The tunnel narrows for a few meters, then opens into a wider passage that curves out of sight. The air is colder here, damp in a way that does not belong in a training gate. Gates usually smell like stone, dust, and mana. This smells like something living has been breathing down here for a long time.
The rookie boy's voice comes out raw. "Are we out?"
The girl answers first with a small shake of her head, even though her eyes beg for someone to say yes.
The supervisor drags himself upright with a grimace. Blood still slides down his arm in slow, steady lines. His gaze flicks from the blocked crawlspace to the passage ahead, and I can see the exact moment the report he will have to write becomes a nightmare.
"E Rank," he mutters. "Two rooms. That's what the board said."
"It's wrong," I answer.
He looks straight at me. "How do you know?"
"I can feel it."
Close enough to truth that it doesn't raise questions I can't answer.
My overlay flickers.
Detection Risk: 21%Anomaly Response Registered
Then another line appears beneath it, faint, cold, and far too clean.
Authority Fragment AvailableStatus: Claimable
My breath catches despite myself.
So this is how it works.
Not a chest. Not a reward screen. A log entry, a reaction, a piece of something offered the moment the System decides I interacted with the anomaly correctly.
The supervisor doesn't see the text, but he sees the half second of stillness in my face. His eyes narrow.
"What," he demands.
"Nothing," I reply, and step forward before he can press.
The girl grips the rookie boy's shoulder. "We need to move. If there are more of those things, they'll find another path."
She is right. Gates do not give you mercy breaks. They just change the shape of the danger while you catch your breath.
We advance into the wider passage.
The walls here are smoother, less jagged, like something has been rubbing against them for a long time. Every few steps there's a dark stain on the stone that could be old blood or something else. I don't stop to inspect it.
The rookie boy keeps whispering, like his mouth cannot stop even when sound is dangerous. "This isn't training. This isn't training. This isn't training."
The supervisor tries to keep authority in his voice, but it comes out strained. "Quiet. Save your breath."
He's bleeding. He's trying to stay upright. He's trying to pretend the rules still apply.
They don't.
My overlay stays steady in the corner of my vision.
Authority Fragment AvailableStatus: Claimable
Claimable means I can take it now.
The decision matters. The System is watching. It is locked on.
If I claim it, I gain authority again, and authority is leverage. But leverage has a cost. Detection risk doesn't climb for nothing. If I don't claim it, I might lose the chance, and opportunities inside anomalies do not wait for you to feel ready.
I slow my breathing and focus on the fragment, not aggressively, just enough to touch the edge of it.
A thin pressure tightens behind my eyes, sharper than before, like a lens turning.
My overlay updates.
Detection Risk: 23%
The number jumps in a clean step.
So the connection is real.
The girl notices my slight pause and looks back, eyes tense. "What are you doing?"
"Walking," I tell her.
The lie is small and harmless, and it keeps her moving.
We reach another bend. The passage opens into a chamber that feels older than the others, if a gate can feel old. The ceiling is higher. The floor is smoother. In the center, there's a shallow depression like something heavy has been resting there.
The supervisor sweeps his flashlight and frowns. "Where's the objective marker?"
There still isn't one.
The rookie boy whispers, "Maybe the shard is here."
He takes a step toward the depression.
The girl catches his sleeve and pulls him back without thinking. "No."
Smart.
The depression isn't a treasure spot.
It's a bed.
My hidden layer confirms it as soon as I look.
Rest Site: ConfirmedResidue: HighEntity Proximity: Near
Near.
Not present. Near.
That means it's close enough to feel, not close enough to see.
The supervisor swallows and tries to take control again. "We find an exit. We do not search deeper."
The words sound good. They also sound useless.
Because the air shifts.
Not wind. Not temperature.
Pressure.
Like something inhaled.
The rookie boy freezes.
The girl's eyes widen.
Even the supervisor stops moving.
In the far darkness beyond the chamber, something scrapes stone. Slow. Heavy. Deliberate. The sound is too deep for the pale insects. Too controlled. Too patient.
The rookie boy's breath turns into a wet hiccup. "What is that."
The supervisor's baton shakes in his hand. "Back. Slowly."
There is nowhere to back to that matters.
The crawlspace behind us is rubble. The corridor behind that leads to the first chamber is collapsed. The only open direction is forward, and forward is where the sound is coming from.
My overlay pulses once, then twice.
System Attention: Locked OnAuthority Fragment: Claimable
It feels like the System is waiting for a choice.
I finally understand what the fragment really is.
Not just a reward.
A trigger.
A sign that I have reached the point where the System wants to see what I will do when I am cornered.
I take a slow breath, keep my face calm, and claim it.
The pressure behind my eyes tightens hard, almost painful, then releases like a knot snapping loose.
My overlay flashes.
Authority Fragment ClaimedHidden Authority: 1Detection Risk: 28%
The jump is immediate.
The supervisor stiffens, as if he felt something even if he doesn't know what it was. His eyes flick toward me with sudden suspicion.
"What did you just do," he whispers.
I don't answer, because the chamber answers for me.
The darkness ahead moves.
Not fast.
Just enough to reveal a shape sliding between pillars that were not there a second ago, as if the gate rearranged itself to make room.
A long shadow, too tall, too heavy, and wrong in a way the smaller creatures weren't. Those were monsters. This feels like an inhabitant.
The girl grips the rookie boy and pulls him behind her.
The supervisor raises his baton with both hands, stance breaking, fear showing through.
My overlay updates again.
Entity Classification: UnavailableThreat Rating: UnavailableAnomaly Seed: Expanding
Then one more line appears, colder than the rest.
Authority Use Recommended
The shadow steps closer, and the air grows so cold it stings my lungs.
I keep my breathing steady anyway, because panic spreads faster than monsters, and I'm the only one here who can't afford to let it.
The thing in the dark speaks.
Not with words.
With a pressure that pushes straight into the bones behind my eyes, like a hand closing around my thoughts.
And the System, still locked on, silently waits to see whether I'll use authority for the first time in front of witnesses.