Chương 5: My First Party Is Still in School

The morning sun filtered through the small reinforced window of travel trailer G-214. Matt sat at his fold-down desk with a mug of perfectly hot coffee beside his laptop. Perfect Temperature had already become part of his morning routine. The coffee was too hot, he touched the mug, and then it wasn't. That was simply how mornings worked now. On his laptop, the plain text document from yesterday was still open.

NEXT GOALS Test Cleave in Black Hollow Copy more combat Uniques Get a Skill Gem drop Try a party Get a movement Skill Learn about Support Sockets Matt's eyes stopped on the fourth line. Try a party. Yesterday, Rick Dawson had explained why doing everything alone voluntarily made a Delver's life harder. Run with somebody experienced, learn how groups moved, how they handled loot, and what actual Dungeon pacing looked like. All sensible advice. For Matt, there was another benefit.

A party meant spending hours beside other Delvers while they actively used their Unique Skills. The idea was almost unfair. Matt took another drink.

"Might as well." He opened the Black Hollow Camp App. Yesterday, Rick had shown him the Group Board. This morning it was packed, with new posts appearing quickly enough that the list shifted while Matt was reading. Lv3–5 FAST CLEAR — BOSS ALIVE ONLY Need Mage — Lv4+ First-Timer Group — No Boss Rush Lv6+ — Stone Beetle Farm Academy Pair — Looking for 1 — Lv2–4 Matt tapped the final listing.

ATLANTIC DELVER ACADEMY Members: 2 Looking For: 1 Level Range: 2–4 Dungeon: Black Hollow Mine Pace: Casual / Training Movement Skills: None Boss: Optional Loot: Equal Value Split Matt smiled faintly at one line.

"Movement Skills: None." Rick had spent ten minutes explaining that walking was wasted time. Apparently Matt was now intentionally applying to a group committed to wasting time together. Still, he didn't own Leap Slam. A slower training group sounded ideal. And Academy students, whatever else could be said about them, had actually been taught this stuff. Matt tapped Apply. Less than thirty seconds later, his phone vibrated. REQUEST ACCEPTED Meet: Black Hollow Gate — 8: 00 AM"That was easy."

He finished breakfast, put on his armor and bracers, secured his boots and utility belt, checked his Life Flasks and Portal Scrolls, strapped on the longsword, and activated his AR contacts. Cleave was still socketed. Before leaving, Matt opened COPY and removed Perfect Temperature from the active slot he had been using for breakfast. Dungeon loadout: Anchored Step — C Sure Grip — E Everything was where it was supposed to be. Matt took one last look around the trailer, locked the door, and headed toward the Gate.

Time to go learn Dungeon crawling from people who were still technically in school. ◆ At 7: 55, the staging plaza outside Black Hollow was already busy. Morning parties moved between the Gate and the surrounding equipment stands. A four-man group argued beside the Instance terminal about whether twenty-eight active Delvers counted as crowded, someone nearby ate a breakfast burrito while wearing plate armor, and two Academy buses waited along the far edge of the plaza. Matt spotted his group near the terminal.

The matching navy jackets made it easy. The guy was around nineteen, with messy brown hair and the easy posture of someone who had never once worried about how he looked. A steel shield was strapped to his left arm, and a broadsword rested over his shoulder. The girl beside him looked about the same age. Her lighter armor was built for mobility, a shortsword hung at her hip, and her dark hair was tied back. She was checking the straps on one boot with the concentration of somebody conducting aircraft maintenance.

Matt approached. The guy looked up.

"Matt?"

"Yeah."

"Ethan Parker." He offered his hand. Matt shook it.

"Matt Hayes." The girl straightened.

"Chloe Ramirez." Then she immediately brought up her AR interface. Ethan made a show of holding an invisible clipboard.

"Alright. Extremely rigorous hiring process." Matt waited.

"Level?"

"Two."

"Job?"

"Warrior."

"Weapon?"

"Longsword."

"Skill Gem?"

"Cleave." Chloe cut in.

"Experience?"

"Yesterday morning." Silence. Ethan's invisible clipboard vanished.

"…Yesterday?"

"Yesterday." Chloe looked directly at him.

"One run total?"

"Yeah." Ethan looked at Chloe. Chloe looked at Ethan. Matt waited for his application to be reconsidered. Instead Ethan nodded.

"Okay." He looked back at Matt.

"Unique Skill?"

"Secret." Another pause.

"Cool." Chloe shrugged.

"Fine with me." Matt blinked.

"…That's it?"

"That's it."

"You just learned I've been a Delver for one day and I won't tell you my Unique." Ethan tapped the shield on his arm.

"Matt, it's an F-rank."

"We aren't doing a C-rank Boss," Chloe said.

"We're walking through Black Hollow."

"If anybody's Life does something ugly," Ethan added, "Portal. Problem solved." Matt looked between them.

"That's a surprisingly low hiring standard."

"Welcome to beginner dungeons." Ethan pointed at Matt's belt.

"Portal Scroll?" Matt touched one.

