The cycle was nearing its end, seven days left, this one already burning away.

  The cafeteria buzzed with its usual morning rhythm, armor plates locking into place, the low thrum of

  resonance cores, the faint clatter of utensils against metal trays.

  Calen’s team occupied their familiar table near the corner, datapads and ration cups scattered across its

  surface. Everyone was in high spirits; the sting of the previous day had faded beneath the glow of fresh

  upgrades and renewed purpose.

  Renn pulled up the portal registry on his wrist display. “We’ve got a good one today, Portal 137,” he

  said, his voice carrying a note of restrained excitement.

  Calen leaned in. “Categories?”

  “Mainly elemental,” Renn replied, expanding the projection so the data shimmered in the air above

  them. “Sixty-seven percent swarm, seventeen herd, eleven individual, and five pack.”

  The numbers lit a spark across the group. Voss let out a low whistle. “That’s… a lot of fragments

  waiting to happen.”

  Renn grinned, scrolling further. “And before anyone asks, I triple-checked. This portal hasn’t been

  touched in many cycles.” His voice was nearly lost beneath the flood of conversation that followed,

  guesses, calculations, excited predictions of how many BFs they might return with.

  When the noise quieted, he continued. “Breakdown looks solid: twenty-five percent fire, twenty-five

  mineral, twenty-five wind, ten lightning, ten healing, five miscellaneous.”

  Calen crossed his arms, nodding. “Volcano world, most likely. High fire, mineral, lightning, it fits.”

  The team murmured in agreement. The thought of that environment, the danger, the density, the chance

  of high-value beasts, only fueled their anticipation.

  “Good day for essence harvesting too,” Calen added. “Voss’ll thrive in fire, Renn gets both lightning

  and mineral, I get wind. Kira and Erys, healing saturation’ll boost your resonance cycling.”

  Smiles spread around the table. Kira exchanged a grin with Erys; both healers looked almost giddy at

  the prospect.

  “Sounds like payday,” Voss said, tapping his new T1G bracer.

  “That’s exactly what it is,” Calen answered. “Let’s move.”

  They finished their prep and made their way to the Grey-portal wing. The corridors hummed with

  activity, teams coming and going, fragments being logged, weapons echoing faintly against the

  reinforced flooring. Calen’s group checked in at the registry station, confirming their clearance.

  “Team Rhenn, assigned to Portal 137,” the attendant said, gesturing toward their gate.

  They stepped onto the platform as the field spun to life. Just as the energy began to build, shouting

  echoed down the corridor.

  “Stop! Don’t go in!”

  Bash’s voice, urgent, commanding, closer with every word.

  Calen turned just in time to see Bash and Taren sprinting toward them, motioning frantically.

  “What the hell...” Renn started.

  Before the thought could finish, the light surged, and the world vanished.

  The disorientation passed as quickly as it came. When the brightness faded, the seven Spartors found

  themselves standing in sunlight, actual sunlight, beneath a sky of deep blue. The air was warm and

  clean. Grass rippled in slow waves beneath their boots, stretching toward distant rivers and forested

  hills.

  “This… isn’t a volcano,” Verron muttered.

  “Not even close,” Thane added.

  Calen scanned the horizon. Everything was too bright, too calm.

  Kira turned toward him, brow furrowed. “I wonder what Bash was yelling for.”

  Calen snorted. “Probably realized we got to the good portal first. Thought he could scare us into

  backing off.”

  Voss chuckled. “Wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to bluff us off a prize.”

  Kira shook her head. “No… he looked concerned. Not angry. Just, worried.”

  “Forget it,” Calen said flatly, pulling up his core interface. A grid of glowing icons filled the air.

  “Focus. Map’s up.”

  Seven signals pulsed across the display, three swarms, two herds, two individuals, and one pack, all

  within five kilometers.

  Renn whistled low. “That’s just the perimeter. Imagine what’s farther out.”

  Calen grinned, energy returning to his tone. “Team, it is definitely payday.”

  Voss gave a short laugh. “If the numbers keep looking like this the further we go out, we might need

  more than a day to clear it.”

  “Wouldn’t be the worst thing,” Thane said, adjusting his gauntlet seals. “If it’s untouched, staying

  overnight could double or even triple our haul.”

  Renn nodded thoughtfully. “We could, as long as we don’t exit the portal. Once we’re out, it’s open for

  anyone else to claim.”

  Erys checked his resonance meter, expression cautious. “So we’d need to hold it straight through, no

  resets, no breaks.”

  Calen looked around the group, weighing their expressions. “If the density stays high past the first few

  zones, we’ll push the run as far as we can. I don’t plan on giving up a world if it is this full.”

  Kira met his eyes, a small, uncertain smile forming. “Then we’d better make sure we can hold it.”

  “Agreed,” Calen said, turning back toward the hills. “Let’s see what this world’s hiding first. Then we

  decide.”

