Chapter 26

After Keith returned home from a day full of fighting, he took a shower. Even though he used the Cleanliness Ring to remove dirt and blood from his body, the Crimson Howler Den was like being in a sauna, and he still felt stuffy. A cold shower was just what he needed to unwind.

Underneath the downpour of glacial water, Keith's mind sharpened. The loot, skill levels, and experience he gained today were satisfying. But one thing was obvious: the wolves were not his match. Even if he limited himself to less powerful skills, he was unstoppable with the Mana Reactor. And skills like Arcane Tempest? He had quite a few skills like that, some being more powerful.

Fighting monsters around Keith’s level would be a waste of time, so a question constantly reared its head: what level was too risky to fight? Level 200? Level 250? Level 300? Keith wanted to spend his time efficiently, but he didn’t want to fight monsters he couldn’t react to. He wanted monsters that could put up a challenge but weren’t strong enough to overwhelm him.

However, it was hard to gauge Keith’s combat strength by looking at his stats, level, and equipment. With the orbs and Mana Reactor at his disposal, there was no reference he could draw from to gauge his strength. After all, Arcane Tempest was a skill typically used by people above level 400 due to its Mana cost, but Keith was using it while under level 200.

Keith finished showering and returned to his room with his mind clear on what to do. After putting on some pajamas, his eyes wandered over to a particular spot on the floor—the place where Cami died. The scene of her brutal death was still fresh in Keith’s mind, and he couldn’t help but tear up.

Climbing into bed, Keith drew even breaths. Once he calmed down, he pulled out his magic tablet and began browsing the mercenary guild’s page for information on Rifts until he fell asleep.

In the morning, Keith finished selecting a few Rifts to visit. After informing his mom, Keith had Uncle Doven teleport them to a Rift a few regions away from Adira. Thankfully, it seemed Uncle Doven had explored most of the world, so he was the best taxi Keith could ask for.

The first Rift Keith visited was called Living Plataue, a level 200 Rift. Upon passing through the dome barrier, Keith saw people fighting golems in the distance. The golems were composed of six pieces of rock, connected by thick tendrils of Mana. Their head was round, body thick, and their limbs long. Although they took a humanoid shape, they possessed no mouth, eyes, or nose.

As Keith watched the adventurers fight, it was clear these golems possessed incredible strength. Any attack they made sent cracks along the ground, and the ground here was tougher than usual.

Keith made sure to give any adventurers he passed a wide berth as he explored the Rift. He didn’t want them to think he was there to cause trouble. After a few minutes of searching, he found some golems that weren’t in any other adventurer’s farming zone.

[Epic, Elemental] Rock Golem – Level 200

Health: 1,000/1,000

Compared to the Enkindled Wolf King, a level 150 Rift Boss, these golems possessed much more Health. They excelled in defending against physical attacks and used their monstrous Strength stat to power several skills like Fissure, Earthquake, and Ground Slam. Their weakness was their speed and vulnerability to magic. Of course, Keith learned all of this from the mercenary guild’s information packet.

As Keith watched the golems lumbering around some hundred feet away, he summoned an orb and let it approach at full speed. Squinting, Keith cast Wind Lord’s Scythe.

The wind froze as a phantom green scythe cut through the air in a horizontal swing. The four golems in the area shuddered as their upper bodies fell over, their legs following soon after. It was another one-hit kill. 1,000 Health gone, just like that.

Keith clicked his tongue in wonder.

Wind Lord’s Scythe was another skill used by people above level 400, but it had a cooldown of 10 seconds, unlike Arcane Tempest. It was a skill Keith could spam if he could afford the Mana cost.

Obviously, Keith could fight higher-level monsters, so he had Uncle Doven teleport them to a level 250 Rift. Like Living Plateau, Keith picked this one because the monsters it spawned were on the slower side. Rare monsters around level 250 had around 2,000 Health, and their high Health required Keith to use multiple skills to kill them. The drawbacks of his build were beginning to show, but he could still push it further.

With Uncle Doven at his back, Keith cautiously entered a level 300 Rift called Ant Hill. As its name suggests, this Rift was filled with ants the size of humans. And as with monsters around this level, they started to possess different skillsets. The ants in this rift had three specializations: warrior ants, flying ants, and poison ants.

When Keith entered the Rift, he arrived in a grass plain with giant hills. Each hill had hundreds of holes leading inward, with ants constantly entering and exiting them. Parties of adventurers were fighting at the base of these hills.

Keith observed the closest party and noticed one adventurer constantly splitting from the group to drag more ants over. At another hill was a party with an unconventional strategy. An earth mage had summoned a tall platform for the rest of his party, all archers, to safely attack from the sky. The only problem was the flying ants, but each time one appeared, the archers all focused on killing it as quickly as possible.

Making his way through the Rift, Keith spent a considerable amount of time observing the different strategies these high-level adventurers used to fight. It was an eye-opening experience. Thinking about Uncle Doven’s strength, Keith turned to the man and asked, “Would you be able to flatten these hills with a single punch?”

Uncle Doven’s gaze wandered over to the nearby hill as he raised his fist. Keith yelped and quickly held Doven’s arm back. “Wait, don’t ACTUALLY do it! I was just wondering if you could.”

“Oh.” Uncle Doven slowly lowered his arm, but Keith could see a hint of disappointment in his expression.

Sighing, Keith resumed exploring, and to his surprise, he found that each hill was occupied. The Rift was unexpectedly packed with adventurer parties, though a quick search on his magic tablet explained why. Ant Hill was the most popular level 300 Rift in the Human Domain due to the excessive number of monsters, and the high rate of gold dropped.

Due to its popularity, this Rift was managed by the mercenary guild itself. All 30 ant hills had a schedule that adventurers needed to abide by. Basically, if Keith wanted to grind here, he needed to find an ant hill with an open timeslot and reserve it through the mercenary guild’s page. The problem was people had already reserved the timeslots for several months out.

By that time, Keith would already be with his Dad and Grandma, and who knows what they wanted him to do. Would they require him to undergo training like his Mom and Aunt? If that was the case, he needed to be as prepared as possible, and this Ant Hill Rift was instrumental to his plan. Keith's power would skyrocket with the experience and gold this place provided.

Keith thought of two options.

First, he could try and join one of these adventurer parties. The only downside was, well, everything. Keith wouldn’t be able to collect experience earned by other people, and all his skills that posed a threat to these monsters caused widespread damage. Another drawback of having the orbs was Keith didn’t have any control over the skills. If he did, he could manipulate the size and orientation of Wind Lord’s Scythe, for example. As it stood, Keith would probably harm his teammates.

Honestly, the parties would hold Keith back. With his mass spamming of level 400+ skills, he could occupy an entire ant hill himself. No, what Keith needed to do was rely on his family’s influence, and to Keith, that was second nature.