"Life Flask?" He touched another.

"Cleave actually socketed?"

"Yes." Ethan gave him a thumbs-up.

"You're hired." Matt had gone through more demanding interviews for warehouse administration. Before Chloe could turn back toward the Instance terminal, Matt raised a hand.

"Before we go in." She looked at him.

"What?"

"Loot rules?" That got a different reaction. Chloe's eyebrows rose slightly.

"You really did start yesterday?"

"I had lunch with somebody talkative."

"Equal value split," she said.

"Anything easy to liquidate gets sold at the Exchange and the net payout gets divided evenly. If somebody wants to keep equipment, a Skill Gem, or anything else valuable, we check the current market value and they compensate the others for their shares." Ethan pointed at Matt.

"And nobody grabs the shiny thing and suddenly develops a sprinting career."

"Good rule."

"Experience talking?"

"Advice."

"Also useful." Matt glanced at the available Instances. Rick's lunch lecture had officially paid for itself. Chloe opened the list. Instance 204 — 37 Delvers — Boss Alive Instance 205 — 18 Delvers — Boss Defeated Instance 206 — 29 Delvers — Boss Alive Instance 207 — 22 Delvers — Boss Alive Ethan considered them.

"We don't have movement Skills."

"So don't pretend we're Boss racing," Chloe said. Matt nodded.

"Fine by me." Twenty-two people was enough traffic for his purposes without turning every tunnel into a convention center.

"207," Chloe decided. She selected it. Entering Instance 207 The three of them stepped into the Gate together. The world shifted. Morning sunlight vanished, cool subterranean air replaced it, and blue crystals glowed faintly between rough stone walls while wooden mine supports disappeared into the distance. Black Hollow. Yesterday Matt had entered alone. Today Ethan automatically moved to the front with his shield up.

Matt settled slightly behind and to his right, while Chloe stayed off-center with room to maneuver. Nobody discussed formation. They simply did it. Matt noticed.

"So," Ethan said as they walked.

"Seriously."

"What?"

"One day?"

"Yep."

"What were you doing before this?"

"Logistics coordinator."

"For?"

"Shipping company." Ethan nodded thoughtfully.

"So naturally you quit and bought a sword."

"It was the obvious career progression." Chloe glanced back.

"Shipping containers to goblins."

"Exactly."

"At least there's transferable experience." Matt looked at her.

"Such as?"

"Inventory."

"Fair." They walked deeper. None of them had movement Skills. For the moment, Rick would have been deeply disappointed. They didn't have to wait long for company. Three Cave Rats emerged from a side shaft. Ethan lifted his shield.

"I'll pull." He slapped the flat of his sword against it. The clang echoed through the tunnel, and all three rat heads snapped toward him before they charged. Chloe shifted sideways.

"Let them group." Matt drew his longsword. Yesterday's practice room returned to him: three dummies, spacing, arc, don't waste the edge. The first rat leapt. Ethan caught it on the shield while the second tried to circle, but he stepped sideways and forced it back into the same space. The third piled in behind them.

"Now." Matt stepped forward. Mana moved. Cleave. A red kinetic arc followed his blade as the longsword swept through all three. Mana: 53 → 49 The center rat dissolved immediately. The other two were thrown sideways, badly damaged. Chloe moved. One thrust. Ash. Ethan brought the edge of his shield down on the last. More ash. The whole thing took maybe five seconds. Matt lowered the sword.

"That works a lot better on actual groups." Chloe started sheathing her shortsword, then thought better of it.

"That's generally why it's called area damage."

"Thank you, Chloe."

"She's like this all day," Ethan said.

"I believe it." No loot. They moved. A few minutes later, four Goblin Miners came around a bend. Ethan stepped forward. This time Matt deliberately watched him. The first goblin raised its pickaxe. Ethan shifted, and a dark crimson light spread briefly across his shoulders and arms—a deliberate activation rather than a constant effect. The muscles beneath his armor tightened. Matt's interface appeared. UNIQUE SKILL OBSERVED OVERMUSCLE — C Eligible for Copy Copy? [YES] / [NO] Matt almost smiled. Yes.

COPY COMPLETE Overmuscle — C Stored Unique Skills: 4 The details followed. OVERMUSCLE Rarity: Unique Skill — C Type: Toggle / Physical Enhancement Effect While active: STR +20 Flavor Text Strength is rarely complicated. Sometimes, there is simply more of it. The goblin's pickaxe slammed into Ethan's shield. Ethan didn't move. The goblin did. It bounced back hard enough to stumble. Matt's attention caught briefly on the number. Twenty additional Strength. His own STR was only twenty-three.

If Matt equipped it—"Matt!" Right. Fight first. He stepped into range. Cleave. Two goblins vanished. Chloe took another. Ethan drove his sword into the fourth. Silence returned. Ethan relaxed, and the crimson Mana around him disappeared as Overmuscle toggled off. Matt stared at the shield.

"That's a lot of force." Ethan glanced down at it.

"Strength build."

