Huh? What was that? Lily wondered, trying to focus in the direction from which the faint vibration emanated. “Weeeird,” she mumbled under her breath, unsure if she was just imagining things.

  But just as she was about to turn around, another faint sound-wave traveling through the ground reached her.

  That’s it, that’s the feeling! Lily thought back to when she first had something similar happen, back when she was about to get hit by the basilisk’s fireball, though this time it felt different, less urgent.

  “Where are you coming from?” The little spider closed her eyes—all eight—trying to focus on the exact direction from which the vibration came, hoping it would eventually reach her again. “Come on…”

  She waited motionless for at least a couple of minutes, but nothing happened. It was almost as if it disappeared, which frustrated Lily enough that she jokingly punched the ground beneath her, a blow that was strong enough to create a small crack in its rocky surface.

  “Whoaaa!” she exclaimed, at first shocked by her own strength, then by the vibration her own fist created, most precisely by how it made her feel. So Detection’s basically like a radar, she wondered, focusing on the little vibrations that collided with her own as it travelled through the area.

  Somehow, Lily could feel and hear everything her shock wave encountered on its way out as it expanded, the information growing more distorted the further it travelled, halting completely after a while.

  Maybe if I try again, she planned inwardly, wondering that if she used more strength and focused hard, she would be able to distinguish the vibrations from one another long enough to locate the same ones she had felt earlier.

  But instead of punching the ground, she lifted herself with a web, “here goes nothing.” With a nimble swipe, she slashed through her web, allowing herself to free-fall. “Come onnn!” Lily shouted, putting all her strength into her anterior limbs, smashing into the ground like a cannonball.

  The released shock wave was more substantial and expanded twice as fast, travelling much further than the previous one.

  “Where are you hiding?” Lily mumbled under her breath, waiting for Detection to activate again. “Crap… nothing’s happening,” she continued, closing her eyes, hoping that maybe it could help her focus, “where the hell—”

  She opened her eyes in shock, turning her head ever so slightly toward the left, that feeling again.

  “There you are!” Lily exclaimed, jumping up and using her web to propel herself toward the epicenter of the vibration she had tried so hard to find, her grin growing wider as her plan succeeded.

  It’s much further than I expected, she thought to herself as she gracefully landed back on the ground, running toward her target, blasting away a couple of small ants that stood in her way. “I’m SO sorry!!!” Lily cried out, deeply apologetic toward the tiny inhabitants of the cave, recalling the little spider she had found earlier.

  But there was no way in hell she was going to lose track of that strange vibration again; she was way too interested in finding out what or who it belonged to.

  “Silk Web,” she echoed, pulling herself even further up than before, “here we go again!” In the blink of an eye, she slammed into the terrain, generating more vibrations, and slid away on the damp surface, using the built-up momentum in her favour.

  It was like going down a slide, even more fun, or at least that’s what she believed, seeing as she didn’t really have any memory of herself sliding down one, just a faint feeling of it.

  Although she really wanted to fill the gap in her mind as soon as possible, she knew better than to dwell on it constantly; she couldn't remember her past that way anyway, and at least a small part of herself wondered if maybe it was for the best that she forgot.

  Lily couldn’t help but think about the moment she had first woken up, when she screamed for someone called Annie. Was it someone from her past? And if so, who?

  “Huh?” Suddenly, the Detection passive rang inside her mind like an alarm clock. The epicenter she searched for was there, right in front of her, “a… boulder?” It was a bit strange looking, too perfect and smooth to be natural, yet it was just that, a round rock.

  She couldn’t believe her eyes. There was no way she had travelled all the way there for an unusual boulder, so she decided to tap it in hopes of something happening.

  “So?” She tapped it again. “What now?” And again. “Hmmm, I wonder if…” Instead of a tap, she slammed her fist into it, focusing all her strength into one spot, wondering if maybe there was something hidden inside.

  Much to Lily’s surprise, her attack wasn’t even able to scratch the boulder’s surface, and even weirder, her hit made no sound, no vibrations, nothing; it was like it never happened.

  Okay, something’s definitely going on here, she thought, but what? “Maybe… Acid Blast,” she chanted, covering the perfectly round boulder with the melting substance, to no avail. “It didn’t even move one millimeter,” Lily mumbled under her breath, gently tapping the smooth surface.

  Stolen story; please report.

  The unusual object seemed immovable, or at the very least, she figured that perhaps the problem, or the answer, lay within her.

  “Unless, uhhh, what was it…” Lily put her figurative thinking cap on and rubbed her temples, a strategy that wasn’t really certified to have any effect at all.

  But the answer was right there, on the tip of her tongue.

  [You have the skill: Appraisal.]

  “Right! Appraisal,” she blurted out, her voice accompanied by almost silent hisses as she spoke.

  In the blink of an eye, the familiar translucent window appeared before Lily, displaying details about a Hidden Quest.

  A quest window? It looks familiar, she thought, as she read the long wall of text—a story about the gigantic area where Lily had woken up herself, seemingly called The Unending Labyrinth. Even the name feels familiar.

