Smoke and fumes dissipated as the boss finally died, her massive body slowly melting away into glittering particle effects, floating up and out of the room.

The dim torches had been the only source of light after the fires died down earlier, and now that the dungeon had been cleared, the eerie purple light they’d shone shifted to a brighter, victorious blue hue, lighting the entirety of the chamber up as the last of the poison cloud was burned away.

And as it parted, it revealed a collapsed stone pillar, crushed into almost unidentifiable rubble as the disappearance of the boss’s corpse let it collapse the rest of the way to the floor below as it finally settled.

On top of that broken column was a fox, who was currently clutching her nearly shattered hand, kicking and screaming and running through a list of every swear word ever put to paper, and several that hadn’t.

It turned out punching a rock wall at magically boosted speeds hurt like a bitch.

Monica couldn’t even bring herself to celebrate that her asinine plan had actually worked, something that she wouldn’t have even considered if she hadn’t gotten Environmental Mastery in the tutorial area before.

Silk managed to pull themselves free of the broken tower, having had to ride it all the way down after it was broken with them sitting on top of it, miraculously not crushed underneath it all as they stumbled out, all eight eyes swirling and disoriented.

Both of them collapsed from exhaustion, brains completely fried as they failed to process what had even happened for a good, long while.

It took maybe half an hour for them to be able to even move again, a kitsune, rubbing her eyes, panting loudly as she forced herself to sit up.

Her eyes scanned over the entire rest of the room. Save for her and Silk, it was completely empty.

She’d… won?

A nervous laugh leaked out as it finally set in. And that slowly became a fit of giggles, which burst into full-bodied laughter, falling back onto her back as she couldn’t hold back from cackling like a woman possessed.

They’d really beaten all of this, the entire dungeon, with just the two of them. Completely unarmed, unprepared, untested, and unplanned.

She couldn’t recall a time she’d ever had more fun with anything.

Her body was sore and worn down, every movement making her bones creak with protest, barely able to get herself to stand up again. But she did stand, and she could barely keep from jumping and sprinting and burning through all this energy welling up inside her.

She’d won…!

It felt like waking up on the first day of summer vacation again… which, technically, was explicitly what had happened. But it felt magical in a way that she hadn’t felt before, as far back as she could remember.

She lifted a dazed Silk in her arms, spinning and laughing with them, making the already dizzy spiderling chitter at her in hazy protest.

But eventually, her energy high finally died down, the girl leaning back against one of the still-standing pillars as she caught her breath, gazing around the empty chamber, eventually finding what she knew had to have appeared.

Two chests had appeared next to the door the boss had entered from. One was a massive, more ornate version of the chests she’d found throughout the dungeon before now, bearing the intricate metalworking that had decorated the boss door. The second was much different, and seemed entirely out of place for this area. Whereas the former was made of wood and metal like a (still extraordinarily ornate) normal box, the latter was seemingly made entirely of carved crystals, banded with platinum filigree as it glowed with an unnaturally bright hue.

Making her way over to the pair of her rewards, she looked them both over. Both of them had a name and description pop up as she got closer.

[Dungeon Clear Rewards: Ancient Riverside Ruins / Solo]

- Awarded for clearing dungeon and killing boss as a single player.

[First Clear Rewards: Ancient Riverside Ruins] UNIQUE

- Awarded for being the first player to clear the named dungeon.

She’d almost expected another player or group to have found and finished this dungeon in the time it took her to complete it, but… sure enough, the first clear she’d been tempted with was hers.

It was almost too hard to believe that she’d already gone from hopelessly killing herself in the tutorial to, in a small way, being the most successful player in the entire game up to this point.

Her hand rested against the less decorated chest, prying it open first. And with a flash of light from within, her rewards all poured out.

- 5000g

- Boss Skill Scroll: Ariale, Scuttling Empress

- Weapon: Queen’s Silkstaff

- Accessory: Carapace Ring

[Boss Skill Scroll: Ariale, Scuttling Empress]

- Teaches one skill used by the listed enemy.

- Teaches [Hellfire] or [Hazard Fumes].

[Queen’s Silkstaff] (Weapon)

- MAG +30, WIS +20

- Boosts success/strength/duration of ailments from spells by 100%.

- Unlocks [Silkshot] spell while equipped.

