My Class is Null, But I Always Get the Best Outcome

Kai’s words still hung in the laboratory. "Of course. Don’t tell me you thought we’d be content waiting for our doom."

Silence.

Gabriel smiled, not amused, but genuinely impressed. "No." A brief pause. "I don’t anymore."

Her expression sharpened back into focus. "You asked about the First Filter."

Everyone’s attention returned to her at once.

She walked toward the strategy table. "The Three Disasters are humanity’s first examination." Silence held as she continued. "If a civilization cannot overcome them, nothing afterward matters."

Kai nodded slowly. "So before worrying about the future, we survive this."

"Exactly," Gabriel said.

Mayor Ko crossed his arms. "How many Filters are there, total?"

Gabriel shook her head. "We don’t know."

Raze exhaled loudly. "I’m beginning to hate that answer."

A few scattered laughs broke the tension.

Gabriel smiled apologetically. "The Astral Church only possesses fragments. Records. Memories. Relics. We know another Filter exists somewhere beyond this one. We don’t know what it actually is."

Mira said quietly, "Then let’s not waste energy worrying about it yet."

"We survive this one first," Kai agreed.

Nobody argued with that.

Mira spoke up again a moment later, hope creeping into her voice. "You came all this way. Does that mean you actually have a plan? A way to defeat Tiamat?"

Gabriel shook her head slowly. "Not a complete one."

The room’s energy sank slightly.

"We possess several Disaster Plans. Some relics. Some theories." She looked toward Lily. "They’ll increase your chances. Nothing more."

Kai frowned. Lily’s expression shifted with quiet thought, and both of them looked up at the same instant.

"Wait."

Gabriel smiled. "You’ve already reached the same conclusion I have."

Kai said slowly, "Every plan we’ve tested eventually stopped working."

"Exactly," Gabriel confirmed.

She walked over to one of the relic diagrams pinned to the wall. "The Astral Church has studied hundreds of Disaster Records over the years. We noticed something consistent across every single one." She paused. "The same plan never succeeds twice."

Silence.

Lily frowned. "Meaning what, exactly?"

"We believe," Gabriel said carefully, "Tiamat learns."

Nobody moved.

"Every civilization challenged her differently. Every civilization nearly succeeded in their own unique way. And every civilization that came after found those same strategies growing less effective, even when applied by people who’d studied the previous attempt carefully."

Kai’s fist slowly clenched at his side. "She remembers."

Gabriel nodded. "That is our current belief. We cannot prove it outright. But every record we possess points toward the same conclusion, over and over."

Sera whispered, "She’s adapting across civilizations, not just within a single fight."

Nobody spoke. The room felt colder than it had a moment earlier.

"Then what about Nexus itself?" Kai asked. "Have your cities faced Disaster yet?"

Gabriel shook her head. "No. Our fastest city has only recently begun clearing B-Rank Dungeons at all." She paused. "They still have roughly eighty B-Rank Dungeons remaining before reaching the point Mythal already has."

Silence.

Raze blinked. "You’re behind us?"

Gabriel laughed. "Very much so."

Sera tilted her head. "Why?"

Gabriel’s expression softened. "Because we made a different choice early on." She gestured broadly. "When the System first appeared, we focused entirely on people. Guild cooperation. Sharing knowledge freely. Supporting weaker hunters instead of letting them fall behind. Building actual communities before chasing raw power." A pause. "We sacrificed speed for stability."

Mayor Ko nodded slowly. "A reasonable decision."

"It was," Gabriel agreed. Then her smile turned a little rueful. "Until reports from Mythal started arriving."

She looked directly at Kai. "We heard one city reached B-Rank first. Then that same city cleared over fifty B-Rank Dungeons in barely a month." She laughed softly. "I left for Mythal immediately after that second report."

Mayor Ko’s eyes narrowed. "Why, exactly? Surely you aren’t helping us purely out of kindness."

Gabriel didn’t answer right away.

Before she could, Kai spoke instead. "Because our success changes everything for everyone else."

Every eye in the room turned toward him.

He crossed his arms. "If Mythal succeeds, every city after us starts preparing differently." He gestured at the scattered Disaster Plans across the table. "They’ll know cooperation actually works. They’ll know relic combinations work. They’ll know simulations matter before committing real people to real fights. They’ll know Tiamat adapts, and plan around that instead of getting blindsided by it."

Silence.

Gabriel smiled, something like pride behind it. "Exactly."

She nodded slowly. "Mythal isn’t simply fighting for itself anymore, whether your city chose that role or not."

"If your city survives," she continued, "humanity gains proof the cycle can actually be broken."

Mira said quietly, "And if we fail?"

Gabriel finished the thought without softening it. "Many cities may come to believe survival was never possible in the first place, and stop trying as hard as they otherwise would."

The weight of that settled heavily over the room.

Kai walked toward Gabriel. "Alright. We’ll work together."

A pause.

"But understand something first." Gabriel waited, attentive. Kai’s expression hardened slightly. "I appreciate your help. But my priority isn’t becoming humanity’s hope."

He glanced around at everyone gathered in the room. "It’s making sure Mythal survives. Our people. Our families. Our home."

Silence.

Gabriel smiled. "Good. I was hoping that would be your answer," she said.

Kai blinked, caught slightly off guard.

She looked around the room at all of them. "A leader trying to save the entire world often fails to save the people standing right beside him."

Mayor Ko smiled quietly. "You’ve met leaders like that before, I take it."

Gabriel simply nodded, offering nothing further on the subject.

Gabriel signaled to one of the Astral Church members standing near the door.

Several white-robed hunters stepped forward carrying large reinforced cases, setting them gently across Lily’s already cluttered research tables one after another.

The cases opened in sequence. Ancient scrolls, their edges perfectly preserved. Relics unlike anything Kai had seen in the Forgotten Capital, unfamiliar crystals catching the light in colors that didn’t seem to have proper names. Runic devices humming faintly with dormant energy.

Even Lily forgot to breathe for a moment.

Elden stepped closer to the nearest case, examining a scroll without touching it yet. "These are—"

Gabriel smiled. "Disaster Plans our continent recovered independently. Relics we’ve never fully managed to understand ourselves." She looked directly at Kai. "Perhaps your city will have better luck with them than we did."

Lily reached slowly toward the nearest scroll, her eyes practically shining. "We’re going to be very busy for a long time."

Kai smiled. "Good."