CHAPTER 23: DOWNTIME

Rin woke up the next morning to his entire body screaming at him.

The goblin fight hadn’t felt that intense while it was happening, adrenaline had carried him through, but now every muscle ached, his arms were covered in bruises from blocking attacks, his legs felt like concrete from all the movement.

He dragged himself to the shower, stood under hot water for twenty minutes trying to convince his body to function.

His phone buzzed with notifications, he checked it while getting dressed.

Joy: you feel like death too right

Joy: because i feel like death

Joy: everything hurts

Rin: same

Joy: want to grab food? actual food not that association cafeteria garbage

Rin: where

Joy: theres a place in downtown that does good breakfast. real eggs, real bacon, none of that synthetic protein shit

Rin: send address

She sent the location, some diner called Rosie’s, Rin called a car because driving seemed like too much effort.

The diner was exactly what he expected, old-school booths, checkered floors, a waitress who looked like she’d been working there since the 80s.

Joy was already seated, she looked as rough as he felt, dark circles under her eyes, her pink hair pulled into a messy bun.

"Morning," she said when he slid into the booth across from her.

"Morning."

The waitress came over, they both ordered coffee immediately, then actual food, eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns, the kind of meal that probably wasn’t on any Association-approved diet plan.

"So that was our first hunt," Joy said after the coffee arrived. "Thoughts?"

"It was messier than I expected."

"Right? Like the training simulations didn’t prepare me for the smell, or the sounds they made when they died, or how their blood is this weird green color."

"You held up well though, your crowd control kept us from getting overwhelmed."

"Thanks, you too, that energy absorption thing is nuts, I saw a goblin stab you in the arm and you just absorbed it."

Rin looked at his arm where the knife had hit, there was a small tear in his shirt but no wound, the fracture energy had dispersed the impact before it could cut him.

"It’s useful but it drains me, I can’t maintain it indefinitely."

"Still better than my ability, emotion manipulation only works if they can feel emotions, what happens when we fight something that doesn’t care about fear?"

"Then Tayo and I hit it really hard while you provide support."

She laughed, sipped her coffee. "I like Tayo, he’s good people, not trying to compete or prove anything, just doing the work."

"Yeah he’s solid."

Their food arrived, they ate in comfortable silence for a bit, both too tired and hungry for conversation.

Halfway through his eggs, Rin’s phone buzzed.

Unknown number, he almost ignored it, then decided to check.

The message was short: "Impressive performance yesterday. We should talk. - Fiona"

’How did she get my number?’

[Association directory likely]

[All licensed Hunters have access to contact information for coordination purposes]

"Who is it?" Joy asked, noticing his expression.

"Fiona, the gravity girl, she wants to talk."

"About what?"

"Doesn’t say."

"That’s ominous, you going to respond?"

Rin thought about it, Fiona was dangerous, possibly unstable, definitely someone who’d killed another participant without hesitation.

But she was also strong, knew things about combat that he didn’t, might be useful to stay on her radar rather than ignoring her.

He typed a response: "About?"

The reply came immediately: "Training. Your abilities are interesting. Mine are refined. Mutual benefit."

Joy read over his shoulder. "She wants to train with you, that’s, weird right, like she barely talks to anyone."

"Maybe that’s why, everyone’s scared of her."

"Everyone’s scared of her because she crushed someone into a ball."

Fair point.

Rin: "I’ll think about it."

Fiona: "Don’t think too long. Offer expires when you’re no longer interesting."

He put his phone down, went back to his food.

"You’re actually considering it," Joy said.

"I need to get stronger, she’s stronger than me, seems logical."

"She’s also a psychopath."

"Probably, but a useful psychopath."

Joy shook her head but didn’t argue further, they finished eating, split the bill, stepped outside into the morning sun.

The city felt different now that Rin was a licensed Hunter, he noticed things he’d missed before, the way people gave certain buildings a wide berth because they were near dungeon spawn points, the Association patrol vehicles making rounds, the news ticker on a nearby screen showing dungeon breach statistics.

This was normal now, the world had adapted, moved on, incorporated monsters into daily life like they’d always been there.

"What are you doing with your two days off?" Joy asked.

"Probably training, reviewing combat footage, figuring out what I did wrong."

