The inside of the giant locker was dark, but also spacious. I had no idea how far away the walls were, and I couldn’t see anything but the metallic floor under my feet, even with my sword lighting up the way.

The clacking of my shoes echoed in this horrible space and I couldn’t help but feel on edge. I barely made it a few steps inside before I had a sudden sense of dread and whirled around to check whether the entrance was still there.

It was. A column of light in this horrible plane of pure darkness. It was so tempting to just run back to it and leave this cursed place.

I didn’t. I turned back around and kept going forward, looking for any signs of… well, anything. An exit, a chest, or heck, even a monster to beat up.

But the damn place remained deathly silent save for my own steps, breathing, and heartbeats. It was good that I had a heartbeat. Part of me always worried that I wasn’t quite human anymore, what with hatching from an egg and all the weirdness like my ability to breathe fire. Who was to say that I still even had a heart? If Ether apparently powered everything physical here, would I even need one? My physiology was already changed just because of the Fire breath, so why would I?

I was distracting myself. But who could blame me? This place was incredibly unnerving. I couldn’t help but keep glancing back to make sure I had some sort of exit just in case I began panicking. Being shut inside this horrible place would be the absolute worst. I never liked the feeling of being trapped. Or the feeling of not knowing what was around me.

I was still distracting myself.

JamieWasTaken3: heat vision would be pretty cool here

I pursed my lips and ground my teeth.

It would, wouldn’t it? Or at least, it would, assuming the monsters here gave off heat like normal living beings. But one couldn’t be too sure when said monsters were sentient towels and puddles of water.

Well, not like I could test that. There were still several hours of cooldown on that skill. I should have figured it would bite me in the ass when I’d said that I probably wouldn’t need it anytime soon.

“Not a word, Jamie…” I muttered, my own quiet voice sounding like a loud howl in my ears. “Craftsmen helped me beat the boss and I wouldn’t even be here without it…”

JamieWasTaken3: hey i didnt say anything

I grunted but then went silent again, because the echoes of my own voice made me even more uneasy.

I felt like I was walking for hours in the darkness despite it probably only being a few minutes at most. I had no idea where I was going or if I even was going anywhere. Everytime I glanced back, the column of light marking the entrance looked exactly the same.

Was I hallucinating? Was I going crazy? Should I go back? What if–

The rustling sound of clothes instantly grabbed my attention and my head whipped around into the darkness and pointed my sword in that direction.

I couldn’t see anything there.

“Hello…?” I muttered on instinct and instantly regretted it. Did I want to be a horror movie victim? Seriously, mouth…

Nothing happened though. Not for a good minute of tense silence at least.

Then more rustling resounded behind me.

I whirled around again.

Nothing.

I got both antsy and agitated because I knew this pattern and I didn’t like it one bit.

JamieWasTaken3: LIGHT THEM UP

JamieWasTaken3: nana use fire breath!

I blinked and resisted the urge to facepalm.

Of course.

Somehow, I had completely forgotten that unlike horror movie victims, I could actually fight back. I didn’t need to wait to be eaten by the monsters in the dark while trembling in my boots.

I immediately breathed in, poured as much Ether into my lungs as I could, and then breathed out a wave of fire as I spun around, creating a flaming circle around me.

And as the fire lit up my surroundings, I couldn’t help but widen my eyes at the sight.

There had to be hundreds of these sentient towels and other articles of clothing all around me. All just outside of my sword’s light.

And now they were on fire.

And the fire was quickly spreading even as the damn things began to flop around in panic. Like a switch being flipped, the oppressive silence turned into a rumble of mixed sounds and noises.

“Are you serious?!” I shouted into the sudden pandemonium that broke out.

Some of the clothes and towels threw themselves at me in a desperate bid to take me down with them and I immediately reacted by dropping the bucket and slashing my sword at the assailants.

It cut through the burning cloth with ease and with them already being on fire, they proceeded to uselessly drop to the ground and turn into mist soon after.

But the more I beat, the more decided to go for the suicide charge and I was soon swarmed with burning cloth, silk, and cotton from all sides, draping over me, and scorching my skin.

