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Grand Game 585: Rifts and More
🕑 Added 2025-02-26 21:00:06 +0000 UTCUnsurprisingly, the first Game alert was the one describing my level gains.
You and Ghost have reached level 282!
For achieving rank 28, you have been awarded 1 additional attribute point and 1 Class point.
I whistled softly. Ghost and I had advanced appreciably. We’d gained a whole nine levels. And while I expected that some of the gains were a result of the nagas I had killed and the lesser stygians Ghost had slaughtered, slaying the void tree itself likely accounted for six of our new levels.
A worthy reward on its own, I thought in satisfaction as I opened the next message.
Your tooth and claw (shortswords) has reached rank 24, your two weapon fighting rank 22, your chi rank 21, and your deception rank 26.
Ghost’s magma maw has reached rank 16, her stygian claws rank 17, and her telepathy rank 14.
My skill gains were as expected. I was slightly disappointed that I’d not managed to raise my nether absorption to tier six, though. Since I’d hit rank twenty-eight, I had acquired another Class point, leaving me with a grand total of two. But I was loath to spend either of them on anything except advancing slaysight and void thief.
However, neither of my Class abilities were ready for upgrade—and they wouldn’t be until I took one, or both, requisite skills, namely telepathy and nether absorption, to tier six.
I sighed. Advancing my Class abilities would just have to wait. In the meantime, though, I could do something about my unspent attribute points—all thirty-two of them.
Turning my attention inward, I checked my player status and, specifically, my current attribute ranks.
Strength: 40. Constitution: 44. Dexterity: 142. Perception: 127. Mind: 188. Magic: 85. Faith: 20.
Total Attributes invested (ignoring benefits from items): 646.
I sucked in a breath through my teeth. I hadn’t considered my attribute progression in a long time, and to see how far I’d come was shocking. I had started the Game with two attribute points—two!—and now I had six hundred and forty six.
But it was not just that.
The truly staggering part was how… different I was. Most players at my level would have three hundred and twenty attributes—ignoring any feats or traits they may have acquired along the way, that is.
I had more than twice that.
From the perspective of attributes alone, there was no doubt I was overpowered. And with my elder form, I’d gained the abilities to match. Which, I suppose, accounted for the relative ease with which I’d rampaged through the stygian Powers.
But I could not forget that the stygians were not players. They didn’t have the same advantages. And amongst other players—and Powers—I was certain to find some who were also overpowered, if hopefully, not to the same extent I was.
My drive to get stronger had not—and could not—wane, I knew. Especially not when considering my next probable destination after this.
Still shaking my head in rueful disbelief at my player growth, I left off further musings and focused on the attributes themselves. The question now was which to upgrade.
Not Perception. I’d taken it as far as I needed to for the time being. And not Dexterity either. Most of its abilities were not ready for upgrade yet.
Which left Mind.
I had two Mind abilities ready for upgrade to the elite tier. And then too, I had enough points to take the attribute itself to rank two hundred—which was something I’d been keen to do for some time now.
Mind it is.
Reaching out to the Adjudicator, I willed my intent to the Game.
Your Mind has increased to rank 220. Other modifiers: +12 from items. Available ability slots: 34.
Congratulations, Michael! You have accomplished the feat: Mentalist. Requirements: advance your Mind attribute to rank 200.
As a reward for your achievement, you have gained the trait: Mentalist. This is a generic trait all players receive on attaining this milestone. Tier one of the mentalist trait boosts your highest Mind skill in a small but effective way. You can now also use your telepathy to communicate mind-to-mind with those who lack the skill, dropping words directly into their minds and reading their responses the same way.
I smiled. From Ceruvax and Adriel’s tutelage, I’d known to expect the feat. The exact breakdown of the resulting trait had been more in doubt. Still, I couldn’t complain about what I had received.
While the changes effected to my telepathy skill appeared almost insignificant, they were anything but. Courtesy of the mentalist trait, I could now use my mindvoice to speak directly to any non-player—something that I was sure would come in handy in the future.
Alight, that’s that. Time to peruse the next alert.
Banishing the hovering Game message, I opened the subsequent set of notices.
The ley line between Kingdom sector 18,240 and Nethersphere sector 30,199 has been closed. You have sealed your second rift. To obtain the next rank of the Rift Defender feat, close 8 more rifts.
Sector 18,240 is no longer under assault by the nether!
With the destruction of the ley line between sector 18,240 and the Nethersphere, the sector’s safe zone has been reestablished and the nether toxicity in the region has stopped rising. Note, the existing free-floating mists in the sector will not automatically be dispersed. Appropriate steps must be taken to see it banished.
