Hajin stared at them, the crackling of the dying fire the only sound left in the camp.

"You really believe that?" he asked, his voice completely flat. "Are you sure there is no other explanation?"

He looked between the two veterans, hoping one of them would offer up a different theory. A system glitch or a rare Gate phenomenon, anything that didn’t put the blame directly on his shoulders.

The Captain let out a long, heavy sigh.

"I wish there was," he said, running a hand through his graying hair. "But Helen and I have been diving into Gates for over a decade. We have cleared hundreds of them, ranging from simple one-shard zones to near-catastrophic six-shard anomalies."

Helen crossed her arms, her expression remaining dead serious in the fire light.

"Not once have we ever seen a Gate just vanish," she added, her gaze locking onto his. "The boss dies, the loot drops, and the structure stays. That is the absolute rule of the world."

She stepped a little closer, her voice dropping slightly.

"Then you show up," she continued. "An unregistered rookie who clears a mutated two-shard Gate in the forest, and suddenly there are rumors of a Gate disappearing."

She tilted her head, watching his reaction carefully.

"Then you join our raid, solo an anomaly that should have wiped us out, and the exact same thing happens right in front of our eyes."

"I didn’t even realize it was you in those rumors until right now," she said, shaking her head. "But there is absolutely no doubt about it. You are just too strange."

Hajin opened his mouth to defend himself, but the Captain cut him off.

"She’s right," he said, his expression completely serious. "You use golden rings instead of Shards. That is completely unheard of."

"Not to mention those girls," she added, gesturing toward the sleeping trio across the camp. "We figured it out while we were watching you fight the boss. You can literally summon and unsummon them at will."

She let out a short, exasperated laugh.

"You are just a walking question mark," she muttered, rubbing her temples. "So yes, when a Gate randomly vanishes right after you kill the boss, we are going to assume it has something to do with you." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The Captain nodded slowly, crossing his arms.

"It all makes sense now," he murmured, his gaze steady. "I kept wondering why His Majesty would personally sponsor a nameless rookie."

He looked Hajin dead in the eye, the firelight casting long shadows across his face.

"You aren’t just a strong recruit," he continued, "you are an anomaly yourself."

Hajin just laughed, shaking his head, "I honestly don’t know what to say to that," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

Helen leaned in slightly, squinting at him, "do you seriously have no clue?" she asked, her voice filled with skepticism. "Are you doing it yourself on purpose, or is there some other story behind it?"

He met her gaze, his expression completely honest, "I have absolutely no clue why that happened," he said.

The Captain rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful, "It is very interesting," he said, staring at the embers. "So that means the monsters inside just die? Usually, the beasts remain until adventurers hunt them down."

He looked up at the night sky, his brow furrowing.

"But today, the Gate spat us out with all the loot," he continued, letting out a slow breath. "It is very interesting, so I will definitely need to report this directly to the King."

Hearing those words just gave Hajin a headache, making him massage his temples. He hated dealing with royal politics, especially since the King was already keeping a close eye on him. The last thing he wanted was someone investigating his unique traits.

The Captain stood up from the log, stretching his back, "Are you hungry?" he asked. "We don’t have much to offer besides some dried meat."

Hajin sat up a bit more, looking at the dying fire, "I am a little hungry," he said.

From their perspective, he just reached his hand out into empty air, pulling back several warm boxes of food, "I have some I can share," he said.

Helen stared at the steaming boxes, realizing the weird was just getting weirder. She had seen him do this once before, but it was still weird seeing it up close.

The rich smell of freshly cooked meat immediately filled the air.

After they finished eating, Hajin stood up, walking back to the other side of the camp. He sat down near a massive tree, leaning his head back against the bark while he stared up at the sky.

"What a rough raid," he muttered, letting out a slow, exhausted breath.

Just then, a soft chime rang in his ears, the system screen materializing in his vision.

[ Mutated 7+-Shard Gate Cleared ]

[ Boss Defeated: Beast King Anomaly ]

[ EXP Gained: 1,200,000 ]

[ Rank Progress: 1,953,500 / 5,000,000 ]

[ Ring 2 ➔ Ring 3: 39.07% ]

[ Summon Juna gained: 1,200,000 EXP ]

[ Evolution Progress: 2 Wings ➔ 3 Wings (Complete) ]

[ Summon Juna has evolved into 3 Wings. ]

[ Base Multiplier increased: 2.0x ➔ 3.0x ]

[ Juna Wing Progress: 1,005,000 / 7,500,000 ]

[ Summon Loccy gained: 1,200,000 EXP ]

[ Evolution Progress: 1 Wing ➔ 2 Wings (Complete) ]

[ Summon Loccy has evolved into 2 Wings. ]

[ Base Multiplier increased: 1.5x ➔ 2.0x ]

[ Loccy Wing Progress: 1,137,000 / 1,500,000 ]

[ Loot dropped: Beast King’s Core (Rare) ]

[ Passive Trait Triggered: Fragment’s Blessing ]

[ Rarity Upgrade: Rare ➔ Divine ]

[ Obtained: Divine Core of the Sun Emperor (Divine) ]

[ Fragment Recovery: +1.50% ]

[ Current Fragment Recovery: 5.20% ]

He pulled the Divine Core of the Sun Emperor out of his inventory, holding it in his hand. The crystal was warm to the touch, pulsing with a bright golden light that looked like a captured star. He closed his fingers around it, feeling the raw, divine mana radiating through his palm.

’A Divine core huh,’ he thought, putting it back.

This single drop was worth more than everything he had collected since awakening in the slums. With this, he could probably boost Vella’s power, or maybe forge some actual good for his girls.

But the real headache was the vanishing Gates.

If clearing the anomaly caused the Gate to completely collapse, he was in deep trouble. The King was already keeping tabs on him and the Great Families were looking for any excuse to get rid of him.

If the guild figured out that Gates were disappearing every time he cleared them, they might start banning him from clearing them.

He let out a long sigh, running a hand through his hair. He just wanted to grind EXP, get stronger, and live a peaceful life. But the system was dragging him into something much bigger than a simple class ascension.