Chapter 15: The Four Idiotic Musketeers
The food court had that typical city plaza atmosphere — plastic tables, buzzing lights, and the smell of deep fryer oil mixed with sugary drinks. They settled around a corner table, each carrying a mismatched tray of food.
Kenji had something saucy and noodle-based.
Leo opted for a box of dumplings and a melon soda.
Hiro went all in with skewers and fish balls drowned in hot sauce, and of course,chips.
Lanz just grabbed the least suspicious rice bowl he could find.
Overhead, one of the big screens was playing a muted hunter broadcast reel, showing highlights from a recent Tier 6 Gate run. A guy in red armor was slow-mo diving through centipede legs, blade glowing like it came with a lightshow subscription.
"I’d kill for moves like that," Hiro muttered, eyes fixed on the screen between bites.
"First you need the rank," Kenji replied, mouth half full of noodles.
"Yeah, yeah," Hiro grumbled. "Still stuck at five."
Lanz glanced up, curious. "You’ve been Level 5 this whole time?"
"For months," Hiro said, not even embarrassed. "I’ve been farming sim-beasts like a desperate mobile gamer. They don’t let you into real dungeons unless you’re at least E-rank or part of a registered guild."
Leo chimed in, poking at his dumpling with a chopstick. "I’m stuck too at five too. My sync rate was only forty-eight percent, so the Association basically laughed me off."