[Carapace Ring] (Accessory/Ring)

- HP+ 30

- Hardens user’s body, dulling physical attacks by 20%.

This was the first time she’d seen actual new equipment since she’d started playing. None of the other chests had dropped so much as a single low-level pair of shoes or rusty sword or anything like she’d have expected from a dungeon. Not to mention these both seemed like things that would drastically help her be less useless in fights. She picked up her new items, looking over them all.

The ring was very simple, a long piece of the black exoskeleton the mantises and boss had both been covered in, that had been twisted and stretched into a circular shape that fit snugly on her finger. It was cool to the touch and reflected the torchlight filling the room as she turned it over a few times.

She eyed the scroll over for a long while, but it was… just a scroll. It had a crude sketch of the boss herself, under which were two more sectioned off simple drawings. One depicted a mage throwing numerous balls of flame from their hands, while the other showed a caster encased in a massive green cloud. Hellfire and Hazard Fumes respectively, she assumed. Wanting to see the rest before choosing though, she slipped it into her bag.

What she was most interested in though was the staff she’d been awarded. Lifting it in both hands to test it, the stick felt heavy enough to seem weighty and important, but light enough that carrying it on her at all times wouldn't feel uncomfortable. Like the ring, the majority of the weapon was wrought wholly from more of that black carapace material, though this was also wrapped in thin layers of what appeared to be spider’s webs. The matte white material wrapped around the glossy black material gave it an almost regal appearance, more like a fancy display case piece you’d find in a museum than an actual weapon meant to be used.

[New Skill: Silkshot]

- Gained from item (Queen’s Silkstaff).

- Fires off a spiderweb projectile. Can be fired alone or remain attached to the staff.

- Lowers AGI of targets that aren’t the user. Range/Strength based on MAG.

Somehow, she’d already doubled her spell pool just from this dungeon. Still purely supportive in nature, more utility skills did feel like it fit with her playstyle up till now, so she wasn’t terribly disappointed.

Wanting to test her spells this time after leaving Blowback until the last possible second, she aimed her new staff at a torch on the wall nearby.

“Silkshot!”

Exactly as expected, a globule of webbing fired off, striking the torchlight squarely, smothering the small flame atop it as smoke leaked past the sticky material.

“Silkshot!”

Another shot was launched and struck the already-defeated torch, except this time with a following length of webbing, held taut as it linked back to the staff and caster that had fired it. And with a few tugs, she was able to wrench the torch from it’s socket, yanking it free and onto the floor below.

Non-damaging, but incredibly useful by itself.

The fox was incredibly satisfied with her new hall, her basic staff being tucked into her bag for a rainy day, or in case she wanted something less flashy to brandish around.

Most of her rewards from the hard-fought victory had been sorted...

But, as she turned back around, the other chest glimmered majestically at her, almost too ornate to even consider opening. The box alone was almost as large as she was.

“Chk! Chkchk!!”

Silk had woke up from their dizzy spell finally, and loudly expressed how much they wanted to see the contents of the special unique rewards they’d earned as they tried to shove her closer to it.

“O-Okay, okay, calm down! Lemme savor it for a second, ok?”

She stared at it a bit longer, dwelling on that collector’s urge to leave the mystery alone and keep it intact for herself… but that was ridiculous. She couldn’t very well lug an entire chest around with her anywhere, she didn’t even know if this game had the ability for her to have a house.

So, after a wait that almost gave Silk an anxiety attack, Monica pried open the other chest.

Whereas the first box had been bright on opening it, this one was downright blinding, turning the entire massive room pure white and burning afterimages into both her poor eyes, and into Silk’s even-more-poor eight eyes. Fanfare and confetti fired out alongside the light show, making her feel like she’d just won a ritzy game show on daytime television.

By the time she could see again, a myriad of items lay before her, the chest having expanded an entire display table-like space to hold everything she’d been given, including several pieces of parchment listing non-physical items. And alongside them were what took up almost the entirety of the space on display.

A witch’s hat, a short, dress-like robe, and a pair of long gloves, all once again made of the same mix of shiny carapace and inlaid webbing, a three-piece set of matching armor.

- 5 Skill Points

- Permanent +10 MAG / +10 AGI

- Title: Spider Queen

- Armor (Head): Misery’s Shame

- Armor (Body): Agony’s Embrace

- Armor (Hands): Corruption’s Grip

[Misery’s Shame] (Head) UNIQUE

- MAG +60, WIS +40, LUC +30

- Raises ailment strength by 200%.

