[(G) Quick Hands has reached level 4!

(F) Makeshift Materials has reached level 3!

(F+) Rapid Repair has reached level 4!

Builder has reached level 4!]

“Alright,”— Trace dusted her hands— “that’s all boarded up. Hopefully, no one tries to break in while we’re gone.”

“Who cares if they do. What, are they going to take the guns we can’t use? Take the money that’s worthless?” Liz rolled her eyes. “Let’s go already!”

The pair started down the pavement, heading out of the city. The Evergreen Gun Range lay at the periphery of Liberapolis. The rectangular-shaped building rose up two floors, its windows and its front door boarded up by wood and metal— a haphazard job done by Trace with her vocation’s skills.

It had been a week since Neo Genesis. Trace had scarcely gone out since she’d been recovering. But so much had changed in that short period of time. The streets were empty— an incredibly unusual sight even at the city’s outer edge.

There were a few people milling about, but they kept to themselves, warily glancing over at Trace’s pistol and Liz’s sword. Was there any reason to fear everyone you met? Most people remained sane even after all that happened. The problem was with the mad minority: they could do whatever they wanted as they were empowered and rewarded for their actions.

Trace couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t suspicious of each person they nearly ran into on the way out of the city— not after the events of last night— but thankfully, nothing happened. And whether that was because they managed to avoid the crazy people or because of Liz’s high level… Trace wasn’t sure.

They left the city and crested a small hill. Trace glanced back at Liberapolis, squinting as the tall buildings of downtown reflected the sunset. She looked past it, where the city transitioned into a more suburban neighbourhood. It was a familiar area to Trace. She'd travelled that route probably a thousand times. But something stood out. An edifice that wasn’t there before.

“There it is.” Liz’s gaze settled on the same structure. “One of the Gates everyone’s talking about.”

It was an archway crafted from the clouds themselves. Even from afar, it exuded an ethereal aura. Motes of glittering dust were wisping off it like cold ash from a dying ember. It was raised atop a pedestal of steep stairs, girdled by smaller archways from all cardinal directions. Entrances that let anyone through it.

Except, not just anyone could cross those smaller archways. A barrier repelled most people from stepping a single foot into the structure. And when they did, the AI in their head would tell them a simple thing:

You are not allowed to enter this area as you have not hit level 30 in either your class, vocation, or craft.

As of a few hours ago, Trace was certain no one had met that requirement yet. It wasn’t even close. “I don’t get why everyone’s so obsessed with it,” she said. “It probably leads you to the world those Esvol-freaks came from.”

“Sheesh, Trace. Aren’t you at least a little bit interested in what another world looks like?”

“Not enough that I’d lose my mind over it.”

“Fair.” Liz chuckled. “And I agree. I’m more interested in the Dungeons. It’s only a few more miles away.”

* * *

Surprisingly, Trace spotted more and more people the closer she and Liz got to the Dire Pits. They weren’t hyper-paranoid either, watching their backs at every moment. They almost seemed normal.

A group of four was laughing and chatting amongst themselves as they passed. They were drenched in sweat and covered in grime, and yet their mood was anything but tainted. It reminded Trace of a group of friends heading home after football— proper football, not American football— practice.

When the Dungeon was a mile away, Trace started to see the occasional pitched tent with people eating their dinner by a campfire. There was an open field littered with these colourful tents like it was a public park or a popular picnic place. It gave Trace a sense of normalcy for a moment.

Just a moment.

Then she caught sight of a tent sprayed with blood. A shadow lay unmoving within, and she stopped looking.

“So, erm, where are your friends?”

Liz raised her head. “I’m not actually sure. They said they’d meet me at the… oh, there they are!” She pointed at a trio sitting on a large rock. They were given a wide berth by the gathered crowds as if they were on their own little island separated from everyone else.

The black-haired woman sauntered up to them, waving a hand.

“Yo! I brought a friend with me if you guys don’t mind.”

They barely look up at her. One of them, a lanky man with brown hair, nodded distractedly. “Yeah, sure.” He turned his attention back to his phone.

Trace raised a brow. “These are your friends?”

“I mean, I just met them yesterday.” Shrugging, Liz peered over their shoulders. “What are you guys watching?”

“A livestream,” the only woman said. She was dressed in dark clothing with mascara drawn too thickly over her eyes. Her hair was dyed pink, and one of her sleeves was torn off to reveal a tribal tattoo on her arm. “God, I fucking love her.”

The sound of an explosion came from the phone as Trace raised a brow. “Who’s that?” A figure cackled with her arms spread wide amidst raging purple flames.

“The Cursed Witch Elenora.” It was the last of the three to speak this time. He seemed foreign— a half-Asian man with tanned skin who spoke with formality. “She’s taking on the Shrouded Cave’s boss right now. We’re watching it to analyse her strategy.”

“Except, she’s doing it solo.”

“Like the fucking queen that she is. Go, girl!”

Trace frowned as she heard someone speaking through the livestream. The hoarse but high-pitched voice of Elenora. She was uttering a fake incantation.

“Fire borne of my blood and ice stolen from my heart, bring down my foe and— and— a—"

And the stream cut. The brown-haired man paused. He tried to reload the website as the chat was flooded with messages, but the stream was dead.

“Come on! It was getting to the good part. Ugh.” The goth-like girl threw her hands up as the brown-haired man kept hitting refresh.

A sigh came from the half-Asian man as he stood up. He faced Liz before turning to Trace. “Sorry ‘bout that.” He bowed slightly as he spoke. “We weren’t prepared for The Cursed Witch herself to go live as she tackles an E ranked Dungeon. We had to watch— if only to see how she does it.”

“It’s fine.” Liz waved a hand off and stepped to the side. “This is Trace, my best friend. And Trace, this is Ken.”

