{Welcome To Mireglass Tunnels}
My boots splashed down on the wet dungeon floor with a squelch. Finally, I was here—inside Mireglass Tunnels.
Upon landing, the first thing that grabbed my attention was the water. I know. How insightful. But this was my first time getting to appreciate the actual beauty of a dungeon.
Water surrounded me in every direction. It wasn't very high—just enough to soak my socks within two seconds.
Drip… drip… drip…
Each droplet echoed through the tunnels with clarity.
'Hopefully there aren't any slimes nearby.'
The walls were made from stone, but not normal stone. They looked… glazed. Like an architect had found an untouched cave and varnished it. A thin sheen of something reflective caught the faint dungeon light, making the tunnel shimmer like it was half glass, half swamp.
I squinted at the material, hoping my brain would suddenly understand what it was.
Instead, a popup slammed into my vision, making me jerk back.
[Skill Appraisal Lv.1 (Unlocked)]
[Description: Allows appraising of items, materials, and monsters within a dungeon area. Does not work on people. At Level 1, works up to confidentiality level 3. Any higher and the skill fails.]
"Oh good," I muttered. "Jump scares. Just what I needed."
But hey, free skill. I'd take it.
Now, with the appraisal skill in hand, I looked at the material once more.
This time it yielded an actual description.
[Mireglass Wall]
[Description: Ancient dungeon wall containing Mireglass material. Mireglass shares properties similar to silk and glass, making it malleable and reflective.]
'So that's where it got its name from.'
It was kind of boring though. I mean, think about it—there was Mireglass everywhere, and tunnels here and there, so the founder decided to call it Mireglass Tunnels. Whoever named it definitely wasn't fun at parties.
Standing still for a second, I let my eyes adjust.
"Okay, let's do this."
My voice bounced back at me.
…And the tunnel answered like a mocking parrot.
Not creepy at all.
I took one step forward, then stopped.
Right. How could I forget?
The system.
Thinking back on Mr. B's advice, I closed my eyes and pictured the translucent panel, the icons, the crisp UI design.
For a second, nothing happened.
"Don't do this to me right now."
Then, like an overworked assistant finally responding after ignoring twelve emails, the shimmer appeared in the corner of my vision and unfolded into a clean, floating interface.
I felt an unreasonable amount of satisfaction.
[SYSTEM INTERFACE]
STATUS
SKILLS
CORE
LOG
"Status," I thought.
The panel flickered, then expanded.
[STATUS]
Name: Kura Miyamoto
Class: True Mage
Affinity: Lightning
Core: Bronze (Unstable)
Level: 1
Unspent Stat Points: 0
Titles: None
Below that, a list appeared.
STR — 5
AGI — 8
VIT — 7
INT — 7
MGK — 10
LCK — 15
So. These were my stats. They looked… fine. Aggressively mediocre. The system might as well have patted me on the head and said, You're very average, sweetie.
My initial idea of having some crazy OP build had officially vanished out the window. Guess I wasn't going to start out as a demigod.
Just a girl with decent luck and marginally okay magic.
Still, there was something satisfying about the idea of levelling up like a game character. Things that don't come easy feel better when you earn them, right?
My eyes naturally drifted to the next part that had caught my attention.
Affinity: Lightning
I stared at it like it might change if I glared hard enough.
"So it's official. I'm zappy."
The dungeon did not respond, but the water at my feet rippled faintly, and I could swear a tiny spark flickered across my fingertips, as if my body was proud of itself.
My stomach twisted.
Lightning in a wet tunnel seemed like the best synergy ever. Well... as long as it meant that I didn't get zapped too.
Scrolling down the interface, I saw a small note.
[NOTICE]
Stat points are obtained by slaying dungeon entities, clearing dungeons, and clearing tower floors. Unspent points may be allocated manually.
Looks like I was going to be busy.
Next up was Skills. It was finally time to know what I was blessed with.
Skills.
[SKILLS]
Lightning Burst (Lv.1) — Active
Description: Releases a short-range discharge of lightning. Type, amount, and intensity are determined by the user.
Cost: Core Output (Low)
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Everything started clicking. So this was most probably the skill that had broken my mirror. What I'd thought was a random spark burst caused by my emotions had actually been this skill all along.
Judging by the description, if I mastered it, I could control the discharge in multiple ways.
'Pretty cool.'
The next skill was Zip Dash. The name already sounded like something a mage would use.
Zip Dash (Lv.1) — Active
Description: User transforms into a lightning bolt, allowing short-range displacement.
