I finally reached 500 EXP at 6:43 in the morning, standing inside a dungeon corridor where the stench of dust from stone walls and beetle shells was all around , waiting for the notification to display on screen after four straight days.
4 EXP — Skitterer (Ranged Kill)
Total EXP: 500/500
RANK UP — UNCLASSIFIED → D-RANK
Title changed to: D-Rank Adventurer
STR cap increased / AGI cap increased / INT cap increased
Floors now unlocked: 3, 4
Access to guild permit area: D-rank circuit
Bonus stat received: AGI 1
Current stats: STR 12 / AGI 17 / INT 20
I took a mont to process.
D-rank. Skitterers and beetles, nights spent killing them in the dungeons, late nights, and rations of food consud at rest nodes. Four days of observing Lyra’s corruption ter remain at 92% while Vorn’s flag changes kept updating on the edge of my vision whenever I pierced the leg joint of another monster with an arrow.
D-rank.
It should’ve been worth more than that. But it was just the beginning.
I picked up the arrows, counted how many were left in my quiver, and walked towards the surface.
The entrance at Undercroft at seven in the morning matched Vorn’s flag perfectly.
The B-rank permit lane was on the left side of the entrance plaza, separate from the general permit line, with its own clerk station and guild seal of a different color on the counter. Six people in the queue when I arrived. All experienced individuals, from the way their body language indicated a certain comfort with the environnt; they probably spent a lot of ti on the lower levels. They were well-equipped, weapons that showed signs of usage.
And at the head of that line, having cleared the permit desk, with his permit in hand, getting ready to leave —
Daren.
His UI was visible from across the plaza.
DAREN
Relationship / Lyra: 853
Mood: Focused / Energized
Active Flags: 2
Rank in Combat: B
853 was still there. Mood: Focused / Energized, indicating he’d gone for an early morning workout after he’d felt good about sothing. Sa active flag count as before.
He hadn’t seen yet. He was surveying the plaza just before deciding which direction to go. Then soone walked out behind him.
Vorn.
I hadn’t seen him enter the queue. He’d been waiting, permit processing happening in parallel, timing his exit within thirty seconds of Daren’s. The flag in my overlay changed the minute he got out from behind the desk.
VORN — FLAG UPDATE
First contact: INITIATING
Target: Daren
Contact strategy: Incidental – shared exit point
Approach: Low investnt opener
Corruption vector: trust infiltration – phase one
Low investnt opener. I watched it happen from forty feet away, and even then I knew exactly what it was, and nothing I did would make it better without making things worse.
He didn’t approach Daren. He just went the sa way. Fell into step a few feet away from Daren, right at the normal separation distance two people maintained having just co through a checkpoint together. Said sothing – I couldn’t quite hear it, but the flag was changing.
VORN — ACTIVE INTERACTION: DAREN
Duration: 00:23
Contact tactic: Shared experience opener – dungeon circuit
Target contact flag: Positive / friendly
Relationship ter: Vorn/Daren: 12/1000
Twelve. Just twelve points on the ter to get the first contact. After a brief thirty second conversation in the permit line.
I watched Daren laugh at sothing.
Of course he did. Daren laughed a lot. It was part of what made him genuinely appealing, genuinely easy to get along with, and the worst possible choice for any person like Vorn.
VORN – ACTIVE INTERACTION: DAREN
Duration: 01:47
Strategy: Dungeon level comparison / recognition of status
Daren reaction marker: Engaged / Comfortable
Relation tracker: Vorn/Daren 31/1000
Thirty one in less than two minutes. Vorn recognized Daren’s rank, said sothing about it, allowed Daren to do most of the talking. That was it. Most people felt good when they were acknowledged, Daren included, but in no vain sense, more in a way of actually warm people reacting to genuine acknowledgent.
It wasn’t really genuine in Vorn’s case, but it would show up similarly on a relation tracker.
I began approaching them.
Not quickly. Not noticeably. Just casually enough to give the impression of an ex-fighter, freshly erged from a dungeon run, spotting an old friend through a plaza. I had ninety seconds or so left before the interaction ended itself out and Vorn marked his initial contact done and moved on.
Daren noticed my presence after forty so odd seconds.
"Kai," the smile appearing instantly. "You’re a little early."
"Couldn’t sleep," I told him. Technically true.
His UI responded on proximity.
DAREN
Mood: Focused/Energized/Pleased
Relationship/Kai: 847 ▲2
847: Up two on sight. This was the effect of the ’childhood friend’ position, doing its job passively. He really liked , according to the ter. And right now I needed that rating more than I ever had before.
I looked at Vorn.
He looked back at . Calm. Patient. My overlay was already changing numbers.
VORN — ASSESSNT UPDATE
Arrival of Kai: noted
Timing: Purposeful — high probability
Threat Level: Elevated
Strategy: Close interaction, clean departure, no escalation
He wouldn’t try to force anything else out of . He had everything he needed right now, thirty-one points, a first impression made, and the chance that next ti he looked into the permit queue he’d see a familiar face.
"Friend of yours?" Vorn asked Daren. Casual, polite — like soone striking up conversation.
"He’s a childhood friend." Daren explained. "Kai, this is—" he gave Vorn a glance, as if trying to rember the na of soone he’d t only two minutes before "—Vorn. I just t him at the queue."
"Kai," Vorn repeated, as if he’d never heard the na before.
I stared into his eyes.
"Vorn," I said. Sa energy. Sa emptiness.
VORN — FLAG UPDATE
Acknowledgnt recognized: mutual — unconfird
Analysis: Kai is unlikely to escalate before Daren
Strategy note: social restraint validated — opportunity window identified
Social restraint validated. His assumption that I would not reveal his presence in front of Daren without tangible evidence or justification that did not make appear mad, and without anything more substantial than that he has been observed and what he has been working on, proved true.
His analysis was correct. He was aware that I knew that he had made the correct analysis.
"Good run?" Vorn asked. To . With real politeness.
"Getting there," I said.
He nodded, exchanged an effortless comnt with Daren about rotating the floors, and walked away. Smooth departure. No escalation. Just like the flag had forecasted.
I watched him leave.
VORN — INTERACTION: DAREN — TERMINATED
Total ti elapsed: 4 minutes 12 seconds
Relationship gauge — Vorn/Daren: 31/1000
Tactic evaluation: successful
Contact strategy next: 2 to 3 days from now — sa circuit
And Daren had already started discussing Floor 5, so new mob that the guild had put out a bounty for, all without noticing that the friendly fellow in the permit queue had just created a folder on him.
853 staring at from my interface. Warm. Solid. Entirely oblivious.
I walked alongside and listened to him talk while trying to maintain an even expression.
D rank. First day. And yet, I was already falling behind.
CURRENT STATISTICS
Strength: 12
Agility: 17
Intelligence: 20
Rank: D
Experience: 0/1000
Ti left until C rank: Calculating...
The resulting figure made feel extrely uncomfortable.
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