“Hey, I’m here for the 2PM gate run?” I asked the receptionist.

“Rank?”

“Iron rank.”

She looked me up and down at that. “For the Scaled Caverns?”

“Uhhh…” I checked the app on my phone. “Yes.”

“You’ll be with Squad 1, under team leader Kim.”

“Sorry, with a squad? I thought this was a solo exercise?” I asked.

“It can be ran solo, for Silver rank or higher. This is a gate agency, we don’t do assisted suicide.”

I blinked at that. I guess it didn’t matter that much— I got plenty of my own kills on the safari, I’m sure it will be the same here.

I exchanged a few more questions, heading down the hall to where this group was meeting up. There was no truck or suit up room this time. This place did offer those mana cannons and other gear, but it cost extra, and I honestly didn’t need it anyway.

Instead, there was a small waiting room, a sort of air lock with cameras. I entered, waiting against the wall as other people filed in or talked to one another. A few sported those mana cannons and fancy equipment. I yawned, holding my arms folded.

“Hey! I’m Kim, whats your name and rank?”

Kim? That would be the team leader, then. I reached out a hand to meet her handshake. She wasn’t equipped in the fanciest gear, or with a mana cannon either, but it wasn’t exactly shabby. It looked like stuff she had bought herself— a spear and shield on her back, some layers of armor here and there, especially on her right hand— presumably her weapon hand.

“Rain. Pleased to meet you. And I’m unranked.”

“Hey, no worries, awesome! We will help you get kill contribution. Just stay behind our main line except for when we have enemies isolated, and we can get you some experience alright. Everyone’s in, so we’re going to start sealing the room behind us and moving in. You ready?”

I smiled and nodded. They were a considerate person. She talked into a radio, and a metal blast door began shutting on the little waiting room we were in. Once it touched the ground, one on the other side began to open, displaying a portal against the wall. Complicated looking machinery sat at the edges of it, including what looked like hooks on its metaphysical structure, as if they were literally holding a hole in the world open.

On the other side was a darkened cave.

The lights in the room dimmed, and headlights came on, strapped to helmets or even arms on some of the people in heavy armor, and the group quickly fell into a formation.

It wasn’t even a particularly bad formation.

“Alright! Lets head out! Remember everyone, pick off the isolated targets and Shamans first!” Kim shouted over the dimming conversation, and the band of Awakened began to march through the gate. There were probably just under 20, including me, as we stepped into the caverns.

Distantly, I could hear the drip of water the second I entered, the dark cave filled with a scent between mold and moss, death and decay filling the cavern. The ground was a layer of mud and muck, and it clung to my boots.

It wasn’t long before we ran into our first mob. Skinny, with reptile like features; it was the size of a toddler. Its long snout was covered in scales, its eyes recessed and beady, they glowed in the dark, nocturnal, and it died from a single shot of the mana cannon, a hole burned in its chest. I felt a trickle of Qi enter me, and I walked up beside Kim.

“What are these things?” I asked, even as we collectively stepped around— or on— the body of the monster.

“Kobolds. They’re not worth much, considering how skinny they are. Even the leather isn’t great unless you raise them and feed them.” Kim said. “The isolated ones are great for easy, relatively safe XP, but the real prize are the war parties. They’re in groups of 4 to 5 and— speak of the devil… Everyone pause!” Kim shouted.

She leaned into the dirt, and I followed her down. The entire cavern was full of foot prints. More than the foot prints of a little war party of 4 to 5— but Kim was the expert.

“Looks like we have a party up ahead.” The group moved forward, reinvigorated as we went left and right down winding cavern corridors.

“About time.” Someone holding a mana cannon said.

“AIYAH!” A high pitched, squeaky voice shouted, as a dagger wearing Kobold jumped down from a hidden position on the wall towards the group.

One of the tanks batted it out of the air, and then it erupted in fire as a mage in the back of the group raised a staff.

A fire technique… an impressive one, too, for someone at such a low realm of power. Still, neither of those things killed it, and there were more shouts as more rushed at the group. The tanks in the front calmly matched the charging enemies, as if it were routine, while Kim impaled the burning Kobold that had snuck into the group.

“Eyes up! Watch the walls!” He called out as he returned to the front.

The group carved through the party of Kobolds in seconds, and the cavern returned to quiet. I was getting trickles of Qi just by proximity, but I hadn’t even gotten to fight. I hadn’t brought a weapon, and hitting a burning Kobold bare handed sounded like a good way to accumulate some burns. At a higher cultivation realm, it would be no problem, but for now… I’d just observe and learn how this world handled the gates.

We continued our march forward, Kim staring at the time on her phone. “Fifty more minutes and we start heading back.”

We ran into groups of the wandering Kobolds every ten minutes from there, every fight ending without a chance for me to intervene.

“Unranked, huh?” Someone slammed a hand on my shoulder as they walked beside me. I think he used more force than was necessary, but I just locked my own arm on his shoulder, dragging him forward in armor and all. “Pretty sturdy though, for an unranked.” He laughed. One of the group tanks.

“How often do you do this?” I asked him.

“I just started a few months ago. I’m at the peak of Iron now, got my level in the 10’s! Great progress. I might hit Silver, even. Eventually. Make more money than my dad.” The man rambled, unprompted. I gave him a smile.

“I’m aiming for at least Silver too. My sister is at least that.” I offered, and then returned to a calm silence as we moved through the caves.

At this rate… it would take hours to fill my Dantian, and each visit to the gate cost money for entrance. I, quite literally, could not afford to sit around and siphon a trickle from the group. I watched the footprints on the ground— they were thinning, which meant we were moving away from the core of the monsters, and so I waited until our party had engaged in combat again, quietly slipping farther and farther into the back of the group near the damage dealers. They offered me consternated smiles as I slipped into the back, likely thinking I was afraid of the combat.

And once they engaged, I simply slid away, into the dark of the caves to hunt on my own.

After all, what was there to fear from a few little lizards?