It's time to shop!

  Charles woke early and headed to the shops, stopping first at the general store, buying some supplies he would need, a first aid kit, some rope ,a small foldable pickaxe and a sturdy backpack as well as a large tarp that he could use as a sack to haul resources he pulled from the rift. He had been told the day before that the rift had a small gem deposit in the last room, and the rift made sapphires were useful for enchanting and jewelry craft.

  The next stop was the armor’s shop and weapon smiths, where he chatted with a few of the crafting pathers before buying a set of light weight black cloth and leather armor made for mobility, the tier one rift had goblins with clubs, so the padding would help.

  Finally a weapon, that was the tricky part, but after a bit he found a tier 3 smith who had some extra tier 1 sabers he made a while back and never sold. Taking his pick of the pile, Charles paid and was off, back to the training hall, where he would be spending the rest of the day.

  As he entered the building he saw Jenna entering another sparing room and he mused to him self, “I should try to meet some more pathers, so far the only people i know are Ki and Jenna, well and Brick, the smith who made my sword…. Yep i'm becoming a loner, i'll need to work on that.”

  One nearly full day of breaking his gear in and training, as well as a sound sleep in his room, Charles woke up on his delve day, excitement filling him, “Its time to fight monsters!”

  It was not time to fight monsters, it was 6am, there were 6 hours before the delve slot, but that did dampen Charles’ enthusiasm at all.

  6 Hours and a bus ride later he was standing in front of a rift, having just watched the last team of two enter he had fifteen minutes before his slot and he was checking and re checking his gear, making sure for the 3rd time that he remembered both his sword and backup dagger.

  After what felt like an eternity later, one of the guards waved him forward. “Your up kid.” the guard said.

  Charles took a deep breath and stepped forward.

  The transition was unreal, one moment he was in a clean sterile room, the next he was in a cave, with a smooth floor and flat walls, it reminded him of a map from a table top game he had played with his mother, “Pather finder” if he remembered correctly. Brushing that and the lingering pang of sadness at the thought of his mother away he focused on the rift, the first room was safe in this rift, meaning there were never monsters in it, according to the guide, there would be 6 rooms, then a boss and reward along with the exit. All he needed to do was kill the goblins without having his face smashed by their clubs.

  Stepping up to the first room he spied the goblin inside, just standing there , dumbly waiting for him, from what he had read this was a part of tier 1 rifts, the monsters just stood around in a state of torpor until disturbed, in theory one could sneak past every monster, grab the reward and exit without a fight, that would be pointless for charles as he was here to advance not get rich, so he walked into the room and got ready for the goblin’s assault.

  As he entered the goblin looked at him and charged with a screech, waving its club about erratically, with a back step Charles dodged the attack, making a swift thrust at the goblin’s center of mass he pierced the goblin’s heart, just as he thought he had won easily, and a smug smirk started to form on his face, the iron club’s back swing connected to his face, reminding him that he needed to stay alert. As he landed on his backside he felt a rush of essence, like a flood of power in his core, he would need to allocate it once he was out of the rift, but it let him know the simple stab had been fatal.

  One broken nose and bruised pride later he entered the second room, this time with two goblins. This go around Charles was much more conservative, only striking when he was well clear of any retaliation. This dance of dodging and quick thrusts continued till the last room, there he found the boss, a single hob goblin in full plate. The armor it self was rusty, and basically worthless aside form as scrap, but he would be taking it as every mana stone counts on the path, first however he would need to dispatch the hobgoblin within. At first he tried the same dance of dodge and thrust he had used against the lesser goblins, but the hob was both too well protected and smarter than the rest, making it a useless attempt, kiting the hob back to the previous room, Charles snagged one of the larger iron clubs form where he had them piled on the tarp, and turned, swinging it like a batt he rung the hobgoblin’s bell, hitting it hard enough the helmet broke like a walnut, letting go of the club, he drew his sword and ran it through the still dazed hobgoblin’s neck, ending the fight.

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  After piling all the metal scrap on the tarp and dragging it to the exit he stopped and dispelled the reward distortion, a small bottle with a swirling black liquid inside dropped, and he caught it mid air. Poison. According to the rift’s guide it was basically worthless, as it rusted the weapon its put on quite badly. Taking out his pick he dug at the gem deposit, pring loose one of the rough sapphires and accidentally smashing the second. Upon exiting the rift he was waved to a counter where the clerk asked about his rift reward, and bought the salvage and gem, the poison was only worth 3 credits, with 100 credits being the value of a tier 1 mana stone it was worth less than a bottle of water, disappointing but hey, they cant all be winners.

  After a quick trip to the healers he had his nose set back properly and healed, Charles returned to his room, taking a shower and sitting down to meditate and cultivate his essence, allocating it in a even 50/50 split. “Not that i need mana with no skills, but a solid foundation is important, ill need enchanted items eventually and they need mana, maybe even a growth item if im real lucky, mom’s old co-worker Kathy had a wand growth item that helped her regrow peoples missing limbs, that would be neat.

  That night Charles dressed in one of his nicer casual outfits and wandered the island, every night there were a few parties as delvers below off steam, and charles made his way to and through a few of them before finding a very relaxed one on the beach, it was mostly tier one and two teams chatting around a bonfire and having a drink, Charles stuck around, meeting the new faces, and introducing himself to the local delving crowd, about two hours in, he was sitting on a log, most of the others wandering off at some point when someone sat down next to him, to his surprise it was Jenna.

  “Delve yet?” she asked, her tone flat, making Charles think it was just idle talk, that confused him a bit as she had moved to sit by him, but he answered regardless.

  “Yeah, today, got my nose broken for not being as vigilant as I should, You?” he asked

  “I had to bail in the boss room, it broke my hand after i failed to penetrate the boss’s armor.” she replied.

  “Yeah, its a bit of a pain having full coverage like that.” Charles replied awkwardly, knowing if she wanted pointers, that she would have asked someone who had delved more, and had more experience.

  “We are both starting out, as you are going to be the person closest to my level, would you mind doing some sparring tomorrow? I know that's not a fair ask, but I need the practice, even if you don't need it, i'm sure it will benefit us both.” she said, in a voice and tone that suggested she was sure he would say no.

  “Ok.”

  “Thats fine, i didn't expect you to acc…. Ok?”

  “Yep.”

  “Just like that, no bargaining or asking for payment?”

  “Yep.”

  “Thanks…” she muttered.

  “Any time. I needed someone to train with, and i'm short on friends so this is a good opportunity for me.” Charles responded.

  “Same. To be honest I was sure you would say no.” she said.

  “Why, its a good offer, its not like I have a team?” Charles asked.

  “You are… confident? Im not sure, when we met at the station I felt like i was out of my depth, joining the path is huge for me, but i have no idea what im doing, but you looked and acted like you were in your comfort zone. I figured you wouldn't need my help.”

  “Oh, that, its mostly an act, im stumbling around in the dark for sure, but im fine with it, just being on the path is enough, im not worried about much, but im not in control either, i mean, what kind of idiot gets his face smashed in the first room of a tier one rift. I'm just a comfortable idiot.”

  “Wow, sell your self short much?”

  “Nah, its accurate, Im not the best delver, but im not bad, i think i know my limits, and ill just stumble my way to success if needed. I mean, i came to this party because i felt i was spending too much time alone, and i stumbled into you.”

  “I approached you.”

  “Fair, but still, boom, friend.”

  “We are friends now?” she asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Ill take it.”

  “So 6 A.M. at the training hall work for you?” Charles asked.

  “7. I need my sleep.” she snorted.

  “Deal. I am going to head off for the night, I’ll see ya there.”