[Vorn's Apartment - Early Morning]
Vorn woke before his alarm, tension already coiled in his shoulders like he'd been fighting in his sleep. The apartment was quiet except for the usual city sounds filtering through thin walls - traffic, distant conversations, someone's TV playing too loud upstairs.
He sat up and immediately felt the card's presence on his chest. The resonance had intensified overnight, and something about the mask's energy signature suggested it was done waiting for his decision.
When he summoned the card, the absorbed mask pulsed stronger than before. Not just the gentle rhythm from yesterday, but something more demanding. Like a phone ringing that wouldn't stop until someone answered.
"Time's up?" the slime asked from his shadow.
"Looks that way." Vorn concentrated on the mask's integration, choosing to auto-equip it through the card rather than manifesting it physically first.
The moment the mask activated, the world shifted in subtle but noticeable ways. Sounds became slightly muffled, as if he was hearing everything through a filter. Colors at the edges of his vision desaturated, leaving only the center of his field sharp and clear.
The mask wasn't just hiding his identity - it was isolating him from normal perception, creating a barrier between his senses and the ordinary world.
"Weird," he muttered, testing how the sensory changes affected his balance and spatial awareness.
Before he could adjust fully, the token materialized on his table without being summoned. Its surface glowed with text that appeared line by line in clean, mechanical letters:
*"Candidate acknowledged. Initial assessment approved. Report to designated coordinates within two hours for task assignment. Failure to appear constitutes refusal of membership. Secondary invitations are not provided."*
Coordinates appeared below the text, followed by what looked like a basic map showing an underground parking garage in the industrial district.
"Two hours," Vorn said, checking the time. "Not much room for second-guessing."
His soldiers began manifesting around the apartment one by one, their expressions ranging from cautious to concerned. Even Kenjiro, the newest addition, looked skeptical about the timeline and location.
"Are you sure about this?" Ash asked, voicing what they were all thinking.
Vorn studied the coordinates again. Industrial area, underground location, time pressure designed to prevent extensive planning. Classic recruitment tactics for organizations that valued quick decision-making over careful analysis.
"No," he said honestly. "But staying safe isn't getting us anywhere."
---
[Underground Parking Garage - The Gathering]
The location was exactly what the coordinates had indicated - a concrete structure that felt abandoned but wasn't actually empty. Fluorescent lights flickered intermittently, creating pools of harsh illumination separated by deep shadows.
Other masked figures were already present when Vorn arrived. Maybe fifteen people total, each one wearing a different mask design that reflected their apparent experience level. Simple cloth coverings for what looked like newcomers, elaborate carved pieces for veterans who radiated confidence and controlled power.
The air felt heavy here, like reality itself was thinner than normal. Vorn's enhanced senses picked up traces of magic woven into the building's structure - not just concealment, but active reality alteration that made the space exist partially outside normal physical laws.
Nobody spoke. The masked figures maintained careful distances from each other, studying potential competition while avoiding anything that might be interpreted as alliance-building or threat assessment.
Vorn positioned himself where he could observe everyone without being cornered, noting power signatures and equipment choices. Most of the newcomers carried standard awakened gear - enhanced weapons, basic protective items, energy storage devices. The veterans traveled lighter, suggesting either supreme confidence or access to capabilities that didn't require external tools.
"First time?" a voice asked quietly beside him.
Vorn turned to see someone wearing a mask that looked like polished metal, with subtle engravings that shifted when viewed from different angles. Veteran-level craftsmanship, but the person's posture suggested caution rather than arrogance.
"Yes," Vorn replied.
"Advice: whatever task they give you, don't ask for help. Don't hint that you might need backup. Independence is the only qualification that matters here."
Before Vorn could respond, the veteran moved away, disappearing into the crowd with practiced stealth.
---
[Task Assignment]
A masked overseer emerged from shadows that had seemed empty moments before. Their mask was the most elaborate Vorn had seen - black material that seemed to absorb light completely, with eye openings that revealed nothing but more darkness.
