I finally reached 500 EXP at 6:43 in the morning, standing inside a dungeon corridor where the stench of dust from stone walls and beetle shells was all around me, waiting for the notification to display on screen after four straight days.

+4 EXP — Skitterer (Ranged Kill)

Total EXP: 500/500

RANK UP — UNCLASSIFIED → D-RANK

Title changed to: D-Rank Adventurer

STR cap increased / AGI cap increased / INT cap increased

Floors now unlocked: 3, 4

Access to guild permit area: D-rank circuit

Bonus stat received: AGI +1

Current stats: STR 12 / AGI 17 / INT 20

I took a moment to process.

D-rank. Skitterers and beetles, nights spent killing them in the dungeons, late nights, and rations of food consumed at rest nodes. Four days of observing Lyra’s corruption meter remain at 92% while Vorn’s flag changes kept updating on the edge of my vision whenever I pierced the leg joint of another monster with an arrow.

D-rank.

It should’ve been worth more than that. But it was just the beginning.

I picked up the arrows, counted how many were left in my quiver, and walked towards the surface.

The entrance at Undercroft at seven in the morning matched Vorn’s flag perfectly.

The B-rank permit lane was on the left side of the entrance plaza, separate from the general permit line, with its own clerk station and guild seal of a different color on the counter. Six people in the queue when I arrived. All experienced individuals, from the way their body language indicated a certain comfort with the environment; they probably spent a lot of time on the lower levels. They were well-equipped, weapons that showed signs of usage.

And at the head of that line, having cleared the permit desk, with his permit in hand, getting ready to leave —

Daren.

His UI was visible from across the plaza.

DAREN

Relationship / Lyra: 853

Mood: Focused / Energized

Active Flags: 2

Rank in Combat: B

853 was still there. Mood: Focused / Energized, indicating he’d gone for an early morning workout after he’d felt good about something. Same active flag count as before.

He hadn’t seen me yet. He was surveying the plaza just before deciding which direction to go. Then someone walked out behind him.

Vorn.

I hadn’t seen him enter the queue. He’d been waiting, permit processing happening in parallel, timing his exit within thirty seconds of Daren’s. The flag in my overlay changed the minute he got out from behind the desk.

VORN — FLAG UPDATE

First contact: INITIATING

Target: Daren

Contact strategy: Incidental – shared exit point

Approach: Low investment opener

Corruption vector: trust infiltration – phase one

Low investment opener. I watched it happen from forty feet away, and even then I knew exactly what it was, and nothing I did would make it better without making things worse.

He didn’t approach Daren. He just went the same way. Fell into step a few feet away from Daren, right at the normal separation distance two people maintained having just come through a checkpoint together. Said something – I couldn’t quite hear it, but the flag was changing.

VORN — ACTIVE INTERACTION: DAREN

Duration: 00:23

Contact tactic: Shared experience opener – dungeon circuit

Target contact flag: Positive / friendly

Relationship meter: Vorn/Daren: 12/1000

Twelve. Just twelve points on the meter to get the first contact. After a brief thirty second conversation in the permit line.

I watched Daren laugh at something.

Of course he did. Daren laughed a lot. It was part of what made him genuinely appealing, genuinely easy to get along with, and the worst possible choice for any person like Vorn.

VORN – ACTIVE INTERACTION: DAREN

Duration: 01:47

Strategy: Dungeon level comparison / recognition of status

Daren reaction marker: Engaged / Comfortable

Relation tracker: Vorn/Daren 31/1000

Thirty one in less than two minutes. Vorn recognized Daren’s rank, said something about it, allowed Daren to do most of the talking. That was it. Most people felt good when they were acknowledged, Daren included, but in no vain sense, more in a way of actually warm people reacting to genuine acknowledgement.

It wasn’t really genuine in Vorn’s case, but it would show up similarly on a relation tracker.

I began approaching them.

Not quickly. Not noticeably. Just casually enough to give the impression of an ex-fighter, freshly emerged from a dungeon run, spotting an old friend through a plaza. I had ninety seconds or so left before the interaction ended itself out and Vorn marked his initial contact done and moved on.

Daren noticed my presence after forty some odd seconds.

"Kai," the smile appearing instantly. "You’re a little early."

"Couldn’t sleep," I told him. Technically true.

His UI responded on proximity.

DAREN

Mood: Focused/Energized/Pleased

Relationship/Kai: 847 ▲2

847: Up two on sight. This was the effect of the ’childhood friend’ position, doing its job passively. He really liked me, according to the meter. And right now I needed that rating more than I ever had before.

I looked at Vorn.

He looked back at me. Calm. Patient. My overlay was already changing numbers.

VORN — ASSESSMENT UPDATE

Arrival of Kai: noted

Timing: Purposeful — high probability

Threat Level: Elevated

Strategy: Close interaction, clean departure, no escalation

He wouldn’t try to force anything else out of me. He had everything he needed right now, thirty-one points, a first impression made, and the chance that next time he looked into the permit queue he’d see a familiar face.

"Friend of yours?" Vorn asked Daren. Casual, polite — like someone striking up conversation.

"He’s a childhood friend." Daren explained. "Kai, this is—" he gave Vorn a glance, as if trying to remember the name of someone he’d met only two minutes before "—Vorn. I just met him at the queue."

"Kai," Vorn repeated, as if he’d never heard the name before.

I stared into his eyes.

"Vorn," I said. Same energy. Same emptiness.

VORN — FLAG UPDATE

Acknowledgment recognized: mutual — unconfirmed

Analysis: Kai is unlikely to escalate before Daren

Strategy note: social restraint validated — opportunity window identified

Social restraint validated. His assumption that I would not reveal his presence in front of Daren without tangible evidence or justification that did not make me appear mad, and without anything more substantial than that he has been observed and what he has been working on, proved true.

His analysis was correct. He was aware that I knew that he had made the correct analysis.

"Good run?" Vorn asked. To me. With real politeness.

"Getting there," I said.

He nodded, exchanged an effortless comment with Daren about rotating the floors, and walked away. Smooth departure. No escalation. Just like the flag had forecasted.

I watched him leave.

VORN — INTERACTION: DAREN — TERMINATED

Total time elapsed: 4 minutes 12 seconds

Relationship gauge — Vorn/Daren: 31/1000

Tactic evaluation: successful

Contact strategy next: 2 to 3 days from now — same circuit

And Daren had already started discussing Floor 5, some new mob that the guild had put out a bounty for, all without noticing that the friendly fellow in the permit queue had just created a folder on him.

853 staring at me from my interface. Warm. Solid. Entirely oblivious.

I walked alongside and listened to him talk while trying to maintain an even expression.

D rank. First day. And yet, I was already falling behind.

CURRENT STATISTICS

Strength: 12

Agility: 17

Intelligence: 20

Rank: D

Experience: 0/1000

Time left until C rank: Calculating...

The resulting figure made me feel extremely uncomfortable.