The cave was empty.
The fireballs still clung to the walls, hovering patiently in place, casting warm light across stone that had begun to feel almost like home. But where Fluffkins had been, where the couch and books and bar cart had lived, there was now only a single doorway.
It hadn’t been there before.
The door was made of dark metal, tall and arched, its frame studded with rivets that caught the firelight. Around it, glowing signs floated in cheerful defiance of the surrounding rock: a curved red arrow bordered in yellow bulbs, a neon pointing finger, a green EXIT sign that hummed faintly to itself.
All of them pointed at the door.
Miri snorted softly.
“Of course,” she murmured. “Subtle as ever.”
Fluffkins certainly enjoyed his little frivolities. She had too, she realized. More than she’d expected. The thought sat heavy in her chest, warm and aching all at once.
She secured the leather collar around her wrist, fingers lingering on it longer than necessary.
Remaining lives: 5.
She swallowed.
“Yeah,” she said quietly to the empty cave. “I’ll try not to die.”
Whether he was gone for good or merely elsewhere, she didn’t know. The not knowing hurt more than she’d expected.
Miri took a steadying breath and straightened.
She’d come a long way in a short time—but the world beyond that door wasn’t going to care how hard she’d trained or who had believed in her.
She called up her System profile with a thought.
[ Name: Miri Anne Sutton ]
[ Age: 24 ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Level: 3 - Tutorial Cap ]
Development (Simplified)
[ Body: 22 (1) ]
[ Mind: 24 (1) ]
[ Spirit: 30 (1) ]
...
[ Class: Complete Quest ]
[ Element: Unlocks at Lv5 ]
[ Sub-Class: Unlocks at Lv10 ]
[ Affinity: Unlocks at Lv15 ]
[ Spells: 0/5 ]
[ Skills: Cleanse Lv1; Flame Lv1, Swordsman Lv2, Auto-Loot Lv1]
Cleanse Lv1: remove basic impurities from your body
Flame Lv1: create a small flame
Swordsman Lv2: instinctively channel mana into your blade
Auto-Loot Lv1: automatically loot credits from fallen foes
[ Traits: 0 ]
[ Titles: 1/0 ]
[ Wearables: Hiking Boots of Lord L. Bean (+1 to Body); Utility Shorts of The Gap; T-Shirt of Grateful Death (+1 to Spirit); Eternal Time Keeper (+1 to Mind); Collar of the Jack of Hearts ]
She dismissed the text.
Level three. Stronger. Sharper. Better prepared than she’d been a month ago.
Still nowhere near ready.
If she wanted to unlock her class, she had to move. She had to gain real experience to complete her level; training only got you so far.
If she wanted answers—about the System, about her mission, about what had happened to Mason—she couldn’t find them hiding in a cave.
Miri adjusted the straps of her pack, checked the weight of her blade at her side, and squared her shoulders.
She didn’t know exactly what she was supposed to do yet.
But she knew how to survive long enough to find out.
With one last look at the firelit stone, she took a step toward the door.
Then stopped.
It wasn’t really a thought. There was no voice, no warning, no sudden vision of danger. Merely a faint resistance, like trying to walk forward through shallow water. The feeling settled low in her chest, insistent without urgency.
Not yet.
Miri frowned.
She glanced back at the cave—at the fireballs, the door, the glowing signs that all but begged her to leave—and then, inexplicably, toward the narrow crevice she hadn’t passed through since the day she woke up alone on cold stone.
She hadn’t been back there. Not once.
The realization landed with a small jolt of unease.
“That’s stupid,” she muttered. “I checked it already.”
Still, her feet turned.
The crevice was exactly as she remembered it: narrow, ugly, unremarkable. A slit in the rock that scraped her shoulders and forced her to turn her head sideways as she squeezed through. It smelled of damp stone and old earth, the kind of smell caves always had when nothing had been there for a very long time.
The small cave beyond waited in silence.
No crystals. No magic furniture. Just bare stone and shadows.
Miri stood in the center of it, hands on her hips, and waited for the feeling to explain itself.
Nothing happened.
She exhaled through her nose. “Great. Love a mystery with no clues.”
Still, she couldn’t shake the sense that something here mattered.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
She began to search.
Not the quick perimeter check she’d done the first time, frantic and unfocused, but slowly. Methodically. The way Fluffkins had taught her to clear a space when something felt off.
She knelt, shifted loose stones, peered behind small outcroppings. She dragged her fingers along the walls, feeling for seams, inconsistencies, places where the rock didn’t quite agree with itself.
She had no idea what she was looking for.
That was the strangest part.
Her headlamp died weeks ago and had long since vanished to wherever Fluffkins put things he didn’t want her tripping over. The cave was pitch black, lightless and absolute.
But she could see in depth and shape. Edges resolved where they shouldn’t have. Her vision filled in the dark with quiet certainty. She could tell where stone dipped, where cracks ran shallow or deep.
Fluffkins had mentioned it once, in passing.
Higher Spirit increases perception beyond the physical senses.
She hadn’t expected it to feel like this.
