Chapter 62: Another step
Public Gate Training Facility 1 was nothing like the gate training facility back in Area 17.
It sat directly adjacent to the main NEA headquarters, a colossal dome of sleek black metal and reinforced glass that looked more like an advanced research laboratory than a training ground.
The entrance was entirely automated with no guards or manually stamped ledgers. Instead, a clean line of biometric archways scanned entrants as they walked through.
Hide passed his newly acquired Independent Operator card over the sensor panel. The archway chimed a crisp, pleasant green, and the heavy glass doors parted seamlessly.
Inside, the scale of Area 5’s wealth was immediately apparent.
The interior was vast and aggressively clean. Instead of standard glass zones, the Loop Gates were contained within individual, soundproofed stasis fields—shimmering, semi-transparent energy barriers that neutralized the chaotic mana leaking from the portals.
Elevated walkways crisscrossed above the gates.
Hide walked up to the sleek central reception desk. The attendant, a woman in a crisp white uniform, glanced at his card data on her screen and immediately sat up straighter.
"Welcome to Facility 1, Operator," she said politely. She tapped a discreet earpiece. "Front desk. Need a Helper at the central lobby. Independent Operator, solo entry, first visit."
Hide waited. It took less than twenty seconds.
Unlike Toma from Facility 7—who had tripped over his own feet and dropped a clipboard full of paper—the Helper who approached Hide was the picture of Area 5 efficiency.
He was a young man in a tailored dark grey uniform, carrying a sleek holographic tablet instead of a clipboard. He stopped at a perfect distance and offered a brief, professional bow.
"Operator Volter. I’m your Helper for today, Silas," he said, his voice crisp. He tapped his tablet, projecting a three-dimensional holographic map of the entire dome between them. It slowly rotated, displaying thirty distinct gate zones color-coded by difficulty.
"Since this is your first time at Facility 1, I’ll keep the walkthrough brief," Silas said smoothly. "Rules are standard: no drawn weapons outside the stasis fields. I will be monitoring your vitals, if they drop to critical, or if you trigger your ring’s emergency pulse, I am authorized to initiate a forced extraction."
Hide nodded. "Show me the Two-Star gates."
Silas’s fingers paused over his tablet. He glanced at the data scrolling across his screen, and his professional demeanor cracked just a fraction.
"Sir..." Silas hesitated, zooming in on a cluster of amber-lit sectors on the hologram. "Your public registry currently lists you as an F-Rank Exterminator. Protocol strongly dictates that you select from the One-Star zones. Two-Star gates contain high-ranking beasts. I strongly advise—"
Hide didn’t let him finish. He pointed to one of the amber sectors. "What’s in Zone 14?"
"Zone 14 is a swamp terrain," Silas answered reflexively, though his tone was tight. "The internal beast population consists predominantly of Iron-Scale Vipers. Sir, I really cannot recommend—"
Hide cut him off with a look.
It wasn’t a glare, but simply a cold, flat stare, honed in the suffocating quiet of Maddox’s office and sharpened in the Black Castle. It was the look of someone who had recently killed things far more terrifying than whatever lived inside Zone 14.
"I didn’t ask for a recommendation," Hide said quietly. "Did I?"
Silas froze and gulped. He looked at the Independent Operator badge pinned to Hide’s chest, a credential that technically placed Hide outside standard safety protocols and slowly swallowed his objections.
"Understood, Operator," Silas said, his voice returning to a stiff professional clip. "Please follow me."
Silas led him down the pristine corridors toward the back of the dome. Zone 14 sat quietly behind its stasis field. The gate itself was a swirling tear in space, pulsing with deep violet and bruised-purple energy.
Silas stepped up to the exterior console and synced his tablet with the gate’s monitoring system. "The entry platform is active. I’ll be right here, monitoring your status. Come back in one piece."
Hide didn’t answer. He stepped through the stasis field and let the portal swallow him.
The transition was violent.
The sterile, climate-controlled air of the facility vanished instantly, replaced by a wave of suffocating, humid heat. Hide’s boots hit soft, damp earth.
The lighting was poor—a sickly, greenish twilight filtering through a dense canopy of twisted, thorn-covered trees. The ground was slick with moss, and the air smelled heavily of wet copper and rot.
He didn’t have time to take in the scenery.
A sharp, wet hiss tore through the underbrush to his right.
Hide pivoted seamlessly. A beast launched itself from the thick foliage—a massive, serpentine creature easily the length of a small car. Its scales were the color of rusted iron, and its jaws unhinged, revealing rows of needle-thin teeth dripping with pale venom.
Hide didn’t draw a weapon. He didn’t even flinch.
The snake lunged at his throat. Hide simply stepped inside its arc.
His left hand shot upward, his Abyssal Scale Carapace instinctively manifesting over his skin.
His scaled fingers clamped around the beast’s lower jaw mid-strike, stopping its momentum with a sickening crack. Before the creature could thrash, Hide drove his right fist directly into the side of its skull.
The impact shattered its skull bone and the snake went limp instantly, its heavy body collapsing into the damp dirt.
[Calamity Beast (Iron-Scale Viper) - Eliminated]
Experience points gained: 150
Two more hisses sounded from the canopy above.
Hide looked up. Two more serpentine beasts were dropping toward him, their fangs bared.
Spinning on his heel, Hide grabbed the dead snake by its tail. Using its massive weight as a whip, he swung the corpse upward in a brutal, horizontal arc.
The dead beast slammed into the two descending snakes mid-air, snapping their spines with the sheer force of the impact. They crashed into the mud in a tangled, broken heap.
But they were not dead yet. So Hide jumped from the place he was and crushed one of them with his legs, while stabbing the other in its eye with the short sword.
Silence fell over the swamp.
[Calamity Beast (Iron-Scale Viper) - Eliminated]
Experience points gained: 150
[Calamity Beast (Iron-Scale Viper) - Eliminated]
Experience points gained: 150
[Level Up]
Level: 12 → 13
Exp: 50/ 2900
Level Up reward has been added to inventory.
Hide ignored the floating blue text. He let out a slow breath, shaking the dark blood from his scaled hands. He wasn’t here to hunt snakes. But leveling up was something that he looked up to and needed.
’I am at level 13 now, I need 7 more before my Rank can evolve from F to E. And 37 more before I can buy that potion for Risa.’
Now time for the main thing he was here for. Absorbing Dark Mana and using his new talent.
He closed his eyes and focused.