When I next woke up, it wasn't anywhere I recognised.
You'd think my suprise would be less, if not at all. I mean, haven't I already transmigrated into a situation where I felt like I was about to die?
Die.
Yeah, now I recognise that word. I was dead, wasn't I? Crushed by something really heavy, which felt like a million tons. The sheer suprise When I next woke up, it wasn't anywhere I recognised.And as I looked at my surroundings, I froze.
Mainly because I remembered everything.
And mainly the last few words before I left my last dungeon.
You have exited the dungeon.]
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]
"System," I gritted my teeth, "where exactly am I?"
[I was about to ask you the same thing.] His voice sounded unusually cool.
"Wha-?"
[Where did you take us?]
While I tried to figure out what was different, he continued to rant.
[ I told you once, I told you twice, "Kai, pick a lower level dungeon,pick a lower level dungeon, but nooo. You thought yourself to be, what, Batman or Prime Jinwoo, I don't know. You think you're an edge lord, or lord of the shadows, or what-]
Wait a second, what is Failsafe 37?
The system sighed. [It's one of the innate failsafes that I have to keep your sorry ass alive.]
"But why'd you say it was 'too extreme'?"
I could feel him shifting uncomfortably. [Er well, that remains to be seen! I misevaluated!] He said brightly.
For a couple of seconds, I actually believed him.
Except when I remembered the last few words.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell.]
The Nightmare Spell.
Why did that sound oddly familiar? Because I swear I've heard it somewhere before.
Was it in a manga or comic? Or in some anime or novel?
As I tracked my brains, I suddenly had an idea.
"System, status screen,"
How stupid of me. I should've at least looked at my stats before doing shit.
[Ummm,]
What? Don't tell me you've lost the ability to display a screen.
[No, but I still feel I should prepare you before you see it. It might be a bit of a...suprise.]
A cold feeling arose in my stomach that had nothing to do with the temperature. "What do you mean?" I said, my voice barely a whisper.
[Well, I uhh..., I guess it's just better if I show you.]
I clenched my fist, afraid of what I was going to see, for some reason. Then I saw what the system meant.
[ STATUS PAGE
PLAYER NAME: KRIARES WEBB
LEVEL: 12
CLASS: UNDEFINED
ASPECT: UNDEFINED
TITLES: MR MC SASS
-INCREASES CHARM BY 20%.
MAMA'S BOY
-INCREASES FAVOURABILITY WITH MEDEA BY 15%
COUNTERSTEREOTYPICAL MAIN CHARACTER
- INCRAESES EXP GAIN BY 45%, WHEN NOT FOLLOWING RULES
GOODY TWO SHOES
- INCREASES EXP GAIN BY 1% WHEN FOLLOWING RULES
ECHOES-
MEMORIES:
[SILVER LINING]
[SIGILS OF COLCHIS]
[SWORD]
[STATUS RECOVERY]
HP: 5340/40000
MP: 11980/20000
STATS
PHYSIQUE: 200
DEXTERITY:200
INSIGHT: 200
VITALITY:200
INTELLIGENCE:200
ASSIGNABLE STAT POINTS:110
ATTRIBUTES:
NIMROD PERCEPTION(Lvl 1)
SPRINT (Lvl 1)
NECROMANCY(Lvl 1)
SHADOW STORAGE( Lvl 1)
Swordsmanship (Lvl 1)
Daggermanship (Lvl 1)
Scythesmanship(Lvl 1)
SHADOW STORAGE( Lvl 1) 』
It went through an upgrade.
The Failsafe was a fucking upgrade.
I don't know why I'm swearing though, it's actually pretty good. After all, the better, the better.
And besides it had just changed the names anyway. 'Inventory' became 'Memories' and 'Skills' became 'Attributes'.
Plus if it wanted to add new features like Aspect and Echoes, who was I to stop it? And more importantly, why would I?
It was all fine, and I could tell the System was relieved by my expression.
[ I seriously thought you were going to crash out, man!]
"Well, lucky for you, I'm not."
[Yeah, yeah, all good. So, what's our next step?]
I was about to respond, when I suddenly remembered something. A flicker of clarity about my situation, and as I grasped it, I remembered more and more, until I fully realised what was happening.
"System," I growled in a low voice. The guy still hadn't realised anything, so he responded in his carefree voice, [What?]
Poor critter.
"Answer my question with a yes or no,"
[O...kay?]
"Are we in Shadow Slave?"
[No.] The response came before I could even say anything. I sighed in relief.
[Buuuut,]
"But what?" My voice was ice cold, and I was ready to throttle this thing at a moment's notice.
[But we have a slight problem.]
"Which is...?" My arms were still tense, ready to punch him. I might not be sucessful but hey, you never know until you try.
