*>+30 Copper*

*>+30 Copper*

...

One bat monster after another. Their density steadily increased, but it wasn't worthy of concern. Every new monster's life ended as quickly as they showed up. Wither her newfound ability, the difference in perception ability was practically night and day.

After several more minutes of monotony, the cave surfaces began transforming.

The floor that had been as smooth as a footpath ceased to be, and the dreaded stalagmites turned up. Though they were fairly small, they still would have spelled trouble for a completely blind person.

*This ability really was as convenient as it could possibly be. Looks like I would've been in trouble without the lucky drop. I wish I remembered more about this stage of the game... Was I really that bad of an airhead back then?*

It wasn't bad, though. All she needed to do was allocate a bit more brainpower towards problem solving and observation.

She looked up. One of the pulses of ultrasound reflected a suspicious fissure in the ceiling.

*... A trap? Were there actually traps in this dungeon?*

The cavern trembled. Not even a second later, the cracks in the ceiling expanded, and a section of the cave behind her crumbled inwards.

*Nothing lethal, fortunately. Looks like my memory of the early game isn't super trustworthy...*

This was the first dungeon she'd completed in her first life as well, so memory of it was quite a bit more vivid than other events. However, it was different this time around.

*Probably because I'm the lead front runner?*

The lead front runner, or the person(s) at the forefront of discovery, have the most difficult job in the field regardless of the subject. In Synergy, the lead front runners were the ones gathering new information, and hence bore the brunt of the risk. On top of this, there was a decent chance that the first clear of a dungeon would have some sort of special quirk not present in future clears.

Though this large imperfection in the ceiling was as blatant as a gigantic literal red flag, it served as a reminder for potentially unexpected events in the future.

*I wonder how many attempts it took for the party from my last life to clear this?*

When the light of a lantern dimmed as it spread outwards, the ceiling would be difficult to see.

Though the cave floor had descended at least 100 metron downwards, the ceiling remained relatively parallel to the ground. In other words, the ceiling was nearly 100 metron high.

There was no way an ordinary party would have seen it on their first try.

If she first-cleared this dungeon solo, the future implications wouldn't be that large. But if she continued stealing things and exploiting the game... as well as real life, how would this new timeline unfold?

For better or for worse, Jisha was mentally over 24 natural years old. If her hours in the game weren't an advantage already, in a time rife with strife, she'd been exposed to many aspects of the real world.

Most Northeasterners didn't have the luxury of travel. For a normal person, this would be their first time setting foot in a realistic cave like this. In an environment you visit for the first time, it's impossible to discern every flaw while fending off monsters you've never seen before. However, Jisha had seen everything.

*Please forget about my overestimation of the Tier 0 physique... But... having seen so much of the world... is that a blessing or a curse?*

She was a professional relegated to speedrunning the tutorial. How was she supposed to feel about this?

"Exploring" the game in this second life was not as magical as it was the first time around.

*I'm going to be here for a long time... Will I ever feel that sense of wonder again?*

---

"Woooooooow! Jish, look! What's that?"

"Uh... A hole in a rock?"

The pair of girls meandered through the dense woodland when they unexpectedly stumbled upon a hidden cave. They were both of Northeastern royalty, but they still hadn't witnessed a variety of landscapes in person. Though they had travelled a bit, the monotony that was their continent was a bit mind-numbing...

The Northeastern continent was separated from the rest of the world by a large ocean's distance. While the rest of the human population was on several landmasses separated only by relatively smaller oceans, the Northeast might as well have been its own planet.

All of the interesting sights were almost literally a world away.

But full-dive VR brought a new world directly to them.

Colorful fields.

Lush forests.

And now, a cave system.

It was a stark contrast to their snow-white reality.

The two girls spent a long time marveling at their surroundings.

The sun was warm. The sky was crystal blue.

"... Pfft, *obviously* it's a hole in a rock. It's called a cave. We gotta check it out!"

A sudden draft of cold air rustled the vines that shadowed the cave entrance.

"Uh..."

The avatar labeled Synycal jumped up and down with excitement while the avatar labeled Fae Sol simply stood stock-still with an indiscernible expression.

"Jish, you're such an airhead. What is even happening in that head of yours?" the bouncy one said while playfully knocking on her friend's skull.

"I could say the same about you..."

One had a flaming passion while the other had a cool temperament. Their personalities couldn't be more different, but they were best friends.

"Well, whatever. Let's go!"

Synycal began forcefully dragging Fae Sol towards the cave.

"W-w-w-w-w-waaaait I never said I wanted-"

"Too late! I already forgot about your fear of the dark! Just like you forgot to meet me at the start! This is what you get for making me wait *days* to meet up with you!"

...

**SCREEEEEECH**

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAHT GET ME OUT OF HEEEERE!!!!!!"

Nearly as swiftly as they ventured in, they bolted out shrieking in terror.

Scary monsters!

Scary noises!

The dark!

All of these new things were overwhelming for the two girls. And as much as Syn didn't want to admit... she was also a bit afraid of the dark.

"Haaa... Haaa..."

"Whyyyyy...."

The two of them collapsed in the grass... safe from harm at last.

The brief sprint shouldn't have been exhausting, but the adrenaline of the spooky situation left them trembling.

"... Let's go again!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaat?"

---

*Am I crying?*

Jisha found a tear dribbling down her cheek. Something from countless years ago resurfaced to the top of her mind.

*So much for that mindfulness practice...*

Fear. Excitement. Wonder.

Only a fraction of those emotions still existed.

When you knew everything, there was nothing left to discover.

The only thing left was to go through the motions.

Was this truly living? Did she have any emotions that differed from a dead person?

