The rain poured down heavily onto the streets of Seoul, and as a result most people stayed away from the downpour as best as they could.

  Well, everyone besides a certain teenage boy way in over his head.

  Merlin Tyrrell stood to the edge of an alley in a raincoat that did little to keep him from feeling the pressure of the rain pressing down on him.

  But that was hardly any bother.

  What took his attention the most was what he was about to do.

  You’ve made up your mind, Merlin, he said to himself, patting his chest gently. There’s no going back now.

  Three weeks had passed since Prestige Academy had ended the first term of its academic year, and those three weeks had been full of preparation for this moment for Merlin.

  He was about to venture into his first Dungeon as he had said he would, and he had made sure that he was ready. Or, at least, as ready as he could be.

  He glanced down at the bow he held. It was an exquisite structure made of…nothing Merlin recognized. It was not like he was a craftsman, and he had no idea about the intricacies that went into making weapons or the sort. All he knew about was magic, and that he loved the feel of the bow in his hand. It was light, adjustable, and its string was not too hard to pull.

  Nora had been shocked at the sight of the weapon, and had wondered what exactly he needed a bow and a quiver filled with arrows for when he was just a student, but he had told her it was just an on the spur payment he had requested from Park Yuri for helping her with training. Those words had run his sister even mad, but she settled down like she always did not long after.

  Merlin sighed as he tightened his grip on his bow. He would one day tell her about his ability to create Dungeons, but, until then, she would have to forgive him for doing things alone.

  Now, that aside… Merlin glanced around, making sure no one was watching him as he stepped further into the alley and stopped just before a wastebin. Let’s get on with it.

  Ever since his issue with Nikolai, Merlin plunged himself deep into training after training that it affected him during classes, his lessons with Senior Sun-Hee, even during his disciplinary duties, and while training with Chima and Hakyun or Park Yuri.

  He was always so exhausted, and sometimes he thought about taking a break. But when he recalled what he had felt through Nikolai’s mana, he pulled himself back up and went on with his duties. As a result, his abilities had seen significant growth, and so had his Perception. Now, he could faintly sense the presence of mana. Which was why he could tell that the wall he was looking at was what he had come seeking: a mana concentrated area.

  Finding one hadn’t been very hard per se, it was getting so close to it which was. After all, a quick browse on the internet with keywords such as ‘recent sightings of Consortium Mages’ did a good job of narrowing down the various locations where the mana concentration was abnormally high. That was the job of Consortium Mages at the end of the day, to stand guard at such locations.

  Merlin had picked his current spot after a week of checking each location out, seeking the place that was the least guarded. The heavy rain had just been a blessing to help him out on his quest even further.

  All he had to do now was get in and clear the dungeon before the Mages returned to the site.

  Merlin took a deep breath, stretched forth a hand so that his palm rested on the slippery wall of the alley, and activated Dungeon Artist.

  [Perk: Dungeon Artist Activated]

  [Mana detected…]

  [Gleaning Intention…]

  [Extracting Dungeon Blueprint…]

  [Create Dungeon: Glace’s Ice Cave?]

  [Yes?/No?]

  The answer had never been in doubt. Yes…

  [Creating Glace’s Ice Cave…]

  The ground rumbled as those words appeared before Merlin, and the droplets of the pouring rain froze in the air, like time had stopped. The wall shook, and bit by bit an overwhelming pressure reared its head, sending Merlin’s nerves into disarray. But he didn’t take a step back. He had never used the Perk before, and he had no idea if pulling his hand from the wall would render everything he’d done up to this point useless. So he stayed still.

  A few seconds later, Merlin’s eyes were blessed with the appearance of a large blue circle before him, each ethereal strand of energy that made its shape a beauty to behold. And in its center was a space that seemed to stretch on forever, inviting Merlin to take a step in. He took one backwards instead with a gulp.

  [Glace’s Ice Cave Created]

  Merlin took a deep breath and exhaled as the rain resumed its downpour. He stared at the portal before him for a moment and then tightened his hand on his bow. There was no time to be dawdling about. After all, the sooner he cleared the Dungeon, the easier it would be for him to escape before the Consortium Mages, who had most likely noticed the mana’s fluctuation and spike by now, returned.

  At that moment, his phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and took a quick glance at the message he had received.

  [Zombie sister: Hey, nerd, where’re you?! Jane and Sunny’s here already! How long does it take to buy chicken, for crying out loud?!]

  Merlin sighed and put his phone back into his pocket, shutting his sister up mentally. Then he nodded to himself and stepped into the portal.

  The world spun, chewed him in a rather messy way, and then spat him out. Merlin fell to his knees and retched to the point that he almost thought he would spill out his guts too.

  “My goodness,” Merlin muttered to himself as he wiped his mouth. “That was bumpy.”

