Morning came harsh and unkind.
The barracks bell clanged, dragging every trainee from their bunks with merciless precision. Haruki sat up, rubbing the grit from his eyes, muscles still aching from yesterday's drills.
The dormitory was alive with chatter as the trainees pulled on their uniforms. Some groaned, some cursed, others compared bruises like trophies. But the tone shifted when Haruki swung his legs to the floor.
Whispers followed him like shadows.
"That's the kid who beat Kael in sparring."
"He led his squad against two constructs."
"They say the Arbiter himself chose him."
"No… they say he's something else. Something hidden."
The words weren't loud, but they carried. Some were laced with awe, others with envy, and more than a few with hostility. Haruki kept his head down, pretending not to hear, but every syllable pressed on him like a weight.
Kana noticed. She brushed past him, muttering under her breath. "Ignore them. They'd rather invent stories than admit you outworked them."
Haruki offered a faint smile, though inside, doubt gnawed. Stories… or warnings?
When they filed into the mess hall, the stares didn't stop. Kael, the spear trainee he'd beaten, sat hunched at the far end, his jaw clenched, eyes sharp. He didn't speak, but the look he gave promised their fight wasn't over.
Ren and Jinto found Haruki's table, setting down their trays without ceremony. For the first time, Jinto actually spoke to him directly. "You fight like someone who's been here before."
Haruki paused, spoon halfway to his mouth. "I haven't."
"Exactly," Jinto said simply, before digging into his food.
Ren gave a low chuckle. "He means you don't move like a rookie. You fight like someone who remembers what it's like to die."
Kana frowned at that, but Haruki said nothing. Because, in a way, Ren's words weren't wrong.
I do remember. Not death itself, but the suffocating years of weakness. The helplessness that had been worse than dying. That memory fueled every strike, every desperate decision.
The meal ended with another sharp whistle. The trainees rose, marching into the yard where the instructor waited, arms folded. His scarred jaw twitched as his gaze swept over them.
"Today," he growled, "we move beyond drills. Today, you step into the first real test of a Hunter."
The yard fell silent.
"You'll enter a field dungeon."
Gasps rippled through the ranks.
Haruki's pulse quickened. This wasn't sparring. This wasn't constructs. This was the world beyond the walls.
The line of trainees stretched out of the barracks and down the stone path that wound toward the outer gates of the academy grounds. The morning air was cool, but the tension rolling off the recruits made it heavy, almost suffocating.
Armed guards flanked the path, their armor gleaming with faint enchantments. Unlike the trainees, their steps were calm, practiced men and women who had already stared into the jaws of Bantings and lived to tell the tale.
For many in the line, this was their first time beyond the safe walls. Haruki could feel their nerves in every shallow breath, every too-tight grip on training weapons. Some muttered prayers. Others whispered bravado they didn't believe.
Kana walked beside him, hands twisting the hem of her sleeve. "They wouldn't send us into a real Banting nest, right? Not at this stage…"
Ren, marching just behind them, let out a humorless grunt. "They'll send us where Hunters die. How else do you learn what it means?"
His words left a silence that even Kana didn't fill.
The path ended at a stone arch carved with runes. Beyond it yawned a rift in reality itself shimmering like a wound in the air. Dark mist swirled within, and the faint, hollow cries of something not-human echoed from its depths.
A dungeon gate.
Haruki's breath caught. The sight of it was both terrifying and… magnetic. Like the call of a storm.
The instructor stood before the arch, his hands clasped behind his back. His scarred jaw looked even harsher under the shifting light. "This is a Tier-1 dungeon. Low threat. Contained. But inside, there are Bantings. They will strike, and they will kill if you falter."
A murmur of unease spread through the trainees.
"You will not be alone," the instructor continued. "You'll go in squads of four. The law of formations will be tested here. Survive as a unit, or fail as a unit." His eyes swept the line and landed on Haruki's squad for a moment too long.
The dungeon's mist churned, whispering promises of blood and teeth.
Haruki clenched his fists. His body trembled not with fear alone, but with something sharper. Anticipation.
The world beyond the walls was finally opening before him.
The dungeon swallowed them whole.
One step through the arch, and the air changed thick, damp, tinged with iron. The world behind them blurred into nothing, the comforting light of the academy vanishing like a dream.
Haruki's boots sank into soil slick with dew. Around them stretched a forest, but twisted: trees with bark as black as charred bone, their branches spiraling upward like claws. A pale glow bled through the canopy, but no sun hung in the sky. Shadows stretched too long, bending at wrong angles.
Kana shivered, her hand brushing close to Haruki's. "This place feels… wrong."
Jinto crouched low, eyes darting. "It's not supposed to feel right. This is Banting territory."
A faint screech cut through the silence. Then another, closer. The sound set Haruki's teeth on edge, like nails dragging across glass.
Ren hefted his shield, his voice low but steady. "Stay tight. No gaps."
The squad formed instinctively: Ren at the front, shield raised; Jinto prowling the edges like a shadow; Kana behind, fingers trembling over her charms; and Haruki at the center, sword drawn.
