Spell Weaver-Chapter 99. Unexpected Fame

The three of them stopped and looked around when inside the large, high-ceilinged building.

Damn.

Alex was impressed. It looked more grand than some professional sports stadiums he’d seen.

The gym floor was split into sections by temporary walls and banners. Some areas had chairs and podiums for award ceremonies, while others had training mats and equipment on the floor. A few spots even had screens showing highlights of news clips as Guild Members emerged from Rifts that closed shortly after.

Alex watched the different types of people moving between stations. Some wore adventurer gear and moved with purpose, barely glancing at the basic stuff. Others huddled in groups, pointing at everything with wide eyes and shocked whispers.

They saw some labeled “Basic Rift Safety Protocols,” “Monster Classification and Recognition,” and “Equipment Requirements and Usage.” Several others focused more on combat, and Alex was interested in seeing what sort of information they held.

Sarah snorted as she looked at the informational sections and tables. “Could have been nice to have this before our team started weeks of Rift delving.”

“In their defense, the building wasn’t finished.” Mark said.

“Let’s split up and go look at some different stations,” Alex suggested while he continued to scan.

“I call dibs on Equipment Requirements and Usage,” Mark said while holding up his hand and immediately stepping off in the proper direction.

“I’ll go to Team Formation and Communication.”

Alex nodded. “Alright, then I’ll go look at Basic Rift Safety. Let’s listen in for a bit and then meet up at Basic Combat Stances and Techniques?”

His friends nodded before wading into the crowded areas around their sections.

Man, there’s so much going on here. I wonder where Olivia is. I definitely need to give her a hard time for this. She has gotta know this isn’t my kind of thing.

As if to accentuate the point, a group of three teenagers walked by, and one was not-so-subtly pointing at Alex while whispering to his friends.

"Val, stay close," Alex murmured. "No snatching anything this time."

He felt a slight tightening around his shoulders and knew that his companion had heard him.

Besides the stations they'd noticed earlier, he noted the names of a few more banners as he moved through the building. There were others like "Understanding Your Stats," "Rift Currency and Trading," and "Basic Mana Control." At the mana control station, a guy in Guild gear was showing off by floating a ball of water while two dozen people watched like it was the coolest thing they'd ever seen.

Alex had to remind himself that for some people this might be their first time ever seeing magic in real life and that he’d been constantly exposed to the changes in reality over the last several months. There was a moment of pause as he thought back to the sheer awe he’d felt as he looked up at the two suns that seemed abnormally large within his first Rift. Or how surreal it had felt to be standing in the middle of the city one moment, and a single stride later, to be standing in the middle of a meadow and towering forest of pines.

He walked toward the Rift safety section and stopped near the side of the group. Just getting through the milling crowd had him bumping into strangers and being jostled around and he worried that someone might elbow Valtherion. He didn’t think it was likely that they’d injure him, especially with his Constitution being almost 40 after his advancement.

When he could hear what the woman presenting was saying, he realized they were finishing up a discussion on Rift time dilation.

“… you’re saying that if I go into an Uncommon Rift, I’ll live twice as long?” A man was asking.

The woman nodded with an exaggerated smile. “Exactly, sir. As I said, each time the Rarity increases through Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary, the time-stretching effect will be multiplied by two. A Common Rarity Rift will have the exact same timeline as Earth, so there is no adjustment.”

Someone else raised their hand, and when he was acknowledged, he asked, “What happens if my family moves into a Rare Rift? If I leave for supplies, would they age four times faster in the Rift?”

“No, no. Don’t misunderstand, sir. All of us, because we are natives of Earth, will have our life expectancy maintained with this timeline- regardless of the Rift that you enter. However, that means they will experience four times the amount of time you’re gone.”

Alex could see the top of the man’s head as he nodded hesitantly.

The presenter was good and must have seen his hesitation because she gave him an example rather than moving on to the next question.

“To stick with your scenario, sir. Suppose you and your family moved into a Rare Rift. If, for simplicity's sake, we say that you would all live 100 years here on Earth. Then, in the Rift, your family would live for roughly 400 years- and that’s not even accounting for how magic and levels affect your life span. If you were to leave the Rift for a month, let’s say, while you were gone, your family would feel like you had been gone for four months.”

