I woke up to the feeling of something poking into my back. It wasn’t the soft, comfortable mattress I had fallen asleep on the night before, and this was definitely not my room. For one, my room didn’t smell like damp stone and mildew. For another, I didn’t own a medieval torture device disguised as a bed. My eyes fluttered open, and for a second, I couldn’t quite place where I was, I was not home.


    I jerked upright, panic surging through me as I took in my surroundings. "What the hell?" I muttered, my voice echoing slightly off the stone walls. It wasn’t much of a room—if you could even call it that. More like a cold, damp, underground prison cell with no bars. The floor was rough stone, the walls too. A few sputtering torches were mounted sporadically along the walls, casting flickering, uneven light. Their flames didn’t inspire warmth or safety—they felt more like something out of a horror movie.


    I shoved the thin, threadbare blanket off me and swung my legs over the edge of the bed—or rather, the wooden slab that was pretending to be one. My feet hit the cold stone floor with a slap, and I winced. Great, I wasn’t even wearing shoes.


    Okay, okay, think, I told myself. You’ve clearly been kidnapped by a group of eccentric medieval cosplayers, dumped in some kind of medieval dungeon, and they’re… what? Going to ransom you? To who and for what - pocket lint?


    Or maybe… sacrifice you to their LARPing god?


    I groaned, clutching my head. My heart was still pounding, but I forced myself to take deep breaths. Freaking out wasn’t going to help. "You’re fine," I mumbled. "Everything is fine."


    Ding!


    Status Updated:


    <ul>


    <li>New Title Unlocked: Delusional Optimist</li>


    </ul>


    Huh? I blinked and looked around. What the hell was that? It wasn’t a sound I’d ever heard before, not from any of the torches or...anything else in this room. But it was unmistakable, like one of those cheesy in-game notifications. I didn’t want to acknowledge the possibility, but I couldn’t deny it: a notification had appeared in my peripheral vision. Literally.


    There it was, hovering in the corner of my view like some sort of AR interface. Blinking softly, waiting for me to acknowledge it.


    I tried ignoring it. Maybe if I didn’t give it attention, it would go away. Like some strange hallucination born from my rising panic. Unfortunately, it didn’t budge.


    With a reluctant sigh, I looked at it directly, and instantly, more information popped up.


    Title: Delusional OptimistEffect: +5% chance to maintain calm in stressful situations.


    I stared at it for a long moment. What...what the hell was that? My brain scrambled to catch up. Game interface? RPG-style pop-ups? Titles?


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    “Nope, nope, nope.” I waved my hands in front of my face as if trying to shoo it away. The notification stayed there for a moment longer before fading out of view, leaving behind the soft flicker of torchlight and the heavy silence of the stone room.


    Alright, this was clearly a dream. There was no other explanation. Some kind of vivid, really unpleasant dream. Maybe I’d eaten something weird before bed and this was my brain’s way of processing it. That had to be it.


    I stood up, rubbing my arms to fend off the chill. My clothes were simple—a plain shirt and trousers, a little rough against the skin. Not the pajamas I went to sleep in. Yeah, definitely a dream.


    Now that I had a (sort of) handle on my situation, I took another look around the room. It wasn’t exactly big, maybe the size of a walk-in closet, and there was a single doorless archway leading out. I hesitated. Should I explore? Or should I just wait here and wake up?


    As if on cue, my stomach growled loudly.


    I took that as a sign.


    The next room was slightly bigger than the first, with a chest sitting against the far wall. It was old, the wood dark with age, the iron bindings rusty. But it didn’t look like it was falling apart, at least. Curiosity—and my general lack of anything useful—got the better of me. I walked over and knelt beside the chest.


    Maybe it would have something useful inside. Maybe this dream had decided to throw me a bone.


    I lifted the lid with a creak, half-expecting it to collapse in my hands, but it held together. Inside, I found some clothes—an old tunic, pants, boots—and, sitting neatly on top, a small dagger. Or rather, a dirk. It looked like a dagger but with a slightly longer, narrow blade. I picked it up, testing the weight. It wasn’t much, but it was better than being unarmed.


    “Inventory, I guess?” I muttered, wondering if that would do anything. The dirk stayed firmly in my hand.


    Great, no magical inventory to stash things in. I sighed, pulling on the boots and tucking the dirk into my waistband.


    Feeling slightly better armed, I moved on. The third room was...well, mostly empty, but it had a ladder leading upward. Finally, some progress! I didn’t know where I was, but up was definitely the right direction.


    The sound of my boots scuffing against the stone echoed loudly as I moved toward the ladder, every creak and shuffle amplified in the eerie quiet of the cellar. I paused at the bottom, peering up. The ladder looked sturdy enough, leading to a trapdoor above. My heart thudded in my chest, and for a moment, I hesitated.


    What if there were people up there? What if they were the ones who put me down here?


    Ding!


    New Skill Unlocked: Common Sense (Level 1).


    "Well, that’s just rude," I muttered, shaking my head. At least my dream was self-aware.


    With a sigh, I grabbed the ladder and started climbing. Each rung felt solid under my hands, which did nothing to shake the feeling of unreality that clung to the edges of my mind. This was still a dream. It had to be. Game notifications, titles, status screens—this was stuff straight out of a video game, not real life.


    I reached the trapdoor and pushed it open, wincing at the creak it made. Light flooded down from above, bright enough that I had to squint. For a second, I hesitated again, one hand gripping the edge of the trapdoor.


    What was I going to find up there? More stone? More weird torches? Or maybe—


    I shook my head. No use overthinking it. Whatever was up there, I’d deal with it. Dream or not, I was going to figure this out.


    With one final breath, I hauled myself up through the trapdoor.