Rona and I slid down the long, winding tunnel. It was narrow, damp, and so twisted that it felt less like a slide and more like being flushed down the universe's toilet.

  "Wahahahahaha!" Rona's wild laugh bounced off the walls like a maniacal echo.

  Me?

  I passed out the moment gravity took control. My eyes were rolled back, my soul halfway to the afterlife. This wasn't a ride. It was punishment from the gods.

  Then, a blinding light hit my face like a divine slap.

  "Ugh…" I squeezed my eyes tight, but before I could scream, the floor vanished. My stomach did a protest into my throat as I realized my body wasn't touching the ground. I was airborne.

  For a split second, everything felt weightless. A terrifying, peaceful suspension in the void.

  I'm flying!

  The thought filled me with a brief, idiotic sense of grandeur. I waved my arms and legs wide, cool, damp air rushing past my skin until I hit the wall. Hard.

  My entire body crashed into a stone wall. No. Correction. I became the wall.

  What happened to gravity? Did it take a break, or was this just my luck again?

  "ARGH!" I tried to scream. Nothing came out. The stone swallowed every sound. I tried again and again. But all fell to the wall's ear. This position isn't comfy at all. And where is Rona?

  Every inch of me was stuck, pressed into the rock like a human sticker. I wriggled uselessly, trying to move anything. Fingers. Shoulders. Even my head. Nothing. The rock had me vacuum sealed. This is not working. There's no space. I can't even flail properly.

  Crack.

  Something broke and fell to the ground. My shoulder side felt looser. Wait… that moved.

  I shifted my arm.

  Crack. Crack.

  The stone gave way piece by piece. At last, I was free. That was when gravity decided to wake up. I dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

  "MY BUTT!" I screamed.

  Pain shot through my tailbone. I crawled on all fours, clutching my backside and gritting my teeth. "Ugh… Gravity's a sadist."

  Plop. Plop.

  Water?

  I looked up. Dozens of sharp stalactites loomed above like the jaws of a beast. I froze.

  The cave stretched wide and enormous. Breathtaking, in the very specific way that whispered you might die here. Crystals glittered faintly in the distance. Stalagmites jutted from the ground like jagged teeth.

  Footsteps sounded beside me. I turned. Rona stood next to the human-shaped dent I’d left in the wall.

  "Hahaha! Was Lil trying to make a snow angel? This is a wall, not snow, silly~" She poked the dent.

  "Yeah… Silly me." I laughed awkwardly and brushed dust from my clothes. I arched my back until a few loud pops cracked through my spine. That felt good...

  Then I checked her from head to toe. Neck. Shoulders. Hands. Legs. Butt. All good. Head? Long damaged. Beyond repair. "You seem fine."

  "Rona stopped herself before becoming modern art," she replied proudly.

  I glanced back at the wall. "…It does look like a cartoon crash scene."

  Rona nodded seriously. "Exactly."

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Suddenly the ground rumbled.

  The tremor knocked me off balance. "Not another earthquake!" I pitched forward and face-planted into the ground. At this rate, I might as well marry the ground....Wait. Ground?

  "Oh no." I looked up, eyes wide. "Not the ceiling."

  CRACK. CRACK. CRASH!

  Stalactites shattered around us. I scrambled forward. One slammed down exactly where my butt had been, smashing into the ground with deadly force. Oh! My peaches! It almost added another hole!

  I shoved myself up, legs tucked tight. I ain't letting another one of those take another chance at my butt!

  Just then, another crack sounded above Rona. This one won't be leaving a hole. It was big enough to splat her to smithereens. It fell. "Rona! MOVE!"

  I lunged and shoved her aside. She tumbled sideways, landing two meters away, just out of the impact zone.

  BOOM!

  The explosion of sound was deafening. Where we'd stood moments ago, a jagged crater smoked. Rock dust coated the air. The stalactite had buried itself deep into the floor.

  As the dust settled, I stared at the hole. Heart pounding, I whispered, "That could've been us…"

  The shaking stopped. Rona sprang up, hopping once. "LM! Rona's here!" She bolted deeper into the cave.

  My body refused to follow. The moment I lay flat again, it decided this was its final resting place. My lungs burned like I'd swallowed hot coals. My limbs felt heavy, useless.