  The excitement spread like fire. Even the healers’ eyes gleamed with anticipation.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “First one’s an individual,” Renn said, highlighting the nearest signal two kilometers east. “Should be a

  good warm-up. Two swarms close behind it, one klick further.”

  Calen nodded. “Then we start there. Let’s move.”

  The terrain shifted as they advanced, grassy plains giving way to stone and sparse trees, the slope rising

  toward a ridge at the base of a small mountain. Crunching echoed ahead.

  “Hold,” Calen ordered.

  A boulder the size of a transport truck came hurtling from the treeline. “Move!” he shouted.

  The team scattered, the rock smashing into the ground where they’d stood.

  Then they saw it, an eight-meter-tall stone golem, its body built of jagged mineral plates fused by

  glowing seams of crystaline light.

  Tier-Two-Common. Mineral Type. Weakness, Fire. Maximum Size, Five meters. Slow movement.

  High density. Extreme strength.

  Calen repeated it aloud, his voice sharp and focused. “Tier-Two-Common, Mineral type, weakness fire,

  max size five meters, slow but strong, dense armor. Aim for the joints!”

  “Five meters?” Renn barked, dodging another thrown stone. “That thing’s almost twice that!”

  “The system’s off, just focus!” Calen snapped. “Voss, head shots! Everyone else, target the joints! Stay

  wide, don’t get close!”

  The golem bellowed and charged, faster than its mass should’ve allowed. Its kick slammed into

  Verron’s shield, the impact detonating like a shockwave and hurling him backward through a spray of

  dust and stone.

  Kira and Erys reacted instantly, resonance flaring from both as they rushed to him. Streams of light

  intertwined, gold and white, pouring into the cracks of his armor. Even through his shield, the blow had

  torn deep into his vitals, his readout dropping to thirty-eight percent. The overlapping pulses stabilized

  him within seconds, and by the time he forced himself upright again, his vitals had already surged back

  to full.

  “I thought you said it was slow!” Renn shouted.

  “Adapt!” Calen yelled. “Rotate fire, kite it, make it turn!”

  The team adjusted quickly, moving in coordinated arcs. The golem’s primitive instincts worked against

  it, it lunged clumsily toward whoever struck last, ignoring others even at point-blank range.

  Voss’s dual pistols flared to life, molten fire bursting from both barrels as he unloaded into the

  creature’s head. Each impact struck with a sharp crack, spraying fragments of glowing mineral, but the

  golem didn’t even flinch. The shots barely scorched its surface, the heat dispersing across the dense

  carapace like rain against steel.

  “Not working!” Voss shouted, sliding back and switching stance. “Its head’s too thick!”

  “Then hit the joints!” Calen barked, ducking as another slab of rock flew past.

  Voss adjusted instantly, twin pistols blazing in rhythmic volleys that tore into the creature’s elbows and

  knees. The molten impacts melted narrow seams into the stone, creating small fissures that Renn’s

  lightning shots quickly exploited, fracturing the weakened points.

  The coordination clicked, attacks shifting like a current around the towering golem. Every burst now

  found its mark, not enough to topple the monster yet, but enough to start slowing it down.

  Calen’s arrows carved resonance lines into its legs; Renn’s lightning scorched its arms; Voss’s dual

  pistols peppered its joints with molten-fire bursts. The healers pulsed energy in steady rhythm, not to

  mend wounds but to sustain the team’s flow. Every burst of excess resonance fed into their gear stats,

  amplifying speed, strength, and armor until the entire formation moved like one accelerating machine.

  Bit by bit, they dismantled it, one knee shattered, then the other. The beast collapsed to its side, roaring

  as they focused on its arms, then finally its neck joint. The carapace was too dense for deep strikes, but

  after persistent, surgical hits eventually severed the head in a shower of crystalline dust. The battle took

  a total of thirty minutes

  When it fell, the ground quaked and went still.

  Renn dropped to one knee, clutching his chest as a pulse of energy slammed into him from the

  collapsing form. Kira rushed forward, readied motes flaring, while Erys steadied her from behind, but

  neither were needed.

  He gasped once, then looked up, eyes wide. “T-Tier Two Greater. Mineral type.”

  For a heartbeat, no one moved. Then realization hit.

  “That’s… eight thousand T1A,” Voss said, voice almost reverent.

  Renn’s eyes widened as he did the quick math on his display. “After deductions, that’s enough for each

  of us to get four full pieces of T1A gear!”

  For a heartbeat, the entire ridge went still, then the team erupted in cheers, the sound echoing through

  the crags like thunder. Helmets clashed, gauntlets met in high fives, and even Kira laughed aloud, her

  voice carrying over the fading hum of resonance.

  Calen grinned, resting his bow on his shoulder. “That explains why the system got it wrong. One

  evolution higher than it read.”

  Renn laughed, shaking his head. “I’ll take that kind of error any day.”

  “Let’s keep moving,” Calen said, turning toward the valley where two new signals glowed on his

  display. “We’ve got swarms waiting.”

  The team moved, still buzzing with triumph.