My panicked waving of my sword and random discharges of lightning didn’t do much to help. Nor did my small bursts of fire.

Eventually, one of them jumped on my face just like yesterday, and I couldn’t help the full blown panic that overtook me. I was getting suffocated again!

I needed to do something.

Quickly.

My mind ran through my options, discarding each one just as quickly as they came to mind. When I stopped on one option, I hesitated for just a split second before committing.

Purchase the skill [Flameguard] for 5 skill points?

Y/N

Yes!

Replace [Craftsman] with [Flameguard]?

Note: [Craftsman] will not be re-equipable for 24 hours.

Y/N

Yes!

I immediately looked for the mental switch and slammed it as soon as I found it. My entire body lit up in burning pain as soon as I did, but it also burned through whatever was wrapped around my face and I could breathe again.

Granted, the heat and smoke still made me choke up, but it was still better than before.

I scrambled to look around me with my teary eyes and still could see legions of burning clothes and towels all over the place. I briefly thought that this was the perfect picture of hell.

More of them leapt at me. I countered by either slashing with my sword or swatting at them with my free hand while briefly setting it on fire as the hit connected. When one got past my guard and wrapped around me, I simply lit up that part of my body to get it off.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t very good at using the skill yet, and often ended up using too much fire and wasting Ether or too little fire, which didn’t get the job done. It quickly drained me and I could feel running out of Ether soon.

I had my bucket, but there was no way I could casually chomp on some ooze in the middle of all this. I couldn’t afford to drop my guard even for a second.

I kept fighting. It felt like an eternity. For every monster I slapped down, two more were already jumping at me. Even with Flameguard, I still felt overwhelmed. Part of me thought that their ranks were thinning out, but I couldn’t help but feel like that was just naive hope.

Eventually, it happened. I ran out of Ether.

I felt the moment my limbs stopped responding. My stomach dropped and a chill went down my spine.

NONONONONO!!!

I fell down on my face like a ragdoll and immediately got piled by everything. They somehow found a way to wrap around my head once more even as the fire seared my skin. It hurt even more than before because I lacked the inherent fire resistance of Flameguard now.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

I was fully and truly panicking now.

I had no options left. No Ether to move, much less fight back. No skill points to get more upgrades on the fly. No magical tools that would help me do anything.

I was going to die die die–

Suddenly, the towel wrapping around my head dispersed into mist and I belatedly realized that all the others who had piled on me must have vanished as well while I’d been internally screaming in panic.

In fact, the place had gotten much quieter. There were still patches of fire on the ground that let me somewhat see, but I couldn’t hear a whole lot of rustling anymore. The patches of fire were also dispersing into mist one by one.

My heart clenched in anticipation but at the same time I felt hope.

Had I done it? Had I somehow defeated all these freaking monsters just as I’d run out of Ether?

The last patch of fire dispersed, leaving me in total darkness once more.

I still couldn’t move or even talk. I could read the group chat, however.

JamieWasTaken3: pls dont tell me i got u killd

JamieWasTaken3: pls

Jamie is officially the worst helper fairy, I sardonically thought.

I remained tense for a good minute, expecting more monsters to pop up and finish me off while I was vulnerable. Every second felt like an eternity as the hope that it was over battled with the dread of anticipation. My own heartbeat sounded like a wardrum in the dead silence.

And then finally, my fingers twitched. Then my hands, my arms, my feet, and gradually, I managed to shakily roll on my back and sit up.

I still couldn’t see anything and couldn't be sure whether I was safe, but I at least felt much safer being able to move.

I lifted up a shaky hand and wiped the tears off my face before taking a deep shaky breath. Then I loudly exhaled. I repeated this a few times until I didn’t feel like screaming in panic.

The moment I relaxed enough, four status windows shoved their way into my field of view.

‘Experienced fighter’ achievement unlocked!

+3 Skill points

‘Massacre’ achievement unlocked!

+8 Skill points

‘Hoarder’ achievement unlocked!

+1 Skill point

‘Immolator’ title unlocked!

I jumped with a gasp, thinking something was ambushing me, then I groaned in annoyance, and then I was momentarily stunned when I noticed that one of the achievements was worth eight skill points.

I stared for a few seconds and I just… crashed.

