The C-Rank portal platform was nothing like D-7.

Where the D-Rank staging area had been a converted prep chamber with basic equipment racks and a single automated checkpoint, the C-Rank platform was a full-scale operations center.

Barriers hummed along reinforced walls. Multiple portal gates stood in a semicircle, each one calibrated to a different region of the world beyond.

Staff moved between monitoring stations, their conversations clipped and professional.

Sera was already waiting for him near the easternmost gate, her new staff strapped across her back and a fresh satchel of mana potions at her hip. She’d changed into reinforced traveling robes, the kind designed for extended expeditions rather than quick dungeon dives.

"You’re early," Damon said.

"You’re later than me. That’s a first."

"Lena took longer than expected." He adjusted the pack on his shoulders, the fresh vials clinking softly. "She wanted to run a full diagnostic on the new batch before she let me leave."

"She really does treat you like her child."

"Don’t let her hear you say that."

They approached the checkpoint together.

The officer on duty was a fourth-year student with the weathered look of someone who’d spent more time in portals than classrooms. His eyes moved over Damon’s authorization with practiced efficiency.

"First time in C-Rank?"

"That obvious?"

"You’ve got the look. Anyway, East Gate’s calibrated for the Verdant Expanse, a temperate forest biome. Good for first-timers. Just stick to the marked trails until you get your bearings. The town’s about two kilometers in. If you need to retreat, either go back the way you came or head to the town; it has its own portal."

"Anything we should watch for?"

"Dire boars, mostly. They’re territorial but predictable. If you see something with feathers, don’t engage. The giant eagles hunt in pairs, and they’re too much for most new C-Rank parties."

Damon filed the information away. "Thanks."

The officer stepped aside, and the portal flared to life. This one was larger than D-7’s, its edges a deeper blue, almost violet at the margins.

Sera let out a slow breath. "Ready?"

"Ready."

They stepped through.

***

The transition was smoother than D-Rank. Just a moment of weightlessness, and then the world solidified around them.

Sunlight.

Actual sunlight, warm and golden, filtering through a canopy of leaves that stretched overhead in a vast green dome.

The air was fresh, carrying the scent of damp earth and wildflowers. Birds called somewhere in the distance, sounds that belonged to no species Damon had ever heard in the human world.

Behind them, the portal shimmered in a stone archway twice his height.

They stood at the edge of a clearing. A dirt path wound away from the portal, marked by wooden signposts painted in academy colors. In the distance, smoke rose from chimneys half-hidden by the trees.

"The town," Sera said, following his gaze. "Should we check in first?"

"Might as well. The officer said to get our bearings."

They followed the path through the forest. The trees here were ancient, their trunks wide enough that three people couldn’t have linked arms around them.

Undergrowth pressed close to the trail’s edges, ferns and flowering bushes and something that might have been a berry thicket, though Damon wasn’t about to test that theory.

Every few hundred meters, a rune-carved post marked the trail’s boundary. The officer’s warning echoed in his mind: to stay on the marked trails.

"So," Sera said as they walked, "any idea what we’re actually looking for? Besides ’not dying’?"

"Information, mostly. I want to see how C-Rank monsters compare to the alpha. If we can handle a few fights without burning through all our resources, we’ll know we’re ready for longer runs."

"And if we can’t?"

"Then we fall back to D-Rank for a few more days. No shame in it."

Sera nodded, her staff humming faintly as she cycled mana through the crystal. A nervous habit, he’d noticed.

"Think we can handle a dire boar?" she asked. "I hear they’re 7 feet tall and as wide as a truck."

"Well, if we do, we’ll just hit it with everything we’ve got. There’s no way anything could survive a barrage of lightning. But just in case..."

[SERA AZURE — SUBORDINATE]

[CLASS: STORM CALLER — C-RANK]

[LOYALTY: GRATEFUL]

[AVAILABLE UPGRADES:]

[SUBORDINATE BOND: 100 TRIBUTE] — Establishes a connection with the sovereign. Subordinate gains a bonus to their highest stat while bonded, based on 25% of the Sovereign’s highest stat.

[SHARED VIGOR: 25 TRIBUTE] — Subordinate gains 20% of the sovereign’s health pool.

[EMPOWERED STRIKE: 50 TRIBUTE] — Subordinate is granted access to [SOVEREIGN’S STRIKE].

[PURCHASE SUCCESSFUL]

[TRIBUTE: 88 → 13]

Sera felt the shift the moment it happened, a faint warmth blooming in her chest, like swallowing a potion but deeper, the [SHARED VIGOR] already doing its work.

Before she could ask, her system chimed about another thing.

[NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: SOVEREIGN’S STRIKE]

[SOURCE: SUBORDINATE BOND — DAMON PERSIVAL]

[EFFECT: CHANNELS ENERGY INTO A SINGLE PHYSICAL BLOW. DEALS INCREASED DAMAGE BASED ON (SOVEREIGN’S) STR. COST: 20 MANA.]

She stared at the notification, then at her hands. Golden light flickered across her knuckles, faint but unmistakable.

"Sovereign’s Strike," she read aloud. "What is this?"

"Remember when my hands glowed during the alpha fight? When my blows hit harder than they should’ve?" Damon flexed his fingers, and the same light rippled across them. "That’s the skill."

Sera closed her fist, watching the light dance between her fingers. A slow grin spread across her face.

"It even scales on your own strength stat and not mine, cool~."

***

The town of Verdant’s Edge emerged from the forest like something out of a frontier story.

Wooden buildings lined a single main street, their facades weathered but well-maintained. A general store sat beside a blacksmith’s forge, the ring of hammer on metal carrying clear across the still air.

Further down, a two-story inn with a painted sign, THE HUNTER’S REST, overlooked a small market square where vendors had set up stalls beneath canvas awnings.

Resonators moved through the streets with the easy confidence of people who’d made this place their home.

Some wore academy uniforms. Others had adopted local gear, leather and furs and weapons that had seen real use.

A few glanced at Damon and Sera as they entered town, but the looks were brief, assessing, and then gone. Newcomers weren’t unusual here.

"Registration’s probably at the town hall," Sera said, pointing toward a larger stone building at the far end of the street.

They made their way through the market square, past stalls selling potions, equipment, and monster parts. Damon noted the prices with a practiced eye.

Higher than the academy store, but not unreasonably so. Supply and demand worked differently on this side of the portal.

The town hall was cool and dim inside, its stone walls blocking out the afternoon heat.

A clerk sat behind a long wooden counter, her gray hair pulled back in a severe bun. She looked up as they approached.

"New arrivals?"

"First time," Damon said.

"Authorization?"

He pulled up his system screen, showing the C-Rank authorization Voss had signed. The clerk scanned it, made a note in her ledger, and pushed two copper badges across the counter.

"Visitor tags. Keep them visible while you’re in town. They’ll mark you as authorized personnel. If you decide to apply for residency, head further up the road to the main city."

"Main city? Glad this isn’t everything." Sera said, pinning the badge to her collar.

"Careful, it almost sounds like you’re insulting the town," Damon replied.