<Nocturnal Harmonia>

[Bloodedge]

"Guess so. Gotta have water with your dirt," Satoru said with no further explanation. Maki was proving to be an interesting case, which made a bit more sense of her equally-unusual brother. The only missing explanation was how their mana actually worked. As he'd been loosely observing the goings-on, Yugi thought to finally share his findings. "Valve mechanics. She probably would have properly registered as a B-rank before today if she punched that machine instead of just touching it. I'd recommend taking that into account for future weird cases," he explained briefly while purchasing numerous potions. There were quite a few options now, so he selected three stacks of everything, sending one to Takemi Tae's Inventory window. "Potions sent, two more stacks to split. Still nothing that'll upgrade my weapon, but that crossbow I took should make up the difference. Got a new level on some skills too," he rambled aimlessly during Miko's effort to strip away that condom.

Makima wondered if they had a mandatory quest. How could that question truly be answered? "Err... basically? It's not mandatory, but it's mandatory. You should get what I mean," he said to the woman who clearly gave such 'optional' objectives on a daily basis. "We survive a trial, beat a boss and take a throne to get what should be a massive upgrade... or we die. That's pretty much the deal," he explained. Moving on, the one called Hashimoto was apparently the man Miko tested Black Flash on. "Oohhh, the not-dead dead guy. Mommy's orders," he stated. That was roughly all Yugi had to say. His gear was put back in order by a quick unequip and reequip, but then... there was a line from Maki about reverse-isekai protagonists. "Nail on the head. For a brief explanation, you also became a reverse-isekai deuteragonist earlier today. It's why I can give you stuff. One more milestone and you'll start seeing the things we see. Well... apart from the loot; you already see that. Anyway! Accept," he said, readying himself for the coming quest. For the second time since the System offered Miko and himself System access, Yugi saw something strange: the need for both Players to accept a quest. Once he realized that was the case here, the gears started turning in his mind again. "Oh... shi─"

[Apollymi]

Apparently, there had to be water with mud. Makima had to assume this was a reference to building a trench, which she'd let that one stew, Yugi had something to say. He had an understanding of Maki's formerly unreadable mana and her currently higher reading as well. "A valve, huh? That's interesting to know. I'll test it out on a few others as well, might as well witness the oddities myself with certain targets," Makima stated. "Good boy♪~" she praised the lad, if his eyes got any better, she might allow Gojo an early retirement. Assuming of course the white haired man wanted such a thing. As Yugi spoke though his next bits, Miko also re-equipped a different outfit. Going back to that white mini-skirt and purple sleeveless top and the purple zip-up hoodie, at the end she was wearing dark tights and a pair of little booties with her hair down and tossed free with that new little curl up in the air. She gave a little spin and bounced on her toes, seemingly happy with her attire of choice. "Hai hai, I don't have an upgrade yet either, but my Veil and Healing Pulse have gotten a bit better. Though I don't need the upgrade just yet..." Miko said as she reorganized her Inventory and made sure her armor and equipment was sorted. "Speaking of my needs, I do want my share of the Essence Stones, you've seen why, but you can split the rest of what I'd be paid for that raid between those three," Miko asserted. "Oh, Go-sei, did you want a pair of sunglasses?" she figured there was a chance he'd say no, but she would replace what was broken because of her regardless.

Moving on from that point, the pair had a mandatory quest, it wasn't actually mandatory but the penalty for not doing it, was so high it might as well be. Yugi was quite right to assume that the woman made many a request that was actually an order with steep consequences for non-compliance. "I do understand that. You're definitely being manipulated, but I can see why you'd still take the risk. Obviously I'd prefer you not die doing such a thing," Makima pointed out. It would be quite bad to have her newest acquisitions change her life so drastically only to die in a single day. "Hai hai," Miko chirped at the idea that it was Makima's orders that got that outcome. "Still a whole 10 percent for taking an order I wouldn't have said no to regardless is a bit steep is all I am saying..." Miko had her own minor gripes, but she didn't think them totally pressing given what they were headed out to do. What was more Yugi had some interesting news to share with Maki as he confirmed her ideations about the way this worked. "Sou ka, well I guess that makes more sense than it doesn't. Not like I can back out now or anything. I guess we'll see what else happens later," Maki said, she was still using a wall to support her shaky legs, but if context was anything to go by, she would eventually recover enough to stand on her own. Meanwhile, Miko was reading through that notification one more time while making herself a bit more certain and finding that same oddity that she had when they'd first become the Players, they had to agree. "Accept~" she said as Yugi started to swear she turned to him... "Wha-"

[Bloodedge]

Good boy, said Makima, adding another refreshing stack to Yugi's active buffs. One of the things he'd done when opening the System was switch to her title, knowing it would be worthwhile during downtime when meeting the woman. He also took the time to allocate some additional stat points, not wanting to go into a new major quest without them. "And that's what I do things for. If I didn't mention, praise from you gives me buffs," he admitted to Makima. Satoru nodded along, seeing the effects in live action. When Miko mentioned splitting her earnings from the raid between the other three, Yugi chimed in. "Split mine 40/30/30. Extra pay for me learning new combat moves," he said, pointing to Maki.