He could see the theoretical lightbulb go off in several faces around him. The presenter fielded a few more questions about how or why this works. He found it interesting that she, as a member of the Guild, used some of the terms he’d heard Eura use. She referred to the Rifts as broken worlds that were brought to Earth by the System. Since the Rifts are there for the humans of Earth and are meant to be explored, our bodies are anchored in a way to Earth’s timeline.

Alex was just about to leave as someone was asking for more details on the technicality of how it worked, and the presenter was attempting to end the topic as to not confuse some people further, when he stopped. She neatly moved on to her next topic and it interested him as well.

“Now that you understand how to prep for a Rift, how quests are assigned within the Rift, and how the time stretching effect works, we will talk about what happens at the end of a Rift.” She smiled and paused for dramatic effect.

The presentation continued, and Alex was interested to hear how Rift closure worked past the rewards that were given and that an exit appeared near them when it was finished. Since he hadn’t tested it, it was news to him that there would be limited time for them to step through the portal before the Rift destabilized and closed permanently. When someone asked, she apologized and said the Guild sources were unsure what would happen if the exit wasn’t taken.

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So, what she’s saying is that they don’t know if the world collapses or if just the portals are closed permanently.

Sarah had brought up that thought within the first week of them closing the Rifts. While it wouldn’t matter to them all that much while closing Common Rifts, that seemed to only contain basic beasts and monsters, she had posed the question about closing the Epic Rift that Alex and Sam had been in.

If it really does collapse… would everyone in that Rift- in Tianluo- die?

There were fewer questions in this section, and when Alex felt like he’d had his fill, he began to walk toward the combat class.

Until he heard her next topic.

Damn it.

He turned around and walked back to listen to her talk once more.

Mark and Sarah will come to find me here if they need me.

“Rift Breaks are possibly the most terrifying aspects of the Rifts. Since they’ve appeared on Earth in the last few months, there have been just over 100 reported Rift Breaks. It saddens me to say that these are only the ones that have been reported. In some of the larger states in the middle of the country, Rift Breaks have been more common of an occurrence, due to the population being more spread out. We can assume that there have been more Rift breaks and we’ll still see more as time goes on and more Rifts remain uncleared. ”

The crowd, including Alex, was completely entranced. They’d all seen the reports of Rift Breaks and knew how devastating they could be.

“One of the largest threats that a Rift Break presents is that we don’t know exactly when it will happen. In the first month or two of Rifts appearing, there were several breaks as the government attempted to contain the Rifts rather than explore them. While it’s the smart choice to act cautiously, it has been confirmed that the cause of a Rift break is from a Rift not being culled.” She raised her hand to stall a question. “Culling is the term that the Guild is using to refer to the fighting of monsters. The term is pulled from the Quests the System assigns and is the main factor preventing a Rift Break. The longer that a Rift sits, and the monster population within increases, the more likely it is to break. When a Break does happen, only a portion of the monsters from the Rift are able to leave. Think of them being released in waves, where each sequential break causes a larger wave to enter Earth.”

She took a few questions before ending her presentation with a sales pitch that Alex felt was quite effective.

“This is the main goal of the Adventurers Guild. We want to aid people in this crazy time. Those who join must be Awakened or be willing to awaken because our hope- no, our goal- is to close as many Rifts as possible. This Teams Event that we’re celebrating today, is just the first step in our goal to aid our planet in fighting back these monsters. We want to train and equip our teams to cull and close Rifts all across the country to prevent any more of these breaks from occurring. We fervently believe that the best way to do this is by putting power in the hands of the people, rather than a centralized body, like the government. We want you to have the power to do what’s needed and keep yourselves safe.”

There was a bit more fluff toward the end about how to proceed with signing up, but Alex turned to walk to the combat class before he was sucked into whatever she spoke about next. He could hear a round of applause for the presenter when he was a ways away.

I am surprised that Mark and Sarah didn’t come find me. I wonder if the combat class is really that good.

He wove his way through the crowd and found it easy to find his tall friend, even in the dense throng of people.

“Hey, what’s up? How’s the class?”

Man, I’m glad Val is staying so quiet. I’ll need to make sure to give him a special treat later for being so good. This has got to be stressful for the little guy.

“Alex, hey. Uhm, this is kind of weird, right?” Mark asked as he pointed to one of the instructors at the center of the mats.

