Chapter 6 Someone Else in the Dark

Ethan processed that for a moment. “That’s why you told me not to go near the northeast section.”

“That’s why I said you weren’t ready,” the old man corrected. “Different thing. If that creature is genuinely in there, you’ll need to face it at some point — not because you want to, but because it’s inside the dungeon you’re using to train every night. Sooner or later that boundary will close in.” He stood and walked toward the back of the shop. “But not tonight.”

He came back carrying a light armor vest — thin, close-fitting, made from a material Ethan had never seen before, nothing like anything sold in a standard equipment shop.

“This won’t save you from a direct hit from anything stronger than a Rank-G Shadow Hound.” He set it on the counter. “But it’ll reduce damage from glancing blows and deflected strikes enough that you’re not bleeding out over the course of a night.” He looked at Ethan. “You’re leveling up fast. What level are you at now?”

“Four.”

He nodded. “Next week you’ll start running into Rank-G+ Shadow Hounds — larger, faster, and each one carrying a random secondary skill. The armor will be necessary by then.”

“What’s the price?”

“Information in exchange.” He sat back down. “You’re inside that building every day. I want to know everything unusual you observe — not just in the dungeon, but throughout the building. Who goes down to the basement levels, which departments are moving personnel, what equipment is being brought in.” He looked at Ethan steadily. “I’ll explain why I need that information when the time is right. Not now.”

Ethan looked at the armor. Looked at the old man.

Over the past three weeks he had given Ethan a knife, a training tool, stitched his wounds without asking too many questions. None of that was the behavior of someone acting without reason. But it also wasn’t the behavior of someone with bad intentions — a person with bad intentions had no need to do all of that to get access to an F-Rank janitor.

“Alright,” Ethan said. “But information runs both ways. Whatever you know about the Gate in B3, I need to know it.”

The old man considered that for a moment. “Fair,” he said, and stood. “That Gate has been there for at least twenty years. Ironspire knows about it — not the entire leadership, but certain people do. They haven’t registered it because registration means sharing extraction rights with the government and other guilds under current law.” He looked at Ethan directly. “Someone inside Ironspire is using that Gate for their own purposes. I don’t yet know what those purposes are. That’s why I need you on the inside.”

“I could already be under surveillance,” Ethan said.

“Possibly.” The old man didn’t deny it. “But if they already knew about you, you’d already have a problem. The fact that you’re still standing here without incident means either they don’t know, or they know and they’re waiting to see what you do.”

“Neither option is particularly comfortable.”

“No,” he agreed. “But both are better than being caught immediately.” He pushed the armor across the counter toward Ethan. “Go. Don’t stay in the dungeon more than two hours tonight.”

Ethan picked up the armor. Lighter than he’d expected. “Why two hours?”

“Because you just received a significant amount of new information and your mind is still processing it. When the brain is working through something important, reflexes run slower than usual.” He looked at Ethan with the expression of someone stating the obvious. “Going into a dungeon with slower-than-normal reflexes is an efficient way to die. You’re not at a level where you can compensate for that with raw strength alone.”

Ethan put the armor on. It fit better than it had any right to, as though it had been made for someone with the same build.

“Whose was this?” he asked.

The old man had already turned back to his book. “Someone who no longer needs it.”

Ethan didn’t ask anything further.

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Inside the dungeon that night, Ethan wore the new armor and carried the two wooden rods out of habit.

The first Shadow Hound appeared in the second corridor — larger than anything he had faced the week before, faster in its movements, and when it struck, the sideways rake of its claws skated across his ribs with a sharp scrape against the armor plate instead of tearing into skin.

Ethan brought it down in nine exchanges instead of fifteen.

DEVOUR activated. The System panel appeared:

[Shadow Hound – Rank G+] defeated.

[DEVOUR] has absorbed: ▸ [Silent Step – Level 1] — Movement produces no sound.

Level: 5 EXP: 210 / 1,200

Rank G+. Exactly as the old man had said.

He tested [Silent Step] immediately — his feet met the floor but produced no resonance, as though the ground itself had become sound-absorbent. The skill performed better than he’d expected from something absorbed minutes ago.

Two more Shadow Hounds after that. Both Rank G+. Both went down faster than the first as he began to recognize the differences in how they moved compared to standard Rank G.

He was making his way toward the exit — keeping to the old man’s limit, no more than two hours — when he caught the smell.

Not Shadow Hound. Not anything familiar. It came from the northeast direction — the area Shadow Hounds never approached — and within it was something he recognized for the first time: hot metal. The scent of an Awakened skill recently discharged.

Ethan went still.

Someone else was in this dungeon.

Someone strong enough to operate in the area Shadow Hounds avoided. Someone who knew how to enter an unregistered Gate. And tonight — for the first time since he had begun coming here — that someone was active.

He thought of Old Iron’s words: Someone inside Ironspire is using that Gate for their own purposes.

[Silent Step] was still running. Ethan made no sound. If the other person didn’t have a detection ability, they might not know he was here.

He turned and walked toward the exit. Steady. Unhurried. Without looking back.

When the steel door closed behind him, he leaned against the wall of the B3 corridor and exhaled slowly.

Information for Old Iron in the morning: someone used an Awakened skill in the northeast section of the dungeon tonight. Rank unknown, purpose unknown, and unknown whether they had detected his presence.

He pulled up the System panel for a quick check and closed it again.

Level five. The armor had done its job. [Silent Step] was the best skill he had absorbed yet.

And in the secret dungeon beneath one of the three most powerful guild buildings in the city, someone was doing something they didn’t want anyone to know about.

One thing at a time, he reminded himself, and started toward the stairwell.