"I can tell."

"Very technical observation." This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"First week."

"First two days."

"Even better." They collected one Mana Stone and continued. The next significant fight included a Stone Beetle. Matt had seen one from a distance yesterday. Up close, it was substantially less charming: low to the ground, heavily armored, equipped with too many legs, and carrying roughly the mass of something you'd rather not hit with a car. It ignored Ethan entirely. The creature turned and charged Chloe. She waited. For one fraction of a second, a pale green shimmer passed across her body.

Another deliberate activation. Then Chloe moved. She didn't teleport or disappear. She simply became dramatically faster and more precise, pivoting past the Beetle through the safest angle with almost unnatural control. Her shortsword entered a gap in the shell. Matt's interface flashed. UNIQUE SKILL OBSERVED QUICK FRAME — C Eligible for Copy Yes.

COPY COMPLETE Quick Frame — C Stored Unique Skills: 5 QUICK FRAME Rarity: Unique Skill — C Type: Toggle / Physical Enhancement Effect While active: DEX +20 Flavor Text Speed begins long before the first step. It begins when hesitation disappears. Matt finished a Cave Rat almost automatically. His mind was elsewhere. Twenty Strength from Ethan. Twenty Dexterity from Chloe.

He'd been in the Dungeon for less than an hour, and the value of running with other people was already becoming obvious in ways Rick could never have known. They moved deeper. Another group approached from the opposite direction: three Delvers returning toward the entrance. One carried a large shield, another had a staff, and the third stopped beside a heavy equipment bag somebody had apparently abandoned beside the wall while adjusting a boot.

"Got it." He crouched. A muted yellow glow spread over his hands and the bag. Another activation. Matt got a prompt. UNIQUE SKILL OBSERVED LIGHT LOAD — E Eligible for Copy Yes. COPY COMPLETE Light Load — E Stored Unique Skills: 6 LIGHT LOAD Rarity: Unique Skill — E Type: Active / Utility Effect While maintained, reduces the effective weight of nonliving objects intentionally carried by the user. Flavor Text The road is easier when the burden agrees to weigh less.

The Delver swung the bag over one shoulder, and the two groups passed each other with a few casual greetings. Matt didn't break stride. Six stored Skills. Three acquired this morning. A crowded F-rank Dungeon really was ridiculous for COPY. ◆ They stopped after about an hour in a collapsed side passage that Chloe declared safe enough for a short break. Ethan sat on a fallen beam and started scraping goblin residue from the edge of his shield while Chloe drank water. Matt checked his Mana. Back to full.

He took out his own bottle and drank. The water was slightly warmer than he would have preferred. Perfect Temperature was sitting safely in the Archive because Matt had decided that keeping his sword in his hand was more useful during combat than having ideal drinking water. He survived. Ethan glanced at him.

"So what's your secret Unique?" Matt looked over.

"Nice try."

"I had to ask." Chloe didn't bother looking up.

"You did not." Matt drank again, then turned his attention back to Ethan.

"Your Unique adds Strength, right?"

"Twenty."

"Is twenty a lot?" Both students stopped. Chloe lowered her water bottle. Ethan stared at him. Matt sighed.

"Yes. I know. I'm new."

"You really bought a truck and went straight into a Dungeon without reading System Fundamentals," Chloe said.

"I read enough to not die."

"That is not the same thing."

"Apparently." Ethan leaned back against the stone.

"Twenty is good."

"How good?" Chloe took over, sounding immediately like someone reciting material she'd been tested on.

"First thing: the fourteen baseline." Matt nodded.

"My initial stats."

"Basically everybody starts with fourteen in each System Attribute. Adult man, adult woman, child—it doesn't matter." Matt frowned.

"That still doesn't make sense."

"Because it isn't measuring your natural body. Fourteen doesn't mean a six-year-old naturally has the same muscle strength as a thirty-year-old man." Natural biology still existed. Height, muscle, coordination, intelligence, training—everything someone was born with or developed normally remained real.

"Then what's fourteen?"

"Baseline System enhancement." Ethan held up both hands.

"Easiest way to think about it is fourteen equals zero bonus." Matt looked between them.

"So fourteen is basically zero."

"Basically," Chloe said.

"Once the System pushes you above fourteen, supernatural enhancement starts layering on top of whatever you naturally have." Matt thought back to yesterday: Warrior, STR fourteen to twenty-three, DEX fourteen to twenty-three, the sword immediately feeling lighter and his body becoming easier to control.

"That explains the Job change."

"Exactly."

"What does STR actually affect?"

"Strength, obviously," Ethan said. Chloe gave him a look. He gestured for her to continue.

"Physical output, stamina, durability to an extent, and your ability to handle equipment with Strength requirements. It isn't something simple like one point equals a fixed number of pounds because natural biology still varies." Matt nodded.

"So plus twenty?"

"Strong," Chloe said.

"Very strong," Ethan corrected.

"For a C-rank Unique that just turns on and gives it to me?" He tapped his chest.

