Winds from the Deep Floors.

Although Medai Village was not as bustling as the Starting Town and rarely saw many players gathered in the same space at once,

when the three of them stepped onto the final stretch of dirt road blending into the rough stone path leading straight to the village gate, a sudden commotion in the once-still air made them all stop instinctively.

To the right of the gate, in an empty clearing surrounded by a few bare old trees and a large rock jutting out like a turtle's back, a group of players had gathered.

There were about five or six of them, each with a distinct appearance, forming a rare sight in this otherwise peaceful edge of the world.

A swordsman clad in light silver armor that gleamed under the last rays of the setting sun, a lancer with long copper hair tied high, a travel-worn cloak fluttering gently in the breeze.

A pair of twin blades strapped in an X across someone's back, their steel reflecting the deep purple hues of twilight, and finally, a girl draped in a long cloak that fell from her shoulders to her heels, giving off an air of mystery like a sorceress who had wandered into a world without magic, as if her very presence was an inexplicable contradiction.

The sounds of their argument weren't loud, but they carried a tension and urgency, as though each was struggling to suppress a rising tide of worry within.

"I'm certain, last time there weren't this many. Just yesterday, it was only a few low-level monsters. Now it's..."

"An unusual spawning event? Or a hidden event? Maybe a sub-boss has appeared on the lower floors."

"No... it doesn't feel like that," another voice chimed in, doubtful, "They're not gathering around a single point anymore. They're patrolling every corner! The whole path from the second to the third floor barely has any safe zones left."

Ren stood still. He hadn't yet crossed into the village, his eyes narrowing as if trying to read every expression among the group.

Beside him, Yuna had also halted, her hand unconsciously tightening around the strap of the small pouch at her waist.

Her gaze was pensive, fixed on the group of players, while Nautilus tilted his head slightly, one hand on his hip, the other resting lightly on his sword hilt, an almost instinctive gesture.

One of the players turned to their teammates, their voice lowered but unable to hide a faint thrill.

"If it's really like that... this could be our chance. If we clear them out wave by wave, gather a strong enough party, we could push all the way to the deepest floor. Who knows, it might lead to a new area, or at least a rare equipment chest."

"Or a carefully laid trap designed to lure the overly ambitious," the girl in the long cloak spoke up, her voice as light as night wind passing over thatched roofs, "A hidden mechanic, only triggered when enough players gather. If we rush in unprepared, we might find there's no way back."

Her words fell into the space like a pebble tossed into a still pond. Everyone fell silent for a few heartbeats, their gazes quietly exchanging unspoken fears and assumptions.

Ren glanced at Yuna and Nautilus. No words were exchanged, but their eyes said enough, unease was creeping in, mingled with a quiet curiosity, and a faint thrill at confronting the unknown.

One didn't need to be experienced to sense it: the atmosphere was changing, and nothing would stay simple from here on.

Yuna leaned toward Ren, her voice barely audible over the wind blowing past the village gate. "The mine they're talking about... is it that tunnel behind the village? The one with the big iron gate that's always locked?"

Ren nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving the group. "Yeah. It used to be just a regular grinding spot. A place nobody wanted to go back to after level six."

"Well, they sure will now," Nautilus said, a small smirk playing at his lips, his eyes gleaming with something like... a challenge. "Looks like we showed up at the right time."

No one said anything more. But as the three of them turned back toward the village gate, ready to set foot into what once seemed a peaceful place, each of them felt it clearly: the time for rest would not last long.

Aincrad was a world in constant motion, and what awaited in those underground depths, beneath the dark stone and winding tunnels.

was not just monsters, but truths buried deep, mysteries unnamed, and challenges written into no guidebook.

After standing still for a moment longer, the murmurs behind them still lingering faintly, carried by the thin gusts brushing past their cloaks and hair,

the three of them quietly moved forward without exchanging a word, their eyes never meeting the group gathered by the gate, yet each step carrying a weight of cautious distance.

