Princess Serena knew her fate was not her own when the [Gadgeteer] activated her Arbitrium. The pain she felt was as if someone drove a red-hot spike of metal up her arm and into her brain and heart. She knew it would hurt because she was a member of a Royal family and it was her birthright to have a level cap above two hundred. She fainted from the pain, but not before the gadgeteer shouted her Level cap for all the world to know.

"Three hundred and twenty-six!"

She woke up in her bed-chamber, the Essence-enchanted canopy of her bed greeting her with a starlit sky even indoors. She felt an itch on her arm, the lingering pain still aching her bones. Lifting it to scratch, she found cold metal and indestructible glass. The cursed Arbitrium that everyone that was someone was doomed to carry for life. The source of power to fight back the monsters. The legendary weapon rumored to be handed straight from the Machine God to help the people. Serena touched the dial and turned the device on.

[Serena - Enchantress 4/326]

Strength +4

VIgor +4

Endurance +3

Agility +5

Dexterity +8

Reason +12

Willpower +16

Perception +12

Charisma +38

- Special: This Class has two extra Skill slots.

- Special: Add half your Charisma to Endurance to determine your stamina pool.

- Special: Add half your Charisma to Willpower to determine your mana pool.

- Special: Add half your Charisma to Vigor to resist wounds.

- Special: Add half your Charisma to Agility to dodge attacks.

- [Sense Motive] - Detect intention of creatures whose heads you can see in a radius of Perception yards. Effect based on Charisma.

- [Charm] - Spend [3 or (target's level / 5)] mana to force a creature to obey your commands for 1 hour. Effect based on Charisma, Resisted by Willpower.

- [Mana Shield] - Spend 1 mana to wrap your body in a glimmering shield for 1 hour. Adds a pool of resistance equal to your Willpower to soak damage.

- [Holy Bolt] - Spend 1 mana to throw a bolt of holy energy at a creature, including yourself. Deals damage based on half your Charisma and Willpower to hostile targets or heals a quarter of that amount to friendly targets.

- Empty Skill Slot

- Empty Skill Slot

- Empty Skill Slot

- Empty Skill Slot

She screamed and threw pillows everywhere. The bastards not only activated her Class and half of her Skills while she was unconscious but also burned ten Anima crystals already! The Class was decided since before she was born. It was a Legendary orange-border card gifted to her father by an Adventurer. All the Skills were of the Epic purple-border category and also handpicked for her. But she was a person! Why couldn't they wait for her to wake up before doing that? Serena felt deeply violated for the first time in her life. Her fate was set and she had no say on the matter.

As the third Princess, she would surely be married off to some stupid prince or duke of a foreign country. She resigned to that fate, hearing from a tender age that was what would happen. Her absurdly high Level cap made her a very desirable trading commodity. She would surely give birth to legendary heroes. Today was the day she would meet the man that would be the lord of her life, the father of her children. Or better put, the man she'd loan her womb to birth his scions. She was sure there would be no love in her wedding.

She was in the throne room, sitting two seats to the left of her father, an honor she would be granted only on that occasion. The crier took his spot and breathed in. Serena straightened her back and he shouted.

"Prince Tyre Alexander of Bast!"

The door opened and the leonal entered. His mane was sparkling gold like his feline face and he moved with a predatorial grace. His eyes fell on Serena and she fought her impulse to dive into the pools that surrounded the throne room and disappear in the depths. The prince knelt before the throne.

"We salute King Coriander. May the friendship between our nations be eternal. I brought these humble gifts for you."

Liveried servants brought a chest. Inside there were jewelry, gems, and nested in a red cushion a blue card with purple borders. A Skill.

"We accept the gifts in the spirit they were given," her father said.

The chest vanished, fated to disappear beneath the watery depths where the treasury lied. Only the King and a few were strong enough to resist the pressure there.

She hated every single moment in the company of prince Tyre. He couldn't talk about anything but war and combat and spared her no compliments. She dressed her best, sang her best, acted her best. For naught. At the end of the month-long visit and courtship, her father called for her in his private solar.

"Daughter, do you wish to marry prince Tyre?"

"No, father. I will do as you command, though."

He reached for her, caressing the scales of her cheek. "No. I won't give you to a man you loathe. The engagement is annulled."

"Father! We cannot jeopardize our relation to Bast!"

He shook his head. "Yes, we can. There's no chest of jewels that will buy my precious child. Any of them."

She held his hand still touching her cheek. She reveled on the feeling and cried.

Alas, Serena's fortune would not last. An outraged prince decided to kidnap her. In the fight, some of her personal guards and maids died and she was taken away. Tied to a horse she was forced to travel day and night until her thighs and crotch bled. They crossed the border and boarded a freight train to the capital of Bast. Serena felt deeply violated for the second time in her life. Tyre was not gentle.