"Fantastic." Chloe nodded.

"Put twenty additional Strength on a normal adult male and you're comfortably looking at around twice ordinary adult-male physical output." Matt looked at her.

"That much?"

"Roughly. Not a clean multiplier. Don't build a scientific paper around it. But in practical terms? Yes. Very obvious." Ethan lifted his shield with one hand.

"Which is why this thing doesn't bother me nearly as much as it should."

"And why I went Warrior." Matt glanced at the shield.

"So your Job stats plus Overmuscle stack."

"Exactly."

"That's strong." Ethan shrugged.

"It's boring."

"I wouldn't call it boring."

"You didn't go to school with a guy who shoots lightning." Matt considered that.

"Fair."

"There's another part," Chloe said.

"Equipment requirements." Matt looked at her.

"You've already seen them." He had. His sword had required STR and DEX.

"Higher-rank items ask for more. Thirty Strength, fifty, sometimes much more. Same with Dexterity and Intelligence depending on the equipment." Matt understood where she was going.

"So twenty free points isn't just power. It's twenty points of equipment requirements you don't need to earn somewhere else."

"Exactly." That changed how Matt evaluated the Skill again. Overmuscle wasn't just a Strength buff. It could let a build equip Gear earlier, or use Gear it otherwise couldn't. Matt turned his attention inward. He wanted to equip it. Right now. Swap out Sure Grip and find out what STR forty-three felt like. Unfortunately, Ethan and Chloe were sitting ten feet away. If Matt suddenly demonstrated Ethan's Unique Skill, questions might arise. Later. He could wait. Probably.

◆ The next section of Black Hollow made the difference between solo and party play increasingly obvious. Yesterday, every monster had felt like its own event. Today the group developed a rhythm. Ethan spotted the pack and moved first, shield up. If he needed the Strength, Overmuscle came on in a brief crimson pulse. Chloe drifted to one side and waited for openings. Matt positioned for Cleave. The monsters grouped. One broad arc. Then Chloe cut through anything that survived. Cleaner. Much faster.

And with every fight, Matt understood the rhythm a little better. At one junction, Ethan started toward three Goblin Miners standing apart from two Cave Rats. Matt caught his shoulder.

"Wait." Ethan glanced back.

"What?"

"Bring the goblins left."

"Why?" Matt pointed.

"The rats will come around that support." Chloe looked at the tunnel, then at Matt.

"He's right." Ethan shrugged.

"Alright." He stepped in. Shield clang. Goblin attention snapped toward him. The rats reacted a second later. Ethan backed diagonally rather than straight toward Matt. One goblin pursued too quickly while another lagged. Matt waited.

"Little more."

"I'm getting hit here."

"That's what the shield's for."

"I regret inviting you." Chloe laughed. Then the pack compressed: three goblins and two rats, all inside Matt's forward angle. He planted his feet. Anchored Step. The first goblin crashed into him. Matt didn't move. Cleave. Red light tore across the front line. Three monsters dissolved instantly. The others staggered. Chloe activated Quick Frame. Green flash. Two clean strikes. Done. Ethan looked at the ash, then at Matt.

"Okay."

"What?"

"That was faster." Matt lowered the sword.

"Walking is wasted time." Ethan frowned.

"You've said that twice now."

"Rick."

"The beer guy?"

"Correct."

"I still don't know who that is."

"You're getting closer." They laughed. Then the System chimed. Matt froze. A notification appeared. LEVEL UP Matthew Hayes has reached Level 3. Matt stared.

"Three." Ethan glanced over.

"You leveled?"

"Yeah."

"Nice." Chloe nodded.

"You're catching up." Matt waited. No Job selection. No new Skill Gem slot. No major unlock. Just Level Three. That was fine. Not every level needed fireworks. More importantly, the faster pace was working. He dismissed the notification.

"Keep going." Ethan grinned.

"Now you sound like a Delver." ◆ They moved into another broad mine corridor. The pace slowed temporarily when several groups passed them heading the opposite direction: one Academy team, a couple who looked old enough to be Matt's parents, then three teenagers arguing about whether somebody had forgotten to refill a Life Flask. Matt watched each carefully. No useful COPY prompts. One ability activated too far away. Another might have been a Skill Gem rather than a Unique. He couldn't collect everything.

Unfortunately.

"So," Matt said once the traffic cleared.

"You two actually want to do this professionally?"

"Maybe," Ethan said. Matt looked at him.

"You attend a Delver Academy."

"Correct."

"You pay college-level tuition."

"Technically my parents pay most of it."

"And the answer is maybe."

"Still maybe." Chloe spoke from behind them.

"That's normal."

"Rick said something similar." Matt glanced over his shoulder.

"How many people at your school actually want this as their career?" Ethan thought.

"Full-time Delver?"

"Yeah."

"Our class? Maybe sixty percent." Chloe nodded.

"That's about right."

"Only sixty?"

"Only?" Ethan laughed.

"Six out of ten kids voluntarily planning to spend their adult lives getting hit by monsters is a lot."

