Excerpt from The Profound and Pretty Princess' Ultimate Guide to Cultivation, Captivation, Cuteness, and Carving Your Way to the Top, English Edition (the worst-selling guide in the history of Putijama)

On Chained Rift Breaks

While rift breaks are usually a one-off issue, a rift breaking releases a wave of essence along with spewing out monsters. If there are other rifts in the area that are near to breaking, it can cause a chain reaction.

There are many theories – though no good data – on why the more rifts that break in an area, the essence increase from each incremental rift break grows more and more.

To put numbers to an example, if a rift is 50% full and a rift nearby breaks, that rift rises to 60% full. But if that initial rift break causes a different rift to also break, instead of going to 70% – another 10 percentage point increase – it hits 75% or even 80% full. Four or more rift breaks happening in an area where the rifts aren't kept very low on essence often causes a cascade of rift breaks for miles and miles.

Usually, the math isn't quite that dire, the first rift break causing a three to five percentage point increase in essence levels to all nearby rifts of the same Tier. It depends on the distance between rifts as well – the closer together rifts form, the more cascading breaks are a potential problem so the more oversight necessary.

The Simple Solution

In some areas, especially areas that produce a lot of economic output outside cities like mines or farmland, the main solution is to dissipate many of the non-popular rifts. Delvers repeatedly clear any rift they want gone until it doesn't have enough essence to exist. It implodes in a small but pretty light display.

This strategy can cause the ambient essence in the area to increase so the essence level of other nearby rifts grows faster, but it's rarely an issue for a closely-watched area. The biggest potential issue is formation of new rifts that people don't detect. But again, rarely an issue if the area has people keeping watch for new rifts.

Tier Matters

One might expect a higher-Tier rift breaking in an area to cause all the lower-Tier rifts to also break due to a larger, more powerful wave of essence. And it can happen but isn't as common a risk as one might think.

The general theory is a lower-Tier rift, say Tier 1, cannot easily absorb the more dense and complex energy of a Tier 3 rift break's essence wave. So that Tier 3 rift break will have, among Tiers 1-3, the greatest impact on nearby Tier 3 rifts, a moderate impact on Tier 2 rifts, and a pretty small impact on Tier 1 rifts.

HOWEVER – and of course there is a however – the more times a lower-Tier rift is hit with essence from a higher-Tier rift break, the more efficient that rift becomes at absorbing higher Tiers of essence. And a higher-Tier rift is going to have WAY more essence – if measured by essence density – than a lower-Tier rift.

So if a Tier 1 rift was hit by the energy of a nearby Tier 3 rift breaking say five or six times, even if that Tier 1 rift is essentially at no essence, a Tier 3 rift break will instantly cause that nearby Tier 1 rift to break, often causing it to also Tier up to Tier 2. And it will still keep that ability to absorb Tier 3 essence extremely efficiently…

As to a rift absorbing the energy from a lower-Tier rift break, it will perfectly absorb said essence wave, it just rarely has much of an impact. A general formula to remember is that each higher Tier of essence is twenty times more compact than the previous Tier. So a wave that would increase the essence level of a same-Tier rift by twenty percentage points will increase a rift one Tier higher by one percentage point.

Playing With Fire

Currently, at least in The Kingdom of Verdant Earth, this 'strategy' is considered treason. And thank goodness!

Over the years, many cities – and even monarchs – have tried to use rift break math to keep rifts full while still delving them regularly. This is usually not for Tier 1 or Tier 2 rifts, so it obviously becomes a very dangerous game indeed, especially for those who cannot easily fend off Tier 3 and lower monsters.

The thinking is that if there are two or three rifts in an area that are kept essentially full and regularly break, then the outgoing essence waves will charge other rifts in the area. Some cities even increased the rate of breakage of the full rifts by throwing in rift monster bodies to push the essence ever higher.

Of course, these are typically Tier 3, Tier 4, and even Tier 5 rifts so, after being hit with the essence waves of multiple rift breaks, the accompanying Tier 1 and Tier 2 rifts are constantly on the edge of bursting until it all spills over.

The initial strategy is usually to delve the Tier 1 and Tier 2 rifts in an area until they dissipate to prevent the lower-Tier rift breaks. But low-Tier rifts farther and farther away start to get hit by the essence waves. Also, new Tier 1 and sometimes even Tier 2 rifts spontaneously form. Cities using this strategy have rarely patrolled for new rifts…

Almost no area can survive economically on just Tier 3 and higher people, so no rifts to delve for Tier 1s and Tier 2s that want to advance or even just sell essence means things start to fall apart. Almost everyone not directly profiting from the rift breaking strategy and can leave does. So the areas become more and more reliant on the strategy to provide money.

And it usually does. Until it breaches containment.

When the cities bite off more than they can chew and there is a cascading series of breaks, often spreading for over a hundred miles in all directions, other cities – and Kingdoms – don't take too kindly. Usually, whosever bright idea it was to try to leverage rift breaks is executed and things move forward. But the lives lost and damage done, just to improve the rift rewards that little bit, cannot be undone.

