Koda wore blue-green armor that made her look bigger but still preserved some of her feminine features. The armor looked like a robot, but she could move easily in it.

  She walked smoothly like the suit was part of her body. The strange boxes on her back looked a bit odd, like they didn't match the rest of the suit.

  "I'm ready," Koda said, coming out of the room. She gnced around the empty space. "So... only us? Where are the others?"

  "Whoa, that's a cool suit," Felix said with a surprised look.

  He wore segmented armor ptes that covered his vital areas—chest, shoulders, forearms, and shins. The dark gray material looked lightweight but sturdy, designed for mobility while protecting all important parts of his body.

  "They'll be here soon."

  Theon simply admired Koda's armor without saying anything.

  The healer arrived first. She seemed like a kind person, a little shy. She was a C-css healer.

  "Let's go through the pn first," Felix said, gathering his courage. "Then we can start the journey." He led them to the table.

  Within one hour, all the team members had arrived.

  "Leonid, can you expin the route?" Felix asked, adjusting one of his shoulder ptes.

  Leonid Takahashi was a C-css navigator with the power to fly—an ability that emitted energy against gravity. Normal C-css navigators could go up 100m to 200m into the sky.

  "Most of the journey to the cave, we can go on the tactical vehicle, avoiding unnecessary beast attacks," Leonid began expining.

  "Then we have to go uphill where the cave is located. It's a bit hard to go on a vehicle there, so we'll have to walk."

  Everyone fell silent, listening carefully when it came to the expnation about this new pnet's beast types.

  "Okay, let's go through our fighting pn if we have to face rge beasts," Felix said, his armor creaking slightly as he leaned forward.

  "According to the report, I'm not expecting any, but we have to be prepared." Felix was adjusting to his role as team leader.

  After going through all the pns and details, they all left to go to the station that had the tactical vehicle. They loaded the gear they needed and got in.

  "Hey man... I heard you're doing well these days," said a bit old looking man with a metallic turtle shape thing on his back like a backpack.

  "Oh, don't believe everything you see online," replied the young man with an athletic body who carried a rge axe type weapon on his back.

  "Your name came up in a lot of community chats, that can't be just rumors," the old man said with a slight grin.

  "Had a few good gigs, that's all. The teams were good too," the young man said, shrugging. "That helps a lot."

  "Good for you, man. I'm barely surviving. All the good gigs are going to young guys like you. No one wants to join up with me anymore," the old man sighed.

  "What do you think about this team? Lot of rookies... Don't you think?"

  "Yeah, I don't think many of them will survive the trip if we go on foot all the way," the young man said quietly.

  "Did you see that suit? I've never seen a mech suit like that before."

  "Probably some Solori kid's rich friend with Tech Integration ability. E-css as in the report," the old man said.

  "I heard that to operate a suit like that needs mental interface skills. Every movement needs to be controlled by the mind, they say. That expins the css."

  "Fancy suit doesn't mean much in a battle with any bze tier beast," the young man said with a snort.

  "So true... And who's that other one? His css isn't mentioned in the report," the old man asked, nodding toward Theon.

  "I think he has no ability then. Probably another rich friend who joined mostly for the thrill. These rich kids these days are something else," the young man said.

  "Nah, that can't be right. Look at that old trench coat he's wearing. He's no rich kid," the old man observed.

  "He probably got the gig just because he's willing to work for less."

  "At least we have a healer. There are much fewer healers working in hunting parties these days," the young man said.

  "Who would risk their lives when they get paid loads in hospitals?" the old man shrugged.

  "Let's try to keep the Sori kid alive," the young man suggested.

  "You're right, that needs to be our main mission here," the old man agreed.

  Meanwhile, in another part of the vehicle:

  "Are those guys trying to flirt with us or something?" Elise asked, nodding toward the old looking man and the young one.

  "Oh, that's C-Css hunter Viktor Kazimirov and the younger one is Ronan Seong, E-css hunter," Anya expined.

  "Viktor has magnetic power—he can control metallic material objects and shape them. Ronan can control earth materials."

  "Wow, someone's been memorizing the team report," Elise said with a smile.

  "Oh, I just read it a few times to pass the time," Anya replied shyly.

  "Is this your first gig? By the way, I'm Elise Choi. You probably know me as the C-css hunter that can control thermal energy," she said with a small ugh.