Range: Up to 5 metres
Duration: Almost instantaneous
Daily Uses: 3
Restrictions: Cannot be used in succession. Destination must be unobstructed.
Cooldown Scaling:
• Use 1 → 30 minutes
• Use 2 → 60 minutes
• Use 3 → 120 minutes
I stared at Zip Dash.
Then I stared at it harder.
"Short-range displacement." Wasn't that practically teleportation with a seatbelt? For someone like me who ran away a lot, the skill was quite fitting.
It was either that, or the system had a very funny sense of humour.
As if saying, I saw you pitifully running from the land eel last time. It was funny. Here, have an emergency button. You can press it three times per day. Use responsibly.
A small laugh escaped under my breath as I pushed down the memory of the traumatic trial.
Anyway, if used right, this skill would be incredibly useful.
So far, the skills I had were pretty good. Compared to my rather disappointing stats, they definitely pulled their weight.
Moving on, it was finally time to check the Log tab. What was going to be in it?
Log.
[SYSTEM NOTICE] Complete the Dungeon
Time Remaining: 12:48:56
Requirement: Complete a Gate or Tower Instance
Failure Penalty: Neural Correction (Excruciating)
Note: Avoidance will be treated as refusal.
'Yep. Time to get going.'
Even though I still had plenty of time, the idea of getting anywhere close to that penalty sent a shiver down my spine.
I closed the interface with a mental flick and focused back on the tunnel.
A shallow stream ran down the centre of the passage, cutting through the stone like a vein. Every few metres, the tunnel widened into branching paths, each one disappearing into darkness with the enthusiasm of a horror movie.
Each time, I chose the slightly less murdery one.
Which, in this lighting, meant absolutely nothing.
'If I had known the tunnels were going to be dark, I might've chosen the goblin dungeon.'
My boots splashed softly as I walked, careful not to slide. The ground was slick, and the stone had this weird smoothness to it, like polished clay. I kept my arms out a little for balance.
The tunnel curved.
The dripping got louder.
And then I rounded a corner and froze so hard I nearly pulled a muscle.
Ahead, the tunnel opened into a wider corridor, and the walls were… moving.
Not in a dramatic, horror-movie way.
In a gross, biological way.
Slimes.
Three colours, like someone had taken a child's slime kit.
Blue ones clung to the walls like melting jelly, their surfaces wobbling faintly as if they were breathing. Green ones sat in the water like bloated blobs, occasionally pulsing as they absorbed… something. And red ones—smaller, but darker—hung in clumps near the ceiling.
And if that wasn't enough, there were the leeches.
Thin, black, wet things stuck to the stone above like living tape. Some were curled, some stretched.
I stared.
My entire soul took one step backwards.
"Nope," I whispered.
A droplet fell.
Plip.
One of the red slimes quivered, but it didn't turn around.
I held my breath so hard my lungs protested as I appraised the creatures.
[DUNGEON ENTITY DETECTED]
Name: Basic Elemental Slime
Threat Level: Minor
Description: Bottom-tier dungeon creature. Uses low-level elemental magic based on colour—blue for water, green for acid, red for fire. Nearly deaf, but tracks targets through mana signatures, visual detection and blood. Slow, blobby, and mostly harmless alone. In groups? Significantly less harmless.
Bad at hearing, huh. You didn't have to tell me twice.
'I'm out of here!'
Very slowly, I backed away from the corridor like I was leaving a crime scene.
"Not this way," I said, nodding to myself. "This is clearly the 'tutorial: misery' route."
My eyes scanned the area around me for an alternative, because there was no way this dungeon was going to funnel me into the slime hallway on my first turn.
A narrow opening caught my eye.
At first I thought it was a crack in the stone, but then I realised it was an actual passage. Thin, low, and half-hidden behind a ridge of Mireglass rock—the kind of side tunnel you'd miss unless you were actively looking for a way to avoid disgusting death.
It was barely wide enough for a sizeable person.
Which meant it was definitely wide enough for me.
"Bless my new smaller body," I muttered. "For the first time in history, being short is a tactical advantage."
I crouched, peered inside, and saw darkness with a faint airflow.
A squeeze tunnel.
Like a ventilation shaft, except it looked natural.
I checked behind me again. The slime corridor was still there, waiting, vibrating, existing in its vile glory.
"Okay," I whispered. "Plan. We do not fight the slime hallway. We take the weird secret tunnel like a sneaky protagonist."
I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled in.
[author] If you are enjoying the story and would care to donate the kofi link is at the bottom of the chapter. Patreon community is up where sidestories and the art. Advanced chapters will be coming soon, so join now and become a zapper. Bye![/author]