"When you phrase it that way."

"The serious track wants different things too," Chloe said.

"High-rank parties, corporate teams, streaming, Dungeon rescue or security, or just traveling and farming whatever pays." Matt looked at Ethan.

"You?" Ethan thought about it longer this time.

"I think I'm in the sixty."

"You think?"

"I like this." He tapped his shield.

"I like fighting. I like traveling. I don't particularly like classrooms." Chloe snorted.

"That last part is true."

"But?" Matt prompted. Ethan shrugged.

"I haven't seen anything above F yet. Maybe I hit E and love it. Maybe I hit C and decide I'm not interested in being exploded for money."

"That seems reasonable." Ethan looked toward Chloe.

"She plans everything."

"I do not."

"You have a spreadsheet."

"That's called organization."

"What do you want to do?" Matt asked her. Chloe hesitated.

"Not sure yet."

"Delving?"

"Maybe for a while. But not necessarily forever." She rolled one shoulder.

"That's part of the point of school. We level, build our stats, and find out what we're actually good at. If I still want to Delve professionally afterward, fine. If I don't, the stats come with me." Matt stopped for half a step.

"The stats." Chloe looked back.

"Yes." Matt remembered yesterday's Job change. The sword had stayed lighter after he left the Dungeon. Of course.

"Did your Strength stop working when you left the Dungeon yesterday?" Chloe asked.

"No."

"Your Dexterity?"

"No."

"Then why would leveling only matter inside?" Matt stared at her. That was obvious once she said it. Some students weren't paying enormous tuition because they wanted to become Boss hunters. They were paying to become better humans.

"So the other forty percent…"

"Stats," Chloe said. Ethan nodded.

"A lot of them." Matt resumed walking.

"What kind?"

"That depends on what they want afterward."

"Strength and Dexterity both seem useful."

"They are." Matt paused.

"Intelligence." Chloe smiled slightly.

"There it is." Matt looked at her.

"Does INT actually make you smarter?"

"Yes." The answer was so immediate that Matt stopped again. Ethan nearly walked into him.

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Same principle as Strength. Fourteen doesn't define your natural intelligence. A naturally brilliant person and an idiot can both show fourteen." Ethan pointed at himself.

"She's looking at me when she says idiot."

"I wasn't."

"You were thinking it." Chloe ignored him.

"Above baseline, INT adds supernatural cognitive enhancement—thought speed, memory retention, pattern recognition, comprehension, concentration, learning." Matt stared at her.

"So high Intelligence makes you a genius."

"Depends on what you mean." Chloe stepped around a broken mine cart.

"It doesn't create knowledge. If you've never studied medicine, INT one hundred doesn't magically teach you surgery. You still have to learn." Ethan nodded.

"You just learn a lot faster."

"How much faster?"

"At high values?" Chloe shrugged.

"A lot."

"What counts as high?"

"Around a hundred is where people start using stupid examples."

"One hundred?"

"Yep."

"People reach that?"

"Of course." Whatever showed on Matt's face made Ethan laugh.

"High-level equipment has stat requirements. You already know that."

"Mage-oriented Gear can easily push people toward very high INT," Chloe added.

"But it's not only Mages. Anyone can build toward Intelligence if that's what they want. Former Mage builds are just common because they were already going that direction." Matt thought about the number. One hundred.

"What does somebody with INT one hundred look like outside a Dungeon?"

"Annoying," Ethan said. Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Productive."

"That too." She continued.

"Look at the last five years. Tech, research, engineering, quantitative finance, high-end software—there are more and more former Delvers in those fields. People who pushed INT hard, left professional Delving, and took that enhancement with them." Ethan grinned.

"INT one hundred in an office is basically cheating." Matt looked at him.

"How much cheating?"

"You spend ten minutes trying to understand a financial model. They look at it once and start asking why the third assumption is wrong."

"That's an exaggeration," Chloe said. A pause.

"Not by as much as you'd hope." Matt was quiet. Then the implications arrived all at once.

"So we mass-produce geniuses." Ethan shrugged.

"Sort of."

"That phrase makes the professors angry," Chloe said.

"The natural person, education, and experience still matter." She paused.

"But yes. Human cognitive performance can be supernaturally enhanced at scale." Matt slowed. He had spent fifteen years watching the economy transform and had always treated Mana Stones as the obvious explanation. They were a huge part of it. But not the entire answer.

"We also spent fifteen years producing people with supernatural Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence," Matt said. Chloe nodded.

"Then those people left Dungeons and became engineers, researchers, executives, doctors, workers…" He shook his head.

"No wonder everything moved so fast."

"That's a pretty standard economic argument now," Chloe said.

"Good." Matt sighed.

"I've rediscovered introductory college material."

"On your second day."

"Efficient." Ethan laughed. Matt thought about something else.

"Then why not Strength?"

"What?"

"If somebody doesn't want to be a Delver, just level as Warrior, build STR, then go work construction or heavy industry."

"You can," Ethan said.

"Sounds useful."

