Reality overload

A forest clearing

Moonlight dripping through the branches like silver paint poured over the world, catching on leaves, glinting off blades of grass, turning the whole clearing into a stage lit by a single celestial spotlight.

“ARRRGH…!”

A player’s avatar dissolved into white particles at the boots of the woman who killed him. The particles drifted upward like fireflies before fading into nothing. Coins clattered to the ground, bouncing once, twice, before settling beside a wizard staff that rolled in a lazy circle.

She didn’t even watch him fade.

She just sighed, bored, like the kill had inconvenienced her more than the victim.

Her lackey hovered behind her, wringing his hands, shoulders hunched like he expected her to snap at him for breathing too loudly. He bent down to pick up the loot, fumbling with the coins as if afraid they’d explode.

“Uh… boss? That guy was level one. You didn’t even let him—”

“He talked too slow,” she said, flicking her hair back with a dramatic flourish that suggested she practiced it in the mirror.

Her voice was smooth, sharp, and dripping with arrogance, the kind of voice that made you want to punch it and apologize to the air afterward.

“People who waste my time deserve to respawn.”

The lackey blinked. “He said ‘hi?”

“And it took him three whole seconds.”

She rolled her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn’t fall out.

“Pathetic.”

She opened her menu with a lazy swipe, like she expected the UI to bow to her. The holographic interface shimmered into existence, casting a faint blue glow across her face. The world notification hovered there, pulsing softly like it was nervous to be in her presence.

WORLD NOTIFICATION

Player: Kris — LVL 2

First to unlock Hidden Class: Ice Princess

First to equip Legendary Item: Battle Attire of the Ice Princess

The woman’s lips curled into a slow, predatory smile, the kind that said she’d already decided someone else’s fate and was now savoring the anticipation.

“Well, well… look at this little snowflake.”

The lackey leaned in, squinting. “Uh… Ice Princess? That sounds kinda cute.”

She laughed. loud, mocking, cruel, the kind of laugh that made birds flee the trees.

“Cute means weak. Weak means loot. And loot means mine.”

She tapped the notification like it personally offended her existence.

“A level‑two nobody gets a legendary? While I’m out here doing all the work? Please. The devs must be drunk.”

The lackey nodded frantically. “Totally unfair. Completely rigged. Probably a bug.”

She stepped closer, voice dropping into a cold, smug whisper that slithered through the clearing.

“She’s new. She’s clueless. She’s wearing a dress that screams ‘rob me.’ And she’s alone.”

The lackey hesitated, shifting from foot to foot. “We… we don’t actually know that.”

She turned her head slowly, giving him a look that could peel paint off a wall.

“She’s level two.”

He shut up instantly.

She sheathed her blade with a flourish, like she was performing for an invisible audience that she assumed adored her.

“Spread the word. Quietly. Anyone who spots a girl with frost effects or a weird blue dress reports directly to me.”

“And if someone else finds her first?”

Her smile widened, sharp, cruel, and absolutely punchable.

“Then we take her from them. Obviously.”

She stepped past him, hands on her hips, strutting like she owned the entire forest and had personally signed the deed.

“Tell the others we’ve got a new target. A legendary‑wearing princess who doesn’t know how this world works.”

She paused, glancing back with a smirk that made the lackey flinch like he’d been slapped.

“When I find her… she’ll hand that gear over herself. With gratitude.”

“Oh… and make sure you sell that quickly. We don’t want anyone asking questions, do we, my little gofer?”

The lackey squeaked something resembling agreement.

She vanished into the trees, humming to herself, a tune far too cheerful for someone who’d just murdered a stranger. The forest swallowed her up, leaving only the faint rustle of leaves and the lingering sense that something terrible had just been set in motion.

I was currently in a tight spot. Literally.

The crevasse was so narrow it felt like the cave was trying to compress me into a Kris‑flavored granola bar. The air was stale and heavy, sticking to my skin like damp cloth, clinging to every inch of me like it wanted to be my new outfit.