  His gaze washed over his scenery then, recalling the description of the Dungeon he was now within as it was in Singularity Mage. A cave that looked like it was drawn solely for a fairytale by the careful strokes of a renowned artist, bearing glowing pillars that looked more like jewels than ice, glaciers jutting out of its ceiling, puddles of clean water in patches on the floor, and illuminated by its very own beauty.

  Merlin was so stunned that he stood speechless for a moment. That was, until the System reminded him of why he was in the Dungeon.

  [Alert!: You have walked into a Dungeon]

  [Dungeon Name: Glace’s Ice Cave]

  [Dungeon Category: C-Rank]

  [Red Quest received: Clear the Dungeon before the time limit runs out]

  [Clear Conditions: Defeat the Flower King]

  [Time Limit: 30.00]

  [Reward: Loot Box]

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  [Penalty for failure: ???]

  Glace’s Ice Cave. A Dungeon that had, just like the others, posed little problem to Kieran. After all, the protagonist had raided the Dungeon just after his stats had gotten to the fiftieth mark, putting him in superhuman territory.

  Merlin was not much different now. Only his Resilience had gotten to the fiftieth threshold, but that meant that he now had the endurance of a superhuman. He could fight on for a couple of hours without experiencing fatigue, and he was also immune to harsh weathers, confirmed by how he could barely feel the freezing cold that was meant to be characteristic to the Dungeon, and also mild poison. Which he most certainly needed in this Dungeon.

  Thirty minutes, huh? Merlin’s eyes lingered over the time he had to clear the Dungeon for a brief second. Then he pushed aside the System’s interface and took off his raincoat, revealing a simple tracksuit, and his quiver filled with arrows hanging from his back. That means I have fifteen minutes in reality. Gotta get on with it then.

  The time spent inside a Dungeon or Tower was always two times that spent in the real world. Merlin had refreshed his memory on the topic, and also confirmed once again that the rules in Singularity Mage applied in the real world too.

  He took a deep breath, exhaled, and stepped forward, carefully surveying his surroundings as he did.

  The way he currently was, he couldn’t be caught by surprise the same way he might have been prior. His Perception being at Level eighteen made certain of that. And that was not even taking into account that he knew just how the monsters in the Dungeon acted.

  He was not even ten steps into exploring the Dungeon when a chance to show his growth presented itself.

  There… Merlin’s eyes flashed in the direction of an ice spike jutting out of the floor. He quickly nocked an arrow, as he had been practicing for weeks, channeled his mana to its head, and fired.

  The monsters in Glace’s Ice Cave were known as Obscure Flowers. They were monsters that thrived on sneaking up on their opponents by rearing their heads and breathing out deadly powdery substances that paralyzed their opponent once it was breathed in, and killed them slowly. Even though Merlin’s brain told him he was resistant to poison the way he was now, he still wasn’t planning on risking it.

  And, sure enough, his quickness paid off. The arrow he fired flashed through the air and planted itself into the poisonous flower as soon as it bloomed, shattering it like the scrap of ice it was.

  Merlin felt a great joy blossom in his heart. Pairing his Perception and recollection of Singularity Mage made him a formidable opponent. As such, clearing a C-Rank Dungeon proved to be of little hindrance to him.

  About ten minutes later, Merlin arrived at the boss’s room, unscathed and still filled with energy.

  He couldn’t believe that he really felt unthreatened by a Dungeon.

  Amazing. How far he had come.

  However, the thing about the ranks of Dungeons was that they were given based on the boss’s strength and not the henchmen. In other words, the monsters Merlin had been having an easy time picking apart were D-Rank monsters. And the reason the Dungeon was a C-Rank Dungeon was because it was the boss, the Flower King, that was a C-Rank.

  The last C-Rank monsters Merlin had fought had given him hell, and, as well, almost killed him. He hoped history wouldn’t repeat itself.

  Merlin closed his eyes for a moment and relaxed his raging heart before stepping past the archway that separated the boss’s room from the rest of the Dungeon. He walked into a field of ice flowers. It was almost like he had stepped into a garden; although basking in one had never been a stupid option, his situation was anything but the norm. After all, every single flower in the room was connected to the large flower to the far end of the room, and they all softly breathed out powdery substances in intervals.

  Merlin gulped, took out the handkerchief in his pocket, and covered his nose. Resistance to mild poison or not, he wasn’t risking it. He then put down his quiver and bow as his current battle would rely on him closing the range to win. Then he steadied his heartbeat and dashed forward.

  In an instant, the countless ice flowers that made up the garden sprung to life. They all breathed out the usual powdery substances, and the air became dense and cloudy—far too cloudy.

