Chapter 17 — Into The Rift
Sam was on his feet before he realized he'd moved.
The air felt different.
Charged.
Of course, he understood at a glance what was happening—he had just gone through the same process himself afterall.
Serena had reached her first saturation point.
The problem was that this was only her second core, and she wasn't even halfway done yet.
Meanwhile, it had taken him five to do the same.
On the surface, that might not seem like much.
But when you considered that this was only the first percentage, the difference became staggering.
Core saturation does not scale linearly.
According to the book, although it didn't provide exact figures, it made one thing very clear—the number of cores required would only increase the closer one drew to the peak.
A person who began with a single core might find themselves burning through dozens… even hundreds by the time they reached seventy or eighty percent.
Now considering that he himself had started with five—
Sam's expression darkened.
⸻
A while later—
"So this is it, huh…?"
Serena's voice was quiet.
Shaky.
She stood beside Sam as they both stared into the pulsing darkness of the rift.
The air around it warped subtly, shadows bending inward as if being swallowed. Mana bled from its edges in faint currents, brushing against Sam's enhanced senses like cold mist.
⸻
A few hours earlier—
"ATLAS," Sam said suddenly, breaking the morning silence. "Yesterday, you said it was in our best interest to get strong fast. How do you suggest we do that?"
The drone's lens rotated softly.
It was just past seven. Neither Sam nor Serena had slept well—too much had happened, too many revelations piling up in too short a time. They'd ended up sitting together, going through the cultivation manual line by line.
Serena straightened when ATLAS replied.
"There are many methods, many routes to improve as an awakened," ATLAS said evenly. "However, rift diving offers the highest in growth efficiency."
Sam frowned. "Because of the monsters?"
"Not only the dimensional creatures," ATLAS continued. "Most rifts also contain unique environments, rare materials, mana-dense zones, and anomalous phenomena. While most are sure to be dangerous, they could also provide with exceptional opportunities for accelerated development."
Sam absorbed that.
"So you're recommending we enter one?"
There was a brief pause before ATLAS replied—short and definite.
"…Yes."
⸻
Back to the present—
"Are we really going to enter?"
Serena asked, a slight tremor creeping into her voice.
Yes, she had gotten used—no, acquainted—with the fact that monsters now roamed the earth. But that was different from voluntarily stepping into their nest to hunt them.
Hearing her, Sam couldn't help glancing over worriedly.
"Are you okay…? You can stay behind if you want, you know…"
"No." She inhaled sharply. "I'm fine. It's fine. Let's go."
Her teeth were clenched, hard.
And before Sam could stop her, she stepped forward.
"Hey, Hold—"
Sam lifted his hand to grab her—
But it was too late.
Her retracted helmet materialized over her head as she disappeared into the swirling rift.
He exhaled slowly.
…this girl.
Without hesitation, Sam activated his own armor and followed her in.
The sensation was… different from what he'd expected. Not the squeezing and stretching described in the novels.
No.
Instead, there was barely a heartbeat of disorientation—
Then bam.
He slammed out on the other side, staggering forward as nausea surged up his throat. For a split second, he genuinely thought he was about to puke his stomach out.
Instinctively, he reached for support, his fingers brushing against the edge of something solid. Rocky.
At the same time, a voice echoed inside his helmet.
"Combat suit online. All core systems activated. Commencing start-up threat scan."
A digital interface flared to life across his visor.
On the left floated a schematic of the armor itself. Beneath it, two status bars glowed at a full one hundred percent.
In the upper-right corner was a minimalist map.
One blue dot.
Surrounded by rapidly multiplying red ones.
Still reeling, his eyes automatically traced for the blue dot.
Only to find Serena. Her condition not that much different from his.
She stood a short distance away, braced with one hand against a jagged rock formation. The dim light circuits embedded throughout her armor were fully illuminated now, tracing glowing lines across her frame. Clearly activated.
Yes, that's right.
The armor they had were wearing was non other than the TAA—the True Augmentation Armor. But of course the augmentation functions were disabled for now—under ATLAS' advice, it could only be used during emergencies.
Remembering their current location, Sam forced himself upright, swallowing back the lingering nausea as his senses began to stabilize.
Then he finally took in their surroundings.
They weren't standing on normal ground.
They were positioned at the mouth of an enormous cavern carved into the side of a towering mountain, its sheer face dropping away beneath them into open air. The stone beneath their boots was smooth and unnaturally flat, as though melted and reformed rather than eroded.
Behind them, the rift on this side hovered in midair, pulsing softly—a jagged wound in reality hanging a few feet from the tunnel entrance like a wounded star refusing to collapse.
Sam's breath caught.
He took a cautious step forward.
Then another.
His boots scraped lightly against the stone as he approached the edge.
And looked down.
His stomach dropped at the sight and he instinctively took half a step back.
"Holy…" The word slipped out under his breath.
There was no slope.
No ledge.
Just the sheer vertical plunge.
The mountainside beneath them was smooth enough that climbing down would be impossible even with equipment—and they were far too high up to attempt it regardless.
Far below, dense green vegetation clustered around the mountain's base like a living halo. From this height, the forest looked unreal—its edges shimmering faintly, as though the entire landscape was buffering between reality and illusion.
Cold wind rushed upward from the abyss, slipping through the multiple filtration systems of his armor and carrying with it the scent of wet stone… and something sharper beneath it.
Mana.
Serena stepped up beside him, the soft glow of her armor reflecting faintly across Sam's visor.
She peered over the edge.
Then stiffened.
"…That's high."
Sam swallowed. "Yeah…" he paused, "let's take the other way."
Serena nodded. "Umm."
They turned away from the drop.
Inside, the tunnel stretched forward into gradually deepening darkness. Its walls were jagged and uneven, as though something massive had bored through the mountain rather than nature carving it over time.
Thin veins of glowing mineral threaded through the stone, casting pale, ghostlike light that barely reached more than a few meters ahead.
Beyond that there were only shadows—pregnant ones.
A sharp shrill sound echoed as Sam pulled his short blade from his back, its red tip glowing with a quiet promise.
"Stay close," he said quietly.
Serena nodded, shifting into a ready stance beside him.
Dual pistols ready to explode.
————————
Author's Note:
For anyone wondering—yes, they won't be relying on technology forever. This is only the starting line. Their real abilities will take center stage as they grow stronger. Like all characters, development takes time. The journey has only just begun.