Two days after his breakthrough, Arthur stood in the Academy's general store checking his bank balance through his mana watch.
The small device wrapped around his wrist displayed glowing numbers in the air above it. Fifteen silver, thirty-two copper. Not terrible. The monthly stipend from his father's estate had come through, and he'd been careful with his spending.
He looked at the rope section. Standard hemp rope, fifty feet, costs two silver. Reasonable.
Then his eyes drifted to the mana-reinforced grappling line on the shelf behind the clerk. Enchanted to be lighter, stronger, with a built-in retraction mechanism. Twenty silver.
Even with his noble status, twenty silver was steep. He wasn't destitute, but he wasn't wealthy either. The original Arthur's father had spent most of the family wealth on their training and preparation - private instructors, quality equipment, and emergency funds. Everything a minor noble could scrape together to give his children a fighting chance at actually succeeding once they got into the Academy.
'Hemp rope it is. The old-fashioned way. At least I'll get a good workout.'
He selected the standard rope and a basic grappling hook. Added a metal water bottle and some preserved travel rations to his pile. The clerk, a middle-aged woman with steel-grey hair and a bored expression, rang everything up without comment.
"Six silver, eight copper."
Arthur tapped his mana watch against the payment crystal. The numbers adjusted. Transaction complete.
He gathered his supplies and headed back to his dorm. The campus was busier now than it had been two weeks ago. More students are arriving early. The dining hall actually had conversations happening at breakfast instead of silent eating.
The Academy year was approaching. The quiet period was ending.
Arthur reached his room and laid out his supplies on the bed. The rope and grappling hook. A metal water bottle he'd filled that morning. Dried meat and bread wrapped in cloth. A small knife from his personal belongings, meant for utility but sharp enough to be useful. A backpack to carry it all.
Not much, but he wasn't planning a week-long expedition. Just a few hours in an ancient rift.
'Assuming I don't die immediately. That would put a damper on my training schedule.'
Arthur sat at his desk and closed his eyes, pulling up the memories. Oscar's memories. The chapters that were describing Lloyd's experience with this trial.
The ravine was northwest of the Academy. An hour's walk through the forest. The stone pillars marked the entrance, carved with script that translated roughly to "The wise may enter, the foolish will learn."
Lloyd hadn't been able to read it. Had just seen old pillars and decided to investigate.
The rift itself appeared as a tear in reality between the pillars. Golden light, the signature of ancient rifts. Different from the rank-coloured corrupted rifts, which appeared dark grey for Novice, murky white for Apprentice, and deeper red for Adept.
Three trials inside.
The first had been some kind of physical challenge. The novel's description had been vague. Lloyd mentioned platforms and gaps, something about timing. He'd used his fire affinity to boost himself across distances.
The second trial was a room with pressure plates and doors. Step on the wrong plate, and the walls closed in. Lloyd had triggered every trap, then used his earth affinity to break through a wall entirely.
'Man, when you think about it, he really was subtle. Taking full advantage of that trial of wit design by just smashing everything.'
The third trial was the riddle. A stone statue that posed a question. Answer correctly and it would present the skill core from the pedestal beside it.
Lloyd had gotten frustrated after the first question stumped him and just punched the statue. The rift had started collapsing. He'd grabbed the skill core and run.
Arthur opened his eyes.
He knew the riddle from the novel. One of those wordplay questions.
"I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, water but no fish. What am I?"
A map. Lloyd should have gotten it easily, but had panicked instead.
'I can answer it. Get the skill properly instead of triggering a collapse and sprinting for my life.'
Arthur stood and gathered his supplies. Packed everything into the backpack. Coiled the rope and secured it to the outside. The water bottle went in an easy-access pocket. The knife on his belt.
He checked his reflection in the small mirror above his desk. Dark training clothes. Backpack. Rope. He looked like he was going hiking.
'Which is technically true. Hiking to an ancient death trap. Totally normal weekend activity.'
Arthur left his room and locked the door. The hallway was empty. He took the stairs down and exited the dormitory.
The northwest exit of the Academy grounds was less trafficked than the main gates. A smaller portal in the defensive walls, used primarily for staff accessing the outer training grounds. Arthur passed through without anyone questioning him.
The forest began immediately beyond the walls. Dense and old, trees predating the Academy by centuries. The path was narrow but well-maintained, marked with small enchanted stones that glowed faintly.
Arthur followed it for about twenty minutes before stepping off. The stone pillars were off the main route. You had to know they were there.