  "I'm Anya, healer. No, this is my third one," Anya said.

  "This is my first one. I'm a little nervous though," Elise admitted.

  "Don't be. If all goes as pnned, this is just a retrieval mission," Anya said, trying to calm her.

  "Though I don't know why they hired me for this."

  In the front of the vehicle, Theon was looking out the window.

  "This realm is more beautiful than I imagined," Theon said, looking around at the ndscape.

  "All the beast pnets don't look like this one," Koda replied. "Each one has its own ecosystem. The beasts are different too."

  "As the report says, I just hope there are no bze tier beasts," Felix said nervously, adjusting his chest pte.

  "Everything will be okay. You did a good job earlier," Theon said, trying to comfort Felix, though he had no idea what they were going into.

  "Is that suit you're wearing what the military used in the earlier stages of the war?" Theon asked, trying to change the subject.

  "Oh, no, this one is special. I made it myself," Koda said with a proud smile.

  "Doesn't that suit need a lot of power?" Felix asked, tapping his own armored forearm.

  "The military abandoned these suits for a few reasons—the power issue among them. But I can still use them just fine. How? Well, that's my secret," Koda replied.

  "Hey, boy," a rge man who had been silent the whole time suddenly spoke up.

  "You're not wearing any protective armor or even carrying a weapon. Did you come just to watch?" His voice was gruff.

  "Not that I care, but I won't be defending you if that suit of yours fails." He was the main defense of the team—Dmitri Arnaud, E-css hunter.

  "Oh... I don't have any," Theon mumbled like he had done something wrong.

  Before coming to the Gate complex, he had searched online for armor parts and a weapon, but with the prices, he didn't have any money to buy any of those. So he had asked Felix to bring a weapon for him.

  "Oh, I got something for you," Felix said, pointing to the weapon sitting at the front of the vehicle with the other weapons.

  It was a long sword that required two hands to wield, a pin bde without any markings.

  "Great, you brought a sword for a man who's good at hand-to-hand combat," Koda said with a slightly disappointed look. "Can you even wield one?" she asked Theon.

  "Actually, I have a bit of practice using a sword, but no real experience," Theon replied, remembering the lessons Darius had taught him about swordsmanship. But they had been very short lessons.

  "Try not to cut us with that thing," Viktor called out with a mocking smile. "Using a sword without any practice—he's going to kill himself."

  "Looks like we've reached the end of the ride," Leonid announced, getting up from his seat. "Now we have to walk all the way to the cave."

  With that, the vehicle stopped. One by one, they started to get out.

  Big trees, mountains, forests and waterfalls made this world look beautiful.

  They all walked quiet, looking around at everything. Leonid told them to be silent to avoid beast attention.

  The danger was there but couldn't be seen.

  Along the way to the cave entrance, they had to deal with an ember tier Kanorath beast—a hybrid of dog and rodent but rger than a dog. Leonid took care of it with his arrows that exploded on impact.

  "That's the cave entrance," Leonid said, pointing to an opening below a rock.

  "That's a relief. We didn't find any bze tier beasts," Felix said with an exhale, his armor reflecting the sunlight as he rexed his shoulders.

  "Now the real danger begins," Koda said with a hint of fear.

  "It looks like a fire ability user tried to melt the cave for a long time," Elise observed, looking at the cave entrance and the walls.

  "That's how they identified this as the right cave," Felix expined. "I think beasts did that when they lived in the cave."

  "Let's go then," Dmitri said, taking the lead. Everyone followed him.

  As they went inside the cave, they noticed crystals embedded in the ceiling and walls here and there.

  Going deeper, it became darker and darker. Just when everyone was thinking about using their lights, Felix created a small ball of light from his fingers, illuminating the whole area.

  Everyone looked at Felix for a second.

  That's the Sori power, Theon thought while looking at the crystals embedded in the walls.

  "So we have to go inside and into the mountain?" Felix asked, breaking the silence.

  His voice echoed through the cave, bouncing off the walls and creating an eerie chorus of his own words.

  "Yeah, this cave has two levels, as the scan images show. The top level is the one we're currently in," Leonid expined from the middle of the group.

  "Then there's another level." Leonid had taken the middle position because caves were disadvantageous pces for him.

  "The second level is where we'll most likely find the crystals," Koda added.

  "Okay, now everyone be silent," Viktor commanded.