Every sense was heightened. The air was too sharp, the ground too soft. Even breathing felt like dragging smoke into his lungs. Yet beneath the fear, Haruki felt something else his pulse syncing with the faint hum of the gauntlets under his wraps, like the dungeon itself was alive, and it knew him.
Why does this place… feel familiar?
The screech came again. This time, shapes moved in the mist.
Figures lurched between the trees small, hunched, with eyes that glowed like burning coals. Their limbs were too long, their mouths too wide, dripping black saliva that hissed when it hit the ground.
"Goblins," Jinto whispered. "Tier-1 Bantings."
The first of the creatures hissed, tilting its head at an unnatural angle before bounding forward on all fours. More followed, claws scraping bark, teeth snapping in the air.
Kana gasped. Ren braced.
And Haruki's heart thundered, his body screaming at him to move.
This wasn't a drill. This was survival.
The first goblin lunged.
Ren's shield snapped up with a thunderous clang, metal ringing as claws screeched against it. The impact drove him back a step, boots skidding in the wet soil.
"Now!" Ren barked.
Jinto blurred forward, twin daggers flashing in the dim glow. He slashed across the goblin's arm, black ichor spraying out with a hiss as it burned into the ground. The creature shrieked, stumbling but another was already leaping from the side.
Haruki's body moved before thought caught up. His blade arced in a clean, desperate slash. Steel cut flesh, and the goblin crumpled, dissolving into mist with a dying wail.
His chest heaved. His hands trembled. I actually… killed it.
But there was no time to think. Three more burst from the mist, screeches blending into one shrill cry that rattled his skull.
"Form up!" Ren shouted, shield wide.
Kana thrust her charm forward, voice breaking as she muttered the incantation. Light flared, a weak barrier flickering into existence around them. One goblin slammed into it headfirst, cracking its skull on invisible force, but the barrier shuddered violently.
"It won't hold long!" Kana's voice quivered. Sweat streamed down her temple.
Jinto darted behind another, slicing its Achilles tendons. The goblin dropped with a guttural howl, thrashing wildly as black mist bled from the wounds.
The third barreled toward Haruki. Time seemed to slow—the creature's glowing eyes locked on his, saliva dripping, claws raised high.
Something deep inside him stirred. A hum, a spark. His pulse aligned with the gauntlets beneath his wraps, and for a split second, he felt the flow of the goblin's intent its movement, its strike, even the hesitation in its lunge.
Now.
He sidestepped, blade whipping upward in a blur. The goblin's head split cleanly, dissolving into smoke before its body even hit the ground.
Ren caught the last one on his shield and shoved it back. "Haruki finish it!"
Without hesitation, Haruki thrust forward, steel piercing through its chest. The goblin let out a strangled shriek before dissolving like the rest.
The forest fell silent.
Four corpses worth of mist swirled into the stale air, leaving only the echoes of their shrieks.
Haruki stood, panting, his knuckles white around his blade. His heart hammered not with fear anymore but with a dangerous exhilaration.
He had survived his first battle.
The clearing stank of iron and smoke. Wisps of black mist curled upward, dissolving into the night sky like dying embers.
For a long heartbeat, no one moved. Only the ragged breathing of four survivors filled the silence.
Ren lowered his shield with a grunt, his arms shaking from the force of the blows. Sweat poured down his brow. "Not bad… for a warm-up."
"Warm-up?!" Kana snapped, her voice shrill. She staggered forward, clutching her charm tight. "My barrier nearly shattered in the first ten seconds! If you call that a warm-up, then we're all dead meat when the real trial begins!"
"Relax," Jinto said, flicking goblin ichor off his daggers. His grin was sharp, but his eyes darted toward Haruki. "We handled it."
Haruki didn't answer. His hands still trembled around his blade, but it wasn't fear keeping them shaking it was the afterglow of the strike, that strange clarity that had guided his movements.
It hadn't been skill. It hadn't even been luck. Something had whispered through his veins, urging him where to stand, when to strike.
Was that… the System?
Ren stepped closer, inspecting Haruki with a frown. "You held your ground." His voice carried a rare hint of approval. "Most rookies freeze their first time. You didn't."
Haruki swallowed, forcing himself to nod. "I… just moved."
"Just moved, huh?" Jinto smirked. "Funny. That last goblin looked like it was cleaved by someone who's been swinging a sword for years."
Haruki's throat tightened. He had no explanation, and the last thing he wanted was to draw more suspicion.
Kana broke the silence, sighing as she let her charm dim. "Let's not stand here smelling goblin rot. If that was only a scouting group, the next wave will be worse."
"Agreed," Ren said. He sheathed his blade and adjusted his shield straps. "But before we move" He fixed Haruki with a steady gaze. "You keep that momentum. Whatever instincts you've got, trust them. They might be the only thing keeping us alive."
Haruki nodded again, but inside his chest burned with unease.
Instincts didn't explain it.
The System's screen still hadn't appeared for him.
And yet… something inside him was already awakening.
The mist shifted, curling into the darkness ahead like a path waiting to be followed. Their trial was far from over.