The city argued about the Eastline Labyrinth for the next forty-eight hours.News channels called it an opportunity, a disaster, a political stunt, and a possible breakthrough in Rift research. Parents called the academy to withdraw their children from every combat program. Guild recruiters crowded the school gates, watching the volunteers with the hungry patience of people evaluating investments.Adrian ignored all of them.He spent the first day preparing his equipment. The spatial ring held the Gravebrand Cleaver, his training bow, Ether Cores, food, water, bandages, a lantern, and a small map of the rail yard downloaded from a public database. He also bought a durable black field jacket with deep pockets and reinforced lining. It was not enchanted, but it would survive more than his old academy clothes.Marcus watched from the apartment doorway. Since Adrian had revealed his level and summons, his father had become quieter, not less worried."A labyrinth is not a Rift," Marcus sai

Adrian returned home at sunset with a box of groceries tucked under one arm.The new bow rested safely inside his spatial ring. His remaining money was low, but the apartment kitchen would have real food for several days. Marcus had been living on cheap canned meals and stubbornness for too long.As Adrian entered the alley behind the building, four men stepped out from the shadows.They were not the same thugs who had attacked his home. These men wore dark street clothes and carried themselves with enough confidence to suggest they belonged to a larger crew. One had a scar through his eyebrow. Another gripped a collapsible baton."Adrian Vale?" the scarred man asked."Depends who wants to know.""Lucas Voss wants a conversation.""Then Lucas can call me."The man smiled without warmth. "That was the wrong answer."Adrian set the groceries down carefully. In his first life, this would have been a nightmare. Now he had the Hobgoblin Captain's Echo, ninety Boneguards, and a bow that did

Adrian began the morning by studying the Continuum instead of eating breakfast.The system had become familiar enough that its pale blue messages no longer startled him, but every new line still felt like a door opening into a room he did not understand. He had reached Level 10, awakened Reaper's Mark, and spent a large amount of stored experience on its first upgrade. That alone would have been more progress than he had made in three years of his first life.The Continuum was not finished with him.A new message sat beneath the experience display.Continuum advancement available.Requirement: Ten Ascension Stones.Reward: Intermediate Continuum functions.Adrian read the message three times. Ascension Stones were rarer than Level Stones. They did not merely provide experience. They were condensed fragments of a defeated creature's growth potential, usually found only in elite labyrinths, high-level Rifts, or sealed vaults. Even guilds treated them as strategic resources.Ten was an i

The Eastline rail yard had become the most guarded place in Riverton.Blue Banner barricades blocked the surrounding streets. News vans waited beyond the outer fence. Parents, guild representatives, and curious civilians crowded behind temporary barriers, hoping to see the young hunters entering the newly formed labyrinth.Darius parked outside the restricted zone and placed one large hand on Adrian's shoulder before he got out."Your father told me to make sure you reached the entrance," he said. "He did not tell me to let you do anything stupid after that.""That is a very small difference.""It is the difference between advice and dragging you home by the collar."Adrian smiled despite himself. "Tell him I will return.""Tell him yourself."At the checkpoint, Mara, Dorian, and Nora were waiting. Mara's guardian stood beside her with the contained anger of a man prohibited from protecting someone he cared about. Dorian looked tense but focused. Nora kept checking the ward tokens she

The golden mist hid more than distance.Adrian's team entered the water-marked passage in a tight formation. Mara walked near the front, her frost lighting the ground in pale blue. Nora held a ward lantern that revealed faint lines of magic in the walls. Dorian stayed to the rear, checking every intersection before the others moved.Adrian walked between them with the Nullstring Bow ready.The corridor twisted downward. The stone grew damp. A sweet scent filled the air, similar to rain on hot pavement but richer, almost medicinal. Adrian could feel the pull of it in his lungs."Do you smell that?" Mara asked."Dawnwater," Nora said. "Or something designed to imitate it."They reached a cavern where broken rails crossed a shallow underground river. Pale gold water flowed beneath the tracks. At first glance, it looked like the answer Adrian had come for.Then Dorian raised one hand."People," he whispered.Two figures stepped from behind a stone support on the opposite side of the river