  Merlin’s eyes stung, and his throat became a bit scratchy. The sheer amount of poison was overwhelming his body system. But he didn’t let that stop him. He activated Reader’s Bookmark, and used [Mana Spring] to close the distance between him and the Flower King. Perhaps it was because he had grown a lot stronger, or because the flowers were more stealth-type than brawn compared to other monsters, whatever the case was, Merlin found the battle rather easy despite how tight his chest had become from the poison.

  He appeared before the Flower King in a flash, took a deep breath, and jumped up. It was over ten feet tall, and he had jumped it’s height with nothing more than the strength in his legs. He gave thanks to his Strength being at Level thirty-four for that.

  As soon as he appeared before the opening that served as the Flower King’s mouth, the monster shrank back slightly and drew in what Merlin classified as a deep breath.

  However, the thing about the flowers was that they needed at least three seconds to gather their poison and spit it out into the air. Three seconds was enough for Merlin to use Reader Mage.

  He landed on one of the Flower King’s petals, stretched a hand straight into the depths where its anthers lay, and his mana surged out.

  [Perk: Reader Mage Activated]

  [Analyzing spell…]

  [Analysis complete]

  [Spell: Great Pore Poison.

  Category: Advanced, Tier II

  Spell Wielder: C-Rank Flower King.

  Spell Description: A spell formed by gathering polluted mana to infect the pollen gathered in the anthers, transforming it into an airborne poison.]

  [Deconstructing Process: Disrupt the spell’s formation by blocking the channels that emit mana.]

  [Deconstruct?]

  [Yes?/No?]

  Yes… Merlin replied without a hint of hesitation.

  His mana flooded out of his body and surged into the Flower King’s stamen, sticking themselves onto its wall, and covering it in a blue glow.

  The pollen the Flower King had gathered flooded out a second later, but Merlin felt no damage from them slamming into his face. He channeled mana onto his fists, and jumped into the Flower King’s anthers, where its core, a dark-brown jewel, was resting. Then he tightened his fists and sent a barrage of punches onto the core, spreading cracks all over it, and shattering it like it was made of glass.

  [Deconstruction Complete]

  [Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 5%/100%] → [10%/100%]

  [Free Attribute Points received: 5]

  [Nasty little flower]

  Merlin couldn’t stop himself from snorting at those words.

  The Flower King, however, couldn’t feel the same ecstasy Merlin felt. It quivered in that instant, all the life it had once possessed siphoned out of its body, and Merlin had to hold on to a stamen to keep himself from slamming to the floor the same way the Flower King did.

  “Phew…” Merlin breathed out a deep exhale as he walked out of the Flower King’s dead body, he then pulled his handkerchief from his face and stretched. His ears were filled with the satisfying cracks of his bones being free of all stiffness. “That was fantastic.”

  The System wasted no time bringing the results of his battle before his view.

  [Red Quest: Defeat the Flower King has ended]

  [Time taken to complete: 20.30]

  [Quest Reward: Random Loot Box]

  [Accept?]

  [Yes?]/[No?]

  [All Progress increased by 20%]

  [Progress to leveling up Strength: 31.75%/100%] → [51.75%/100%]

  [Progress to leveling up Agility: 38%/100%] → [58%/100%]

  [Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 10%/100%] → [30%/100%]

  [Progress to leveling up Perception: 26%/100%] → [46%/100%]

  [Progress to leveling up Resilience: 84%/100%] → [04%/100%]

  [Free Attribute Points received: 5] → [45]

  [Resilience has leveled up!]

  [Resilience Level 50 → Level 51]

  Merlin let his eyes wash over the words of his growth with a smile, before pushing the System aside. He had a minute until the Dungeon reacted to being cleared and began to shut down. He would have to deal with assigning his free attribute points back at home, and that was the same for the Loot Box he had received as a reward for clearing the mission.

  Right now, he still had one more important thing to take care of.

  Merlin’s eyes turned in the direction of a glowing pillar of ice standing gloriously to the far end of the room and approached it. As soon as he came up before the pillar, he channeled his mana onto his fist, took a deep breath, and threw his heaviest punch ever. Web cracks spread out all over the pillar and he had no choice but to take a step back as the monument came crashing down, momentarily spraying what was left of the pollen gathered in the dead body of the Flower King into the air.

  Merlin waited until the chaos had settled down, then he neared the debris that had formed from the pillar crumbling down. Amongst the rubble of ice was something small, feeble, and had once been the source of the magical energy powering the Dungeon, according to Singularity Mage.

  He leaned in closer to the thing as it snorted, a puff of cold smoke escaping its nostrils. It was a blue beast no larger than his hand, with four legs, slitted eyes, and a pair of puny wings.

  An ice dragon, and also the reason Merlin had chosen this Dungeon.

  The dragon cocked its head as it locked eyes with him.

  Merlin smiled…

  “Hello, little one.”

  [END OF BOOK 1]