Stepping out of the dungeon, Kaiden couldn't help but feel a sense of joy. His new dungeon party worked well together, they were strong, and most importantly, they hadn't lost anyone. For the first time, he felt a sense of completeness—like this was how a normal dungeon party was supposed to be. There was a natural rhythm between them, an unspoken trust in their roles.

  He could now look forward to future dives, knowing he was in a cohesive unit.

  The party made their way toward the familiar-looking tent where they would report in after the run. The process was almost identical to Camp Thorne. They turned over all the loot, handed back their potions and dimensional bag, and then gave their reports while speaking over the lie detector orb to confirm they hadn’t lied or smuggled out loot. After that, there was a second area for gear drop-off, where anything borrowed for the run was returned. The receiving soldiers would tally the spoils, review the reports, and assign contribution points, which would be distributed the next day.

  As the group cleared the checkout area, Joren broke the silence. “Now we’ve got three days off instead of two! See, this is way better.” He was all smiles, clearly pleased with the outcome.

  Greaves shook her head but was grinning too.

  Lena stretched, rolling her shoulders. “I’ll catch everyone later,” she said before heading off in another direction, away from the garrison. The rest of the group waved her off.

  Kaiden, meanwhile, was still stuck on what Joren had said—three days off instead of two? He was about to ask when Greaves spoke up.

  “That’s right, I haven’t gone over the schedule yet.”

  Kaiden glanced at her. “I was just about to ask.”

  Joren clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m heading this way, so I’ll see you all later,” he said before splitting off and heading toward another part of the compound. That left just Kaiden and Greaves walking back toward base.

  Greaves then started her explanation. “After a dungeon run, you spend your next workdays in an equal amount of training days. For example, if a dungeon run takes four days, then your next four workdays are training.”

  Kaiden nodded. “I see. So because today counts as day three of the dungeon run, we get the next three workdays for training, and since today still technically counts as a dungeon day, we have the rest of the day to ourselves?”

  Greaves smirked. “You’re quick too. I really am glad we got you on the team.”

  “Thank you, Corporal,” Kaiden replied, keeping his tone professional. They weren’t in the dungeon anymore, so he kept to military etiquette.

  Greaves gave him an appraising look before smiling. Then she continued, “We still get two weekend days off. If they end up between training days, like they do now, then that’s fine—training will just pick up after the weekend.”

  “Sounds straightforward,” Kaiden said.

  Greaves paused for a moment before speaking again, her tone more serious. “Seriously, Hayward. You did a great job today. I’m quite frankly a little shocked.”

  Kaiden gave her a small smile but shrugged. “I didn’t really do much.”

  Greaves shook her head. “You don’t understand. When we get newbies straight from Camp Thorne, there’s an adjustment period. They’re starting at a higher-grade dungeon and are expected to keep up with a more experienced and stronger party. A lot of them can’t handle the pressure or aren’t strong enough to keep up.” She glanced at him with an appraising look. “You blew my expectations out of the water. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d say this isn’t your second dungeon.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Kaiden kept his expression neutral, trying not to let anything show. She was more right than she realized, but he couldn’t tell her that. Instead, he simply said, “This is my first Bronze-grade dungeon. I promise.”

  Greaves narrowed her eyes slightly, as if trying to gauge whether he was telling the truth, then nodded. “I see. Then there goes my theory about you being a civilian diver before joining the military. But that wouldn’t make sense either. I mean, it’s not unheard of, but I can’t see an experienced diver wanting to start over like that.”

  Kaiden shrugged. “Anyhow, that’s not me. I wasn’t a civilian diver either.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Greaves said, exhaling through her nose. “Maybe you’re just a genius then.” She smirked before continuing, “But anyhow, you’re a huge boon to our party. I’m gonna talk with the Staff Sergeant and see if we can get you to enter a trial dungeon. There’s no way you’re still E-rank.”

