Two hours after Jera vanished from the Blood Furnace, two figures entered the same dungeon. They wore the elite, midnight-blue combat armor of the Hunter Bureau's S-Rank First Response Team.
The lead Hunter was "Pathfinder"—a man whose real name was forgotten, famed for his ability to read residual mana trails. He was the Bureau's top tracker, the man they sent when an Ascended-level threat was detected.
"Captain Kane is... agitated," Pathfinder's partner, a tech-specialist named Kai, noted as they descended. "She said this 'Cain Walker' is toying with her."
"He's toying with everyone," Pathfinder said, his voice a low gravel. He knelt, placing a gloved hand on the iron floor where Jera had stood. "The air here... it's clean. Too clean."
"The report said it was surging with anomalous energy."
"It was," Pathfinder replied. "Now it's a void. He didn't just clear the monsters. He sterilized the dungeon's mana. I've never felt anything like it."
They followed the trail of destruction—the one-shot monster corpses, the perfectly punched holes. It was a trail of contemptuous, effortless power.
"He's not a Hunter, Kai," Pathfinder said quietly. "He's a natural disaster in a man's suit."
They reached the collapsed chamber. Pathfinder stopped at the hole Jera had punched and then sealed with welded metal.
"This is it. The source of the fluctuation was in here," he said.
"What's in there now?" Kai asked, running a high-frequency scanner over the wall.
"Nothing."
Kai frowned, tapping his scanner. "That can't be. The readings are... null. It's not just iron. It's a 'dead zone.' My scanner can't penetrate it. It's like the space in there doesn't exist anymore."
Pathfinder placed his hand on the sealed wall. He tried to read the residual mana. He felt two things: the faint, sizzling echo of the Corruption, which made his skin crawl, and the overwhelming, absolute power of Jera.
"He didn't just fight something in here," Pathfinder reported to Kane over his comm. "He erased it. Then he collapsed the entire sector. Millions of tons of iron. We can't excavate without compromising the entire dungeon. Whatever he fought, and whatever he found... he buried it."
"What about his power?" Kane's voice was tight with frustration.
"His kinetic output is S-Rank. At minimum. But his control... Captain, it's perfect. There's no waste. No spill-over. He's a kinetic surgeon."
"So he's S-Rank," Kane concluded.
"No," Pathfinder said, his voice grave. "He's something else. This wasn't a fight. It was an execution. We found no evidence of a struggle. No defensive measures. He just walked in, annihilated the anomaly, and left. He's hiding his true power, and he's doing it... casually."
Kane was silent on the other end of the line. The mystery of Cain Walker had just become the Bureau's number one priority.
While Kane's best team was hitting a literal wall, Jera was in his Infinite Fortress.
He sat at a plain stone table. On it rested the [Runestone of the First War].
He tried to read it. His skill, [Language of the Forgotten (L912)], allowed him to understand the ancient symbols, but the context was missing.
[...When the worlds were... (fragment) ...the Weavers tore the Dimensions... (fragment) ...and the Bleed began...]
"Weavers," Jera said. "Dimensions." "The Bleed."
He cross-referenced the words with the hostile data-burst that was now logged in his memory.
[...THE CORRUPTION IS A LIE... THE SYSTEM IS A CAGE... THE TRUTH IS IN THE FRACTURES...]
It was a puzzle with three opposing sides.
The System: His source of power. But a "cage." The Corruption: An anti-systemic "lie." The Weavers: A third party who "tore the dimensions" and sent him the warning.
"I am a piece in a three-sided war," Jera concluded. His personal quest for power was now irrelevant. He was being hunted and manipulated by forces that viewed the world as a game board.
He couldn't get stronger by just killing monsters. He needed answers.
This single Runestone fragment wasn't enough. He needed more.
He pulled up his comm and sent a single, encrypted message to his broker.
To: The Vault
From: C.W.
Subject: Information.
I need access to the Midnight Auction. I am no longer selling. I am buying.
The reply from The Vault was almost instantaneous.
To: C.W.
From: The Vault
Subject: RE: Information.
Mr. Walker. A pleasure. Your new fame has opened every door.
The Midnight Auction is next week. It is the most exclusive black market for S-Rank relics in the world. An invitation is usually impossible to get.
For you? They are begging for your attendance. They see you as their biggest potential client. The invitation is attached.
May I ask what my most valued client is hunting for?
Jera's reply was short and precise.
To: The Vault
From: C.W.
Anything related to "The First War."
Anything mentioning "The Bleed."
Any relic, text, or fragment inscribed with the attached symbols.
He sent a mental copy of the Runestone's script.
The Vault's reply came back a minute later, his professional tone gone, replaced by something bordering on fear.
To: C.W.
From: The Vault
Mr. Walker... what you are hunting for... it is not safe.
The items you describe are known as the "Heresy Fragments." The Hunter Bureau and the world's major Guilds have a standing 'burn-on-sight' order for them. They claim they are dangerously corrupting.
You are not just looking for a rare item. You are looking for the one thing everyone in power is terrified of.
...The auction will be dangerous. I will arrange a private, anonymous booth for you.
Jera closed the comm. "Burn-on-sight." "Heresy."
So, the Bureau and the Guilds knew about this. They were afraid of this truth. They were actively suppressing it.
His suspicion of Captain Kane now solidified into certainty. She wasn't just investigating him because he was powerful. She was investigating him because he was an anomaly who was now digging up a truth they had worked very hard to bury.
His quest for power was now a quest for the truth. He was a man with a god-like System, being told his god was a liar. He was a man being attacked by a "Corruption," being told that was also a lie.
He was alone, caught between cosmic, warring forces.
"Fine," Jera said to the empty fortress. "If the System is a cage... I will become so powerful that I can break the bars."
He needed to get to the Midnight Auction. But first, he needed to grow stronger. He needed to hunt, and he needed a dungeon far away from the prying eyes of Elara Kane and her S-Rank teams.
He opened the Bureau's contract board again. This time, he looked for a mission that would take him out of New York entirely.