When my eyes fluttered open, I was greeted by an unfamiliar sight. Ceiling that felt way too far away, and rows of lockers on both sides that looked stretched to crazy lengths.
I blinked several times, trying to make sense of this odd optical illusion. Before I could though, two blue windows appeared in my field of view.
+1 Skill point
+1 Skill point
It only took a second for me to remember where I was and what I had been doing from there.
âOhâ¦â I groaned. âGood morning chatâ¦â
Like yesterday, chat flooded with countless messages that I had no chance of ever reading all, but luckily, I also had the group chat right with my regulars next to it now. Although, it seemed like there was just one person aroundâ¦
âHey, Jamieâ¦â I said with a lazy yawn.
I sat up and rubbed my back. It felt pretty sore from sleeping on the hard floor. Sure, the cave and the grass outside werenât that much better but stillâ¦
I carefully looked around the dead end of the maze I was still in and felt relieved that nothing had attacked me in my sleep. I was probably right about the monsters in this dungeon all being ambush predators rather than seeking out the dungeoneers.
I stretched with a groan just to help with the sore muscles and stood up, taking stock of my situation and trying to figure out my next move.
Then I glanced at the group chat.
I hummed questioningly.
I blinked and then groaned in disgust.
âTo slowly work toward those achievements, right? Ugh, I mean, thatâs the smart thing to do but⦠I feel like Iâm being conned into regularly exercising by the system,â I grumbled with a pout.
âI guess so⦠Fine, here I goâ¦â
With great effort, I dropped to all fours and began doing pushups. While I did that, I checked the two achievements Iâd gotten. I knew one of them. It had been the entire reason why Iâd slept here, after all. The other one though?
- Sleep inside a dungeon.
- Sleep inside a Tempor-based dungeon.
I blinked in surprise. It was exactly the same achievement⦠except it specified a type of the dungeon?
What the heck was a Tempor-based dungeon anyway? And why was it called âHermitâ of all things? Was it trying to imply that I was trying to live here?
While my thoughts churned, I managed the ten pushups but decided to keep going since I wasnât tired yet.
âChatâ¦â I gasped between pushups. âWhat⦠does⦠that mean?â
âThe⦠wiki? What⦠wiki?â
I let myself drop after the twenty-fourth pushup with a gasp as my eyes widened.
âI have a wiki?! Like⦠a wiki
?!â
I rolled on my back and stared at the faraway ceiling in a slight daze.
Sure, Iâd known that my stream had exploded in the number of viewers the other day, but to have someone create a wiki dedicated to meâ¦?
I guess the reality of my new popularity hadnât sunk in just yet.
âSeriouslyâ¦? What kind of stuff is on there?â I asked as I stood up and began doing the squats.
â...Huh.â
So it wasnât exactly a wiki about
. More like a wiki about this whole isekai nonsense I happened to be featuring in.
That put a
bit of a damper on my excitement, but it still felt really cool to be included.
âSo⦠Tempor,â I said after a moment. âItâs like Ether and⦠the other thing, right? What was it?â I briefly looked at the appraisal description where I knew it was mentioned. âIntra, right. What did you find then? Any insight into what those three are supposed to be?â
I blinked as I transitioned my squat into sitting on the ground instead of another squat as I pondered this.
âEther is⦠yeah that makes senseâ¦â I mumbled, remembering that Fire breath and the swordâs lightning effect both used Ether. It would also explain why running out of Ether made me feel like a puppet with its strings cut, and why recharging Ether via the ooze energized me so much.
As much sense as something like this could make, at least. It didnât follow any conventional physics, after all.
Then Intra was used by⦠heat vision and appraisal. It was true that neither one of them really affected the world in a physical way, but instead gave
more information. So âmental stuffâ seemed to fit too. Or perhaps things related to perception?
Tempor being spacetime stuff⦠would make sense too. Granted, the only skill I had that used it was Streamer. Although considering it had to transfer information between
⦠yeah, I could see it.
And if this was supposedly a Tempor-based dungeonâ¦
I groaned.
âIs
why this place is a non-euclidian nightmare? Why the
here is all twisted? What does it even mean that itâs Tempor-based anyway? Did some grand mage dump all their Tempor into this place to create the dungeon?â
Maybe that was why this dungeon felt so weird. Would Ether-based dungeons feel more normal since Ether was supposedly physical stuff? What would an Intra-based dungeon look like? Did they even exist? Was it just Tempor-based dungeons?
My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I had bigger things to worry about.
âMaybe an Ether-based dungeon would have more actual physical food aroundâ¦â I mumbled and stood up again.
âOh, right⦠I have five skill points now. Hmmâ¦â
I briefly glanced over my options. I had enough to get Flameguard now, but like Iâd mentioned, I didnât want to constantly burn myself even if I could heal it back. Yesterdayâs little explosion wasnât pleasant
. Not to mention, my skill slots were still full and I wasnât too keen on swapping out any of my skills at the moment.