"It is."

"Great money?"

"No." Matt looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because it's still construction." A beat.

"Ah." Chloe smiled.

"There are plenty of enhanced workers in construction, rescue, logistics, and industrial jobs. Stats make them more productive, but the labor market knows enhanced workers exist. Having STR forty doesn't automatically make somebody rare." Matt nodded.

"So if you're optimizing for money outside the Dungeon…"

"INT is popular," Chloe said.

"Or a specialized DEX career."

"Or you stay a Delver," Ethan added.

"Which pays pretty well when treasure chests like you." Matt looked at him.

"What treasure chest?" Ethan opened his mouth. Chloe suddenly stopped.

"Pack." The conversation vanished. ◆ Nine monsters occupied the next chamber: six Cave Rats and three Goblin Miners. Ethan activated Overmuscle in a crimson pulse, raised his shield, and charged. Chloe moved wide. Matt waited. The first goblin hit Ethan's shield as the rats split—two toward Chloe and four toward Matt. Matt toggled Anchored Step. The first rat struck his leg. His stance didn't shift. A goblin came behind it. Perfect. Cleave. Mana: 53 → 49 The red arc caught three targets.

Two vanished and one staggered. Matt reset. Ethan shoved another goblin sideways. Chloe's Quick Frame came on in a flash of green light. She passed behind the enemies and killed a rat before it turned. Matt waited for the angle. Second Cleave. Mana: 49 → 45 More ash. The final goblin tried to retreat. Ethan hit it with the shield. Done. The whole fight lasted seconds. Matt looked over the ground. A few Mana Stones. Nothing spectacular. Chloe wiped her shortsword.

"Better." Matt looked at her.

"What?"

"Your Cleave positioning. You waited instead of throwing it into one target. You used Ethan to line them up."

"Second day."

"Still better." Matt nodded. They were teenagers. They were also obviously trained. Knowing how to activate a Skill and knowing how to use one were not the same thing. Matt was beginning to understand the difference. They collected the Stones. Then Chloe froze.

"Wait." Ethan looked up.

"What?" She pointed into a narrow recess beside the chamber. At first Matt saw nothing. Then he caught the faint blue glow. A wooden chest sat against the rear wall, heavy and iron-banded, with light leaking around the lid. Ethan let out a low whistle.

"Oh, nice." Matt looked at him.

"What?"

"Chest." Chloe smiled.

"Treasure Chest." Matt approached slowly.

"Rare?"

"Rare enough to be happy." His gaming instincts immediately took over.

"Trap?" Ethan looked at him.

"What?"

"The chest. Is it trapped?" Chloe shook her head.

"Not here."

"How do you know?"

"Traps don't start showing up until C-rank." Matt paused.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." Ethan spread his arms.

"Black Hollow is aggressively beginner-friendly." Matt looked at the chest again.

"No mimic?"

"No."

"Poison needle?"

"No."

"Exploding floor?"

"C-rank."

"Good." Ethan pointed.

"Open it."

"Why me?"

"First chest?"

"Yes."

"Then you open it." Chloe looked at Ethan.

"That's not a rule."

"It is now." Matt sighed.

"You're making this up."

"Completely." Matt stepped forward. No lock. No obvious mechanism. He lifted the lid. Blue light flooded the small recess. Matt stared. The chest was packed with Mana Stones. Not three. Not five. Dozens. Different sizes and clarity. All visibly F-rank.

"…That's more than three."

"Little bit," Ethan said. Chloe crouched beside the chest.

"Good density too."

"How much?" She looked over the pile.

"Five thousand?" Ethan leaned closer.

"More."

"Six?"

"Probably." Matt looked from one student to the other.

"Six thousand dollars."

"Rough estimate."

"From one box."

"Yep." Ethan smiled.

"There's your Dungeon jackpot." They began transferring the Stones into a heavy canvas loot bag. Matt picked up a handful. Yesterday he'd been impressed by three. Now he was shoveling them.

"Split now?"

"No point," Chloe said.

"We already agreed on equal value. Take everything to the Exchange, let them scan and tax it, then divide the payout." Matt nodded. Clean and simple. When the bag was full, Chloe looked at Ethan.

"You carry it." Ethan stared at her.

"Why?"

"Plus twenty Strength."

"…That's discriminatory." Matt nodded.

"Efficient." Ethan slowly looked at him.

"I liked you better before you learned clear speed."

"Rick would be proud."

"Still don't know Rick." Ethan lifted the bag. With Overmuscle on, the weight barely seemed to matter. Matt thought about the Skill sitting in his Archive. Later. Definitely later. ◆ They didn't leave right away. Chloe figured the chest had already made the day, but not enough to justify panicking over carrying it through an F-rank. So they kept clearing. That gave Matt his first real chance to feel the party becoming a party—not three strangers fighting in the same direction, but a simple unit.

