Ch. 10 Time To Train, Not

I left the Association building with my steps a little heavy. Because of my overenthusiasm with breaking stones before level 5, I could only gain 18 more stat points from stones. I still needed to crush 16 more stones for my quest. I was really hoping I would get some +1 stones, as bad as that sounded.

I decided today I was definitely going to train. I opened the door to the car and my phone rang "This is Odellin", "Hey bud it's Will. Are you near a TV or something?"

I shook my head "No, getting ready to go try and get some training in in the woods, why?" He responded "Check out CBNC (Columbus Breakers News Channel)."

I put him on speaker and went to the site on my phone. My eyes went wide "What in the-" he cut me off "It's happening everywhere bud. The rules seem to be changing. They are saying it's five days for a Rift to open now and the number of Rifts opening daily has doubled." then he stopped as an announcement came over the news.

"The International Rift Breakers Association has released an announcement that it will redouble it's efforts to avert any more tragedies like the ones in Seoul, Detroit and Miami. Police and Military forces are being tasked with holding off all open Rifts while the International Rift Breakers Association and the Guilds working with them are attempting to close those Rifts that have opened as well as those that are now due to open two days sooner."

I did a search near the house for any known Rifts, there were two and one of them was 4 days old. The Association had scheduled a team to clear it tomorrow, but that would be too late.

"Dude, I know you're on vacation, but there's a Rift near my house. Like a five minute drive from it." His voice grew serious "Why do you think I called you? I told the Association but they only have 5 people gathered that can do it right now. I got them to get Tyrone coming, but with you and me that's 6."

I nodded again "I'm on my way home now. When will the others get there?", "In about an hour.", "See you when you get there bud, thanks for the call."

I hung up and drove home, as I was on my way home I got a call from the Association "Mr. Hundai, this is Thomas Cromwell from the International Rift Breakers Association calling." the same man who's voice I heard from that first Rift called.

"If you're calling me to tell me about the Rift on #$!@ street and &#$! lane I am already on my way to it."

I heard typing in the background "Good, I am sorry to inform you that we only have 5 others available for this Raid."

I nodded at that "It's only a level 5 and my last level 5 wasn't easy, but not horrible. I think I am prepared for this one more."

His voice became serious "Just remember, closing the Rift is necessary, but you are vital. Don't put yourself in undue danger.", "I won't, thanks Tom." he hung up.

I got home about 30 minutes later and told Bella to stay put. I went inside and explained the situation to my wife. Claire and her both looked up at me and then Claire stood up. "I'll go with you. This morning I crushed the stone you gave me and it gave me my character sheet as well as a +2 bonus to STR."

I looked at Lynette questioningly "Don't look at me. She saw the news before you got home and already decided. I can't talk her out of it. I was hoping you could."

I looked at her and tried to use my best dad voice "Claire, this definitely isn't something you can take lightly. You will have to fight to survive in that Rift. The things in there will be trying to kill you. I almost died because 1, not 3 or 6 or even 10, but because 1 Goblin got the drop on me."

She folded her arms and gave me that oh so annoying look teenagers get when the words of adults won't affect them. I groaned and Lynette gave a giggle.

"Fine, what does your character sheet say?" as I grabbed a pencil and piece of paper to write it down I got a system notification.

System Message: Claire Simmons wishes to share her Character Sheet with you, will you accept?

I stared at her oddly for a moment and she grinned that superior grin. I mentally accepted and saw her Character Sheet before my eyes.

Name: Claire Simmons

Level: 1

Str: 12

Dex: 12

Con: 10

Int: 14

Wis: 11

Cha: 15

HP: 220

MP: 250

STA: 100

(0 unused stat points)

COMBAT SKILLS:

Ranged - 6

Unarmed - 6

NON-COMBAT SKILLS:

Linguistics - 4

Multi-Tasking - 5

It reminded me of when I first saw my Character Sheet, but then I noticed the two skills that weren't combat related. I needed to ask her about that later, for now I sighed and nodded.

"Fine, I will let you use my bow for now. Do you know how to use a bow?"

She nodded "One of the Foster homes that I was at, the dad used to go hunting every year. He taught all the kids to shoot a bow and I have killed 3 deer so far."

I looked at Lynette and she smiled "Be safe babe. Love you.", "I love you too." I said as I walked over to her kissing her lips.

Claire followed me out to the car and sat in the back seat, Bella jumping over the centerpiece to sit with her.

I pulled out my phone and called Tom "Hey Tom It's Odellin.", "Yes Mr. Hundai how can I help you?", "Well I have a favor. I have someone I can bring with me to the Raid, but she doesn't have an IRBA badge."

I heard clacking as he typed "There should be an Associate there that can process her. Every now and then we have Sys-users who have not become Rift Breakers come to a Rift, close it and never return, or just want to try it out then find out they like it and become Breakers. So whenever a raid is going to happen we always have an Associate on standby."

I nodded, that would make it easier "Thanks Tom, I appreciate your help.", "You are very welcome Mr. Hundai, be safe." then he hung up again.

We got to the Rift 5 minutes later and all three of us climbed out of the vehicle. I popped the trunk and Claire grabbed the bow and quiver, checking the bow string and the arrows, nodding to herself. I hooked the Goblin crossbow to my belt.