Minutes passed. Maybe more.
Her knees were starting to ache when her fingers slipped.
Her hand brushed past the edge of a rock and into nothing.
Miri froze.
She leaned in until her face was inches from the wall, squinting into the darkness. There— a crack. No wider than two fingers, invisible unless you pressed close enough to crush your cheek against the stone.
Her pulse kicked up. She eased her hand back into the gap and felt something solid. Rectangular. Smooth in places, rough in others.
Carefully, she worked it free. The object slid out with a soft scrape of stone.
It was a book.
Bound in cracked leather so old it felt like it might crumble if she breathed on it too hard. Strange symbols were etched into the cover, worn nearly flat by time.
Her breath caught. She didn’t need light to know what it was.
She recognized the weight of it. The density. The faint pressure it exerted against her palms, like the echo of something coiled and waiting.
An ancient skill book.
Fluffkins had shown her examples. Had explained how rare they were. How they carried knowledge that couldn’t be learned any other way.
“How long have you been here,” she whispered.
The book did not answer.
She swallowed and slipped it into her inventory without opening it. Some instincts were louder than curiosity.
The moment it vanished, the tension in her chest eased. Not completely, but enough. Like something had clicked into place.
Miri straightened and took one last look around the cave.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “I hear you.”
She turned and made her way back through the crevice, emerging once more into the cave that had been her shelter, her classroom, her almost-home.
The fireballs flickered patiently. The door waited.
Miri squared her shoulders and stepped forward.
This time, nothing stopped her as she reached the door and pulled.
The heavy metal swung open with almost no resistance, and she stumbled forward a half step, catching herself with a startled laugh.
“Fu— freaking magic,” she muttered, heart pounding.
The world opened up around her.
Rolling fields of green stretched in every direction, grass rippling under a wide, open sky. The air smelled alive—fresh and sharp and impossibly big after weeks underground. Miri took one step through the doorway and heard a soft pfft behind her.
She turned, but there was nothing there.
No cave. No stone. No doorway. Just more fields, rolling on and on.
For the first time since waking up alone on a cave floor, the scale of it hit her.
She was out.
She was alone.
Miri stood very still, pulse loud in her ears, resisting the urge to spin in place like she might miss something important if she blinked.
Nothing.
“Okay,” she said to the empty world. “New plan. Don’t panic.”
She dug into her inventory, fingers moving on instinct, searching for something familiar. Compass. Map. Anything.
She found a folded sheet of parchment and unrolled it.
She had a map but with no idea where she was on said map, she wasn’t sure how it would help her.
As she looked at the parchment, she snorted in surprise.
Near the bottom corner, a small red star pulsed faintly.
★
You are here.
As she turned, the star rotated with her, a tiny arrow always pointing in the direction she faced.
Miri laughed, short and bright, the sound torn loose by sheer relief.
“Okay,” she said. “I can work with that.”
She turned until the arrow pointed toward Helmsworth. Fluffkins had spoken of it often enough—supplies, information, civilization.
A goal.
She started walking.
The grass was tall enough to brush her thighs, thick but pliant, slowing her just enough to remind her she wasn’t on a trail. Every sound felt a little too loud. The whisper of grass. The wind. Her own breathing.
A soft chime rang behind her eyes.
[ System Quest: Class Selection ]
Miri stopped walking and waited for the text.
Kill your first monster.
If you survive, you may view your class options.
Good luck!
“Oh,” Miri said faintly. “Crabcakes.”
Her hand went to her sword.
Fluffkins’ voice echoed in her head: Do not assume you will see danger coming. Monsters do not announce themselves.
She scanned the grass, every muscle coiled tight. She checked the map. Looked up. Looked down. Nothing but waving green and open sky.
She took another cautious step.
Then pain flared along her shin.
Miri yelped and leapt sideways, heart slamming as she looked down.
A gnome clung to her boot laces like a ladder, tiny teeth sunk into her leg.
“WHAT THE—”
Another one burst from the grass and latched onto her hair, sharp fingers digging into her scalp. It screeched, high and furious, yanking hard enough to make her eyes water.
Training took over.
Miri grabbed the thing in her hair, fingers closing around its squirming body, and threw.
It hit the ground.
It fucking exploded.
Red splattered the grass.
[ You have defeated Field Gnome, Lv2! ]
Her brain stalled long enough for the gnome on her leg to remind her it was still alive.
She hissed, snatched it up, and held it at arm’s length.
[ Field Gnome, Lv2 ]
Usually a minor pest. Can overwhelm with numbers.
It was about the size of a soda can. Ceramic-smiling face. Pointy hat. Beady black eyes. Rows of razor teeth.
It was, objectively, kind of adorable. Aside from the murdery part.
Fluffkins’ lessons snapped into focus.
Do not let appearance dictate threat.
Cuteness is camouflage.
Hesitation kills.
Miri had to remember that cuteness could not always buy mercy. She needed to kill even if what she was killing looked like it belonged in a gift shop.
However she did close her eyes as she smashed the gnome into the ground.
[ You have defeated Field Gnome, Lv2! ]