Ethan naturally took the front, and Matt began reading how he moved his shield. When Ethan stepped left, Matt knew where the next group would be pushed. When Matt called for a better angle, Ethan started adjusting without asking why. Chloe stopped correcting every Cleave. Mostly. At one junction, a Stone Beetle charged before Ethan could get into position. Matt stepped forward instead. Anchored Step. Impact. He held.

"Left!" Matt called. Chloe already understood. Quick Frame. She cut behind the Beetle. Ethan arrived and slammed his shield into its exposed side. Matt dropped Anchored Step, repositioned, and used Cleave. The Beetle vanished. Ethan looked at the ash.

"Okay." Matt sheathed the sword halfway.

"What now?"

"You really did start yesterday."

"Yes."

"Annoying."

"Thank you." Chloe walked past them.

"Keep moving." Rick would have liked her. As they walked, Matt glanced at the heavy bag Ethan was carrying.

"How rare are chests?"

"Depends on the Dungeon," Chloe said.

"Here?"

"If you're active? Seeing something worthwhile around once a month isn't crazy."

"Not guaranteed," Ethan added quickly.

"You can go months without one, or find two close together."

"RNG." Matt nodded.

"Don't budget around treasure chests."

"Exactly."

"Good financial advice." Ethan adjusted the bag.

"I'm in school. I know all about having no money."

"You're carrying six thousand dollars."

"Temporarily." They continued. A few minutes later Chloe glanced at Matt's armor. She frowned, then looked again.

"Wait." Matt glanced down.

"What?"

"You don't have the Beginner Set." Matt looked back up.

"…The what?" Ethan stopped.

"Seriously?"

"I have beginner Gear." Matt tapped his chest piece.

"Bought it yesterday."

"Not beginner Gear," Chloe said.

"The Beginner Set." Matt waited.

"That does not explain anything." Ethan and Chloe looked at each other. Then back at him.

"Oh." Matt sighed.

"What?"

"You're actually new," Chloe said.

"Again." Matt held up one finger.

"We have established this. So what is it?"

"Beginner Set. Raises elemental resistances." Matt waited for more. There wasn't any.

"That's it?"

"That's the important part. Black Hollow is basically physical, so it doesn't matter much here. Other Dungeons are different." Matt nodded.

"How much?"

"About a thousand," Ethan said.

"Where?"

"Any decent Delver equipment shop."

"What do I ask for?" Chloe stared at him.

"Beginner Set."

"That's literally enough?"

"Yes."

"I just walk in and say, 'I need the Beginner Set.'""They'll know." Matt considered this.

"Okay. I'll buy one."

"You don't need it for Black Hollow," Chloe repeated.

"Just own one before you start bouncing around random Dungeons."

"Good to know." Matt kept walking, then frowned.

"I should probably read more."

"Nah," Ethan said.

"Yes," Chloe said at exactly the same time. Matt looked between them.

"Helpful."

"You learn by doing," Ethan said.

"You learn by reading before doing," Chloe corrected.

"She's less fun."

"She's probably alive because of it."

"Also true." ◆ By early afternoon, the question of the Boss came up. The Instance still showed alive. Probably. They hadn't checked in several minutes, but other parties had passed them moving deeper. Their own group had no movement Skill. And Ethan was carrying a small fortune in F-rank rocks. He glanced toward the deeper shaft.

"Boss?" Chloe looked at the loot bag. Then at Ethan.

"No." Matt nodded.

"Agreed." Ethan sighed.

"You two are responsible."

"Terrible habit."

"Fine." There was no dramatic debate and no temptation to gamble six thousand dollars for one more drop. Matt pulled out a Portal Scroll. The others did the same. Blue circles unfolded in the tunnel. One step. Sunlight. Black Hollow Camp. The noise of the staging area rushed back around them. Ethan lifted the bag.

"Exchange?"

"Exchange." They walked. The same clerk who had bought Matt's three miserable Mana Stones yesterday was working one of the F-rank counters. He recognized Matt. Then noticed the bag. His eyebrows rose.

"Better day?"

"Apparently." Ethan dropped the bag onto the reinforced counter. The clerk opened it.

"Oh." Matt smiled.

"That's about how I reacted." The Stones went into the scanner. The number climbed. And climbed. Then stopped. TREASURE CHEST MANA STONES Gross Value: $6, 315. 60 Mandatory Dungeon Resource Tax — 5%: -$315. 78 Net Payout: $5, 999. 82 Equal Party Share — 3 Members $1, 999. 94 each Matt stared. Yesterday: $50. 07. Today: $1, 999. 94.

"…That's a jump."

"Chest," Ethan said.

"Do not get used to it," Chloe added. They sold the ordinary Mana Stones from the rest of the run separately. After tax and division, each received another ninety dollars or so. Matt looked at the total transfer. A little over two thousand dollars. One morning. An unusually lucky morning. Still.

"So." He put his phone away.

"Over two grand."

"Yes."

"F-rank."

"Yes." Ethan grinned.

"Now you understand why Academy admissions are full." Matt did. They left the Exchange. Outside, Black Hollow was fully awake, with golf carts and food trucks moving through the Camp while Delvers flowed toward and away from the Gate. Ethan glanced toward Matt.