"That’s depressing, you should do something fun, go see a movie, meet people, exist as a human being for a few hours."

"I don’t really do fun anymore."

"Because of Leo."

"Because of Leo," he confirmed.

Joy was quiet for a moment. "He wouldn’t want you to just, stop living though, right, like I didn’t know him but from what you’ve said he seemed like someone who’d tell you to lighten up."

"He would, constantly, drove me crazy."

"So maybe honor that by actually taking a break once in a while."

Rin considered it, the idea of just relaxing felt foreign, like he didn’t deserve it while Kazriketh was still out there, while that promise remained unkept.

But Joy had a point, burning out wouldn’t help anyone.

"What did you have in mind?"

"There’s this place downtown, virtual reality arcade, they’ve got Hunter simulation games that are actually pretty good, we could blow off steam shooting fake monsters instead of real ones."

"That sounds incredibly dumb."

"Exactly, it’s perfect."

Against his better judgment, he agreed.

The VR arcade was packed with teenagers and young adults, mostly non-awakened civilians who wanted to experience hunting without the risk of actual death, the games were surprisingly well-made though, realistic enough to be useful practice.

Joy picked a co-op dungeon crawler, they loaded in wearing VR headsets and haptic suits.

The virtual dungeon was an orc fortress, they had two other random players on their team, some kid who immediately ran ahead and died, and a girl who seemed to actually know what she was doing.

"Your friend’s an idiot," the girl said through voice chat after the kid respawned.

"Not our friend, random matchmaking," Joy replied.

They cleared the dungeon in about forty minutes, the girl carried most of the damage, Rin and Joy provided support, the kid died six more times.

After the match ended, the girl pulled off her headset, turned out to be Tina, the ice manipulator from the exam.

"Oh shit, you guys too?" She grinned. "I come here when I need to decompress, fake dungeons are way less stressful than real ones."

"You had your first assignment yet?" Joy asked.

"Yeah, yesterday, got sent to clear out a rat infestation in the subway tunnels, disgusting but easy, you?"

"Goblin nest, warehouse district."

"How was Vrell? He supervised my team too, dude’s intense."

"He called out every mistake we made in real-time," Rin said.

"Same, apparently I rely too much on ice walls and not enough on mobility, who knew." Tina checked her phone. "You guys want to run another dungeon? I’ve got a few hours before I need to be anywhere."

They played for two more hours, cleared three more virtual dungeons, Tina was actually really good, her ice manipulation translated well into the game mechanics.

Between matches they talked about their assignments, compared notes on supervisors, discussed which dungeons they wanted to try next.

"There’s this D-rank dungeon in the financial district," Tina said. "Underground parking garage that got converted into a slime nest, apparently it’s good for farming materials, slime cores sell for decent money."

"We can’t do D-rank yet," Joy pointed out.

"Not officially, but nobody checks if you’re with a qualified team, I know a C-rank who runs newbies through it for a cut of the profits."

"That sounds sketchy."

"It is sketchy, but it’s also how you level up faster, sitting around doing E-rank clears for six months is boring."

Rin listened but didn’t commit, the Association had rules for a reason, jumping into higher-rank dungeons before you were ready was how people died.

But Tina had a point, if he wanted to get strong enough to face Kazriketh, doing goblin nests forever wasn’t going to cut it.

His phone buzzed again, this time a message from Tayo.

Tayo: "Yo, some of the exam people are meeting up tonight, bar in midtown, you coming?"

Rin showed the message to Joy and Tina.

"Oh I got that too," Tina said. "Definitely going, need to network, make connections, all that professional stuff."

"By professional stuff you mean get drunk and complain about supervisors," Joy said.

"That too."

Rin didn’t particularly want to go to a bar, social situations weren’t his thing, but these were people he’d be working with, might as well establish some rapport.

"Fine, I’ll go."

"Wow, so enthusiastic," Joy said. "Try not to radiate misery the entire time."

"No promises."

They finished their last virtual dungeon run, said goodbye to Tina, agreed to meet up at the bar later.

Rin went home, showered again because the VR haptic suit had made him sweat, changed into clean clothes that weren’t covered in goblin blood or tactical gear.

