The training hall was silent that morning. No sparring dummies set up, no drills waiting for us, no barked orders from Kane the second we stepped inside. That alone felt wrong. Kane never wasted a second.
He stood at the far end of the mat, arms behind his back, expression carved from stone. Adrian was with him, leaning casually against the wall, though I noticed even he looked curious.
Kane's eyes flicked to us the moment we entered. He didn't make us wait.
"Tomorrow," he said, his voice cutting through the air like a blade, "you're entering a dungeon."
The words hit harder than any strike he'd ever landed on me.
Lyra froze mid-step, hand still tightening the strap on her glove. "…What?"
Adrian actually straightened from the wall, his usual half-bored look giving way to something sharper.
Kane continued as if neither of them had spoken. "It's an E-rank. Contained, relatively shallow. But make no mistake, what waits inside will push you to your absolute limits. And without proper supervision…" His gaze landed squarely on Lyra, then me. "There's a high chance you'd die."
The weight of his words pressed down on my chest. Dungeons weren't just battlefields; they were living environments, filled with monsters born of mana and malice, creatures designed by the world itself to kill anyone reckless enough to wander in. Training against Kane or Adrian hurt like hell, but it was safe. Controlled.
A dungeon wasn't.
Kane shifted his attention to Adrian. "That's why you're going with them."
Adrian blinked. "…Me?"
"Yes."
For a moment, Adrian just stared, then scoffed under his breath. "So I'm supposed to play babysitter now?"
"Not a babysitter," Kane said calmly. "A teammate. You three are bound together for the next five years, due to your contract, possibly even longer. It's time you started fighting like it. This is the first step."
Adrian's lips pulled tight, his jaw clenching. The irritation in his eyes was sharp enough to cut glass, but he didn't fire back immediately. He let out a slow breath through his nose, running a hand across the back of his neck. "Tch. Fine. But don't expect me to carry dead weight."
"Good," Kane replied without missing a beat. "Because if they're dead weight tomorrow, they won't make it back out."
The hall went still again. Lyra's face hardened, her playful smirk gone. She glanced at me, and I knew the look in her eyes wasn't fear. It was determination.
Still, Kane wasn't finished.
"Understand something," he said, stepping forward until his boots echoed off the mats. "This will not be like sparring with me. The monsters in a dungeon aren't kind. They don't hold back. You'll face killing intent from the first step you take, and if you hesitate—" he snapped his fingers once, sharp and final "—you'll be torn apart."
My throat felt dry.
Kane's gaze shifted between us. "The mana density will be thicker. It will weigh on your bodies. The terrain will not be fair, and the deeper you go, the stronger the monsters get. Some dungeons collapse, some… test you in ways beyond the physical. You'll see none of that in training."
Lyra's hands curled into fists at her sides, but her voice was steady. "So when do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning," Kane answered. "Prepare today. Rest tonight. And when you step into that dungeon…" His smirk returned, thin and humorless. "You'll finally see what survival really means."
He turned on his heel and left the hall without another word.
For a moment, none of us moved.
Adrian broke the silence first, running a hand down his face. "…Great. Just what I wanted. A field trip with children."
Lyra shot him a glare. "Call us that one more time, and I'll shove your lightning right up your ass."
Adrian smirked faintly, but it didn't reach his eyes. He looked at me then, the easy sarcasm slipping into something heavier. "Hope you're ready, Blessborne. E-rank dungeons aren't jokes."
I didn't answer right away. My grip tightened on my swords instead, my reflection flickering in the steel.
Ready or not, tomorrow was coming.
---
The echo of Kane's footsteps faded, but his words didn't.
A dungeon.
Part of me felt my stomach twist at the thought, the monsters, the killing intent, the risk of dying with a single misstep. Kane didn't exaggerate, and if he said we could die, then the odds weren't low.
But… another part of me, the one that had been grinding every morning before dawn, that had poured blood and sweat into every swing of my blades, couldn't stop the flicker of anticipation.
A real dungeon. Not sparring dummies. Not practice drills. Not even Adrian holding back his strength to "test" us. This would be the real thing.
For the first time since we started training, I'd get to see how far I could actually go.