"You free tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"We're here another week," Chloe said.

"Then the school moves?"

"Yeah."

"Pennsylvania next," Ethan said.

"Different F-rank."

"Different monsters and Dungeon type," Chloe added.

"That's part of the circuit." Matt nodded. Exposure. Not just grinding one comfortable Dungeon forever. Ethan adjusted his shield strap.

"So. Want to keep running with us?"

"For the week?"

"Sure." Chloe looked Matt over.

"You listen. You don't run off. You know the loot rules." Ethan nodded.

"And you don't suck." Matt stared at him.

"Inspiring."

"That's high praise from Chloe."

"I didn't say it."

"You were thinking it."

"I was not." Matt considered the offer. He didn't need long. They were trained, competent, safe to level with, and he was learning quickly. The extra COPY opportunities certainly didn't hurt.

"Sure." Ethan took out his phone.

"Great." They exchanged numbers. Seconds later Matt's screen lit. New Group Chat Black Hollow Group Chloe saw it.

"That's terrible."

"You name it."

"No."

"Then it stays." Matt nodded.

"Democracy."

"Tomorrow at eight?" Ethan asked.

"Seven-thirty," Chloe said. Ethan looked betrayed.

"Why?"

"Because you're late."

"I was three minutes late."

"Late."

"Three minutes."

"Still a positive number." Matt smiled.

"Seven-thirty works." Ethan looked at him.

"Betrayal." Before they separated, Chloe pointed at Matt.

"Beginner Set."

"Right."

"Today."

"I'll get it."

"Good." Matt started walking away, then glanced back.

"Just ask for Beginner Set."

"Yes."

"Elemental resistance."

"Yes."

"Got it." He headed toward G-sector. He was twenty-eight years old and had spent most of the morning being taught basic professional survival by two nineteen-year-olds. He was completely fine with that. ◆ Back at G-214, Matt locked the trailer door, removed his armor and bracers, and set the sword belt on the table. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. Then remembered Perfect Temperature was still sitting in the Archive.

"Right." Matt swapped it in long enough to make the water colder, drank, then opened the Archive properly. Six stored Skills now. Three of them gained today. Matt looked at Overmuscle. He'd been thinking about it for hours.

"Okay." He swapped Sure Grip out for Overmuscle and activated it. A crimson pulse moved faintly across his arms. STR: 23 → 43 Matt sat still for a second. Nothing dramatic happened. Then he reached for his longsword. The difference was immediate. The weapon had never been impossibly heavy. Even before becoming a Warrior, Matt could use it. At STR 23 it had become comfortable. At STR 43, he lifted it one-handed and slowly turned his wrist, changing angles with an ease that felt absurd compared with yesterday.

Not weightless. Not a toy. But the amount of force available behind even casual movement was completely different. He did not swing it. He liked his trailer walls. Still—"… Yeah." Matt looked at the number again.

"Plus twenty is strong." Ethan had understated it. Matt deactivated Overmuscle and swapped it for Quick Frame. A pale green shimmer passed over him. DEX: 23 → 43 This was different. Not Strength. Control. His hand moved faster and more precisely than it had a moment ago. Matt reached for a pen. It slipped off the desk edge. His hand snapped down and caught it almost immediately. He stared at the pen.

"Okay." Matt set it down, deliberately knocked it off again, and caught it.

"That's also strong." He deactivated Quick Frame. There was one obvious test left. Matt equipped Overmuscle and Quick Frame together. Crimson. Green. STR: 43 DEX: 43 INT: 14 Matt sat quietly. No dramatic transformation. No muscles tearing through clothing. No blur of movement. Just twenty additional points of Strength and twenty additional points of Dexterity at the same time. Ethan had Overmuscle. Chloe had Quick Frame. Matt had both. And tomorrow, he could decide he wanted neither. That was the frightening part.

Not either individual Skill. The library of options. Matt leaned back. The earlier conversation about Intelligence returned to him. Mana Stones hadn't transformed society alone. Humanity itself had been leveling for fifteen years. That mattered. A lot.

"No wonder everything moved so fast." His phone buzzed. Matt looked down. BLACK HOLLOW GROUP Ethan: Tomorrow 8? Chloe: 7: 30. Ethan: Why do you hate sleep? Chloe: Why do you hate being on time? Ethan: Three minutes isn't late. Chloe: It is literally late. Matt laughed. He typed. Matt: 7: 30 works. A response appeared almost instantly. Ethan: Betrayal. Matt set the phone down. Academy students. His party, apparently. For the next week. Yesterday, Rick had warned Matt that parties meant splitting the loot.

Technically, he'd been right. Matt had split the treasure chest three ways and still walked away with more than two thousand dollars, Level Three, three new Unique Skills, an entire morning of practical System education, and two competent guides. He looked at the two enhanced Attribute values floating in front of him. STR: 43 DEX: 43 Matt considered that for a moment. Then smiled.

"Parties are good."