In any case, with a design like this, this place couldn’t be anything less than a labyrinth. It shouldn’t be connected to the rift either, despite the circumstances, since there are people in this world that are called the ant people. This was a bit of a worrisome situation, but pretty exciting as well…

  ‘I guess I won’t get many materials here, so I will have to make it work in different ways… Well, I can’t jump to conclusions just yet.’

  I decided to rest properly tonight and then explore the labyrinth fully rested the next day. I will have to schedule my actions properly now between work outside and inside the dungeon, all in order to make things as efficient as possible. I wanted to believe that I would have time to make progress when it comes to the construction of my base, but I couldn’t be sure just yet.

  Even if the place was well camouflaged, people with good senses lived in this land. Sooner or later, they would sense something abnormal here, just like Glacien found this place. Regardless, worrying endlessly would accomplish nothing. I just had to do my best as usual.

  Just to be safe, I put some Arcane Traps at the entrance of the labyrinth and then went to bed. The next day, as soon as the sun rose, I helped Glacien clean the entrance of the labyrinth and soon I could find the path downward. Since the drawing at the entrance was mostly made, I imagined that the labyrinth was almost complete as well, but the path going to the first floor was a slope instead of proper stair steps.

  I took a helmet from my magic bag and then attached a mana core to a slot in the middle. In the next moment, it began to illuminate the interior of the labyrinth. It has been a while since those utility enchantments had been of any use, but it was good to have them in situations like this.

  “Well, this certainly is creepy…”

  The walls, ceiling, and the ground of the first floor were pretty uneven. They also made me recall paths that ants would have dug in a hole… however, the most weird thing was the fact that the walls and ceiling were covered by something that seemed like amber. When I touched it, it was pretty hard too.

  “This can probably be used for alchemy… somehow. Or maybe even smithing, but how this much was created?”

  Amber is created from the fossilized resin of ancient trees, a process that takes millions of years. Trees produce resin to protect themselves from injury or pests, and this sticky substance seeps out of the bark to seal wounds. When the resin gets buried in sediment, it is shielded from sunlight, oxygen, and microorganisms that would normally break it down.

  As geological processes apply heat and pressure over millennia, the buried resin undergoes fossilization, transforming into amber. Sometimes, small organisms or plant fragments become trapped in the resin before it hardens, creating interesting sculpture-like objects. Amber has been prized for centuries for its beauty, and its preservation of ancient life makes it invaluable for scientific research.

  This was a labyrinth, so this kind of place should be able to do all sorts of weird things, but even so… the amber also looked like it had covered the surface in layers that made the inside blur, so I couldn’t see the walls of the labyrinth properly. This was never a good sign. The lack of monsters for a labyrinth that was supposed to be active while hidden was also concerning. One didn’t have to be a problem to understand what was going on here.

  “Lead the way, girl.”

  “Awoo.”

  I was carrying Alissandra with one arm so my support wouldn’t be as strong as usual, but I made some adjustments to my hand crossbow and against enemies of the first section that should be enough, even if the weapon lost some power in the process.

  We only crossed one hundred meters before Glacien stopped moving and began to growl in anger. It looked like she sensed something… before long, I heard some weird noises coming from all directions.

  Stolen story; please report.

  As I stepped further into the labyrinth, a weird sound broke the silence, a faint cracking, like ice shattering on a frozen pond. My eyes darted to the walls, where the amber-like substance was beginning to fracture. Thin fissures spread across its surface. Before I could react, chunks of amber splintered off the walls, and from the exposed cavities, they emerged.

  The first ant crawled out with an almost mechanical movement, its glossy black body glinting in the light from my helmet. It was about thirty centimeters long, unnervingly large for an insect, and its segmented body was etched with jagged black lines that pulsed, as though carrying some unknown energy. More of them followed, their sharp mandibles clicking in unison, and the surrounding air grew heavy. They emitted an oppressive. The amber coating their bodies broke off as they moved, leaving trails of golden dust behind. This was no ordinary swarm; these creatures felt like living weapons, crafted for one purpose: to eliminate intruders.

  It felt like an overkill since I bombarded the ants with bolts from my crossbow. It could only have either the mana drain effect or the Bolt Creation effect. I decided to ignore that limitation by creating an amulet to create the bolts instead, while the weapon itself still had the mana drain.

  Naturally, the whole thing had to operate automatically since I could only use one hand, so I had to customize the weapon a bit. To make it possible to fight while carrying Alissandra, carrying her on my back wasn’t the best option, even if I would have full mana all the time to use Shadow Step.

  ‘I guess that these are big ants for this world… but only their fangs seem dangerous since they were able to dig through the amber.’

  The bolts completely pierced through the bodies of the ants and that showed how frail they were… however, their fangs looked metallic. When I touched the tip, I felt it slicing my skin like it was made of butter. It was truly dangerous.

  “To think that my endurance would be too low for a monster like this…”

  I couldn’t identify the fangs as a single product, but perhaps I could reforge them to understand their properties fully. For now, I decided to carefully store them in a special magic bag.

  I stored the amber in another magic bag to study later… My alchemical and medicine knowledge was still pretty basic, but I should be able to find some basic uses eventually, with a bit of experimentation.

  In any case, while the amber covered the walls and the ceiling of the corridor, only certain areas broke apart and made the ants attack us. Those areas were mainly one hundred meters away from each other, which was weird… then why create all that amber? At the same time, once someone passed through those areas, they would find signs of the ants and where they would come from, right?

  ‘Maybe not… I have to confirm this later.’

  For now, my goal today was to just reach the first floor of the labyrinth and then get our class. However, after a while… I realized that we had walked more than enough distance to cover the entire first floor of any dungeon or labyrinth.

  “This is odd… what do you think, Glacien?”

  “Awoo!”

  “Try to be a bit more… descriptive with your explanation.”

  Glacien looked at me confused, but soon she got up and then began to run in circles. At the same time, she began to lower her posture. She was quite the smart creature, so I got the message.

  “So, the path is going in circles and downward, huh? It is almost impossible to tell when the corridor is this long. It feels like it was just a minor change in direction…”

  As I stood there, staring at the emerging ants across the amber walls, a thought crossed my mind. Could I even call this place a labyrinth? Or a dungeon, for that matter? Something about it was clearly unfinished, like I had stumbled upon it during its creation or before it had reached its true potential.

  Perhaps because I had arrived too early, I wouldn’t gain the expected benefits, no classes, and no aptitudes to boost my growth. Without those, the effort of venturing deeper seemed a lot less appealing, though I knew I couldn’t abandon this place entirely. If anything, it made the situation more complicated.

  “At least we are gaining experience here, right, girl?”

  Glacien gave me a confused look as if asking, what do you mean, we? She didn’t have the chance to fight until now, after all. In any case, I did some tests and confirmed that the mana cores that the ants left behind could produce around twenty bolts, and they dropped one, every five of them. I wouldn’t run out of them thanks to it. With their fangs, I probably could make some bolts or arrowheads that would be extremely sharp.

  “Well, let’s keep going down until noon and then we can rest afterwards.”

  Letting Glacien hunt by herself would make things work faster, but I didn’t know how high her defense had to be in order to endure those attacks. It was another thing that I had to learn sooner than later to plan ahead. The situation was a bit troubling, but deep down, I also felt excited…