(If you’ve ever been in a tight cave, you know. If you haven’t… congratulations on your life choices. Truly. Cherish them.)

The quiet was so loud it pressed against my eardrums. Every tiny sound, my breath, my heartbeat, the scrape of fabric, echoed like someone had turned the reverb up to max. My heartbeat thudded like someone drumming inside my skull with a wooden spoon.

“Crap… did it have to be so damn narrow?” I muttered, voice cracking as I squeezed into an even tighter section. The walls scraped my shoulders, ribs, hips, like the cave was trying to hug me to death.

A very aggressive, unwelcome hug.

My breath hitched. Then hitched again.

I wasn’t claustrophobic, but this was illegal levels of close.

“Calm down, Kris. You got this. No crappy cave is gonna slow me!”

A rock slid down my back.

I squeaked, dignity evaporating like steam. Dust puffed into my face, making me cough in a way that absolutely did not sound heroic. More like a dying accordion.

My heart rate spiked as a tremor rolled through the stone. For a moment I was convinced the cave was breathing.

Breathing.

Like it had lungs.

And opinions.

Thirty miserable minutes later, thirty minutes of scraping, squeezing, and mentally writing my will, the walls finally widened enough that I could almost walk normally. My lungs loosened. My shoulders dropped. I dared to hope.

Then I felt water around my feet.

Cold. Still. Black.

The tunnel dipped, and the water rose around my ankles like something creeping up to grab me.

I wasn’t afraid of tight spaces.

But tight spaces with ink‑black water?

Absolutely not. That was where my soul packed its bags, left a note, and moved to another dimension.

“Shit. Oh shit— I can’t d‑d‑do this, nope, n‑n‑no way!!” I babbled, voice pitching higher with every syllable. My male dignity was tossed aside like an overripe tomato someone yeeted off a balcony.

Then—

PING.

A message notification blasted through the cave like a gunshot.

I shrieked. Not yelled. Not shouted.

Shrieked.

The sound ricocheted off the walls, echoing back at me in increasingly humiliating layers.

Like the cave itself was mocking me.

｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡

It took me over five minutes to stop shaking long enough to open the notification.

Voice Message alert.

It was from Charlie.

“Hey, where are you? We’re on our way back from Cordova… I thought you died, but when you didn’t respawn with the rest of us I freaked a little. Not my proudest moment.”

Before I could even process that, another message popped up.

“Also I saw you were the first person to equip a legendary…”

Oh no.

Oh no no no no—

She knows!!!

“Battle DRESS… of the Ice Princess!!!

☆〜（ゝ。∂） You have to show me… PRINCESSS!!!! Eeeek!”

Her words slammed into my brain like a meteor.

My face went cold.

Not metaphorically, literally cold.

A thin layer of frost crackled across my cheeks in place of a blush. My reflection in the water made me look like a beautiful ice sculpture. It spread up to my ears like my embarrassment was trying to freeze me solid. I slapped my hands over my face, which only made the frost spread faster.

“Ehh!?!”

Great. Fantastic. Amazing.

I was so embarrassed I was cryofreezing my own skull.

But hearing her voice, even teasing calmed me. Just a bit. Enough to breathe again.

I opened my message center, clicked her name, and started recording.

“Well… yeah, seems like I survived. I’m stuck in a claustrophobic nightmare, a lot of things happened… And as for the dress — EERM — I just did it for the stats, don’t misunderstand, OK!!”

My voice cracked halfway through. Then squeaked. Then broke entirely. The frost on my cheeks thickened in mortification.

The embarrassment made me dizzy. Cold mist was beginning to come off my head like a reverse kettle.

“Ok… I’ve chastised myself enough. Time to calm down and get out of here,” I muttered. I continued walking through the water, using the walls to steady myself as panic began to creep back in, but I shoved it aside, pushing deeper into the cramped space.

Eventually the cave widened. The water had risen to my waist at this point. I stood there for a moment, staring out at the black water that had become a small lake. The ceiling disappeared upward into darkness, like the cave had swallowed the sky.

