The second Crawler proved more challenging than the first.

Not from a mechanical standpoint, of course. Still the dominant rear joint trigger, still a 1.2-second underbelly window, still the stationary dual-shot sequence. No, the difficulty lay in the fact that the low loop took a bend at the end, creating an entirely different vector on approach compared to that of the first Crawler’s patrol, with the rune markers farther down the line showing more wear and therefore proving less useful for range calibration.

I took six minutes mapping out my patrol before making my shot.

Once again, right wall but this time farther out. Forty feet rather than thirty, accounting for the altered vector on the low approach to the bend. This time, Precision Shot II had better prove its worth.

The Crawler rounded the bend.

I let the first arrow fly.

I hit the target.

Dominant rear joint triggered; partial extension; underbelly exposed; 1.2-second window.

Second arrow let fly.

I hit.

+55 EXP — Ironback Crawler (Weak Point Kill)

Total EXP: 263/1000

Cleaner than the first kill. The forty-foot gap had actually been an advantage – the extra travel time meant that the angle could compensate for the curvature. The Precision Shot II accuracy boost when shooting consecutively was starting to become effective, the second draw much faster than it should have been with an AGI of 17.

I acknowledged this fact and proceeded to set up my third shot.

There were four Crawlers in the lower loop, listed under the bounty mission. Two killed. Two left, but they were in the deeper parts of the loop, near the areas with the fewest runes, where the hallway would narrow down further before opening into whatever chamber lay at the end of the loop.

I moved slowly. Heel to toe. No unnecessary footsteps.

Then the overlay buzzed.

VORN — FLAG UPDATE

Third contact: INITIATING

Target: Daren

Location: Broken Crown Inn – dinner

Method: Unplanned encounter – shared space

Relationship meter – Vorn/Daren: 58 → updating

Broken Crown Inn.

I halted and reread the flag.

Not the permit queue. Not the dungeon entrance. The inn. Vorn had shifted the meeting point from the dungeon network to the social area of Daren. The permit queue was predictable — same place, same time frame, same conditions. The inn was different. The inn was where Daren would eat, rest, recover from his dungeon runs. The inn was his personal territory, not professional.

The progression was more rapid than anticipated.

VORN — ACTIVE INTERACTION: DAREN

Duration: 01:12

Strategy: Social contact — off network

Environmental strength: Relaxed atmosphere / diminished alertness

Daren reaction indicator: Satisfied / Delighted

Connection index — Vorn/Daren: 58 → 94/1000

Ninety-four. One minute twelve seconds. Thirty-six units. The rate of increase was higher than the second contact point and the second one higher than the first. Relaxed atmosphere, diminished alertness — Daren at the inn after completing a Floor 5 mission was not the same as Daren in the permit queue. New circumstances, new attitude, new response scale.

I was on the bottom loop of Floor 3 with two Crawlers remaining and Vorn was dining with Daren.

I continued.

The third Crawler was in the restricted passage just before the end chamber. The passage was so cramped that forty feet was not an option; it would have to wait until twenty-two feet from where the Crawler turned to avoid the walls of the tunnel.

Twenty-two feet. A single false step and I would be detected before I could get the trigger shot off.

Pattern Recognition I took three minutes to determine the patrol pattern in this location. With the restriction of the passage, the return vector had changed yet again, this time a straight one with no turn necessary, meaning that the trigger joint would remain partially blocked until the Crawler was eighteen feet away.

Eighteen feet. The underbelly window for an eighteen-foot distance with a partially obscured trigger joint.

I adjusted my calculations accordingly.

It was partially blocked, but the joint itself remained within reach as long as I lowered my draw angle past what had been necessary on the prior kills. The joint and the trigger were still within reach, even if the approach was more restricted. The 1.2-second window didn’t change based on the distance.

I changed my stance. To lower. My heels dug into the ground. It would be impossible to shift positions at all in the narrow hallway.

The Crawler approached the straight route.

I shot low.

The arrow pierced under the body mass to strike the major rear joint.

Not fully extended.

I let go of the second arrow.

