SpoOo0oOon: that’s creepy

trelipideliberitation: wtf I thought this was fantasy isekai

RetconRanger: Looks like a water park?

“Chat… This feels very out of place.”

I stared at the large structure sprawling out in front of me. There were two buildings connected by a long archway, inviting me to walk under it. The archway had a plaque on it, but the text was all scratched out. The buildings on each side had numerous holes in them that looked vaguely like ticket-selling windows. The entire thing stretched out into the distance, where I could see some kind of gate held closed with chains and a lock, and behind it were pools of water. Or at least, I hoped it was actual water and not more slime.

“Water park? Well, maybe a really twisted one. It’s like someone stretched the entrance wide and copypasted it a bunch of times,” I grumbled.

bloopbooper: bloop

trelipideliberitation: so wtf even is it?

uptonMIKE: use heat vision.

“I dunno, but I guess I should investigate it, huh? It really is creepy though… Oh, good idea, Mike.” I carefully approached the structure, while briefly turning on my heat vision, looking for anything that could ambush me. As far as I could see, nothing stood out though, temperature-wise. That didn’t mean much when cold-hearted robots existed, though.

Then, as soon as I stepped below the archway, I felt a slight chill go down my back in a very familiar way. It wasn’t as intense as it was at the spaceship, but…

I squeaked and jumped back, immediately feeling the vague sense of relief I’d felt when I’d ran away from the spaceship.

SpoOo0oOon: Nana what’s wrong?

bloopbooper: bloop?!

trelipideliberitation: wtf jumpscares

I cautiously looked around as I backed up and suspiciously eyed the plaque.

“...Chat. I had the same bad feeling I’d had at the spaceship… Wait, you weren’t around back then. Uh… Basically, I had a chill go down my spine when I entered and then relief when I left.”

SpoOo0oOon: oh

Jeofffff: dungeon tiiiiiime

JamieWasTaken3: hey whats up

JamieWasTaken3: still streaming?

“Hey, Jamie. Yup… I think this is a dungeon… I dunno. It’s weird. Like the spaceship. It’s more like twisted remnants of a civilization than a dungeon…”

Jeofffff: guess you can accept that quest now

“Right, yeah… quest… Well, I have no idea if I can clear the dungeon yet though…”

I briefly glanced at the available quests again and frowned when I saw that they all only had seven minutes left before they supposedly expired.

“I should probably accept all of them…” I groaned. “I still feel like this is gonna bite me in the butt, but I’ll just go with what I decided…”

‘Rookie dungeoneer’ Side quest accepted!

Main objective:

   Clear a dungeon of any rank

Side objectives:

   Delve into the dungeon on your own with no outside help

   B rank dungeon or higher

   Conquer the dungeon on your first try

Rewards - 2SP

Penalty for failure - 3SP debt

“...Huh. It didn’t show the side objectives before. Wait, they are the same as the first quest I had, aren’t they? What even happens if I clear them too? Do I get more points?” I wondered out loud.

I should probably try to clear them too if I could. Well, the first one was kind of unavoidable… And I had no idea about the rank. The spaceship had been at least B rank, but this place… How could I tell?

“I’ll try to clear it all on my first try, I guess…” I mumbled before shaking my head. “What the heck am I even doing? This isn’t a game…”

Jeofffff: oi don’t you dare back off now

SpoOo0oOon: be careful Nana

trelipideliberitation: gogogo loooot

uptonMIKE: just use fire breath and keep monsters away with your sword

“Yeah, yeah… I’ll be careful… Mhmm, that’s what I intended, Mike.” I nodded. “Let’s accept the other quests too I guess…”

‘Secrets of the world’ Side quest accepted!

Main objective:

   Figure out what happened to this world

Side objectives:

   Figure out the true nature of this world

   Figure out what civilizations used to live in this world

Rewards - 5SP

Penalty for failure - 7SP debt

I frowned.

