Spatial Magic

When I awakened my Riftweaver class, I became a god in this nightmare of a survival game.

I could tear through the fabric of reality, slipping in and out of the most lethal, high-tier raids as if I were taking a walk in the park. Naturally, whenever a raid team got completely wiped and trapped, I was the first person they called for a rescue.

And being the pragmatist that I am, I hung a massive neon sign in the Nexus Hub.

My price? One thousand Credits per extraction.

I made an absolute killing.

After casually ripping open a portal to drag a few half-dead nobodies out of a death zone, a brand new player suddenly pointed her finger at my face and started screaming.

"Are you serious? You just casually open a door and demand a thousand Credits? Talk about bloodsucking greed!"

She turned to the crowd, puffing out her chest. "If any veteran players need a rescue, you can call me! I am also a Spatial class."

"I don't need your Credits. We are all players trapped in this hellhole. Helping each other is just basic human decency!"

Watching the major guilds, the very same people I had bled to save time and time again, flock to this shiny new saint, I smiled so hard my cheeks ached.

Little did they know, the staggering fortune sitting in my bank account was already enough for me to live like royalty for the rest of my life.

I could finally retire.

Thud.

My arms burned with exhaustion as I hurled the last player out of the distorted, crackling void rift.

His tactical armor was shredded into metallic confetti. A gruesome claw mark, deep enough to scrape bone, ran across his chest, sizzling with toxic black mist.

I took a slow, deep breath, stabilizing the heavily depleted spatial energy in my core.

"That makes four of you. Invoices have been sent to your HUDs. One thousand Credits each. Settle up."

I wiped a streak of someone else's blood off my cheek, leaning lazily against a glowing obsidian pillar.

Before the survivors could even catch their breath, a shrill, drippingly righteous voice echoed across the crowded Hub.

"A thousand Credits? That is pure extortion!"

I cracked one eye open.

The voice belonged to a girl in a pristine white sundress. She was young, sporting one of those incredibly innocent, harmless faces. Right now, she was biting her lower lip, pointing a trembling finger at me with a look of absolute disgust.

"Look at them! They are half dead, and you are taking advantage of their trauma! Do you have a shred of empathy?"

I let out a dry laugh, tossing a heavy silver coin in the air and catching it.

"And who the hell are you, sweetheart?"

"I risked half my life dragging them out of an SSS-Tier death trap. A thousand is market rate. Do you think opening dimension rifts runs on hopes and prayers? You think stabilization anchors are free? If it is too expensive, next time, you can rot in the abyss."

"We are all human beings! We should be looking out for each other. Demanding money just ruins the solidarity."

The girl in the white dress took a bold step forward, spreading her arms to shield the groaning casualties behind her.

"You clearly have a spatial gift. You can save lives with the snap of your fingers, yet you bleed your own people dry. You are a monster!"

A crowd was forming.

Among the onlookers, I spotted several familiar faces. People whose lives I had saved. They were shifting uncomfortably, avoiding my gaze, and whispering among themselves.

"Honestly... a thousand is pretty steep. I only cleared eight hundred on my last raid."

"Right? Val charged us the same rate back then. It drained everything we had, but we were too scared to complain."

"She could just help out. Why does she have to be so corporate about human lives?"

I stared coldly at this gallery of hypocrites. These were the exact same people who had once crawled on their hands and knees, begging me to save them.

The loudest whisperer was Gideon, the leader of a top-tier guild known as The Vipers. He had hired me multiple times.

He stepped to the front of the crowd, casually spinning a heavy obsidian ring on his thumb.

"Val, the rookie has a point. A thousand Credits is an outrageous premium. We put our lives on the line for every single Credit we earn. We shouldn't be treated like walking ATMs."

Seeing a major guild leader back her up, a flash of pure triumph crossed the white dress girl's eyes.

"Since Val treats human life like a business transaction, I suggest we stop giving her our hard-earned money! Let me introduce myself. I am Daisy, and I awakened a Spatial class today too."

"Starting right now, I am forming the Player Vanguard Alliance! If anyone needs an emergency extraction, I will do it absolutely free! I will not take a single Credit from you!"

The Hub went dead silent for a fraction of a second.

Then, the entire hall erupted into deafening cheers and applause.