In the capital, she was smuggled into the palace, locked in a servant's room, threatened, beaten every time she shouted. Broken. Treated like a rabid animal, no more than a pet to a monster. She had no idea how long her terror lasted when one day the door opened and none of her tormentors showed up.

"Princess Serena, hurry. We need to get out of here."

It was her people. Nereids, not born in her country but the kinship of their race ran deep. She fled with them. She fought with them but she was weak. She was never given the chance to delve, to grow, to raise in power. The price of her freedom was paid in blood and lives. Dozens of them. But it was paid in full. She fled the palace and its oppressing and dry marble walls. She was taken at night to a Dungeon portal.

"Princess, this Dungeon is seldomly visited. Nobody comes here and nobody ever cleared it. The boss is purple but the monsters of the two first zones are not beyond your abilities. Go inside and hide. Take this device with you. It is a day skipper. Power it with five thousand Essence and it will allow you to skip the day inside the Dungeon. In the bag, there are clothes and some useful objects. Also a few stacks of food and water cards but there is fruit, a creek, and edible plants inside. We will send someone to get you out soon. Wait for it. Now go."

She took the backpack and ran through the portal. Whatever torture chamber of a Dungeon it was, it would be better than being that monster's toy. Her stomach churned. She would never touch a man again, and if she could, never be touched again. Serena closed her eyes as she appeared inside the Dungeon. She felt the sun on her skin, she felt the wind blowing her tangled hair. She breathed and the pollen and perfume of flowers invaded her mind.

She was surely going crazy.

The princess opened her eyes. instead of a damp, moldy catacomb or a fetid cavern, or even a briny swamp, she was in a meadow of flowers. The sky above was surely an illusion for all Dungeons were deep under the earth but she gasped. It was marvelous.

Her first encounter with the monsters wasn't. She was walking and admiring the scenery when she tripped on a thorny vine that quickly wrapped around her. She quickly used her Skills, sparing herself from further damage and dispatching the monster with ease. It dropped a dull red shard she barely recognized as an Essence crystal. She measured it and it was worth only two Essence. She needed five thousand to skip a day.

She checked her bag. The device was a brass pyramid with runes etched along with the bands of metal. She found a latch and opened it. She found where she should fill it with Essence, a piece of paper, and a red button. She read the note.

Fill the chamber with five thousand Essence and press the button. Stand still until all the crystals are fully consumed. The Dungeon will reset and a day will pass outside but you will remain inside.

She moved cautiously, hunting the thorny vines. Soon it was obvious she needed to go deeper into the Dungeon, to get the Essence required. They sent some crystals with her but it wouldn't be enough. She went deep into the forest. Serena the princess died. Serena the survivor and hermit were born.

She hunted, she got wounds and she healed herself. Five thousand Essence and she could survive another day in the outside world. It took a lot of time to gather that much, though. She ate fruit, berries. She got poisoned once from what she ate. She drank and swam in the creek, fought water monsters most delvers never knew existed. She once even got close to the boss but the Dungeon she was in wasn't one of those that confused and made delvers lose their path. No. This was heaven compared to most other Dungeons.

One day, the device refused to activate. Serena's heart fell. No matter how much she pressed the button, it wouldn't turn on. She despaired and wandered through the several sections of the Dungeon, trapped. She had the silver card but it was useless. Unless she knew otherwise, Prince Tyre was outside, waiting to capture her.

She found the reason soon enough. The device couldn't force the Dungeon to ignore her and reset if there was someone else inside. She returned to the flower glade and found them. A couple of adventurers, maybe elves but she wasn't sure from this far away. Serena watched them from afar, afraid they would find her. Even if she charmed one, the other could trigger [Egress] and flee to tell the world where she hid.

What she saw made her vomit. Broken, the nereid could not believe in love. But the young couple was deeply in love. Happy. She hated them for that. The female's laughter rang through the glade and pierced Serena's wounded heart. She envied her with all her being.

The sun and moon rose and fell five times and Serena could only watch. They moved their camp to the Dungeon entrance for whatever reason. Maybe because monsters never spawned near the entrance. One night, they set torches around and a table. She heard them talking, and the male summoned an expensive - for a commoner - dish.

She felt the scent of poultry in the air and her mind unlocked memories of happy times growing up in the water palace. She salivated. The part of herself that didn't turn feral needed that sweet pleasure. She drew closer. And then her mind played tricks on her. She voiced her thoughts out loud.

"Duck. I want to eat duck. Please, feed me!"