THUD!
The dense blue light surrounding Arius faded as quickly as it had appeared. The sensation of being forcefully dragged through space and time vanished, leaving his severely injured body sprawled across a cold, hard, moss-covered stone floor. The impact whitened his vision for a moment, and the pain in his back felt as though he had been struck by a sledgehammer.
"Ugh—cough! Cough!"
Arius coughed violently, thick pale-blue liquid—his own blood—splattering across the stones beneath him. He stared at the stain blankly.
Blue blood.
The most undeniable reminder that he was no longer Rendra, the ordinary human. The stench invading his nose was no longer the fresh scent of forest soil, but something far more suffocating—a nauseating mixture of rotting monster filth, sharp metallic rust, and air so heavy it seemed to press against his lungs. The atmosphere here felt as though it had weight, each breath like inhaling condensed electrical vapor.
"Where… am I now…?" he rasped.
His voice echoed faintly against the cavern walls, sounding foreign to his own ears. Darkness swallowed the corridor, thick and oppressive, as though eager to devour him whole. Black minerals embedded in the walls occasionally glimmered, reflecting the faint glow emanating from his pale skin. He felt like he was trapped inside the stomach of a long-dead giant beast.
He had barely begun to calm himself in that strange purple forest before fate hurled him into this abyss without warning. His head throbbed violently, as if his brain were being squeezed dry. Before he could process his surroundings—or even attempt to stand—a cold mechanical voice resonated directly inside his mind.
[Warning: Player HP Critical!]
[Immediate Recovery Action Required.]
[Location: Evolution Grounds Level D.]
"Who?! Who's there?!"
Arius snapped his head left and right in panic. Ignoring the stabbing pain in his ribs, he scanned every dark corner of the cavern. No one. His heart pounded wildly, triggering sharp jolts of pain throughout his battered body.
That voice… he recognized it. The same emotionless tone he had heard moments before death claimed him in the forest. The voice that had spoken of the "Player System."
"So that wasn't a hallucination…? This is real?" he muttered shakily.
Suddenly, a translucent blue screen materialized before his eyes. Arius jerked backward until his spine struck the cold stone wall. Instinctively, he swatted at the air, thinking it was some magical attack—but his hand passed straight through it without resistance.
"What is this… some kind of projection?"
His trembling eyes scanned the floating text. The screen did not remain fixed in space; it followed wherever his gaze shifted, as though fused directly to his vision.
---
[Status]
Name: Arius
Race: Ethereal Humanoid (Low Tier)
Level: 1
HP: 15 / 10,000 (Critical)
Magicules: 500 / 500 (Dormant)
VIT: 3 | STR: 5 | AGI: 7 | INT: 10 | SENSE: 8
---
"Arius… that name again," he whispered.
Despite the confusion and fear, the part of him that once spent countless nights playing RPGs on Earth began recognizing the pattern. "This… this is like a status screen. But how is it inside my head? And VIT 3…?"
His gaze locked onto Vitality: 3.
That number explained everything—why his body felt like paper, why his ribs screamed from a simple fall, why even minor bleeding drained his life so rapidly.
The screen suddenly flashed crimson.
---
[DAILY QUEST – PENALTY ACTIVE]
Objective: Survive for 24 Hours.
Time Remaining: 23:57:05
Failure Penalty: Entity Deletion.
---
"Deletion?" Arius felt anger mix with despair. "So I was thrown into this hell as punishment for almost dying?"
He tried to stand, but every movement sent blades of pain through his body. He could only crawl across the damp stone floor. But before he had moved even two meters, the back of his neck prickled violently.
His SENSE stat pulsed wildly, sending painful danger signals. He felt subtle vibrations through the stone floor, followed by short, rapid, chaotic footsteps.
---
[Warning: Monster Detected!]
Goblin Marauder (Lv. 5) | Distance: 20 meters
Goblin Marauder (Lv. 6) | Distance: 25 meters
---
"Monsters?!" His breath caught. "I can't even stand properly yet!"
Two pairs of pale yellow eyes glowed from the darkness ahead. Small, hunched figures with dull green skin and swollen bellies stepped into view. Each carried a wooden club embedded with rusted nails. Even from ten meters away, the stench of their rotting flesh and filth was overwhelming.
They paused, grinning wide to reveal jagged yellow teeth. Their hungry gazes locked onto Arius's bleeding body. To them, this glowing, fragile creature was the easiest prey the labyrinth had ever delivered.
