Chapter 3: Shattered Peaks
After Crimson Bloom, the Lower Residential District shifted for me. The cracked polymer pathways and indifferent faces hadn't changed, but my perception had. Now, each step was measured, each movement deliberate. A Level 1 raider's twenty-two percent contribution. The numbers echoed in my mind as I headed back to my unit.
My status interface pulsed with notifications:
[ATTRIBUTE POINT AVAILABLE]
[ABILITY SELECTION AVAILABLE]
The attribute allocation was easy—Speed would be my focus. Not Force, which most low-tier raiders prioritized for increased damage. Enhanced mobility would compensate for my inherent limitations more effectively than raw offense. With a focused thought I allocated the point.
SPEED: 1 → 2
The ability selection presented more significant strategic implications. Raiders unlocked abilities at predictable intervals—Level 2 and then at each tier threshold thereafter. My next ability would remain unavailable until Level 10, which meant this selection needed to provide immediate tactical advantage. I collapsed onto my bed, the worn compression springs protesting beneath my weight as I opened my ability selection screen.
Three options materialized before me in shimmering holographic detail:
Controlled Hazard Recursion
Type: Environmental, Cost: 10% Stamina
Effect: Automatically reapply your last hazard manipulation at 50% effectiveness within 10 seconds. Recursion bypasses mana cost but sets your Fracture Charges to 3 immediately.
Dimensional Backlash Redirect
Type: Transformative, Cost: 10% Total HP
Effect: For 8 seconds, redirect 30% of fracture backlash to nearby hazards/monsters as raw dimensional damage.
Reactive Fracture Tether
Type: Movement, Cost: None (Passive)
Effect: When a Fracture Charge accumulates, gain +50% Speed and +100% Hazard Detection range for 3 seconds. Cannot trigger while Exhaustion ≥75.
I methodically evaluated each against DOMAIN ENGINE's peculiar mechanics. Controlled Hazard Recursion initially appeared optimal—automatically reapplying manipulations at 50% effectiveness without additional mana expenditure would create multiplicative effects across repeated encounters. But the fine print revealed its critical flaw—immediate application of all three Fracture Charges. The potential devastation of dimensional backlash rendered this option functionally suicidal.
Dimensional Backlash Redirect presented different complications—namely, the 10% HP cost per activation. Analyzing my current status, the mathematical reality was unforgiving. Multiple redirects would rapidly deplete my health reserves beyond sustainable thresholds. In F-tier environments, even marginal HP deficits represented a potentially fatal vulnerability.
I continually returned to the third option: Reactive Fracture Tether. No mana cost. No HP sacrifice. A passive ability that transformed my greatest liability into momentary tactical advantage.
Reactive Fracture Tether
Type: Movement, Cost: None (Passive)
Effect: When a Fracture Charge accumulates, gain +50% Speed and +100% Hazard Detection range for 3 seconds. Cannot trigger while Exhaustion ≥75.
I mulled over the implications. DOMAIN ENGINE generated one fracture charge per manipulation. Three charges summoned a potentially devastating backlash. With Tether, each charge would provide three seconds of enhanced mobility—nine seconds of boost per full cycle. It didn't resolve the fundamental fracture issue, but it provided tactical advantages that could compensate for the risk. It represented not a solution but a bridge. By the time fatigue claimed my consciousness, my decision had been made.
The Rift Management Center's holodisplays were filled with incoming anomalies. F-tier slots were abundant—too abundant.
I scrolled through options, looking for something specific. Not another group raid. Something I could handle alone.
The notification flashed across my interface:
[F-12785: SHATTERED PEAKS
Base Requirement: Secure 5 Stabilization Pillars
Terrain: Mountainous, Gravitational Anomalies
Entry Fee: 99 credits]
My fingers hovered over the purchase option. Solo clearance meant ten times the entry fee, but potentially ten times the rewards. The math seemed simple enough: spend 990 credits from my 1436 total, potentially earn 14360+ if I succeeded.
If. That *if* was what everyone else was weighing. That *if* had grown too scary for most people.
Before I could overthink it, I reserved all ten slots. My status pinged with confirmation, and I gathered my improved equipment—reinforced utility cutter, standard F-tier armor and consumables I'd purchased with my earnings from Crimson Bloom.