So, upgrades.
I still had the option to get Flame bullet, but now I also had enough to get Extreme temperature for five, whichâ
- Fire breathâs temperature range ceiling is greatly increased. Higher temperature breath uses more Ether.
âin video game terms, just looked like it increased damage and Ether cost. Not bad, but it felt like overspecializing. If an enemy could block me from using Fire breath like those stupid towels yesterday, then it would be useless.
I could also get more Streamer upgrades, but those were all more or less quality of life and I could do without them for now. I needed something to help me fight, or even better, something
for once. Something that would help me avoid situations similar to yesterdayâs great towel pyre.
I hummed.
âYou know what, chat? I think Iâm gonna save my skill points for now,â I announced. âIâm gonna try to get one more and get fusion, I think. Maybe I can somehow make armor with it.â
I stopped for a moment and then shrugged.
âYou know what? Sure. Letâs poll it! No guarantees Iâll go with whatever you guys decide though!â
I quickly set it up, idly thinking how cool it was that I was essentially using telepathy to control the interface.
0%(0)
0% (0)
0% (0)
0% (0)
0% (0)
The numbers immediately began to tick up.
âI mean⦠I would
with you and just go with whatever chat decides
I wasnât lost in a deadly dungeon that wants me dead,â I said, a little snarkily. âItâs kinda slightly important that I spend these skill points wisely so I⦠you know, donât
and stuff.â
With the poll running in the background, I began gathering all my stuff to prepare for another day of dungeoneering.
But then I realized that I couldnât exactly stuff my pockets with all the loot like always. The shower head was too big to fit and I kept on accidentally giving the soap a tiny bit of Ether when I touched it, making it foam all the time. Putting that in my pockets would just be gross.
So instead, I put them both inside the bucket. Neither could be pushed into its pocket dimension since they werenât liquids, but hey, the bucket still worked as a container. Might as well make use of it.
With everything gathered, I set off from my little dead end back in the direction where Iâd come from yesterday. I
remembered the way, but not completely. This
a non-euclidian nightmare, after all.
âSo, uh⦠Do you happen to remember which way I went, Jamie? I wanna try get back to that opened locker.â
I hummed and checked the poll in the meantime.
I raised an eyebrow despite knowing nobody would see that.
âYou guys want me to blow all my points on upgrading Fire breath? I mean, I
having a high damage attack would be nice but it just feels like putting all my eggs in one basket, you knowâ¦?â I reasoned. âI would rather get fusion and experiment with fusing different things. Like, what would happen if I fused the sword with my clothes? Would I get lightning armor?â
Or maybe that would just kill me. I probably shouldnât try fusing those. The point still stood, though. I could try fusing other things together to see what I got, since the skill also allowed me to separate them again.
After my short monologue, the last poll option suddenly got more votes and overtook Extreme temperature, cementing itself as the winner of the poll.
I shrugged and closed the poll. Not like I was going to blindly follow the pollâs results but hey. Good to know that I could manipulate the results.
I smirked.
âOh no, my helpful fairy of the day canât read maps,â I teased.
I chuckled and followed Jamieâs instructions. As I did, it randomly occurred to me just how insanely useful Streamer was as a skill. Iâd never really thought to compare it to any of the other skills, but that was mainly because they were simply incomparable. Chat was the thing keeping me sane in here, I could freely admit that. But even beyond helping with my sanity, the skill indirectly gave me a massive treasure trove of information and useful advice via all the chatters.
A bit weird to think about it that way, but still.
Speaking of which, since it was a racial skill, were all humans in this world supposed to get it? No, that couldnât be right. The system had had to generate the skill when Iâd first made it out of the spaceship dungeon, so I had to assume that everyone had a different racial skill. Were the others just as useful as Streamer?
Not like I had much hope in meeting more humans in this world but stillâ¦
With these idle thoughts, I made it back to the open locker. Luckily, it was still open, despite Iridâs worries yesterday and ripe for exploring.
I stepped closer to it and looked inside the pitch black darkness⦠before backing up and thinking that it would be better to leave it alone.
âUgh, chat⦠Now I donât know about this. This looks like the prelude to a horror movie,â I whined. âExcept Iâm the only schmuck in the party so I will
be the first one to die!â
âWhaââ I blinked in surprise before narrowing my eyes. âAre you channeling your inner George, Jamie?â
I snorted. âRightâ¦â Then I looked back into the darkness and cringed.
God, I hated pitch-black rooms.
if there were facehugging towels waiting to suffocate me inside.
âI could just⦠keep wandering,â I argued.
I groaned and rubbed my forehead.
âYou are the absolute worst helper fairy. I want Ebi to come back,â I said before pulling out my sword, pouring just enough Ether to light it up just like back when Iâd spilled the refined ooze on it, and then stepped inside the stupid locker.