“Damn it!”
Duya’s body jolted upright, his eyes filled with bewilderment and terror as he looked around.
But only then did he realize that the scenery beside him wasn’t the familiar kitchen—it was… a somewhat unfamiliar ceiling?
He collected himself and carefully examined his surroundings.
“This is…”
“You’re awake?”
Fuyeli’s voice came from above Duya.
The man looked up and saw the girl’s delicate, fair face.
Only then did Duya notice that he was resting his head on something quite soft.
And… why was Fuyeli so big?
Wasn’t she a half-meter-tall little elf?
Duya felt his memories were quite jumbled, but fortunately, Fuyeli answered the question on his mind.
“Turning into a normal human size isn’t difficult for me. After all, I’m a system sprite—this little thing isn’t a problem.”
With that, Fuyeli’s form began to shrink, quickly becoming the less-than-half-meter little creature.
“But I’m more comfortable in this state.”
Fuyeli flew into the air and spun around with a happy chirp.
Seeing this, Duya sat up straight, holding his head as he recalled everything that had just happened.
Had he entered a dream, and within that dream, returned to reality?
But if it was a dream, how could he explain the level 20 on his character panel?
“I thought you might have gone completely insane.”
While Duya was thinking, Fuyeli’s voice sounded again.
She flew in front of Duya and looked him in the eyes.
Seeing the man’s somewhat haggard expression, as if he had lost his soul, Fuyeli continued.
“To be honest, I even started to doubt whether you’re still human.”
“You ate mushrooms that drive people mad and inhaled a large amount of spores.”
“Even if your body can be revived, the mind can be destroyed.”
“So I always thought that even if you woke up, you’d just be a walking corpse.”
Fuyeli’s words made Duya open his system panel.
He looked at the line: “Player has died. Current reload count: 2.”
That single line of text meant he had indeed died once.
“But anyway, Lord Duya still needs to keep pushing forward.”
“Don’t stop now…”
“How long was I unconscious?”
Duya’s top priority was to determine the current time.
He had died twice, both times at noon.
That meant that around noon, Bulanni’s house might undergo some kind of abnormality.
So he had to make preparations early to prevent anything from happening.
“Lord Duya, you’ve reached level twenty, right?”
While Duya was thinking, Fuyeli’s voice rang out again.
“Although I’m not your system sprite, I can still give you your newbie level-up rewards.”
“Wait a minute?”
Duya couldn’t help but raise a hand and ask, “This godforsaken game actually has newbie rewards? And come to think of it, shouldn’t newbie rewards be given as soon as you enter the game?”
“Well…”
Hearing his question, Fuyeli didn’t know how to BS… explain it clearly.
After all, these so-called newbie equipment were all stolen goods that those cultists had sacrificed to her.
The taint of evil and madness on them would be enough to plunge Duya into an endless cycle of death.
So to be safe, Fuyeli chose to give Duya the rewards at level twenty.
It was definitely not because she had simply forgotten, absolutely not!
“Ahem!”
Fuyeli cleared her throat and explained in a formal tone, “These pieces of equipment all have level requirements. Given your situation at the time, even if I had given you the newbie equipment, you wouldn’t have been able to equip it anyway… Alright, please choose your newbie weapon.”
As she spoke, three pieces of equipment appeared in front of Fuyeli.
A very sharp-looking cyan longsword, though the patterns on it looked rather off.
A set of dark red leather armor made from the hide of some unknown monster.
And a blood-stained one-handed hammer…
Putting aside everything else, just the sight of these three items was enough to send a chill down one’s spine, let alone actually use them.
If these were thrown into the real world, they would definitely be containment objects.
But since this was a game, these equipment items should only require meeting the level requirement.
“Lord Duya, please choose your newbie equipment…”
Fuyeli started to say, but then she noticed the otherwise unremarkable one-handed hammer.
It looked exactly like a hammer a carpenter might have used to drive a nail, only to accidentally smash someone’s head open.
And no matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like a weapon at all.
“Ahem, sorry, Lord Duya,” Fuyeli gave a slight bow.
“This hammer isn’t a weapon. Let me swap it out for something else!”
“No need. I’ll take this hammer.”
Even if she swapped it, Duya figured the replacements would be the same kind of equipment with strongly bizarre auras.
So it was better to take this ordinary-looking hammer—it was more practical.
At least it was better than the other two weapons, which might drive him crazy just by using them.
Fuyeli was stunned.
She asked in disbelief, “Are you sure you want this?”
“I’m sure.”
Duya nodded.
“Give it to me.”
“Well…”
Fuyeli wanted to say more, but seeing Duya’s determined expression, she eventually sighed and said nothing more.
Anyway, once he couldn’t beat the monsters, this man would surely come crawling back to ask for the other equipment.
Duya took the hammer from Fuyeli, hefted it, and showed a satisfied expression.
“I finally understand why people like this kind of thing. The moment you hold it, you just want to smash something…”
Now that he had a weapon, he no longer had to fight those monsters barehanded.
The man couldn’t help but smile.
That cruel smile, combined with the cold, gleaming hammer in his hand…
You have to admit, he looked like a vigorous, life-filled murderer.
“This hammer is pretty good.”
Duya looked at his reflection in the mirror while holding the hammer and couldn’t help but grin.
Seeing Duya with the hammer, the corners of Fuyeli’s mouth twitched involuntarily.
If an ordinary person saw him like this, they would probably faint from fright.
Especially that expression—just one glance gave off a strong, eerie atmosphere.
His whole getup looked exactly like a cultist who had fallen into chaos and madness.
Fuyeli took a deep breath and forced herself to maintain a faint, composed smile.
“You know, I’m starting to suspect that among all the monsters, you might just be the scariest existence in this game.”
“No way,” Duya shrugged.
“I’m a good cop.”
“With that outfit of yours, who would believe you’re a cop?”