"Free! Oh my god, Daisy is an actual angel!"

"Exactly! Not like some people who are infected with the rot of greed!"

I looked at the furious, self-righteous mob, and then at Daisy's face, which was practically glowing with vanity and desperate ambition.

I dusted off my gloves and glanced down at the four bleeding men still groaning on the floor.

"So, is that how you guys feel too?"

The four men wouldn't look at me. Some stared at the marble tiles, others clutched their wounds and whined, but none dared to meet my eyes.

"Look, Val... we are in pretty bad shape. Medical supplies are going to cost us a fortune..."

One of them, a bulky guy nicknamed Jax, mumbled, his voice shrinking like a coward.

"Stop right there." I tapped the holographic screen on my wrist.

"You signed a soul contract before I went in. Two hundred Credit deposit, eight hundred upon delivery. Pay up. Stop wasting my time."

"Oh please, Val! We were all dragged into this nightmare game from the real world. Why do you have to push them to the brink?"

Daisy bit her lip again, keeping her arms wide as if protecting them from a dragon. Her big, doe eyes were full of judgment.

"It is hard enough out here. How about this? I will make the call for them. They will each give you a five hundred Credit tip. You hardly used any energy opening that door anyway. Just treat it as your good deed for the week."

The surrounding crowd nodded vigorously, murmuring about how Daisy's compromise was perfectly reasonable.

I actually laughed out loud.

"You will make the call for them? Who made you queen of the slums? It is incredibly easy to be a saint when you are spending someone else's money."

I locked eyes with Daisy, my voice dropping to absolute zero.

"I have heard of paying debts with gratitude. I have never heard of demanding the rescuer eat the cost of energy and lifelines. What, is my life not worth anything? Does my mana just fall from the sky?"

"Valerie, watch your mouth!" Gideon intervened, his face darkening to play the hero.

"Daisy is looking out for the community. Don't burn your bridges. We are all stuck in this game together. You do not want to make enemies out of everyone."

"Enemies?"

I let out a sharp sneer. I raised my hand and clenched my fingers violently in the empty air.

A sickening tearing sound echoed through the Hub. A jagged, pitch-black rift ripped open right behind me.

A howling, freezing gale blasted out from the void, carrying the blood-curdling screeches of the abyssal horrors lurking on the other side.

It was the exact SSS-Tier death zone they had just escaped from.

The color instantly drained from the faces of the four survivors on the floor. They scrambled backward in sheer terror.

"Don't want to pay the balance? No problem." I pointed at the swirling vortex of destruction.

"Your two hundred deposit only covered the trip from the boss room to this exact spot. Since the balance is too steep, I will offer premium customer service and put you right back where I found you."

"You wouldn't dare!" Daisy shrieked, tears instantly spilling down her cheeks on command. "How can you be so barbaric!"

"Barbaric?" I took a step forward, my amber eyes drilling into hers.

"Sweetheart, isn't your free rescue alliance supposed to be top tier? I really don't mind throwing you in there with them. You can give everyone a live demonstration of how a free extraction works."

The violent winds from the rift whipped Daisy's pristine dress around. Staring into a void that looked ready to devour the world, all the blood vanished from her face.

Without her shielding them, the four men completely lost their nerve.

"I'll transfer it! I'm paying right now!"

"Val, don't do it! Please close the door!"

Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.

Four crisp chimes rang out from my system interface.

Seeing the additional three thousand two hundred Credits hit my account, I clapped my hands together. The terrifying rift snapped shut in an instant.

"Pleasure doing business with you."

I raised an eyebrow, not bothering to waste another glance at the pathetic lot, and turned toward the VIP lounge area.

The trust was gone. This business was dead.

I had saved up more than enough anyway. It was time to wash my hands of this mess and enjoy a very early retirement.

But before my boot could even cross the threshold of the lounge, the system bracelet clamped to my wrist began vibrating violently.

A blood-red notification forced its way onto my retina display.

[Alert: Player 'Valerie' has triggered the Weekly Mandatory Raid requirement. The System is now matching you with a party...]

I frowned.

I was planning to just breeze through a low-tier zone for this week's quota. Why the hell was it forcing a match?

A split second later, the roster of my new teammates materialized.

