First Instance (6)

Jisha collected all of the crystals and put them in her inventory. Then, she began thoroughly inspecting the room for any clues.

The first thing she did was inspect the door. She concluded that this was a blast-resistant and magic-resistant metal.

As expected, it wouldn't be possible for her to break through this door with any of her current methods.

She then began inspecting the walls.

This was another form of mana triangulation.

Since the walls were weak to magic, it was possible that the properties of it would vary greatly in areas where mana was denser.

She took the magic dagger and began poking the walls in various places.

*Tck, tck, tck...*

The sound of a sharp object hitting a rock resounded through the room.

*Not here... not here... Ah, here.*

Instead of a sharp sound, Jisha encountered a section of the wall that crumbled even with a soft poke.

For a few minutes, she dug through this weak rock with the dagger.

Even though this tool wasn't optimal for digging, the rock was so weak here that she eventually managed to make a small hole.

The preparations were nearly complete.

*Heh heh...*

Jisha suppressed the urge to giggle when she thought of this plan.

Why was the door blast-resistant? The tunnels were constructed of the same material as well. What was the reason for this?

Well... depending on the density, mana crystals were explosive. They were bundles of energy, after all. Disturbing them too much would force them to release this energy.

And if you "disturbed" them quickly enough...

Jisha ruefully glanced at five of the mana crystals she had just collected... and placed them in the small hole in the wall.

This was likely the only way to break out of this cave. It was quite the clever trap; it was possible to take the crystals out of the room, but to do so, you had to sacrifice several of them in the process.

At the end of the day, it was still a profit of five crystals.

A good percentage of the player population hoarded too many useless consumables. These players wouldn't even think of sacrificing some of the treasure they were working so hard to get. Here, that was a fatal mistake.

Jisha retreated behind the crate and equipped her Golden Slingshot.

*Goodbye, little ones...*

She took aim and fired!

She watched on in excitement as the pellet approached the mana crystals in the wall.

As if it were a baseball through a window, the pellet shattered the first crystal.

And when it did...

Jisha immediately took cover behind the steel crate.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*...*

The explosions were loud. Deafening, even.

But Jisha attentively listened to each one with a smile on her face.

This wasn't the real world - she wouldn't suffer hearing loss from a virtual explosion. On top of this, the system mitigated the pain she would have normally felt.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

...

The explosions didn't stop.

The five crystals had long exploded by now, so how was this happening?

Since the area Jisha had dug out was weaker rock, it was likely that mana was denser in that area. The source of this mana was none other than mana crystals! In other words, there was likely a vein of mana crystals in this area.

The rest didn't need to be said.

*Haha... It's a success.*

Jisha poked her head above the crate to witness the pretty flashing lights of the mana explosions. Cool people weren't supposed to look at explosions, obviously, but who cared about that?

There was something satisfying about blowing something up.

Was it the destruction it caused? Was it the flashing lights? Was it the fact that something that took so much effort to prepare was gone in an instant?

She wasn't sure.

*I didn't think I was going to be like this...*

The pretty lights, the pieces of candy... her childish tendencies were on full display in this dungeon.

Was it because her physical body had reverted to that of a child?

*It is a bit refreshing, though.*

In the recent past, she hadn't been allowed to act like this. But now, she could chalk it up to her being "young".

Jisha watched as the explosions continued and chained upwards creating a convenient slope to climb.

It was enjoyable to watch, but explosions in a cave were always dangerous.

*RUMBLE*

*RUMBLE*

...

*Here it comes.*

A cave-in was beginning. There was only one way out!

Jisha booked it through the tunnel as the dust particles that were falling in the room turned into pebbles which turned into large rocks... which turned into the entire ceiling collapsing.

A "time trial" had begun!

It was a popular game concept.

How far could you run before the disaster that was chasing you caught up?

*This'll be good practice.*

This was by far the most extreme terrain Jisha had attempted to speed through in her Tier 0 body. It was the perfect opportunity to completely familiarize herself with it.

She climbed through the tunnel avoiding sharp rocks that jutted inwards on all sides.

The further she ran, the less friendly the tunnel became.

The tunnel that she could comfortably run through shrank considerably.

Eventually, it became as small as a crawl space.

Crawling through a space deep underground. Rock right above your back and right below your stomach. A cave-in was imminent. Stopping meant that you would be crushed to death.

Even a cat would be claustrophobic!

But Jisha calmly weaved through the obstacles. It wasn't a perfect run, but it was undoubtedly fast enough to outrun the cave-in.

With a combination of the weak light from several untouched mana crystals and echolocation, finding proper footing was not a problem.

She didn't have the grip or forearm strength of a rock climber, but the rocks she needed to climb weren't vertical.

Her hands and fingers immediately latched on to the optimal holds.

And memorizing this path allowed her feet to push off those same holds.

The crawl space grew smaller and smaller. Eventually, there was barely any room to move at all. Was there an accessible exit, or would she be stuck here? Jisha wondered if she'd messed up.

But soon after, she spotted a literal light at the end of the tunnel.

Unfortunately, it wasn't sunlight.

She popped out of the tiny hole in the wall and smoothly executed a parkour roll on the ground.

*Hm...*

She was still in the cave. There were... a lot of mana crystals here. And unsurprisingly, none of them were harvestable.

*This is probably the bottom of the other section... Well, now that I've seen this, it looks like I chose the right path in the end.*

If she spent her time to travel to the bottom of a cave with treasures that said "look, but don't touch," it would have been even more frustrating.

She didn't have any time to admire this crystal formation. The cave was still destroying itself.

Jisha continued up the only pathway that existed. It was obvious that this wasn't meant for human travels. One could only travel quickly through this terrain if they had a combined experience of spelunking, rock climbing, and parkour.

An ordinary player would have been crushed in the tunnel long ago.

Jisha had to get a bit creative with her exit approach.

When the ground was too jagged, she found footholds on the walls.

When it appeared to be suitable, she was able to parkour across several rock formations along the ground.

And if there was a shortcut that could be crawled through, she took it without hesitation.

Fortunately, there were no monsters around. They undoubtedly realized something was wrong and likely escaped.

Upwards, upwards, and upwards, the climb continued.

The farther up she went, the easier it became, and the faster she was able to progress to the exit.

Before long, she finally reached the fork in the road where she'd originally branched off. At this point, it was as simple as running a footrace on pavement.

No more obstacles were in the way.

There was another light at the end of the tunnel. And this time, it was sunlight!

Jisha slowed to a stroll, stretched her virtual body and yawned as if she hadn't nearly failed just earlier.

*That was a good workout.*

The cave-in was nowhere in sight. She'd outrun it by a mile. But...

*Hm?*

For some reason, she was allowed to leave even though she hadn't received a dungeon clear notification...

*What was the clear condition, then?*

At the end of the day, it didn't really matter since she'd made a profit of five mana crystals. Though she was curious about the true clear condition, a steady rumbling emanated from deep within the cave. She wouldn't be able to go back in there if she wanted.

*Well, whatever.*

Jisha nonchalantly walked out of the cave, and the system presented her with several dungeon exit options.

She decided to simply exit where she'd entered.

By selecting this option, a portal to an exact replica of the cave entrance in Synergy's mainland appeared. By stepping back into the mainland, this "instance" ceased to exist.

When she stepped out of the cave, she wanted to reminisce about the time she'd first exited a cave with her best friend.

Out of breath. Adrenaline pumping. And the ridiculous decision to go back in.

Of course, this decision got them killed.

"Rejoice, Castle. Everyone, engage!"

But... a tiny inconvenience shattered this daydream.