The servo in his right shoulder whined.
It was a mosquito sound, high, thin, and constant. Every time Ren swung his arm, the Scavenger Exo-Frame buzzed, the motor fighting to amplify his weak muscles.
To anyone else, it would have been annoying. To Ren, it sounded like progress.
He walked out of the labyrinth of Sector 4. The transition to Sector 3 wasn't subtle. The mountains of loose trash vanished, replaced by paved roads. The buildings were not made of corrugated iron anymore; they were brick and stone, standing upright, reinforced with steel beams.
And the smell changed.
It did not smell like rot. It smelled of ozone, roasted meat, and weapon oil.
Ren adjusted the collar of his wolf-fur coat. He stuck out here.
In Sector 4, he was a king among beggars. Here, in Sector 3, he looked like... well, a scavenger.
People walked past him wearing actual armor. Leather cuirasses dyed in guild colors. Chainmail that didn't look like it had been pulled off a corpse. He saw a woman carrying a staff that glowed with genuine, stable light, not the flickering glitch-light of his Logic Drive.
[Entity: Hunter (Tier 1)] [Class: Mage] [Mana: Stable]
Ren kept his head down, clutching the Pneumatic Spike wrapped in rags. He wasn't here to make friends. He was here to see the source.
He followed the crowd. They were all moving toward the center of the sector, drawn like moths to a very dangerous flame.
Then, he saw it.
It dominated the plaza.
The "Gate" was not a stone archway. It was a wound in the sky.
A vertical tear in reality, hovering ten feet off the ground, jagged and violently purple. It crackled with black lightning that struck the cobblestones, leaving scorched marks. The air around it rippled, distorting the light like a heat haze on asphalt.
Ren stopped. His left eye began to throb.
To the normal eye, it was magic. To Ren's glitch vision, it was a catastrophe.
[Anomaly Detected: Server Breach] [Source: External Injection] [Packet Loss: 14%] [Status: Leaking Data (Monsters)]
"It's not a portal," Ren whispered, staring at the jagged tear. "It's a corrupted file."
The world was trying to render something that didn't belong, and the friction was tearing a hole in the map.
He took a step forward, mesmerized. If he could get close... if he could touch that tear with the [Logic Drive]...
"Halt."
A halberd, heavy, polished steel, slammed into the ground in front of him, cracking a paving stone.
Ren stopped. He didn't flinch. He slowly looked up the shaft of the weapon, past the gauntleted hands, to the face of the guard.
The guard was massive. He wore full plate armor painted in blue and gold, the crest of a lion on his chest. He looked like a tank with a human face.
[Entity: Gatekeeper (Tier 2)] [Affiliation: Iron Vanguard Guild] [Strength: 4.5] [Threat: Extremely High]
Strength 4.5. Ren was a 0.6. Even with his Exo-Arm boosting him to 2.1, this guy could rip Ren in half like a wet paper towel.
"Lost, rat?" the guard rumbled. His voice echoed inside his helmet. "The trash pits are back that way."
Ren kept his expression flat. "I'm looking for work. I heard the Gate was active."
The guard laughed. It was a deep, metallic sound.
"Work? Look at you."
The guard poked Ren's chest with the butt of the halberd. It hurt.
"You're wearing rags. You have a pile of scrap metal strapped to your back. You think this is a game? The Gate spits out things that eat iron."
He gestured to the plaza behind him.
"This area is under the jurisdiction of the Iron Vanguard. Only Licensed Hunters allowed. Registration fee is five silver coins."
Five silver. That was five hundred coppers. Ren currently had... maybe forty coppers left after paying Sara.
"I don't have a license," Ren said calmly. "I'm an independent contractor."
"Then you're a corpse," the guard sneered. "Scram. Before I arrest you for loitering in a military zone."
Ren looked at the guard. He looked at the heavy steel greaves protecting the guard's legs.
[Item: Vanguard Greaves] [Material: Refined Steel] [Weakness: Joint Articulation (Behind the knee)]
Ren's hand twitched toward the Pneumatic Spike on his back. One shot. Kneecap. He goes down. I execute.
No.
Ren unclenched his mechanical fist. There were four other guards behind this one. All Tier 2.
If he fired now, he died. He wasn't in the sewers anymore. He couldn't just "edit" his way out of a squad of tanks.
"Understood," Ren said.
He took a step back, bowing his head slightly. A submission posture.
The guard smirked, satisfied. "Smart rat. Go dig through the garbage. Maybe you'll find a copper."
Ren turned and walked away.
He didn't run. He walked slowly, memorizing the layout of the plaza. He counted the guards (five). He noted the shift change (the sun was setting). He noted the supply crates stacked near the barrier.
He walked into an alleyway out of sight of the guards.
"System," Ren whispered. "Scan."
He wasn't scanning the guards. He was scanning the air.
The [Logic Drive] in his pocket hummed, drinking the ambient energy radiating from the Gate.
[Environmental Analysis] [Mana Density: High] [Data Fragments Detected.]
The Gate was leaking energy. Pure, raw energy. He didn't need to enter the dungeon to get strong. He just needed to be near it.
Ren sat down on a crate in the shadows. He pulled out the [Logic Drive]. The blue light was pulsing faster now, reacting to the proximity of the breach.
[Battery: 64% -> 66%...]
It was charging wirelessly.
Ren smiled. A cold, predatory smile.
"Five silver for a license," Ren muttered.
He looked at his mechanical hand. He looked at the Pneumatic Spike.
He didn't need a license. He needed a distraction.
A loud commotion erupted from the plaza.
"OPEN THE BARRIER! INCOMING!"
Ren stood up and peered around the corner.
A group of Hunters was running out of the Gate. They weren't cheering. They were screaming. Their armor was shredded. One of them was missing an arm.
And behind them, squeezing through the tear in reality, was a claw.
A massive, chitinous black claw the size of a car.
[Entity: Void Crawler (Tier 2)] [Status: Breaching]
The Iron Vanguard guards shouted, lowering their halberds. "FORM LINE! DEFEND THE PERIMETER!"
Chaos. Perfect, beautiful chaos.
Ren grabbed the handle of his Pneumatic Spike.
"Opportunity knocks," Ren said.
He stepped out of the alley.