When they spoke, their voice was filtered through technology that stripped away any identifying characteristics. Gender, age, accent - all removed, leaving only carefully modulated words.
"New candidates, step forward."
Five people moved toward the overseer, including Vorn. The veterans remained in their positions, apparently exempt from this particular briefing.
"Your tasks are individual assessments designed to evaluate capability, judgment, and commitment," the overseer continued. "Success grants provisional membership with access to basic assignments. Failure results in permanent exclusion from all Court activities."
Small projection devices materialized in front of each candidate, displaying text that was visible only to the intended recipient. Vorn read his assignment carefully:
*"Retrieve artifact designation 'Crystalline Focus' from unstable dungeon sector 7-G. Location currently experiencing anomalous monster spawn rates and environmental hazards. Time limit: 24 hours. External assistance of any kind disqualifies candidate immediately. Artifact must be delivered intact to designated drop point."*
Additional details followed - dungeon entrance coordinates, basic layout information, and a description of the target artifact. But notably absent was any information about what else might be in the sector or why it was currently unstable.
"Questions are not permitted," the overseer said as the projection devices dissolved. "Departure is immediate. Report completion or failure through standard channels."
The briefing ended as abruptly as it had begun, leaving the candidates to plan their approaches individually.
---
[Decision Point]
Vorn stepped away from the group, reviewing his assignment while his soldiers gathered in his shadow. The task was straightforward in concept - enter dangerous area, retrieve specific item, deliver it safely. But the details suggested complications that weren't being disclosed.
"Unstable sector means mutated monsters and environmental hazards," Dusk observed. "Higher difficulty than normal dungeon crawling."
"And the time limit prevents extensive reconnaissance," Grain added. "They want decisive action, not careful planning."
"Could be a trap," Mire warned. "Multiple candidates, same general area, competition for limited resources."
Vorn considered their concerns while studying the coordinates. The dungeon entrance was in a zone he'd avoided during his previous explorations - not because it was particularly dangerous, but because the risk-to-reward ratio had seemed poor for solo operations.
"If I can't handle this myself," he said finally, "then I have no business joining an organization that operates at this level."
His soldiers accepted the decision without argument, but he could sense their unease. They were bound to his fate - if he died attempting this task, they would dissolve along with him.
"Stay ready," he told them. "I'll call if the situation becomes completely impossible. But unless it's literally life or death, this is something I need to do alone."
---
[Dungeon Approach]
The unstable sector's entrance was marked with warning signs in multiple languages, all variations of "authorized personnel only" and "extreme hazard zone." But the barriers were standard government placeholders rather than serious security measures.
Vorn approached carefully, his enhanced senses immediately detecting the environmental anomalies that marked the area as genuinely dangerous. Mana density fluctuations, temperature variations, gravity distortions that suggested the space inside didn't follow normal physical laws.
The entrance itself looked normal - standard dungeon architecture leading into passages carved from living stone. But something about the air quality suggested rapid biological activity deeper inside, like an ecosystem that was changing faster than usual.
He entered cautiously, noting that his footsteps echoed strangely in the corridor. Not just acoustic differences, but temporal displacement that made each sound repeat with slight delays, as if the space was folding back on itself.
Twenty meters inside, he heard the first indication that he wasn't alone in the sector.
Footsteps. Too deliberate and controlled to belong to any monster he'd encountered. Human rhythm, but with spacing that suggested enhanced movement speed and tactical awareness.
Another candidate, or something else entirely.
Vorn pressed himself against the corridor wall and listened carefully. The footsteps were moving parallel to his route, maintaining distance but clearly tracking his progress. Not immediately threatening, but definitely monitoring his movements.
The crystalline artifact he needed was somewhere deeper in this maze, protected by unknown hazards and possibly contested by competitors who might view his success as their failure.
Time was already counting down, and he hadn't even reached the first major challenge yet.
The real test was just beginning.