I hurry to the Silver-ranked dungeon on my freezing path with Cyra holding on to my back.

“So, you seem to be quite a… popular girl, huh?” I ask a leading question.

“Yeah, well a girl gotta make a living somehow,” Cyra says nonchalantly. “And some adventurers will pay quite a few gold coins just to have a pretty girl listen to them talking about their latest adventures and hardships.”

“Wait, “listen”?” I wonder if I heard that properly.

“Of course! No adventurer wants to hear another brag about killing an Acid Gorilla. Just like no one cares about the skyrocketing prices of healing potions and how it substantially slows down the rate of monster killing.”

“So, do they want your opinion? Or praise?”

“Most of the time all I have to do is nod and smile politely. But I am a good listener and have a great memory too, so you won’t catch me off-guard—Oh, there it is!”

Cyra points at the formation of five gray, rocky mountains. They’re hardly higher than two hundred feet and look strangely out of place in an otherwise grassy, lush field. If anything, they look like somebody just decided “hey, let’s place five mountains here”, completely disregarding even the most basic principles of geology. I adjust my course in the direction of the mountains.

The surrounding area is crawling with goblins and hobgoblins, armed with wooden shields, covered with brown leather, chipped scimitars and a set of black leather armor—boots, helmet, gloves, pants, etc. It seems we somehow have not caught their attention yet. Or they somehow know better than to attack me? Either way why pass up the opportunity for some passive stat gain while I deal with the dungeon?

“Oh, Great Goddess Amaterasu, grant me the power to increase my stats further by burning to death these maybe-innocent, maybe-not goblins and thus increase my chances to later burn even more maybe-innocent, maybe-not creatures with the ultimate goal of getting famous. Heavenly Sunfire Inferno.”

I almost yawn as I deliver the chant that I made up as I went along and cast my cheat spell in the general direction of the goblins. A couple of them finally notice us and run at us with their weapons drawn. A couple of ice spears—launched from my index finger, through their skulls—put a stop to that.

As the field behind me burns in a mix of white and red, I approach the base of the mountains and see a decently sized, locked silver door, with a silver sign over it, that has ‘Dungeon’ written on it. The door has a giant door-knob with a silver ring on it and a little sing over it that says ‘Pull’. Next to the door, there is a small hole, barely enough to put my fist in it, should I choose to do so. I do not choose to do so.

“I have to enter alone?”

“If you want the medallion, yes,” Cyra answers.

“How would the dungeon know if I’m alone or not? Or what my name is to hand me the medallion?”

“Magic.”

“Alright, then let’s give it some more!” I say, excited at the prospect of curb-stomping my first dungeon. Usually, the monsters within the vicinity of the dungeon should be a rough estimation of what kind of challenge the dungeon starts with, before ramping up in difficulty. So considering how effective my spells have been on the outside, there is only one logical thing to do.

I pull the ring on the door and open the entrance to the dungeon. It’s pitch-black, though that is to be expected. I take a few steps inside and ‘light-up’ the place.

“Heavenly Sunfire Inferno!” I shout and send the fiery vortex into the dungeon. It brightens up, so say the least, and the fire spreads down a stairway that was only twenty feet from the entrance. Like a flood. A burning, fiery flood. Soon I hear screeching coming from below. Taking a couple of steps closer to the stairway I see some burning skeletons running back and forth as their bones turn to ash one by one.

Is this cheating? Yes! But I’m short on time, and I still need to get to the Adventurer’s Guild too! And if I’m going to fight something it should be a little more interesting than goblins and skeletons!

I open up my status bar and watch my stats rise.

Status Name Lilith Race Human Class Elementalist Health Points 610/635 (+1/sec) Mana Points 1245/1410 (+3/sec) Strength 45 Dexterity 68 Constitution 57 Intelligence 210 Willpower 138 Physical Resistance 91 Magical Resistance 220

About twenty minutes later I hear a clang just outside the dungeon. I step out and look around. Cyra points at the hole next to the door. There’s a silver medallion with a silver chain hanging in the opening. I take it and turn it over. There’s something written on it, besides my name.

[Lilith.

Go away!]

“And away we go!” I say preparing to launch my freezing path. “Is there an adventurer’s Guild I can register in at ‘The Town’?”

“Of course! It's a great town!” Cyra says with a smile.

“Great!”

I need to hurry and register so that I can join the hunt for… me!