Jake rode on his medium-sized airship, waiting to assault the Greater Rift with his family and a few guests. They were on the Wind Continent once again, winds buffetting their airship. Floating mountains could be seen in the distance, the world below glimmering green from the abundant wind mana.
They were clearing out enemies and preparing to close the special challenge. It was only a few days out from spawning some waves of powerful enemies, up to and including a Boss-level Tier 3 monster, so they had to clear it out before waiting much longer.
Nearly all of his wives hung out on the larger deck, even Bree and Avalara. Berri would rather have him ride on her back, but the compromise was that from the deck, she could hit her baseballs at unsuspecting targets.
Fhesiah and Nessa stayed back at the HQ, continuing their work with the tokens. It was slow-going now that they had so many merged; it became more complicated and time-consuming to weave more in. Yet they still continued, their recordings expanding as they encompassed more of the web.
It had only been three days since the Sector Council, where things had changed so significantly in the multiverse. Over a dozen Divine were in shackles, and Avaron and Cassius had been dragged into the Shadows of Tir Na Nog.
But nothing had really changed topside, aside from their guilds disappearing. In fact, some of their PvP enemies remained around, being small nuisances. They were the allies of The Obsidian Blades and Radiant Glory, and perhaps many of them were those extorted or forced into declaring war with Hearthtribe for their leaders. While it appeared some of them might have tokens, they hadn’t caught any communication on them.
Jake wasn’t sure what exactly Tyr had done to prevent news about the council results from getting out–perhaps, people’s messages through the Menu were being filtered. Or maybe most of the users of the tokens were not really members of the Framework at all, and they lacked a secondary means of communication. That they had obtained some of the master tokens, which were the only ones that could communicate on any thread, likely helped, but they were always wondering if there were more out there.
Thankfully, they now had some aid in threading the tokens. Otherwise, by the time they merged all the tokens, the betrayers would learn that their communication network had been leaked, and they would become useless. The news of Radiant Glory and the Obsidian Blades guild’s betrayals was currently being suppressed, but it was only a matter of time before their allies realized.
A deep voice interrupted Jake’s musing. “Hm. These beastkin truly rule the skies here; your people fight well, Baron Hart. Or should I say Count Hart? Hahaha!”
The man, Baron Jantaka, arrived a few days ago with a few dozen of his truth seekers. All of them were in the Third Tier and were especially talented in tracking, detection, and magical forensics. Their capacity for fighting was also quite effective, and Jake thought his arrival explained some of their enemy’s behavior and timing.
Probably, Tartarus had pushed forward its goals or made the final push for success because this man was showing up. Odds were, his truth seekers would have uncovered various plots, and even the moon situation–and perhaps with just enough time to stop it. They pushed to complete their goals in under a week or to make Cassius, Avaron, and Calix disappear before he could even show up.
Jake smiled at the odd man. The Dharmapalas noble was like a muscular blue devil, with several extra spiritual arms coming out of his back much like Sati, with a Dharma Wheel attached. Thankfully, he was in a good mood ever since he met her and saw what Jake and his people had already accomplished.
And it seemed he could sense that Jake’s family was a group of true heroes, due to their positive karma. From the moment they met, he had gushed all about Sati and was quick to lather praise on all of them, and not just from the news about the Sector Council, he said.
It made a sort of sense that Jake and his wives all had positive karma. They had influenced millions of lives already and saved more than a dozen worlds thanks to their actions.
Jake replied, “They train and fight hard. I’m proud of just how effective they are.”
He was in the State of the Guardian as they led their forces around and cleared the final Rifts, mostly using the airships to rest and bring their larger allies. Streams of multicolored arrows flew across the sky, explosions causing the air itself to tremble as they fought flying monsters. Rifts in the sky were a mixed bag, but in all, Jake felt like they were less challenging thanks to his powerful beastkin allies.