I realized my hand had clenched around the hilt at my waist. I forced it to relax, exhaling slowly.
Lyra broke the silence first. "Well," she said, her voice sharp with forced confidence, "guess tomorrow's the day we find out if Kane's training was worth anything."
I glanced at her. Her grin looked real enough, but I knew my sister well, the slight twitch in her jaw, the way her eyes refused to meet mine for more than a second. She was nervous too.
Adrian didn't even bother hiding his annoyance. He kicked lightly at the wall, muttering, "Damn Kane. If he wanted you two dead, he could've just stopped pulling punches."
"You worried?" I asked before I could stop myself.
He looked at me like I'd grown another head. "…Me? Against an E-rank?" He scoffed. "Don't flatter yourselves. I'm worried about having to scrape your corpses off the dungeon floor."
Lyra rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might fall out. "You really know how to pep talk a team."
Adrian ignored her, shouldering past as he headed for the exit. "Rest up. You're going to need it."
The door closed behind him with a dull thud.
Silence lingered.
Lyra finally exhaled, brushing damp strands of hair off her forehead. "He's an ass," she muttered.
I chuckled faintly, but it didn't last long. My gaze drifted to the training mats, then to the faint reflection of my swords.
Tomorrow, it wouldn't just be practice anymore. No resets. No Kane stepping in if things got too rough. No second chances.
A knot of fear twisted tighter in my chest. But woven into it, just as strong, was excitement.
What would it feel like to stand inside a dungeon? To feel that killing intent pressing down on me? To fight monsters that wouldn't stop until one of us was dead?
Could I keep my cool? Could I make my Oath hold up when it actually mattered?
I didn't know. But for the first time, the unknown didn't just scare me. It called to me.
Lyra nudged me lightly with her elbow. "Hey. Don't overthink it. We've survived Kane's training, haven't we?"
I snorted. "Barely."
Her grin widened. "Then we'll survive this, too."
Maybe she believed that. Maybe she was bluffing. But either way, hearing her say it made the knot in my chest loosen, just a little.
I nodded. "Yeah. Tomorrow."
---
The next morning, Kane was waiting for us in the training hall, arms folded, his usual unreadable expression locked in place. Adrian was already there, leaning against the wall with the same bored look he always wore, though I noticed his foot tapping impatiently.
Kane didn't waste time. The moment Lyra and I stepped in, he tossed us each a small, polished ring. A faint shimmer ran across its surface, mana inscriptions glowing briefly before fading into silver.
"Space rings," Kane said. "Standard issue. Keep them on you at all times."
I slipped mine onto my finger, the band settling with a subtle weight. Mana pulsed faintly against my skin, syncing to me, and suddenly I could feel the pocket of space inside it.
"Inside," Kane continued, "you'll find basic survival supplies. Rations, water, spare uniforms, rope, mana stones, and potions. Enough to last several days if you get separated or trapped."
Lyra immediately held her hand up, inspecting hers like it was some kind of luxury accessory. "Guess we're moving up in the world," she muttered.
But Kane wasn't smiling. His gaze hardened, and for the first time, I caught a weight in his words.
"Use the potions sparingly," he said. "Healing potions are not candy. The more you rely on them, the more your body adapts. The effect diminishes until they barely work at all. Overuse them, and you may as well be pouring water on your wounds."
Lyra's grin faltered. I felt my throat go dry.
Adrian glanced at us from the corner, lips twitching like he wanted to say something but didn't bother.
Kane stepped closer, his presence sharp enough to make my chest tighten. "If you take damage, endure it. Adapt. Learn to fight through the pain. Potions are your last resort. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir," I said, my voice sharper than I intended.
Lyra nodded as well, her expression sobering.
Kane finally leaned back, satisfied. "Good. Then remember this: in the dungeon, there is no reset. No practice round. If you fail, you won't crawl back here whining. You'll die. Plain and simple."
His words cut like steel, and for a moment, the hall was silent except for the faint hum of mana around the rings.
I clenched my fists at my sides, my pulse quickening.
Fear pressed down on me again. But under it, like an ember refusing to die, that same excitement sparked.
Today, we'd step into the dungeon.
And I'd finally see just how far I could go.