The "LFG" (Looking For Group) board in Sector 4 was less of a digital interface and more of a shouting match.
It was located in the muddy square outside the Guild Registry—a chaotic swarm of low-level Hunters trying to fill their party slots before the daily dungeon reset.
"Need Healer! Level 5+! No noobs!" "Tank wanted! Must have Iron Skin! Split is 60/40!"
Elian stood on the periphery, leaning against a dripping awning. He wasn't wearing his new tool belt or his slightly-less-terrible scavenged armor. He was wearing his old, stained Vulture rags. He had rubbed dirt on his face to hide the fact that his skin looked healthier after eating real food.
He held a cardboard sign: PORTER. CARRY WEIGHT 80KG. QUIET. CHEAP.
He needed XP. Desperately.
He was Level 3. The Hunter Exam was in three weeks. The minimum recommended level for applicants was Level 10. If he went in now, he wouldn't just fail; he'd be squashed by the first testing dummy.
But he couldn't solo dungeons. His mana pool was too small for extended Edit Mode usage, and his physical stats were still garbage.
Solution, the Ghost supplied. Power-leveling. Join a party. Let them do the killing. You soak the passive XP share.
"Hey! You! Rat-face!"
Elian looked up. A massive man in budget plate armor was looming over him. He had a shaved head and a tattoo of a fist on his neck.
[Player: Goran][Class: Berserker][Level: 8]
"Can you really carry 80kg?" Goran grunted, kicking Elian's boot.
"Yes, sir," Elian said, lowering his head. "I have a strong back."
"Good. My party needs a mule. We're running the 'Goblin Warrens'. You carry the loot and the potions. You get 50 credits and 2% XP share. You speak, you get nothing. You steal, I break your legs."
2% XP was robbery. Standard rate was 5%. But the Goblin Warrens was a high-density dungeon. The mob count was huge. 2% of a thousand goblins was a level up.
"Deal," Elian said.
Dungeon: The Goblin Warrens (Level 6-9)
The party consisted of four people:
Goran (Berserker, Lvl 8): The leader. Loud, aggressive, swings a big axe.
Lara (Archer, Lvl 7): Quiet, sharp eyes. Seemed competent.
Mick (Fire Mage, Lvl 6): A nervous kid who looked like he'd bought his staff with his dad's credit card.
Elian (Porter, Lvl 3): The mule.
Elian trudged behind them, carrying a massive canvas sack filled with spare arrows, mana potions, and the loot they had picked up so far (mostly jagged goblin daggers and dirty loincloths).
The dungeon was a claustrophobic network of dirt tunnels reinforced with rotting wood. The smell was atrocious—a mix of wet dog, sulfur, and unwashed bodies.
Alert, the Ghost whispered. Ambush point ahead. 15 meters. Ceiling hole.
Elian gripped the straps of his heavy bag. He wanted to warn them. If he shouted "Look up!", they would survive easily.
But a Porter doesn't know about ambush points. If he warned them, they would ask questions.
"Hold up," Goran bellowed, stopping at the intersection. "Mick, light it up."
The young mage raised his staff. "Fireball!"
A ball of flame illuminated the tunnel.
SCREEE!
Three goblins dropped from the ceiling hole directly onto Mick.
"Gah! Get them off!" Mick screamed, flailing as the green-skinned runts stabbed at his robes with rusty shanks.
"Useless!" Goran roared, swinging his axe. He cleaved one goblin in half. Lara put an arrow through the eye of the second.
The third goblin scrambled off Mick and looked for an easier target. It saw Elian.
The goblin hissed and lunged, its jagged knife aimed at Elian's gut.
Elian didn't draw his sword. A Porter doesn't fight.
Instead, he stumbled backward, feigning panic. As he fell, he "accidentally" swung the massive loot bag in a wide arc.
Weight: 80kg. Velocity: High.
The heavy bag slammed into the goblin mid-air. There was a sickening crunch as the goblin was swatted like a fly against the tunnel wall. It slid down, twitching, neck broken.
"Whoa," Lara blinked, lowering her bow. "Nice swing, mule."
"I... I just panicked!" Elian stammered, pulling the bag close like a shield. "Is it dead?"
"It's dead," Goran grunted, wiping goblin blood off his armor. "Mick, stop crying and drink a potion. We're moving."
[Passive XP Gained.][Passive XP Gained.]
Elian checked his bar. The bar had moved 15%. This was working.
The Choke Point
They reached the middle of the dungeon: The Bridge.