The gate hummed, reality folded, and—
Cold. That was my first sensation. Biting, thin air that tore at my lungs with each breath. I stood on a narrow ledge overlooking a vast canyon system, jagged peaks rising around me. The sun—unnaturally bright—illuminated shattered mountainsides and floating islands of rock suspended by gravitational anomalies.
[F-TIER RIFT SHATTERED PEAKS
Base Requirement: Secure 5 Stabilization Pillars.
Alternative Path: None]
My DOMAIN ENGINE immediately highlighted dozens of hazards within range. Gravity wells pulsed like heartbeats throughout the canyon. Unstable platforms glowed with warning signatures. Wind tunnels carved invisible paths through the peaks, powerful enough to fling unprepared raiders into the abyss.
Perfect.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
I cataloged each anomaly, mapping them against the terrain. Five stabilization pillars appeared as faint energy signatures scattered across the canyon network. The nearest was approximately two kilometers away, across a field of gravity-warped stone.
"Let's see what you can do," I muttered to myself, focusing on my new ability.
The first test came at a chasm too wide to jump. Below, knife-like rock formations promised death if I miscalculated. Ahead, a gravity well pulsed with malevolent energy, strong enough to crush bones. I used Negate Hazard on the well, creating a safe passage. A Fracture Charge accumulated. Reactive Fracture Tether activated. Energy surged through my muscles, boosting my Speed by 50%. The world seemed to slow fractionally, hazards becoming more distinct in my perception.
I launched myself across the chasm, covering ground with blazing speeds. Three seconds of heightened mobility—enough to clear two more obstacles before the effect faded. I could use the speed bursts to navigate the most dangerous terrain.
Soon I encountered my first opponents—Gravity Leeches. Bulbous creatures that manipulated local gravitational fields to trap prey. Three of them sensed my approach, immediately warping gravity around me. My feet left the ground as conflicting forces pulled me in different directions. I quickly used Invert Hazard on a nearby gravity well, causing it to repel rather than attract. The second Fracture Charge triggered another speed boost, letting me maneuver through the chaotic gravitational fields.
The utility cutter sliced through the first Leech's membrane, releasing stored energy that sent the creature spiraling away. The second lunged, latching onto my arm with surprising force. Fiery pain shot through my limb as the monster began chewing on my flesh.
I slammed it against a rock, but it held tight. My HP started dropping steadily—87, 82, 75—. Desperate, Instead of Amplifying the nearby gravity field I used Created Hazard, manifesting another localized gravity field beneath the creature, luckily it worked and enhanced the effect of the previous one present. The sudden crushing force ruptured its body. Three Fracture Charges accumulated. The dimensional backlash was immediate.
Reality cracked like glass around me. I used the speed boost from my Reactive Fracture Tether to retreat. The fracture tore open, pulling in a hazard from another dimension—a caustic fog that ate through metal and organic matter alike. My exposed flesh and armor sizzled on contact, durability dropping rapidly. I sprinted through the dissolving landscape, outrunning the worst of the dimensional cascade.
By the time I reached the first stabilization pillar, my armor was at 43% durability. The pillar itself—a crystalline structure twice as tall as me—pulsed with unstable energy. Activating it required the use of my wrist implant to enable specific nodes along its surface. I succeeded and the structure stabilized, its erratic energy patterns settling into steady rhythms. One down, four to go.
I developed a pattern over the next nine days. Each morning, I'd plan routes using my enhanced hazard detection, identifying gravity wells and wind tunnels I could manipulate to my advantage. Each time I reached two Fracture charges I'd discharge them somewhere safe, the devastation this caused has almost entirely transformed the terrain.
The second pillar stood on a floating island accessible only via wind tunnels. I timed an Invert Hazard carefully to turn downdraft into an updraft, using the speed boost from the Fracture Tether to navigate the aerial obstacle course.
The third pillar presented a different challenge. It was surrounded by temporal anomalies that randomly accelerated or decelerated anything within their radius. I watched as a rock formation visibly aged in seconds, crumbling to dust. Another reverted to magma, then cooled into new configurations. I had to Negate one of the fields to get through safely. Three Fracture Charges accumulated, and reality buckled again. This time, the dimensional tear extracted something alive—living crystalline tentacles that sought that instantly began to demolish the environment. I used my increased speed to retreat.
