– AAAAAH!
– Die, you filthy evil spirit!
[ HP 12/3155 ]
…
– What are you doing here…!
– Did you think you wouldn’t get caught after pulling stunts like that?
[ HP 2/3155 ]
…
– Wait…!
– It’s over—!
[ HP 0…
[ HP has reached 0. ]
[ Player dies. ]
[ Bad End 34 – Died in the “Dungeon of Truth”. ]
[ Processing data…
“GAH…“
Flashing lights.
As I stared at the game over screen in the pitch black void, I felt my head spin. My neck tightened painfully, blurring my vision.
The game “Savior,” a roguelike, had no save or load functions.
Once the character dies, that’s it.
‘Is my 100 hours ending like this…?’
My eyes twitched violently at the harsh reality presented to me. Emotions from my heart spread throughout my body.
Finally unable to control my anger, I flailed my arms and hit the desk.
“Ugh…”
The awful pain brought my vision back to focus.
Ah, it hurts…
My hazy mind abruptly cleared up from that physical therapy.
The sharp pain in my elbow made my back twist involuntarily. After flailing uselessly for a while, a reality check hit and I slumped down into my chair.
Even I felt embarrassed thinking about it.
If someone saw, it would almost rival a month of mental trauma.
“Sigh…”
Rubbing my sore elbow, I looked at the monitor.
On the screen, still uncomfortably chilly, my character was showing a big bad end label.
Character of the 12th run: [Hybrid Summoner].
A strategy that pushed through with overwhelming numbers from a combination of summonings and necromancy under dark magic.
It was a valid strategy. Compared to past runs, I was crushing the main story much easier. I thought maybe I could see a happy ending this time around.
This character was carefully nurtured, learning from the lessons of eleven past failures.
I didn’t claim to be invincible, but I was confident enough I’d breeze through several chapters…
And then it horrible wrecked itself. I blew into a dungeon that was practically a freebie and got wrecked by a trap event.
I actually died faster than the last run.
Was taking the dark magic route a mistake?
Though my affinity with the surrounding NPCs had hit rock bottom early on, it wasn’t a big deal. After all, I had been soloing since mid-run.
That karma just hit me like a brick wall.
The main characters held hands and tossed my character into the mix. They lured me into the dungeon and sliced my neck clean off amidst a flood of monsters.
I couldn’t understand it. What did I do wrong?
I just wanted to practice dark magic and devour an NPC from a poor country. I didn’t hurt the main characters in any way…
Plus, since my character was a summoner, my main power was weak, making it too easy to get ambushed. If I had raised my own stats a bit, I wouldn’t have gone out like this.
‘But raising my stats…’
My character’s own stats?
In my former run, [Diamond Warrior], which only focused on character stats, I managed to hold out for a while but ended up beaten down by mobs.
Glaring at the bad ending window, I sunk deep in thought.
‘…No. It’s all wrong.’
After a lengthy internal struggle, the answer suddenly clicked. I could see the answer waving at me from afar.
“I messed up from the start thinking I was a summoner.”
Thinking about it, starting as a summoner was fundamentally flawed.
A summoner? Just summoning some goons and watching from the sidelines?
What a cowardly mindset. That rotten mentality was what got me killed by a trap event.
But was my previous run, [Diamond Warrior], successful? Nope. That dude also got buried in a reverse event and died without a chance to respond.
When the original methods can’t break through, you need to find another variable.
Click—
I closed the bad ending screen and clicked on new game.
Plenty of fun still lay ahead, but I wanted something more distinctive.
[ Creating character (13th run) ]
[ Please enter your player’s name… ]
Click-click—
Scrolling down.
Name, traits, origin…
‘Here it is.’
[ Restrictions ]
Just think of it as either equivalent trade or give and take.
By imposing one restriction on the character, you gain corresponding unique advantages.
It’s a setup you’d see in other games and manga.
Once, the possible restrictions seemed absurd, so I hesitated to touch them.
As a newbie, I was really reluctant to engage with such factors, but now I had enough experience. After about twelve runs, I might as well be considered a seasoned player.