Most flying monsters, by their nature, needed to be lighter and more brittle compared to land-dwelling ones. And if they were somehow large, like a giant beetle or hornet, they would have to be slow to compensate, to make their bigger bulk capable of flight. That meant they went down just as easily.
Even enemies like wyverns were not difficult to slay, as all it took was a bit of damage to their wings, and they would plummet to the ground to fall to their deaths. This was true for Boss-level enemies as well, compared to their earthbound counterparts.
It was the same reason why Bree and Avalara didn’t make good flyers. The more massive and dense or durable something was, the less capable it could be at flight thanks to how expensive it was to make it lighter or not be influenced by gravity, even with spells like their Featherfall. And they were as dense and massive as they came.
In the Third Tier, this would change. Mana would become dense enough that altering reality to make one lighter or propel something larger was something even beasts could do in a near-trivial way.
Only the ultra-massive beasts like Bree’s old dinocerberus body would have any difficulty at all with flight should they go through the trouble of mastering it. It wasn’t lost on Jake that the Obsidian Mercenaries never did master magic beyond the bare minimum.
Several large, flying, whale-like enemies approached the flotilla of airships, explosions, and beast manifestations cutting into the flying monsters. The giant floating monsters launched smaller manta rays and magical harpies at Jake’s army, and they went down fast as dozens of archers were able to focus on them all at once.
One of Jantaka’s blue hands grasped his chin, while others gesticulated, pointing to the beastkin and their arrows. “The spiritual energy the beastkin use is unique. But it’s their weaponry and training that helps them shine at this distance. Impressive. You’ve invested heavily in every single soldier and molded them all into heroes.”
“We have, but they also invest heavily in themselves and each other. The fighting families that make up the clans are the cornerstone of what drives them to victory over our enemies.”
“Spoken like a true Champion of Family!” He clapped Jake on the back with three arms, laughing, and turned to watch the beastkin fighting once again. “I see it. Not only in the beastkin, but in some of your allies as well. The Love and Justice cultivators are different from those I’ve met in the past. You are fostering a guild and alliance of heroes, and I cannot wait until you reach the Third Tier, and we can fight side-by-side.” The man grinned proudly, two of his hands on his hips and another hand on his chin in thought.
The noble was happy to agree to join their alliance as soon as they met the requirements. With several of Hearthtribe’s top people getting dungeon raids under their belts soon enough, Jake was sure as a guild they would be ready to enter the Third Tier within the next year or two. However, with the War Trial’s first stage coming soon, he wasn’t sure if his people would make it before or after. And he wasn’t sure which would be better at this point.
Jake chuckled at his enthusiasm. “I’m learning more and more how our culture choices for our guilds are making a big difference. That said, are your truth seekers not heroes in their own right? You and your brethren seem powerful, determined, and focused. Your display earlier was impressive.”
Baron Jantaka laughed. “Thank you for your compliment! I can tell you mean it, and that means a lot coming from a hero such as you.”
He really did. Jantaka and a few of his Dakas and Dakinis, and a few of his own Buddhist monks, had produced an attack that could easily rival Fhesiah or Jake’s without issue, even limited down to the Second Tier as they were. They had nearly destroyed a Boss monster in a single attack, covering it in powerful flames of justice–Dharma Wheel attacks much like Sati’s.
Jantaka continued, “We Servants of the Dharma fight for justice and seek truth like heroes, true. But as Chakra Energy users, we are beings of emotion and purity, a near single-minded devotion to that which drives us. The fires of my wrath burn brightly, but the fuel is spent quickly. I am still recovering from my display earlier. It requires much meditation after the battle is won to recover, losing momentum on the battlefield. Then, the land’s spirituality in the area being different from us wears us down, slowing our recovery, and we require many supporters to sanctify the area in order to anchor ourselves and bring about our full power.”
He added seriously, “We are strong, but we are not without our flaws, our weaknesses. This force of yours is well-rounded and capable, and I am excited to see how it evolves as you do.”