- Arachnomancer Set Bonus: 1/3

[Agony’s Embrace] (Body) UNIQUE

- MAG +100, WIS +25, LUC +20

- Raises ailment duration by 200%.

- Arachnomancer Set Bonus: 1/3

[Corruption’s Grip] (Hands) UNIQUE

- MAG +40, WIS +35, LUC +40

- Raises ailment success rate by 200%.

- Arachnomancer Set Bonus: 1/3

…

……

………

She quickly read back through them all once again. And again. And about a dozen more times for good measure, her eyes burning into the screen a bit more each time.

Surely this was some kind of mistake, right? The game was displaying things wrong, or there was some kind of bug in the system. Maybe she was still unconscious and dreaming. That had to be it, yes. Knowing she was in a dream, clearly, she grabbed one of her cheeks, pinching down hard.

…

Her strength, still firmly below zero, was insufficient to even make the pinch hurt.

She was a bit insulted, but at least she could take that as proof she was awake.

And as she was awake, and the things in front of her were therefore quite real, she quickly scooped them all into her arms at once, practically salivating as she threw her new outfit on at once.

The hat was almost three feet wide and as light as a feather despite the thick shiny material covering the outer layer, her fox ears fitting snugly out the top through a pair of slots that had appeared just for her as she equipped it. The robe hugged her body perfectly as well, form-fitting but in no way constricting or restraining her movements as she tested the material. And the gloves felt like her hands were still totally bare, flexing her fingers in the fabric.

The entire ensemble made her look just as much the part of a dungeon boss as Ariale had before, her staff matching the outfit perfectly. Her bulky robes from early were a pale comparison to these, her arms and legs much more free than they had been. The glossy carapace, which on the enemies had given them the appearance of armored knights, instead made her seem almost fantastical to behold.

As she moved and twisted and did her best to strain the material to its limits, it simply followed her body elegantly, the webbing linking together everything as all of it moved like loose fabric rather than stiff armor.

It didn’t seem to be very defensive in nature, despite the carapace lining it. Even her basic robes and hat seemed to give her at least a few points of VIT each, whereas none of the mountain of stats here were anything defensive whatsoever. A set befitting a pure glass cannon build.

Equipping all three pieces together also gave her one last notification.

[Set Bonus: Arachnomancer] 3/3

- Webbing increases AGI, rather than lowering it.

- Spider-type enemies do not aggro until attacked. Does not apply to bosses.

A last little cherry on top of her mountain of rewards.

And at last satisfied that her spoils had been taken care of, she reached back into her bag, pulling out the scroll from earlier and squeezing down hard on it. The paper popped like a balloon, unfurling into a final screen to look over.

[Boss Skill Scroll: Ariale, Scuttling Empress] used. Please select a skill below:

[New Skill: Hellfire]

- Unlock: Skill Scroll only.

- Launches up to twelve flaming projectiles over a random area.

- Strength/Amount scales with MAG.

[New Skill: Hazard Fumes]

- Unlock: Skill Scroll only.

- User gains a circular AoE poison cloud centered on themselves, 5ft radius.

- Inflicts Poison/Stun/Blind/Silence on targets within the field.

- Ailment strength/duration/success based on MAG/LUC. Drains MP per second.

This was, finally, exactly what she’d been missing. An actual attack spell, for dealing actual damage. No more wrangling enemies into convoluted death traps or having them walk into their own attacks. She could become a fountain of death, raining fire upon everything around her.

But…

She’d gotten this far without anything like that, huh?

It… almost felt like cheating to just take something like that now, after all this time. As much as it would solve, she’d simply become a really good wizard. Not a one-of-a-kind Gloom Mage.

Her mind was made up.

She selected Hazard Fumes, the scroll vanishing from her sight as it was used up.

As terrible as her idea seemed to be, she’d already had her own path forward from here on out decided for her. And as she almost instantly felt like she’d made a horrible mistake, she couldn’t go back on it now.

She stepped forward to the dungeon’s exit, glancing behind her one last time before vanishing into light.

From that day forward, Monica Furdel set out to become the greatest mage in this entire wide-open world, and that she’d do it without casting so much as one single attack.