Chapter 3 – Rivals Enter the Gate
The next morning, Kobby was assigned to a tutorial gate.
Low-risk. Low-reward.
Perfect for fodder.
His team included miners, labor-class awakeners, and one familiar face—Renn Calder, a D-Rank Spearman with a permanent scowl.
"Don't slow us down," Renn warned. "F-Ranks get in the way."
The gate swallowed them whole.
Stone corridors. Low light. Slime nests.
At first, everything went as expected.
Until the slimes moved faster.
Stronger.
One leapt at Kobby, acid spraying across his arm.
Pain screamed through him.
He fell.
> Threat Detected: Corrosive Damage
Adaptation Triggered
The burning sensation dulled—like turning down the volume of agony.
Kobby forced himself up, grabbed a broken spear shaft, and stabbed.
Once.
Twice.
By the time the gate expelled them, three students were injured.
Kobby was bleeding—but standing.
> Adaptation Acquired:
Corrosive Resistance (Minor)
Pain Dampening (Passive)
Renn stared at him.
"You should've been screaming," he muttered.
From outside the gate, Leon watched with narrowed eyes.
"That's impossible," he said quietly.
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Chapter 4 – The Difference Between Power and Survival
Days passed.
More gates.
More injuries.
Kobby didn't become stronger in the traditional sense—but he became harder to kill.
A goblin's club cracked his ribs.
His breathing adjusted.
> Structural Stress Detected
Musculoskeletal Reinforcement (Temporary)
A spell grazed his mind.
> Mental Shock Registered
Cognitive Partitioning Initiated
Iris observed from afar, unease growing.
"He's not growing upward," she realized.
"He's growing around danger."
Leon sparred daily, dominating challengers with overwhelming force.
But he noticed something unsettling.
Every time Kobby entered a gate, he came back changed.
Not stronger.
Different.
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Chapter 5 – The Rivalry Is Born
Late at night, Kobby opened his parents' old notebook again.
A broken gate symbol.
And a warning.
> "If you awaken Adaptation, don't trust rankings."
His status window flickered violently.
> Observer Detected
Gate Authority Monitoring Initiated
At the same moment, Leon's communicator chimed.
> "Target identified. F-Rank Adaptation."
Leon smiled.
"Good," he said. "I was getting bored."
From her dorm balcony, Iris looked toward Kobby's building.
"Adaptation…" she whispered.
"Are you the anomaly… or the key?"
Kobby closed the notebook and lay back.
Tomorrow, he would enter another gate.
And somewhere between survival and hatred—
rivals were watching him grow.
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