His first instinct was to shrink back.
He wanted to beg. To hide inside his safe gray office cubicle again. To wake up from this nightmare.
Why is it always like this? he thought bitterly. In my old world, I was trampled. In this one, I'll die as monster food?
The fear slowly sharpened into something else—disgust.
He was disgusted with always trembling. Disgusted with fate treating him like trash.
"Don't joke with me…" he muttered, voice cracking between fear and rising fury. "Don't you dare come closer!"
His hand fumbled across the stone floor until it closed around a sharp chunk of broken rock. He gripped it so tightly it cut into his palm, the sting anchoring him to consciousness.
"Come on! Try me, you bastards!" he roared hoarsely.
The Level 5 Goblin charged first, raising its club high.
Arius focused everything he had. With STR 5, blocking was suicide. His only hope was AGI 7.
As the club descended, he forced his body into a painful roll to the right.
CRACK!
The club smashed into the stone where his head had been a second earlier.
In that split second, Arius stabbed the sharp rock with all his strength into the goblin's knee.
Dark green blood sprayed.
[Critical! Goblin Marauder (Lv. 5) has suffered Physical Impairment. Movement Speed reduced by 70%.]
The Level 6 goblin lunged in shock. Acting on pure instinct, Arius grabbed the injured goblin and yanked it forward as a shield.
The second goblin's club came crashing down—onto its own ally.
[ Goblin Marauder (Lv. 5) has died. You gained 550 EXP. ]
Without hesitation, Arius lunged and drove the jagged stone into the exposed neck of the Level 6 goblin.
[Critical! Goblin Marauder (Lv. 6) has died. You gained 650 EXP.]
Both monsters collapsed lifelessly.
Arius slumped beside them, gasping violently. His hands trembled, soaked in a mixture of his own blue blood and the goblins' dark green gore.
"I… I killed them?" he whispered in disbelief.
Nausea rose at the sight of blood pooling beneath him. But at the same time, a strange warmth began spreading from his hand resting against a goblin corpse.
Then the mechanical voice echoed again—stronger, heavier.
[Condition Met: Player defeated higher-level enemies while in Critical State.]
[Analyzing Player's deepest desire…]
[Subject rejects becoming prey… Subject yearns for absolute power to survive…]
[Ding!]
[Unique Skill 'Perfect Consumption' has awakened!]
Arius flinched.
"Unique Skill? What now?!"
A golden notification window appeared, far brighter and heavier than the blue status screen.
---
[Unique Skill: Perfect Consumption (Max Level)]
Description: Allows the Player to extract essence, memory, and abilities from defeated targets. Converts an enemy's "death" into "power" for the Player.
---
"Extract… essence?" His stomach churned. "You're telling me I have to… consume them?"
Rendra, the modern human, screamed that this was wrong—disgusting. But Arius, bleeding and cornered in this death-filled labyrinth, knew one truth:
This was no longer Earth.
Morality would not save him from the next monster's fangs.
"If this is the only way I don't die pathetically again… fine!" he growled. "Do it!"
He focused on the corpse.
"Extract!"
The goblin's body began dissolving into pale green particles of light, drawn into Arius's skin as if pulled by gravity. The sensation was bizarre—not painful, but like molten energy flooding his veins.
[Essence Extraction Successful.]
[Acquired 500 Temporary Magicules.]
[Skill Blueprint Found! Acquired: Dagger Mastery (Lv. 1).]
Suddenly, unfamiliar memories embedded themselves in his mind—how to grip a blade, angle a strike, instinctively thrust.
He repeated the process on the second corpse.
[Consumption Successful. Acquired 750 Temporary Magicules.]
[Acquired: Stealth (Lv. 1).]
"I… I know how to fight now."
A final notification appeared.
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
[Current Level: 2. You gained 5 Status Points.]
Without hesitation, he allocated 3 points to VIT and 2 to STR.
Warmth surged through his body. His HP climbed to 50.
He retrieved a crude bone dagger from one goblin's belt. It fit perfectly in his grip.
"I can't stay here. More monsters will smell the blood."
He activated Stealth.
A thin veil of energy blended him into the cavern shadows.
Arius rose to his feet, ignoring the lingering pain. Before him, the Evolution Grounds corridor stretched endlessly into darkness.
He tightened his grip on the bone dagger and took a careful step forward.
The first 24-hour trial had begun.
And this time—
He would not remain a spectator in his own life.