On the twentieth day, Su Ming's name appeared on the District ranking board.
Not at the top. But not where you would expect an Undead Summoner in a world that still, broadly, considered the class a late-night comedy subject. He was at eleven. Out of approximately four thousand registered Players in District 7.
Rank 11. Level 41. Undead Summoner.
The conversation in the Player Hub that morning was very different from the one two weeks ago.
"How is he Level 41?"
"The summoner kid? I saw him in a B-rank dungeon yesterday. Didn't fight anything himself. His summons just—"
"He has six summons now. At least one is B-rank."
"There's a rumor there's also an A-rank but nobody's confirmed it."
"The A-rank is confirmed. Three people saw it in the C-rank dungeon last week. Black Death Knight."
"That's not possible at Level 41. A-rank summons need—"
"I know what they're supposed to need. I'm telling you what people saw."
Su Xuan sat in his corner and let the conversation wash over him. He was no longer on the District board because no system in the world could read his actual level, and the Binding System's concealment was thorough enough that all external inspection of him returned: [No Data]. He had been asked about it by the Hub administrator once. He had said it was a system error. The administrator had filed it and not followed up, for reasons that Su Xuan thought had something to do with Demonic Aura and the look he gave people when they were about to ask a second question.
[ BINDING SYNC ]
Su Ming: Level 41 | Summon Count: 8 | Highest Rank: A
Su Xuan: Level 83 | Death Sovereign: Level 71 | Demon God: Level 59
Subjugated: 8 total (Kael, Serrath + 6 others)
New Skill — Demon God: [Void Domain — Lv.1] Activated
[Void Domain]: Create a spatial zone up to 50 meters in radius. Within this zone, Su Xuan controls all physics of energy and movement. Allies gain +20% all stats. Enemies suffer -30% all stats and cannot use teleportation or escape skills.
He had tested it once, in an empty field outside the district, at three in the morning. The zone had opened like a mouth — silent, dark-edged, the space inside it subtly wrong in a way that made trees lean slightly toward the center. He had held it for thirty seconds, noting the feel of it, and then closed it.
Nothing in the district's F or E rank content required Void Domain. He was stockpiling it.
His phone buzzed.
Su Ming: Zhao Wei wants to meet. He says it's friendly.
Su Xuan looked at the message.
Su Xuan: Tell him Thursday. Neutral location. Public.
Su Ming: You think he'll do something stupid?
Su Xuan: I think he'll do exactly as much as he thinks he can get away with. Public limits that.
Su Ming: You're really not going to tell me what your level is, are you.
Su Xuan: No.
Su Ming: Fine. Thursday. The café on 4th.
Su Xuan: Good.
He put his phone down and looked at the window. Outside, District 7 was doing what it did — people moving, monsters contained to their zones, Players cycling through dungeons with the grinding determination of a species that had decided to adapt or die and had, broadly, chosen adapt.
Somewhere in the district, Ling Xue was clearing dungeons alone. He knew this because he had been, without quite deciding to, tracking the dungeon completion records for District 7, and a Shadow Sovereign with no guild and no party had been appearing in the completion logs for every dungeon above D-rank for the past ten days.
She was fast. Efficient. The logs didn't show kill methods, only completion times, but her times were the kind that implied the monsters hadn't had much opportunity to form opinions about what killed them.
He had thought about messaging her. He had decided against it, partly because he didn't have her contact, and partly because whatever was happening between them was moving at a pace that felt correct and he was not going to disrupt that by being impatient.
He could be patient.
He had, after all, unlimited time in the form of a passive experience gain that was leveling him whether he was patient or not.
He finished his tea.
Thursday, then.