Six months later, Kaelen stood before the sealed door in the academy basement—the entrance to the
Nightmare Labyrinth, a dungeon that had killed every student who entered it for three hundred years.
He was Level 32 now. He had mastered three branches of magic, learned seventeen different weapon styles,
and died exactly forty-seven times in various training accidents (and one poisoning attempt by a jealous noble).
Each death made him stronger, each regression allowing him to perfect his strategies.
Seraphina stood beside him, now Level 48. She had become his unlikely ally, his sparring partner, and the
only person who knew about his System—though not about [Infinite Regression]. That secret he kept buried
deepest.
"You're sure about this?" she asked, clutching her staff.
professor. They never came back.
"
"The last party to enter was led by a Level 50
"Trust me,
" Kaelen said. He didn't tell her that he'd already cleared the first five floors in his previous life,
dying on the sixth to a trap he now knew how to avoid.
"Stick close. Don't touch anything glowing. And
whatever you do, don't look the Grief Serpent in the eyes.
"
They entered.
The Labyrinth was a masterpiece of cruelty—shifting walls, illusions that preyed on fears, monsters that
adapted to your fighting style. Seraphina watched in awe as Kaelen navigated it with impossible precision,
predicting traps before they triggered, knowing secret passages that shouldn't exist.
"How do you know all this?" she whispered on the eighth floor, as they hid from a patrol of Spectral
Knights.
"I pay attention,
" he lied.
By the fifteenth floor, they reached the Heart—the chamber of the Labyrinth Lord, a being of pure shadow
and malice that had consumed the souls of the missing students.
14The Nightmare Labyrinth
[Boss: Labyrinth Lord (A-Rank)]
[Level: 65]
[Special Ability: Soul Theft (Instant kill if HP < 50%)]
It was a dragon made of darkness, filling the cavern with oppressive dread.
"Kaelen, we can't—
" Seraphina started.
"Stay back,
" Kaelen commanded. His eyes turned void-black, and he activated every buff he possessed. His
level temporarily spiked to 40, then 45, as he burned through consumables and forbidden techniques.
The dragon roared, and reality tore.
Kaelen met it with a smile.
What followed was a battle that would become legend. V oid magic against shadow essence. Kaelen died
twice—once to a tail strike, once to the Soul Theft ability—but each time he returned to the entrance of the
chamber, adjusted his strategy, and fought again.
The third attempt, he won.
He used a technique he'd been saving—[V oid Collapse], creating a singularity in the dragon's chest that
consumed it from the inside out. The Labyrinth Lord screamed as it was devoured by the void.
[Level Up! x5]
[Current Level: 38]
[Title Earned: Dragonslayer (Lesser)]
[Skill Acquired: Shadow Affinity]
As the beast dissolved, it dropped a crystallized soul—one of the consumed students. Then another. And
another. Twelve in total, including the professor who had led the expedition.
Seraphina stared at Kaelen, who was kneeling, exhausted, blood dripping from his nose.
killed an A-Rank monster. Solo. At Level 32.
"
"You... you just
"Thirty-eight now,
" he corrected weakly.
"That's impossible. The System has rules. Limits.
"
Kaelen looked at her, his eyes serious.
"My System doesn't have limits, Seraphina. That's the point.
"
15The Nightmare Labyrinth
He held up the largest soul crystal—the professor's.
to hurry before they dissipate.
"
"We can revive them. The souls are intact. But we need
"Why?" she asked, her voice small.
"Why go so far? Risk so much?"
Kaelen thought of the gallows square. Of being powerless. Of the dagger at his throat.
"Because I refuse to be weak ever again,
" he said.
things coming. Things worse than dragons.
"
"And because... someone has to save this world from the
[Warning: World Event detected]
[The Ancient Ones stir]
[Timeline Accelerated]
A new window appeared, red and urgent:
[Final Quest Initiated: The Ascension]
[Goal: Reach Level 100 within 1 year]
[Failure: Death (Permanent)]
[Reward: Apotheosis]
Kaelen closed the window and stood up, offering Seraphina his hand.
"We have work to do.
"
She took it, and together they walked out of the darkness, carrying the souls of the dead and the hope of the
living.
Above them, the System watched, calculating, waiting.
The game had only just begun.