“Chat… Why is this quest implying that there aren’t any civilizations anymore? That can’t be true, right…? Am I reading this wrong?”

trelipideliberitation: well everything is abandoned sooo

JamieWasTaken3: no bugs even

RetconRanger: It might be a post-apocalyptic world with you as the only sentient being left there.

uptonMIKE: fallen civilizations doesn’t mean there aren’t ANY civilizations though

I froze as I read Ranger’s message.

That… couldn’t be, right? Was the entire world barren like this? Could I really be the only person left alive here?

I shook my head.

“No no no, but what about the phoenix? The jerk who reincarnated me? He’s gotta be around here somewhere… right? Or she… Or they. Whatever! The damn bird has to be hiding somewhere in this world! And the dungeon quest has that side objective that implies there are other people around!”

As I said that, I accepted the last quest.

‘Find the culprit’ Main quest accepted!

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Main objective:

   Find out who kidnapped, killed, and reincarnated you and confront them

Side objectives:

   Attack them

   Insult them

   Demand reparations

   Report them to the police

Rewards - 50SP, Molten ash of new life skill for free

Penalty for failure - 100SP debt

I sputtered as I read the side objectives.

“Wha… What the… Are you… Ok, seriously?! Am I being pranked?! What the heck is this?!” I yelled.

JamieWasTaken3: lmfao

Jeofffff: sounds reasonable lol

trelipideliberitation: rofl what police

I stared at the last window, unsure how to feel. Then, I had a really strange idea.

“...Could I report my own murder to the police? Hold on… If a police officer came to my chat, I could, right? This is such a weird idea… Ugh… But it’s not like I can prove I’m me… Especially when I can’t even meet them face to face. Especially when I’m not even in my original body!”

I shook my head.

“You know what? I’m just going to completely ignore that bit and pretend that the system is just messing with me.”

Unfortunately, that strange idea also brought another thought into my head. My family. Not that I’d ever been particularly close to any of them, but… the fact that I would never be able to talk to them again still hurt…

Except… I could. If this stream connected back to Earth, then couldn’t they come to my chat? I could still talk to them if they did, right?

The only problem was that I’d never told them I was a Vcuber. Ugh…

I shook my head again. No time to get depressed. I had a dungeon to conquer. And hopefully, I would find some actual food inside. Not starving was a bit more important than talking to my sister, at the moment.

Jeofffff: dungeon time?

bloopbooper: bloop!

I nodded, took a deep breath, and steeled myself.

“Dungeon time.”

I turned on heat vision, unsheathed my still-glowing sword, and stepped forward while bracing myself for the ominous feeling. I let the chill wash over my back as I stepped from the grass onto the concrete ground below the archway and ignored the voice at the back of my head yelling at me to get the heck out before I got jumped by a giant robot.

I didn’t have much of a choice. I needed food, and besides eating the green sludge or tree leaves, the dungeons were the only places that could maybe give me something to eat.

Of course, I was still terrified of actually entering the place, but I assured myself that I had actual means of defending myself, unlike with the giant robot. Sword for close range and fire breath for mid range. If things got too dicey, I could set everything on fire and then leg it.

I walked through the center, warily eyeing the windows, expecting things to come out of them. Heat vision didn’t register anything of note, so I turned it off again just so I could see normally. Then my eye caught something inside one of the windows, and I carefully stepped closer.

JamieWasTaken3: looooot!

Inside the small room with a desk and a chair there was a chest, just like the ones I’d found near the spaceship. This one looked different, though. It looked to be a wooden chest painted in a white and cyan gradient – similar to my own getup. The trim was translucent and the lock looked like any old door lock I’d seen back on Earth.

“...You guys think it’s a mimic?” I asked, suspiciously eyeing the thing.

uptonMIKE: use your fire on it from afar

Jeofffff: poke it with a sword?

JamieWasTaken3: nah probably not

I hummed and was about to climb inside the room to check it out when I heard a noise behind me. My head snapped around and my grip on the sword tightened as I saw three things climb out of the opposite windows.

They looked vaguely human-shaped and wore clothes, but…

“Where is your face?!” I shouted, looking at the abominations’ featureless faces as they hobbled forward on all fours.

