A Golden Gate.

Soren’s mind raced as he stared at the shimmering portal, his heart pounding despite his best efforts to remain calm.

Golden Gates were anomalies within anomalies, phenomena so rare that most hunters went their entire careers without encountering one. They appeared without warning or pattern, manifesting both as independent gates in the outside world and, more commonly, as spontaneous rifts within existing gates. The academic community had spent decades studying them, yet their origin remained a mystery wrapped in speculation and incomplete data.

What wasn’t a mystery, however, was what lay beyond that golden threshold.

Treasure.

Not the standard mana cores or low-grade equipment that littered typical gate clearings, but genuine wealth. Artifacts of exceptional quality. Rare materials that could fund an entire party for years. Skill/spell books that sold for fortunes at auction. Items so valuable that even the great guilds would mobilize their entire forces for a chance at them.

The stories were legendary.

A C-rank hunter who stumbled into a Golden Gate and emerged with a Seven-Star sword technique. A struggling team that found enough elixirs inside to catapult three of their members up two full ranks. A solo hunter who discovered an ancient weapon that made him a household name overnight.

Of course, those were the success stories.

The failure rate was conveniently less discussed, though the statistics were sobering enough. Golden Gates were treasures, yes, but they were also death traps.

The problem was simple: uncertainty.

Unlike normal gates, which could be assessed and ranked based on portal color, mana density, and preliminary scouting, Golden Gates were complete unknowns. There was no guarantee of what waited inside. You might step through into an empty treasure vault, or you might find yourself face-to-face with monsters several grades above what the parent gate suggested. The environment was equally unpredictable: one team reported emerging from a crystalline castle, while another had materialized underwater and nearly drowned before escaping. Desert wastelands, frozen tundras, volcanic chambers; Golden Gates seemed to pull from an endless catalog of possibilities.

And unlike normal gates, they could collapse without warning, sealing everyone inside permanently.

The only certainty was that once you stepped through, you were committed. There was no turning back until you either cleared it or died trying.

But to think they would encounter one during a simple academy exam.

’Urgh...’ Soren’s jaw tightened as he processed the situation, the implications cascading through his mind like falling dominoes.

This changed everything.

The exam parameters, the careful supervision protocols, the controlled environment — all of it became irrelevant the moment that golden surface began to ripple. Golden Gates didn’t care about academy schedules or student safety margins. They appeared where they wanted, when they wanted, and they followed no one’s rules but their own.

"We’re going in!" Garin declared, his voice cutting through the stunned silence. His eyes gleamed with the kind of manic excitement that Soren had seen before, usually right before someone did something catastrophically stupid. "Do you idiots understand what this means? Forget the exam, forget Team 7, this is our chance to become legends!"

"Hell yeah!"

"We’re going to be rich!"

"I can’t believe our luck!"

The other team members erupted in agreement, their earlier hesitation dissolving into euphoria. Even Hana, normally the most cowardly of the group, had stars in her eyes.

"Wait!"

Soren’s voice cut through the celebration like a blade.

The chamber fell silent.

Garin turned slowly, his expression souring as if he’d just remembered something unpleasant. "Ah... you guys were here too."

He looked at Soren and Ryan standing at the entrance to the chamber, his gaze lingering on the supervisor with thinly veiled annoyance. For a moment, he seemed to weigh something in his mind, then his expression shifted into a magnanimous smile.

"Alright," Garin said, spreading his arms in a grand gesture. "Although you’re just a supervisor, I’ll allow you to enter with us. Consider it a gift. You might even get something decent out of it."

Soren’s lips almost twitched, but he maintained his composure.

"It’s dangerous," he said, his voice steady and measured. "Golden Gates are unpredictable. You could die in there. We should retreat and report the situation immediately."

Garin’s smile vanished, replaced by a deep frown.

"What do you mean we can’t enter?" Garin’s voice sharpened, his earlier magnanimity evaporating. "And why the hell would we report it? You’re a supervisor, not our leader. You can’t control what we do." He crossed his arms, his chin lifting with entitled confidence. "Besides, there’s no law that says we have to report a Golden Gate before entering. Finders keepers, that’s the rule."

He took a step closer, his voice dropping into something more persuasive, almost friendly.

"Besides, do you really want to give up this chance? Think about it. Artifacts. Treasures. Everything you could possibly imagine is waiting just beyond that threshold." He gestured toward the shimmering golden portal, its light dancing across his eager features. "One trip inside could change your entire life. No more wasting your life in Gates. No more struggling with whatever it is you’re struggling with."

Soren’s expression remained impassive, a mask of stone.

But inside, something stirred.

’What if...’

The thought crept in, insidious and unbidden.

What if it really was a safe gate? What if they did find treasures inside?

The possibilities unfurled in his mind like a dangerous flower blooming in the dark.

Powerful weapons. Techniques. Spells. Or... Rare elixirs. Ancient remedies. Legendary artifacts with healing properties beyond modern medicine.

What if... What if there was something inside that could cure Ethea?

That’s right.

He wouldn’t have to waste time searching for the cure, and Ethea wouldn’t have to suffer all the time.

’...No.’

The word echoed in his mind like an iron gate slamming shut.

His jaw tightened, and he forced the treacherous hope back down into the depths where it belonged.

It was a beautiful fantasy. A tempting one.

But it was also a gamble, and the stakes were Ethea’s life, not just his own.

Because the cold truth was this: if he died in there, she would die too.

’I... I can’t.’