I flopped back down in the darkness and just stayed there for a minute.

Just breathing. Not moving or trying to make sense of the achievements.

I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. Getting more skill points and apparently even a title was awesome news, but at the moment I just… couldn’t deal with all that. Not after the experience I just had.

“I almost died… again,” I whispered into the echoey darkness around me.

JamieWasTaken3: …

JamieWasTaken3: nana?

JamieWasTaken3: u good?

“No,” I said and didn’t elaborate.

JamieWasTaken3: uh

JamieWasTaken3: right

JamieWasTaken3: you did good tho?

JamieWasTaken3: dot ftw?

The soft snort I let out surprised even myself.

She was kind of right. If I hadn’t set everything on fire to begin with, I would have probably died. Damage over time for the win, indeed.

After another minute of just laying around, watching as chat messages zipped by, I finally sat up again and looked around.

The column of light was still there. It almost felt mocking in a way. Everything seemed exactly the same as it had been before the pandemonium. Like it had been nothing but a dream.

I shook my head and groped for my sword I must have dropped when I’d run out of Ether earlier.

I found the sword, but not its handle.

“Ow! Ugh…”

I felt like I had recovered enough Ether, so I lit up the smallest flame I could manage in my hand for lighting and found the sword’s handle this time.

I grabbed it and wanted to use it as a flashlight again since it was better than burning myself, but then I remembered what I’d done during the earlier craziness.

I’d replaced Craftsman with Flameguard. I could no longer channel Ether through my hands.

“Dammit… No more sword flashlight…” I murmured.

JamieWasTaken3: mb u can learn how to do it without the skill

I hummed and shrugged.

“Maybe… I’ll have to try later.”

I sheathed the sword and lit up my palm to better see again. I quickly discovered my bucket, put all my other loot that had spilled from it back into it, and was ready to leave this cursed place when I noticed something else in the darkness. It was even giving off a soft glow and I could have sworn that it hadn’t been here before.

I cautiously walked closer and found that it was exactly what I thought it was.

A chest.

But this one was different. It didn’t even try to resemble the regular chests like the boss chest had. This one was fully golden and had a silver star on its lid.

JamieWasTaken3: super special loot!

I stared at it for a moment, before slowly unsheathing my sword and poking the thing. Then I remembered I had Appraisal again and just appraised it.

Secret dungeon chest

A loot chest containing random loot from the bonus pool.

You’ve done something really stupid to make this appear.

“Excuse me?!” I blurted out as soon as I read the bolded text.

JamieWasTaken3: lmao

JamieWasTaken3: its not wrong tho

I glared at the thing. Part of me wanted to leave without even opening this thing out of pure spite. Fortunately, the smarter part of me won.

With an annoyed grumble, I walked up to the stupid shiny thing and popped the lid open. As soon as I did, another system window greeted me.

‘Why did you even do that?’ achievement unlocked!

+3 Skill points

“Wha–?! What do you mean?! What did I do?!” I yelled and jumped back, ready to defend myself from mimics and more stupid towels.

Nothing happened though.

Not even after a full minute of waiting.

Not wanting any surprises, I decided to finally check the descriptions of all the achievements I’d gotten.

One tier 1 achievement.

Hoarder - Amass 10 or more skill points.

Two tier 2s.

Experienced fighter - Defeat a total of 300 dungeon monsters.

Why did you even do that? - Open a secret chest.

And one tier 3.

Massacre - Kill 100 or more living beings or dungeon monsters in the span of ten seconds or less.

I stared at the sheer number of dungeon monsters the achievements claimed that I’d defeated. Were there really that many?!

I shook my head, read the last achievement I’d gotten, and scowled. That achievement name probably referred to the ‘stupid thing’ I’d apparently done as appraisal had informed me.

JamieWasTaken3: pranked

“Whatever…” I murmured and stepped closer to the chest again.

There was a backpack of some sort inside as well as two smaller objects. I couldn’t see very well, so I just shot Appraisal at them, starting with the backpack.

Backpack of hoarding

A backpack capable of holding more than it appears, based on its last owner’s maximum Tempor. Nullifies the weight of all items carried inside. This item is recursive and can hold other items with their own dimensional pocket space.