Your task, A Place to Call Home! has been updated. You have forced the void to retreat from sector 18,240, thereby allowing its safe zone to reform. You now have 31 hours remaining to claim the sector.
Objective: Secure sector 18,240’s safe zone before your allotted time runs out to establish control of the sector.
Mission success, I thought, grinning in pleasure. Or almost, anyway. With the void vanquished, and the safe zone reformed, I had no doubt that Safyre was already seeing to the sector’s claiming.
Just twenty-four more hours. That’s all the time the Forerunners would need to establish a hold on the sector, and then…
And then, my people would truly have a home to call theirs.
Still smiling, I opened the next message.
Congratulations, Michael! The Forerunners have accomplished the feat: Rift Redeemers. Requirements: close a tier 7 rift.
Thanks to your efforts, and that of your faction, a tier 7 rift has been sealed. A tier 7 rift is one stable enough for even stygian Powers to traverse. Your faction is the first in millennia to have closed a rift of this magnitude, and as such, all present and future members of the faction will gain the trait: rift sense.
Rift sense is a factional trait that immediately makes a faction member aware of any rifts in the sector they are in. Both the rift’s location and its tier are revealed to the player.
Note, factional traits are highly prized and are only awarded for historic achievements. Like faction membership itself, factional traits are not discernable using analyze or any other similar ability. Factional traits are not permanent. In the event that a player leaves a faction, they will lose access to the benefits derived from a factional trait.
“Factional traits,” I murmured to myself. Now, those were a surprise. Neither Ceruvax nor Adriel had made mention of them in our prior discussions, which likely meant they were exceedingly rare. As for the trait itself, its benefits were obvious, especially considering that—
An insistent buzzing interrupted my thoughts.
It was coming from another Game alert I realized, one seemingly prompted by my acknowledgment of the factional trait message. Intrigued as to why that may be the case, I let the new message unfold in my mind.
Rift sense activated.
Warning! There are currently 3 open rifts in sector 30,199.
The first rift is a tier 3 rift designated Rift-W, the second is a tier 5 rift designated Rift-Y, and the third is a tier 6 rift designated Rift-Z. The destinations of all 3 rifts are unknown.
The locations of Rift-W, Rift-Y, and Rift-Z have been added to your Logs.
Concern shot through me. There were three more rifts in this sector? And all three were active?
Damnation! That leaves us wide open to an ambush!
We could be assaulted from any direction—and not just from the mature tree’s nest in the south. The shock of that realization was almost enough to force me to my feet to sound the alarm.
But then, a trio of pulses impinged on my awareness, and I settled back down.
The pulses were coming from the three newly revealed rifts, and from the sense I got of them, they were even farther away than the mature nest.
“What’s wrong, Prime?” Ghost asked.
She’d noticed my momentary tension, I realized. “Nothing,” I mumbled back, “or nothing urgent, anyway. I just found out there are three more rifts in the sector.”
Concern washed through our bond. “Oh? Should we—”
“There’s no immediate danger,” I assured her. “The rifts are too far. Just stay vigilant.”
Turning my attention inward again, I pondered the Game’s warning further. As I did, I realized that the rifts in question were also smaller than the one we had just closed. That meant none of the three could discharge a stygian Power.
Well, there’s that to be grateful for.
My eyes narrowing, I worked through the rest of the implications. Given its tier, Rift-W had to have been formed by a stygian seed, whereas Rift-Y and Rift-Z were likely the work of a pair of stygian saplings. Interesting, I mused. Now that I had time to consider the matter more calmly, I realized the three rifts were actually not of any real threat to me or the nearby brotherhood army.
If anything, we were a threat to them.
Particularly if the mature tree didn’t suspect I knew the three rifts’ exact whereabouts. And I couldn’t see any reason why he would suspect that. I’d not gone anywhere near the other rifts, and they were all clear across the sector.
Exploring those rifts will be interesting, I decided, even as I wondered what lay on the other side of them. More undiscovered sectors?
Sadly, though, uncovering the rifts’ mysteries would have to wait. Focusing on the Adjudicator’s messages anew, I opened the next Game alert.
Comments
David Brewer
He's definitely a riskier player than is the norm... and thus far it's paid off.
obiwann
I’m telling u man… his entry into the game… the realization he was a ‘gamer’… his approach…strategy whatever you wanna call it … to the game is NOT standard… as witnessed by the most recent chapter release where brotherhood ticked off the unnecessary risks that ‘no power would take’…. Our boy is very rare in this world.
David Brewer
Heh, yeah... even just getting 1 more Ascendant point. Boom rank 3 elder Wolf. Oh and if Sire's Strain works the same way at rank 2 it did at rank 1...