  The deeper they went into the cave, the more Theon started to feel a strange sensation, but he ignored it, thinking it was probably just his mind pying tricks.

  After hours of walking, they finally came to a stop.

  "I think this is the end," Dmitri said, halting everyone.

  "No, this is the end of this level," Ronan corrected, pointing to a rge hole in the floor. It was big but not too deep.

  "Let's rest here," Viktor suggested. "We can go inside after having a little sleep."

  Everyone checked their NIPs for the time.

  "That's a good idea. It's almost midnight," Felix agreed, the faint glow of his armor visible in the dim light.

  "Yeah, walking at night is not a good idea," Koda added.

  "Let's go a bit farther from this hole, so if beasts come at night, we won't be directly in their path," Viktor said, heading back to find a pce to rest.

  They all settled down to rest while one person stayed on watch.

  They decided on a rotation shift: Theon, Koda, and Elise, as they were the new hunters. As team leader, Felix didn't get watch duty since everyone told him not to do it.

  Hours passed quietly. The cave was silent except for the occasional drip of water from the ceiling. Then suddenly...

  "Wake up! Wake up!" Koda shouted suddenly.

  A roaring sound echoed through the cave, and everyone quickly took fighting stances.

  "What? What happened?" Felix asked, his armor ptes clicking as he jumped to his feet.

  "Something was there," Koda said, pointing frantically toward the entrance, the way they had come from.

  Her voice was shaky, and her eyes were wide with fear.

  "Where's Elise?" Theon asked, looking around for her.

  "Eli... Elise... she's... missing. I think that thing took her," Koda stammered, her hands trembling. She was clearly in panic mode.

  "I can't see anything. What's going on?" someone muttered in the darkness.

  "Hey, Koda, everything's okay. Everyone's awake now. Calm down," Theon said, trying to soothe her.

  "Get the scanner," Viktor commanded Leonid.

  The scanner looked like a thin ptop. It scanned the area and dispyed the results.

  Looking at the scanner, they saw something rge—a beast emitting white energy, about 300 meters away.

  "We need to get down to the next level. Fighting that thing here is a stupid idea," Viktor said.

  Ronan nodded in agreement.

  As they were the most experienced hunters on the team, everyone listened to them.

  "Will it trap us inside?" Anya asked, her body visibly shivering.

  "Yeah, but it looks like the underground level is much rger. It will be easier to fight down there," Viktor expined.

  "And there's a chance it won't follow us inside," Ronan added.

  "What about Elise? We have to try to save her," Theon said with concern.

  "I don't think there's an Elise to save anymore," Viktor said grimly, implying she was already dead.

  Theon felt the urge to do something, but without any special abilities, he couldn't do much.

  Doing something reckless would only put others in danger, so Theon settled his mind and decided to go with the pn.

  "Hey, robot girl, come with me. We can jump down and check it out," Dmitri said, running to the opening.

  "Leonid, tie the rope on that rock and help the others get down."

  Dmitri and Koda jumped inside; they didn't have a problem taking the impact.

  Then Leonid helped the others descend.

  "Let's find a pce where we can take cover," Viktor said, running deeper into the cave on the lower level.

  They ran for an hour, then came to a rger opening. It was the end of the cave.

  "I don't think it followed us," Leonid said, showing the scanner screen to everyone. It dispyed a big bck screen.

  [Rare Energy Source

  RIONITE CRYSTAL]

  [Rare Energy Source

  RIONITE CRYSTAL]

  [Rare Energy Source

  RIONITE CRYSTAL]

  Felix's NIP showed a message when he saw lights at the end of the cave.

  "Those are the crystals I wanted! Three of them!" Felix said excitedly.

  "What are you waiting for? Collect them," Viktor barked at Felix.

  Felix ran to the crystals and collected them.

  The moment he removed the crystals from the wall, a roaring sound froze all of them.

  The scanner screen started to show the white energy-emitting beast again.

  Everyone's heart started pounding. Fear spread across their faces as the roaring sound got louder and closer.

  Beast Cssification:

  EMBER TIER - Deadly to untrained or lower Css human

  BLAZE TIER - Dangerous predators requiring veteran hunters

  INFERNO TIER - Catastrophic entities with territorial dominance

  SUPERNOVA TIER - Extinction-level threats (mostly considered rumors)