This was the first time Jake met a Chakra Energy user. While all humans and most humanoids had chakras–mystical, spiritual organs that resided on their spiritual bodies–Chakra Energy was a special type that synergized most heavily with those organs.
It seemed Chakra Energy users had it even worse than cultivators in terms of their ability to recover after battle. The energy itself was a psychospiritual energy that was built from the mind and the spiritual plane and merged with their body.
It would travel through their body as they meditated, being transformed by the numerous chakras within them, each one altering the energy depending on various factors, such as race, emotion, Origin, attunement, and more.
The same was true of mana or Qi as it flowed through those organs–only how much it could be modified or attuned by the chakras was simply less in most instances. It seemed the default, should nothing be changed among the chakras, was for the Chakra Energy to grant powerful life force, capable of empowering bodies into destructive attacks and rapid recovery.
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They could then use hand symbols and spoken verses to transform it into other magic, the psychospiritual energy responding to them. But beings like the Dharmapalas would transform it into a fiery, wrathful energy, their chakra organs different from the default–just like Jake’s special manipura chakra–the void furnace.
Baron Jantaka was a being of wrath, fire, truth, justice, and righteousness. If he was in an area that was the opposite of this, then he would be weaker and recover slower. Unless he had numerous subordinates available to purify the area or to channel energy into them almost like a magic circle. Sort of like how in areas of high life force, the Emberborn would struggle unless they produced miasma and prepared the field.
Jake replied, “I see, and I am proud of how well my people fight. So that’s at least part of why you enjoyed the Grand Fire Temple so much–it was closer to home?”
Jantaka beamed with pride as he laughed. “Hahaha! Yes! That was part of it. And the rest was thanks to the wondrous, virtuous Sati! She is such a beacon of purity and righteousness, and it is evident that this is being passed down to her numerous disciples.” The man grinned at Sati, who was floating off to the side in her lotus pose, as usual.
Sati smiled at him. “You are too kind, Baron Jantaka. I have only been teaching them for a little over a week now, so their virtue is thanks to their own efforts.”
“It matters not how; I can feel how they trust you. Such passion, such devotion! It reminded me of when I was but a young Arhat. When you reach the Third Tier, you must come to my home: The Radiant Overlook. Then we can share our wisdom, and you can visit our many Tirthas–our holy sites. You should gain a lot there, you wonderful flame.”
Sati bowed slightly with her hands folded. “I thank you for the invite, Baron. Is my Ishvara welcome as well?”
Jantaka’s eyes widened, his voice alarmed. “Of course! I apologize–how thoughtless of me. Thoughtless! I was just too excited at the prospect of you visiting.” He spread his arms wide, motioning to everyone on the ship. “All members of Clan Hart are welcome to visit, and so are all heroes of Hearthtribe. I would welcome you now, but I know you seek the guild research bonuses. There won’t be any value for you before then.”
The Baron continued to speak with his party but eventually settled in to meditate as he recovered, his eyes closed near Sati as he prayed so that he could join them for the Greater Rift. It seemed just being around Jake’s Presence helped him, but it was still relatively slow, requiring hours before he could accomplish his display from before.
Most of his truth seekers were busy working with the tokens along with Fhesiah and Nessa, doing what they could to extract the information from the web of fate. A few had come along to check out Hearthtribe’s efforts and to assist with closing the Greater Rift.
After their victory over the Nameless Monk and their relaxation, Clan Hart had pushed to close as many Rifts as they could in a short time, careful of any potential plot or threat meant to ambush or take them out. In truth, however, things appeared to have calmed down, the Ravenwolf Tribe and the Elysians not finding any hints of things shifting in a negative way.
And the Array Flag network had largely been completed. They now had data streaming in, able to monitor enemy movements and the shift of mana. Already they had closed a few Rifts just as they opened, showing the effectiveness of the tool, just as it was proving on other worlds. Jake was already getting some ideas on how to improve the tool for when he had better, third-tier materials, but for now, it seemed like he was ahead of the curve when it came to warfare.
