Resource allocation was apparently Belle’s new code phrase for extraction sessions and essence consumption. Very professional. Very subtle.

Jordan caught it anyway. "Resource allocation?"

"Training regimen," I said smoothly. "Targeted ability development."

"Uh huh." He didn’t sound convinced but was too tired to push. "Sure."

The waitress returned with our drinks, slamming them down with professional apathy before vanishing again.

I grabbed my strawberry shake and took a long pull through the straw. The cold sweetness hit my brain and reminded me I was alive, which after today felt like an actual achievement.

Naomi sipped her water with her good hand. "So we made enough to bid on another gate Wednesday?"

"Easily," Misato confirmed. "Plus we banked credits for equipment upgrades. Belle needs a better crossbow. Jordan needs mana capacity potions. Naomi needs reinforced staff."

"What about me?" I asked.

Misato looked me over. "You need literally everything. Better spear, armor upgrade, stamina supplements, combat boots that don’t fall apart. Your gear is academy standard-issue garbage."

"I can’t afford upgrades yet."

"You just made sixteen hundred credits." Belle pointed at me with a fry she’d stolen from the communal basket the waitress dropped off. "Stop being cheap and buy decent equipment before a monster eats your face."

"I’m not being cheap. I’m being financially responsible."

"Those are the same thing." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Jordan grabbed his shake and took a long drink before speaking. "Back to the elephant. That Reaper was wrong. I know we keep saying it, but I need someone to acknowledge how wrong it was." He looked at each of us. "We are first-years. We ran our first real gate last Friday. Today was supposed to be Tier 2. Easy money, moderate difficulty, safe practice before we move up. Instead we got a Silver boss with teleportation, ridiculous durability, and tactical intelligence."

"Maybe they wanted to test us," Naomi suggested. "See if we could handle adversity."

"By almost getting us killed?" Jordan’s voice rose slightly. "Naomi, your arm snapped. Misato lost three clones. I think I pulled something in my brain from holding that thing down. If Jace hadn’t had that emergency boost, we’d all be corpses."

The table went quiet again.

Because Jordan was right. Without Overclock, without that four minutes of gold-tier power, the Reaper would have systematically dismantled us. Misato’s clones weren’t strong enough. Jordan’s shadows couldn’t hold indefinitely. Belle was support class. Naomi was already burned out.

I’d been the only one who could hurt it when it mattered.

And I’d only managed that because Naomi let me drink from her Tuesday night and store the essence in a bottle for exactly this kind of emergency.

Which meant I’d planned for this. Or the system had planned for me. Either way, someone knew things would get worse before they got better.

"You’re thinking too hard," Belle said, watching me.

"Just tired."

"Bullshit. You’re scheming. I can tell." She leaned forward. "What’s the play?"

"There is no play. We cleared the gate, made money, survived. That’s the win."

"And the injuries?" Jordan gestured vaguely at all of us. "What about those?"

Misato flipped through her clipboard. "Medical deducted points from our final score. We would have earned an A-rank clear, but Naomi’s fracture dropped us to B-plus. Still respectable, but not elite."

"How many points did we lose?" I asked.

"Enough that we’re still ranked seventh instead of climbing to sixth."

"Fantastic." Jordan slumped again. "So we almost died for nothing."

"We almost died for sixteen hundred credits each," Belle corrected. "That’s not nothing."

The food arrived in a glorious parade of grease and salt and carbohydrates. My burger was obscene, stacked so high I’d need to unhinge my jaw to bite it. The bacon hung off the sides like strips of crispy heaven. Onion rings piled next to regular fries because I was a man of culture and taste.

Everyone dug in with the desperate energy of people who’d burned ten thousand calories fighting for their lives.

For three minutes, nobody spoke. We just ate.

Jordan finally came up for air, wiping ketchup from his face. "Okay, this burger is good enough that I forgive today slightly."

"Only slightly?" Belle asked around a mouthful of chicken.

"I still might have permanent brain damage from shadow strain."

"You already had brain damage," I said. "That’s why you sleep through every class."

"Sleeping is a legitimate coping mechanism."

Naomi laughed, then winced. "Ow. Laughing hurts."

I reached over and adjusted her sling slightly. "Better?"

"A little." She looked at me with those pink eyes that saw way too much. "You’re being sweet again."

"I’m not being anything. Your arm is broken."

"Yes. Because I got grabbed by a nine-foot-tall hell creature." She bit into her veggie burger, grimaced at the taste, and immediately reached for my bacon burger instead. "Trade me."

"You ordered the veggie thing on purpose."

"I know. I made a mistake. Give me yours."

I handed over the burger without argument, taking her disappointing health-conscious option in exchange. She smiled like she’d won something.

Belle watched this entire interaction. "You two are disgusting."

"Thank you," Naomi said sweetly.

Misato cleared her throat. "Can we focus? We have another gate Wednesday. Tier 2 again, different environment. We bid eight hundred per person for priority selection."

"What’s the expected difficulty?" I asked.

"Forest biome, wolf-type hostiles, no boss confirmed on the initial scan."

Jordan perked up. "No boss?"

"Initial scan showed pack density only. No alpha signature." Misato met Jordan’s eyes. "Which means absolutely nothing based on what we learned today."

"Great. Cool. Love that." He went back to his shake. "So we’re walking into another mystery box where the difficulty might be triple what’s advertised."

"Probably."

"Why do I keep showing up to these things?"

"Because you need the money and the ranking," Belle said bluntly. "Same as everyone else."

Jordan couldn’t argue with that.

I worked through Naomi’s veggie burger, which tasted exactly like sadness and regret. My actual burger sat in front of Naomi, who was demolishing it with genuine appreciation.

My phone buzzed again. Aurora this time: Blair is asking questions about your gate clear. Thought you should know.

I showed Misato. "Blair’s fishing for information."

"Of course she is." Misato’s jaw tightened. "She wants to know if we struggled. If there were casualties. If we’re vulnerable."

"Tell her we crushed it," Belle said. "No details."

"I already did." Misato hesitated. "She didn’t believe me."

"Because you’re a terrible liar," I said.

"I’m an excellent liar when it matters."

"Sure. That’s why your face goes blank every time you text her."

Misato’s glare could have cut glass.

"Eat your burger and shut up."