1 Prologue

I had always dreamed of becoming strong; I mean, who hasn't? Someone who puts everything on the line to be better and becomes looked up to while doing it. That's what I wanted to do, that's the type of person I wanted to be, so I trained since I was a kid and became an adventurer to fight in dungeons and get even stronger. I didn't have any ulterior motifs like avenging someone or getting revenge or anything like that; I just wanted to get stronger, maybe fight some stronger people and monsters too. One day I joined a party of people, and we ended up regularly adventuring together; even though I hadn't remembered any of their names, we were practically friends (more like acquaintances), but things would soon take a turn for the worst. This is the story of how I, Madison Madrena, became the strongest in the world.

(On the Fifth Floor of an Unnamed Dungeon)

[Quest - Inspect the Fifth Floor of the Dungeon For Suspicious Activity]

Adventurer #1: "Too Easy, and I thought this floor was supposed to be difficult. Guess we're just amazing."

Adventurer #2: "I know, right. At this rate, we'll be done with our quest in no ti-"

Suddenly without any warning or indication, the wall next to them had been destroyed, and after the dust had cleared, the group had realized what had caused it. It was a werewolf, and it instantly killed the party member talking when it broke through the wall. Without giving us even a moment to gather our composure, it charged towards us. It injured two more people from our group before hitting me into a nearby wall, where I fell and became immobilized.

I looked at the last member fighting... no, struggling to survive against this monster of overwhelming power, and realized that no matter what I did, I wouldn't survive. Even our best member was barely clinging to life on the floor from when we were charged at. None of us could have beat that, not even if it hadn't surprised us.

After looking down, I realized how bad my condition was, I was bleeding profusely from the scratch that had sent me into the wall, and it was likely that I had broken a few bones.

Madison: "If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well go out like a goddamn hero. [Memento Mori]."

[Memento Mori - Quadruples all of the user's attributes, and all stats are fully replenished until the designated target(s) are defeated, exit the user's immediate vicinity, or the user of this skill dies. The backlash of this skill will result in your death. YOU WILL DIE]

Upon activating the skill, she could feel her stats increasing exponentially, and soon after, a blue window popped up in front of her, which displayed only two words, [Good Luck]

She sat there dumbfounded for a time due to the window that appeared before her eyes but quickly stood up and charged at the werewolf, which was now attacking the last standing member of the party. In just a moment, she grabbed the werewolf's head from behind and smashed it into the wall, then proceeded to grab inside its mouth and tear the jaw and head away from each other. It hadn't even been ten seconds, and the werewolf was in a pool of blood with its jaw unhinged like a snake.

A few more seconds pass and Madison felt a sharp pain in her chest before collapsing to the floor next to the monster; and after about five seconds, the pain subsided, and Madison stopped breathing.

She had died, and she did so without even getting close to achieving her goal. All she could think of were the regrets of the past, and all she could see was the pitch-black void. It felt as if she was sinking in water and falling even deeper into despair with every moment that passed.

Madison - 'dead at sixteen, what a pitiful life.'

??? - "so, do you want to keep going? Go on living, I mean?"

Madison - '!!!'

Since she was dead, she could not speak (for obvious reasons)

??? - "You set a goal, can't achieve it, regret it, then want to try again. The ideology for mortals is confusing."

Madison - '...'

??? - "how about a deal, you want to live again, and I want some entertainment."

Madison thought this offer was exactly what she wanted but couldn't think of a way to relay that to whatever this thing was.

??? - "Excellent. I'll even give you my blessing. Just remember to keep your end of the bargain; if you don't, you will suffer the consequences."

At this point, Madison felt as if this being was reading her thoughts or something, and after what felt like a few seconds, the being spoke again

??? - "Goodbye, and Good Luck."

Madison - '!!'