Several days had passed.
Kai had stopped counting. What was the point? Days meant nothing in a place without sun. There was only the rhythm of survival—wake, move, hunt, eat, hide, sleep. Repeat.
The corridors blurred together. Same stone. Same moss. Same damp air pressing against his skin. Day after day after day.
He'd learned the patterns. Which paths held rats and which held nothing. Where the glim grew thick enough to navigate and where darkness meant danger. How to move quietly, how to strike fast, how to run when running was smarter than fighting.
Small rats mostly. Easy kills now. He'd gotten faster. Cleaner.
Somewhere in those blurred days, the System had blinked—notifications appearing and fading.
[Dagger Proficiency (Lv. 3)]
Damage with daggers increased by 12%.
[Perception (Lv. 2)]
Chance to detect threats increased by 4%.
[Level Up: 3 → 4]
Stat points allocated.
He'd barely glanced at them. They didn't matter. Not really. What mattered was the next meal. The next safe corner. The next breath.
He'd found more food—rats were edible if you were desperate enough. Tough, stringy, foul-tasting, but edible. More water, seeping through cracks in the stone. More glim moss to supplement the endless hunger that never fully left. Just dulled to a constant ache.
The loneliness was worse than the hunger.
Not sharp like those first days after the fight. Not the panicked isolation of being hunted. Just... heavy. Always there. A weight on his chest that never lifted.
He walked. Always walked. Always up.
The corridors sloped gradually, almost imperceptibly, but he felt it in his calves, his breathing. Up meant progress. Up meant something.
Then he found the stairs.
Worn stone steps cut into the rock, spiraling upward into darkness. Ancient. Solid. A path to somewhere else.
He climbed.
---
The stairs opened into a chamber twice the size of anything on Floor 1. The ceiling vanished into shadow. Glim grew in thick carpets on every surface, casting light that felt almost bright after so long in dim corridors.
And someone was there.
Kai stopped dead.
A figure sat against the far wall, legs crossed, working a stone along the edge of a short blade. Quick movements. Short hair sticking up at odd angles. Familiar.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
He looked up. Grinned.
"Took you long enough."
Kai's dagger was in his hand before he knew he'd moved. Body low. Ready to fight. Ready to run.
The young man raised empty hands, blade resting on his thigh. "Easy. Easy. If I wanted you dead, I'd have done it while you slept back on Floor 1."
Kai didn't lower the weapon. "You're with him."
"Was with him." The man spat onto the stone. "That guy's a walking disaster. Broke off two days ago. He's going the wrong way—down, can you believe it? Says lower floors are safer." He shook his head. "Coward."
Kai watched. Said nothing. Didn't trust. Didn't attack.
The man shrugged. "Look, I've been waiting here. Figured you'd come up eventually. You're not the type to hide."
"Why wait?"
"Because solo in this place?" He gestured at the chamber, the corridors beyond. "Suicide. You saw the rats. Bigger things coming. I need someone. You need someone." Another shrug. "Simple math."
Kai's mind raced. Could be lying. Could be a trap. Marek's people could be waiting just out of sight.
But he was right about solo.
Can I trust him?
No.
But maybe... maybe I don't need to trust. Just need to survive.
Kai lowered his dagger.
"Talk."
---
The man—Ran, he said his name was Ran—talked fast. Too fast, like he was making up for days of silence.
He'd arrived the same time as Kai? Different place? No memory either. Just the fall, the void, the waking.
Marek's group formed fast. First day. People gravitated to anyone who seemed confident. Marek seemed confident. Turned out confident meant controlling. Paranoid. Dangerous.
Ran stayed because safety in numbers. But after seeing Marek try to kill Kai over nothing? Over refusing to hand over supplies like a dog rolling over?
"That was the line," Ran said. "Didn't sign up for murder."
"The quiet one," Kai said. "Broad shoulders. Wounded arm."
