I closed my eyes, the hushed concern of my companions a distant shore as I plunged into the roiling ocean of my own power. The world dissolved, not into darkness, but into a blinding, silent supernova of pure temporal potential. My mind, my very consciousness, latched onto the future of the dark tunnel before us, seeking a single, viable path.

The simulation snapped into place. My phantom-self drifted down the smooth, dark tunnel, emerging alone onto a wide ledge overlooking a vast, subterranean lake. The stillness was absolute, the water's surface a perfect, black mirror reflecting the faint glow of distant fungi. The air was cold, heavy, smelling of decay and wet stone. Dozens of soft, beautiful lights, like captured will-o'-the-wisps, floated serenely a few feet above the water, their gentle, hypnotic pulsing a beautiful, dangerous invitation.

My [Predator's Gaze] was active even in this phantom state, a cold layer of analytical truth over the vision. I focused on the serene lights. My Gaze didn't see treasure; it saw a lie. It was a focused, predatory lure, a psychic beacon of false safety designed to attract prey. The energy signature was that of a bio-luminescent organ, and it felt intrinsically linked to a much larger, colder, hungrier presence hidden in the inky depths below.

To confirm the threat, I reached out and touched a nearby pebble with a sliver of telekinetic force, sending it skipping across the black water. The first skip was silent. The second was answered by an explosion of violence. The water erupted. A creature, all needle-teeth and a cavernous maw, launched itself from the depths, its monstrous body a pale, bloated nightmare. An Umbral Angler. The name settled into my mind with the chilling certainty of System-imparted knowledge.

In the Glimpse, I engaged it. My phantom form met its lunge, a fist wreathed in contained fire slamming into its slick, blubbery hide. I felt its power level — solidly mid-Tier 4 — and the resilience of its flesh. I saw how its glowing lure spasmed erratically as its main body took damage, a clear sign of a direct neurological link. It was strong, but manageable. Then, my Gaze swept the rest of the lake. The water wasn't empty. It was full of them. A pack. A score of them, all hidden, all waiting.

The tactical situation solidified in my mind with perfect, instantaneous clarity. We could win. It would be a brutal, frantic battle. My team was strong enough to handle one, maybe two at a time. The whole pack would devour them. Victory was possible, but only if I acted as an overwhelming force, a safety net of absolute destruction that would allow them to function without being annihilated. It was a path that required more of my power than I had yet shown them, a level of overwhelming, targeted violence that would forever change their perception of me. But it was the only way they all walked out alive.

The Glimpse shattered, and I was back in my body, the cool air of the cavern a slap against my skin. My heart was pounding, the phantom-echoes of the Angler's attack still clinging to my soul. I opened my eyes. Lucas, Silas, and Eliza were still staring at me, their expressions a mixture of awe and fear.

"Okay," I said, meeting their gazes. "You're right, Lucas. We need this. But we don't go in blind." I gestured to the tunnel. "Let me go take a look first. A quick peek, get the lay of the land. It's too much of an unknown. Just... wait here for me."

They didn't question me. The time for that was long past. Lucas gave a single, sharp nod, his hand tightening on his shield. "Be careful, Eren," was all he said, his voice low and serious. Eliza just watched me with wide, worried eyes, her scientific curiosity for once taking a backseat to simple concern for a friend.

I turned and stepped into the smooth, dark tunnel. The absolute blackness was total, a velvet void that my normal sight could not penetrate, but to my Gaze, the way was as clear as day. The stone here felt ancient, colder, the air thick with a pressure that suggested an immense weight of rock above us. I moved in a controlled, silent descent, the Ashen Weave Raiment I wore drinking the sound and the faint light from the cavern entrance behind me.

I emerged onto the ledge. It was exactly as I had foreseen. The cavern was vast and silent, the air cold and still. The beautiful, deadly lights pulsed serenely over the black water. For a moment, I just stood there, a shadow in a much larger darkness, the weight of their lives a heavy, tangible thing on my shoulders. I could feel the cold hunger radiating from the deep, a palpable pressure on my soul. My Glimpse had been accurate. The danger was real, and it was waiting. Having confirmed the terrain, I turned and melted back into the tunnel.

When I emerged back in the upper stratum, they were exactly where I had left them, a tense triangle of readiness. "What… what did you see?" Lucas asked.

I let out a long, slow breath. "I saw a way," I said, my voice grim. "It's ugly down there. Those lights are bait. A whole school of massive ambush predators. It's a deathtrap disguised as a treasure room. But we are going to walk through it. The plan is simple. We function as a single unit. There is no room for error, no room for hesitation."

They looked at each other, a silent communication passing between them born of a hundred shared dangers. "Lay it out," Lucas said, his voice firm as he set his shield.

"Eliza," I said, my voice now calm and focused. "Those lures look like a cluster of Primal Essence crystals. They're not. They're biological. On my mark, I need your brightest, most sustained light source aimed at the center of the lake. Forget scanning, just pure, overwhelming illumination." To Silas, "Their weak point is the glowing lure itself. It's a complex organ connected directly to their brain stem. Your job is to shatter those lights. Prioritize targets, pick them off before they can get close." To Lucas, "You are the wall. They're faster than they look, and they hit like a runaway freight train. Nothing gets past you. Anything that breaks through Silas' screen is yours. Keep their attention locked."

