Kyra hopped off the bus and, humming to herself, walked the rest of the way to the designated pickup zone. Tonight was the night. She could feel it. The night she finally broke through to E-rank.

  At home she'd been keeping up with training just as Benny taught her. A little bit of daily meditation was all it took to feel like her wellspring of fire could burn through an entire dungeon. Not that Benny would let her. That old chestnut about mastering all disciplines.

  The only problem was healing. The mystic fox was still alive thanks to her smooth-talking Benny into letting her keep the next healing potion they found. That had been cutting it close though, as none showed up for days. As for the magic itself, the gift of healing continued to elude her.

  At least her other skills were developing well. She'd gotten into the habit of appraising everyone in sight. It had become as automatic as breathing. She just had to lay eyes on someone and their status would appear in her mind.

  Those statuses began to blend together like background noise. The way you might take in the different suits and ties of the commuters you pass on the way to work and then forget them all ten seconds later. Now if one of those office workers was dressed up as a cowboy . . .

  In a sea of civilians, this man's status was a cowboy costume.

  "Can I help you, ma'am?" He'd noticed her staring.

  Caught out like this, she had to think quickly on her feet. "I've been thinking of getting into archery. Would you have any advice?"

  The question sounded absurb the moment it left her mouth. There was nothing on the man to make anyone think he did archery. She'd have been less suspicious just running away.

  But the man answered her politely. "As it happens, there's an well-regarded archery club in the area. Friendly staff and excellent facilities. Do you have your own gear?"

  "I'm a complete beginner," she said.

  "In that case they offer rentals. It's a good way to test the waters before forking out for your own equipment."

  The man turned out to be very talkative and actually quite sweet. A hobbyist eager to share his passion with a stranger. He was patient with her questions, which bordered on the personal as she was delicately probing for an explanation as to how he'd come to possess hunter abilities.

  In the end he seemed very much to be a regular human being with an enthusiasm for swords and archery. She even slipped in a mention of portals and magic to see how he'd react, but if he was wise to the new world, he hid it well.

  Later in the car she told Benny about her strange encounter.

  "I don't recognize the name," he said. "That man must never have stood out. My memory isn't good enough to remember every hunter."

  "I thought you might have a secret second disciple," she said.

  "Don't I already have my hands full with you as it is? No, you will find more of these people as time goes on. Magic has taken seed inside them, enough for them to improve their physicality and certain skills beyond normal human limits. But at this stage you can't really think of them as hunters. They're unaware of their status and can only be considered half-awakened."

  "What of those who do become aware?" she asked.

  "They'll be even less common than the type you encountered."

  "But they already exist?"

  He replied, "You've seen how many dungeons have been connecting to our world. It's only natural that people are also beginning to change. But you don't have anything to worry about. Everyone else has to learn from scratch while you have the benefit of all my knowledge. Once I'm done with you, whatever plans you make, no one will be able to get in your way."

  "There is still one thing that concerns me," she said. "We'll be found out the moment anyone appraises us."

  "The weak can't appraise the strong," he replied.

  "What if I don't want them to know I'm strong?"

  "There's an ability for that too."

  An ability that could deceive appraisal. The solution was so simple when put into words. It made sense that for magic to produce an ability, it should be able to produce a counter ability. Like fire and fire resistance.

  The notification popped up unexpectedly.

  "Is this ability called misinformation by any chance?" she asked.

  Benny took his eyes off the road for a brief moment to appraise her.

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  "That's the one." He didn't sound surprised at all. "See if you can figure out how it works."

  He made it sound so unintuitive when it really wasn't. It was as easy as deciding what she wanted other people to see when they appraised her. She made a harder decision every morning when picking out her wardrobe for the day.

  For now she decided it was best to pose as a normal person with no powers at all.

  Benny took a second glance at her and turned his eyes quickly back on the road without a word. Though he tried to hide it, she could tell that he was mildly uneasy.

  "It's safer this way," she explained. "You should do it too."

  He nodded slowly. "I'll need your help to teach it to me."

  "It isn't something you can pick up on your own?" she asked.

  "I only learned it from you last time," he replied.

  They started the night off with an easy dungeon. It was a goblin lair much like Kyra's first one. Benny must have picked it to show how far she'd come since that fateful night. This time all the way up to the boss room, not a single monster was able to lay a scratch on her.

  And still her sword proficiency remained at F-rank.

  Through the final ornate door was a familiar room with a familiar monster.

  A hobgoblin scout in a sparring room. Just like her first dungeon. Only this time it wasn't Benny taking center stage.

  As she proceeded into the arena, the monster watched her carefully, its eyes taking in every detail, searching for weaknesses, planning its strategy.

  She was doing the same.

  At E-rank, its sword skill outclassed hers. Physically it was stronger too. And unlike her, it hadn't been worn down fighting its way to this room.

  There were some differences from the first hobgoblin Benny defeated. The most important was its lack of fire resistance. That would be her easiest path to victory.