  Kaiden barely managed to keep from wincing. The Petal sisters had explicitly warned him against undertaking any trial dungeons yet. They didn’t really know exactly how much stronger he had gotten in the Diamond-grade dungeon, but they weren’t stupid. Zinnia, of course, had her suspicions. She already knew about at least one of his permabuff food items and one of his artifacts. And then there was the fact that he had managed to kill an A-rank mercenary—albeit with some luck—but the point still stood. Surely she could surmise he’d gotten a strong title or two.

  If Marigold hadn’t stepped in when she did, Kaiden was sure that Zinnia would have grilled him for answers. The mere thought of being under her scrutiny made him shudder internally.

  Trying to keep his voice casual, he asked, “Do I need to do a trial dungeon to enter higher-grade dungeons?”

  Greaves shook her head. “No, but it’s a good way to see where you stand in doing dungeons. It lets command gauge whether you’re ready for Silver-grade or beyond.”

  Kaiden nodded slowly, filing that information away while also trying to figure out how to avoid that conversation with the Staff Sergeant. After a moment, he asked, “So then it’s not like everyone has to be the same rank in a dungeon party?”

  “Exactly,” Greaves said with a nod. “It’s not a one-to-one direct correlation. Stronger party members can make up for weaker ones. E-ranks can run Wooden- and Bronze-grade dungeons. D-ranks can handle Bronze- and Silver-grade. C-ranks run Silver- and Gold-grade, though this is where you start to see a much bigger disparity. The number of C-ranks who can actually clear a Gold-grade dungeon is pretty small.”

  She continued, “When you get to B-rank, they mostly run Gold-grade dungeons, with only the top of the top being able to push into Platinum-grade. But if a B-rank can run a Platinum-grade dungeon, they’re probably already A-rank and just haven’t officially ranked up yet.”

  Kaiden nodded. “So you see a lot of dungeon parties with mixed ranks who can handle multiple dungeon grades?”

  “Yup,” Greaves confirmed. “And it’s not like all dungeons are the same difficulty either. Some D-rank dungeons are easier than others, while some are extremely difficult, even for an all Silver-ranked party. There are just so many variables that nothing is absolute, y’know?”

  Kaiden considered that for a moment before nodding. “I think I understand.”

  As the conversation lulled, his thoughts drifted back to trial dungeons. He really wanted to know more, but bringing it up again would only encourage Greaves to push harder for him to take one. Deciding to change the subject, he turned his focus to something else that had been on his mind—learning more about the city.

  “So why is it that headquarters is so small compared to our compound?” he asked.

  Greaves shrugged. “That’s because it’s mostly for the top brass. That’s where all the generals meet. I mean, it’s in the city center, so there’s only so much space it can take up. It’s not a full military base like our compound, so they only have the necessities and mostly town guards. Plus, it’s central to all the other garrisons and compounds in the capital. The actual main army base is just outside of town, and it’s huge. It’s near the castle, after all.”

  “Castle?” Kaiden’s eyes widened slightly. “Does the the king live there?”

  Greaves chuckled. “Of course he does. Never thought you’d get to live so close to His Majesty, huh?”

  “Right,” Kaiden said. It had always seemed like a far-off concept. He knew there was a king, and that most of the world was ruled by monarchs, but it had always been out of sight, out of mind. He was pretty sure he’d never see the palace anyway. He was just a lowly private, after all. He didn’t even know the king’s name or anything about the royal family. Just one more thing he needed to study up on.

  “Yeah, you really can’t see it from town unless you’re near the northern edge of the city,” Greaves continued. “From there, it’s a few miles away.”

  “I see,” Kaiden said, considering that for a moment. Then another thought came to him. “Is there a library here?”

  “Sure is,” Greaves said. “A pretty big one too.”

  Kaiden couldn’t help but smile at hearing that. “Finally,” he muttered under his breath.

  “Huh?” Greaves asked, raising an eyebrow.

  It was study time.