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"Got it. Shatter the night-lights," Silas confirmed with a grim smirk.

"I can give you all the lumens you need, and then some," Eliza added, already calibrating her projector.

I led the way down. We emerged and took our positions, a well-oiled machine. "Now, Eliza," I said calmly.

She slammed her tripod-mounted projector onto the rock. A beam of pure, focused, artificial sunlight lanced across the black water. The Umbral Anglers, their forms revealed, were monstrosities. The sudden, painful light drove them into a frenzy. Then they attacked, a wave of them launching their huge bodies from the water.

"Now!" I roared. Silas was already moving, a blur of motion along the rock face. "They're mine!" he shouted, his voice sharp with focus. His Mana-Thorn Vipers flashed in the brilliant light, each throw precise. A sharp crack, and a lure shattered. "Nice shot, Silas!" Lucas bellowed, as he planted his feet.

An Angler, its lure still intact, broke through Silas' deadly screen. It slammed into the Bulwark of Defiance with the force of a battering ram. The entire ledge seemed to shake from the impact. Lucas roared, muscles straining. "I've got this one!" he yelled through gritted teeth, shoving the beast back a precious few inches. "Silas, find another!" He wasn't just tanking; he was actively creating space, directing the flow of the battle.

But they were too many. "Eren, there are more coming from the left! The light is drawing them all!" Eliza shouted, her voice tight with panic. It was time for me to stop holding back.

I stepped forward. "Close your eyes," I said. Then I unleashed a sliver of my true power. A beam of pure, white-hot energy, no thicker than my arm, lanced down from my palm and touched the water. The lake didn't boil; it detonated. An immense, localized steam explosion ripped through the heart of the Angler formation. A wall of superheated vapor erupted upwards, slamming into the cavern ceiling with a thunderous boom.

The aftermath was a scene of silent, drifting mist. My companions slowly opened their eyes, staring at me with expressions of profound, speechless awe and a healthy dose of pure terror. Before they could fully process what they had just seen, my Gaze screamed a new warning. From the rocky shoreline, a half-dozen Murk-lurkers rose. "Lucas! Right flank! Alpha is yours!" I commanded.

Lucas reacted instantly, our synergy now absolute. He turned, bracing his shield just as the alpha Murk-lurker charged. Eliza, recovering from her shock, was already tossing a silver orb into the midst of the smaller Lurkers. It crackled and discharged a massive blast of raw electricity. Silas was on them in an instant, a blur of motion. "Die, you ugly bastards!" he snarled, a rare outburst of battlefield rage.

"Couldn't have said it better myself!" Lucas grunted as he absorbed a heavy blow from the Alpha.

I turned my own attention to the Alpha. Lucas was holding, a true bastion, but the creature was slowly forcing him back. Eliza saw it too, and a small, rocket-like projectile shot from a launcher on her rig, exploding in a concussive blast near the Alpha's head. It barely made the beast flinch, but the momentary distraction was all Lucas needed. But as the Alpha began overpowering him, I instantly appeared beside it in a silent flash of a [Shadow-Weave Stride]. The air around the creature's head dropped to an impossible, absolute zero. Its wet hide instantly froze solid. I placed my open palm on its frozen snout. A single, contained pulse of kinetic force, and its entire head shattered into a thousand pieces of blood-red ice.

The cavern fell silent. We stood there, panting, victorious. "Alright," Lucas said, his voice ragged as he leaned heavily on his shield. "New rule. If Eliza ever gets all excited about something that looks like a 'cluster of Primal Essence crystals', we all run the other way."

Despite the exhaustion, a laugh escaped my lips, echoed by a relieved chuckle from Silas. "Noted," Eliza shot back, a weary grin on her face.

This was it. "This is our training ground for the next four months," I said. "We will run this place until we are the apex predators of this abyss."

My gaze became distant, my thoughts turning inward. This felt… right. Being here, with them, fighting without the constant, crushing weight of the 'Jack' persona. It was a taste of freedom, a feeling so potent and addictive it was almost painful. For the first time since coming to this world, I felt a sense of genuine belonging, a camaraderie forged in fire and shared secrets. And it brought with it a terrible, clarifying thought: this ability to simply be Eren Kai, was a luxury I could only afford in secret. The true path to freedom was power. Power so absolute that I would no longer need to hide. Power to find Anna, and to burn down anyone who stood in my way.

My Gaze fell to my own hands. My fists, my fire, my domain… these felt natural. But a weapon… it still felt like a borrowed tool. The [Basic Weapon Mastery] skill was like an insult. I remembered asking Jeeves to check the System's archives, to see if it could be un-learned. The answer had been a fascinating negative. Skills, once learned, were not like programs to be installed and uninstalled. They were a perfect, instantaneous download of knowledge and experience directly into the soul. To remove the skill would require removing every memory of using it, every piece of muscle memory. It was part of me now. The System was a teacher, but what it gave, I truly owned. My path forward wasn't to erase, but to build upon. To master.

The resolve solidified in me, hard as diamond. The System had given me a foundation. It was up to me to build a fortress upon it, one skill, one fight, one hard-won piece of mastery at a time, until the day came when I could stand in the sun, under my own name, and fear no one.

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