Ran nodded. "Novick. He's still with them? Not with them, just... near them. Doesn't talk. Doesn't follow orders. Just exists. Weird guy."
"The others?"
"Sheep. Follow whoever has food. Followed Marek. Follow anyone." Ran spat again. "Won't last."
Silence stretched. Ran studied Kai with open curiosity.
"So you," he said. "You killed a rat with a rock first day. I saw the corpse. Messy but effective." He tilted his head. "Where'd you learn to fight?"
Kai blinked. The question sat wrong. "Didn't learn. Just... did."
"Weird." Ran wasn't mocking. Just stating. "Most people freeze first time. Scream. Run. Cry. You didn't. You just... killed it."
Kai had no answer.
He filed the question away. Why didn't I freeze?
Didn't matter. Focus on now.
"You talk too much," Kai said.
Ran laughed. Actual laugh, bright in the dead silence. "Yeah. I know. Drives people crazy. But talk means information. Information means survival." He tapped his head. "Learned more in two days with Marek's group than you could in two weeks alone. Where water is. Which paths have bigger monsters. Rumors about higher floors."
"Tell me."
---
Ran talked.
Marek's group had been moving since day one, covering ground Kai couldn't have covered alone. They'd mapped large sections of Floor 1. Found multiple water sources. Lost two people to a monster Kai hadn't seen yet—something with too many legs that came out of the dark.
They'd heard rumors. Whispers passed between groups that never met. Notes scratched on walls. Bodies left behind with warnings carved into stone.
Higher floors were worse. Bigger monsters. Smarter ones.
But also better rewards. Chests with real weapons. Potions that actually worked. Skill books—Ran didn't know what those were, just heard the words.
And somewhere on Floor 6, a safe zone.
Ran's eyes lit up when he said it. "Place where monsters don't spawn. People build shelters. Trade. Cook actual food." He almost licked his lips. "Can you imagine? Hot food. Real food. After weeks of rat meat and moss?"
Kai couldn't imagine. But the word lodged in his chest. Safe zone.
"How far?"
"Floor 6. Four more floors up." Ran shrugged. "If the rumors are true. If the stairs exist. If we don't die on the way." He grinned. "Lot of ifs."
Kai said nothing.
Ran stood. Offered a hand.
"Partners? At least until one of us dies."
---
Kai stared at the hand.
Calloused. Dirty. Real.
Trust?
No. Not trust. Not yet. Maybe never.
But alone was slower. Alone was harder. Alone meant sleeping with one eye open every night, never fully resting, never recovering.
Alone meant no one watched your back.
He thought of Marek's group. Ran hadn't been with them. Not really. He'd just been... near them. Waiting for something better.
Maybe not all humans are wolves. Maybe some are just... other sheep.
Kai took the hand.
Ran's grin widened. "Good choice. Now let's get out of this hole. Floor 3? Floor 4? I hear there's a safe zone on 6 with actual cooked food."
"Safe zone."
"Place where monsters don't spawn. People build villages. Trade. Rest." Ran's voice softened, just slightly. "Sounds like paradise after this crap."
Kai nodded. "Floor 6."
They walked.
Together.
For the first time since waking, Kai wasn't alone.
---
The corridors of Floor 2 stretched ahead, wider than below, the carvings on the walls more elaborate. Ran talked constantly—jokes Kai didn't laugh at, complaints about the cold and the hunger and the endless stone, stories that might be true or might be nothing.
Kai listened. Said little.
The silence felt different now. Filled with sound. Another human sound.
Ran's voice bounced off the walls, chasing away the dark.
Still don't trust him.
But maybe... maybe I don't have to.
Together is better.
Ran talked about food he missed, meals he couldn't quite remember but missed anyway. Talked about dreams he'd had—fragments, like Kai's, but lighter. Less painful. Talked about nothing at all.
Kai walked beside him, dagger in hand, eyes scanning every shadow.
For the first time, the corridors felt less empty.
