In the ivory-lit hallway, students passed in and out of the Portal Chambers, paying no mind to the brother and sister who had been bickering in the same spot for hours.
At last, Evelyn sighed and reluctantly turned away from me. She had grown up knowing she had a lively older brother, but only recently had she found the courage to approach him and truly get to know him. Naturally, that only made her long to spend even more time by his side.
Watching Evelyn's retreating figure, I found myself genuinely grateful. After losing my mother, my world had been nothing but chaos of pain and anger. But Evelyn's presence... had calmed me.
Having a little sister didn't seem so bad.
Shaking those thoughts away, I set my sights on the final Portal, determined to advance to E Rank tonight. There was no point in delaying it any further.
I stopped before a Portal Chamber marked by a sign— [Spider Cave] (Peak F).
Without hesitation, I stepped into the isolated room and entered the swirling blue Portal at its center, and vanished.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
On the other side, a dark, tunnel-like cave greeted me. Jagged stone walls stretched along either side, covered in sticky cobwebs which glowed under old fire sticks.
As I stepped into the narrow passage, the fire sticks around me began to dim subtly, until the tunnel ahead was barely visible.
I wasn't a fan of getting ambushed, so I conjured four [Arcane Spears], two hovering steadily on either side of me, bathing the tunnel in faint blue light. At the same time, raw mana spread across my body as I activated [Arcane Barrier], locking myself in a thin layer of protection.
[Arcana Barrier] was a C Rank potential skill, though it was currently at F, I could level it soon.
[Mission]: Kill 50 Spiders
[Difficulty]: F
[Reward]: +1 [Mental] Attribute
A faint smirk tugged at my lips as my ears twitched, catching the faint sound of spiders crawling along the walls.
I didn't bother waiting for them to show themselves.
With my sense of sound and Space as guides, I fired the spears into darkness ahead, blindly aiming at the wall.
Thud. Thud.
They hit the mark as the two solid impacts echoed in the tunnel, followed by the soft crumple of bodies hitting the ground.
I walked past the useless F Rank swords dropped by the spiders with a heartache, fully convinced that someone had hexed my Luck.
If not... how come everyone else got a [Core] drop within five kills, while I had to slaughter over ten just to get a single one? What sort of divine joke was this?
Was the Universe looking down on me?
Frustrated beyond words, I stormed the tunnel, venting my grievances on any spider dumb enough to cross my path. At least I didn't get bloodied this time, as Evelyn wasn't here to flash UV light from her ridiculously expensive watch.
I determined to buy one for myself, even if I had to raid a hundred Portals just to afford it. With something like that strapped to my wrist, would I even need to waste time bathing anymore? Efficiency and laziness in one elegant package—wasn't that every man's dream?
It was worth a thought.
As a few more spears launched from me and found their targets with unerring accuracy, a sudden notification buzzed in my mind, pulling my attention.
[Your proficiency in the Skill Arcane Spear reached 100%!]
[Arcane Spear successfully reached E Rank!]
[Arcane Spear] (E Rank) — A refined arcane projectile that strikes faster, hits harder, and pierces deeper through both magic and armor.
+10% Damage | –10% Mana Cost
I raised a brow.
Aside from the reduced Mana cost and a slight increase in refinement and speed, the skill hadn't changed too dramatically. Well—there was that little bonus of being able to conjure five spears at once without giving myself a migraine.
I'd take it.
Venturing deeper into the tunnel, I soon found the path widened, opening into a cavernous chamber. Cobwebs were suspended at the entrance as the spiders—easily half the size of a grown human—crawled everywhere.
At the far end, a heavy door stood embedded into the wall.
I raised my hand and watched as the five [Refined Arcane Spears] shot forward, slicing through the webs in midair and impaling their targets cleanly. The chamber stirred to life. The spiders grew restless, skittering in a frenzy.
Another wave of spears launched. Then another. And another.
I gave them no room to retaliate or even reach anywhere near me as it was all over in under a minute.
As I had now killed 50 spiders, the Mission rang complete, and my [Mental] stat finally hit 50.
I paused.
I felt an invisible wall inside me that blocked my further progression in [Mental]. No matter if you'd Awakened with an F Grade Class or an SSS one, 50 points was the maximum a stat could reach in this realm.
Perhaps the System Sister was feeling generous as it threw a mission at me.
[Mission] : Defeat the Mother Spider and clear the Portal.