As if they didn't quite belong to that discussion, but couldn't completely turn away from the scattered words either, words about monsters in the mine growing more numerous and ferocious, like a dense darkness beginning to rise from Aincrad's deepest floors.

And when they crossed the first stone slabs marking the village entrance, where the ground shifted from dusty red earth to the pale gray of ancient stone,

where Ren's footsteps made soft sounds like whispers in a dream, none of the three spoke, but between them, within that small space close enough to hear each other's breathing.

something was quietly stirring, a subtle shifting, like the feeling when standing before a door just slightly ajar, with wind from the other side blowing colder than usual, carrying the scent of things that had never been mapped or written down in any handbook.

Yuna was the one who broke the silence, not exactly with a question, but with an echo of hesitation hidden behind her outward calmness. When she spoke, her voice was soft but enough to slip into the space between them like a small wave.

"Do you think... it's real? The thing about the monsters in the mine suddenly becoming more dangerous?"

Ren didn't answer right away, as if he were listening not just to the question, but also to the silence that followed it.

He lifted his gaze toward the sky, now gradually turning purple, where the thin thread of sunset was pulling back toward the distant horizon, then turned to look at Yuna, catching her eyes for just a fleeting moment before shifting to Nautilus.

Someone who always seemed to be listening even to the words left unspoken, and who finally raised his voice, slow and deliberate, choosing each word carefully as if trying not to disturb the fragile balance of the present.

"It could be real, or it could just be a string of coincidences. In Aincrad, anything can happen, but we didn't set out intending to go somewhere that dangerous in the first place."

Nautilus nodded, a small nod as if agreeing with the logic in Ren's words, but his eyes, the way they lingered on some indeterminate point beyond the shoulders of the other players, didn't fully agree. They seemed instead to be asking himself another question, something that couldn't be put into words, only muttered inwardly:

"But if something really is changing down there... shouldn't we check it out?"

Ren looked at him, then at Yuna, who had by now brought her hand lightly to the hilt of her sword at her hip, a familiar gesture whenever she was deep in thought. Her eyes no longer leaned toward hesitation, but rather a struggle between the instinct to seek out the unknown and the rational voice telling her it wasn't yet time.

"We don't have to rush into danger right away, but... I don't think we should keep running from it either. At the very least, we should know what's going on."

Ren gave a small smile, one that was half surprise and half acceptance, then asked as if confirming what both of them had already nearly admitted.

"Both of you are thinking about going down into the mine, aren't you?"

"Not now," Nautilus replied, his voice light as a breath but carrying a quiet certainty, "But soon."

Yuna nodded too, this time more decisively, her eyes still lingering on the group of players behind them, as if that image would stay with her for the rest of the evening.

"There'll come a time when we have to face it. But today... I want to do what we originally planned."

Ren nodded slowly, as if closing one thought but opening the door to another, and he spoke.

"Right. First, we rest and learn more about this village. There might be something waiting for us here too, not necessarily hidden in the dark."

A light breeze suddenly swept in from the south, carrying with it the scent of wild grass, the damp smell of earth and rotting wood, as if stirring memories of the forests they had once crossed, of the quiet nights spent camping by a small fire, and of the moments they had once thought they'd found a safe place...

...but then, just like Aincrad had always been, this place was never truly a resting point, but merely a brief breath between relentless steps forward.

Even if their words said there was no need to worry, no need to descend there just yet, in the eyes of all three of them, especially Nautilus and Yuna, there lingered something that could not be hidden.

Hesitation, not born from fear, but from their own uncertainty over whether they were truly ready to step into a new chapter, or merely waiting for the right moment to dive into it.

Aincrad, with all the cold mysteries hidden deep in its layers of stone, always knew how to plant seeds of doubt, curiosity, and the thirst for discovery in the hearts of those brave enough to walk its path.

Not through clear threats, but through a whisper carried long and thin on the wind.

"It's time."