We walked up to the black hole that looked like a doorway, the Rift, and a man in a black business suit walked up to us. He nodded to me and turned to Claire "Thomas Cromwell told me to expect you. Come with me please."

I nodded to her when she looked at me and she nodded, then turned and followed the man to his black Sedan. She came back ten minutes later smiling as she showed me her badge.

"I am officially a Breaker Mr. Hundai." I gave her a quick hug and sighed "My little girl, all growed up." She punched my arm, it didn't hurt, nope definitely didn't hurt. 'Stop rubbing it if it didn't hurt'.

She grinned as we saw the rest of the team show up.

Tyrone came straight up to me and smiled shaking my hand "Good to see you again brother. Who is this beautiful young lady?"

I was about to respond, but she held out her hand "I'm his niece, Claire." she looked at me with pleading eyes that Tyrone couldn't see and I smiled wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

Tyrone nodded and eyed the bow "Well glad you came prepared. Did your Uncle tell you about his first raid?" She shook her head and Tyrone smiled at me mischievously.

He explained EVERYTHING, in detail. I was embarrassed. Claire was laughing so hard she was crying. "Listen, I was a normal 9-5 guy, well 4-12, but still just a regular average guy who had been in 2 fights when he was younger and lost 1 of them. Sue me."

They both laughed harder when Claire said the one I lost was to a girl. 'I love my wife, don't kill my wife, she is the mother of my babies...that woman is dead when I get home'.

Will was the last to show up and as he did I counted 7 of us, including the Association employee who I found out his name was Agent Smith. I didn't believe it either, but when he put on the glasses, yeah he was Agent Smith.

We walked up to the Rift before Tyrone said out loud "Only one of you is new to this so I will keep this brief. Brock and I" he said pointing to the other man with a shield that definitely looked like a manhole cover "Are the Tanks. Bella over there as well as Simon and Smith will be the melee DPS. Odellin, Claire and Will...Where's Will?" he asked as he looked around.

Will was running over to us, a red Cardinal sitting on his shoulder "Sorry, Tiber had to do his business and couldn't wait." I chuckled and so did a few others, Smith didn't.

"Anyways, Will, Claire and Odellin will be providing long range DPS. Stay on your toes, I don't know what other changes Rifts are going through since it only happened this morning."

Everyone nodded and we headed inside.

Claire was astonished when we got inside, her jaw was on her chest and I grabbed her shoulder grinning "Cool isn't it?" She nodded as she looked around, I explained to her about the moss, the walls and everything I could remember, Will filling in the blanks, which I thanked him for.

Then I heard a war drum coming from somewhere in the distance and pulled out my crossbow. Claire unslung her bow and nocked an arrow with what looked like practiced ease, okay I was definitely going to need to train.

"Will, do Kobolds use war drums?" he shook his head "I thought so. Fucking Orcs" and as if me saying it was a cue, five greyish green humanoids appeared around a turn in the cave.

They were 6 feet tall each, slightly shorter and smaller than the ones from the Open Rift. I pointed my crossbow at them and when Tyrone and Brock let out a yelling taunt to get their attention I fired. My Mana Arrow flew true and struck the Orc between it's eyes.

It fell over, eyes glazed and I looked at the crossbow questioningly. Then I saw a blinking notice, I usually didn't check them mid battle but this was too weird.

Critical Strike - Damage Dealt 34 x 3 = 102. Targeted shot successful, Damage to brain 82. Damage to brain exceeds 1/6 of total health. Orc has been killed.

That had me reeling. I didn't have time to study it, but I definitely made a mental note to check this out later.

I saw Claire knocking her second arrow and firing it into the first Orc she had shot and it went down a second later when Smith punched it in it's chest, loudly breaking several ribs.

The rest of the Orcs went down fairly quickly as well. I was the first one to speak "Orcs are not this weak, are they?" and when Tyrone was opening his mouth to respond the bodies shimmered and disappeared.

I groaned when they did that. 'Magic caster with illusion magic, yay'. Claire retrieved her arrows as we walked past the place where the Orcs went down.

Then Bella jumped and grabbed Tyrone by the pant of his leg with her teeth and pulled him back, knocking him flat to the ground. He tried kicking her before I shouted "Duck" and everyone ducked. Two blades swung out from the sides of the cavern and would have cut all of us in half if Bella hadn't heard the click.

I looked down and Bella nodded, She had definitely told me what was going to happen through emotions.

"What in the hell? This is a level 5 dungeon, there shouldn't be any party wiping traps."

Smith turned towards the opening and pointed "It's not black anymore."

We all turned and everyone's eyes, including mine went wide. The portal was a swirling white and black mass. It almost looked like the two colors were fighting each other for dominance.

"What does this mean?" I asked and Smith sighed "It means this Rift just leveled up. It hasn't opened, but if I am right, then there isn't just one group of monsters in here, there are two."

Will groaned now "We just had to walk into a Warring Rift." I turned to him and quirked an eyebrow "A Warring Rift happens when a Rift is invaded by a second Rift. This second Rift opens up inside of the first one and because of some strange rule the 'System' has in place, the second Rift is considered Open. So monsters can come and go freely from it."

"So can we leave and let them destroy themselves?" Tyrone shook his head this time "Nope, we not only have to destroy this Rift, but the one that opened inside of it before we can leave. There's a barrier on the portal now, no entry or exit. We are on our own."