Rift breaks: not even once!

The next morning, Norbert greeted us as we entered the small government building we'd used two days prior, though thankfully not the one with the 'play nice' rooms. He handed me the [Transform Self] wand I'd given over the previous day to be recharged.

Norbert cleared his throat. "I apologize, on behalf of myself, the Mayor, and our city. I have some bad news. Unfortunately, Selim Koval will be back sooner than anticipated. His 'rousing speeches' to the military were curtailed after extremely poor reception. As previously discussed, you are welcome to stay in the city but we foresee… complications…"

Knowing when we entered Pitola that we only had a few days in the city before things got hairy, I nodded. "Sucks but understandable. How long do we have?"

Norbert estimated the annoying, arrogant, and possibly dangerous leader of the Pitola Adventurers Guild would be back in the city as soon as that evening.

My team and I had debated before whether we should leave when Selim returned but, as we didn't have much tying us to the city, it wasn't a terrible outcome to be forced out a day or two early.

Our group delves with Vesna were already approved and Ratmir confirmed there should be no issues with using any of the essence allocation bracelets together even though they were different 'generations' of his design.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Norbert cleared his throat three times, which I figured meant there was worse news. At my gesture, he continued, "The wand is a city asset and is closely watched for its potential to enable… mischief. We believe the 'rumors' that you are in the city have become widespread and that will lead Selim to attempt to find you. When that fails, someone is sure to put two and two together."

It made sense but was frustrating. I said, "And let me guess, someone will say the wand needs better care or call it in for 'inspection' and then I can't use it. He'll be able to keep tabs on us, causing us issues."

Norbert's resigned face said it all. "And it will likely prevent your future use of the wand, yes. I believe you had plans for it. Mayor Balodis extended you the choice to do as you see fit but wanted you to know the likely outcome."

My initial reaction was to just say fuck it and do what we needed; but it wasn't the right long-term call.

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #71: Play the long game on the big decisions. It's about your life, not your day. Yes, short-term happiness matters but on the big things, patience pays dividends. And dividend income is the best kind of income.

Making sure we were still all on the same page, I asked my team if it made sense to get out of town by the following morning, to start our delves in the area a bit early. All agreed.

Our timeline set, we headed to leave.

"Mr. Carver?" Norbert asked. "I did have one thing I wanted to speak about with you in private."

"Unless it's truly personal, which I doubt, just say it in front of my team," I said.

"There is someone in your group working with The Church of Unullification. We have proof."

What the hell?

At our stunned silence, he cleared his throat again. "Darn. I thought that might work."

Inara rounded on him before I could. "So that was a lie! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Tiesa stepped in to physically hold her back. Our actual paid bodyguard was waiting outside, presumably playing another game on his AAI.

Norbert looked sadly at me. "The news of the capture of two mid-level members of The Church spread far too quickly. Our information network experts believe there is a mole."

"So you accuse us?" Pavel roared.

Romie shrugged. "Makes sense," they said with a bored expression. At the venomous looks from everyone else, they again shrugged. "It does."

My anger subsiding, the wheels began turning. It quickly clicked into place. "Ah, and you vetted all the other people involved," I said. "So if it isn't one of my team, then your teams failed. Someone slipped by you."

"Correct," Norbert said.

"Your idea or Inga's?"

He flinched, clearly expecting me to be mad. "Mine," he said, the lie so clear it was like talking with a small child.

I chuckled darkly, moving on for the moment. "Okay, so Inga's. Tell her she owes me at least one for that little stunt. But does that mean you didn't catch anyone?"

"We were able to capture much of The True Believers sect from The Church. Stefania, after what happened to her sectmate, she was not so true of a believer."

"That was a good one Norbert," I lied to his terrible attempt at a joke. "Does that mean much beyond one sect going down?"

"Additionally, we discovered the culprits behind the noble contract placed on you – and it was only on you Mr. Carver. The True Believers sect paid for the contract but a daughter of Councilor Tibor Petrov was the one who placed the contract. She was also the one who led the ill-fated group. After we followed the initial money trail, she was quickly identified despite using a prosthetic nose."

Inara fist pumped. "So you have her in custody? What's her sentence? Does Terry get to 'decide her fate?' Ooh, is it both of them?"

But I shook my head at Norbert's awkward look. "Ah, it was legal so there's nothing you can do, at least within the actual law. Hmm, do you know if she's involved at all in The Church? What about the Councilor?"

"It appears Lady Hilda was only after the coin. She has a few habits that are distressing to the body and even more to the pocketbook. We do not believe the Councilor had any knowledge of his daughter's activities. Nonetheless, he is being watched and further investigated."

"Okay, thanks for that, makes sense," I said.

Inara looked stunned. "How can you be so calm?"