Then, Sati’s Celestial Perspective no longer picked up any more tainted malevolence. They had cleared out all the idols, even from the water continent, and double-checked that no Rifts were present. There was a small chance that Tartarus might have tried to sneak some around where intelligent species were holed up, but it had largely been left alone. It seemed that Tartarus was focused on sealing the deal on the other three continents as quickly as possible.
There were a few Monster Dens that they cleared on the continent, but the truth was that they could not truly grow without finding natives to slay. They could destroy wildlife, but they wouldn’t become Rifts or further Tartarus’s goals without doing so.
So this meant that in the last few days, with all of their operatives on the world, Conquest Progress had evened out and was passing 60% once more. With the Greater Rift today, they should have victory mostly in the bag. In theory, Clan Hart could consider leaving the world to go aid the others and then return when it was time to run the Dungeon Raid. They would wait to hear back from Hestia–both on the rewards and also about how they should proceed in their Conquest next.
A familiar sight arrived–a dark ravenwolf flying near Jake with his clan. It was Timone and Dahlia, and they landed on the deck of their airship.
“Dad, Mom! It’s good to see you.” Tanda’s tail was wagging as she hugged her father and mother.
Timone smiled at her. “Daughter. We’re finally back.”
Jake chuckled. “Glad you could make it back for this, Clanfather. We were a bit worried when you hadn’t come back yet and felt bad that we might have sent you after a red herring. We definitely could have used you in the fights we had just last week instead of inside the dungeon.”
Dahlia pouted, putting a hand on her hip, the other holding her halberd upright. “We missed the best fights. The one in the dungeon was thrilling, but it was nothing compared to Aspects and Champions! Good work out here, Daughter and Clanson!” She hugged Tanda, and then Jake as well, congratulating them on their victory.
Timone chuckled. “It was probably for the better in the end, Clanson. It wouldn’t be the first time Aisling’s visions sent us on a bit of a wild goose chase, but at least we thwarted the dungeon outbreak. They had sent all that manpower in there just to open a floor gate and deliver natives and themselves to be slain, to feed into a Monster Tide.”
Tanda tilted her head. “How did you manage to stop them? PvP is disabled in the dungeon, isn’t it?”
Timone nodded. “That’s right. We caught them transporting kidnapped people through the dungeon. When we went to rescue and stop them, they used their special items to attack us.”
Dahlia’s tail was wagging, and she added with a smile, “And we trounced them! These guys were a bit tougher than some of the rest, but they were not our match. The dungeon even tried to interfere a little!”
Timone grimaced. “A swarm of monsters hit us just after we engaged. But our warriors were up to the task, and the reason it took us so long to return was bringing the natives back to safety.”
Jantaka was pissed, his body lighting on fire and turning a deep red from his blue color, and growling in anger as he raised his closed fists in the air. “Raargh! Treacherous, disgusting scum! May they burn a thousand lifetimes! Good work, heroes. Good work in bringing them to justice! The world needs more heroes such as you.” He moved to shake Timone’s hand, then paused, realizing he was on fire. He let out a shaky breath, the flames dying down, then reached out again.
Timone was taken aback by his sudden ferocity but clasped his forearm once it was safer. “Ah, yes. Thank you, and well met. Baron Jantaka, right? I am Timone, Chief of the Ravenwolf Tribe.”
Dahlia laughed at the interaction but also took turns in meeting with the baron. Jake looked up and saw that the various members of the tribe were returning. It wasn’t just the Ravenwolf Clan that had gone inside–they had taken a couple hundred of their tribe members.
Jake was happy he was able to catch these last betrayers, because he wasn’t sure if they could escape in a more permanent way. While it felt like the Framework should have just been able to dissolve the betrayers’ avatars as soon as their sentencing arrived, it seemed this was not within the bounds of what it could do while the world was Contested.
