Chương 117: 113: Bottomless Gulp

Chelsea's smile wasn't evil, but it wasn't not evil either.

"Typically it takes several years into an integration for an individual to reach the mandatory minimum number of points to be offered the Rift Keeper class. That individual, however, by virtue of being their world's first Rift Keeper, becomes the planetary authority. They may approve or reject all further petitions to join the class."

"What the fuck." I breathed out the words. That was insane. The System—the Multiverse—was so screwed up. It was like the First Defender title: kill something in the first five minutes of the integration and suddenly you got all kinds of power, as if your willingness to rapidly murder unexpected monsters said great things about your potential. What the hell was the Multiverse thinking?

"In the Multiverse's defense, the sapients who have lived for eons have learned that the best chance for a planet to become a functional, contributing force in the multiverse is for the inhabitants to grow strong enough to prevent their home from being erased."

"Erased?" Chelsea shrugged.

"Culturally, more often than not. Fifty years from now, will Earth become Sarathi Junior? Do you dress like them, talk like them, serve them? The Multiverse has experienced many ages of empires and the immortals who bother with policy have concluded that they stifle the growth of creativity, individuality, innovation. The growth that they care about. Their preference, although mild, is for you to become strong enough to thrive."

"Mild?"

"Do you know how many ants die every day on Earth?"

"Ew. No." I answered the question with a grimace, even though I already understood the analogy.

"Neither does the Multiverse. Which doesn't mean they don't care in the abstract whether ants as a species survive. I'm sure you wouldn't want to see a species of ants eradicated." Um, fire ants? I had the thought but didn't say the words aloud.

"Yes. Don't be fire ants." Time for a change of subject.

"And giving me the power to choose other Rift Keepers somehow prevents that?"

"Making sure that a native holds the authority over a very powerful position rather than a one-size-fits-all System process or forces from outside the planet? Yes. Although… well."

"Well what?" Chelsea looked briefly sad.

"Your planet's still dying. That's still the biggest problem you face. You being the people of Earth, of course." I took a breath, and then another. Okay, that was not a problem I could deal with today. I had too many problems that were barely reasonably sized enough for me to tackle. I didn't need to add the dying world on top of them. But I had the answer to Tessa's question, more or less. I turned to her.

"In order to move between rifts like I do, you need to become a Rift Keeper, and the first step in that process is to harvest something like a thousand instances. We should probably get on with finishing your first, yeah?" At the pizza shop, the others had shared out slices of the cheese, even though they'd eaten an hour ago. But they saved the meat lovers, veggie, and Hawaiian to bring back to the school.

"The kids always go for cheese over veggie," Jeff said cheerfully, "but they need the nutrients." He was the one tasked with carrying the boxes while we hunted for the rift core. I glanced at my three eager, expectant dogs. Riley was patient, but Bear's ears were tipped forward with her sense of betrayal. Zelda was hopeful, but also a tiny bit smug. She'd already had her pepperoni.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"I need just one slice of the meat lovers." I saved one chunk of sausage, then borrowed the Void-Touched Dagger to cut the slice into three pieces, two big, one small, being careful to keep the cheese distribution fair.

"You just used a Rare grade weapon to slice pizza," Jack pointed out as he took the dagger back.

"And it did a good job," I told him. A tool was a tool, in my opinion, although it was probably nice that I was five points more agile while slicing. Maybe it made the cheese distribution easier. I handed the sausage to Pen, nodding toward Gus, and then each of the dogs got the right-sized piece. It was more pizza than they'd ever had in one sitting. A bit of crust, a slice of pepperoni, okay, but nearly half a slice? Nope.

But I figured the System would prevent upset stomachs or pancreatitis, and all three were pleased. Bear could barely contain the happiness in her wagging tail. The Noodsums turned out to be a facade, just like some of the other stores, but a door tucked discreetly into the wall next to it had a sign that simply read 'Office.'

We spent five minutes getting organized for the boss battle that was going to start when we opened the door; sorting melee fighters from ranged, making sure the lowest level people were positioned to get a hit on whatever enemy appeared, finding Pen an elevated spot on a planter from which she could see everyone at once and heal us promptly if needed. Then I opened the door and discovered the core. There was no final boss.

One after another, everyone touched the core, getting their final reward as well as the achievements and XP for harvesting the instance and for the first harvest. Each achievement was worth 1000 XP, which gave all of the middle school crew enough XP to reach Level 5, where they could pick a new class. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Only Jeff had been offered a Thorn's class on his first level, but I could tell from the conversations and consultations around me that everyone else had one now, too. How did the System expect people to be discreet when it made it so blatant that people had encountered me? As for the rewards, they looked terrible at first glance. We each got a plastic cup with a mall logo on the side, the kind of cheap marketing swag handed out for free at conferences or events.

Tessa was all set to pitch hers in the nearest trash can until Jack said, "Wait. Let Olivia look at it first." I tapped [Analyze] and saw that he was right. Item: Bottomless Gulp Cup Type: Regenerative Container Grade: Uncommon Condition: Perfect Description: Add any non-magical potable liquid. Cup will refill with more of the same, preserving temperature, flavor profile, and nutritional value. Limitations apply.

Limitations: Does not duplicate potions, medicines, poisons, mana-infused liquids, alchemical concentrates, or any product where consumption of the daily maximum might prove fatal to the consumer. Can produce a maximum of 2 liters of liquid per day." Would two liters of coffee in a day kill a person?" I asked. Jeff snorted.

"Our school secretary drinks at least that much. She's fine."

"In that case," I waved at the cups.