Only a few moments later, both Players were accepting their most important quest yet. Yugi realized all too late what was likely to happen when they both accepted. What happened? Well, the five Hunters who were brought by Satoru to Makima's office was suddenly reduced to three. The Players would find themselves in the middle of a long, candlelit grand hall ─ so long that darkness was all one could see at the farthest visible point. "─it. GODDAMNIT!" Yugi swore.

〔SYSTEM NOTICE — JOB-CHANGE QUEST INITIATED〕

Job-Change Quest: "Path of the Shadow"
Status: Initiated

You have entered the Trial Dungeon.
The path to glory begins now.

Dungeon Rules:

• Cannot leave the Dungeon until cleared (unless using a Hearthstone or Penalty Quest is activated)
• Cannot access Player Shop
• Survive for 4 hours (0/4:00:00)
• Cannot use potions
• Status Healing does not happen when/if Players level up
• Players are allowed to summon Concubines into the quest dungeon
  
  - Only one Concubine may be summoned per Player at a time
  - Concubines will last 20 minutes when summoned

Accumulation Rules:
Points are earned through the following:

• Time survived: 1 point per minute (max 240 points from time)
• Enemies defeated: Points vary by enemy rank and strength
• Special conditions: Bonus points for defeating strong enemies, surviving critical moments, or completing hidden objectives

Total Points Required for Success: [Hidden – Revealed upon completion or failure]

Failure Condition:
Death before 4 hours elapses = Quest failure

Success Condition:
Survive 4 hours = Proceed to final trial phase

System Remark:
The shadows are watching.
Prove you are worthy to command them.
Or become one of them.

Upon reading the latest screen, Yugi wanted to scoff. He couldn't. What built within him was instead pure, unadulterated fury. Having to survive was fine. Being able to summon Concubines was lovely. Not healing from gained levels was to be expected eventually. However, he had one massive gripe with the System after the time he'd just spent in its shop. "What. The fuck. Do you mean I 'can't use potions'? How do you do a thing with a boss and say no potions? I just bought like a hundred fucking potions Brainface! Take the brain off your face, put it in your head where it belongs, and use it to think of game design that doesn't SUCK FUCKING DICK!"

[Apollymi]

Praise was something Makima offered freely when it was earned. She wasn't so stoic and unappreciative to not acknowledge new information and the work or brainpower to get to it. Of course, she was soon going to be finding out that for at least one person it had a few more effects. He claimed he was 'buffed' by praise, and Gojo gave a nod to confirm it. "Oh? Is that right... I have often heard that people enjoy being praised by me, but a direct connection to power is very different. And you little one?" she asked of Miko who looked up a bit sheepish. "None of mine currently work directly like that," Miko explained of her own current listing. "Don't like it stop you from praising me if I do something good though, I still like hearing it♪~" the girl added cheekily. In Makima's mind, one was directly buff, one experienced life in the usual way but both enjoyed their praise. That was fine, she could work with that, given how well-behaved they were. In fact, they were proving more by the second how good they were to others, giving up their pay for the Dungeon to the other living participants, with Yugi going a step further and denoting a specific split as Maki had been personally helpful to him in a more legitimate way. "That's... nice of you both. I am sure I don't need to explain to you how you may need regular money at some point," Makima offered the pair while still making the notes necessary for the math on the division of payment. Miko nodded her agreement. After all, if actual cash or money was needed for something she needed only visit with someone she was already going to see to get access to her spare bankcard.

Too bad there wasn't time for other things. By the time both Players accepted their quest they'd simply, disappeared in the exact moment of it. Cut off mid-sentence even, "Did they just disappear?" Makima wondered, perhaps Gojo could see them or they hadn't gone off very far, unlikely as it was... since both teens didn't seem to know what was going to happen until it did.