  She was stunned, but her doubt soon turned into curiosity as her eyes focused on the section listing the final reward of the quest: a rare item encased in the seemingly indestructible boulder.

  All she had to do was slay twenty Lesser Rock Ants, a detail she scoffed at, 100% sure that the mosquito she won against had to be higher ranked, since she herself was also a lesser monster, the lowest possible as seen in her details.

  “Pfff, easy peasy!” Lily chuckled. “If only I knew where to find—”

  Before she could finish her sentence, another translucent window opened, showing an obscure map of the area. The only places visible were those she had already visited, like the empty cave where she escaped from the basilisk or the one where she fought the mosquito.

  “Huh, would you look at that,” Lily whispered as she stared at the map, immediately noticing red-circled spots scattered everywhere, “what’s this?” She reached for one of the spots, wondering what it was, and, to her surprise, the translucent window responded to her touch.

  A vignette-like shape appeared above the circle that Lily reached for, indicating that those were the areas where she could find the target of her quest, the ants. Funnily enough, she had already passed through one of those spots, though it was much smaller than the other ones.

  “Don’t tell me…” she chuckled under her breath, recalling the ants she had blasted away while rushing toward the strange vibration, “Silk Web.” Wanting to just get it over with, the little spider used her trusty web to travel faster, effortlessly jumping from stalactite to stalactite.

  It took Lily just a couple of minutes to reach one of the larger places noted on the map.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t rely on her shock waves the same way she did with the boulder, because while the unusual object had a different kind of vibrations, she had no way of distinguishing between those of living creatures, which is why she opted to scout from the ceiling for better visibility.

  Where are you? Lily wondered as she carefully scanned the place, noticing large patches of damp ground.

  The area was alive with activity; a couple of massive bats hung upside down, groups of beetles fluttered in the distance, many small creatures scurried around, minding their own business, but the ants were nowhere to be seen.

  She had two theories: either the ants were hiding, which didn’t make much sense, or something was hunting them specifically, maybe a natural predator of some kind—one she wasn’t eager to meet, worried it could have been much stronger than her.

  Sure, Lily had survived that giant and terrifying basilisk, but she also knew her luck would eventually run out, especially if she kept taking too many reckless risks.

  “Onto the next area, I guess,” she sighed, jumping away with her web toward the nearby quest location.

  Just like the previous place, different types of creatures were living their best lives, but the ants were nowhere to be found. It was the same in the following zone, and the next one, and the next one, until an hour had gone by without a single trace of Lily’s target.

  Looking at the virtual map, all the other areas of interest were far from Lily, so she decided to take a break and recharge for a bit, growing tired from all the webs she had to make and the intense jumping around.

  “I still can’t believe it’s been almost a day since I ended up here,” she yawned, her mouth wide open, “it feels so… weird.”

  It wasn’t weird in a bad way, and she didn’t really have any regrets, since she couldn’t remember pretty much anything about her personal life. In fact, the idea of maybe remembering her old life in the future pushed her to try to thrive in this magical world.

  But there was one thing that kept buzzing around in Lily’s mind: somehow, she had already heard of The Unending Labyrinth. That name was way too familiar, just like the concept of skills, completing quests, and exploring.

  It almost felt like an RPG.

  “Okay, time to g—” Just as she stood up, she fell back down on her arachnid butt, her legs finally feeling sore and tired, “or maybe five more minutes.” She yawned again, louder than earlier, covering her mouth with her pointy limbs.

  Even the shiny rocks and brightly glowing flora around her were starting to dim; it was as if the whole place were preparing for night.

  “Hmmm…” Lily sighed under her breath. I guess I did enough for today, and maybe by tomorrow there’s gonna be more ants around, she speculated, searching around for a pleasant nook in between the rocks to sleep in.

  It was then that she had a genius idea.

  Hold on, she thought. “I’m a spider!” Instead of searching on the ground, she turned toward the stalactites. “Silk Web,” she echoed, jumping up and sticking to the ceiling. Why do I feel so drawn to making a lair? Lily wondered, unsure if it had anything to do with her past life.

  Without wasting more time, she moved from stalactite to stalactite, skillfully placing the support for her future home, starting from the middle of the rocky, tapering structure and building inward, keeping the ceiling at her back rather than leaving her vulnerable.

  “Yay!” Lily cheered as she looked back on her creation, moving on to making the sticky spirals that she recalled spiders building, making sure they were sturdy enough to resist at least a couple of hits in case of an ambush.

  At the end of the day, the creatures inhabiting that world were much stronger, so she had to take the proper precautions unless she planned on cutting her trip short. And after creating a second defensive layer, she finally felt comfortable enough to wrap herself in her webs, using them as a comfy blanket.

  “Good night,” she whispered to herself while curling up in her webs, but just as she finally got comfortable in her make-shift bed, Lily’s eyes shot wide open—all eight of them. Another weird vibration, she thought.

  [Warning.]