The entrance to the Iron-Root Dungeon was a jagged fissure in the base of a massive, petrified oak. A faint, sickly green luminescence drifted from the opening, smelling of stagnant water and old copper.
"Alright, listen up!" Klynn barked, his voice echoing against the stone. "This is an E-Rank crawl, but don't get cocky. The Iron-Root Spiders are fast, and their venom will paralyze a grown man in ten seconds. Duriz, frontline. Regra, center. Mera, you're on flanking duty. Aris..."
Klynn paused, looking at Aris who was standing at the back, looking remarkably bored.
"Aris, stay within three feet of Regra. If a pebble falls from the ceiling, you scream. Got it?"
"Crystal," Aris said, adjusting the strap of his leather tunic.
Behind his calm expression, his Source Code Intuition was screaming. To the Silvas Guild, this was a routine E-Rank dungeon. To Aris, the mana-density readings were fluctuating wildly.
The server isn't syncing properly, Aris thought. "The Iron-Root Dungeon shouldn't have this much mana-saturation at the entrance. Something has migrated here."
They stepped into the darkness.
The air grew cold. Duriz tapped a crystal on his shield, casting a wide beam of white light ahead. The walls were thick with calcified roots that looked like skeletal fingers.
"Movement!" Mera hissed, her daggers drawn.
From the ceiling, three Iron-Root Spiders dropped. They were the size of hunting dogs, their carapaces covered in bark-like armor.
"Form up!" Klynn commanded.
Duriz stepped forward, taking a heavy strike on his shield. The impact made a dull *thud*. Regra raised her staff, chanting a minor light-binding spell to slow the creatures down.
Aris watched the fight with a clinical eye.
[ MOB: IRON-ROOT SPIDER ]
[ LEVEL: 8 ]
[ STATUS: BUFFED (SERVER INSTABILITY) ]
Mera darted in, her blade glancing off a spider's armored leg. "Tch! Their shells are harder than the briefing said!"
"It's the mana density," Aris muttered, almost to himself.
"Shut up and stay back, Newbie!" Mera snapped, narrowly dodging a spray of webbing.
Aris sighed. He could see the spiders' attack patterns—they were literally "telegraphing" their moves with faint blue lines visible only to him. He stepped two inches to the left, and a venomous spike missed his shoulder by a hair. He didn't even look at it.
He needed to help without revealing he was Level 21.
He spotted a loose root hanging directly above the largest spider. With a subtle flick of his fingers, Aris sent a needle-thin bolt of raw mana into the root's structural weak point.
*Crack.*
The heavy, petrified wood collapsed, crushing the spider instantly.
"Whoa! Lucky break!" Duriz shouted, finishing off the second spider. "The ceiling's doing half our job!"
"Focus!" Klynn yelled, though he looked relieved. "Move to the first chamber!"
As they pushed deeper, the walls began to change. The roots were no longer wood—they were turning into a metallic, silver substance.
Aris froze. He recognized this. This wasn't an E-Rank dungeon anymore. This was a Regional Mutation.
"Klynn, stop," Aris said, his voice dropping its "clueless newbie" act.
"What now, Aris? We're on a timer," Klynn replied, not looking back.
"The map is wrong. Look at the walls. That's not Iron-Root. That's Silver-Lace Mana Ore. This isn't an E-Rank spider den anymore. We've walked into a C-Rank Hive."
Mera laughed, though it sounded forced. "A C-Rank? You can barely read a compass, kid. These are just—"
A roar shook the tunnel, deep and metallic. From the darkness ahead, two glowing red eyes ignited—eyes that were far too high off the ground to belong to a spider.
[ BOSS DETECTED: SILVER-CLAWED URSA ]
[ LEVEL: 45 ]
Klynn's face went pale. His Air Screen flickered as the System tried to calculate the threat level. "Level 45? That's impossible! This is a starter zone!"
"Retreat!" Regra screamed. "We can't take a Level 45!"
But the path behind them began to seal. Metallic roots wove together like a closing shutter, locking them in.
"We're trapped," Duriz whispered, his shield trembling. "We're all going to die here."
Aris stepped forward, passing a stunned Mera. He didn't look like a scrawny scout anymore. The turquoise glow of his hair seemed to hum in the darkness.
"Everyone, get behind Duriz," Aris said, his voice calm and authoritative.
"Aris, get back!" Klynn reached for him, but Aris was already moving.
"I told you I was ready to start leveling," Aris said, his Air Screen expanding and turning a brilliant, terrifying gold.
[ CURRENT LEVEL: 21 ]
[ OVERCLOCKING SYSTEM... ]
[ LEVEL BOOST ACTIVE: 21 -> 55 (TEMPORARY) ]
"Let me show you how a 'Pre-Patch' player handles a boss."