Speaking of things that were going to happen, Miko was now listening to yet another System notice. This one explaining the Nature of their Job-Change Quest and all its associated parts. They were standing in a dark hall, flickering candle light. By the time Yugi was done bitching about the set up which was quite honestly terrible, Miko had her own angry insights to add. "Yeah, and also what the fuck is with the random TP? You can't just snatch people out of space time? What if we'd still been in that SUV above the city, we'd be falling from the sky when we got back, Brainface. Also don't talk so fucking ominously in my head, I didn't sign-up for scary movie night!" Miko also griped. Still ther was something coming and a few good features to come.

[Bloodedge]

And so, the two most enigmatic individuals of the meeting were gone. Aki couldn't even call himself surprised anymore. Alas, he'd been meaning to comment on the exquisite quality and smoothness of cigarette Miko offered him... but he'd gotten too caught up taking one drag after another, and now had no chance to mention it. Oh well. The pair were gone, and Makima was immediately questioning the disappearance. Satoru looked where they'd been and shrugged. He looked to Maki, whose mana should have been moving just slightly in Yugi's direction. There was movement... but it stopped abruptly just outside her body. "Poof~" was all he could say as observation. Not a single trace of the pair existed from his point of view.

All the while, the Players themselves were openly complaining to their administrator for bad gaming practices and the like. "Yeah, nobody wants to be spawned in the middle of the fucking sky! How about we get some fucking checkpoints at least?!" Yugi added to Miko's existing gripe. A remark from the System about commanding shadows or becoming one of them was notably ominous, but they weren't going to have much time to consider that. Yugi's Sharingan activated to see a bit farther down that hall. There were too many mana sources to tell one from the next up ahead... and they were just beginning to march down the hall. "Alright... stereotypical survival quest. Throw way too many fucking enemies at you and tell you to make it out. We could maybe cheese it... but I'm not settling for 240 points when we could get 500, or even a thousand!" he announced. Sword in hand, he was prepared to take whatever onslaught came. They weren't close enough to be seen even by Yugi yet, but perhaps one like Miko could hear the echo of clanking armor in the distance, echoing down the corridor. "All I see is a thick ass cloud of mana with a bunch of sources. You hear anything?"

[Apollymi]

Makima couldn't trace those two regardless of her enhanced sensory capability and her understanding of Hunters in general. No matter, the pair had proved themselves to be quite capable, she'd choose to believe in their eventual return. "Poof, huh? I suppose they'll have an interesting story to tell when they return. I'll handle the rest of this in the mean time..." Makima said. She did actually intend to debrief the group, and make sure that the newest acquisitions understood they weren't to speak on the 'Players' and their powers. They would also be offered more 'jobs' or closer ones if they wanted, in exchange for their silence. Makima was used to handling situations both publicly and privately, she had no worries about what the other three would be saying.

In the meantime, Miko and Yugi, were now setting themselves up to begin a new kind of journey. That last gripe to Brainface was even given a bit more context. "Hell yeah, checkpoints!" Miko agreed vehemently. Oh well, they were now in the midst of their job change quest and would have a lot of work to do. Both of them made the same assumptions about the nature of 'survival quest', he even claimed he didn't want to settle for the bare minimum which made Miko happy internally. "I'm glad you said that about not taking the minimum. I'm too much of a perfectionist to shoot for something so low. I'd rather get a full clear whenever possible," Miko agreed. There was a certain happiness to the lad going into a new challenge and she respected it, and in her own way, mirrored it. She didn't even bother waiting around, grabbing hold of her Catalyst sword and taking a calming deep breath. "Veil," she cast for Yugi, and herself, if only to get the whole thing started properly. "Yeah... I hear armor, and clanging. I can't quite pinpoint it, but there is a lot of whatever is up ahead. They are armored and heavy," Miko managed. "Oh and updates, Veil does all recovery types and will pulse heal damage when struck. Still let me know if something major happens. I won't have to worry as much about myself," Miko murmured knowing how Mana Reversal worked passively. "Ready?" she asked a little smirk on her face as she prepared to back him up.

[Bloodedge]

"Suit yourself. I'll be around until the paper-chasers get back," Satoru said casually. He took a moment to reach out, as if it were possible to touch that short mana trail stemming off Maki. His efforts did nothing, but he continued to act as if it were a thing to play with. "Do you all count as paper-chasers by proxy? That'd be fun," he mused.