Slot one: Daisy.

Followed immediately by Gideon, and the four cheapskates who had just tried to scam me out of my fee.

Before I could even process the absurdity, the teleportation array beneath my boots exploded into a blinding crimson light.

After a sickening wave of vertigo, damp, freezing fog hit my face.

I opened my eyes. My boots were sinking into the muddy soil of some ruined landscape.

Looking around, I found five sickeningly familiar faces staring right back at me.

Gideon, Daisy, and the four deadbeats.

However, thanks to the system's raid entry mechanics, all their previous fatal injuries had been fully healed the second we loaded in.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is. Small world, isn't it, Val?"

Gideon gave a predatory smile, twisting that obsidian ring on his thumb.

"Oh wow, Val! How did you end up in this zone?"

Daisy bit her lip, faking a look of pleasant surprise.

"Since we are a team now, let's just let bygones be bygones. You are just a Spatial support class. You don't have any real combat power. Don't worry, we will take very good 'care' of you."

She leaned heavily on the word 'care'. The men around her chuckled darkly, sharing a knowing look.

I patted a speck of mud off my tactical jacket, my expression completely flat.

"Don't flatter yourselves. Just worry about keeping yourselves alive."

"Nonsense! We are all players, we have to look out for each other."

Daisy delicately wrapped her arms around Gideon's bicep.

"Gideon, Val might overcharge people, but she is still just a girl. When we run into danger, we have to make sure she is protected."

I didn't even bother acknowledging the white lotus act.

A quick glance at the system told me this zone was called "Whispering Hollows". It was merely a C-Tier raid.

With my agility alone, I could walk out of here without even triggering a rift.

But it took less than five minutes for me to realize I had severely underestimated how utterly spineless these people were.

The thick brush ahead rustled violently.

Three massive Abyssal Hellhounds, each the size of a grizzly bear, lunged out of the fog, their glowing toxic green eyes locked onto us.

"Weapons out!"

Gideon roared. His heavy mechanical exoskeleton hummed to life, glowing with red energy lines.

I took a step back to maintain a safe distance, but Jax suddenly slammed his shoulder into my back.

He shoved me straight into the path of the lead Hellhound's leaping jaws.

"Whoops! Slipped!"

Jax gave a fake apology while scrambling backward faster than a rat.

"Val! You have spatial speed! Kite two of them away for us! Once we kill this one, we will come save you!"

Daisy screamed from the backline, her eyes filled with toxic malice.

"Yeah, Val! You're a pro! Hold the line!"

Gideon swung his heavy broadsword at the remaining hound, but deliberately slammed his massive riot shield into the dirt right behind me, completely blocking my only escape route.

It was entirely orchestrated.

They wanted me to be their free meat shield.

They wanted me to die right here.

Inside a raid zone, the spatial dimensions were locked by system rules. I couldn't just tear open a portal back to the Nexus Hub.

They clearly knew that.

Watching the rotting, razor-sharp jaws snap toward my face, I didn't even blink.

I strolled through SSSS-Tier nightmares for a living. Did they really think a pack of C-Tier trash mobs could take me out?

They thought I was soft.

Moving with deliberate slowness, I reached into my pocket, pulled out a shimmering gold talisman, and crushed it in my palm.

[Alert: God-Tier Consumable 'Aegis Ward' activated. Immune to all physical and magical damage. Duration: 30 minutes.]

A halo of brilliant golden light instantly wrapped around my body.

The Hellhound's jaws, capable of snapping steel girders, clamped down hard on the barrier.

A dull, metallic gong echoed through the trees. The recoil shattered the beast's fangs, sending black blood flying in all directions.

Standing safely inside the golden bubble, ignoring the monster's infuriated roars, I casually found a clean boulder and sat down.

I even dug a can of soda out of my inventory and popped the tab.

"Good luck, guys. Rooting for you."

I took a sip of the fizzing drink, smiling pleasantly through the translucent golden dome at Gideon and his crew. Their faces were an absolute picture of shock.

They wanted to use the environment to murder me. They forgot that as the premier rescue specialist of the server, the one thing I had an infinite supply of was god-tier survival items.

The cost of this single talisman could fund their entire guild for six months.

