The D rank gate was the colour of old brass.
Rean stood in front of it with his hands in his pockets and looked at it the way a person looks at a meal they have already finished before sitting down — present, technically engaged, but not particularly invested in the experience ahead. D rank. He had been clearing these since the third month after his awakening, back when they had required actual concentration.
That felt like a long time ago.
He went in smiling.
*******
The dungeon announced itself as a cave system — natural formation rather than constructed, which was common at this rank. The walls were rough limestone, damp in places, with the particular acoustic quality of deep enclosed spaces where sound arrived from unexpected directions. Bioluminescent moss covered the upper surfaces of the rock in patches, casting the corridors in a soft blue-green that was almost pleasant.
"Almost pleasant"
