The bell rang a second time.
Softer.
Longer.
Not an alert.
An indication.
[End of Day 1 — Neutral Phase ongoing.]
The artificial sky slowly shifted into a darker shade.
The luminous filaments along the ceiling dimmed.
The city did not shut down.
It changed rhythm.
The humans began to move.
Not toward the center.
Toward their district.
Rectangular buildings stood waiting—plain, already present.
Not empty.
Not furnished.
Structurally ready.
But raw.
Doors without locks.
Rooms without light.
Staircases without railings.
Mi-sun entered the first open building.
She pushed the door.
A bare room.
Stone floor.
Two side chambers.
A narrow window.
“This will do,” she said simply.
Dae-hyun leaned his shield against the wall.
He inspected the ceiling.
“Not fragile.”
Ha-joon stepped toward the window.
He could see the beastmen’s district in the distance.
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Fires.
Massive silhouettes.
Deep chants.
They didn’t seem worried about where to sleep.
They had erected wooden and bone structures around their totems.
Tribal organization.
Instinctive.
On the dwarven side, the scene was different.
Bjorn Forgeblade, already surrounded by three other artisans, had assembled a modular metal platform in less than an hour.
Not a house.
A workshop.
Conduits.
Mechanisms.
Internal energy lamps.
They weren’t occupying the designated buildings.
They were constructing their own.
Rin entered the room as well.
He sat against a wall.
Exhaustion returned in waves.
“We staying together?” Ha-joon asked.
“Yes,” Mi-sun replied.
Not for safety.
For coherence.
The city continued organizing itself.
In the streets, humans were already debating.
“We need to rally around Kael.”
“No, we should reinforce the exchange structure.”
“The cult is definitely going to try extending its influence here.”
The word circulated.
Influence.
Not domination.
Not yet.
At the center, the exchange pillar had stabilized.
A faint glow now emanated from it continuously.
Figures were already approaching it.
One man traded Shards for concentrated rations.
Another for a specialized tool.
Transactions were silent.
Personal.
Nothing was displayed publicly.
The currency didn’t create visible hierarchy.
It created invisible decisions.
In another building, closer to the plaza, a fair-haired woman was treating a wounded man.
Eleanor.
She wasn’t preaching.
She was acting.
Marcus, beside her, observed human movements carefully.
No speeches.
Not yet.
He was waiting for tensions to clarify.
Further away, A?cha inspected a rooftop.
She wasn’t looking at the beastmen with hostility.
She was studying access points.
Blind spots.
Escape routes.
Mikhail helped her secure an entrance.
Not to attack.
To avoid being caught off guard.
The city breathed.
Not peacefully.
But truly.
Inside Rin’s room, night settled.
There was no bed.
No blankets.
Only stone.
Ha-joon fell asleep first.
Crossbow against his chest.
Dae-hyun remained seated longer.
He stared at the door.
As if expecting it to open.
Mi-sun didn’t sleep right away.
She watched Rin.
“Will you hold?”
“Yes.”
“You used too much flux.”
He shrugged slightly.
“Not here.”
She understood.
The Neutral City resisted alterations.
He couldn’t force it like Floor 2.
This wasn’t malleable terrain.
It was a foundation.
A place where the rules were already locked.
The dark vault pulsed once.
Not a threat.
A cycle.
Day 1 ended.
In the beastmen’s district, the chants gradually ceased.
In the dwarven quarter, hammers continued striking for a long time.
Among the humans, voices faded in small groups.
The Neutral City no longer felt like a landing zone.
It felt like a beginning.
Rin closed his eyes.
Not to rest.
To memorize.
Distances.
Heights.
Rhythms.
Tomorrow would not be a battle.
It would be a collective decision.
And in seven days, this city would no longer be neutral.
It would be oriented.
Somewhere.
Toward someone.
The bell rang again.
Lighter.
[Beginning of Day 2.]
The Tower gave no objective.
But time moved forward nonetheless.
