5:30 AM arrived with Riri already awake.
She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, braiding her hair back in the pre-dawn darkness. The Shadow-Weave set moved with her like a second skin, reinforcement threading intact after last night's enhancement work. Crimson Fang sat at her hip, the S-Tier dagger's weight familiar and reassuring.
Her Status screen hovered in her peripheral vision.
[Riri Lee - Level 20 | Class: Beast Tamer (Unique - SSS)]
[HP: 844/844 | MP: 1,680/1,680 | Stamina: 546/546]
[Combat Power: 14,293]
[Active Companions: 4/4 | Bonded Creatures: 4/12]
Clean. Full. Ready.
She dismissed the screen and moved through the Sanctuary's quiet halls. Loki waited by the entrance, his massive form radiating patient readiness. Vesper materialized on her shoulder without being summoned. Vermillion descended from the ceiling in slow spirals, six butterflies positioning themselves in their standard formation.
Kirin remained in the living area, sprawled across expensive furniture with his tail wrapped around one leg. The juvenile drake lifted his head as she passed.
"Stay here," Riri said. "You're too distinctive for what comes next."
He made a sound that suggested he had opinions about being left behind. His Bond-connection pulsed with indignation mixed with grudging understanding.
"I'll summon you if we need lightning." She paused at the doorway. "But crowds and a dragon don't mix well."
Kirin's tail lashed once. Acknowledged.
Samael emerged from the hallway, already dressed in dark combat gear that made him look like he'd walked out of an execution. His new blade sat at his hip, sixty centimeters of reinforced steel that caught the low light with cold efficiency.
His eyes tracked her companions, then her. "Ready?"
"Yes."
They left the Sanctuary together.
The Hub's streets were already filling with Players, the collective movement toward the Mission Gate Zone creating visible currents in the foot traffic. Anxiety rolled off the crowd in waves. Nervous conversations, last-minute gear checks, the specific quality of people preparing for something they couldn't back out of.
Riri and Samael moved through the press without engaging. His hand found her lower back, guiding her through gaps in the crowd that appeared just before they needed them. The rose-gold [BONDED] tags above their heads drew looks. The numbers beside those tags drew considerably more attention.
System #2.
System #1.
People cleared space around them without consciously deciding to.
They reached the Mission Gate Zone twenty minutes before official activation. The containment barriers pulsed with suppressed portal energy, the script along their surfaces glowing brighter than it had last night.
E-Rank Gates clustered along the perimeter, already drawing crowds. Players gathered in nervous groups, studying the inactive portals like the answers might be written on the surface.
Riri pulled up her interface.
[MANDATORY MISSION SELECTION AVAILABLE]
[Please select your first Mandatory Mission]
[Warning: Death is permanent. Choose wisely.]
The mission list materialized. E-Rank through S-Rank, each entry displaying basic information.
[E-RANK: Abandoned Subway - Escape Within Time Limit]
[Estimated Clear Time: 2-3 hours]
[Threat Level: Moderate]
[Recommended Party Size: 2-4 Players]
[D-RANK: Collapsed Hospital - Locate Medical Records & Survive]
[Estimated Clear Time: 4-6 hours]
[Threat Level: High]
[Recommended Party Size: 4-6 Players]
[C-RANK: Cursed Village - Eliminate Source of Corruption]
[Estimated Clear Time: 6-8 hours]
[Threat Level: Very High]
[Recommended Party Size: 6-10 Players]
Samael stood beside her, his own interface open. "What are you thinking?"
"C-Rank." She filtered the mission details, reading the expanded description. "We're Level 20 with optimized gear. Clearing below our capability gives zero rewards."
"Agreed." He dismissed his interface. "But most Players will start with E or D-Rank. C-Rank Gates will have significantly less traffic."
"Which reduces interference from panicking parties." She accepted the C-Rank mission. "And means we're not competing for loot distribution."
[Mission Selected: Cursed Village]
[Participants: Riri Lee (System #2), Samael Santoro (System #1)]
[Bonded Pair Detected - Shared Mission Progress Activated]
[Time Until Gate Activation: 00:17:34]
They moved to the C-Rank section. Three Gates sat in isolated containment plazas, their barriers visibly thicker than the E-Rank clusters. Only a handful of other Players waited here, most looking considerably more prepared than the crowds gathering at the perimeter.
A woman with System #2,841 glanced at them as they approached. Her eyes caught on Samael's number, then dropped to her own interface without comment.
At 6:00 AM exactly, the Gates activated.
The containment barriers flared bright gold, then dissolved. The dormant portals surged to life, dimensional energy stabilizing into visible surfaces that showed fragmented images of the Mission Worlds beyond.
The C-Rank Gate nearest them displayed a village street, fog-shrouded and wrong in ways that registered before conscious thought could catalog them. Buildings leaned at angles that defied structural logic. The sky was the color of old bruises.
[CURSED VILLAGE - GATE ACTIVE]
[Entry Available - 10 Minute Delay Permitted]
[Warning: Delaying entry reduces final rewards by 50% per minute]
Riri and Samael stepped through simultaneously.
The transition hit like walking through ice water. Temperature dropped twenty degrees. The air tasted of rot and copper. Her boots touched cobblestone that was slick with something that wasn't quite water.
[ENTERING MISSION WORLD: CURSED VILLAGE]
[Objective: Locate and eliminate the source of the village's corruption]
[Time Limit: None]
[Death Penalty: Permanent]
[Participants: 2]
The village materialized around them in stages. Buildings first, two-story structures with windows that reflected nothing. Streets that curved in directions that made her eyes hurt when she tried to follow them too long. The fog rolled between structures in slow, deliberate patterns, carrying sounds that didn't match any animal she recognized.
Loki pressed against her leg, hackles raised. Vesper had gone completely still on her shoulder, obsidian eyes tracking movement in the fog that Riri couldn't see yet. Vermillion circled overhead, the six butterflies moving in tighter formation than normal.
Samael drew his blade. The steel caught the village's wrong light and reflected it back colder.
"Formation," Riri said quietly.
Loki moved to point position. Vermillion split into defensive perimeter, three butterflies ahead, three behind. Vesper remained on her shoulder but his awareness extended outward through their shared bond, feeding her information about the space beyond visible range.
The fog ahead shifted.