David Brewer
Mostly definitely yeah. He had to kill 2 additional Powers to advance from initiate to acolyte. So at minimum I'd expect killing an additional 3 Powers to advance it further. But keep in mind, the acolyte mark corresponds to a minor Power (young Blood) which occurs at level 300. The next mark is related to major Power (old Blood) at level 400. So given the only way to reliably level from 300 to 400 is in fact to kill "Powers"... it may either require a great many kills or to kill a major Power to advance his powerful Acolyte mark. Which for the record is powerful Disciple.
John
Very interesting idea
Alejandro
X2
obiwann
I think he has a few more powers to kill to advance the mark I think
Alejandro
That’s right, there are more alerts to come, we have not gotten into the power marks yet. Given that he defeated 2 more powers and claim a sector for the nether, I think he will evolved both his power and wolf marks
AL
I amm curious to know how much information can and will be disclosed to the Brotherhood
Alejandro
I think that given the static nature of the Void trees, I think that part of the Power progression of the trees consist on developing a network of trees of their own. That is my guess at least.
Tom Elliot (Rohan Vider)
lol
Tom Elliot (Rohan Vider)
I changed the description to "most-used" not highest leveled.
Tom Elliot (Rohan Vider)
I actually missed this point, and 'forgot' that mediation is higher leveled than telepathy. Will fix the game message. Thanks for pointing it out.
Tom Elliot (Rohan Vider)
tx
mark janson
He used his telepathy a lot while he was fighting the void tree and while listening in on their conversation so it wouldn’t be surprising if it leveled up a little bit. he said it reached it didnt reach rank 6 and he never said it leveled up, but he never said it didn’t level up.
mark janson
I’d assume that it permanently buffs which ever ability was highest when he got the trait.
obiwann
I expect that when mc becomes a ‘real power’ he is gonna have a pretty significant power up himself.
obiwann
He has more alerts… a tree this size hasn’t been killed in a thousand years
Sean
I’m surprised there wasn’t something for him killing the tree by itself. That was higher than any other power he has destroyed
mark janson
This is sector is also a nether sector, so it’s fully drawn into the nether. They might just be able to travel normally to and from other nether sectors.
Alejandro
Well, since you ask… I think what really sets The Grand Game apart is, as you put it yourself, it feels organic. In most LitRPGs, system alerts tend to be pretty functional. They’re just there to convey information, without much depth beyond their basic purpose. But in The Grand Game, the alerts have a sense of mystery, discovery, and anticipation that makes them feel like a core part of the experience.. There’s always that feeling of what’s next?—what happens when you reach a new level, cross a certain threshold, unlock an achievement? Just now, we discovered a new faction trait! The system itself feels alive, like it has a personality and hidden depths to uncover. That’s what makes it so compelling. I haven’t read “Rise of Mankind”, so I can’t compare it to that specifically, but I have read others like “The Primal Hunter”, “Azerinth Healer”, and “Defiance of the Fall”. All of those are great in their own ways, but for me, what I love most about this genre is the “system” aspect, and no other series does Game Alerts as well as The Grand Game. The way it coveys the information…just creates a sense of wonder that I haven’t found anywhere else.
David Brewer
Mature trees no longer require rifts, and once a tree reaches maturity the sector is "lost" to the nethersphere. This is also when the rift back to the "parent" tree is closed. They likely can open rifts somehow given they use nether rifts to send seeds to invade sectors but how travel works between nethersphere sectors is a giant question mark.
David Brewer
Yes, I just checked and at the end of book 8 telepathy was 237, and meditation was 240. Tom didn't indicate either leveling after the fight. But it is possible that he neglected to note that telepathy reached level 241.
John
I find it odd there isn’t another high tier rift in the sector considering the Nethers established presence and the more mature Void Tree. I can only guess that it’s not thought to be necessary since they have a firmer claim on this sector and wouldn’t think they’d need backup.. but what if the mature tree wanted to bring in some friends or flee? Are they simply not allowed to flee the defense of Nethersphere sector, an all or nothing kinda deal? Are there secret back door entrances to sectors fully claimed by the Nether? Can the more mature tree open them himself? Do they just not see a need for a rift? Are Nether sectors largely locally managed at the middle management level? I’d think if you found a strong enough Void Tree they might have at least a personal line to some proper Void Fathers. If Michael assaulted this stronger Void tree would the conflict continue to be self contained or would the Stygians get word out? Questions questions
John
I don’t disagree with your point, I am interested in hearing why you think that way though? Is it the information the alerts typically convey, the way the MC interacts with them (some MC’s purposely ignore system alerts like in “Rise of Mankind”), the organic feel to their placement in the story instead of being just dropped in?
Alexander C Hyde
His mind shield is a meditation ability.