  But doing so would make for a wasted opportunity. Here was finally an opponent she could test herself against and find out where she was lacking.

  Her goal wasn't just to clear the dungeon. It was to grow stronger to clear all dungeons.

  The two combatants circled each other, probing for weaknesses but neither willing to follow through. On her part because the hobgoblin always seemed to have the perfect response, leaving no opening for her to exploit, while the hobgoblin held back out of caution, unwilling to trust the appraisal status claiming her to have no skills.

  Probe, back. Probe, back. It turned into a slow and predictable dance.

  The longer the impasse dragged on, the more frustrating it became, like playing pong against a wall. And the frustration was only one-sided, as the hobgoblin had nowhere else to be.

  She wasn't learning anything like this, when neither side was taking risks. If something was to change, it was up to her.

  Kyra gathered her focus and made her move. Closing the gap. A sword raised to meet her. Clash of metal. Disengage. A thrust, a parry. Riposte. Evaded!

  The dance continued with the music changed, their swords and feet creating patterns new. The hobgoblin had the better of her on size and strength, but none of that mattered if its strikes didn't land. She rolled around its blade, deflecting it aside.

  And then a cut appeared on her arm. A solid slash across her body. The superior swordsman was picking apart her flaws and aiming at the weak points in her technique. But this was what she wanted. The fight a conversation, her saying, "Teach me where I'm falling short."

  The lesson continued, and she took the lashes in stride. With each mistake that got punished, her understanding of her sword style grew.

  The price in blood was small thanks to the hunter's natural armor. A strike that would have killed her weeks ago now drew welts across her skin. A blow that would have crushed her skull now only left her staggered and dizzy. As long as she didn't allow a solid hit, she could struggle on.

  Her mistakes piled up while the frequency dialed down. Until eventually she received a new notification.

  Giddiness swelled in her chest. Weeks of brutal training had been leading up to this.

  Benny's voice reached out to her from across the arena. "That will do. End this now."

  He didn't have to say it twice.

  With the next clash, the hobgoblin expertly turned her sword aside, a move that would have left her exposed to a counterattack. The natural defensive reaction was to step away, using distance as a shield until she recovered her stance. Instead she released her sword so as not to allow her balance to be thrown off, and used the opportunity to step behind the hobgoblin's guard.

  Under normal circumstances this maneuver was ill-advised as it left her without a weapon. But she had on her two hands far more lethal than any steel. The hulking warrior's screams were cut short with its life and in moments it lay smoldering on the floor.

  Without waiting for permission, she searched through the defeated's pockets for the treasures she'd earned. A healing potion and a mystic orb of water.

  Benny was beaming widely. "Congratulations on your first solo dungeon clear."

  Back at the car, Benny had prepared a present for her. It was a document folder, inside containing a stack of familiar paper. Kyra handled the smooth sheets carefully now that she understood how valuable they were.

  "You're ready to begin training your own disciples now," he said. "Choose carefully who gets which skill sheet. They aren't easy to make."

  She carefully slipped the pages back into the folder. "What about my own training?"

  "It will continue. But time is short, and you've got your own plans to put into motion."

  He was right. "So the dungeons—"

  "I will send you coordinates. You can choose how you want to use them. For your disciples, by yourself, or with me."

  "You're leaving all the decisions from now on up to me," she said.

  "You'll have my support, but it is now your timeline to save," he said soberly.

  This was the moment Benny had long warned her would be coming. The moment he took a back seat. The final strategy of the man who'd failed to save the world a million times over was to delegate each timeline to a chosen individual and hope they could do better.

  "Do you want to hear my plans?" she asked.

  "If you wish to share."

  She knew him well enough now to pick up on the subtle tells that he couldn't completely suppress. While he was trying to sound nonchalant, he was actually looking forward to hearing about it.

  And she was looking forward to telling him.

  "The key to everything has to be magic and, to a large extent, hunters. The only way I can make a real difference is to be in control of the most powerful hunters association in the world. That's only possible if I can unite the entire continent of Concordia under one association."

  She had no illusions about a global association. The world was much too divided.

  Benny nodded. "It's a good plan. There's plenty I can do to help."

  She hadn't shared her plan to satisfy his curiosity. It was to get information about the other timelines—information he'd refused to share. His reaction told her that it was a predictable plan, one that must have been adopted by many before her and probably even the other Kyra. There had even been a momentarily flash of disappointment across his face that he quickly suppressed.

  This told her that she was on the same trajectory as last time.

  But that was all right. She just had to keep making the decisions that she believed were best. It was unwise to change it up for the sake of change.

  She grinned at Benny. "Since I'm in charge now, do I get to boss you around?"

  "I'll listen to your requests," he replied. "My usual restrictions still apply. Chief of all being not to rely too much on my ability to turn back time. That means not putting yourself in a situation where you have to thread a needle to survive, and not expecting that of me either."

  "Then you'll love my first request." She took a deep breath. "I want you to be a civilian."