He oriented himself using the sun. Northwest. The ravine should be in that direction.
The undergrowth got thicker as he left the path. Branches caught at his clothes. Roots tried to trip him. Arthur moved carefully, mindful of not twisting his ankle again.
'Because explaining to the healer that I re-injured myself in a secret ancient rift would go over great. "What were you doing, Mr Reinhart?" "Oh, you know, just casual tomb raiding. Very educational."'
The forest floor slanted downward. Arthur grabbed trees for balance, half-sliding down sections where the incline got sharp.
Then he heard running water.
Faint but distinct. A stream somewhere ahead.
Arthur pushed through a dense thicket, and the ground fell away. A drop of maybe fifteen feet into a ravine. The stream ran along the bottom, cutting through weathered stone.
And there, maybe fifty yards to his right, two stone pillars rose from the ravine floor.
Arthur's breath caught.
The pillars were ancient. Covered in script that glowed faintly blue. Pre-Disaster standard writing.
"The wise may enter. The foolish will learn."
Between the pillars, the air shimmered. Gold light rippled, marking the entrance to the rift.
Arthur climbed down into the ravine carefully, using his rope. His boots hit the ravine floor with a soft thud. The stream burbled over stones to his left. The pillars stood silent to his right.
He approached slowly.
The script was beautiful up close. Intricate and precise, each character pulsing with residual mana.
Arthur reached out and touched one pillar. The stone was warm. The mana within it resonated faintly.
He stepped between the pillars.
The golden rift hung in the air. This close, Arthur could see through it partially. Stone walls. A corridor.
'Last chance to back out. Could just go train normally. Not risk dying in a magical puzzle box.'
But he was here. The rift was here. And he needed every advantage he could get.
Arthur took a breath.
Stepped through.
The world lurched. Space twisted in a way Oscar had never experienced, disorienting and wrong. Then his feet hit solid ground, and the sensation faded.
He stood in a corridor carved from dark stone. The walls were smooth, glowing faintly with blue script. The ceiling stretched up maybe twenty feet.
Behind him, the entrance shimmered. Still accessible.
Ahead, the corridor extended into darkness. After maybe thirty feet, Arthur could see light. A chamber.
The first trial.
Arthur's hand went to his knife. Not that it would help against magical puzzles, but holding it made him feel slightly less exposed.
'Alright. Time to see if I'm as clever as I think I am. Or if I'm about to prove that "the foolish will learn" part applies to me.'
He walked forward, footsteps echoing. The corridor opened into a circular chamber.
Arthur stopped and stared.
The floor was missing. Where solid ground should have been, there was nothing. Just a vast empty space extending down into darkness.
Platforms floated in the air. Dozens of circular stone discs, each maybe six feet across, are hovering at different heights. They moved in slow patterns, rotating and rising and falling.
On the far side, another doorway led to the next section.
Arthur stepped to the edge and looked down. The darkness below was absolute.
'Right. Don't fall. Noted.'
He studied the platforms. Their movement followed set patterns, repeating every thirty seconds or so.
Lloyd had boosted himself across with fire. Explosion jumps, basically.
Arthur didn't have that option. He'd have to do this the intended way.
He watched the platforms move through two complete cycles. Memorised the pattern. The distances. The timing windows.
The first platform was close. Maybe eight feet from the ledge when it rose to the right height.
The second was fifteen feet beyond that.
After that, the gaps got wider.
Arthur coiled his rope and secured his backpack. Checked everything was fastened properly.
Then he waited for the right moment.
The first platform rose into position. Level with the ledge.
"Now," Arthur said aloud.
He jumped.
His feet hit stone. The platform wobbled under his weight but held. He crouched immediately, arms out for balance.
The platform began rotating, slowly tilting as it descended.
Arthur watched the second platform. Had to time this perfectly. He needed to jump when both platforms were at the right height and close enough together.
He counted the seconds. Watched the pattern.
There.
He jumped again.
This one was close. His left foot barely caught the edge. He scrambled forward, hands slapping stone, pulling himself fully onto the platform.
'Okay. That could have gone better. Let's try not to almost die on platform two.'
Arthur stood slowly. The next platform was even further. Maybe twenty feet. At the very edge of what he could jump with a running start.
The problem was that the platform he stood on was only six feet across.
Three steps. That's all he'd get.
Arthur waited for the timing. Watched the third platform rotate into position.
Took a breath.
Three running steps, and he launched himself forward.