[String Edit Initiated]

[Target: mission_notice_017]

[Parameter: payment]

[Current Value: 10_silver]

[Edit to: 30_silver]

[Confirm? Y/N]

I confirmed.

The text on the parchment shimmered faintly, the ink shifting.

The number "10" blurred, twisted, and reformed into "30."

No one else noticed.

Then the feedback hit.

My vision blurred, the edges darkening. A sharp spike of pain lanced through my skull, and my balance tilted sideways.

Damn aftereffects!

I stumbled forward, catching myself on instinct before I face-planted.

"Jin?"

Kyle stopped and turned back, frowning. "You okay?"

"Yeah." I straightened, rolling my shoulders to shake off the dizziness. "Just stood up too fast."

Kyle didn't look convinced, but he didn't push. "You sure?"

"I'm fine." I stretched my arms overhead, forcing my body to cooperate. "Let's go. We're getting late."

"Late for what? The slimes aren't going anywhere."

"Exactly. So let's get this over with."

Kyle grinned. "That's the spirit!"

We headed for the exit.

The South District wasn't far from campus, maybe a twenty-minute walk through the capital's winding streets.

It was quieter than the main plaza. Older buildings, narrower streets, fewer people. The kind of place where merchants stored overflow inventory and forgot about it until something went wrong.

Like a slime infestation.

Kyle led the way, the mission notice tucked into his belt, a practice sword slung over his shoulder. I followed, hands in my pockets.

We turned a corner and found it, a squat, two-story stone building with boarded-up windows and a faded sign that read Harlan's Storage.

The door was ajar, hanging slightly off its hinges.

Kyle stopped in front of it, peering inside. "Looks abandoned."

"That's because it is."

"Right. Obviously." He glanced at me. "You ready?"

I just nodded.

He pushed the door open fully, and we stepped inside.

The interior was dark, the only light coming from cracks in the boarded windows. Dust hung thick in the air, and the smell of mildew mixed with something faintly acidic.

Wooden crates and barrels lined the walls, some stacked haphazardly, others toppled over. The floor was slick in places, wet, glistening patches that reflected what little light there was.

And in the corner, near a pile of collapsed shelving, something moved.

A slime.

It was about the size of a large melon, translucent green, its gelatinous body wobbling as it slid slowly across the floor.

No eyes, no mouth, just a blob with a faintly glowing core suspended in the center.

Kyle pointed at it. "There's one."

"Yeah. I see it."

Another one oozed out from behind a barrel. Then three more.

Five. So far.

"Okay," Kyle said, drawing his practice sword. "How do we do this?"

"Hit the core. That's the weak point. Avoid the outer membrane, it's acidic."

"Got it. Don't touch the goo. Hit the glowing thing inside."

"Exactly."

"Easy."

"Sure."

Kyle moved first, approaching the nearest slime with his sword raised. The slime didn't react, just continued its slow, aimless drifting.

He swung.

The blade cut through the outer membrane, striking the core dead-center.

The slime shuddered once, then collapsed into a puddle of inert goo. The core clattered to the floor, a small, marble-sized orb that glowed faintly even after the slime died.

Kyle grinned. "See? Easy."

"One down. Fourteen to go."

I moved toward another slime, drawing my own sword. The blob didn't react as I approached, just wobbled in place, oblivious.

I struck, aiming for the core.

Direct hit.

The slime collapsed, and I kicked the core aside.

Two down.

More slimes began emerging from the shadows, crawling out from under crates, oozing through cracks in the walls. The building had more than fifteen.

Of course it does.

Kyle took down another two, his strikes clean and efficient. "This isn't so bad!"

"Don't jinx it."

"I'm not jinxing—"

Then as if sensing the cue, a slime dropped from the ceiling and landed directly on Kyle's shoulder, its acidic membrane sizzling against his jacket.

"Shit—!" Kyle yelped, stumbling backward as he tried to shake it off.

I lunged forward, slashing through the slime before it could do more damage. The core fell, and the goo slid off Kyle's jacket, leaving a scorched patch on the fabric.

Kyle inspected the damage, grimacing. "Okay. That was bad."

"Told you."

"Yeah, yeah."

We kept moving, clearing out slimes methodically. Most were easy, slow, predictable, vulnerable. But a few got creative, hiding in corners or dropping from above.

By the time we finished, we'd collected twenty-three cores.

Kyle held up his bag, jangling the cores inside. "Twenty-three. That's way more than fifteen."

"Yeah."

"Think they'll pay us extra?"

"Probably not."

"Worth asking though."

I wiped my sword clean on a rag and sheathed it. "Let's just get out of here."

Kyle walked forward, already stepping through the doorway into the fading evening light.

I moved to follow him, my boots crunching over debris and dried slime residue.

Then—

"Well done~"

A light, playful voice came, from directly behind me.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

My hand flew to my sword hilt, and I whirled around fast.

But.

The storage building was empty.

Just crates. Barrels. Shadows. The faint shimmer of slime residue on the floor.

What the?

I activated Debug Vision immediately, scanning the entire space.

[Scan: Active]

[Objects detected: 47]

[Living entities: 0]

Nothing.

No heat signatures. No movement.

Am I hallucinating?

My heart hammered in my chest.

"Hey, Jin! What are you doing?"

Kyle's voice called from outside, breaking through the tension.

I took one last look around the empty room, then forced myself to turn away.

Just tired. Neural strain. That's all.

I shook my head and walked toward the exit.

"Coming."

Kyle was waiting just outside, leaning against the wall with his bag of slime cores. "You okay? You look like you saw a ghost."

"Just making sure we killed them all," I said, keeping my tone even.

"Pretty sure we got them. Unless there's a slime hiding in the walls or something."

"Probably not."

"Then let's go. I'm starving."

We started walking back toward the Academy, the sounds of the capital evening filling the air around us, distant chatter, the clatter of carts, a street vendor calling out prices.

But I couldn't shake the unease settling in my chest.

I glanced back over my shoulder once.

The storage building sat quiet and still, its door hanging open like a gaping mouth.

Nothing moved.

I turned back around and kept walking.

*****

Inside the storage building, the air shimmered.

Not like heat distortion.

Like reality itself was glitching.

And a figure materialized, sitting casually on one of the barrels, one leg crossed over the other, elbow propped on their knee, cheek resting in their palm.

They wore a cloak that seemed to shift colors depending on the angle, deep purple bleeding into black, then back again. Their face was obscured by shadow, but their smile was visible. Wide and amused.

"Hehehe~"

The figure tilted their head, watching the now-empty doorway where Jin had stood moments before.

"You're a nice one, kiddo~"

They kicked their legs idly, the motion almost childlike despite the unsettling presence they radiated.

"Better than the others."

The figure leaned back slightly, their grin widening.

"Way, way better."

They snapped their fingers.

The air around them glitched again, reality flickering like a broken projection.

And then they were gone.

The storage building was empty once more.

Silent.

Still.

As if nothing had been there at all.

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