmering wave pulsed along Jack’s arm from the point of impact, as if a stone was dropped into a peaceful lake.

  Jack felt a slight drain on the mana in his skin, but as his body continued to purge it was quickly replaced.

  Monty stared between his finger and Jack's arm for a moment.

  “Okay, that is useful. I could have some fun testing that.” He made a clenching motion with his fist and squared his shoulders slightly. Jack looked at him slightly panicked and caught a wink from Monty.

  “Maybe you should explain the skill first, don’t want to cause any unnecessary pain. Did you choose Capacity?”

  “I thought you said I should keep this stuff to myself? But yeah, I chose Capacity.” Jack teased. He then proceeded to explain all the options he was presented with to Monty as well as the description on [Prismatic Mana Skin]. At this point if he couldn’t trust Monty and by extension Turrel, keeping some skill description secret was not going to matter in the long run.

  Monty listened to everything with a dedicated level of focus that impressed Jack. He asked a number of clarifying questions, specifically about wording and what Jack’s impressions and thoughts as he went over the skills.

  Monty stopped after Jack finished explaining everything and stared at him for a moment after confirming he was still cycling mana. His eyes brightened for a moment and the silver flowing where his whites were pulsed.

  “Hmm... Well, the obscures part is true. I can’t see what is happening inside your body anymore. Which is a little bit unfair as I have a dedicated trait to be able to do so. The problem is it doesn't “Hide” what is going on; it just blurs it? It is hard to describe.”

  “It’s like when I looked at you before; I could see a clear picture of what was happening with your mana, I could see the vortex and the mana circulating in your system. Now everything is a giant smudge, I can see you have mana in your system, but I can’t tell what is happening at all,” Monty said.

  Jack nodded, feeling a little let down. He would blame it on his luck but it was probably just a misunderstanding of the wording. Seems he would draw attention regardless but at least he could make up an excuse if no one could see what was going on.

  “Fair. Better than nothing though. What do you think about the other options? Are the attribute ones common? Should I have chosen that?” Jack asked partially looking for validation and reassurance that he made the right call.

  “I think you made the right choice here, Jack. Don’t worry about that. This is a very useful skill and it is perfect for you at the moment. Once we work out how strong the defence aspect is it could be incredible. Barrier skills are pretty rare and they are not very mana efficient so people tend to avoid them. Again, that's not an issue for you so this is a great pick up.”

  “As far as the others go, they were all pretty strong. Attribute traits are more common, but they have grades. Minor / Basic / Advanced. Your option was basic so there is a chance for a higher one. They scale really well but a lot of people don’t ever anticipate progressing beyond Tier 3–4 so the benefit is minimal,” Monty said.

  “Well I am planning on hitting Tier 10, just like you. I will make fire with my hands and shape it into a ball, mark my words,” Jack said, eyes glinting with determination.

  Monty smiled and patted Jack on the shoulder as he started to move towards the rubble that was the Rift Core.

  “It is good to have big dreams, Jack. The path is long, however, even if yours will likely be shorter than most. Now let's find the rest of the shards here and get ready to leave this rift. We can do testing back on the vessel with Turrel there as well,” Monty said.

  Jack followed him as they started to shift through the shattered remains of the rift core. He did notice a slight drain on the skin as he was shifting through the rubble. It must have repelled a few small cuts from the jagged shards. No more papercuts sounds pretty good.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  All in all they found another sixteen shards. Monty mumbled to himself about the rift obviously being in the process of evolving, which, when Jack prodded, was explained to be about how many shards there were. Tier 1 rifts never generated more than 15, so for 17 to have generated something was changing here.

  Jack stared greedily at the shards and Monty laughed.

  “Okay, look, to confirm if you are a complete cheat or if the first one was just a fluke, we are going to have you absorb six more,” Monty said as he sorted the pile, counting six shards out.

  “If that works you should go through a similar process as before, but it will just be selecting your body modification. I would recommend you go with Reinforcement. It will do a whole lot more for you than you think. Increased stamina, regeneration, and lifespan. Not to mention you will need to eat, sleep a little less as well.”

  “We don’t have the shards here to push you through to Tier 4. Even if we wanted to, I would recommend not doing it until you get more skills and have them ranked up. As I said before you probably will coast for a bit on how interesting you are but you want to be trying to keep your skills on par.” Monty moved two more shards across.

  “Fifty-fifty, and we can call the first one a gift. Most rifts in the future will be with a group and more than likely will be 1 / 2 shards max at the end. It’s a long journey to Tier 10.”

  Jack thought about that, living longer and being healthier sounded like a good thing. He enjoyed eating and sleeping, however, so having to do that less was not necessarily a positive thing. But he did keep thinking about his shiny new boots and how he might be able to withstand some more force with the barrier and a reinforcement upgrade.

  Without putting too much more thought into it Jack scooped up his pile of shards to Monty's amusement and walked over to where he had undergone his last tier upgrade. Wondering about the sheer monetary value of what he was holding, then realising it was overshadowed by the fact that he was a walking money printer himself. He shook his head as he sat down.

