Chapter 16: Downloading
The world outside Guide Ancient City seemed wrapped in a still, uncanny beauty — as though nature itself was holding its breath. The vegetation around the city was far from ordinary. Massive willow trees lined the moat, their branches stretching out like emerald curtains swaying gently in the wind. The trees stood easily ten meters tall, their roots gripping the moist soil like ancient guardians. Even the grass that sprouted along the roadside reached up to a man's waist, bending lazily under the faint touch of the afternoon breeze.
The moat itself shimmered under the sunlight, reflecting a calm surface that belied the secrets buried within. Gigantic lotus leaves floated on the water, each one large enough for a person to sit upon. Their flowers — each as wide as a basin — glowed a deep, unnatural crimson, as if every petal had been stained in blood.
It was both breathtaking and unsettling — the sort of beauty that whispered of danger.
Vivaan Sharma stood on the stone embankment, the soft rustle of the willows brushing against his ears as he observed the city from a distance. Even after seeing countless videos of this place online, the real sight of Guide Ancient City felt different — heavier, more alive, and filled with a presence that pressed faintly against his chest.
The influence of the dimensional zone could be felt even from here. The animals in the nearby woods had mutated in strange ways — birds with three eyes perched on branches, frogs that croaked in rhythmic pulses like static waves, and dragonflies whose wings shimmered faintly with energy. The air itself felt thicker, as though invisible energy particles floated within it.
Despite this eerie environment, the area outside the ancient city was bustling with human order. Rows of armed soldiers patrolled the perimeter, their uniforms pressed and weapons gleaming under the light. Military vehicles rumbled along the narrow road — tanks, transport trucks, and scanning drones circling overhead.
The perimeter was tightly controlled. No one without an official entry pass could set foot near the city's walls. Even the moat was off-limits to civilians. To the soldiers, Guide Ancient City wasn't just a historic relic — it was a forbidden zone, a threshold between the world of humans and something beyond their understanding.
High above the campgrounds stood surface-to-air missile systems, their launchers pointing toward the horizon like silent sentinels. Yet Vivaan had never seen them fired. He had heard that the missiles were more for show than for defense — not against dimensional creatures, at least.
After all, traditional weapons were nearly useless in this new age. A bullet could pierce a man's skull, but it could barely scratch the hide of a dimensional creature. Even the terrifying power of nuclear warheads had proven futile. The last time the government had detonated one inside a dimensional zone, the creatures hadn't been wiped out — they had absorbed the radiation, evolved, and returned even stronger.
Vivaan exhaled quietly. The irony was bitter. Humanity's deadliest tools had become nothing more than fuel for their enemies.
Only weapons forged from rare dimensional materials — fragments of mutated crystals, condensed energy ores, or the remains of fallen creatures — could truly harm beings from the other side. But these resources were precious, too rare to be wasted on bullets. Instead, they were shaped into swords, sabers, and spears — weapons that could channel Primordial Energy and resonate with human vitality.
In short, firearms were still useful — but not for war against monsters. They now served only one purpose: to maintain order among humans.
Vivaan adjusted the strap of his bag and looked toward the gate. He didn't possess an official pass, but his combat examination candidate pass granted temporary entry. It was the same for all examinees from Guide High Institute — the pass would serve as a single-use authorization to enter Guide Ancient City's North Gate.
The ancient city had four entrances — north, south, east, and west. Each led to entirely different regions within the zone, and each harbored distinct kinds of dimensional creatures. According to the Federation's research, the North Gate was the safest — or at least, the least dangerous. The creatures there were low-tier, rarely beyond the Mortal or Mutated stages. As long as the candidates didn't wander too far in, they wouldn't die.
The pass allowed a group of four candidates to enter together after verification. Vivaan had already scanned his pass but still had to wait for the rest of his assigned group: Kabir Sinha, his ever-confident friend, and two other examinees he had yet to meet. The entrance would close in half an hour.
So he waited, his gaze wandering up to the massive gate.
The North Gate of Guide Ancient City was a sight to behold — vast, ancient, and terrifyingly majestic. Its towering bricks, blackened with age, bore cracks and scars from the countless storms that had raged against it. Moss grew between the stones, and ivy crept along its sides like veins on a sleeping beast.
Despite its age, the gate radiated a silent dominance. Vivaan had once heard from Arvind Rao that decades ago, the military had tried to destroy it with artillery bombardments — shelling it for ten straight minutes. When the smoke cleared, the ground had been reduced to molten rock, yet not a single brick of the gate had fallen.
Above the archway hung an enormous stone plaque, engraved in bold, traditional characters:
"Guide City."
The strokes of the inscription were vigorous and ancient, carrying a timeless power that seemed to hum with residual energy. Vivaan stared at it for a long moment, a strange feeling tightening in his chest. It was as though the very air here was watching him — quietly, patiently.