Jeofffff: fire breath!

I didn’t think about it twice and used fire breath on the nearest abomination, setting it on fire. I expected it to screech like a banshee or something, but it barely made any sound as it stumbled.

That somehow made it even creepier.

The other two lunged at me and I jumped to the side before breathing in and letting out another breath, catching both of the abominations in it.

But apparently, I should have tested the fire breath more, because before I could finish the breath, I felt the muscles in my throat stiffen and contract and I began coughing uncontrollably.

I didn’t see the next attack coming with all the tears in my eyes, but something in my mind screamed for me to slash behind me with my sword and so I did. I felt it cut something and heard the subsequent thud of limbs on the ground.

As I finally got my coughing under control, I jumped back to put all of my enemies in my field of vision, ready to keep fighting. I briefly noted that the one who’d tried to ambush me was lying on the ground motionless, still on fire, and had a large cut in its head… that wasn’t bleeding at all. Incredibly unnerving, but I had no time to ponder on it.

The other two, still burning, lunged at me at the same time. Once again, instincts screamed at me and I obeyed, jumping back while bringing my sword down in an overhead swing.

I missed.

Not expecting that, I let out a gasp and backed out even further… right into a wall. I hadn’t realized I was so close to the building behind me.

Shit!

The abominations barely lost any momentum and leapt at me again.

My mind kept yelling at me, but I was fully panicking at this point and did what came to my mind first – quickly inhaling and hitting them both with another fire breath right in their faceless faces just as they reached me.

I couldn’t help the coughing fit that followed, but I didn’t expect to suddenly feel nauseous as muscles cramped all over my body, making me drop my sword and fall to my knees.

I was convinced that I was screwed at that point, what with the burning abominations about to attack me again while I was defenseless.

But somehow, it never happened.

By the time I got it under control and shakily looked up with tears in my eyes, the three monsters were nowhere to be seen. They had completely disappeared without a trace. Had I beaten them? Had they despawned…?

Well, either way, there weren’t any more zombies trying to pounce at me, so that was… good. Ugh…

I could barely read the messages that came from chat with all the adrenaline pumping through me.

I shakily wiped my eyes, grabbed my sword again, and tried to stand up.

And then, of course, I saw another one of those abominations climb out of a window opposite of me.

I immediately bolted and sprinted all the way back to the entrance, despite my protesting muscles. The sounds of limbs hitting the concrete ground behind me gripped my heart and only encouraged me to run faster.

As soon as I crossed the threshold and felt the telltale feeling of relief, I looked behind me, and sure enough, the abomination seemed to completely give up the chase and hobble its way back inside one of the windows.

I fell to the ground – careful not to cut myself on my sword – and took a minute to hyperventilate while I waited for the jitters to stop.

That… sucked. What the hell had I been thinking, marching inside a dungeon like that? Who cared that I could breathe fire and had a glowing sword?! I’d never had to fight anything in real life except for the damn robot! And I had only escaped from it thanks to luck! What made me think I could take on unknown monsters?

Jeofffff: or she ran out of Ether idk

RetconRanger: That could have gone better.

JamieWasTaken3: yea or that

SpoOo0oOon: are you okay Nana?!

uptonMIKE: should have tested it more…

I took a deep breath and let it out as I read what chat had to say with half-lidded eyes.

Mike was right, of course. I should have tested the fire breath more before going inside a dungeon. Whether the coughing fit was because I’d run out of Ether or because of some nebulous cooldown as Jeoff theorized, I had no idea. But either way, I shouldn’t have relied so heavily on a skill I hadn’t properly tested.

Even worse were my weapon skills. I’d never held a real sword in my hand back on Earth; why had I expected to suddenly be a master swordsman? Sure, I’d somehow managed to hit one of them with a completely blind swing, but…

I let out another deep sigh.

“Chat… Do any of you know anything about swordsmanship?”

Lesson learned. I needed to do better if I didn’t want to get mauled by dungeon monsters.