An eyebrow instinctively rose as he saw Rylan demonstrating some fighting techniques for a group of five.

“Rylan is one of the instructors? That doesn’t seem like a great choice for such a public event.” Alex thought back to the obnoxious scene he’d seen on Christmas Eve and the two other run-ins that he’d had with the man since then.

“I’m surprised, too. I wouldn’t have thought that he would be the type to teach anything.” Sarah was watching the tall blonde warrior closely, and Alex knew she was analyzing his body language and how he interacted with the five people he was teaching.

“He’s been at it for a while now. Just answering questions and demonstrating some different attacks with various weapons. I really wouldn’t have even thought this was the same guy,” Mark said. “It was pretty clear he was trying to start some crap that time we ran into him at The Mana Tap.”

Alex watched as Rylan showed a defensive stance to his group. A large golden disk hung from his neck that looked far too gaudy to be in the setting they were in. Even more strange was seeing him teach instead of trying to intimidate someone. Alex was glad that his friends had seen him still acting in such a way at the bar. Others in the guild, Elana especially, seemed to be fooled by the front that Rylan was putting on. When he corrected a younger guy's stance, his voice was calm and not at all condescending - nothing like the hothead from the tournament.

"Keep your weight centered," Rylan said, demonstrating a simple block. "Most monsters are stronger than you think. Better to deflect than try to stop them straight on."

His students watched closely, obviously impressed. One of them tried to copy the move and nearly fell over. Instead of getting annoyed, Rylan just showed it again, slower.

Maybe the guy actually isn’t so bad around everyone else, and he’s just got a bone to pick with me?

"Are you Alex?"

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The question startled him out of his thoughts. Three teenagers stood nearby, staring at him. The girl who'd spoken could barely stand still she was so excited.

"Yes?"

"Holy crap, I told you guys!" Alex realized that it was the trio from before and that the boy who'd been pointing at him earlier was practically bouncing on his toes. "We saw your tournament videos and that fight with the fire guy was SO cool!"

"Can you sign this?" The girl thrust a Guild flyer and pen at him. "Please? We've watched all your matches like a hundred times!"

"What— all my matches?" Alex stepped back, bumping into Mark.

"Your face looks way more badass now," another kid chimed in. "Did it hurt when—"

"Dude, you can't just ask that!"

"But what about his eye? It's all glowy and stuff—"

"Does it shoot lasers?"

"Can you show us that move where you—"

More people started turning to look. Alex heard people saying his name, and phones started coming up for pictures. Sarah moved closer, trying not to smile while looking a bit worried.

"Uh, thanks, but I'm not..." Alex raised his hands, trying to back away. "We just came for the celebration..."

"Wait, you guys were one of the teams in the event?"

"Of course they were, dumbo! They’re so strong, I bet they were first."

"Is it true you fought in the Epic Rift that my guide talked about?"

The questions came faster, the crowd growing. Alex felt his cheeks burning.

Mark, laughing is seriously not helping right now.

"Seriously, I'm just here to-"

"Is that the guy from the tournament?"

"Mom! Mom! It's the guy from the video!"

"Can I get a picture?"

Alex looked desperately at Sarah, who tried not to smile while stepping closer. Mark finally stopped laughing long enough to put a hand on Alex's shoulder.

"Didn't know you were such a big deal," Mark teased. "Should I be asking for your autograph too?"

Before Alex could tell Mark exactly where to shove that autograph, a familiar voice cut through the chaos.

"Alex?"

The crowd parted as Olivia pushed through, and Alex had never been so glad to see her. Until-

"Oh my god, you're Olivia!" The first girl's voice hit a pitch that probably hurt Val's ears.

What the actual fuck is happening?

Alex looked around, feeling like he was the only one who thought this situation was completely absurd. He looked at Sarah, but his attention was pulled past her as he saw a familiar face looking directly at him.

Rylan and Alex made eye contact, and the larger man's expression darkened. His eyebrows drew together while his head tilted forward menacingly, making it clear the Guild trainer still harbored his anger.

Alex felt Valtherion tighten slightly around his shoulders, sensing the tension. He placed a calming hand on what appeared to be his cloak, hoping to keep Val from doing anything rash.

This celebration just got a lot more complicated, Alex thought, trying to figure out how to navigate the sudden attention and Rylan's apparent hostility while keeping Val under control.