The best it could offer were the Quests to take them out, and then it would prevent them from being resurrected through any means. Already, this was happening on their Contested Worlds, and probably, those that were ‘at home’ as it were, were placed in stasis to be judged instantly.
Hearthtribe continued to work to clear out the Rifts, the Ravenwolf Tribe fighting alongside the airships, taking them down. Despite continuously working on those in the area, nearly twenty had been left for them to clear.
The Greater Rift’s presence alone improved the rate at which Rifts would spawn nearby, and so they had to be cleared out for their final assault.
When they neared the Rift, a Framework prompt detailed little.
[Greater Rift - Spawn in 3 days and 13 hours. Challenge is rated for 100 Battle Power.]
It seemed the challenge within the Greater Rift chosen was a larger one. While it was true that the scale of these events might have increased in the Second Tier, there was still a fair amount of variance. It was entirely possible for a 25 Battle Power challenge to appear like what they faced in the First Tier.
The party made sure to rest and recover and picked out their hundred Battle Power to enter along with his family. Baron Jantaka would join them, but he rejected earning any Conquest Points – the currency for claiming the world within the Battlegroup settings–and Jake was surprised that he would take up five slots, like Avalara. Technically, he was not yet a member of their alliance, but Jake was okay with allowing him to enter the Greater Rift with the rest of his guild.
Jake also called on Fhesiah and Nessa, planning on bringing them back to the HQ as soon as they were done–the truth seekers continuing to work on the tokens and gather recordings. It would be the same as their original landing party, plus an additional fifty Ravenwolf, Love and Justice, Sons of Rome, Warrior Brotherhood, and various Hearthtribe.
***
[Welcome to the Greater Rift - Fortress Defense. Survive the waves of enemies and defend the nodes. You must defend all nodes until the time runs out, or it marks defeat for your forces.]
Jake was satisfied that the prompt made no mention of the number of Champions and Divine entities that entered. This meant that while the difficulty would be bumped up slightly, it wouldn’t do anything crazy like what had happened at Life’s Haven. It had bumped all the bosses up by 5 levels, as if to make them a Champion-level challenge to claim the world.
Instead, the encounter was largely balanced around the premise that each of the Divine-infused entities took up more than one ‘battle power’ slot. There was a bit more of a difficulty increase than that, as in order for them to earn Champion-level rewards, the difficulty should be great. It’s just that they weren’t bumped up a second amount to compensate for the war objective having no answer to their presence and getting a significant advantage by being able to call upon their Divine.
This all meant that while there would be a chance that they could lose if they let their guard down, this likely would not be a life-or-death struggle for them.
Berri cheered, “Yay! We’re the defenders. Finally!”
They found themselves standing at the top of the battlements of a star-shaped fortress at the edge of a mountain. There were three beacons inside the fortress, the nodes they needed to defend tucked behind the different walled-in points of the star. Each had a barrier of health, so it was clear it wouldn’t fall from just simple attacks getting through.
They were given five minutes to buff up and prepare, the rules once again written on scripts on the walls nearby. There wasn’t a whole lot this time, as they were allowed to make constructions and more–Jake assumed due to the limited amount of time to prepare and the limited duration of the battle. They only needed to hold the fortress for an hour.
Fhesiah chuckled. “Well, I wouldn’t get excited too soon. Look.”
The entire valley in front of them was filled with giant insects once again. They looked like some kind of large ants, with…ant people on their backs, holding staves and bows. Odd.
Berri groaned. “Oh, come on! Bugs again… I’m getting really sick of these kinds of enemies.”
Ophelia looked over the battlements. “Ants, huh. They’ll make these walls rather useless–climbing over each other as they do.”
“No, wait, it’s fine. We’ll just blast them all before they get anywhere near the keep, right, Jakey?”
“Of course. But first, let’s buff up and check on the integrity of the fortress. I wouldn’t put it past Tartarus to go for any weaknesses. Ants are great at digging…”
Perhaps the Greater Rift wouldn’t be all that challenging. But Jake wasn’t taking any chances.