David Brewer
That's fair. It's possible the only "clean up" would be to take the remains or at least ensure they are scattered enough to preclude an obvious indication as to the location of the saved site.
Yep
I don't think the footprints would be visible in the nether. It has mentioned how not even nether creatures can see through the mist. Plus footprints are already hard to track.
Yep
I don't think it can affect meditation. How would it?
Alejandro
Man, the Litrpg system alerts of this series are the BEST In the genre. Different novels in the genre have different areas they’re good at, but non beat The Grand Game when it comes to the game alerts. Well, at least in my opinion.
Alejandro
🫶
Seraquel
Yeah he gave himself 9 days which meant that they had to clear the sector 24 hrs before the deadline at the latest to claim it by then.. clearly they did it quite quickly on the 8th day..
Samuel Strode
I was thinking about that thanks for the clarification
CipherFTW
Holy crap. That's a nice level up. Mad you didn't give us all the messages though. Like seriously, such a tease.. worse than my ex!
Harley Dalton Jr.
Thanks for the chapter.
Alexander C Hyde
You now have 31 hours remaining to claim the sector. (Is 31 correct?)
David Brewer
Perhaps, but remember the psychic screams nearly killed Michael last time. Imagine those boosted by the higher tier of power. I could be overestimating the tree but I rather doubt it. Edit: In many ways it's a similar problem to the one his old "friends" described when they talked in Nexus. It's hard for forcesworn to level over elite because they lack force powers until 200. Thus, level 200 monsters or players tend to be noticeably more powerful than level 199 ones. The same is true here. Michael, despite not being an actual Power yet, can compete with and slay minor Powers. But a major Power is a significant jump in difficulty.
obiwann
Not so sure…. Do we know that the telepathy attack that he tried would have been successful? It still could have failed before being detected
David Brewer
He definitely can't deal with the mature tree. In the brief "conversation" Michael had with him... Michael didn't even speak or otherwise weaken his mental defense and the tree still managed to nearly compromise Michael's mind. Michael's telepathy is effectively in the 300s because of his 40% effectiveness trait... but that mature tree is effectively in the 400s. And likely can call upon other stygian Powers if needed to "borrow" harbingers or overlords or maybe even another stygian Power type. But even if he can't, everything the young tree did... he can do better. And he almost certainly has tricks available the young tree didn't. Michael would get spanked. Once Michael gets into the middle to high 300s... yeah his opness might let him close to remaining gap in power. But the current gap is to much.
Alexander C Hyde
Don’t forget mentioning that he killed another power.
David Brewer
Heh, serves me right. Yes that definitely would give the tree a good chance to have the exact location. But I'd like to note I did agree it's a good idea to clean up.
obiwann
I’m talking about the footprints that just disappear when they exit the sector. “Gee I wonder where they jumped in and out from… why do all these prints disappear? Ohhhhh”
David Brewer
The rift he closed is X. Remember the netherstone was saved as Rift-X. "You have permanently etched a netherstone with the coordinates of an arbitrary location within sector 30,199. This location will henceforth be designated: Rift-X."
Alexander C Hyde
Tier one of the mentalist trait boosts your highest Mind skill in a small but effective way. (Does this mean if another mind skill somehow levels up to higher than telepathy it’ll change to that skill getting boosted? Also, isn’t meditation higher than telepathy?)
obiwann
I feel like Tom wrote this chapter strictly as a reminder that he is OP for his rank… and not to be outraged at the impossibility of what he takes on next. Eg… if he has twice the attributes one would expect for a player of his level…. Then he could probably take on the big tree in this sector. It isn’t a player. And the fact that MC didn’t ‘realize’ his total attribute level until now means he may rethink who he can take on 😎
David Brewer
Eh, the tree doesn't actually know the precise location Michael saved. So he (Michael) can have one of the brotherhood mages open a portal then go through vanished. Unless the tree actually relocated to be near the now sealed rift it wouldn't likely be a major problem. But, yes hiding their presence would be a good idea... no reason to encourage a potential trap.
obiwann
I hope the brotherhood has the sense to wipe their presence from the exit point… or else next time they use the stone they gonna portal into a trap.
Samuel Strode
W,y,z? Why not x?
Grady Perry
“Alight, that’s that” I think it’s supposed to be alright.
Seraquel
That’s a cool faction power, if he reveals that to the brotherhood I suspect his faction would be very popular with them…
Grady Perry
Another banger
David Brewer
Mmm... so mean to only give us some of the game rewards... lol Less joking, I wonder how the mature tree is going to feel if he learns that Michael can use his sector as a hunting ground for stygian incursions that aren't difficult for him to stop.
Suraj Rodrigo
Tftc!
