The Underground Table did not introduce itself.
No names were offered. No ranks displayed. The circular chamber existed outside the polite structures of dungeon society, where guilds pretended order ruled everything.
Here, order was negotiated.
Leon stood at the edge of the stone table, every gaze fixed on him. The card between his fingers had already vanished, but the impression lingered, like a coin pressed too long into skin.
The silver-haired woman tapped the table once.
"Sit," she said.
Leon did.
The grooves carved into the stone pulsed faintly, reacting to his presence. Not his mana—his ability. The table recognized variance.
Rook took a position behind him, arms crossed.
"Let's be clear," the woman continued. "Irregulars don't come here unless they're desperate or dangerous. Which are you?"
Leon met her eyes. "I'm useful."
A few chuckles rippled around the table.
She smiled. "Good. I'm Nyx."
No surname. No title.
The others followed with brief acknowledgments.
A broad-shouldered man in battered plate armor. "Graves."
A thin caster with ink-stained hands. "Elric."
A hooded figure who said nothing at all.
Nyx leaned back. "We take contracts guilds can't. Or won't. Failed dungeons. Broken rules. Things that don't fit."
Leon nodded. "And you pay for silence."
"We pay for results," Nyx corrected. "Silence is a bonus."
She slid a crystal shard across the table. It hovered before Leon, projecting a distorted image.
A dungeon gate.
But the mana around it twisted unnaturally, folding back on itself.
"A Shard Depth," Nyx said. "Detached dungeon fragment. No clear ranking. No stable layout."
Leon frowned. "That's not legal."
Nyx smiled. "Exactly."
Graves leaned forward. "Three teams entered. None came back."
Elric added, "The system refuses to classify it. Calls it unresolved."
Leon's system window flickered.
Unprompted.
A single word appeared.
Compatible.
Leon's fingers tightened.
Nyx watched closely. "You felt that, didn't you?"
Leon didn't deny it. "Yes."
"Then you understand why we called you," she said. "Your cards don't obey fixed scaling. They adapt."
Leon considered the projection.
"What's the objective?"
Nyx's smile faded. "Reach the core. Confirm whether it's evolving."
"And if it is?"
"Then we collapse it," Graves said simply.
Leon exhaled slowly.
A dungeon that could grow.
That was a threat to everything.
---
The approach took three hours.
The Shard Depth gate floated in a dead zone beyond Blackstone's mapped territory, anchored in fractured dungeon stone. Mana storms rippled faintly around it, warping perception.
Leon stood with the team at the perimeter.
Nyx adjusted her gloves. "Once we're inside, comms are unreliable. Formation stays tight."
Leon nodded.
His cards pulsed faintly.
Blue Card felt… eager.
That was new.
The gate swallowed them.
---
The dungeon interior defied logic.
Floating platforms of obsidian drifted through a violet void, connected by strands of hardened mana. Gravity shifted subtly with every step, as if the space couldn't decide which way was down.
Leon steadied himself.
His system window updated.
Dungeon Type: Fragmented Shard
Threat Classification: Unresolved
System Assistance: Limited
"Limited?" Graves muttered. "That's comforting."
They moved.
The first enemies appeared without warning.
Creatures formed from compressed mana and broken stone, humanoid in shape but hollow-eyed, movements jerky and wrong.
"Contact," Nyx said calmly.
Leon reacted instantly.
Gold Card.
The lead construct froze mid-lunge.
Graves smashed it apart with his hammer.
Red Card followed.
The explosion tore through two more, sending shards spiraling into the void.
Leon felt the familiar strain—but also something else.
Feedback.
The dungeon reacted.
The mana strands pulsed, tightening.
Elric swore. "It's learning."
Nyx's eyes sharpened. "Move. Now."
---
They advanced deeper, fighting through increasingly coordinated resistance. Constructs flanked. Traps formed mid-combat. The dungeon responded to their patterns.
Leon adjusted.
He stopped throwing.
Instead, he held.
Blue Card.
The passive regeneration strengthened, stabilizing his mind as the dungeon pressure mounted.
Gold Card.
Held.
The stun radius condensed, more precise.
Leon's system window flashed.
Gold Card Proficiency: Refined Control
He smiled grimly.
So this was how it grew.
---
They reached a central platform.
At its heart floated a crystal core, fractured and pulsing, veins of mana crawling across its surface like living veins.
Nyx's voice was tight. "That's no normal core."
The hooded figure finally spoke. "It's half-awake."
The dungeon shifted.
Platforms reconfigured, sealing exits.
A massive construct rose from below, larger than the others, its body etched with adaptive runes.
Graves braced. "Boss."
Leon stepped forward.
"No," he said quietly. "Test."
Nyx glanced at him. "What?"
Leon raised his hand.
Gold Card.
But he didn't release it.
He pushed.
The card split.
For a heartbeat, reality stuttered.
Two Gold Cards hovered side by side.
The system screamed.
Warning. Overextension Detected.
Leon ignored it.
He released both.
The stun didn't freeze the construct.
It erased its momentum.
The massive form slammed into the platform, locked in place by overlapping control fields.
Silence fell.
Graves stared. "That… shouldn't be possible."
Leon staggered, blood trickling from his nose.
But he was smiling.
His system window blazed.
New Effect Registered
Gold Card Variant: Twin Lock
Condition: High Mental Load
Nyx exhaled sharply.
"Alright," she said. "You're officially terrifying."
The construct shattered under focused attacks.
The core pulsed wildly.
Leon approached it.
The system window flickered again.
Compatible.
Assimilation Possible.
Leon's heart raced.
Nyx grabbed his arm. "Don't."
Leon hesitated.
Then nodded.
"Collapse it," he said.
They planted charges.
The Shard Depth began to unravel.
As they escaped through the collapsing gate, Leon glanced back.
For a moment, he swore the core watched him.
---
Back in the Outer Ring, the gate imploded silently.
The team stood in the aftermath.
Nyx turned to Leon. "That stunt just doubled your bounty."
Leon wiped the blood from his lip.
"Worth it," he said.
Rook appeared from the shadows, whistling softly.
"Iron Vein just escalated," he said. "And not just them."
Leon's system window pulsed one last time.
New Condition Available
Deck Expansion Threshold Approaching
Leon closed his eyes.
The game wasn't just starting.
The deck was getting deeper.