My Infinite Investment System

Chapter 17: Certified

"This certificate was signed by a man who retired eight years ago," Ryan said over the first dungeon commission, checking the date beside four days remaining on Nia’s transfer fee.

The logistics firm needed an E-tier clear before its route contract lapsed.

One job stood between Nia and another year of medical debt.

The fee clock kept running anyway.

"We leave if the ecology exceeds E-tier assumptions," Ryan continued, placing the retirement date beside the commission, "the transfer deadline does not change that decision, even if the offer expires while we are inside."

"Leaving loses the commission," Nia said as the club doctor reinforced her brace, "my fee deadline does not move with us."

"Your buyout is not worth dying for," Ryan replied, turning the fee demand toward her, "joining us does not begin with proving your old guild trained you to stay behind when everyone else leaves."

"Easy position for the person who already spent his last nine hundred dollars on someone else," Nia said, watching his ribs tighten beneath the shirt.

Mika stopped the argument by writing her output budget across the mission sheet.

One Lightning Step remained available, controlled combat bursts had a fixed limit, plus an emergency reserve sat outside every renegotiation.

’The mission had a deadline, a fraud certificate, and a budget written by Mika,’ Ryan thought, reading the sheet, ’so naturally it was the responsible option.’

Nia insisted on joining before treatment because the commission purchased her freedom.

Ryan accepted only after she demonstrated stable shield formation under the doctor’s monitoring.

The dungeon opened inside a freight yard, with pressure reaching Ryan before he crossed the threshold.

Spark Reflex separated every scrape until he narrowed attention to their formation.

Nia held center from her good arm, Mika took the right lane, while Ryan controlled the left against creatures too weak to break them apart.

The second wave showed Ryan that reading a room and reading a battlefield spent attention differently.

Three attack lines arrived together, so he tracked the loudest threat until Mika called the one moving behind him.

’The loudest problem had been a decoy,’ Ryan thought, turning the spear toward the rear lane, ’the dungeon had better instincts than most managers.’

Nia shifted her shield into Ryan’s peripheral vision while Mika called positions instead of warnings.

Their formation narrowed his view to the spaces that could actually open.

Ryan shortened the spear, turned inside the strike, then extended through the creature’s exposed center while Nia absorbed another impact meant for his ribs.

"Budget your eyes," Nia said over comms, keeping her shield edge between him and the next crawler, "the whole dungeon does not need your attention at once."

Ryan followed the formation after that, reading Nia’s shield edge and Mika’s position before spending perception beyond them.

Their pace improved enough to reach the boss chamber ahead of the commission model.

The creature waiting inside did not belong in any E-tier report.

Layered armor rose behind it with enough pressure to make Ryan’s fresh E-rank badge feel like an administrative joke.

A plated D-tier variant occupied the chamber, while the narrowed extraction corridor made retreat slower than its charge.

"My Step can reach the rear joint once," Mika said, testing the distance while the variant shifted toward Nia.

"After that, I lose the emergency reserve," she continued, "if the seam does not open I return to formation instead of spending the rest on a second attempt neither of you planned around."

"Keep the reserve," Ryan said, levelling the spear, "Nia anchors the first charge while I map the armor, then we retreat after one exchange if the corridor clears."

The variant drove Nia backward while her brace alarm sounded.

She held until Ryan deflected the follow-up from her injured side.

His first pass found no gap, but Mika’s controlled burst exposed a narrow seam between the rear plate and spine.

The corridor remained blocked by falling debris, so retreat disappeared before they could take it.

Nia rebuilt her shield and checked the brace display before looking at Ryan. "I can hold one more charge," she said, "do not make it three, because the alarm has started counting damage instead of warning me away from it."

Ryan planted Opening Position before Nia’s rebuilt shield, then checked the corridor.

The narrow chamber belonged to his spear while he read the variant’s weight transfer, damaged seam, plus Mika waiting within reach.

Mika moved at the instant Ryan shifted his grip into the committed thrust position.

Spark Sync aligned their timing before either spoke, and sent her Lightning Step across the creature’s flank while his spear entered the seam she opened.

Pink current accelerated the black point through the gap before the variant dragged Ryan off his feet.

Nia’s shield caught him with its final reinforcement against the chamber wall.

The creature fell with Ryan’s spear lodged beneath its rear plate, so the mis-rated D-tier boss remained pinned beneath the weapon of the E-rank its paperwork had expected to kill.

Nobody celebrated until the doctor answered comms and reviewed Nia’s brace telemetry.

Her arm remained intact, Mika had spent the planned Step, while Ryan carried bruised ribs from the failed turn.

’The boss had cost them exactly what the budget predicted,’ Ryan thought, checking Nia’s telemetry, ’which did not make the invoice feel generous.’

They completed the extraction path before touching the core, since the survey required one final check.

Nia worked one-handed rather than becoming cargo after the fight that purchased her release.

"The rating was wrong," she said, sitting against her broken shield while the brace alarm finally stopped.

"Put that in the invoice before they call this a learning experience," she continued, "then charge them for the shield they expected me to lose, the brace they expected me to risk, plus every minute their retired inspector saved by signing without entering."

A dungeon alert brought a field team before the sweep ended.

Ryan’s assessing officer reviewed the boss telemetry, false certificate, plus every body camera.

"Your E-rank was provisional on paper, not in performance," she said, signing the incident record, "this clear removes the qualifier, so E-rank becomes certified with reassessment accelerated to sixty days."

[Public Rank: E, Certified]

[Reassessment Window: 60 Days]

When a drone found an unflattering angle, Mika turned toward its operator.

"If that appears publicly," she said, pointing at the camera, "the club receives footage rights plus approval."

Ryan attempted to expense the damage before discovering their venture lacked an expense policy.

Mika added unauthorized camera angles to the future policy while the officer pretended not to listen.

The core plus false certificate cleared payment, so Ryan could fund Nia’s buyout while preserving enough margin for her replacement brace, proper team pay, and filing costs nobody had included.

Her former guild confirmed release without mentioning the injury, so Nia saved the message before deleting its app.

Ryan paid her treatment deposit, scheduled the first session, then priced support work as skilled field labour in the employment agreement.

"Employee number one," Mika said, turning the agreement toward Nia, "the title is temporary, while your authority to stop either of us from making stupid field decisions is immediate."

Nia signed only after adding a broad mandate to the field-authority clause.

When Nia received the transfer confirmation, she asked, "what is this venture called?"

Ryan looked at Mika, who reached the same missing answer through Spark Sync before either spoke.

"We are reviewing options," Mika said, tapping the blank name field, "all current options are bad."

Behind the boss chamber, Nia’s shield scraped a formation missing from every survey.

A low-grade mana vein ran beside it. The retired inspector had recorded solid wall there.

The private view priced the survey omission before Ryan reached the vein along the wall.

[Opportunity Return Detected]

[Unregistered Resource Formation: Verified]

[Current Legal Owner: None]

[Filing Window: Open]

The D-tier upset settled through the Exchange before Ryan finished saving the coordinates.

[Rank-Gap Clear Verified]

[Return Credits Awarded: 260]

[Exchange Skill Available: Accrued Return, 240]

Ryan purchased it, so gold lines appeared on the spear before fading without combat to feed them.

[Accrued Return Equipped]

[Current Capacity: Limited]

[Return Credit Balance: 20]

Mika read his expression across the chamber before asking her question. "You found something expensive, didn’t you?" she asked, keeping one hand on the empty claim folder.

"Nobody owns it yet," Ryan said, saving the coordinates before the registry team returned, "the clearing-party window gives us a clean claim if we file before anyone reading their report understands what they missed."