  He opened himself up to the first shard and his connection to the Origin greedily absorbed the essence in the shard. He repeated that process with the remaining five and was whisked away as darkness fell over him again.

  Knowing what to expect, the experience was less daunting than before. He marveled at the emptiness around him as he waited for the voice.

  “HMM RETURNED”

  “EAGER. GOOD”

  “CHOOSE BODY ENHANCEMENT”

  Jack felt the tingle at the back of his mind again, without even acknowledging it he confirmed Reinforcement. The tingle faded.

  The cold flush raced over his body. This time it felt like all of his muscles were torn and rebuilt. He screamed as the pain racked his body. As fast as it came the pain faded, replaced by a feeling of strength.

  “HE HE HE. BODY ENHANCED”

  “GO”

  Jack’s eyes burst open, every muscle in his body tensed at once. He felt like he had a cramp everywhere and he twisted and tried to stretch out. He felt a flash of healing across his body as he saw Monty approach. Muscles still convulsing as he tried to regain some dignity.

  “Maybe I should rush a little less. I feel strange. This might take a second to get used to.” Jack said as he tried to let the healing soothe the pain. Standing up, he felt like he was lighter, like he was stronger, and he was energized.

  “Slow down, big guy,” Monty said as he placed a hand on Jack’s chest.

  “You are going to need to take a second and get used to your body again. Walk before you run. I understand the feeling but trust me, just take it easy for a little bit. We have a long walk back and we can let you get the hang of things as we go,” Monty said.

  Jack really only wanted to run, to activate his boots and explore this new feeling in his body. He accepted that Monty was probably the expert here and took his advice. Jack waited as Monty absorbed his shards then they gathered their bags. Monty used the compass device to work out the way they needed to head to the exit and they took off.

  As they walked Jack noticed a few of the materials the Rummi had asked him to keep an eye out for. He avoided the scary [Corpse-Cloud Puffball] as he had no confidence or desire to try to harvest them. He did grab a few of the other varieties with the equipment she left him. His bag filled up quickly and he decided that was enough.

  The quartz they saw along the way was left behind. Monty had told him that it would be much more hassle than it was worth to try to collect it with just the two of them and no hauling requirement. Despite its value it would have to be left behind.

  Jack had a few chances to test out his new body over the walk back, he noticed he seemed to have much more stamina and was able to move much faster than before. He had no weights to compare but he was sure he was the strongest he had ever been.

  His enhanced body meant that Monty could push him a little harder than before and they got to the rift exit with only one stop for food.

  “Sorry for pushing you, Jack. I would rather sleep in a comfortable bed back on ship than spend another night here if possible. I need to make a report on how close this rift was to evolving as well,” Monty said as they approached the swirling black rift in front of them.

  Jack nodded; he was pretty excited to get back to his mattress as well. Not the original one he took, that one was back at the training facility. But he had a replica in his new room.

  “Ready, Jack?” Monty asked.

  “Not really, but delaying won't help, so let's go,” Jack replied.

  They stepped through the rift and Jack felt space warp and twist, his insides churned and he felt like he might vomit. Then he stumbled forward and fell to his knees, feeling cold metal under his hands. He looked around and they were back on the platform in front of the rift. He turned around and got vertigo from looking up at the massive swirling mass they had just emerged from.

  Monty pulled him forward and Jack followed him to the centre of the area. Monty pulled something from his bag and activated it.

  “Hang on, this is always a little rougher than you expect,” Monty said.

  Jack looked down as symbols on the pad he was standing on began to light up with a green and blue glow. He took a breath and tried to take a solid stance but the world fell away underneath him. He collapsed in a tangle of limbs and after falling much farther than expected he hit the ground.

  He stood up and looked around him. They were back on the vessel. Jack got a slight calming feeling of coming home; at least as close to his home as he could be for a while. He really just wanted to have a sleep at this point; he had lost count of how many hours he had been awake.

  He looked over to Monty who was talking with Riven, the tall granite skinned man he had met the first time he came to the vessel. As Jack approached he managed to catch the end of Riven’s conversation with Monty along with the serious expression on Monty's face.

  “...It broke twelve hours ago; a Rank 3 rift at the moment. They are struggling, they were prepared for a Tier 2 break but well. Do I confirm we will be attending? It will take three days at full warp but we will need to refuel when we arrive,” Riven said. Jack couldn’t gauge emotion from the man but the look on Monty’s face spoke volumes.

  “Thank you Riven. Yes, advise the crew and set course. We are heading there as soon as possible.” He looked over at Jack. “We will take care of the refuel; if you can get us there quicker by using more mana do it.” Monty turned on his heel and marched off towards one of the exits from the room, leaving Jack standing there looking at Riven.

  Jack looked between the two of them.

  “I have no idea what is going on,” Jack said.

  Riven looked at him and tilted his head slightly.

  “A rift broke in range of one of the newly inducted worlds. Lord Montarg has a tendency to drop everything to assist in situations like this,” Riven said.

  Jack remembered Monty’s story about his planet and it made sense, the severity of the situation dawned on him. He nodded his thanks to Riven and took off to try to catch up with Monty. It seemed sleep would have to wait a little longer.