Chapter 41: The Flux Gate

As soon as they stepped through the gate, the first thing Keane noticed was the smell.

The environment smelled of damp earth, moss, and something faintly metallic, probably blood, maybe not.

He stepped out of the gate onto a broad stone path. The others emerged behind him, and the shimmering surface closed over the entrance, leaving only the dim light of the dungeon ahead.

The passage stretched into a cavern, its walls lined with pale crystals that gave off a weak blue glow. The ceiling was high enough that Keane couldn’t see it clearly, and the path sloped down toward a darker section.

At that moment, Rovan came up beside him,

"Welcome to your first middle section dungeon. Stay on the marked route unless there’s a reason to deviate. The first stretch is straightforward. We’ll be behind you."

Keane nodded as he listened.

Curtis had already drawn his weapon. Amda was checking the surroundings, while Cush rolled his shoulders and looked down the path.

"Same as the briefing," Cush said. "Let’s get this over with."

Keane looked at Curtis with a question in his head that he ended up voicing out. "Why is he drawing out his weapon?"

Everyone looked at Curtis, equally wondering the same thing once Keane pointed it out.

"What? I want to be ready for when he’d need our help." He said in defense, sheathing his sword.

With no more exchange of words, Keane started walking.

The terrain was somewhat pleasant as he looked about. There hadn’t been anything yet, but the mere fact of being inside a dungeon was fascinating to him, after all, these were the same things he used to work on in the past.

While he wasn’t part of the graphics and art team, he did get to test the games a lot before launch.

It was nice to be in one, and somewhere in his heart, he anticipated his encounter with the dungeon monsters.

They hadn’t gone too far before the first monsters appeared before them.

A g roup of squat, four-legged creatures had emerged from behind a cluster of rocks, almost on queue. Their bodies were covered in dark scales, with thick limbs and blunt horns jutting from their heads. They were roughly the size of large dogs, though considerably heavier from the way they looked.

Rovan raised a hand, calling Keane’s name.

"Those are Stonebacks. Low Mortal. As you already see, they usually travel in groups of three to six. They’re aggressive, but predictable. You can manage... I believe." She added.

With a heavy sigh, Rovan said, "you can’t always call him like that and break his attention. Remember, he’s a newbie. From now on, unless a special monster, or he’s struggling, don’t interfere."

"Huh? But Captain, isn’t that the very reason she should? The guy needs to know what he’s facing to be able to face it, anyone with me?" Cush chipped in.

"I’m not ready for you today Cush, keep your opinions to yourself." Rovan responded.

Looking onward, they watched as one of the creatures lowered its head and charged.

Keane stepped forward instantly, a surprise response for those watching, since they’d expect him to step back and create space.

As for Keane himself, he didn’t need to use much force.

The creature was fast enough to surprise an ordinary person, actually, it would probably be enough to surprise a low ranked adventurer maybe, but to him, its movements were painfully obvious. He shifted half a step aside and struck it once behind the head with a sharp chop.

In just one move, the monster hit the ground and stopped moving.

The others hesitated after watching what just happened before them, nobody saying a word as they continud to watch.

Before their eyes, Keane moved again, taking out the next one before it could turn around.

The remaining creatures scattered, but he caught them before they could escape into the rocks.

A few seconds later, the path was clear, and the supposed newbie didn’t look like he had even exerted himself one bit.

’That was easy.’ He thought to himself, looking down at the bodies.

He hadn’t used anything close to his full strength since there was no reason to. These monsters weren’t worth the effort.

Behind him, Cush let out a low whistle.

"Well, that was quick."

Curtis looked at the fallen creatures, then at Keane.

"You didn’t even use a technique." He said as he walked close, more to himself than to anyone, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Isn’t that overkill for weak monsters?" Keane responded. Of course he was just teasing, but that was enough to drive deeper Curtis’s frustration, he didn’t seem to like that answer.

Rovan, however, was already making a note on his evaluation sheet.