[You see, I guess I have to start at the beginning.] The system sighed, and I rolled my eyes, because we'd been through this routine a million times.
[Hey, don't roll your eyes at ME!]He shouted indignigantly.
"What do I do then?" My voice was still monotonous, making it painfully clear that I was still bored. Unfortunately, the system wasn't good at taking hints.
[Well, I installed a bunch of Failsafes at time of initial installation, you know, on your birthday. I didn't know what type of guy you were, so I thought it better safe than sorry. Then, after evaluation-]
"You were smart enough to evaluate me?" I asked, my hand on my chest in mock astonishment.
The System ignored me. [As I was saying, after evaluation, I didn't think it necessary to use. But tonight,]
"It's daylight right now," I reminded him, pointing at the rays of noon coming in through the window.
The system gritted its teeth. Was I getting on its nerves? That makes me feel so much better.
[But tonight, after you were hell bent on buying a C-Rank Dungeon Key, I decided to overview them while you were in the dungeon, just in case.]
So that's why he was so quiet back there. I was wondering whether he was so scared of jumpscares that he got permanently traumatised, and that the serious tone was just a facade.
"You could've warned me, though," I complained. I was pretty sure he was raising his eyebrows, so I quickly clarified, "I mean, you could've been cold and cruel. Not that you aren't usually, but you could've informed me about all the painful ways I could die in."
The system stayed silent, then continued. [And then, when you got sent flying across the room, I knew the only failsafe that could save you. 37.]
"Yes, but what does it do?" I asked impatiently. God, why doesn't he never get to the point?
[In exchange for getting you out of that dungeon, which is, in theory, the only thing can improve your situation, I change to something like a personalised Nightmare Spell from Shadow Slave. So, when you wake up,]
"I suppose it'll be in my own bed?" I asked him sarcastically. The answer actually suprised me.
[Yeah, why not?]
" I se-" I was interrupted. Again. This time by my own stomach. I looked down at it, confused, before I came to the realisation that I had not eaten for at least a third of a day. Time may be paused in the real world, but my body was still working.
Speaking of time,
"Wait," I paused the system, " In Shadow Slave, the original Nightmare Spell didn't pause time while its users were Dreaming or in a Nightmare. Is it the same with you?"
[Do you want it to be the same with me?}
My voice came out instinctively. "No."
The system hummed. [I thought so, too. Well, I can't pause time, but I have slowed it down as much as possible.]
"Meaning?"
[Meaning that you can spend at least a month here before your mom notices. Also means that you're able to get ramen. Like right now.]
I started towards the door, then paused. I could get ramen, but wouldn't people wonder what was happening when a random four year old asked someone for a bowl of ramen. Sure, I was 4"3, but still, wouldn't they wonder.
My stomach rumbled again. Ah, to fuck with it all. I started to change clothes.
As I walked down the stairs from the 3rd floor, the System explained stuff to me. He also told me that this nightmare was modded to make no one wonder why a 4 year old was living alone. In other words, I was set.
As I stepped into the bright sunlight(I think it was around 11), I noticed a car parked nearby. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, except for the fact that it was a Toyota Corolla. It wasn't much, but it caught my eye because it had been so long I had seen one.
I stepped down the street,feeling good about myself. Unlike I expected, I only got one or two looks, the rest of them seemed to ignore me. This only improved my mood. After all, I wore a casual orange T shirt under a windbreaker, and loose jeans. The few looks I got were probably because I was a foreigner.
Wait, foreigner?
I looked around me. Sure enough, about 90% of the people around me were Asian, and the rest were foreigners. I looked at the shop signs, and realised they were in Japanese, not English.
I see. I guess I got so good at Japanese that my brain instinctively translated the Hiragana to English. So that's why I wondered why labels were repeated. Now I realise one of them was Japanese, the other English.
I spotted an udon shop, where customers were chattering. I made my way over, and sat down.
"What do you want, kid?" The udon chef asked me. He was round, cheery, and had wrinkles under his eyes.
"Just give me your best, boss," I waved casually. He looked suprised, then broke into a grin, and retreated back to his pots and pans. A man in his thirties, wearing an office outfit looked suprised as well.
"Hey kid, where are your parents?" He asked me. Luckily, I had a perfect answer.
"They're at work," I told him. "I usually make my own food, but I was craving something professional today."
He nodded approvingly. "Independent. That's good." Then he went back to chatting with another guy.
As soon as I got my udon, I plunged in. I was halfway through the bowl before I remembered to pause.
It was heaven. I was so used to instant ramen that I forgot what the real deal tasted like. The chatter continued around me, but I was fully engrossed in my meal. Less than a minute later, I put the bowl down, and asked the chef for another one. He looked suprised, but it was the happy suprise, the type where you watch people fall in love with your art.