Gideon's face turned black with rage. Daisy's innocent mask completely shattered, revealing a twisted, ugly grimace.

But before they could formulate a new dirty trick, a deafening, earth-shattering roar erupted from the deepest part of the hollow. The ground began to quake violently.

A shadow the size of a skyscraper slowly rose through the dense fog.

"ROAR!"

The blast of sound shredded the mist.

This wasn't a standard mob. It was a raid boss, an absolute behemoth.

Gideon's face drained of all color. "Damn it! Who crushed the beast egg?!"

Daisy was hiking up her pristine skirt, her face turning green with terror. In her hand, she was clutching a glowing red crystal.

She had gotten greedy and tried to steal the boss's loot while the hounds distracted us.

"Gideon, save me! It's looking right at me!"

Daisy shrieked, diving behind Gideon's armored back.

The behemoth went into a frenzy. It swiped a massive claw, turning a cluster of ancient trees into splinters.

A monster like this did not belong in a C-Tier zone.

"Run! Move it!"

Gideon screamed. He pushed his exoskeleton to the absolute limit, grabbing Daisy and sprinting for his life.

My Aegis Ward was still active. I could have casually walked behind them.

But the enraged boss was blindly smashing the terrain. The ground beneath us began to fracture and cave in.

As we ran, the path ahead suddenly vanished, giving way to a bottomless, jagged chasm that looked like the gaping maw of the earth.

"Dead end!" Jax screamed in despair.

Gideon glanced back at the rapidly approaching titan. A flash of pure, ruthless desperation crossed his eyes.

He whipped his head around and locked eyes with me.

"Don't blame us, Val. Blame yourself for being a selfish bitch!"

Before the words even settled, he lunged at me.

At the exact same time, Jax and the other players moved in unison, using all their momentum to shove me toward the edge of the abyss.

My Aegis Ward negated damage, but it didn't prevent physical displacement.

My boots left the ground. Freezing wind rushed past my ears.

In that split second of freefall, I looked up at the ledge.

Daisy was peering over the edge, looking down at me. Her sweet, pitiful act was gone, replaced by a smile of pure malice.

"You've got so many Credits, Val! You can spend them all by yourself down there! You deserve this!"

Without missing a beat, Gideon's crew turned and sprinted in the other direction.

I let out a cold laugh. Did they really think I came unprepared?

Just inches before my spine could be impaled on the jagged stalagmites below, I pulled a pitch-black token from my jacket and crushed it.

It was an Absolute Anchor Beacon. Price tag: One hundred thousand Credits. It bypassed any and all zone locks.

BOOM!

A violent storm of spatial energy swallowed me whole.

When I opened my eyes again, I was sitting on the cold marble floor of the Nexus Hub.

Although I avoided lethal damage, the violent spatial turbulence had bruised my ribs. A trickle of blood ran down my chin, and my tactical jacket was torn to shreds.

"Holy crap! Is that Val? How did she get out of the raid?"

"Wasn't she in Whispering Hollows? Oh my god, look at the main screens!"

Gasps of horror rippled through the Hub.

No one stepped forward to help me up. Every single player was paralyzed, staring up at the massive central broadcast screens.

I wiped the blood off my mouth, grabbed a stone pillar to pull myself up, and followed their gaze.

The screens were live-streaming Gideon's team.

Without me taking the fall, the enraged boss had cornered them against the edge of the abyss.

"Daisy! Open a rift! You said you were a Spatial class! Do it now!"

Gideon roared hysterically. Half of his mechanical armor was crushed, and his face was a bloody mess.

"I... I'm trying! But the spatial frequency here is too chaotic! I can't lock the coordinates!"

Daisy was sobbing hysterically, snot and tears ruining her pretty face.

She waved her hands frantically, conjuring a pathetic, flickering blue spark in the air.

The legendary, miraculous "free rescue portal" she had bragged about managed to tear open a gap roughly the size of a human hand.

Forget the heavily armored Gideon; you couldn't even shove a house cat through that hole.

"This is your grand spatial magic?!"

Jax shrieked in absolute despair.

ROAR!

The behemoth raised its gargantuan claw, blotting out the sky.

Carrying the force of a hurricane, the claw came crashing down on the screaming team.