Chapter 1

EP.1 No, my eyes

– Gaaaah!

– Die…! You filthy demon!

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-What are you doing here…!

-Did you really think you wouldn’t be caught after pulling off such a stunt?

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-Hold it…!

-It’s over!

“Gaaaah…”

Blink, blink.

I clutched my head, seeing the “Game Over” message on the black screen. My neck tightened, and my vision went blurry.

In the game called Saver, a roguelike game, there were no ‘save’ or ‘load’ functions.

Once your character died, it was the end.

‘My, my 100 hours are ending like this…?’

My eyes twitched at the harsh reality. The emotion from my heart spread throughout my body.

Unable to contain my anger, I wildly swung my hand and slammed it onto the desk.

“Guh…”

The sharp pain made my vision blur.

Ah, it hurts…

The physical pain brought me back to my senses. The pain in my elbow made my back twist involuntarily. After flailing around for a while, I eventually slumped into the chair, feeling defeated.

I felt embarrassed even thinking about it.

If someone had seen me, they would have suffered mental trauma for almost a month.

“Ha…”

I rubbed my sore elbow and looked at the monitor.

The monitor, still displaying the bad ending, was unpleasant to look at. I saw my character, who had just died, growing cold.

12th playthrough, character 〈Hybrid Summoner〉

A strategy that relied on overwhelming numbers by combining summoning multiple summons and commanding them with black magic.

It was an effective strategy. Compared to previous playthroughs, I had progressed through the main story much more easily. I thought I might even see a happy ending this time.

I had put a lot of effort into this character, learning from the 11 previous failures.

Although I didn’t think they were invincible, I was confident they could easily clear a few chapters.

But it all went to hell. I entered a free dungeon and got caught in a trap event, dying a dog’s death.

Worse, I died even faster than in the previous playthrough.

Was it a mistake to take the black magic route?

While my relationships with the NPCs did plummet early on, it wasn’t a big problem. From the mid-playthrough, I was soloing anyway.

But the karma caught up with me.

The main characters teamed up and drowned my character. They lured me into a dungeon and cut my throat amidst a swarm of monsters.

It’s so unfair. What did I do wrong?

I just ate an NPC from a poor country to learn some black magic. I didn’t harm the main characters at all…

Moreover, as a summoner, my character’s own strength was weak, making me vulnerable to ambushes. If I had just raised my stats a bit, it wouldn’t have ended so pointlessly.

‘But to raise my stats…’

The character’s own stats?

The 11th playthrough 〈Adamantine Warrior〉, who focused all their stats on the character itself, lasted a long time but eventually got overwhelmed and became monster food.

Staring at the bad ending screen, I fell into deep thought.

‘…No. Everything was wrong.’

After a while of pondering, a solution flashed in my mind. It felt like the answer was waving at me from afar.

“A summoner, huh? The whole idea was wrong.”

Thinking about it, the summoner class was wrong from the start.

A summoner? Just summoning grunts and watching from behind?

It was a cowardly mindset. That’s why I got killed by a trap event.

But was the 11th playthrough 〈Adamantine Warrior〉 route successful? No. This one also died when they couldn’t handle a reverse event.

When the conventional approach fails, you need to find a different variable.

Click-

I closed the bad ending screen and clicked on the new game.

There was still a lot to enjoy, but I wanted a more unique playthrough.

Click- Click-

I scrolled down.

Name, traits, origin…

‘Here it is.’

A system that can be understood as “equivalent exchange” or “give and take.”

In exchange for giving the character a restriction, you get a corresponding special advantage.

It’s a common setting in other games and manga.

In the past, the restrictions were all bizarre, so I hesitated to choose them.

As a new player, it was something I was hesitant to touch, but now I have enough experience. By the 12th playthrough, I should be a seasoned player.

I also had a personal preference to try the vanilla version first before enjoying the additional settings like DLC, so I had put the restrictions aside.

In fact, I had a few ideas in mind since I first saw the restriction system.

I scrolled through the mouse wheel to find the pre-decided restrictions.

The maximum number of restrictions you can choose is three.

▶ Restriction (I): “Curse of Sensory Sealing”

─Permanently seals the chosen sense.

─Choices: Vision, Taste, Smell

You become blind, can’t taste, and can’t smell.

▶ Restriction (II): “Curse of Short Life”

─Born with a short-lived body.

You die before reaching a ripe old age. In other words, you have a short life.

▶ Restriction (III): “Curse of Silence”

─Speaking causes pain.

Basic communication, which is essential for interaction, becomes difficult.

“Hmm.”

It’s a suffocating lineup. If I think about it in reality, I can’t live with such conditions.

My happiness is a tripartite system of YouTube (vision), food (taste), and the scent of grass (smell). If all of that is taken away, I might as well just die.

On top of that, I can hardly communicate, and even if I endure, I won’t last long.

Of course, in the game, it means a significant drop in sensory stats, a sharp decrease in interactions with other characters, and a reduction in health.

So far, these were the restrictions. Now, the special advantages.

▷ Ability (I): “Spatial Perception”

─Possesses overwhelming spatial awareness.

Instead of using eyes, you can directly perceive and act in space.

▷ Ability (II): “Magic Affinity”

─Possesses extraordinary affinity with magic.

Whether you swing a sword, thrust a spear, cast a spell, or craft something, in a world where magic is required for everything, you gain one of the top magic affinities.

▷ Ability (III): “Jack of All Trades”

─Possesses above-average talent in various fields.

While the peak stats may be lower, the minimum stats in all areas are raised, making you a versatile character. With enough practice, you can do almost anything alone.

‘This should be good enough.’

After briefly reviewing the restrictions and abilities, I nodded.

You can’t expect to be full after the first sip. I gave up on seeing a happy ending right away. I would need to try a few times and redesign.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel excited about what kind of performance these abilities would show.

The abilities gained through this system are all included in the “Unique Abilities” section.

In the game’s setting, a character usually has only one unique ability by default.

However, if you create a character with restrictions, they are born with three unique abilities, which others typically have only one.

Even with just one unique ability in the previous playthroughs, I made significant progress.

The 〈Adamantine Warrior〉, for example, reached a level where they could take on a world-class powerhouse in a 3-on-1 battle.

So, how far can I go with a character born with three unique abilities?

Feeling my heart race with excitement, I moved the mouse cursor… and stopped.

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“Hmm…”

What is this feeling? Cold sweat is running down my neck.

No, it’s not just a feeling.

When I rubbed my neck, it was damp with sweat.

Cold sweat is pouring down like rain. As I became aware of it, a chill ran through my body, making me shiver.

Something feels ominous. Something feels wrong.

With my trembling hand, I barely moved the cursor. The strange sensation faded away.

“…What is this?”

When I moved the cursor to start the game, it started trembling again, and when I moved it away, it returned to normal.

My body? No, it felt like something was warning me not to start the game.

“…Maybe I’ll do it tomorrow?”

There’s no rush, after all.

I mean, I did make a hasty choice, didn’t I?

Muttering an excuse to myself, I got up from the chair.

Tomorrow is Monday, but since I’m unemployed, I don’t have to go to work.

I tidied up my desk and quickly took a shower.

I still feel drained, so it’s best to go to bed early today.

I closed the curtains, placed a vanilla-scented diffuser by the bed, and lay down.

I closed my eyes tightly to escape the unease.

As I closed my eyes and the vanilla scent wafted to my nose, drowsiness began to set in.

Soon, I fell into a deep sleep.

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The next day, I opened my eyes in the game world.

But damn, I can’t see anything.

Oh.