The air in the Crystalline Labyrinth was dead. No wind, no scent, just a dry, static charge that clung to the back of his throat. Under a sky the color of a fresh bruise, Barry stood on a plain of polished black obsidian. Before him stretched a forest of jagged, purple crystals, each one taller than a skyscraper, forming a maze of impossible scale.
A simple, glowing objective hovered in his vision: Reach the Core.
He didn't run. He took a single, casual step.
The world blurred into a streak of gold and scarlet. The labyrinth, designed to disorient and trap, was rendered meaningless. He didn't follow the paths. He phased through crystal walls, ran across vertical surfaces, and treated the deadly, complex maze like a straight line.
Alarms shrieked through the psychic atmosphere. From the facets of the crystals, guardians emerged. They were humanoid shapes of solid light, armed with shimmering blades. They moved fast—faster than any human, faster than most metas.
To Barry, they were statues.
He didn't even throw a punch. He just ran past them. The wake of his passage, a vacuum of displaced air and raw Speed Force energy, shattered them into a million glittering motes of light. They didn't have time to register his presence before they ceased to exist.
Level 1 Clear. Reward: 10 XP, 20 Credits.
Level 2 Clear. Reward: 10 XP, 20 Credits.
The notifications flickered in the corner of his mind, trivial and barely noticed. He was a force of nature moving through a model town. He didn't fight the environment; he commanded it. When a massive crystal spike shot from the ground, he didn't dodge. He vibrated his hand and touched it, and the entire structure dissolved into harmless sand.
Level 10 Clear. Reward: 15 XP, 30 Credits. Total Bonus: 100 XP, 200 Credits.
The labyrinth shifted. The crystals turned a venomous green, and the guardians now fired beams of corrosive energy. It changed nothing. He ran through the beams, the energy harmlessly absorbed by him. He blew past Level 20, then 30, the rewards ticking up slightly with each milestone, the challenges crumbling before his absolute speed.
He wasn't even breathing hard. This wasn't a test of his power; it was a test of his control. And he was in perfect control.
At Level 40, the world transformed again. The maze vanished, replaced by a vast, circular arena suspended in a starless void. A colossal golem, assembled from the shattered remains of the previous guardians, rose before him. It was a hundred feet tall, a titan of concentrated light, its roar a silent wave of pressure that would have liquefied a normal human.
Barry stopped running. He stood in the center of the arena, looking up at the behemoth.
It swung a fist the size of a bus, moving at hypersonic speeds.
Barry didn't move from the spot. He simply raised his open palm.
The titan's fist connected with a cataclysmic BOOM that shook the void. Energy flared, blinding and violent.
When it cleared, Barry was still standing there, his hand raised. The titan's fist had stopped dead against his palm, without him moving an inch. Not a crack appeared on the ground beneath his feet. He had absorbed all the kinetic energy, every ounce of that world-shattering force.
He looked up at the stunned golem.
"My turn," he said.
He didn't draw back his arm. He just pushed.
The same kinetic energy he had absorbed, amplified by his own strength, shot back through the titan's arm. The effect was instantaneous. Cracks of golden light spiderwebbed from the point of impact, racing across the giant's body. It froze, a look of what might have been shock on its featureless face, and then detonated from the inside out, filling the void with a silent, beautiful firework of dissolving light.
Level 50 Clear. Reward: 500 XP, 1000 Credits. Milestone Bonus: 2500 XP, 5000 Credits.
The arena dissolved, and he was back in the obsidian plain, standing before a massive, pulsating core of pure white energy—the heart of the labyrinth. It was over.
A final, comprehensive notification scrolled before his eyes.
Dungeon Segment Complete: Levels 1-50.
Total Experience Gained: 5,850 XP
Total Credits Gained: 11,700 C
Level Up!
USER: Bartholomew "Barry" Allen
LEVEL: 13
EXPERIENCE: 1130/1600
HEALTH: 100%
ENERGY SIGNATURE: OPTIMAL
CREDITS: 17,400
Rewards Consolidated. No Ability or Skill upgrades awarded at this time. Proceed to the next segment? Y/N
Barry let out a slow breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He felt... fine. A little energized, maybe. Like he'd just finished a light warm-up. He had gained a level and a small fortune in this system's currency, all in what felt like ten minutes.
He looked at the pulsing core. This was just the first segment. The "easy" part. The system was adaptive. It had thrown a planet-killer at him at Level 40, and he had swatted it aside without effort. What would it throw at him next?
A part of him, the part that was still a scientist, was wildly curious. What were the limits of this simulation? What kind of challenges could it possibly create that would actually challenge him now?
But the larger part, the hero who had just finished a multiversal war, knew better. This was a tool, not a game. Pushing further now, alone, without anyone even knowing where he was... that was how mistakes happened. Catastrophic ones.
He had the data. He understood the basic mechanics. He had gained significant resources.
"System," he said aloud. "Exit dungeon."
The world didn't swirl or fade. It simply ceased to be. One moment he was on the obsidian plain, the next he was back in the Speed Lab, standing in the exact same spot. The familiar hum of the generators and the smell of ozone and metal filled his senses. The portal was gone.
He glanced at the chronometer on the wall. Only seven minutes had passed.
He leaned against the console, a wry smile on his face. He had just cleared fifty levels of an extradimensional challenge, gained a level and over ten thousand credits, and he wasn't even late for breakfast.
The power at his fingertips was staggering. But as he looked at his hands, all he could think was that he needed to be smarter, more careful, than ever before. The dungeon would be there tomorrow. For now, it was enough to know it existed.
He took one last look around the empty lab, then flashed upstairs. The world was safe, and for the first time, he felt truly ready to protect it, no matter what came next.