I nodded towards Tiesa. "She and Councilor Illeva let me know all about noble contracts and essentially, they are entirely legal. So even if this woman was working with a shady organization, most likely there is nothing that can be pinned on her. At least in the legal sense. There's sure to be major reputational damage, to her and definitely the Councilor, especially for getting caught as that's sloppy but…"

Pavel was staring at me slack-jawed while Inara's fists were balled at her sides.

Feels good they are so on my side but taking down The Church is what matters right now. The Petrovs are on my list, but it's something for later.

"Guys, I appreciate it but I was expecting this unless all dealings with The Church of Unullification were deemed illegal. It's yet another instance of the rich getting away with literal attempted murder. It sucks but it makes sense."

I sent my team and Tiesa a quick AAI message [It's all okay, I'm not mad about the Councilor or his daughter.].

Simultaneously, I balled my fist twice then put out two fingers, our subtle hand signal for 'wait', to let it go until later. We developed an entire set of small signals in case we were in a tense situation with other people and needed to communicate but not let others know.

If our AAI messages were being intercepted, which I figured was a 50/50 likelihood in a government building, I wanted my teammates to not let on that we might do anything to the woman who so casually, likely for only a few gold as payment, tried to end our lives.

If we wanted that option open, it was best Norbert and Inga didn't see it coming to stop us.

We spent a bit longer as Norbert rattled off a few more names that actually were involved with The Church but since I knew none of them, I finally asked for an information packet I could share with my contacts in case they had any insights.

With that, we headed into our last day in Pitola, at least for the next few weeks.

***

"Hmm. Hmm. HMM…"

Our stop at the enchanters was supposed to be quick. An hour prior, I sent my team away, Steve included, to get everything they wanted done. It was almost 90 minutes since I'd entered and plopped my shield down, asking if the odd man could repair it. Emil didn't seem anywhere near finished with examining it, let alone starting to fix it.

The enchanter highest on the list of recommendations I'd compiled – must not create fantasy Yelp! – quoted me an astronomically high price but proved my enchanted shield could be repaired. So, I went to the second on the list: Emil's Excellent Exciting Enchantments.

I wondered why so many things kept their alliteration when translated to English. The answer surprised me: the AAI software maker had its start in translating poems from the Kingdoms across the sea and it did its best to keep any wordplay or special meaning encapsulated in language when it could.

Pretty neat.

Every ten minutes, the diminutive Emil, in his pristine suit with shiny, pinstriped enchanted suspenders, would bring out a new set of tools and just mutter 'interesting', 'hmm', 'my word', or my least favorite, 'woooooow', to himself before moving on to a new set.

I'd had enough. "So, can you fix it?" I asked.

"Yes, of course. I knew that the second I saw it. Why didn't you ask?"

I had. Multiple times. "Great, give me a cost and timeline. I would prefer it by tomorrow in the morning but I don't want to rush the actual repair."

The man hopped up and down a bit while thinking. "Free if you let me examine it for nine days. Will be better than new! 100 gold if you want a sub-par job done of it done today," he finished, crossing his arms like I'd insulted his lineage.

Wary, I thought of the old TANSTAAFL acronym: There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

"Interesting pricing structure…"

He nodded as if it was a compliment instead of a query.

Direct route it is.

"I'm wondering why the great disparity in price. 100 gold sounds like a lot. I could buy a new shield for almost that much."

"Because it's interesting," he said, going back to examining the shield and not paying attention to me.

Rather than banging my head against the wall, I sent off messages to all that recommended him. It almost felt like a prank that they'd sent me his way. Still, I'd dealt with socially inept software engineers in my time on Earth, so it felt oddly reaffirming to hit that on Putijama too.

Frustrating, yes, but the key to dealing with them was always the same: speak their language and you can unlock their magical talents. Though this time, the magic was literal magic instead of a rewrite of an app back-end in Rust.

Jasna was the most helpful, giving me tips and tricks. When I brought up her name, Emil's face lit up.

After a bit more back-and-forth, we came to a deal: Emil would get to keep the shield to study for four more days and I would get the repairs done free. He even thought he saw a few ways to make the mana conduits slightly more efficient. I figured it was worth it, using a mundane shield for a few days, though I did grumble about it.

As if it were nothing, he offered me a Tier 2 shield with a few light enchantments to use in the meantime. I almost suggested trading but my shield had a bit too much sentimental value. Plus, I could smell some informational gold mine from it and that would have been stupid to give up without knowing its value.

"Emil. My new friend. Can you tell me why you're willing to do this?" I asked after we'd already finished the paperwork on our simple deal.

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #72: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth until the transfer paperwork is done. Once the transaction is done, you can ask all the questions you want.

"It's interesting!"

I rolled my eyes, stored the loaner shield in my sack, and turned to leave. Then I had a second thought.

"What about this?" I said, holding out my ring for him to examine.

He spent a few seconds looking at it before scoffing, shoving my hand away. "Shoddy work. Can't believe it even functions. It does function, correct?"

Odd, was expecting something a bit closer to fascinated but good information. I think?

At my nod he turned like that was the end of our conversation so I agreed to make it so.

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