"Welcome to your never-ending coffee supply. Whatever you put in it will refill, up to two liters a day." Jeff's eyes widened.

"Forget coffee. Milk for the kids. Safe water. Protein shakes, if we can find one to start it with." Tessa curled her cup into her chest protectively.

"Maybe one coffee? I'll share."

"If we can get more of these…" Jeff looked at the office door.

"You probably won't," I told him.

"In my experience, your first harvest of a rift gives you the best loot you'll ever get from it. But if you bring other people from your school back here, they might get one." Jeff nodded, looking resolute. He picked up the pizza boxes he'd set down for the battle, and put his cup on top.

"We should do that. If we leave now, we might be able to still get back here this afternoon."

"We have one more thing that we should do here first," I said. The core had given me the mental map of the mall. It was a little odd. The ground floor, the one we'd been exploring, was clear enough, but the map of the second floor was minimal. I wasn't sure whether that was because I hadn't gone up the escalator to look or whether there really was nothing up there but the offworld gate. Either way, walking through the gate would give them the Citizen of the Multiverse (1) and the Multiverse Explorer achievements.

While the rewards from both achievements were probably getting smaller as more and more people got them, they were still worth the effort.

"We need to go to the second floor." Leon didn't exactly go pale, but he tensed.

"The second floor?" When I found him, he was at the top of the escalator, so he'd already seen it.

"What's up there?" I asked.

"Nothing. But nothing in a way that feels seriously spooky. I was glad the mannequins couldn't figure out the stairs, because I didn't want to be running around up there." I shrugged and then gestured, indicating all of them.

"All of you are now, at least in levels, as strong as most of the guys who threw you in here. As strong as, but not stronger, and most, but not all. If you'd like to leave here actually stronger than all of them…" I pointed at the ceiling.

"Got it." Leon jerked his head down in a sharp nod, then he grinned at me.

"Gonna trust you on this one, but you get to go first." I let Bear lead the way up the frozen escalator steps, but I stayed close to her heels, only faltering for a step or two as we cleared the floor. Seriously spooky was right. The entire second floor was unfinished. But not like a construction zone type of unfinished, more like a dream. The gate shimmered on the other side of the escalator gap, but between the solid escalator and the gate, everything looked insubstantial. Including the ground.

But the gate was a gate. It made no sense that the rift core would have made it inaccessible, so I tentatively started walking toward it, holding my breath. If I fell through the floor and landed on the bottom floor, would I die or would it just hurt? I put my hand on my companion pouch, not accessing my healing potions, but ready to grab one as soon as I needed it. The ground was solid, though, even if it looked more like a cloud than a floor, so I started breathing again as I reached the gate.

I peered through the shimmer, trying to see what was on the other side, but nothing was visible. It was dark. Maybe it was nighttime?

"What do you think?" Jack said, peering over my shoulder.

"No idea," I replied. And then I shrugged and stepped through. I shivered immediately and the Wayfarer's Jacket turned up the heat as I glanced around, eyes adjusting to the dark. A patch of lighter gray loomed ahead of me, so I took a few steps closer, glancing at my notifications. Congratulations, you are the first Earth human to have visited Laoruta. Award: 1000 XP. Oh, damn it. If I'd been thinking, I would have made someone else go through before me.

I didn't need another 1000 XP or even 1820 XP as much as the others did. Congratulations, you are the first Earth human to have visited two other planets in the multiverse. Title: World First Multiverse Explorer (2) Award: +10% experience from all sources. And double damn it. That award could have been Jack's, because he'd been to Anvar, too. But apparently Multiverse Explorer was a progressive achievement, like Citizen of the Multiverse. Good to know.

"Wow, cool," Jack said from behind me.

"I'm one of the first hundred people to have visited two other planets. I get a title and an experience boost. Oh, I guess you probably do, too, right? Unless you're up to three or four by now." I didn't answer him because I'd reached the opening of the cave and the view had taken my breath away. We were on the side of a mountain, up high, and below us lay a city. It was night, and a huge blue moon practically filled the sky. No one could ever mistake it for Earth's moon, but I bet their tides were insane.

The city itself… well, no one would ever mistake it for an Earth city, either.

"Holy shit," Jack said behind me.

"What is that?" Pen asked.

"Is that—wow," said one of the others, although I couldn't tell who it was from voice alone. The cave entrance was getting crowded as everyone exited the gate and then joined us. My fingers itched for my sketchbook. Or maybe my tablet. The city's skyscrapers looked as if they were made of iridescent crystals. They had the sharp, defined edges of quartz, but the inner light of opals. Sky bridges flowed between them, connecting the buildings with lines that reminded me of blown glass.

Colored pencils could never do them justice. Definitely not pastels or watercolors, either. The light needed the clarity of oil, maybe, but how would I capture the colors? They were unearthly in their purity. Well, yeah. Unearthly was exactly right. And there were people down there. Tiny sparks of gold looked like windows. Moving glints had to be vehicles. Were they friendly? Hostile?

When they found the rift, would they invade Earth with weapons unlike anything we'd ever seen before, or would they come bearing strings of beads to trade for Manhattan? And was it pessimistic of me to assume the only two options were bad, or just realistic? That city wasn't built by people with any reason to respect Earth.

"I wonder if we could buy groceries here," Jeff said. I snorted out a laugh. Okay, yeah, that was pragmatic.

"Looks like a long hike down that mountain," Tracy replied, equally pragmatic. I turned away from the sight.

"Everyone here? Everyone get their achievements? If so, maybe it's time to see if the so-called patriots need to be, ah, discouraged from their anti-social behavior."