  I tried to push myself upright. Failed. Tried again. Failed harder. I lay there, gasping, cheek pressed to cold stone, wondering if this was where my body officially gave up on me.

  "Come on!" I screamed.

  After a struggle, I finally sat up and sucked in a shaking breath. "I thought I was going to merge myself here."

  I looked toward where Rona ran. Then down. "I want a break," I muttered.

  Silence.

  I jerked upright, clenched my fists, arms spread out as wide as they could go, and screamed, "AAAAHHHHHH!!!"

  The sound echoed back.

  I released a few huffs of air. "...That felt good." The exhaustion eased, just a little. "Onto my next destination. Let's go do this."

  I got up and ran after Rona.

  The further I went, the hotter it became.

  At first, it was just uncomfortable. Then my clothes clung to me, soaked through, turning into a suffocating second skin. Every breath scraped my chest raw as the tunnel ahead glowed a dull, angry red. Heat rippled through the air, warping the walls into a shimmering blur.

  "...Huff... huff…"

  I need a bath.

  The thought looped uselessly in my head. Ma always said perseverance solves everything. She clearly never walked through a furnace.

  Sweat streamed down my face faster than I could wipe it away. My pulse thundered in my ears, each heartbeat syncing with the heat pressing in from all sides. My skin burned, flushed raw, as if it had been seared by an open fire.

  I reached out to steady myself against the wall.

  The stone sizzled.

  "Ah!" I yanked my hand back, clutching it to my chest. My palm throbbed, blistered, and numb all at once. "Great. Even the walls hate me."

  There was no shade. No cooler path. No place to stop.

  So I stopped fighting it.

  I slowed my breathing, forcing myself to match the rhythm of the rising air. Instead of shrinking away, I let it wash over me, imagining my skin hardening, tempering, like clay baked in a kiln.

  My lungs still burned, but it was manageable now. The shaking faded. My body adjusted, grudgingly, and finally accepted that resistance was pointless.

  Step by step, the pain dulled.

  [Conditions met: Prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures and mental fortitude.]

  [You have acquired a new skill: Heat Resistance.]

  Cool air wrapped around me like a blessing. The dizziness faded. My vision sharpened. Wow... This feels like gaining some kind of power. So cool! I could run for another mile.

  Something ahead caught my eye.

  I crouched and examined it closely. Unlike the porous limestone of the cave walls, this fragment was translucent, its sharp geometric edges catching the light in a strange, oily sheen. I scraped dirt from the surface. It didn’t flake or scratch. Instead, it revealed a smooth, glass-like layer that felt unnaturally heavy for its size.

  "Is that crystal?" It was dull, but dense. Not decorative. Functional.

  I touched it. Hot. "Ouch!" I rubbed my finger, scrunching my face. Should I just dump it...? No. If this is crystal, Ma might haunt me if I leave it behind.

  I opened the group chat.

  [Unable to send message due to current location.]

  "Ugh. Great. Just great." I crouched lower. The heat bit into my arms the moment they got close. Oh, my poor arm. My gorgeous arm.

  I squeezed one eye shut, leaned in, and shoved the stubborn rock with everything I had. "Why are you so heavy? Move you-might-be-moneybag. Move!"

  Eventually, the system gave in. The crystal vanished into my inventory. Chest heaving, I glared at the icon. You better be worth it.

  [Heat Resistance: Level Up!]

  [Heat Resistance: Level 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → MAX]

  I stared at the screen. "…Did it just panic-level me?"

  I groaned. "Where is the mute button?"

  Instead of walking, I rolled forward, back, and legs parallel. Wow. I can feel my brain rolling. So nice. Why didn't I do this sooner?

  A random stone popped up and smacked my face. Not hard, but enough. I landed flat on my back, face hot, blood dripping. "Ouch… okay, walking might be smarter."

  I pinched the bridge of my nose and leaned forward. Ma always said tilting back makes you swallow it. I had enough iron for one day. I tore a strip from my undershirt and stuffed it up my nose. Ridiculous, but at least I wasn't painting the cave floor red.

  Then I heard it.

  Drip.

  My heart skipped. Something wet echoed.

  “Is that water?” My voice cracked. “Water?!”

  I sprinted toward the sound like a child chasing an ice cream truck, feet slapping stone, lungs screaming until I skidded to a halt.