Darkness soon envelops me as I walk further into the Labyrinth.

> Activating night vision.

Thank you! I can see now.

The walls seem to be that of a medieval dungeon at a glance, but with my night vision, I can tell things aren’t quite as they appear.

> Analyzing material.

> Analysis complete.

Ah, I was right. These walls are the same as the facility I woke up in. What could be the connection? Did the Lich also make the facility?

As I ponder this, I come across a large, open room. Surrounding the entrance are worn-out rows made out of the same material as the wall. They appear to be cover. Was this a bunker or military facility of some sort? Then why the legend of the Lich? Who was the Lich and why create this? I have so many questions.

I move away from the hallway that functions as a choke point, then move towards the back of the room. A pair of reinforced double-doors should have blocked my way, but it seems the people of this world blasted them open. Tracing the Magica, it looks as though it was a guard post that would have been opened from the inside.

I step through the door, which has been warped by whatever Magica destroyed it in the first place. I duck slightly to fit through it.

The Magica in this place feels… off. It feels unstable and vicious. That’s probably what is causing the monsters that adventurers encounter. There’s probably some sort of spell causing the Magica to act this way.

How do I know so much? My scanning of Magica and its nature has almost reached an estimated 1%!

I’m excited by what could be waiting for me at even 10%, or 100%.

Anyways, for now I’m not able to use spells at all. As I’ve walked through the Labyrinth, I’ve tried several simulations with the data from the last time I attempted a spell, but no modifications work. Every time, it fails. I’ve tried them myself just to see if maybe the simulations can be faulty, but so far they’ve gone exactly as predicted. A shame. I really want to shoot out a ton of magic, but it seems that’ll have to wait until I can figure out what’s denying me access, and to what access is being denied to.

While pondering this, I notice something on my radar. It seems to be a rather small monster. That’s odd… it wasn’t there before. Is this Labyrinth using the rampaging Magica to create monsters? It does feel thinner up here than further down. Does that mean the monsters get stronger the deeper you go? Interesting! I have to learn how this is done!

As I approach it, I see a bright red frog with bright yellow stripes on either side of it. Though it is a frog, it’s probably the size of an average dog. Big for a toad, but not nearly as big as a shield bear.

Since it hasn’t noticed me yet, I attempt to use the in-progress combat simulation to try to blast a beam from my hand. From the simulations, I know the gist of how to fire it off, but I don’t know how to concentrate it effectively nor how to use it properly. There’s a good chance it’ll end up missing, but even if it does, I’ll continue firing it until it lands!

I open my right palm and aim it at the frog. I feel a build-up of Magica in my arm before it finally fires. The shot grazes the frog, but causes my arm to turn a completely different direction due to the recoil. Damn, close!

RIB-BIBIT!

The frog cries out in a deep, rather aggressive ribbit, then turns to face me. Its vocal sac expands out as though it’s about to croak again, but it instead shoots out a blast of bright-green liquid at me. Since I’m still off-balance from the recoil of my beam, it hits me dead-on. Ouch!

I look down to see my robe and skin melting where the liquid lands. This is quite the acid! My body looks like it did when I first woke up!

> Re-adjusting power to Self-Repair Module.

It looks like it slowed the acid, but didn’t outright stop it. This stuff’s strong! It’s damaging me faster than I can repair.

I wait for the frog to spit again, this time dodging out of the way just in time, then prepare another blast. It still ruins my balance, but it lands the frog straight in the stomach, leaving a hole all the way through its body. The frog twitches in an attempt to move, but one final blast ends it.

Once again the light flows out from the body, and I absorb it.

> Magica increased +5. Estimated value: 204/322.

Oh, it seems I regenerated quite a lot of Magica back while exploring the Labyrinth. I think I’ll mute small increases for now.

> Disabling notifications for Magica increases under 10%.

Thank you, Termenal!

As the acid finally ends, I watch my skin and robe regenerate with fascination. I doubt I’ll get bored of this no matter how many times I watch it.

Once my body fully regenerates, I continue on.

… I’m lost.

How long has it been? Hours? Days?

I don’t know. I can’t find the exit to the stupid first floor!

I got better and better at killing frogs, eventually getting the hang of shooting my beam consistently and safely. I got acid on myself more times than I want to admit, though…

After killing all of the frogs, my final Magica ended at 433. Quite the jump! Took a lot of frogs, though. The good thing is that I feel I’m skilled enough to at least survive without my automated self-defense against a shield bear.

But I want to learn how to use Magica! If I had the emotions to pout, I would!

After a while of mentally pouting, I come across a new monster! It’s… a slime. How boring. A giant, blocky slime that takes up the entire space of the hallway and slowly moves along it. I wonder what it survives off of? Maybe it’s soaking up the Magica in the hallways? No idea.

I shoot a beam through it, but the hole is quickly filled up. Oh? Brother! You can heal too!

I shoot again, same result.

Again.

Again.

I’m tired of this…

> Analyzing lifeform...

Ah, it has a core somewhere. I reach in to grab it and crush it, but my arm almost disintegrates immediately! I pull it out in a panic, letting it regenerate. The acid doesn’t last as long as the frog, but it’s much, much more destructive. Ow, you little shit!

After my arm regenerates, I fire a beam at the core. The slime falls apart like water. Wait…

Run!

I run backwards as fast as I can as the acid from the slime flows out across the ground. It doesn’t seem to affect the facility walls at all, which is interesting. I wonder what this stuff is made of.

Anyways, I just wait a minute or two for the acid to dissipate before moving on. It seems these slimes are very rare, as I only ran into a few of them.

I walk, bored through a hallway, looking down another hallway before sighing and moving on again.

Just another hallway, like all of the others. Just stairs…

Stairs?

I do an excited double-take. Stairs! Another level! I can go down!

I do an internal victory dance before making my way over. I’m excited! Goodbye, stupid maze! You did a good job of confusing enemies, Labyrinth, but I outsmarted your outsmarting! HA!

I turn back to the stairs, and begin walking down.

I wonder what awaits me?