The bar was called The Fractured Glass, which was incredibly on-the-nose for a Hunter hangout, it was packed when he arrived, newly licensed E-ranks mixing with more experienced Hunters, everyone drinking and talking loudly.

Tayo found him immediately. "Yo, you made it! Come on, we got a table in the back."

The table had about eight people, Joy was there, Tina, a few others from the exam that Rin vaguely recognized.

Someone handed him a beer, he took it more for something to do with his hands than because he wanted to drink.

The conversation was exactly what he expected, people comparing their first assignments, bragging about kills, complaining about supervisors, discussing which dungeons paid the best.

"I heard the sewers are hiring," someone said. "Rat extermination pays garbage but it’s consistent work."

"Yeah but then you smell like sewage forever," another person replied.

"Better than the recycling plant dungeon, that place is literally just goblins living in trash."

Rin mostly listened, contributed occasionally when someone asked him a direct question, let the noise wash over him.

Joy was in her element, chatting with everyone, making jokes, the social butterfly he definitely wasn’t.

Partway through the night, Paul showed up.

The earth manipulator spotted Rin immediately, his expression darkened, he said something to his friends, they all looked over.

’This is going to be a problem.’

[Probability of confrontation: 76%]

[Paul Thorne still harbors resentment from your victory]

[Recommend avoiding engagement]

Paul walked over, stood at their table uninvited. "So you’re here celebrating."

"Just hanging out," Rin said calmly.

"Right, hanging out, must be nice being the portal guy, everyone treating you special, making you team lead on your first mission."

"Paul, come on man," Tayo said. "Not the time."

"Shut up, I’m not talking to you." Paul’s eyes stayed locked on Rin. "I want a rematch, proper one-on-one, no exam rules, no supervision."

"That’s not happening."

"Why, scared I’ll actually beat you this time?"

"No, because it’s stupid and accomplishes nothing."

Paul’s jaw clenched. "You got lucky during the exam, buried me under rocks like a coward, next time I’ll be ready."

"There won’t be a next time."

"We’ll see about that."

He walked away before Rin could respond, rejoined his group across the bar.

"That guy’s got issues," Tina said.

"He’s not wrong though," Rin admitted. "I did bury him under rocks."

"During a sanctioned match where that was a valid tactic," Joy pointed out. "He’s just salty he lost."

The rest of the night passed without incident, people gradually left as it got later, Rin stayed longer than he intended, the background noise was actually kind of nice, kept his brain from overthinking.

By midnight it was just him, Joy, and Tayo left at the table.

"So," Tayo said, slightly drunk. "What’s everyone’s long-term goal, like where do you want to be in a year?"

"D-rank minimum," Joy said immediately. "C-rank if I can manage it."

"Same, maybe try to specialize in something, become known for a specific skillset." Tayo looked at Rin. "What about you?"

Rin thought about Kazriketh, about the promise he’d made, about getting strong enough to actually matter.

"S-rank," he said.

They both stared at him.

"That’s, ambitious," Tayo said carefully.

"It’s insane," Joy corrected. "E to S-rank in a year? That’s not realistic."

"Didn’t say it would take a year."

"How long then?"

"However long it takes."

The conversation moved on but Rin could tell they thought he was delusional, maybe he was, S-rank was reserved for the absolute best, people who could solo A-rank dungeons, who could fight city-destroying threats.

But that’s what he needed to be to face something like Kazriketh.

So that’s what he’d become.

They left the bar around 1 AM, Rin caught a car home, collapsed into bed fully clothed.

Tomorrow he’d get his evaluation results, find out if he’d passed or if Vrell had failed him for the mistakes he’d made.

Tomorrow he’d start preparing for the next assignment.

Tomorrow he’d keep moving forward.

One mission at a time, one fight at a time, one step closer to keeping his promise.

The tracker in his shoulder pulsed softly, reminder that he wasn’t free yet, that the Association was watching.

But that would change eventually.

It had to.

Sleep came easier than expected, exhaustion overriding anxiety.

When he woke up, there was a message waiting.

EVALUATION RESULTS: APPROVED PERFORMANCE RATING: 7/10 CLEARANCE: Granted for next assignment NEXT MISSION: Available for selection

He was cleared.

The grind continued.