[ Location: Goblin Warrens - Hidden Chamber ]
The system's red warning pulsed like a panicked heartbeat, a stark contradiction to the cold, logical calm that now governed your actions. Aborting was the sane choice. It was the choice the old Kael, the F-Rank survivor, would have made without a second thought. He would have scrambled back to the main tunnels, linked up with the guild team, and counted himself lucky to escape with another story of near-death. But you were not that man anymore. The survival instinct that had defined you had been refined, honed into something sharper, more ambitious. It no longer sought mere escape; it sought dominance.
You took a step toward the archway. The oppressive energy intensified, a physical pressure against your skin, and the runes on the stone flared with a brilliant, violet light. Your shadow soldier recoiled, its form flickering violently as if threatened by the gate's very presence. Yet, you felt no fear, only an unnerving sense of recognition. This was it. The true test. The system's warning wasn't a threat; it was a filter. It was designed to weed out the unworthy, to send them fleeing back to their safe, predictable world. You had no intention of being found wanting. With a final, deep breath, you walked through the archway, the world dissolving around you in a storm of blinding light and screaming silence.