+55 EXP — Ironback Crawler (Weak Point Kill)

EXP Total: 318/1000

SKILL IMPROVEMENT — Pattern Recognition I → Pattern Recognition II

New skill acquired: Pattern Recognition II

Bonus: Better formation reading / Predictive patrol mapping / Threat assessment on approach vectors

I saw the notification in the narrow hallway with an eighteen foot corpse of the Crawler ahead of me and got the feeling the passive skill of Fast Learner was working silently in the background once more.

Pattern Recognition II. The Crawler combination made me reach it – adaptive position, recalculated angle, mapped out the approach vector. The skill had been recording all of it.

Until the upgrade showed up.

VORN — ACTIVE INTERACTION: DAREN — CLOSED

Final interaction time: 6 minutes 44 seconds

Relationship meter – Vorn/Daren: 94/1000

Tactics used: Highly effective

Location factor: Confirmed – social setting speeds up meter

Upcoming contact opportunity: Same day or next morning – escalating

New flag: Daren/Vorn – Mutual recognition achieved

Mutual recognition. This was the flag that made the difference. First contact was introduction. Second contact was recognition. Third contact, within a social context where mutual recognition had been achieved, meant that Vorn was not anymore some stranger that Daren had met during the permit queue. He was a known entity. One that kept popping up in multiple places. One that was beginning to look like a regular fixture.

Same day or the next morning for the fourth contact.

I checked on 318 EXP. I checked on only one remaining Crawler in the end chamber. I checked on the mutual recognition flag in the corner of my overlay.

And then I proceeded to the end chamber.

The fourth Crawler was the largest of the four Crawlers. End chamber, more space, the rune markers were bright compared to those in the loop — the end chamber had a ring of rune markers, with sufficient lighting that I could shoot while standing at a distance for the first time in the lower loop.

I plotted the patrol path from the entrance of the chamber. Sixty feet of open space. Unobstructed views. The Crawler patrol route was a wide circuit around the chamber, making the dominant joint clearly visible throughout its entire journey along the chamber wall passage.

Sixty feet. Unobstructed view. Dominant joint always visible.

After moving twenty-two feet down an enclosed passage, this was almost luxurious.

I shot the trigger. Dominant rear joint. Partial extension.

Shot two. Underbelly joint cluster.

+55 EXP — Ironback Crawler (Weak Point Kill)

EXP total: 373/1000

BOUNTY COMPLETED — IRONBACK CRAWLER x4

Bonus EXP received: +50

EXP total: 423/1000

QUEST LOG — UPDATE

Lower loop of floor three: CLEARED

Status: Bounty completed

Record: Solo clearing of Ironback Crawler, D-rank, STR 12

Solo clearing, D-rank, STR 12 – The system had registered it as a record since it was impossible to do and I had managed to do it by pattern recognition without even moving my feet.

I stood in the last chamber with the corpses of four Crawlers and 423 EXP staring at the quest log entry.

And then I checked Vorn’s flag.

VORN — FLAG UPDATE

Fourth contact: COMPLETE

Location: Broken Crown Inn – same night

Duration: 3 minutes

Vorn/Daren relationship meter: 94 → 128/1000

Flag activated: Daren – voluntary contact logged

Note: Daren initiated this contact

Daren initiated.

I read it twice.

Daren had met Vorn again that same night at the Broken Crown Inn and walked over to him. Voluntarily. His relationship meter had passed one hundred, meaning he had completed the recognition phase and started the familiarity phase. He no longer needed to create a fourth contact point; Daren had done it for him.

128 out of 1000. Four connections. Less than two days.

I retrieved my arrows from the end chamber floor and went up to the surface.

CURRENT STATS

STR: 12

AGI: 17

INT: 20

Skills: Friendly Conversation / Moral Support / Observe / Evasion I / Throwing I / Fast Learner / Precision Shot II / Enemy Analysis I / Pattern Recognition II

EXP: 423/1000

Rank: D

Revised Estimate: 8.1 days 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Eight point one days to C rank. Vorn 128 and rising with Daren.

The end chamber log report notification was waiting for me in the corner of my overlay as I came back up to the surface.

Solo clear. D rank. STR 12.

I would definitely be needing more of these.