The sun had barely climbed above the city skyline when Feng Tianlei stepped off the metro and onto the gray stone plaza in front of the Shanghai East Gate Hunter Guild. A brisk wind whipped through the streets, sending a ripple through his cheap jacket. He tucked his hands into his pockets, eyes drawn to the tall LED billboard on the side of the guild headquarters.
[NOW OPEN] New C-Rank Dungeon: Subterranean Garden of ThornsCleared: 0 timesFatalities Reported: 2Reward Multiplier: 2.5x for first clearance
Two people dead already? And this was just a C-rank?
He tilted his head, watching the looping footage—an aerial drone view of the dungeon gate. It looked harmless, like a big glowing rock sunk into the center of a construction site. The gate's swirling violet hue pulsed slowly, like a sleeping heartbeat. But Tianlei knew better now.
Monsters weren't always roaring beasts and undead giants. Sometimes they were traps in the form of still air. Poisonous plants. Illusions. Things that waited patiently for arrogance to step too far.
And yet, here he was.
"Name?"
The woman at the registration counter barely glanced at him. Her long black hair was tied into a bun, and she had a headset dangling from one ear. She sounded bored.
"Feng Tianlei," he said. "License number 881016."
The woman tapped into her terminal, blinked twice, and looked up. This time, she gave him a more curious glance.
"B-rank? Solo application?"
He nodded.
"You sure? C-rank solo attempts by new Hunters are… not recommended. Especially for those without a confirmed skill profile."
"I'm sure."
She hesitated, then slid a waiver across the counter. "Sign here, here, and here. And in case you die inside, mark whether you'd like your belongings returned to your family or donated anonymously."
Tianlei blinked.
"Standard procedure," she added.
He signed without hesitation.
They gave him a black jumpsuit with minimal armor, a low-tier mana sensor, and a radio he didn't plan on using. Most Hunters brought all kinds of gear into dungeons—enchanted swords, elemental charms, tactical goggles—but Tianlei had only one weapon.
His fingers.
He tightened the velcro strap on his wrist and followed a hallway lined with armed guards and reinforced doors. At the end, the Dungeon Gate Chamber waited—one of the few places in the city where time and space bent like clay.
A circular pit in the center of the room held the gate: a vertical sheet of swirling purple energy, humming faintly like a generator. Engineers and Guild staff watched from the control room behind glass, murmuring as they noticed him.
"That's the new guy… the one from the SNHA test yesterday…"
"Didn't he blow up a dummy just by pointing?"
"Could be fake. Let's see if he walks out alive."
Tianlei stepped onto the platform. The air buzzed against his skin, warm and tingling. He took one last breath and stepped through the gate.
[Entering C-Rank Dungeon: Subterranean Garden of Thorns]
Everything twisted. His balance shifted. The world blinked.
And then—
Darkness.
For a moment, he thought he'd gone blind. Then his vision adjusted, revealing dim green light filtering down through dense layers of vines and roots above his head. He stood in a narrow cavern, earthy walls slick with moisture. Giant black thorns jutted from the ground and ceiling like bones from a corpse.
He crouched.
No monsters yet. But the air was thick with poison spores—he could smell them, feel them on his tongue like metal. He held his breath and whispered:
"Air."Snap.
A current of clean wind burst from his fingers, swirling around his face like an invisible helmet. The spores were blown away instantly, forming a safe pocket of breathable space.
He smirked.
"Well, that's one problem solved."
Tianlei moved carefully through the dungeon, alert but calm. The twisting tunnels branched like veins—every path looked the same, but the map in his head grew clearer with each step.
After twenty minutes, the first enemy appeared.
A Rootwalker.
It slithered out of the undergrowth with wet, snapping vines for limbs. Its head was just a knot of bark, no eyes, no mouth. But it felt him. A slow rumble built in its body, and spikes shot out from its torso, stabbing into the dirt where he'd just been standing.
Tianlei rolled aside, raised his hand.
"Explode."Snap.
The creature didn't even scream. It burst like an overripe fruit, scattering vines and sap across the walls.
More rustling.
Three more Rootwalkers. Bigger this time. They didn't wait—they charged in all at once.
"Too easy," he whispered.
"Fire."Snap.
A wave of flame burst forth in a wide arc, incinerating everything ahead. The vines curled and blackened, releasing acrid smoke. The tunnel lit up like a forge.
He didn't even break a sweat.
Further down, the floor gave way to a stone ruin—a collapsed greenhouse filled with glowing mushrooms and overgrown statues. There, he found his first real challenge.
A Dungeon Guardian.
Seven feet tall, armored in bark-like plating, its arms heavy with thorned chains that crackled with dark mana. Its chest pulsed with a visible dungeon core, and the very air around it distorted with pressure.
[C-Rank Dungeon Guardian: Bramble Knight]HP: UnknownSpecial Trait: Magic Resistance (30%)
It didn't wait.
The chains lashed forward, breaking through a stone pillar. Tianlei ducked, then stepped right into the center of the room.
He looked at the Knight, and said one word:
"Lightning."Snap.
A bolt of white-hot energy slammed into the monster's torso. The chains twitched. Its armor sparked. But it didn't fall.
He clicked his tongue.
"Alright. Let's go a bit harder."
"Drill."Snap.
A spinning lance of rock and steel launched from thin air, drilling directly into the core. The Bramble Knight screeched—its first sound—before it crumbled to the floor, smoldering.
The room fell silent.
Then a soft chime echoed:
[Dungeon Guardian Defeated][Subterranean Garden of Thorns Cleared – First Completion][Reward Multiplier Applied: 2.5x][Please proceed to the gate to exit]
Tianlei exhaled through his nose and stretched his fingers. "Not bad."
[Outside the Gate – Shanghai East Gate Hunter Guild]
He stepped out through the portal, armor slightly singed, but otherwise unscathed. Everyone in the observation chamber had gone silent. A few operators removed their headsets, blinking as if unsure what they'd just watched.
One of the guild officers stepped forward, jaw slack. "You cleared it? Solo?"
"Yep."
"Time elapsed: 47 minutes… That's faster than the two-party clear simulation," a technician whispered.
Another spoke up. "And zero wounds. No mana fatigue. Is he even human?"
Tianlei said nothing. He just placed the clearance crystal on the counter and turned toward the exit.
"Oh, Mr. Feng," a voice called out. It was the receptionist from earlier.
"Yes?"
"You'll be receiving hazard pay for first-clear bonus," she said, shuffling papers nervously. "And… multiple guilds have already requested meetings."
"I'll think about it."
He stepped outside, breathing in the cold afternoon air. The city buzzed around him like it always did. Cars honking. Vendors shouting. Life moving on.
But he had changed.
And deep underground, beneath the dungeon that had just closed, a black seed pulsed once… and began to grow.