Their complaints aside, the Players had a reasonable enough guess at what they would soon be facing. Miko spoke of armored enemies en masse after casting her veil on both of them. Considering the architecture of this place and their need to claim a throne at the end, it was quite easy to figure out the challenge. "Looks like a castle, goal is a throne, tons of armored guys coming down the hall. Knights. Sword and board, two-handers, probably the works. I wouldn't be surprised to see rangers and court mages as well. Horses? Maybe horses. Careful of any in formation," he warned. With that, Miko explained the upgrade to her veil spell. It sounded like something they would find more useful than anything else presently. "Oh shit you got recovery shield? Sick! Look at you making moves that aren't just that ass~" he praised. As for readiness, Yugi would be reaching out to slap Miko's rear once more. That maneuver would precede him jogging forward, intending to pick up speed along the way with a sword already lightning-charged. In time, they would indeed come upon an army of knights so thick that it would be impossible to get around the group and further traverse the hall. "I wanna see if there's a better spot than this damn hall. Water? We can try frontloaded damage to sweep through and hopefully find a room!"

[Apollymi]

Makima planned to work out what was going on with the group and busy herself until the return of the pair of Players. Apparently, Gojo would be waiting around on their return as well. Maki whose legs were finally starting to work properly sighed just a bit. "I need you to know, I'm a seventeen year old girl and I have no idea what the hell you are saying most of the time," Maki said first and foremost. "If you think they're really coming back, I'm up for hanging out, but to be honest, I could use a nap," Maki said honestly. Makima nodded to this. "And you two, what are you planning to do, next? Being a part of a situation like that I can make a few accommodations for you bu You'll be paid obviously and it goes without saying that no one will be discussing this Dungeon Break outside of this very small group of people. Hayakawa Aki, light one of those cigarettes and bring it to me," Makima mentioned as if it was perfectly normal to start the discussion from here.

Meanwhile, Miko and Yugi were coming to the end of their complaining and the start of their brainstorming and strategizing. Miko had heard the sounds of armor, and the look of this place seemed to be enough information. "Hai hai, don't get caught in the formation, and be ready for the random knight class swarm," Miko said in summary of the information. What was more, there was a Veil applied to both of them with an explanation from Miko. This would result in praise directly from Yugi she smiled and wiggled her hips. "Yep, still with the ass though♪!~" Miko chirped happily. Oh well, she had to slip those in somewhere. As they progressed it seemed there was a bit of an idea to see if there was a better room than this hallway. "Okay, I'll flood you shock.. and we'll see what happens♪~" Miko said, switching her catalyst for the water staff and pointing it towards the end of the hallway, She'd gather up a ball of wet mana before allowing it to crash down the hallway and let Yugi follow it up as he would, but it'd reach that shadow and spread across many an armored soldier.

[Bloodedge]

The seventeen-year old Zen'in Maki didn't even understand what Satoru was getting at. How strange; he thought her generation was the one primarily into such reels. "You need to stop touching grass and start touching yourself. It'll help with that case of can'ttakethedickitis you've got~" he suggested with a wagging finger. It went without saying that Maki could use a nap. From the looks of them, Satoru could assume all three victims of his students could easily fall asleep at any given moment ─ especially that mage. Ah, but the mage Hayashi was alert enough to hear the chairwoman's words. For some reason, he felt it would be in more than bad taste to avoid listening when she spoke; it felt like endangerment. Even Aki could presume as much, for reasons he'd never share with the general public. He was even the one addressed directly. Makima wanted him to light a cigarette and bring it to her. Was it some sort of test? She'd once been known for such things in a certain circle of society. Oh well; that didn't matter as much now. "Huuu~" he exhaled smoke before anything else. "Can't do that," he said. There was a reason for what seemed to be disobedience from the topknot-sporting male. He wasn't rejecting her order at all. In fact, he was already retrieving a second cigarette and walking toward the desk. "First hit's too good. Here," he said, holding out the cigarette with one hand. His other hand held a lighter, which he fully intended to light her smoke with... assuming the chairwoman even smoked.

Within the Job Change Quest Dungeon, Miko was asserting that she still 'made moves' with her ass. As he'd come to expect, there was a bit of wiggling between his slap and that statement. Yugi was beginning to view such things a very specific way. "That's gonna become my motivation ritual at some point. I've been mulling over that thought for hours now," he admitted. Soon enough, they were on their way toward the oncoming horde of knights. It may have simply been the advance guard, but if that happened to be the case... then this would be a siege. The plan to clear their way to a room, if possible, was accepted. With that in place, Miko released water forward as Yugi ducked beneath the launched sphere. More knights than one could count were drenched. Yugi would utilize the tested method of throwing his electrified sword into the fray, keeping a mana thread attached to the hilt for eventual retrieval. As was the case with the spiders before, the knights were stunned and electrocuted. Unlike the spiders however, it seemed the knights would take some time to actually fall from electrocution. "Huh. Stronger than B-rank. Not a fan of instant power creep," Yugi observed.