The dungeon fell silent.
Neither Akari nor Memory moved.
Both girls simply stood there staring at the notification floating before them.
A Legendary summon.
Not only a Legendary summon—
but that Legendary summon.
The same monster that had nearly killed them.
The same monster that had reduced Akari to five percent health.
The same monster that had nearly turned Memory into roasted seafood.
Memory slowly raised a shaking finger.
Then pointed at the screen.
"Akari..."
"Yeah?"
"Tell me that's not real."
Akari stared.
"It looks pretty real."
Memory stared harder.
"Tell me the game is joking."
"I don't think the game jokes."
Memory's face immediately paled.
"No."
Akari blinked.
"No?"
"No."
Memory folded her arms.
"Absolutely not."
She shook her head repeatedly.
"Nope."
"No."
"No thank you."
"Not happening."
Akari looked at the screen.
Then at Memory.
Then back at the screen.
"You're turning down a Legendary summon?"
"YES!"
Memory pointed dramatically.
"That thing tried to murder me!"
"It tried to murder both of us!"
"It stabbed me!"
"It shot bones at me!"
"It screamed at me!"
"I can still hear the screaming!"
Akari rubbed her forehead.
"I don't think that's how taming works."
Memory immediately backed away from the notification.
"It knows my name."
"No it doesn't."
"It knows where I live."
"It definitely doesn't."
"It probably wants revenge."
Akari sighed.
The boss was dead.
Completely dead.
Yet somehow Memory looked more terrified now than during the actual battle.
The notification remained floating before her.
Patiently waiting.
Memory looked away.
The notification followed her vision.
She turned again.
Still there.
"Why is it following me?"
"It's attached to your menu."
Memory looked like she wanted to cry.
"This is horrible."
Then—
exactly as expected—
disaster struck.
Memory took a step backward.
Her foot caught a loose stone.
"Eh?"
Akari's eyes widened.
"Memory—"
Too late.
The pink-haired girl lost her balance.
Her arms flailed wildly.
Bubbles woke up and immediately bounced away in panic.
"WAHHHH—!"
Memory fell backward.
At the exact same time—
her finger touched the floating notification.
A bright flash appeared.
The dungeon illuminated.
Memory froze.
Akari froze.
The system froze neither.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Congratulations!
You Have Successfully Tamed:
Necrocotta
The Terracotta Fallen Warrior
Legendary Rank Summon Acquired
This Decision Cannot Be Undone
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Memory slowly sat upright.
Her eyes were blank.
Completely blank.
The kind of blank expression one made after accidentally destroying their own life.
Akari looked at the notification.
Then looked at Memory.
Then looked back at the notification.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Memory slowly grabbed her head.
Then sat down on the dungeon floor.
The color left her face.
"My clumsiness..."
She muttered quietly.
Akari immediately recognized that tone.
The tone of a person mentally collapsing.
"My clumsiness is going to get me killed."
"Memory—"
"My clumsiness is going to get me killed."
"Memory."
"My clumsiness is going to get me killed."
She repeated it again.
And again.
And again.
Like a broken NPC dialogue loop.
Bubbles slowly bounced toward her.
The slime looked worried.
Memory hugged her knees.
"My first summon was a slime."
Pause.
"My second summon is a nightmare monster."
Pause.
"What kind of tamer progression is this?"
Akari couldn't help it.
A laugh escaped her mouth.
Memory immediately pointed.
"Don't laugh!"
"I'm sorry!"
"You laughed!"
"You looked funny!"
"I HAVE A DEMON LIVING INSIDE MY PET MENU!"
Akari laughed harder.
Memory looked ready to cry.
"I can hear him growling."
"You can't."
"I can."
"No you can't."
"I absolutely can."
Akari finally sat beside her.
The laughter slowly faded.
Then guilt returned.
She looked away.
Narukami's battle replayed inside her head.
Memory noticed.
Immediately.
The exaggerated panic faded slightly.
Because she knew that look.
Akari still blamed herself.
The smile vanished from Memory's face.
For a moment neither spoke.
The dungeon became quiet.
Eventually Memory bumped her shoulder against Akari.
A small gesture.
But enough.
Akari looked toward her.
Memory smiled weakly.
"I'm alive."
Akari nodded.
"...Yeah."
"So stop looking like someone died."
Akari lowered her head.
"...Sorry."
Memory smiled.
"You owe me food later."
Akari actually laughed.
"Deal."
"Lots of food."
"Fine."
"Akari personally hand cooked food."
"Okay."
Memory nodded proudly.
Compensation accepted.
An hour passed before Memory finally stopped overreacting about Necrocotta.
Mostly.
She still checked her summon menu every few minutes.
Just in case.
The monster somehow escaped.
Eventually the two continued deeper into the dungeon.
And what awaited them—
was treasure.
Lots of treasure.
The reward chamber opened before them.
Rows of wooden chests.
Metal chests.
Supply crates.
Crafting materials.
Potions.
Equipment.
Coins.
For a brief moment—
both girls forgot every terrifying thing that had happened.
Their eyes sparkled.
"LOOT!"
"LOOT!"
