The cabin door opened slowly, the creak of wood echoing in the silence of the evening.
Yuto entered with heavy steps, exhausted but in one piece. The familiar scent of wood, herbs drying in the corner of the room, and Lianne's burnt bread in the oven assaulted his nostrils. For a moment, he felt... human.
"Yuto?!"
The voice came from behind, and then she came running, her golden hair tied haphazardly, her rough-weave blouse stained with something that might have been paint... or small monster blood.
She hugged him without thinking.
Yuto froze for a second, then hugged him back—the other still throbbing.
"Are you okay?" She pulled away, her eyes roving over every inch of his body. "I... thought... you took longer than usual, and..."
"I'm alive, Lianne. Just... tired." He smiled, but it was a tired smile. "And with more questions than answers."
She pulled him to the nearest chair. He sat, and she stood beside him, still tense.
"What happened in there?"
Yuto was silent for a few seconds. Then he let out a long sigh.
"The dungeon... was alive. Flesh. Bones. Pain everywhere. The monster inside was some kind of... deformed human fetus, but..."
He stared at her.
"It was too easy. Too fast. Something's wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"The system," he said quietly. "It... out of nowhere. It transformed that disgusting goblin dagger into a powerful sword. And when I entered that dungeon, it was like it was *made* for me. Like everything there was just a little show put on for me to get through."
"But... did the system help you?"
"Yes. And that's exactly what scares me the most."
Lianne fell silent.
Yuto continued:
"Remember the goblin dungeon? He threw me in there without a weapon, without a tutorial, without an explanation, just to screw me over. Just to kill me, as if he wanted to break me. And now... he gives me a weapon, a dungeon on a silver platter, everything too easy. This doesn't make sense."
"Maybe... he changed his mind?" Lianne tried hesitantly.
"The system? Changing his mind?" He laughed. "That thing isn't human. It has no feelings. It's programming... or something worse. It doesn't *decide* to help you. It manipulates. Shapes. Calculates."
Lianne crossed her arms, a chill running down her spine.
"This is weird, Yuto. Very weird. I... I don't like this."
"Neither do I." He struggled to his feet, going to the system interface. "That's why I want to see what the next training is."
Lianne followed him, her heart pounding.
Yuto slid his fingers across the invisible interface visible only to him. He entered the Training menu. And then... he stopped.
Silence.
He stood still for several seconds.
"Yuto?"
"The next dungeon..." he whispered, "...is blocked."
"What?"
"Blocked. It says access has been temporarily restricted. 'Training unavailable until further notice from the system.'"
Yuto frowned.
"This has never happened before..."
Lianne moved closer.
"This is bad. Really bad. What now?"
"I don't know..." He closed his eyes. "How am I supposed to level up now? I don't have time to hunt weak creatures in the forest. Progress will be slow. And that quest... the Shadow Knight... is coming."
Lianne swallowed.
"Two weeks, right?"
Yuto nodded.
"I've already lost one. And I'm level 9 now... It's not going to work."
"There has to be another way..." she murmured, hugging her arms tightly. "We can go further, look for other monsters... other regions."
"What if the system blocked the training on purpose?"
She looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"What if all this—the help, the easy dungeon, the new weapon—was just to give me hope? A taste of victory before... cutting it all off?"
She paled.
"Yuto..."
"The system wants me ready. But not strong... maybe it will break me again. Maybe it will push me to the limit... just to see how far I can take it."
Lianne didn't answer. She just stared at him. A heavy silence hung between them.
Until she whispered, almost in a whisper:
"I'm afraid of what he'll do to you..."
Yuto turned his head, looking outside the cabin. The sky was now stained red.
"Me too, Lianne."
And for the first time in days, he didn't know what to do.