NOVGO.NET Chapter 28: The Veil Unit
Chapter 28: The Veil Unit
The private measurement chamber of the Association testing annex offered zero cameras, holding only bare walls and a calibrated diagnostic pedestal.
A golden advancement prompt hovered quietly above the brass sensor plate, waiting for the physical verification of accumulated dungeon milestones.
"Stone does not bend well under pressure," he muttered into the empty room, watching the spare testing block fracture beneath his casual touch.
’Two and a half million experience points is an impossible wall without endless shifts,’ he thought, rotating his wrists to feel his augmented tendons.
He tapped the floating advancement icon with his index finger, accepting the accumulated promotion he earned beneath the locked military installation.
[ Rank confirmed: d ]
[ EXP: 0 / 2,500,000 ]
[ Stats: str 62 / agi 78 / end 70 / sense 40 / pulse 9 ]
’This rank is not an ordinary raise,’ he thought, feeling the kinetic weight of an entire building pack into his compact bone frame.
He pocketed his ticket, leaving the testing chamber to find Ruby beside the administrative office, carrying a document.
"Delayed awakening with an unstable progression curve," she recited from the municipal paperwork, handing him an official partnership authorization slip with a smirk.
"The clerks really bought that story?" he asked in disbelief, signing the bottom margin with the clerk’s ballpoint pen without breaking his stride.
"Upstairs wants to assign you a sponsored handler who smiles for broadcast drones, so I filed our paperwork ahead of schedule," she noted.
"We operate as an independent two-man strike cell," she added, tapping the bold header printed across the top of the carbon form.
"The Veil Unit... sounds like a government burial detail," he remarked, watching her add her official signature beside his hurried dark initials.
"The name keeps corporate scouts from sniffing your data," she answered, pressing the Association purple seal onto the document with a firm thud.
The ink settled into the paper, giving their agreement a form that both of them could keep.
"Field test starts in fifteen minutes," she announced, turning toward the transport vehicle bays without waiting for an extended verbal response.
"A D-rank drainage breach opened beneath the fourth district, flooding the main sewer lines with aggressive amphibious predators," she explained.
They rode an automated municipal cart down into the drainage sector, stepping off onto the slippery walkways of the sewer network.
The dark tunnel smelled of stagnant runoff and chemical waste, carrying the guttural hissing of nesting monsters from the darkness ahead.
His warehouse shifts taught him the price of entering an unmapped drainage breach without a route back.
Ruby stepped onto the central conduit walkway, raising her kite shield while resting her spear over the top rim steadily.
"Standard sweep protocol," she commanded over her shoulder, keeping her eyes locked onto the rippling water of the flooded passage.
"I hold the frontal pressure in the main corridor, while you clear the flanks before they can circle our formation," she instructed.
"Three carvers moving along the left pipe," he warned, summoning his twin matte-black daggers from his inventory pocket with a practiced flick.
Three mutated sewer carvers lunged from the dark water, their elongated claws clicking against the slick tiles of the canal wall.
"Brace yourself!" she shouted, driving the boss of her shield straight into the lead monster’s snout with unyielding balance and force.
The concussive impact arrested the creature’s forward momentum, providing the exact tactical seam he needed to engage his burst mobility skill.
[ Active skill: Overclock initiated ]
[ Stamina: 100 → 60/100 ]
[ Agility: 78 → 234 (temporary surge) ]
’Three between us in six seconds is decent shift pace,’ he thought, accelerating along the narrow pipe ledge in a silver blur.
Ruby finished the pinned leader while Fin drove one dagger through the second carver’s spine.
He pivoted on the slippery ledge before the body fell, plunging both daggers into the third monster’s throat with lethal accuracy.
"Agh!" the wounded carver choked in its own black blood, collapsing motionless onto the walkway tiles as he released the burst skill.
"Two more crawlers flanking behind the main pipe valve," she called out, thrusting her spear through a leathery lung cleanly.
"Got the flank covered," he replied in a steady breath, vaulting off the intake ledge while his dagger severed the rear beast’s spine.
’Her shield positioning leaves zero blind spots for an enemy ambush,’ he noted, appreciating the unadorned economy of her veteran movements.
He dropped into a low crouch beside the carcasses, pressing his palm against the nearest skull to initiate the quiet absorption process.
The dark bodies shriveled under his silent touch, their essence draining into his core while his inventory swallowed the useful hides.
Ruby kept her face toward the shadows, leveling her spear at the empty culvert to guard his exposed back without prying.
"All clear behind you?" she asked in a low whisper, keeping her boots anchored against the slippery edge of the conduit.
"Shift is clean," he answered, wiping dark ichor from his daggers before sliding the blades back into his belt with a click.
The gate core shattered thirty meters deeper in the culvert, dissolving the spatial distortion into harmless ribbons of fading blue light.
[ Sewer gate clear: complete ]
[ Bounty reward: +4,200 EXP ]
[ EXP: 4,200 / 2,500,000 ]
"Four thousand two hundred points banked," he murmured, watching the golden digits register against the daunting two-and-a-half-million experience wall without complaints.
They climbed the rusted maintenance stairs to the surface, stepping out through the access drainage grate into the afternoon breeze outside.
The familiar sights of District Four surrounded them, filled with rumbling delivery trucks and children running between the crowded grocery stalls.
Ruby pulled a faded rag from her tactical belt, wiping dark monster blood from the tapered point of her spear.
"We split the municipal clearance bounty fifty-fifty when the voucher clears," she stated, tossing the stained cloth into a nearby bin.
"The monster carcasses belong exclusively to you, partner," she added, turning to look at him with a tired, knowing expression.
"Partner sounds like a word that costs more than credits," he remarked, feeling the corners of his mouth twitch into a smile.
"If you get us killed down in those dark tunnels," she warned with a sharp glare, pointing her finger directly toward his chest.
"I will find a way to return from the grave and haunt your little sister’s grocery budget forever," she concluded.
"Jolly would probably bill you for the haunting," he answered with a dry chuckle, turning toward the tram stop across the plaza.
"Hah! She would add compound interest rates to every ghostly visit," she agreed, walking beside him as the evening bells began chiming.
"You think Gage knows we filed this independent cell?" he asked, watching the yellow transit cart rattle along the elevated rail tracks.
"Gage is busy explaining his torn divine parchment to Ignis right now," she answered, leaning her kite shield against the ticket gate.
’A corporate captain with a scorched ego is more dangerous than an open gate,’ he thought, boarding the empty evening transit car.
"We check the municipal board tomorrow morning for fresh work," she said, sliding two transit tokens into the automated brass coin slot.
"Six o’clock sharp," he agreed, taking a window seat while the city lights reflected against the scratched transit window pane outside.
The purple ink of their new strike cell charter dried safely inside her pocket, setting the foundation for the long climb ahead.
The evening tram rattled along the elevated tracks, carrying them away from the sewers toward the quiet sanctuary of Halden Street.