I tensed as we fell towards the ground— the sudden and uncontrolled acceleration towards the ground triggered an instinctual reflex, like fight or flight.

I coughed awkwardly, pointedly looking away from Willow as the golden aura around me dropped and I fell to my feet, pacing away with nervous energy. We were inside of a cavern filled with people. A man in a suit stared up at the hole in the ceiling we fell through, the look on his face painted with I do not get paid enough for this.

“Ms. Gold.” He acknowledged, not looking away from the ceiling.

“Aw, don’t be like that Rain. Its fun! Like a roller-coaster.”

“I never even liked roller-coasters.” I replied, still pacing from the adrenaline. It was a great rush while fighting, but here with nothing to do it just made my heart pound in my chest and all the more paranoid about the dozens of stares headed my way. People set up all over the room, and Willow turned her attention to the man in the center directing it all.

He was still staring at the ceiling. A snow drift fell in, spiraling down and landing on the floor in an already established puddle of water and rubble. There was barely any rubble from the hole being formed— it was probably mostly ejected to the surface.

“Man, you guys have lost your touch— losing people on the job, are you fucking inept?” Willow asked, her tone turning dangerous as she talked.

He glanced at her before turning and giving her his full attention.

“We’re sorry ma’am. The trip will be fully refunded, of course. And you may keep any goods you found. We will recover the… Kobolds for you. But we can’t be held responsible for people who depart from the team—“

“Depart from the—” Willow interrupted, turning to look at me.

“Um, actually, its my fault.” I watched as Kim stepped out of the crowd of people milling about. “I was leading the team.”

Willow looked between Rain and Kim. “Go on.” Willow said.

“Rain disappeared under my watch, so, its my fault.” Kim said, swallowing. “People die in the gates every day. It was irresponsible—“

“Disappeared?” Willow pivoted, spinning on a heel to look at me. “You walked away from the party? Without telling anyone?” Willow sighed.

I scratched the back of my head. “I gained more value out of hunting alone than with the party.”

“He really is your brother, Ms. Gold.” The man said, reaching into his pocket to grab a smooth artifact. He held it out in my general direction, and I looked between him and it, stepping forward. “As compensation for our… ineptitude.” The mans words didn’t sound sincere, instead dragging with a sort of apathetic professionalism.

I grabbed the object, which fuzzed to life in my hand. I felt Qi thrum to life in it— Qi, or mana— and a screen projected above it. It started slowly wavering through colors like light shining on oil before solidifying blue and displaying one rank across it. ‘Unranked.’ The mans eyes widened as he looked at the screen, and Willow snatched the item out of my hand. A rank evaluation? And it activated automatically. It was small and compact compared to the ones I had used previously. A free ranked evaluation was good, but… it still showed Unranked. With reaching the end of the Second Realm, I had a solid Sea of Qi inside me. If the system wouldn’t detect me now, it never would.

“Hey! What kind of move are you trying to pull?” She asked, voice dangerous, armor beginning to activate around her with a golden sheen.

“We were just offering compensation.” The man’s eyes flicked between me and Willow.

“That’s bullshit and you know it! What, are you scouting for your guild now? Hands off.”

There was a tense silence as the four of them stood there, Willow brimming with energy, looking like she was on the edge of snapping forward and grabbing the man. Kim stared at me with what I could only describe as suspicion, her eyes moving between searching my figure and my clothes.

“Unranked?” She blurted. Willow turned to regard her, and her eyes widened. She continued, more timidly. “You have some Gold equipment? Or an Artifact?” Kim asked, looking at me. “What were you fighting with?” Her eyes flicked down.

I followed her gaze. One of my pant legs was in tatters, torn apart by the claws of the giant Kobold. The healing potion removed the wounds, but did nothing to hide the blood covering my pants. In fact, I didn’t notice, but it covered… everything. My arms dripped with it from a mix of my own blood from the arrows and cuts and the blood of the Kobolds I stabbed. Soot from the earlier fire clung to my clothing, mixing with mud from the caves.

“An Artifact? That would kill him.” Willow said, quirking an eyebrow.

“Ah, pardon. I believe I’m due a shower.” I interrupted, not wanting to wait any longer for odd, political conversations or ones I didn’t understand the context of. Willow barked a laugh.

“Don’t worry, you get use to the blood and viscera. Lets get out of here.” Willow stared down the man as she walked towards the gate, but he maintained the same cold apathy.

Then I paused, realizing I didn’t answer the question. “I stole some of their weapons. They had some crude metal.” I looked at my palm then held it out. The cut was gone, but the line of dried blood where I had clearly cut it still showed. “Sharp enough. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

“In the Deep Caves…” Kim whispered into her hand.

I walked passed her, and the man stepped out of the way. Reaching the second realm, low iron grade monsters weren’t enough. After this, I would have to begin refining Qi— I would have to kill hundreds of these to reach the end of the Third Realm. Even this wasn’t exactly safe— if I was surrounded, I could actually be in danger.

Well, at least if they had ranged weapons.