They immediately sprinted inside.
This was their first dungeon.
Their first hidden dungeon.
Their first major victory.
The excitement was impossible to suppress.
For the next thirty minutes they sorted everything carefully.
Potions were kept.
Crafting materials were kept.
Iron bars were kept.
Leather was kept.
Several useful supplies were kept.
Most of the sandstone blocks, however, were sold through the system market.
Fifty-seven pieces.
The final value appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Items Sold
Total Earnings:
185 Copper Coins
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Both girls stared.
Then screamed.
"ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY FIVE?!"
For new players—
that was a fortune.
After splitting it evenly—
both received ninety copper coins.
The remaining five copper coins were placed in front of Bubbles.
Memory crossed her arms.
"Bubbles helped."
The slime proudly bounced onto the coins.
Akari laughed.
The tiny creature looked richer than some new players.
Eventually they left the dungeon.
The evening sky greeted them.
Fresh air.
Open space.
Freedom.
The hidden dungeon door vanished behind them.
Proof they had truly cleared it.
Akari opened her balance menu.
Then converted part of her earnings.
Fifty copper coins.
The system processed the exchange.
A notification appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Currency Conversion Successful
50 Copper Coins
→ 50,000 Yen
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Akari froze.
Her eyes widened.
Fifty thousand yen.
Real money.
Actual money.
Money she could use to help her family.
Money her mother could use.
Money earned entirely by her own effort.
For a moment—
Akari simply stared at the notification.
Then slowly smiled.
A genuine smile.
Perhaps the brightest smile she had shown since entering Evermount.
Memory noticed immediately.
Then without warning—
she wrapped both arms around Akari.
"Hug attack!"
"Wah—!"
Akari stumbled forward.
The two nearly fell over.
Memory laughed.
"We survived our first dungeon!"
Akari laughed too.
Despite everything.
Despite the fear.
Despite the mistakes.
Despite Narukami.
Despite Necrocotta.
They had survived.
Their first dungeon.
Their first hidden dungeon.
Their first real adventure.
And as the two girls walked toward the distant horizon together—
neither of them realized it yet.
But today would become the day that changed everything.
Because somewhere inside Memory's summon menu—
a Legendary monster waited patiently.
And somewhere far away—
fate had already begun moving them toward a silver-haired girl named Rio.
The distance between the sisters was slowly closing.
Even if neither of them knew it yet.
The Town of Beginnings was as lively as ever.
Players moved through the stone-paved streets carrying weapons, armor, crafting materials, and quest rewards. Merchants shouted from storefronts. NPC vendors advertised daily specials. New adventurers gathered near the fountain exchanging information while veteran players prepared parties for dungeon raids.
For Akari and Memory—
it felt different today.
Because they weren't returning as complete beginners anymore.
They had cleared a hidden dungeon.
Defeated a hidden boss.
Obtained rare loot.
And somehow—
Memory had accidentally tamed a Legendary summon.
The two girls walked through the main avenue.
Bubbles bounced happily between them.
Meanwhile Memory occasionally opened her summon menu.
Then immediately closed it again.
Then reopened it.
Then closed it again.
Akari eventually sighed.
"You know it's not going anywhere."
Memory immediately pointed.
"That's exactly what scares me."
Akari rubbed her forehead.
The pink-haired girl was still traumatized.
A little.
Maybe a lot.
The marketplace soon appeared before them.
Rows of shops stretched throughout the district.
Blacksmiths.
Potion stores.
Tailors.
Bookstores.
Accessory vendors.
Everything a player could want.
Memory immediately grabbed Akari's wrist.
"Clothes first."
Akari didn't even get a chance to argue.
Five minutes later—
they entered one of the larger clothing stores.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Luna's Apparel
Player Fashion & Equipment
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The moment Memory entered—
she disappeared.
Literally.
Akari blinked.
One second she was beside her.
The next second she had vanished between shelves.
"..."
Akari simply sighed.
"Of course."
Meanwhile she wandered around casually.
She wasn't particularly interested in clothing.
Most of her attention was elsewhere.
Especially after what happened in the dungeon.
Eventually Memory returned carrying multiple outfits.
Her eyes sparkled.
"This one is cute."
She held up a dress.
"This one too."
Another.
"And this one."
Another.
"And—"
Akari stopped listening.
After nearly fifteen minutes Memory finally purchased a new wardrobe.
The total came out to twelve copper coins for the first set.
Then another.
Then another.
And another.
The cashier looked increasingly confused.
Eventually Memory walked away with seven complete outfits.
Total cost.
Sixty-five copper coins.
Her wallet cried.
Her smile did not.
Once finished she looked at Akari.
"You aren't buying anything?"
Akari thought about it.
"Maybe."
She turned.
Then began wandering through the store.
Unlike Memory—
she wasn't interested in fashion.
Instead—
something else caught her attention.
A section near the rear wall.
A large sign hung above it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
PLAYER SKILLS
Combat Arts
Weapon Techniques
Class Skills
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Akari stopped walking.
For a moment—
her eyes drifted toward Narukami hanging at her waist.
Her expression became complicated.
