Even after reaching Level 160, the increased difficulty barely made an impact.
Jaemin noticed it. The enemies had changed—faster, more erratic, more aggressive—but they still weren't enough.
His Resonants were levelling with him. Stronger, faster, and more coordinated. Each battle was done before he even considered stepping in.
Right now, they were fighting a swarm of Abyssal Crawlers—twisting, centipede-like monsters with serrated limbs and acidic saliva—but Jaemin wasn't moving.
He sat on a cliff edge, one leg dangling off, watching the chaos unfold below.
Ink was fully engaged in the frontlines, flipping and dodging, tearing through Crawlers like it was a game. The rest of the Resonants pushed forward in formation, controlled, deadly.
Warden stood behind Jaemin, unmoving.
"You know."
Jaemin said, glancing over his shoulder.
"Now that I think about it, I miss hearing your voice in my head."
Warden stayed silent. All he did was lower his head slightly.
Jaemin sighed.
"Maybe one day you'll be on a level high enough to finally regain your speech."
He leaned back on his palms.
"That said... from the first time I overrode all of you up until today, I haven't seen or heard the Maiden at all. I wonder what's going on…"
He scratched his chin, watching the battlefield below, lost in thought.
His train of thought broke as he heard Ink yell.
He looked up.
Ink was standing in the middle of the battlefield, arms raised, mouth wide open in a victory scream. The other Resonants followed, raising their arms and cheering, some waving weapons around, others clapping for no one in particular.
Jaemin exhaled, dragging a hand down his face.
"What a lively bunch."
He muttered.
Then, without hesitation, he stood up and jumped off the cliff. The drop was nothing. He landed without a sound.
As soon as his boots hit the ground, the Resonants turned toward him.
Ink was at the front, proudly dragging a sack of loot behind it. The others lined up, offering up materials, essence fragments, equipment shards, and abyssal cores they'd gathered from the Crawlers.
"Nice work, guys."
Jaemin said, nodding once as he looked over the haul.
Without wasting time, he turned and started walking toward the next level gate, Rift energy already pulsing from the base of the Rift Tree ahead.
The rest followed behind in silence, echoing steps in rhythm.
****
"President… are you sure you want to dispatch two strike teams for these Rift raids?"
Secretary Kim Na-eun asked, her voice low but steady as she stood across from the wide desk.
President Kwon Hyun-Woo didn't look up at first. The soft tapping of his fingers on the keyboard paused. His eyes lifted slowly from the monitor.
"I do."
He said.
"What are the tiers of those Rifts, Ms. Kim Na-eun?"
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
She glanced down at her tablet, checking the data streams synced from the Rift Authority servers.
"The first one is a Tier 2. The second is Tier 3."
He nodded once.
"Alright then. I will lead the first strike team. For Tier 2, ten members will suffice."
Na-eun didn't reply immediately. Her stylus was already moving, formatting the strike order and loadout presets on the tablet, dragging names, positions, and Core types into the roster.
"So it will be led by you."
She confirmed.
"How many healers and DPS would you like assigned, President?"
"No healers."
Kwon Hyun-Woo said plainly.
Na-eun blinked.
"...Sir?"
"One DPS."
He continued.
"The remaining eight should be Bastion Cores. Strong ones. Frontliners. The best shields we can find."
Her hand hovered over the tablet.
"B-but sir, won't that be—"
"And that one DPS."
He interrupted, his voice softening into something more deliberate.
"Should be Ms. Ha."
Na-eun stilled.
"By Ms. Ha, you mean…"
"Ms. Ha Yura."
Kwon Hyun-Woo replied, with the faintest smirk breaking his calm.
"It's only a Tier 2. Best to bring someone of her calibre for speed and precision."
Na-eun nodded slowly, hesitating only a moment before entering Ha Yura's profile into the roster.
The screen blinked—
"Also."
He added, turning slightly in his chair to face the cityscape beyond the windows.
"Start recruiting freelancers. We'll need people for cleanup—Rift Dust, Crystals, Residue. Lots of it."
She tapped once more and began compiling a list.
Kwon Hyun-Woo's gaze narrowed at the sky, where distant clouds pulsed along the horizon like a bruise in the world.
There was something off about this cycle. A wrong rhythm in the usual storm.
"Prepare everything. No delays."
"Yes, sir."
Na-eun bowed. Then she turned and left the office.