“Erm, hey.” Trace gave him a nod. “Sorry for showing up so suddenly, but Liz forced me to come.”

He just smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Trace." He glanced over at the man and the woman cursing and scrolling through their social media for any update on the cut stream. “Those two are Jakob with a k and Kat also with a k. And there’s no need to fret. More people in the party means we can get further into the Dungeon, so it’s good for us. In fact, I should be the one apologising for my friends’ lack of manners.”

Kat blinked. Then she scowled. “I heard that.”

“And you still haven’t greeted our new friend.”

“Hi, or whatever.”

“Hey.” Jakob was trying to find another stream when he stopped his scrolling. His eyes widened. “You’ve got to be— her ISP cut off her internet access.”

“They what?” Kat began to pace around and mutter. “Those bastards, how dare they fucking—”

Trace watched as two of the trio seemed to have a meltdown before looking over at Liz. The redhead gave her best friend a look as if saying, “Are you sure about this?”

Liz shrugged again. “As I said, met them yesterday.”

“We’re just big fans of The Cursed Witch,” Ken said. “She’s one of the few high-levelled people in the West who regularly streams what she does.”

“And it’s fucking stupid that they’re blocking her streams! How will we know what the difference between an E rank Dungeon and an F rank Dungeon is without risking our lives now?”

Trace eyed Kat. “Does she not know any other swear words?”

“You’re one to talk.” Liz snorted.

“It’s not like ISPs will be around for much longer.” Jakob locked his phone and pocketed it “There are already threads of Engineers trying to work together to create an alternate way to provide internet access to everyone before that happens.”

“How will they do that?” Trace faced him.

“Magic, of course.” He started past her as Ken and Kat followed.

Liz took a step, and Trace grabbed her arm. “Wait, where are you guys going?”

“Into the Dire Pits, of course.”

“Just like that?” Trace watched as the trio casually continued their chat. “We’re not going to make any preparations or anything?”

“I mean, you’re prepared, aren’t you?” Liz gestured at the backpack the redhead was carrying. “Going into a Dungeon isn’t as big of a deal as you think, Trace. Just stick with us, and you’ll be fine.”

“…alright then.” After a moment of apprehension, Trace hurried after the group, looking at Ken, Kat, and Jakob one after another. What are their levels, Ex?

[Dual Bladed Rogue – Lvl 12

Pyromancer – Lvl 12

Keen-eyed Ranger – Lvl 11]

They’re that much higher levelled than me, so they must know what they’re doing, right?

* * *

The Dire Pits was, as its name suggested, a pit. Although, Trace wasn’t entirely sure if it was dire. Maybe she’d be able to decide whether or not the first half of its name was misleading once she entered it. For now, she thought a more appropriate name for it was just ‘Giant Fucking Pit.’

…Liz was right, wasn’t she?

[Affirmative.]

“I don’t need your input, Ex,” Trace said, earning a stare from Ken. He gave her an amused look, and she flushed. “Erm, I was…”

“Talking to your AI out loud. Don’t worry, we all do that from time to time.” He smirked and ushered her forward. “After you.”

Trace scratched the back of her head as she walked down the stairs running along the walls of the Dire Pits. It was a long and winding way down into the darkness. According to Liz, the first floor of the Dire Pits was over two hundred feet down. That meant it was a hundred-metre fall if Trace slipped and fell off the stairs.

“Why aren't there any railings? Whoever built this place must’ve been a prick.”

“I don’t think the Esvol had our safety in mind when they filled it with monsters and traps.” Ken ran a hand along the stone wall and tapped a grey object. “Look.” A metallic cylinder barely poked out from the rocks where his finger was. “This trap probably got about a dozen different people on the first day before someone thought to disable it.”

Trace shook her head. “As I said: pricks.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t really think they built this place either.”

“Why not?”

“For one thing, this stone is very different from what’s natural around here.” Trace wasn’t convinced until Ken took out a dagger and jammed it into the wall. “For another, there’s nothing on the other side of it.”

She blinked as a black wall revealed itself behind the peeled rock surface. Trace tried to touch it but felt her hand just refusing to move any further. There was no sound. It wasn’t solid. It was just… there.

“Now this isn’t trippy at all. Yep. Completely normal.”

“To be fair,”— Liz glanced back at her— “nothing's been normal for over a week now. Between the literal end of the world and being kidnapped by a weird octopus woman, this ranks pretty low on the weird scale.”

“That doesn’t make it any better.”

“It’s not supposed to.”

They reached the first floor of the Dire Pits not long after. Moonlight barely peeked through the hole above. It was not enough to see clearly. Fortunately, Trace was smart enough to bring a torch.

“I’ve got this—”

She paused as a bright fire flickered to life in a ball above them. Kat held a hand up, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, erm, or you could just do that.”

“Are you a fucking amateur or something?”

“I think we established that earlier when you were busy not listening.” Trace winked at her, and she paused.

“Hey, I might like you.”

Pulling out her pistol, Trace glanced around nervously. “So, where are the monsters?” She expected a dozen different monsters to flock to the group the moment they set foot on the first floor. But it was mostly empty. There was just an empty tunnel that led even further down.

Jakob pressed on. “The first floor should be cleared—”

On cue, something fell from the ceiling. A serpent with a bladed side came out like a whip, snarling at Jakob. He froze up as Kat swore, and Ken reached for his blades. But Trace simply fired a shot.

[You have defeated a Bladeworm – Lvl 7!]

She lowered her handgun, and the trio stared at her. Liz snickered. “You were saying?”

Kat’s mouth hung open. Then she grinned. “I think I really like you.”

Trace shifted on her feet. “Erm... now you’re just making it weird.”