The memory of the dungeon resurfaced.
Memory screaming.
Burns covering her body.
Potions scattered across the floor.
Akari quietly gripped her hand.
She still remembered her promise.
She would become stronger.
But...
She didn't want to rely entirely on Narukami.
Not anymore.
Slowly she entered the skill section.
Rows of books lined the shelves.
Sword skills.
Mage skills.
Spear techniques.
Shield arts.
Archer techniques.
Hundreds of options.
Akari eventually found the category she wanted.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Katana Skills
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
She carefully examined each book.
Butterfly Dance.
Vacuum Slash.
Execution.
Moon Fang.
Steel Tempest.
Dozens of skills.
Some expensive.
Some affordable.
Most far beyond her current budget.
Until one particular book caught her attention.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Retsugeki
Cost: 15 Copper Coins
Description:
A concentrated physical slash delivered at extreme speed.
The user performs a single decisive strike focused entirely on precision and acceleration.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Akari blinked.
No lightning.
No divine power.
No explosions.
Just skill.
Pure skill.
Exactly what she wanted.
She picked it up.
Then another book beside it caught her eye.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Hangeki
Cost: 7 Copper Coins
Description:
A high-speed defensive counter.
The user intercepts an incoming attack using an extremely fast physical strike.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Akari immediately grabbed it too.
A fast offensive skill.
A fast defensive skill.
Simple.
Practical.
And most importantly—
they didn't require Narukami.
A few minutes later she purchased both books.
Twenty-two copper coins spent.
No regrets.
She had just finished placing them into her inventory when she felt something nudging her leg.
Bubbles.
The slime looked concerned.
Very concerned.
Akari blinked.
"What?"
Bubbles bounced repeatedly.
Then started moving.
Akari followed.
One aisle.
Then another.
Then another.
Until she reached the clothing section.
Then she stopped.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Memory had somehow become trapped.
Completely trapped.
The pink-haired girl sat buried beneath a mountain of clothes.
Scarves wrapped around her arms.
Jackets tangled around her legs.
Several dresses somehow hung from her shoulders.
One hat covered her face.
Only her eyes remained visible.
Akari stared.
Memory stared back.
Silence.
Then—
"I can explain."
"No."
"I got excited."
"I can see that."
"I tried buying all the cute clothes."
"Obviously."
"I forgot to go one at a time."
Akari pinched the bridge of her nose.
Bubbles bounced in disappointment.
Several employees stood nearby looking traumatized.
Eventually Akari spent ten minutes freeing her best friend from the clothing avalanche.
Once rescued—
Memory immediately pretended nothing happened.
Akari did not let her forget.
Ever.
As they prepared to leave—
something caught Akari's eye.
A simple white silk scarf.
Nothing special.
No stats.
No enchantments.
Just a plain white cloth.
Cost.
Three copper coins.
Akari stared at it quietly.
Then purchased it.
Memory tilted her head.
"What are you buying that for?"
Akari didn't answer immediately.
Instead—
she pulled Narukami from her inventory.
The purple katana appeared.
Its divine lightning flickered faintly.
For a moment—
Akari simply stared at it.
Then she wrapped the white scarf around the handle and scabbard.
One loop.
Then another.
Then another.
Until the weapon was completely secured.
The blade could no longer be drawn normally.
The scarf acted like a seal.
A physical reminder.
A restriction.
A promise.
Memory watched silently.
The smile faded slightly.
She understood immediately.
Akari was afraid.
Not of enemies.
Not of monsters.
Not of dungeons.
She was afraid of hurting people.
Especially the people she cared about.
Memory wanted to say something.
But in the end—
she remained silent.
Instead she simply smiled softly.
Because she knew Akari.
And she knew eventually—
Akari would find her answer.
The two girls exited the shop.
The afternoon sun shone overhead.
Players continued moving through the town.
Life carried on.
Akari stretched.
Then looked toward Memory.
"So."
Memory immediately grinned.
Dangerously.
The kind of grin that always led to trouble.
Akari recognized it instantly.
"...No."
Memory pointed dramatically toward the distant mountains.
"NEXT DESTINATION!"
People nearby turned.
Memory didn't care.
She raised her hand toward the sky.
"WE GO TO DRAGON'S PEAK!"
Akari froze.
"Wait."
Memory spun dramatically.
"Adventure awaits!"
"Memory."
"Treasure awaits!"
"Memory."
"Legendary loot awaits!"
"Memory."
"Possibly more horrifying monsters await!"
Akari stared.
"...Why would that be a selling point?"
Memory thought about it.
Then nodded.
"Good point."
A pause.
Then she raised both fists.
"DRAGON'S PEAK!"
Bubbles bounced excitedly.
The slime clearly supported the idea.
Akari looked at the two of them.
Then sighed.
A long sigh.
The exhausted sigh of someone realizing resistance was pointless.
Eventually—
she smiled.
A small one.
But genuine.
"Fine."
Memory cheered.
Bubbles bounced.
And together—
the three newest adventurers of Evermount began preparing for their next journey.
Unaware that Dragon's Peak would become the place where their true story would begin.