[Grade] : F-
[Reward] : +2 [Physique]
[Remarks] : If you always play it too safe, you might lose your sense of vigilance too!
I casually acknowledged the remark as I moved through the chamber, gathering the scattered [Cores] from the floor. Once I had tucked them away in my Space Ring, my gaze shifted to the door embedded into the far wall—the entrance to the Boss Room.
With infinite mana and a sorry ass Class backing me, I really had nothing to fear. This was just an F-Rank Portal.
I shoved the door open and stepped inside.
Darkness.
The entire room was covered in darkness as there was not a single source of light.
I conjured a few [Arcane Spears] to light my surroundings. What the blue glow revealed made me freeze.
Thousands of small spiders clung to the walls, the ceiling, the floor—packed so tightly the room itself seemed to writhe. The moment light illuminated the room, they surged toward it in a chittering wave.
"Tch."
I immediately dismissed the spears, plunging the room into pitch-black silence once more.
'Is this a Theme setting Portal?' I wondered.
But that made no sense. Why would a mere F-Rank Portal have a Theme mechanic?
This was an anomaly!
Though mildly surprised, I wasn't truly afraid. I had the means to clear this place unscathed.
But I wasn't stupid either.
I wasn't about to charge headfirst into a swarm of thousands.
With my [Arcane Barrier] still active, I felt the small spiders creeping along my boots, legs, and shoulders, but none could break through the shield.
My eyes closed, and I tapped into my rudimentary Sense of Space.
In the suffocating dark, I felt a strange connection to Space itself—like tight ropes linking me to something distant. Those ropes strained under weight, pulling in one direction, warping the stillness. Something heavy was pressing on that part of space.
That had to be the Mother Spider.
I couldn't see her, but I felt her weight on space itself.
I turned toward the sensation and fired a volley of [Arcane Spears] into the void.
Screech.
Screech.
The Mother Spider's cries echoed through the dark. Instantly, every spider in the room erupted into frenzied motion—but I ignored them.
My focus sharpened to a point. Step by step, I advanced toward the sound, then thrust another spear forward—point-blank.
It struck true.
A shriek pierced the air.
She was hit.
I unleashed another barrage, each spear slamming into her unseen form. Finally, the creature burst into light, her dissolving body giving way to a glimmering [Skill Scroll], while the swarm vanished with her.
As the last remnants of darkness faded, a swirling Vortex shimmered into view—the Portal's Exit—pulling light back into the chamber.
I sighed, quietly blaming myself this time—for being careless.
I hadn't expected the battle against a mere Peak F-Rank Boss to be Themed in complete darkness, swarmed by thousands of minions.
If I didn't have a defense skill, infinite Mana, or if the spiders had been slightly stronger, this mistake could have been fatal.
So far, things had gone smoothly for me—mainly because I was still at F Rank. But that ease wouldn't last much longer. Once I began stepping into higher-tier Portals, the difficulty would skyrocket.
I vividly remembered interviews with A-Rankers—some of whom had died inside a Portal simply because... they breathed the wrong air.
Higher-Rank Portals weren't just dungeons. They were worlds of their own, complete with ecosystems, themes, quests, and systems.
And if I strutted through life like some overpowered protagonist just because I had a few cheats, this world would swallow me whole.
As I stood there, lost in thought, still scolding myself in silence, a series of notifications echoed in my mind.
[Mission: Kill Spider Mother — Complete!]
I felt something heavy enter my body, penetrating deeper and deeper as it soon began its refining and increasing my [Physique] by two points.
[Mission: Reach Peak of F Rank — Complete!]
[Congratulations, Kid! You've proven yourself worthy of the Karma imposed on you!]
[The weak evolve. The strong ascend. Which one do you want to be?]
[Will you choose Transformation and Evolve?]
OR
[Will you choose Nirvana and Ascend?]
I stared at the prompts for a long moment, resisting the urge to flip them off entirely.
"Tch! Do you take me for a gullible fool?"
With a constipated composure, I dismissed the prompts and chose to delay my advancement—at least until I reached my room.
Instead, I calmly collected the [Skill Scroll] dropped by the Spider Mother, turned toward the swirling Exit Vortex, and left the Portal.
Because I wasn't foolish enough to Evolve or Ascend inside a Portal—especially when everything about my Class and System hinted at a connection to Dimensions.
Tampering with Dimensional forces inside a Portal?
That was as good as suicide.