When I left Morgael's body pinned to the wall with a stone spear through her head, the tunnel fell silent again.
But this silence… wasn't the same as before.
I could feel the weight of the old pocket watch in my pocket.Cold, heavy, and stubborn.
06:07.
It sat in the back of my mind like a number carved into a dark wall.
"Not now…" I whispered to myself. "I'll come back to that later."
First, I needed to stay alive.
I took a deep breath and started walking further down the tunnel. The walls slowly widened, the ceiling rose a little higher. The damp, moldy smell of the underground began to mix with a faint coolness. A hint of moving air from far away…
An exit…
After a while, I saw a faint opening ahead.The walls spread out, the ground sloped gently upward. My eyes widened despite myself, and my steps quickened.
The moment I reached the opening, the light hitting my face made me squint.
Coming straight out of pitch-black darkness, my eyes weren't ready for that brightness. For a few seconds, I could barely see anything.I could only feel the cool wind and the fresh air hitting my skin.
The smells flooded into my nose…Earth, fresh grass, a distant hint of flowers, and somewhere far away the faint, pleasant trace of burnt wood…
I filled my lungs completely.For the first time in a while, the tightness in my chest loosened, replaced—if only for a moment—by a fragile sense of relief.
"This…" I whispered, "this smells like life."
As my eyes slowly adjusted, the view came into focus.
The cave exit was halfway up a rocky slope. A dirt path slanted gently downwards, leading into a green valley below. Trees, unevenly planted fields, wild grass rippling in the wind… And in the distance, I could see a small settlement—thin trails of smoke rising from chimneys.
I just stood there and stared for a while.After the suffocating darkness of the cave, the sight felt almost unreal.
Then I shivered.
I suddenly felt something like a presence behind me, as if someone was about to tap my shoulder.
I turned around quickly.
I wanted to look at the entrance I had just come out of.
But there was… nothing.
Just a solid, unbroken rock face. No crack, no gap, no shadowed mouth of a cave…The entrance was completely gone.
"You've got to be kidding me…" I muttered, slowly stepping closer.
I reached out and touched the stone.My fingertips felt nothing but rough, cold rock.
"I came out from here. I just came out from here."
The rock said nothing. It sat there, blank and mute, as if nothing had ever happened. As if no one named Morgael had ever existed, as if a spear had never fallen, as if a watch frozen at 06:07 had never touched my hand.
The System projected a short, simple message into my vision. No shouting, no panic—just bare information:
⟪SYSTEM⟫[LOCATION UPDATE]Previous entrance point: No longer exists.
Status:– Position markers disrupted.– Return route: closed.
Additional Note: This situation has been marked as "abnormal" in System records.
"So I can't go back…" I said, swallowing.
Part of me relaxed. Another part tightened.
I couldn't tell yet if leaving that cave behind was a blessing or a curse.But not having the option to return… also meant some nightmares would be forced to stay behind. For now.
I stepped away from the rock and began to descend the slope. With every step, the smell of soil and grass grew stronger. My feet ached, my body was still weak—but at least this place didn't smell like death.
After a while, the System quietly opened a small panel. This time, it felt more like a reminder than a threat:
⟪SYSTEM⟫[MAIN QUEST UPDATE]"Escape the Ruins Alive" – Phase 1 completed.
Phase 2: Reach a safe settlement.
I looked down toward the valley.Far away, I could see a small town: a few roofs, some fields, thin trails of smoke…
"Humans…" I muttered. "I hope they're actually human this time."
A small, yellow-framed quest window appeared:
⟪SYSTEM⟫[NEW QUEST – YELLOW]Quest: Reach Your First Town
Description:You escaped the cave, but you are not completely safe yet. A small town has been detected in the valley below.
Objective: Reach the settlement below.Suggested Name: Veldan Town
Reward:– Basic World Information (brief System overview)– Small random reward (item / information / temporary buff)
Failure:– Quest fails.– A penalty will be chosen from the random penalty pool.(Range: Mild bad luck → Serious trouble)
I frowned.
"A random penalty pool? What are we doing now, spinning a punishment roulette?"
The System added a short line of explanation:
⟪SYSTEM⟫[PENALTY SYSTEM]Death is not the only standard penalty for failing a quest.
Possible penalties:– Temporary stat reduction– Embarrassing titles– Random loss of an item– Negative impact on Luck– In rare cases, life-threatening consequences
Note: Severity depends on quest importance.
"So sometimes you give me a stupid title and humiliate me, and sometimes you might actually kill me. Is that it?" I said.
No answer.
The silence was somehow more annoying than an actual "yes."
Still… I felt a bit lighter.At least not every mistake came with instant death attached. The possibility of a ridiculous but survivable punishment felt… weirdly comforting.
My hand drifted to the pocket watch again.I could feel the metal through the fabric of my clothes, cold and solid.
I didn't open it.
"I'll deal with you later," I murmured. "For now, let's keep some distance between us."
06:07…Morgael…A cave entrance that vanished…
It all felt like pieces of the same story.But I wasn't ready to read that story yet. Today, I was still on the title page.
As I went further down, the town came into focus.
A small mill, wooden houses clustered around it, a few fields, a modest inn with smoke rising from its chimney…At the entrance, there was a slightly crooked wooden sign.
When I got close enough, I could read the letters on it:
VELDAN
The language wasn't so foreign that my brain rejected it. That alone felt like good news.
Near the entrance, a few people were going about their business.Someone carrying a sack over their shoulder. A middle-aged woman walking with a water bucket. A child sitting by the roadside, stacking stones on top of each other as a game…
This world wasn't made only of monsters and creatures with nail-like teeth.There was… ordinary life here, too.
I stopped under the sign at the town's entrance.
The wind carried the smell of fields, the faint noise of voices, and the gentle background sounds of a normal day. After the cave's suffocating silence, those sounds felt almost… kind.
"First, food," I told myself. "Then a bed. Then… we'll figure out how this world actually works."
The pocket watch felt heavy in my pocket.Morgael's name still lingered like a faint whisper in the back of my mind.The cave entrance was gone, erased as if it had never existed.
Someday, I knew I would have to go back to all of it.To the watch.To the name.To the true story behind those ruins.
But today was not that day.
I took a deep breath.I stepped past the Veldan sign and walked into the town.
Today, Ethan Cross took his first step into the first town of this world.It was also the moment when the gears of fate truly began to turn.
Why am I here? What is this place? What is that watch? Who—or what—is Morgael? Why did the System choose me out of all people, and what does it want from me? I asked myself.
For now, I had no answers.But I was sure of one thing:
The future would reveal each of them, one by one.