By day twelve, I'd secured four pillars. My supplies dwindled dangerously low. This would spell trouble for my increasing Exhaustion. The constant environmental manipulation was like a migraine that never quite faded, colors occasionally inverting in my vision.
The fifth pillar was the most remote, perched atop the highest peak in the rift's center. Between me and it stood a field of gravity shards—crystals that contained such intense gravitational energy that they periodically imploded, creating vacuum bubbles that could tear off limbs. I had no choice but to get past it. Carefully, methodically, I moved from cover to cover, timing the implosion cycles. When a particularly large shard began to collapse, I used Consume Hazard, absorbing its energy to restore my dwindling health. The Fracture Charge triggered another speed boost, and I seized the opportunity to cover ground faster. Two kilometers became one. One became half. The peak loomed closer. An Elite appeared without warning—a Gravity Architect. Humanoid but wrong, its limbs too long, joints bending unnaturally. It manipulated the very fabric of space, creating gravitational lenses that distorted light and mass alike.
It saw me before I saw it. I was pinned to the ground all of a sudden, the force almost smushing me entirely, my bones creaked under impossible pressure. My HP plummeted—64, 53, 41—as the creature approached with methodical confidence.
I couldn’t panic. With tremendous effort, I reached toward a nearby gravity shard, fingers stretching until joints threatened to separate. The pain was excruciating, but I managed to touch its surface. “Invert Hazard.” The shard's implosive gravity reversed, creating an explosive force that knocked the Architect back. Another Fracture Charge, another speed boost. I rolled away as the pressure eased, gasping for breath.
The Elite recovered quickly, reshaping gravitational fields to create a cage around me. I was trapped. Two Fracture Charges accumulated. One more manipulation would trigger backlash in an already unstable environment.
Exhaustion neared 75—the threshold where Fracture Tether would stop functioning. I had seconds to decide.
"Worth the risk," I muttered, and used Amplified Hazard on the reversed gravity shard.
Three Fracture Charges accumulated. Reality shattered.
This time, the dimensional tear was catastrophic. Dark tainted water filled with writhing tentacles poured into the mountainside. The sudden fluid pressure shattered the gravity cage and sent both me and the Architect tumbling down the slope.
Fracture Tether activated, and I used every millisecond of that speed boost to scramble toward higher ground as the water carved new canyons like knife through butter.
The Architect wasn't so fortunate. I watched as tentacles seized it, dragging it into the depths of the dimensional breach. Its silent scream distorted the gravity around it one final time before it vanished.
The water receded as the fracture slowly sealed itself, leaving behind pure devastation.
Battered and soaked, I climbed the final distance to the fifth pillar. My armor hung in tatters, utility cutter reduced to a jagged stub. But I'd made it.
As I activated the final stabilization sequence, the entire rift shuddered. The unstable peaks began realigning, finding harmony as the pillars restored the dimensional matrix. The gravity wells calmed, their violent fluctuations settling into predictable patterns.
[RIFT CLEARED: SHATTERED PEAKS
SURVIVAL RATE: 100% (SOLO)
CONTRIBUTION: VOLT (100%)]
LEVEL: 2 → 3
F-tier cores × 5 = 495 credits
Gravitational Crystals 7 units × 35cr = 245cr
Stabilization Fragments 5 units × 60cr = 300cr
Architect Remains 1 unit × 150cr = 150cr
Time-Warped Minerals 12 units × 25cr = 300cr
SOLO BONUS (×10)
TOTAL (Network): 14900cr
My vision blurred and I was deposited back in the Rift Management Center without ceremony. A few observers noted my return with mild surprise—a solo F-tier clearance wasn't unheard of, but it wasn't common either.
Kell had been right about one thing—the fractures were changing me. I have never felt more powerful.
I allocated my new attribute point into Speed again, watching the value tick upward:
SPEED: 2 → 3
With Fracture Tether's percentage boost applied to a higher base value, my burst mobility would be even more effective. The synergy was undeniable since I could rely on environmental hazards to deal damage.
I closed my eyes, and dreamed of the equipment I was going to buy tomorrow.
As sleep finally pulled me under, my thoughts drifted to the next rift, the next challenge.
