“Eep?!”

But the sound of her yelp was drowned out by the roar of the dragon rising from the swamp—and this wasn’t just any dragon.

Its rotting, fetid flesh sloughed away, revealing the bones underneath. The monster had three long necks. Several eyes were missing, leaving only yawning gaps. When the dragon roared, it belched purple mist. The undead dragon from the poison swamp was far more intimidating than any monsters she’d met on the way.

“Th-this is the poison dragon?!”

Maple’s alarm didn’t seem to matter much to the dragon. It simply opened its three mouths and unleashed a torrent of toxic liquid at her. She raised her shield to protect herself, but the powerful poison-breath attack instantly enveloped her.

She’d closed her eyes, but upon hearing poison dripping on the ground around her, she opened them again. Maple herself was unharmed, but her gear was not so lucky.

“M-my shield and sword…”

They were deteriorating, dissolving—and no longer remotely useful. Fortunately, she had a glove on over her ring, so that was safe.

But…

Maple’s shield had provided +28 to her VIT, and thanks to the effects of Absolute Defense and Giant Killing, that number had been quadrupled—meaning she’d just lost 112 points of defense.

And that meant the poison dragon’s breath could hurt her.

As things stood, each breath attack would deal three damage. And the first attack had already taken one HP from her.

Just thirteen more attacks and she was dead.

“Okay…focus! Meditate!”

Maple calmed herself, closed her eyes, and concentrated.

This time, she’d have to do it while enduring the pain of being attacked. Meditation’s effect would only be active for however long she remained focused.

She had the ring and the Meditation skill, as well as the potions she’d purchased. Maple’s goal was to use all of these in conjunction in an attempt to raise her Poison Resist. That was her only shot at winning.

While using Meditation, the pain and fear lessened. The sensations faded away, like her physical form was growing intangible.

This helped her persevere. Each time her HP fell below 20 percent, she drank a potion.

Over and over.

Her healing couldn’t keep pace with the sheer amount of damage. She would either run out of potions or gain the resistance she needed.

The outcome rested solely on which came first.

After she steeped in poison for quite some time, a voice echoed in her mind.

“Skill: Poison Resist (M) has evolved to Poison Resist (L).”

That’s what Maple had been waiting for—but it was not cause for celebration.

Her skin was still burning.

The resist still wasn’t strong enough.

Maple wasn’t sure if the skill could evolve again, but she had to gamble on that chance.

Just as she drank her final potion…

“Ha-ha…I did it!”

The voice in her mind had announced that she’d acquired Poison Nullification.

Now the breath attacks almost felt pleasant.

But she couldn’t just kick back and relax. As her HP recovered, Maple had to think.

Why? Because her weapon had been destroyed. How could she defeat this dragon? Its attacks couldn’t harm her. But her attacks did no damage, either.

This was going nowhere.

Unless she died or defeated it, there was no way to leave the room. She could escape by logging out, but she’d gone to great pains to get this far; she wanted something to show for it. The developers most likely had not accounted for this particular stalemate.

“Hngg… Welp, I’ve just gotta start trying things! It’s not like I have school tomorrow!”

Thankfully, it was the weekend. Maple could spend as much time here as she liked.

After a long process of trial and error, she finally hit upon a wild idea.

“The dragon flesh is all ragged and torn up…and since I can nullify poison, I bet I could eat it!”

She waded through the poison breath until she was right up next to the dragon.

And placed her palms together.

“…Bon appétit, I guess.”

She took a bite of the dragon’s back.

“Urgh…that’s not very tasty,” Maple said, making a face.

She experimented for a few moments and quickly confirmed that any flesh she swallowed would not regenerate. But if she merely tore some off with her teeth, those bits would eventually reappear—like a video rewinding. And of course, that did no damage.

“I guess I have to eat it…”

The poison dragon’s flesh was slightly bitter. It reminded Maple of the green peppers she’d always detested.

But if she had to eat it to get out of the room, then she wasn’t going to stop, even if it meant holding her nose and biting back tears.

The one thing in Maple’s favor was the fact that this game had no mechanic that made her feel full. Players could taste things, but no matter how much they ate, they’d never be stuffed.

“Munch, munch… Oh, Mr. Dragon! Thanks for breathing on me! Chew, chew. That adds a nice bit of spice. Kinda helps hide the green pepperiness.”

She steadily worked toward the torso. After nearly five hours of eating, there was nothing left but bones.

Maple looked around, wondering if she should get started on the leftover tail only for all the bones to fall onto the ground as the whole thing stopped moving. Light appeared all around the dragon’s corpse right before it vanished.

