Solomon leaned against the cool stone wall. The adrenaline from the fight finally faded, leaving behind a deep, aching exhaustion in his muscles. He slid down the masonry and sat directly on the dusty cobblestones, letting the heavy greatsword rest across his knees. He closed his eyes and took several long, deep breaths.

Lune stepped away from the pile of ash. She reached into a small leather pouch attached to her belt and pulled out a sleek, compact silver device. She tapped the crystal screen, opening a front-facing mirror function, and immediately began checking her reflection. She carefully adjusted her golden hair, ensuring no dirt or ash had ruined her elegant appearance.

The chat screen hovering near Solomon’s face continued to scroll rapidly with unabashed degeneracy.

[GoonLord: THE WAY SHE FIXES HER HAIR I CANNOT BREATHE!]

[MommyIssues: ARF ARF ARF LOOK AT HER!]

[DownBadAnon: I WOULD DRINK THE ASHES SHE JUST STEPPED ON!]

’What is wrong with these people? I hope they don’t get me banned.’ Solomon ignored the floating text and cracked his eyes open. "Hey. What is the current time and date?"

Lune didn’t look up from her device. "It is three in the afternoon, on the twenty-second."

Solomon blinked slowly. He ran a hand over his face as the realization hit him. It had been well over twenty-four hours since he first stepped through the portal into the Labyrinth of Eden. He had not slept a single wink. The constant adrenaline, the endless traps, and the dark, unchanging environment had completely warped his sense of time.

’No wonder I feel completely dead,’ Solomon said to himself. ’That also explains why all the original viewers vanished midway through the stream. They went to sleep.’ He rubbed his tired eyes. ’I was so busy dodging pendulum axes and hidden spikes that I barely even read the chat for the last twelve hours.’

Lune snapped her compact device shut and slipped it back into her pouch. She looked down at him with her arms crossed.

"Your fighting style is entirely barbaric," she remarked, her voice flat and critical. "You rely entirely on excessive movements, wild leaps, and brute force. It is absolutely no wonder you are exhausted. Wasting that much stamina in a prolonged fight is incredibly unwise."

Solomon sighed. Although her tone was incredibly harsh and condescending, she was telling the absolute truth. He already knew his fighting style was terribly inefficient. But without the ability to use his talent, and while wielding garbage equipment, he was forced to rely on raw momentum and extreme agility just to survive.

"Is your talent simply jumping around like a panicked rabbit?" she asked, raising an elegant eyebrow.

"I cannot use my talent," Solomon replied, resting his head against the stone wall.

Lune tilted her head slightly. "Is that due to a specific restriction of this labyrinth, or the type of enemies we are facing?"

"Neither," Solomon said plainly. "I simply cannot activate it. I have absolutely no idea how to use it or trigger it. You can go ahead and make fun of me like everyone else usually does."

Lune stared at him for a long moment. Her expression softened slightly, losing a fraction of its usual arrogance. "Why would I make fun of you for that?"

Solomon raised an eyebrow, surprised by her response.

"If you were completely useless and lacked the physical skills to back up your barbaric fighting style, I would definitely mock you," she continued, her voice losing its sharp edge. "But an awakened talent is not something a person can actively choose. The system forces it upon us without any explanation or manual. Being unable to comprehend it right away is not your fault."

Solomon let out a small, genuine chuckle. "You know, you can actually match your words with your beauty when you decide to say something nice."

Lune’s face instantly flushed. Her emerald eyes narrowed into a fierce glare. "Watch your mouth, you barbarian! Do not speak to me with such inappropriate familiarity!"

Solomon smirked and raised his hands in mock surrender.

She huffed and looked away, crossing her arms tighter. "What exactly is your talent, anyway? Assuming you do not mind sharing it."

"It is called Convergence," Solomon answered.

Lune turned back to him and furrowed her brow. She tapped her chin with a gloved finger, her mind clearly searching through her extensive royal education and knowledge of awakened abilities. After a full minute of silent pondering, she slowly shook her head.

"I have absolutely no idea what that is," Lune admitted.

"Which rank of adventurer are you officially registered under?" Lune asked, adjusting the silver scabbard at her hip.

Solomon let out a dry laugh and stretched his aching legs out on the cold stone floor. "I am completely unregistered. Since I couldn’t figure out how to use my talent, absolutely no guild or organization wanted to take me in. I am only here right now because I just enrolled in the academy."

Lune’s emerald eyes widened in genuine surprise. She looked at his cheap, dust-covered uniform and the chipped iron sword he had finally sheathed.

"You held your ground against a fully armored undead knight as an unregistered student," she said, her voice entirely devoid of its earlier condescension. "That is actually quite impressive."

"It was nothing," Solomon replied, waving off the compliment. "If I cannot even survive a basic labyrinth like this, then I will not survive out in the real world at all."

Lune frowned and shook her head. "This is not how a basic labyrinth is supposed to operate. There is a massive anomaly occurring in this realm right now. The dimensional portals are completely malfunctioning and throwing everyone into the wrong places."

Solomon sat up a little straighter. "What do you mean?"

"I was actively clearing the nearby dungeon," Lune explained, crossing her arms. "I finished my objective and stepped through the exit portal. Instead of taking me outside, it completely rerouted me and threw me directly into this labyrinth. I immediately encountered a squad of undead soldiers, and while trying to find a way out, I ran into you fighting that knight."

Solomon rubbed his temples. "So this place is completely broken."

"Exactly," Lune nodded. "The labyrinth is supposed to be incredibly easy and entirely risk-free. It is designed for beginners. You are only supposed to encounter low-level monsters in here, like acidic slimes, cave spiders, and one-eyed bats. It is mostly just traps and small rewards."

She gestured down the dark corridor they had just fought in. "Even in the lower-level dungeons nearby, you only face standard monsters. Goblins, dire wolves, horned kobolds, and basic orcs. They are predictable and easy to manage."

[LoreMaster: wait, she is right. undead do not spawn in the labyrinth.]

[User12: so where did they come from?]

"Outside the dungeon, out in the ruined kingdom itself, there are high-difficulty monsters," Lune continued, her tone growing serious. "But the corrupted undead, especially the soldiers and the knights, are strictly confined to the Eden Palace at the very center of the ruins. They are absolutely not supposed to be wandering around in the beginner labyrinth."

He had spent the last twenty-four hours fighting endgame-tier enemies in a tutorial zone.

"I am officially a B-rank adventurer," Lune stated, placing a hand on her hip. "And even I would never dare step foot inside the Eden Palace alone. The fact that its guardians are leaking into the labyrinth means something is horribly wrong with this realm."

Solomon let out a long, exhausted sigh and stared at the dark ceiling. He had completely bypassed the safe zones and spent his entire first day surviving an active anomaly.