The glowing notification hovered before Wade, bright and unignorable in the aftermath of battle.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Level: 10↑]

[+5 Unassigned Stat Points]

He smiled faintly at the sight. Hitting level 10 felt good. To him, it meant progress, strength, and validation that all the grinding was paying off.

He was about to dismiss the screen when it shimmered and changed.

[New Class Threshold Unlocked!]

[New Growth Per Level: +10 Unassigned Stat Points.]

[Bonus: +100 Unassigned Stat Points.]

Wade froze, his mouth slightly open. "Wait… what?"

He blinked once, twice, but the words didn't vanish. If anything, they seemed to glow brighter, as if the universe itself was emphasizing them for him to see.

One hundred unassigned stat points? A new growth rate?

That… actually made sense. In a way.

He quickly racked his brain for what he knew about adventurer progression.

Every ten levels marked a threshold, a type of milestone where an adventurer's growth rate changed.

Usually, this meant their automatic class stat distribution increased, for example, a warrior gaining an extra point or three in Strength or Constitution per ten levels.

But unassigned stat points? Those were rare. Almost unheard of, except in certain rare Classes.

Wade's Class, Dimensional Merchant, had already broken most rules of the system, but this was on another level entirely.

Instead of receiving five points per level, he'd now get ten. Ten. That meant twice as much freedom in shaping his own growth.

And on top of that, he'd just been gifted another hundred points outright.

He let out a low whistle. "Now that's… something else."

Before he could think of how to spend them, Sebastian's gruff voice pulled him back to the present.

"Good work, everyone," Sebastian said, hefting his axe.

"You two," he pointed at Wade and Ingrid, "handled yourselves well. But we don't have time to stand here congratulating ourselves. The next ring will open soon."

Wade nodded to himself. Shattered Hall was a single layer dungeon, which meant it had only three rings.

Each ring holds a wave of monsters, and every twenty minutes, regardless of whether they'd cleared the dungeon or not, the next ring triggers automatically.

"Unless you want to get surrounded, pick up the loot fast." Sebastian ordered.

"Got it," Wade said.

The others agreed.

Wade jogged forward, his boots crunching over shards of shattered wraiths that still glimmered faintly across the mirrored floor.

The room, once pristine and reflective, now looked like a battlefield made of broken glass.

As he swept his eyes across the floor, his interface began pinging with small loot indicators. He crouched and began collecting.

The first few piles were simply Stat Stones. He pocketed them quickly, since stat stones were always useful.

Then he found two small Coin Chests. He cracked one open, watching as the coins gleamed in the faint light of the broken hall.

A quick check revealed that each chest held about 500 coins. One thousand total.

He frowned. It wasn't bad, but after what he'd seen in his own private dungeon, it felt… underwhelming.

He glanced at the fading mist where the last wraiths had died. "Huh. I guess I've been spoiled," he muttered.

"Find anything good?" Rowan called from a few meters away, wiping his staff clean on a torn piece of his robe.

"Just stat stones and coins," Wade replied. "Nothing impressive."

Rowan chuckled. "That's how most adventurers start talking after getting a few dungeon runs under their belt. You'll be missing this kind of haul once you start paying for things out of pocket."

Wade grinned faintly. "Guess I should enjoy it while it lasts."

A whistle from Sebastian drew their attention. "Everyone, regroup!"

Wade jogged back to the group, meeting them near the center of the room. The mirrors along the walls had started to hum again, faint vibrations building in the glass.

Sebastian's eyes narrowed. "We're not moving on just yet. We hold here."

Ingrid turned, brow raised. "Hold position? Here?"

He nodded. "You and Wade did well with the wraiths. Since you already did well here and are used to it, I see no reason to change to an unfamiliar location."

Wade looked around at the cracked floors and shattered mirrors. "You're sure that's wise? The place looks like it's barely holding together."

Before Sebastian could respond, a notification appeared before their eyes.

[Scenario Activated!]

[The Rumbling]

"Oh, great," Rowan muttered, already backing up a step. "That doesn't sound good."

The floor beneath them began to vibrate. Small shards of glass skittered across the ground, rattling like dry leaves in the wind.

Then came the deep crack.

A fissure split the mirrored throne in two, the sound echoing through the hall like thunder. The walls began to tremble, fine dust falling from the ceiling.

"I think," Rowan said grimly, "the dungeon doesn't want us staying here."

As if to confirm his words, another deep rumble shook the chamber. One of the massive crystal pillars supporting the ceiling splintered, chunks of mirrored stone raining down.

Sebastian's eyes widened. "Move! Everyone, out! NOW!"

The command snapped them into motion.

They ran.

The throne behind them collapsed in a roar of breaking glass, shards exploding outward in a glittering storm.

Wade ducked instinctively, raising his arm to shield his face as he sprinted after the others. The floor cracked beneath their feet, jagged lines spreading like lightning.

Chunks of ceiling began crashing down, smashing into the ground where they'd stood seconds earlier.

Wade jumped over a fallen beam, teeth gritted. The air was filled with dust, light, and the deafening sound of a world falling apart.

Sebastian led the charge towards the only remaining doorway. "Keep moving!"

Rowan threw up barriers behind them as they ran, the shimmering walls of energy deflecting falling debris for only a few seconds before shattering.

Ingrid fired an arrow ahead, using its light to guide their way through the thickening dust.

Wade sprinted harder, muscles burning. His boots slipped on the fractured glass flooring, and he nearly lost his footing when the ground ahead collapsed into a pit.

He teleported as he fell, appearing just ahead of the gap.

"Go! Go! Go!" Sebastian's voice boomed over the chaos.

They burst through the door, the last of the mirrored ceiling collapsing behind them with a final, thunderous crash.

The tremors didn't stop.

The long corridor beyond them began to crumble just as violently, the walls caving in, the floor cracking beneath their boots.

Wade didn't look back. He just ran.

The rumbling grew louder, almost alive, like something massive was shifting deep within the dungeon's bones.

The light from the collapsing ceiling grew brighter, too bright, until it felt like the dungeon itself was breaking apart.

Then, sunlight.

They burst through the final archway in a spray of dust and debris, leaping clear just as the entire corridor behind them gave way, sealing itself off with a roar.

Wade hit the ground and rolled, coughing as the air cleared. When he finally looked up, blinking against the sudden brightness, his jaw slackened.

They weren't in a corridor anymore.

They stood in a vast garden, sunlight filtering through tall crystal trees that sparkled like gemstones.

Flowers of glass shimmered in the breeze, their petals refracting the light into soft rainbows. In the center stood a cracked fountain, water trickling from its broken basin.

But beauty wasn't all that waited for them.

All around, crawling out from the shadow of the glass trees and the edges of the paths, were Mirror Wraiths.

Their blue eyes glowed in the sunlight, and their claws scraped across the ground.

Sebastian raised his axe again, planting his foot forward.

"Round two," he said grimly.

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