The chamber at the center of Floor 5 wasn't massive.
It was wide, round, hollowed into a perfect dome—smooth black stone and faint lines of glowing red running in veins across the floor and walls.
But the heat? It pulsed. Thick. Like the air itself was sweating.
At the center of the room sat a mana node—a core of condensed light, hovering in mid-air, bleeding out unstable strands of magic in every direction. The longer they looked at it, the more unstable it felt.
"I don't like this," Luc muttered. "I don't like this at all."
"It's like a mana heart having a seizure," Joey added, arms crossed. "No rhythm. No logic. Just raw bleed."
Conner didn't speak.
He was watching the lines on the floor.
They were twitching.
Katie stepped closer, fingers pulsing with frost. She formed a simple defense ring—a low-effort weave she'd used dozens of times since the apocalypse started.
The moment the mana left her palm, it twisted—compressed—then detonated in a loud, cracking pop that echoed off the walls.
She hissed and stumbled back, clutching her arm. Her sleeve had iced over and fractured, scattering frozen shards onto the floor.
"Shit," she breathed. "That was a basic spell. I didn't even charge it."
"It's reacting to intent," Conner muttered, still kneeling. "Even if the mana is stable for a moment, the node disrupts how it flows the second it senses formation."
Neive tilted her head. "So we're blind. And powerless."
"No," Conner said. "Not blind."
He stood slowly, scanning the room again—this time with more than just his eyes.
His Scope Eye flared to life, its frame glowing with overlapping lines of mana.
And for the first time, he saw it all.
Not the chaos.
The pattern.
The ripples the node sent out weren't random. They responded to motion, intention, pressure. The dungeon had set the rules. But like all rules, they had gaps.
He could see the cracks forming between pulses, the thin seconds of stability.
He inhaled.
And the System spoke.
[Trait Progress Detected][Awareness Threshold Crossed][New Skill Unlocked: Complete Detection (A-Rank)]
When the battlefield lies. When mana hides. When the dungeon learns to lie—you learn to see.
Skill: Complete Detection – A RankCondition: Trait-linked insight under environmental pressure
Abilities:
Multi-Layer Perception: Detects layered mana fields, illusions, glyph traps, and energy distortions
Threat Mapping: Assigns visible danger tiers to creatures, anomalies, and moving hazards
Pulse Reading: Senses shifts in mana flow and dungeon intent—can identify active traps and reactive environments
Instinctive Focus (Passive): Highlights the most urgent threat in real time. Immunity to low-tier confusion or mental interference
The System window blinked out.
Conner blinked with it.
But the vision stayed.
He looked up—and the room lit up with outlines.
The node. The pulses. The ripple lines. He could see them all. Every danger. Every moment where it was safe to breathe. Where it wasn't.
He took a step forward.
Then another.
Neive reached for him. "Conner, wait—"
"I can see it now," he said calmly. "The path through."
Joey stared. "See what?"
Conner's gaze sharpened.
"Everything."
Conner stepped forward first.
His movements were calm—but calculated. Each step came after a half-second pause, as if he were listening to something only he could hear.
The room pulsed again.
Katie tensed, expecting backlash. But this time, the unstable energy curved around Conner—passing like a breeze slipping through cracks in a wall.
"Don't move until I say," he called behind him. "The pulses are running a three-layer rhythm. Every third wave spikes, but the second? That's your window."
Joey raised an eyebrow. "How the hell do you know that?"
Conner's eye flickered, bright with layered mana lines. "Because the room told me. I just finally learned how to listen."
The others followed in tight formation. Luc watched every move Conner made, adjusting his own footwork mid-stride. Neive mirrored Conner's angles—less out of understanding, more out of instinct.
Katie hesitated before entering the danger zone.
"I'm not going to be able to do anything in here," she muttered. "The frost doesn't obey me. It's like trying to sculpt with steam."
"You don't need to cast," Conner said. "You just need to trust the space."
"Great," she said. "No pressure."
At the halfway point, the mana pulse surged hard.
One of the floor veins cracked—and from it, something formed.
A creature—not summoned, not placed. Grown.
It had no face. Just a head of flickering mana strands and a body shaped from molten stone and compressed wind.
[Unstable Construct – Level 8 – Core Instinct Type][System Recognition: Incomplete]
It didn't roar.
It hummed.
And then it lunged.
"Hold position!" Conner shouted. "Do not scatter!"
The group split naturally—some dropping into defense, others prepping light movement spells. But none of them overcast.
Joey stepped up first, metal plates rippling across his arms.
"I've got this thing."
"No you don't," Neive said. "Not without backup."
She stepped into the creature's path and extended both arms—mana coiling around her fingers. Her summon surged forward—but instead of forming a beast, it reshaped into something faster.
Smaller.
Flickering.
Not a creature anymore—an echo.
[Trait Evolution Detected – Summoning Path Divergence: Adaptive Spirit Shell (B-Rank)]New Skill Acquired: Phantasmal Override – C RankForms a limited-duration summon composed of recent enemy essence or dungeon energy. Cost scales with MP. Gains partial resistances to current floor type.
The echo hit the Construct with full force—throwing it off balance for just enough time for Joey to slam a molten spike through its chest.
It didn't die.
But it staggered hard.
Luc moved in from behind and jammed his short sword into its exposed back. The creature shrieked—not from pain, but from destabilization.
Its body flickered once—then imploded.
A single shard of glowing crystal dropped to the ground.
Conner approached and picked it up, already sensing the mana locked inside.
The System blinked:
[Skill Shard: Mana Rebalance – Passive | Rank: C]While in unstable mana zones, MP regeneration is increased by 20% and spell distortion chance is halved.
He held it up.
"First drop that makes sense in this damn place."
Katie eyed it. "That'd be a good fit for me."
Conner nodded and tossed it her way. "Hold onto it. We're not done yet."
They reached the center of the chamber.
The mana node pulsed again, more erratic than before.
Joey exhaled slowly. "So what's the plan? Smash it? Stabilize it? Run?"
Conner scanned the flows one last time. Then he closed his eye, letting the rhythm settle into him.
"No," he said. "This isn't a threat."
"It's a test."
And somewhere, far below—where the pulse couldn't reach—
Taz stood still, blade drawn, and felt it too.
A rhythm.
The start of something much bigger.