My eyes widened at that.

This was super useful! Now I didn’t need to lug around the bucket with all the random junk I found!

JamieWasTaken3: classic

I couldn’t help but immediately test the thing by unzipping the backpack, pulling my dimensional wallet out of my pocket, and dropping it inside the creepy void in the backpack. When I reached into the void, my hand immediately found the wallet again. It worked exactly like the wallet.

Perfect.

I stuffed everything I had on me inside it – including the bucket itself – slung it around my shoulders – once again, it fit me perfectly – and then appraised the next item. It looked like the Ether ticket I’d gotten from the quest.

Large Power expansion ticket

A system consumable that increases your total Ether, Intra, or Tempor reserves and regeneration by 10% when consumed. The choice is yours.

My eyes widened again. This thing was also pretty damn good! I would probably end up choosing Ether, but the fact that I could choose felt significant. Not to mention, this was a whole ten percent! As a gamer, I knew just how much of a difference ten percent could make.

For the time being, I put it into the backpack to use later and appraised the last item in the chest.

Fate Weaver coin (gold)

A second highest denomination divine coin made by the Fate Weaver. A hundred gold coins can be fused into a single platinum coin with the use of Ether. This item can be consumed to gain 1 skill point.

I nodded at the first part of the description but froze when I read the last line.

“What…? You can… You can just buy skill points?!” I shrieked, making it echo in the darkness. “Is that what the coins are for?!”

It made sense in a way, but it also felt pretty strange.

JamieWasTaken3: capitalism going strong even in another world

I scoffed.

I didn’t think about it twice, grabbed my wallet out of my backpack, put the coin inside, and then put the wallet back.

With all the loot taken, the chest dispersed into mist.

With that done, I once again looked around the darkness and failed to see anything of interest but the entrance.

With an annoyed grunt, I decided to just go back. I had felt no need to spend any more time in this creepy place than I had to.

Nothing accosted me on my way back. Not even a hint of rustling this time. Just my own breath, heartbeat, and steps.

That didn’t really surprise me since I was pretty sure I’d exterminated everything that had been hiding in this place. I doubted Appraisal would have called me stupid if I hadn’t, after all.

I reached the entrance again in what felt like no time at all. With a sigh of relief, I finally stepped back into the light and had to squint as I stopped at the precipice.

“Well… That sucked,” I murmured. “...You know, I feel like that’s becoming my signature line or something.” I sighed. “At least I got a lot of loot and skill points out of this nightmare…”

I was about to just walk off and continue my exploration of the locker maze when I had a random thought that made me pause.

I remembered the first time I found out just what the non-euclidian nature of this place meant on the first floor, where I could go around and behind the window.

“Wait… Hold on a second…”

My face slowly morphed into a suspicious frown, I took a few steps back into the darkness, and I stared at the edges of the entrance. They were pitch black. No walls on either side of the entrance. I could freely go past it just like the window.

“Don’t tell me…”

So I did. I walked around and past the entrance into the darkness… before looking back. And sure enough, there was another entrance on the other side of this non-euclidian nonsense. Physics and common sense told me that both were located at the exact same spot, just flipped around, but I knew that they both led to different places.

I peeked through it to confirm, and sure enough, there was more locker maze on the other side, but veritably different from the one I’d come from.

“...The exit was right here,” I deadpanned, trying to keep the agitation out of my voice.

Now everything started to click together.

Why Appraisal called me stupid. Why that achievement was called what it was. Why this place actively discouraged exploring deep into it by being creepy and unsettling. Why it felt like the entrance wasn’t getting any further no matter how deep I’d walked. Why, as I belatedly realized, the monsters hadn’t even attacked until I’d set everything on fire first.

You were never meant to go this deep. You were never meant to fight all these things, much less defeat all of them. In video game terms, this was likely one of those areas where you were supposed to avoid starting a fight because it would be nearly impossible to win.

But I had done it anyway.

I put my free hand on my face and slowly dragged it down as I groaned.

“I hate this place…”

GeorgeDoshington: sup what did i miss

JamieWasTaken3: LMFAO

I walked through the exit.