Like everyone else, Risa grew up hearing the stories of the Archmages, the people with supremely rare and powerful magic skills who stopped the Collapse in its tracks. They saved human civilization across the Continent, and Risa wants nothing more than to be like them. However, when she unlocks her own innate skill at age 15, it was the decidedly common, non-magical, Basic Strength Infusion. Good for being a brute warrior or a village worker, and not much else. Begrudgingly, she chooses the former, so that she can at least still fight monsters. 5 years later, an incident involving a defective potion unexpectedly unlocks a new skill that she’s never heard of before. Hidden World, an ability that sends her to a desolate land filled with strange visions every time she uses it. But as she figures out the secrets of her new skill, she finds it may allow her to rival or even surpass the Archmages in power… That is, if the Archmages will allow it. -=-=-=-=-=- This story features a world with a System, known as the Aleph, that gives everyone a Level (no stat breakdowns) and a list of level-able skills. Risa is a girl who grew up in this world, no reincarnation or isekai involved. Other than a random skill given at age 15, all skills are quite difficult to obtain, typically requiring a dangerous mid-combat epiphany or years of training (or at least, so conventional wisdom holds…) Dungeons exist as portals to pocket dimensions that can have various environments, from the caves and mazes you might expect to vast open landscapes. Dungeon breakouts are the source of the monsters that plague the Continent. To what degree Dungeon cores are intelligent is a matter of in-universe debate. I wouldn’t classify this story as “slow burn”, but neither is it a super-fast-paced popcorn story. It’s not intended to be a slice-of-life story, but by some definitions it might be one anyway. I don’t write much in the area of romance, so I don’t really expect that to be a focus here. That means that if Risa ends up with a harem, I’d be as surprised as anyone. Content warning tags are mostly "just in case".