The door shut behind her with a soft click.
The room fell silent again—except for the faint hum of the Rift tracker on Kwon's desk, still pulsing.
****
Coreborns Association — Central HQ, 17th Floor
Kim Min-soo sat behind his desk, brows slightly furrowed, tapping a pen against a folder filled with red-stamped Rift reports.
"Getting a hold of Han Jaemin has been an even bigger problem now…"
He muttered, scratching his forehead.
"Director Gyeongnim… he isn't someone who would just die in the Lapis Chamber."
His eyes drifted to a holographic report suspended above the table—lines of energy signatures, the aftermath of Core-use data, all centred around one unusual detail:
The Aether Crest.
Min-soo's gaze hardened.
"And after coming in contact with the Aether Crest reports… it's certain Han Jaemin had something to do with this."
TING TING!
The landline on his desk buzzed to life.
He pressed the receiver.
"Yes?"
"Sir."
His secretary's voice came through.
"The Chairman would like to speak to you."
"Sure. Patch him through."
There was a brief static pause.
"Kim Min-soo."
Min-soo straightened in his seat.
"Yes, Chairman Seo Jinyoung."
"Any data or information on where our mysterious Coreborn is?"
President Seo asked, voice level, but expectant.
"Well… not yet, Chairman. I've been on the lookout for him but—"
"It's okay. Don't sweat it."
Seo Jinyoung interrupted, voice calm but firm.
"Whenever you do find him, please—set up a meet. Just me and him."
"I will. I'll see it through, Chairman."
CUT!
The line disconnected the moment the last word left Min-soo's mouth.
He leaned back in his chair slowly, dragging a hand down his face. The office lights reflected off the whitewashed ceiling tiles, everything sterile, cold, quiet.
"It's getting tiresome now…"
He closed his eyes for a moment.
The reports, the surveillance gaps, the mounting questions around Jaemin's involvement—none of it added up cleanly. Too many loose ends.
And one Coreborn no one could track.
****
Status:
Name: Han Jaemin
Level: 78
Status Effect: Null
Fatigue: 0/100
Valour Surge: 10,000 / 10,500
Title: Diviner
Verse: Legion Commander
Passive Ability: Commander of the Unholy
HP: 230,000 / 230,000
XP: 88,000 / 230,000
Skillset:
1. Dash
2. Brute Strength
3. Healing
4. Super Jump
5. Flight
6. Master Swordsman
7. Dual Daggers
8. Binary Orbital Overload (Weapon Specific)
9. Phantom Grasp
10. Storm Call
11. Divine Winds
12. Thunderbolt
13. Shadow Walk
14. Wraith
15. Biome Burst
16. Core Override
17. Diviner's Blessings
18. Gravechain Legion
19. Black Sun Invocation
"You're kidding…"
Jaemin muttered.
The number was right there—Level 200 reached. But it didn't feel like it came easily.
Every level past 150 had started to drag. Enemies are smarter. Ambushes tighter. Rift mechanics crueller.
Jaemin scratched his chin.
"I can bet money this system is rigged and I'm playing this on Ultra Hard…"
He plopped to the ground with a tired groan.
His Resonants followed. One by one, they sat around him in a circle—silent.
Jaemin looked at them and gave a small chuckle.
"You guys are nice. And doing well."
He raised his fist toward Ink.
Ink's eyes lit up like a kid handed candy, face filled with something close to joy. He bumped Jaemin's fist without hesitation, then nudged Warden, who followed after, quiet and steady.
"Anyway."
Jaemin exhaled, leaning back on his elbows.
"50 more levels, then I'm out. Week's about to be over and…"
He paused, glancing around the circle.
His Resonants—his Legion—were exhausted.
Even though they were long dead and only remained because of their core fragments, living off his Valour Surge, the strain was showing. Faint twitches. Slower movement. Some kept trying to sit tall like nothing was wrong—but
The fatigue bled through.
Jaemin saw it.
"…Well, I guess all of y'all need rest too."
He muttered.
He lay down fully, hands behind his head.
Above him, the Rift sky churned in quiet stillness. No lightning. No screeches. No strange distortions.
Just a dark canvas, dotted faintly with phantom stars.
The Resonants looked up, too, heads tilted skyward. Not a word said. Not a sound made.
For once, the Rift wasn't fighting them.
And for some reason… it felt peaceful.