Having chewed all the way through a hole in the system’s logic, Maple had finally defeated the dragon.

Where the dragon had been moments before, a glowing magic circle suddenly appeared—along with a treasure chest.

“Skill: Hydra Eater acquired. Subsequently, Poison Nullification has evolved to Hydra.”

“You are now level eighteen.”

Maple first spent her twenty new stat points on VIT.

Her base stat for VIT was now 150.

“Okay! I have even more defense!”

Next, she checked out her new skills. Maple had never expected there to be one called Hydra Eater.

Hydra Eater

Nullifies poison and paralysis status effects.

Condition

Defeat a poison dragon with HP Drain.

Apparently, eating monsters counted as an HP Drain. It seemed highly unlikely anyone but Maple had ever even tried this.

Technically, eating food did help HP recover a little.

That said, this was clearly not how the developers had intended for players to acquire the skill. The expected method was likely much, much easier. No one would subject themselves to eating a rotting dragon piece by piece if they had a choice.

Hydra

Allows free use of the poison dragon’s power.

Grants the use of poison magic at the cost of MP.

Condition

Defeat a poison dragon with HP Drain after acquiring Poison Nullification.

Maple shivered with excitement.

“I finally have a decent way to attack! And poison? That’s perfect for me!”

All she had to do was apply the status effect and wait. A very effective technique for a defense build.

“MP could be a problem…but I still want to spend all my points on VIT…”

She pondered this for a while but then remembered the treasure chest and put other thoughts aside.

The treasure chest was quite large. Nine feet wide, six feet deep, and three feet tall.

This was Maple’s first treasure chest, and she gulped with anticipation. A wave of nervous excitement shot through her.

She slowly lifted the lid and peered inside.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Maple was so excited, her voice shot up.

Inside was a great shield. It was mostly black, with decorative red flourishes and a large red crystal embedded in the center.

There was also a set of armor, clearly designed to pair with the shield. It had an imposing gleam and a rose relief that wasn’t too garish but still drew the eye.

Last was a pitch-black short sword, with a beautiful glittering garnet embedded in the scabbard.

“This…is…perfect! Ugh, it looks so cool!”

Maple quickly picked them up and read the descriptions.

Unique Series

One-of-a-kind equipment exclusive to the first player to solo a dungeon boss on their first attempt.

Only one per dungeon. This equipment may not be gifted.

Night’s Facsimile

[VIT +20] [Destructive Growth]

Skill Slot: Empty

Black Rose Armor

[VIT +25] [Destructive Growth]

Skill Slot: Empty

New Moon

[VIT +15] [Destructive Growth]

Skill Slot: Empty

This armor was only for Maple. Even the short sword buffed VIT, throwing any idea of attacking out the window. If anyone besides Maple even tried to use this, they’d never be able to take advantage of it.

“I’ll have to look up skill slots and Destructive Growth when I get back!”

Maple carefully put all three pieces into her inventory and stepped into the magic circle, which instantly transported her back to town.

***

As soon as she arrived, Maple spent her few remaining coins on a room for the night.

The game’s inns allowed you to sleep in-game, but that wasn’t Maple’s goal today.

“First, I have to look those up.”

Destructive Growth

When destroyed, this equipment is restored to its original form, growing stronger based on the damage taken.

The repairs happen instantly and are not influenced by stats at the moment of destruction.

Skill Slot

You can sacrifice one of your skills, attaching it to a weapon.

Skills attached this way can never be recovered.

The attached skills can be activated five times per day at zero MP cost.

Additional usages beyond that require the standard MP.

You unlock one slot every fifteen levels.

“Heh-heh…these sound cool! And powerful!”

Certain she’d get more slots in the future, Maple didn’t hesitate to pair Hydra with her short sword, New Moon. She wouldn’t have to worry about her MP anymore.

“And now, the moment I’ve been waiting for—time to equip everything!”

Maple donned all her new gear and checked herself out in the mirror. She looked much more formidable than she had in her starter loadout, so Maple was thoroughly satisfied.

“Yessssssssssss! I look so good!”

She spent upward of an hour posing in the mirror. You know, getting used to her new equipment.

“Heh-heh-heh… Time to hit the town!”

Maple was acting like she was all dressed up with places to go, but she couldn’t quite shake her nervousness.

And she was right to be nervous. This gear set drew even more attention than most top players—the aura radiating off it turned every head. Maple just failed to notice the majority of the looks she received.

It was getting pretty late, but Maple wanted to do one last hunt, so she set off once more.