I wiped my mouth, and stared blissfully into the distance. I was brought back to earth when I caught something Where-are-your-parents guy told his friend.
"...was there to witness the monster myself, it was horrible."
I turned around in suprise. "Sumimasen, but what did you say?"
He looked at me. "Ah? Oh yes, don't you know about the Shimokitazawa incident that happened last week? I was there myself."
"Yusuke," his friend chided him. "Don't scare the kid." He looked around the same age, also in office attire.
My interest was piqued. "No, no, please continue," I told the first man, and he seemed happy to do so.
"Well, it began on-"
Suddenly, we were interrupted by screams. He quickly turned around, as did I, to see people running from our right. A few seconds later, a loud noise rang out, that sounded suspiciously like a car being smashed.
The man's face paled. "Oh no, not again!" He picked up his suitcase, quickly paid the udon guy, and started running away. "Run for it, kid!" He screamed at me. "Otherwise you'll die!"
I stood up quickly, hurled my purse at the owner, and yelled out, "Keep the change!" Then I did start to run, but towards the crashes, which were growing more frequent.
"What're you doing? Come back!" The owner shouted at me too, but I ignored him completely.
The crowd was getting thicker now, more and more people were knocking against me, trying to get away. It was basically a stampede, but I was twenty times stronger than any of them. I tried to go as patiently as possible, but then I just kind of quit, and rushed myself.
And then, around 50 meters away, I saw it.
It was around 10 feet tall, and wooden coloured. It had baseball bats for hands, and was, in simple words, a mess to look at. Currently, it was busy smashing cars, but I was pretty sure I was next if I tried to interfere.
Curious, I activated [NIMROD PERCEPTION] to see-
[Monster- BASEBALL DEVIL
Rank- C RANK
Bounty- 30,000
Bidders-
Public Safety Devil Hunters]
I froze. The noise around me grew, as people desperately struggled to get to safety, but in my mind, only one word registered.
Devil.
I shook my head. No way, now way. This has to be a dream, this has to be a dream, this has to be a-
I blinked and looked again.
The screen didn't change.
A white hot rod of anger grew within me, as I barely controlled my rage filled voice.
"System?"
It wasn't a request, neither was it a question. It was a command, and the system was smart enough to understand that it had to respond.
Sigh. [Okay, okay, I'm sorry.] He told me. [I know you're mad-]
I want to kill you.
[-but I did tell you the failsafe was extreme.]
Extreme my ass. This is among the worst world to appear in. You're literally giving me a death sentence.
[I know, I didn't want it to be, but this was the only failsafe which could save-]
"Shut it."
The words were brutal, cold and obeyed. The system promptly shut up and waited for my next move.
I sighed, then summoned Silver Lining. It was no use worrying about what a busty dog walker was going to do to me. Right now, the only thing that mattered was this Devil in front of me. Although I would inevitably become a part of this cursed world if I proceeded, the alternative was dying in fear of the Senior Girlboss.
"Hey jackass!" I shouted at it. My voice was loud enough and the abomination looked at me.
"Come fight me if you dare, or are you a piece of rotting wood who can't make a single home run?"
The words 'home run' triggered it. With a huge bellow, it smashed another car, and turned to face me, ready to smash me like a mole that was too slow.
I breathed in, used Sprint, held my scythe ready, and charged.
But I forgot about my health. Sure, a bowl of ramen might have helped, but it was way too low. My vision blurred for a crucial second, and that all the Devil needed.
To smash me and send me flying.
I flew through the air, and crashed into a wall. Debris rained down, and the area was filled with dust.
The Devil gave a grunt of satisfaction, then turned away to continue its destruction.
Too bad it was interrupted by a voice.
"Oi,oi,oi, don't just ignore me."
The Devil turned around, clearly suprised at the durability.
The voice coughed, then continued, "You know I'm getting tired of giant clubs smashing me into walls. The first one escaped-"
[More like he let you escape.]
"But you won't be that lucky."
[You have used Memory: Status Recovery!]
AN-
Hey guys. Long time since I posted, so a few things to say.
First, thank you for 50 k views. It's been long, and stressful, but we're finally there.
Second, this chapter was dam ass long(again) with2630 words. So, it did take a bit longer than expected. Mainly because it's the first chapter of the First Nightmare Arc.
That brings me to my third point, all volumes will be counted as seperate arcs. For some reason, I can't name the first volume, but its ok cuz Idk what to name it anyway.
Fourth point,I'm wondering whether to switch to 3rd POV. Kai's internal thoughts and all will be the same and everything, but I'm getting tired of constantly using 'I' and 'me'. Plus, I can add outsider's POV too!
And finally, this was a bonus chapter for another 100 collections. I'll try to update next one tomorrow.