It was a rickety rope bridge spanning a deep chasm. On the other side was the Goblin Shaman's camp.
"Okay," Goran commanded. "Standard formation. I take point. Lara, cover fire. Mick, don't miss this time."
They stepped onto the bridge.
Stop, Kaelen warned. Structural integrity compromised. The ropes have been gnawed. It will hold weight... until the Shaman casts 'Tremor'.
Elian watched them walk. If they died, the run ended. He wouldn't get paid, and he wouldn't level up.
He had to intervene. Subtly.
"Sir!" Elian called out. "My boot lace! It's stuck!"
He knelt down on the rocky ledge before the bridge. He placed his hand on the anchor post of the bridge—a thick wooden stake driven into the ground.
[Target: Wooden Stake][Edit Mode: Reinforce][Mana Cost: 10]
He didn't just reinforce the stake. He sent a pulse of mana down the rope itself, using [Fuse] to knit the frayed fibers back together at the molecular level.
The rope, which had been hanging by a thread, suddenly tightened, glowing faintly grey for a split second before fading.
"Shut up and move!" Goran yelled from the middle of the bridge.
Just then, a fireball exploded from the far side. The Goblin Shaman had appeared.
BOOM.
The bridge shook violently. The Shaman slammed his staff into the ground, casting Tremor.
The bridge swayed wildy. Normally, the ropes would have snapped, sending the party into the abyss.
But the ropes held. They hummed with the unnatural strength of Elian's mana.
"Charge!" Goran screamed, realizing they weren't falling. He sprinted across the stabilized bridge and buried his axe in the Shaman's chest.
[Boss Defeated: Goblin Shaman][Party XP Share Distributed.]
Elian felt a warm rush.
[Level Up!][You are now Level 4.]
He stayed kneeling by the post, pretending to tie his shoe. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.
"You're welcome," he whispered.
The Loot Dispute
The run ended an hour later. They had cleared the dungeon. The loot bag was bulging.
They stood outside the dungeon entrance. Goran dumped the bag onto the grass.
"Alright," Goran said, sorting through the pile. "Mana crystals, dagger, Shaman's Staff... good haul."
He tossed a small pouch of coins at Elian's feet. "Fifty credits. Beat it."
Elian picked up the pouch. "Thank you, sir. And the... share?"
Goran laughed. "Share? You didn't kill anything, mule. You swung a bag once. You got your credits. Get lost before I take those back."
Lara frowned. "Goran, we agreed on 2% XP. The system tracks it, but we owe him a cut of the junk loot."
"He's a Porter," Goran spat. "He's lucky I don't charge him a protection fee."
Elian looked at the pouch. Then he looked at Goran.
The old Elian would have walked away. The new Elian checked his mana pool. [Mana: 25/55].
He smiled. A polite, subservient smile.
"I understand, sir. Thank you for the opportunity."
Elian turned to leave. As he walked past Goran's parked hover-bike—a heavy, expensive piece of machinery—he brushed his hand against the fuel tank.
[Target: Fuel Line][Edit Mode: Create Weakness][Timer: 30 seconds]
He walked away.
Thirty seconds later, as Elian was rounding the corner, he heard Goran shout.
"Alright, let's load up!"
Then came the sound of an engine trying to start. Vroom... Vroom...
Then a HISSS.
Then a WHOOSH and a surprised scream.
"MY BIKE! IT'S ON FIRE! MICK, WATER! WATER!"
Elian didn't look back. He just kept walking, tossing the pouch of credits in the air.
Petty, Kaelen observed. But satisfying.
"He owes me 200 credits for the loot share," Elian thought. "Repairs on that fuel line will cost him 300. I charged interest."
He checked his status.
[Level: 4][XP: 15% to Level 5]
"It's too slow," Elian muttered. "At this rate, I'll be Level 6 by the exam. I need to go deeper."
There is a way, the Ghost said. But it is dangerous. The 'Glitch' in the Spider Nest.
"I'm listening."
The Spider Nest dungeon has a respawn error in the Hatchery. If you destroy the eggs in a specific order, the Queen summons endless waves of minions that yield 10x XP but have 1 HP.
"An XP farm?" Elian's eyes widened. "Infinite mobs with 1 HP?"
Yes. But if you miss the rhythm, the Queen enrages and eats you.
Elian stopped walking. He looked at his hands.
"I'm a Dungeon Architect," he said. "I don't miss the rhythm. I build it."
"Where is the Spider Nest?"
Sector 3. The Sewers.
Elian turned North.
"Time to go farming."