"Good control. No unnecessary movement. Alright, let’s continue. We might be heading back sooner than expected." He said.

Keane resumed walking, with the others following behind from a distance.

The first stretch went much the same way.

They encountered another group of Stonebacks, followed by a pair of larger monsters that resembled armored lizards. Keane dispatched them with a few direct strikes, keeping his movements simple and his strength restrained.

He didn’t bother hiding his abilities, but he wasn’t going to waste time showing off needlessly either.

The trial was meant to assess him. If they wanted to see what he could do, they could watch him work, and so far, there wasn’t much to see... For him at least.

With the speed he cleared the begining area, they soon continued deeper.

The cavern narrowed, then opened into a larger chamber. It was a strange sight to see, since there was an actual forest below. The marked route passed between two pillars of black stone that rose above every other thing, with a shallow stream running along the left side.

They continued, and to his surprise they encountered no monsters immediately, even after they went almost halfway through, moving past the black stones.

After a while, Keane slowed down and eventually came to a stop.

Something about the passage seemed to bother him.

He looked back at the route they’d taken, and as though it was na illusion, the stone pillars behind them seemed like they were moved farther apart from each other.

He stopped.

"What is it?" Rovan asked, noticing Keane had stopped.

Keane looked ahead, then back again.

"Did the path always turn like that?" He said, pointing ta the route they had just walked through, and how it had somehow become longer and no longer as straight as when they went through.

Rovan followed his gaze, and tracking it to even the stones, and for a moment, he said nothing. Then he took out the map.

"According to this, no." He said. He already knew so, but wanted to be sure, and he was sure.

Curtis glanced over his shoulder. "Maybe the map’s not exact."

"It’s been surveyed repeatedly," Rovan said.

"Then the surveyors made a mistake." Amda said, having moved closer to the wall where they stood. She ran her fingers over a dark patch of stone, then withdrew her hand.

"This section wasn’t on the map either." She said.

Cush looked around.

"Could be a minor shift."

"Not this much," Rovan replied. "I’ve been here before, and nothing like this happened." He said.

Keane watched the cavern. He was not liking what he was hearing. He had spent years working with systems that had to follow rules, when something behaved differently from what the system allowed, there was usually a reason. Sometimes it was a bug, maybe a bad assumption in the design. Either way, ignoring it didn’t make it go away.

"Does this happen often?" he asked.

Rovan folded the map.

"Minor changes, occasionally. A passage opening or closing isn’t unheard of. But a shift in the overall structure is unusual."

"Could it be dangerous?"

"Potentially." Rovan answered.

Curtis looked down the path.

"We’re already here. The gate hasn’t become unstable, and we haven’t encountered anything outside the expected."

"That’s true," Rovan said.

Amda looked uneasy, but she didn’t object.

It wasn’t like they could do anything like run back to the entry, the portal disappears once you enter a gate, the only way out is clearing the gate, or using a return stone, which could be found within the dungeon, a certain drop before reaching the boss.

"We might need to step up too, the return stones we have now are not enough for everyone." Rovan said, and everyone agreed.

With that, they continued.

Keane kept an eye on the surroundings as they went. The next chamber was smaller than expected, and a passage that should have led straight ahead curved off to the right. There were also fewer monsters than the briefing had suggested.

The ones they did encounter were easy enough to deal with, and Keane cleared them quickly.

After a while, Rovan checked his map again.

"We’re approaching the end of the assessment route." He said.

"Already?" Keane said, as he glanced at him.

"You’ve been moving faster than expected." Rovan replied.

"Is that a problem?"

"No. The trial doesn’t require you to reach the heart of the gate."

Keane had almost forgotten about that.

"Some gates are kept open deliberately. The Guild clears up to certain sections, harvests the materials, and leaves the heart intact. It allows the gate to remain active, which means more harvests as resources replenish, and more profit. Things like mana crystals and rare materials for weapons and armour don’t exist outside the guild naturally, you know?"

"I didn’t." Keane said. "So they don’t always close them?"