[Obtained enough experience. Level risen to 14]
[Obtained enough experience. Level risen to 15]
[Obtained enough experience. Level risen to 16]
[Obtained enough experience. Level risen to 17]
[Obtained enough experience. Level risen to 18]
[Obtained enough experience. Level risen to 19]

And now, we have a frozen floor. With a frozen mountain in the middle.

What was my reaction to that?

I took out a lot of jerky out of my storage of course. Felicia had some in hers, but I was storing most of it, because I didn’t want her to eat it all at once. No, I wasn’t terrified of her, I just wanted to reward her for her hard work… so she would never turn against me…

She didn’t even look that exhausted after using a massive spell like that. I didn’t feel exhausted too, and it was impossible that she didn’t use my mana for it, so I really started to feel like my pool had no bottom. Still, I really hope the dungeon master won’t get mad for terraforming her dungeon.

Well, I take back my words about her not being exhausted, she literally fainted after eating her meat. I wasn’t worried much, because her health didn’t decrease and she also had a condition of [Temporary coma – mana overload] attached to her appraisal results so it should be okay since it’s only temporary. I strapped her to my back and resumed my march to now frozen volcano.

No monster appeared after the floor froze, so the travel was uneventful, bordering on being boring. On the top, where normally would be lava was a frozen shaft leading down in the exact middle of the basin. I couldn’t see the bottom, so instead of jumping in I decided to descend while walking on the wall.

Unexpectedly, it wasn’t that much harder to walk on ice than on a smooth wall, but it still took more effort than if it wasn’t frozen. I was a bit confused why would the way to the top of the dungeon lead downwards, but I had no way of confirming how the road looked, so I quietly accepted that it was going to be a bit longer.

Well, after nearly half an hour of descent something changed, namely the feeling of going downwards disappeared, and instead I started to feel like I was climbing up, even though I didn’t change my direction and was still going straight. Either my senses were confused in the dark, or the whole shaft suddenly flipped itself.  

I was concerned for a moment, thinking if it would be better to continue on my way or turn back, knowing how mind bending this dungeon was, but in the end I decided to go on straight. If my choice turned out to be wrong, I would simply end up in the place I started. It was like that until now, so it shouldn’t be much different now.

[Proficiency reached. Gained skill [3D Maneuver lvl. 1] ]

I remember that Felicia had this one. I probably got it from climbing the wall, but she definitely got it from her flight tries. If I remember correctly, it could be used for things like double jumps or changing directions mid-air, but I wasn’t really sure of the degree of usefulness it could display on the low level.

I could probably raise it by doing a lot of jumping if I ever wanted to become an air acrobat. I’ll most likely leave that role for Felicia, but still, it’s nicer to have a skill leveled than not. Every skill is a mean, and having a lot of means means having easier time against more types enemies.  It would be disastrous having to face for example a flying enemy while being unable to reach it or dodge attacks.

Come to think of it, I can just use my thread to reach almost anything, so I guess air movement is not that important. Oh, I think I can see a light on the end of the tunnel, I’ll go towards it.

And I died.

Well, not really, on the other side there was only another grassland, no heaven or hell like I expected. But it sure is wide, I can’t see anything resembling stairs, and there is only grass, without lakes or empty patches like before. Fortunately this time the grass is pretty short, so I can see the horizon.

[Welcome to the challenge floor.]

Suddenly I heard a somewhat familiar voice.

[It’s not like I’m angry for the floor remodeling, it’s just that you became a bit boring, so I decided that I will throw something harder at you. You will have to face my little army of monsters, and the rules are, no big magic like you used to destroy my floor, no thread weapons and no other forms of cheesing. The experience gain will be lowered, and you won’t heal from level up.

Also, I’m taking the cat, you won’t need her anyway, since you will surely die.]

While I was listening to these outrageous statements, Felicia disappeared from my back in a puff of black smoke. That was the only thing I took the notice of. I didn’t care for the challenge, or the death threat, no one is allowed to take my pet from me! My anger shoot through the roof, but I managed to stay composed, since there was really an army running right at me.

Hundreds of insect monsters, both on the ground and in air were now swarming the horizon.

Wait, since when do spiders drool?