Dr. Park's voice carried a note of professional interest.
"Impact force consistent with high-tier C-rank Physical Enhancement. Mana expenditure is minimal, suggesting an efficient technique over raw power output. The precision is... remarkable."
Kim watched the replay on her tablet.
Ash's movements had been controlled, deliberate.
Not the overwhelming force of an A-rank, but the calculated efficiency of someone who understood exactly how much strength to use.
"Verdict?" she asked.
"C-rank Physical Enhancement Type," Dr. Park confirmed.
"Specialized in combat adaptation and tactical perception.
The eye mutation appears to be a mana-channeling phenomenon, rare but not unprecedented.
I'd classify it as a sensory enhancement rather than a separate ability."
Kim nodded slowly. "Mr. Sinclair, congratulations. Your official classification is now C-rank." She paused, her expression serious.
"However, I'm going to ask that we keep this re-classification quiet for now. Just between the four of us."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because if you continue to develop, if this Physical Enhancement continues to grow..." Kim met his gaze directly.
"You could have S-rank potential. And I'd rather not advertise that until we're certain.
Understood?"
"Understood," Ash said.
Angela's expression remained neutral, but Ash could sense her satisfaction.
They'd sold the lie.
Kim suspected something, yes, but she'd accepted the explanation. More importantly, she'd given them cover.
They reconvened in the boardroom.
"There's another matter," Kim said, pulling up new imagery.
A volcanic landscape appeared, black obsidian plains, rivers of glowing magma, heat distortion making the air shimmer.
"Puerto Rico. What used to be, anyway."
The image shifted, showing massive salamanders crawling across the landscape.
Each one was the size of a bus, scales glowing from within like barely contained coals.
"An A-rank gate opened there during the initial fall," Kim continued.
"Hunters couldn't contain it. Catastrophic breach.
The entire island is now overrun with Fire Salamanders.
We've detected the same corruption patterns we saw in Manhattan."
"The Corpse Handler, that's what we call It" Angela said quietly.
"We suspect so. If it's upgrading the gate boss..."
Kim didn't need to finish.
"We're mobilizing a strike team," she continued.
"S-rank hunter Frost will lead.
Angela, you're assigned as primary support. Ash, given your new classification and your tactical abilities, you'll coordinate."
"When?" Angela asked.
"One week. That gives us time to prepare equipment for the volcanic environment and gather intelligence on the gate's layout."
Ash leaned forward slightly. "Director Kim, I'd like to request access to a training gate before the operation."
Kim studied him. "Explain."
"I'm a Physical Enhancement Type," Ash said, his voice steady and confident.
"My abilities develop through combat. One week isn't much time, but if I can access a B-rank gate for intensive training, I can push my capabilities. Make myself more effective for Puerto Rico."
"Solo training?" Kim's tone was neutral, but her eyes were sharp.
"Yes. I need to understand my limits and test how far I can push the enhancement. I can't do that effectively with a team watching every move."
Kim was quiet for a moment, then nodded. "We have two B-rank gates currently available. Both stable, both contained." She pulled up images.
The display flickered, revealing a landscape of beautiful horror.
Obsidian-barked trees breathed in a slow, organic rhythm beneath a sickly orange sky that cast a heatless, oppressive glow over distant mountains of clean, white bone.
"The Ogre Gate," Director Kim said, her voice clinical as she gestured to the mounds of skulls littering the valley.
"A dense, breathing forest where territory is measured in blood. They are pack hunters, but their military-style patrol patterns are predictable for those who know what to look for."
The second image showed vast plains under an amber sky. In the distance, serpentine shapes moved through tall grass.
"The Imugi Gate. Korean dragon-serpents, plains environment. Fast, intelligent, venomous. More dangerous individually, but less coordinated than ogres."
"The Ogre Gate," Ash said without hesitation.
Kim nodded.
"Approved. You can enter whenever you're ready. Standard solo operation protocols apply emergency beacon, check-in requirements, seventy-two hour maximum before extraction."
"Understood."
Angela caught Ash's eye as they stood to leave.
A silent question passed between them, and Ash's slight nod was all the answer she needed.
Whatever happened in that gate, he was ready.
The Ogre Gate shimmered in the abandoned industrial sector, a tear in reality between rusted factory shells.
Rain continued to fall, lighter now but persistent, as if the sky itself was mourning something it couldn't name.
Ash stood before the gate alone.
His supplies were minimal water, a basic medical kit, combat knife.
Angela had wanted to give him more, but he'd refused. He needed to rely on what he was, not what he carried.
The gate's surface rippled like disturbed water, pulsing with that familiar sickly green light.
Ash checked his status window one last time.
[NAME: Ash Sinclair]
[AGE: 23]
[CLASS: SUMMONER]
[SPECIAL CLASS: DEMONIC SUMMONER]
[MANA: 3500/3500(B RANK)]
[STRENGTH: 60 (B RANK)]
[ENDURANCE: 30 (C RANK)]
[AGILITY: 52 (B RANK)]
[CHARM: 499 (S RANK) LILITH AUTHORITY]
[ INTELLIGENCE: 100 (A RANK)]
Not enough. Not nearly enough for what was coming in Puerto Rico.
But that's what the next few days were for.
Ash raised his marked hand, feeling the summoning circle pulse beneath his skin. "I summon you, Queen of Chaos Lilith."
Reality tore open with red light.
Lilith stepped through, and the industrial sector itself seemed to recoil from her presence.
She wore a black dress that looked painted onto her curves, red hair cascading past her shoulders in waves that moved with their own will.
Ruby eyes fixed on Ash with predatory interest.
"My, my," her voice was silk and smoke. "The little summoner needs a training partner?"
She stepped closer, her heels clicking on wet concrete.
"And here I thought you'd never ask."
"One week," Ash said. "I need to get stronger. Fast."
Lilith circled him slowly, appraising.
"A week to transform from adequate to exceptional? Ambitious."
She stopped in front of him, close enough that he could feel the heat radiating from her skin.
"But I do enjoy ambition. Very well, summoner. I'll watch you grow."
Her smile was wicked. "Try not to disappoint me."
Ash turned toward the gate.
They stepped through together.
The transition was a jarring reality folding, a moment of weightlessness, then sudden solidity.
The gate's interior was exactly as Kim's briefing had shown: a landscape of beautiful horror where obsidian-barked trees breathed, their trunks expanding and contracting in a slow, organic rhythm.
Above, a sickly orange sky cast a heatless, oppressive glow over mountains of clean white bone and mounds of skulls that rose in the distance like natural hills.
The air tasted of copper and sweet rot, a heavy mixture of ancient death and new hunger.
In the distance, drums echoed. Deep, rhythmic pounding that seemed to come from the earth itself.
Ash checked his surroundings.
"So," Lilith said, settling gracefully onto a fallen log as if it were a throne.
"What's your plan, little summoner? Charge in screaming? Try to fight them all at once?"
"No," Ash replied, his eyes scanning the forest.
"I hunt them. Pick off scouts, thin their numbers, never fight more than I can handle. Learn their patterns. Adapt."
"And if you get overwhelmed?"
"Then I die." Ash's voice was calm, matter-of-fact.
"But that won't happen. I'll do whatever it takes to survive and grow stronger."
Lilith's smile widened with genuine delight. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this."
A roar echoed through the forest, closer than the drums. Guttural, filled with rage.
Ash's hand went to his knife. His eyes shifted, black sclera and green pupils, burning with enhanced sight.
Through the eyes of the Dead, the forest's shadows revealed hidden shapes. Movement. Multiple contacts, circling.
"First lesson starts now," Lilith purred. "Show me what you can do."
The undergrowth exploded.