I began to wade toward the opening, catching sight of a shore across the way. I made it about halfway when I saw a tunnel start to glow with torchlight, accompanied by the chattering of goblins.

Without thinking, I doused my torch in the water, hissing and sputtering, as darkness swallowed me whole.

A moment later I saw them. Two grey‑green little gremlins walking out of the tunnel onto the shore, dragging something to the waters edge, I froze (pun intended), not daring to move as one kicked whatever it was towards the water. After a brief argument, the smaller of the two was forced to drag it to the waters edge rolling it into the water. A brief flicker of something white and shiny as it splashed.

I watched them retreat back into the tunnel, the torchlight fading as they left.

As quietly as I could I made my way closer to the shore, my curiosity getting the better of me as I lit a torch and looked around. Unfortunately the sound or roiling water behind me sounding loud in the echoing cave force me to scramble out of the water.

I didn’t wait to see what it was. Deciding it was best to leave sooner rather than later.

There was no way I could afford to have an encounter right now. Turning to the tunnel the goblins had went into, I began to follow where they had gone.

It did t take long to make it back to where the goblins were. Fire light, gibbering noises, and jeering laughter. Alerting me to where they were.

Creeping up to the edge of the tunnel, I peered around the in to see how many I was dealing with. There were three of the ugly little brutes.

The two I had seen earlier, and a third standing at the entrance not five feet in front of me. It was fingering a wicked looking blade. Picking at its dirt encrusted nails.

I pressed myself self against the cold stone, breath shallow, watching the three goblins bicker and jabber around the fire. Their shadows jittered across the walls like drunken insects.

Three of them. Tight space. No room to swing anything big. And if one screams… the whole nest wakes up.

My palms tingled, not with fear this time, but with that faint, unreliable frost that came with my new class. Not strong enough to freeze a lake. But maybe… just maybe… enough to silence someone.

crouching low, I creeped forward until I was only a few feet behind the goblin standing guard at the side chamber. It was still picking at its nails with that filthy knife, muttering to itself.

Perfect.

I exhaled slowly, letting the cold gather at my fingertips. A thin sheen of frost crawled across my hand, weak, but should be enough. Feeling the mana drain at the use of the ice

Reaching out I clamped my hand over its mouth. A crackle of ice snapped around its head, over its mouth, silencing it . I yanked it backward, and drove the dagger, I had ripped from its grasp into its spine. The creature spasmed once, twice, then went limp.

One down.

The other two were still arguing, completely oblivious.

I yanked the now frozen knife from the dead goblin’s back, it broke free with a soft crick, the corpse dissolving into light,

+250xp

I slid along the wall, keeping low. The nearest goblin had its back turned, poking the fire with a stick.

I flicked my fingers. A tiny shard of ice that had formed in my hand barely the size of a pebble, but sharp enough.

I flung it hard.

The shard hit the goblin’s ear.

It grunted and spun around.

But I was already behind it. Driving the blade deep into its throat. Shattering into light particles.

+250xp

Two. Down

The last goblin finally noticed something was wrong. It turned, squinting into the dark.

I didn’t have time to think, as it stared at me for a long moment. Surprise on its face.

I kicked the fire pit.

Embers scattered, smoke billowed, and the goblin coughed violently, waving its arms.

I lunged through the smoke, grabbed its ankle, and yanked.

The goblin hit the ground with a wet thud.

Before it could scream, I ruthlessly slammed my palm over its mouth, frost blooming instantly across its lips, and drove the stolen knife into its chest. Once. Twice. Quick. Quiet.

The goblin twitched, then disappeared.

+250xp

PING…

CONGRATULATIONS YOU’VE LEVELED UPSilence returned to the chamber.

Kris crouched there, chest heaving, frost drifting off her hands like pale smoke.

i read the notification full of excitement.

“…Okay,” she whispered to herself, shaking out her fingers. “Stealth. I can do stealth. Totally.”