The wind in the Archive had never moved.
Not once.
But now, it whispered.
Thane stood alone atop the final platform, the weight of Meteor etched into his soul like magma scorched into steel. The rune had vanished. The flame stairs had gone dark. Only the platform remained—slowly lowering him into the hollow belly of the dungeon once more.
He had completed the Archive's trials.
But he hadn't left.
Because somewhere above him...
...the Giant Frog still waited at the dungeon's only exit.
The same monster that had blocked his way out on the very first day. The one that forced him to descend. To survive. To change.
He wasn't the same anymore.
But neither was the dungeon.
The platform touched down.
Stone walls wrapped around him again, damp and cold, with moss clinging to their surfaces and the faint trickle of water echoing down unseen corridors. There were no glowing runes here. No Archive systems or structured trials.
Just dark, old stone and predators with no names.
He opened his palm.
The flame still came easily.
But flame alone wouldn't win that fight.
Not yet.
He needed more.
More mana.
More strength.
And he needed to level up.
He moved quickly, slipping into the low tunnels below the Archive's final chamber. The air was different here—thick with rot and old blood. The kind of place things crawled into to die… or to feed.
A pair of tunnel hounds came first—spindly beasts with ribbed chests and jagged bone tails. They sprinted toward him, teeth bared and howling.
He didn't draw his sword.
He lifted a hand.
Flame Arc.
The horizontal blaze roared through the narrow tunnel, slicing across the first hound's ribs. It hit the wall hard, then fell limp.
The second leapt from behind.
He spun, summoned Burning Chain, and caught it midair.
It hit the ground thrashing.
He stepped forward, ignited Magma Sword, and drove the molten blade through its skull.
The corridor went quiet again.
The screen flickered.
+14 EXP
He opened his full status screen.
[STATUS]
🧍 Name: Thane
🧬 Race: Human
🌍 Origin: Unknown Plane
❤️ Vitality: 4
💪 Strength: 3
⚡ Agility: 5
🧠 Intelligence: 6
🔥 Mana: 3 (28/30)
🔁 Passives:
• Law of Absolute Repetition (Active)
• Quiet Casting
• Flow Casting
• Fire Affinity
• Magma Affinity
• Poison Resistance – Lv. 2 — EXP: 4 / 25
🎒 Skills:
• Firebolt – Lv. 1 — EXP: 22 / 100 — Mana Cost: 10
• Flame Arc – Lv. 1 — EXP: 10 / 100 — Mana Cost: 12
• Burning Chain – Lv. 1 — EXP: 8 / 100 — Mana Cost: 14
• Flame Ward – Lv. 1 — EXP: 0 / 100 — Mana Cost: 8
• Flameblade – Lv. 1 — EXP: 3 / 100 — Mana Cost: 10
• Magma Sword – Lv. 1 — EXP: 1 / 100 — Mana Cost: 16
• Lava Geyser – Lv. 1 — EXP: 5 / 100 — Mana Cost: 18
• Scorch Zone – Lv. 1 — EXP: 0 / 100 — Mana Cost: 20
📈 Level: 1
🧪 EXP: 44 / 100
He was nearly there.
One more fight.
Then he'd break past Level One.
And once that happened... he'd start the climb.
Back up through the layers of the dungeon.
Back toward the surface.
Back toward the frog.
The same beast that once blocked his escape was still waiting by the entrance.
But this time, Thane wouldn't run.
He would return.
And the dungeon would learn what it had made.