*>+30 Copper*

*>+30 Copper*

...

Like a machine, money and worthless items continuously piled into Jisha's inventory and Coin Pouch.

*>System message: Level up!*

*>Level: 15 -> 16 (+1)*

*>...*

Finally, one of the five senses that had been useless until now picked something up.

*Is that... light?*

Obviously, it wasn't sunlight. That couldn't reach this far down. Nor was it blue.

*Blue light... Could it be?*

When she drew closer, she confirmed that the source of the glow was indeed what she suspected.

*Mana crystals?*

In a smaller tunnel that branched off from the main path, mana was gathered here in one of its purest forms. These particular crystals weren't very potent, but their dim glow was still a shining beacon in the complete darkness. Unfortunately, there was currently no way to harvest them.

Jisha once again cursed her Tier 0 physique. These items were invaluable at this stage of the game!

*Was the first clear bonus for this dungeon really this big? I'll just have to come back here later.*

This whole dungeon was way, way different than she remembered. Making a mental note, she headed farther and farther down the dimly lit tunnel. The light gradually grew less and less dim.

*...*

Jisha now *really* wished she had a higher-leveled character. Hundreds of mana crystals dotted the cavern walls.

Eventually she came across a room that was clearly artificial.

Its shape was that of an ordinary rectangular prism. The previously jagged walls and floors were smoothed and finished giving it a sleek shine.

In one corner there were stone urns, in another was a hefty oak desk, and one of the walls had a something that looked like an elevator door.

*Interesting.*

Usually, the technological level of places in Synergy corresponded to their level. For example, in the game's infancy, there was no modern technology. In fact, even things of the historic Industrial Age were not present.

Wooden and/or mud huts and wells of water were commonplace... and these dated back to even before the Ancient Middle Ages.

However, outliers like this one did exist. This elevator door screamed "Industrial Age" at a glance.

She approached it, but it was locked and had to be opened with a keypad code.

Just like with any classic video game with a locked doorway, it was highly likely a key would be hidden somewhere nearby.

Sometimes this key was just an ordinary physical object. Sometimes it was a code. Often times, one had to complete a puzzle to access it.

This was something most people with video game experience instinctively knew, so she checked the wooden desk in one of the corners.

On top of the desk was a small stack of paper. Intrigued, she perused through them.

*The Search For Purer Energy Sources... huh?*

It almost read like a scientific paper. Most people's eyes would glaze over in boredom, but Jisha astutely skimmed through it.

Though there was scientific terminology used in the paper, it wasn't the result of research or an experiment or anything of the like. It was simply an article that held hope for the future.

*"At first it was simply human effort alongside tame natural phenomena. Then, as we tamed them, horses, oxen, and other large animals did the heavy lifting for us. Then, the introduction of simple machines. And later, steam power. Then, the generation of electricity which allowed us to store power. Then, nuclear fission. And now, the application of fusion.*

*"As society makes technological advancements, the amount of energy they need increases exponentially. The further and further we go, the more efficient we need to be at harvesting energy.*

...

*"Is further antimatter research worth it, or is there some unknown, untapped, energy source humanity has yet to discover?*"

There were no clues for a code, but this document was beyond strange.

*Something like this was here?*

It was blatant foreshadowing of the future of Etmos. Currently, the world was still pre-Synergy, hence, it was one without the existence of said "unknown, untapped, energy source"... known as mana. Perhaps the level 15 players in her first life didn't understand any of it, and the documents were lost to carelessness.

She stared at the mana crystals around her again and sighed.

Obviously, no one would believe that a mere VR game would predict the existence of a brand-new energy source, but if people *had* taken it seriously, would the world have been better or worse off?

*Hah, who knows?*

There was nothing in the documents she didn't already know, so she put them back down and moved on to the desk drawers.

There was only a singular sheet of paper in one of the drawers that read the following:

"*REDACTED*"

"*X X*"

It didn't seem helpful at first glance, but Jisha kept it in mind regardless. You never knew when seemingly useless information could end up being an important clue.

Now, the only other things left in the room were the stone urns.

These urns were fairly tall, almost as tall as her current avatar. They were also made of solid stone, so they were impossible to lift. There were snug in the corner, so she couldn't tilt them over. Nor could she stick her arm in and retrieve whatever was inside.

*Are they destructible?*

She equipped the Golden Sling and fired a pellet at the urns.

She expected them to shatter, but the urns were too solid; the pellet merely ricocheted off.

*I only have one more option, then.*

If a physical attack didn't work, then a magical attack might. Some materials were ridiculously resistant against physical damage but were weak against magic. Perhaps this stone was of a similar nature.

But... Fae Sol was of the Slingshot class. She didn't have any magical abilities at her disposal.

However, she did possess an item that could deal magical attacks.

*>Name: Magical Oaken Dagger*

*...*

Though damage dealt with this item would be halved as it didn't match her class, its magic damage output would still be greater than 0.

With an experienced windup, she sliced at the urns.

On the surface, this seemed ridiculous. How could wood cut stone?

However, mana, the quite literally magical substance, made the impossible possible.

With one clean motion, the top halves of all four urns cleanly slid off revealing the inside.

Each urn contained a slab of stone, and each slab had a numeral written on it.

Two of them read "1", and two of them read "0".

This was all the information she needed. This was an early-game puzzle, so the solution was likely extremely simple.

Jisha walked up to the keypad and entered a four digit code.

These numbers, along with "X X" clue that was written on the paper in the drawer, meant that the code was most likely...

*One, zero, one, zero.*

The door slowly slid open. It was a success.

Past the doorway was a staircase that led even deeper underground.

It was time to descend once more.