My personal preference was to experience the vanilla first before enjoying additional DLCs, so I shoved the aspect of restrictions to the back.
In fact, I had a few ideas as soon as I saw the restrictions.
I scrolled the mouse wheel, searching for predetermined restrictions.
I could select a maximum of three restrictions.
▶Restriction (I): “Curse of Sensory Sealing”
─Permanently seal the selected sense.
─Choices: Sight, Taste, Smell
Can’t see, can’t taste, can’t smell.
▶Restriction (II): “Curse of Short Life”
─You inhabit a body that is short-lived.
─You die before living out your lifespan. In other words, short life.
▶Restriction (III): “Curse of Silence”
─Speaking causes pain.
─Basic communication through speech becomes difficult.
“Hmph.”
What a suffocating lineup. If I think about it in reality, I wouldn’t be able to survive under such conditions.
My happiness would rely on my three branches: seeing (sight), food (taste), and the scent of grass (smell). If those were taken away, it’d just be easier to drop dead.
On top of that, I wouldn’t even be able to talk, and even if I tried to endure, I wouldn’t last long before I naturally kicked the bucket.
Of course, in a game, the effects would all result in stat drops, interaction between characters would drop dramatically, and my life would decrease too.
Thus far, that was the restrictions, and now it’s time for the special advantages.
▷Ability (I): “Spatial Perception”
─Possess overwhelming spatial awareness.
Instead of sight, you directly sense space and act accordingly.
▷Ability (II): “Affinity for Magic”
─Possess extraordinary affinity outside magic standards.
Whether swinging swords or stabbing with spears or using magic, in a world where magic is required for everything, you gain one of the rarest magic affinities.
▷Ability (III): “Jack of All Trades”
─Possess above-average skills in multiple areas.
Aiming for soloing means my high points may drop, but all my low points elevate, giving me a versatile ability. Once I accumulate enough proficiency, I’d be able to roam around alone without anything I can’t do.
‘This is fine.’
After reviewing the restrictions and abilities for a moment, I nodded.
You can’t expect to be full after the first meal. I dropped the thought of achieving a happy ending at once. Several attempts with redesigning would be necessary.
Still, the excitement of the performance this would show was undeniable.
These abilities born from the advantages would all be included in the ‘Unique Abilities’ section.
In the game setup, typically, players are born with one unique ability as a rule.
However, if you create your character with restrictions, they would be born with three unique abilities instead of just one.
Previously, characters that started with only one unique ability had progressed fairly well.
Even [Diamond Warrior] managed to reach specs capable of facing a global top-tier expert three to one and even have a change of winning.
So how far could a character starting with three unique abilities go?
Feeling my heart beating with excitement, I moved the mouse cursor over…
…
“Hmm…”
What is this feeling? I think sweat is trickling down my neck.
No, it’s not just a feeling.
As I rubbed my neck, damp sweat showed itself.
Real cold sweat flowed down like a rain. As I sensed it, chills gripped my muscles, causing me to tremble.
Something’s off. Something feels wrong.
With trembling hands, I barely moved the cursor. The strange sensation began to fade away.
“…What is this?”
When I moved the cursor to start the game, the tremors came back, and when I shifted it away, it returned to normal.
My body? No, it felt like an intuitive warning was screaming at me to not start the game.
“…Should I do it tomorrow?”
There’s no urgency, after all.
In fact, I did rush into deciding.
Muttering a defense of sorts to no one, I stood up from the chair.
Tomorrow was Monday, but since I was already a jobless loser with no work to go to, it really didn’t matter.
I started tidying my desk and quickly washed up in the shower.
I still felt weak, so I figured it would be best to sleep early today.
I drew the curtains, placed my vanilla-scented diffuser on the bedside, and buried myself in bed.
Trying to shake off the unease, I tightly closed my eyes.
As darkness covered me and the scent of vanilla filled my nose, sleepiness began to creep in.
Soon, consciousness slipped away.
…
…
…
…
I woke up in the world of the game the next day.
But damn it, I can’t see anything ahead.
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