Then his eyes caught something else — a faint, palm-shaped mark carved into the stone beside the inscription.
At first glance, it looked like the imprint of a baby's hand, pressed deep into the surface. But within the outline of that handprint was a symbol — an intricate pattern shaped like a small bulb of garlic or onion, etched with such precision that not even a machine could have managed it.
Vivaan's brows furrowed. The symbol seemed to shimmer faintly under the sunlight, as if it were alive.
He had read about it before — a mystery mark that had appeared on the city gate after the dimensional storm decades ago. No one knew who or what had carved it. Researchers had analyzed it, copied it, even scanned it for energy signatures, but all results ended in failure. Some said it was the seal of a dimensional being, others believed it to be a warning, or perhaps a doorway to something beyond comprehension.
But for Vivaan, it was just… strangely captivating.
He was still staring at the symbol when his pocket suddenly vibrated.
He blinked, startled.
Arvind Rao? Kabir Sinha?
But when he reached into his pocket, his expression froze.
The phone that was vibrating wasn't his usual smartphone — it was the mysterious black phone he had found earlier. The one without a SIM card, without any brand, and without any functioning network. The one that shouldn't even have power.
And yet, it was buzzing softly in his palm.
Vivaan glanced around. The soldiers were busy with patrol routines, paying him no mind. Lowering his head, he took out the strange phone and saw that its screen had lit up by itself.
At the center of the screen was a flashing camera icon.
He frowned. "That… wasn't there before."
The mysterious phone had always been minimal — no app icons, no system interface, only a few strange symbols. So where had this camera app come from?
Curiosity overcoming caution, he tapped the icon.
The screen instantly shifted to camera mode, and the display showed what was directly in front of him — the city gate, the willows swaying, and the crimson flowers reflected in the moat. But instead of using the front camera, it was showing the feed from the rear camera.
He tapped the shutter button. Nothing happened.
Again. Still nothing. No flash, no sound, no click.
Vivaan frowned and muttered, "What's wrong with this thing?" He waved the phone slowly from side to side, testing its focus.
And then — the moment the camera's view crossed over the tiny handprint symbol above the city gate — the phone emitted a sharp beep.
Vivaan stiffened.
A green box appeared on the screen, locking tightly around the handprint symbol as if recognizing it. The phone began to vibrate again, faint pulses echoing in his hand.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Each beep grew louder. The green box zoomed closer and closer until the rest of the scene blurred away, leaving only the glowing handprint symbol.
Then, in the middle of the screen, a single word appeared:
"Loading…"
Vivaan's breath caught in his throat. His mind raced.
No way. Could it be…?
He stared in disbelief as the loading bar slowly filled. His pulse quickened, a familiar mix of dread and anticipation coursing through him. He'd seen this before — the exact same process — back when the mysterious phone had transformed the Ant Nest into a playable dungeon.
And just like before, when the loading bar hit 100%, the image faded, and a new icon appeared on the phone's home screen — right next to the Ant Nest logo.
The new icon was a miniature depiction of an ancient stone gate, framed in silver, with the text below reading:
"Ancient Imperial City."
Vivaan's mouth went dry. He could hardly breathe.
"It's… it's really become a game dungeon," he whispered, almost afraid to believe it.
He tapped the new icon with trembling fingers.
The screen dimmed, the familiar hum of the game's startup echoing in his ears. Then the image sharpened — and there it was again: the North Gate of Guide Ancient City, exactly as it appeared before him in reality. The only difference was that, in the game, the massive doors stood wide open, the path beyond bathed in eerie, bluish light.
Vivaan's heart raced. He pricked his fingertip with a pin from his sleeve and let a drop of blood fall onto the screen. Instantly, a crimson ripple spread across it.
The blood-colored avatar appeared, standing before the gate, identical to him in every way — calm, sharp-eyed, and ready.
"Let's see where this leads," Vivaan murmured.
He guided the avatar through the gates. Inside, the world changed.
Ancient stone pavements stretched into narrow streets lined with wooden buildings, their paint long faded and their beams covered in creeping vines. Red paper lanterns, torn and half-burnt, swung silently in the air, though no wind blew. Faint whispers seemed to echo from the shadows, fragments of a city long dead.
Vivaan's eyes flicked across the screen, completely absorbed. Every detail matched perfectly with real footage he had seen online. The developers of reality itself had somehow replicated Guide Ancient City within this mysterious phone.
And then — something moved at the far end of the street.
A skeleton, its bones yellowed with age, shambled into view. Its armor was nothing but rusted metal scraps, and in its bony hands, it clutched a bone club jagged with cracks. Twin blue flames flickered in its hollow eye sockets.
Vivaan's grip on the phone tightened.
"A Skeleton Soldier," he whispered. "So it's really… the same as the real zone."
The creature screeched and charged forward.
Vivaan's blood-colored avatar raised its fists, ready for battle.
End of Chapter 16: Downloading