COSMO’s cold voice sounded throughout his conscious. “Vital signs lost. Rebuilding user in 10…9…”
An intense pain swept over his torso, arm, and head. 75% realism Sphinx had said as a matter of fact. It felt pretty terrible—dying that is.

“Survival duration: 5 minutes and 14 seconds.
SIM reports user has gained several achievements: First Death, Sacrificial Lamb, and Perseverance of Wills.”

“Barely unlocked that last one.”

The second voice jolted Lark’s brain awake. Sphinx.
He got up, not knowing how he returned to his living room couch. The damn demon was nowhere to be seen. It appeared that their voices resounded from an unknown speaker in the sky.

“So? How was it, your first taste of death that is?”

Immediately, Lark’s left arm swerved, patting up and down his right side. Breaking a few bones here and there was one thing, but it was the first time he had experienced losing an entire arm. A shadow from under the curtain flickered. His heart thumped as he looked up. Just a branch.

He took quick peeks around the room, checking to see if he was alone. Although the battle was over, it didn’t feel that way.

An appalling hunger settled in the back of his throat. He hurried to the kitchen sink. Brushing his lips under the rushing faucet, he ballooned his cheeks with tap water and gulped incessantly. But it was not enough, not even when he thought his stomach would burst.

His head pooled to one side of the counter, intently listening to the sound of draining water. Gurgling pipes concentrated deep into his psyche, but the memories were inescapable even when his eyes were wide open. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. In the solace of his home, all he can see, hear, and feel, were the transpiration of the last five minutes. All the events turning in motion. Vivid. From the exact moment, he summoned the slime, it was a chain reaction of non-stop horror. Bits of cold gelatin pelted into his mouth, and although he hadn’t meant to, his tongue had instinctively licked it. The astringent taste sprinkled across his tongue, then it laddered down the sides until it completely coated his mouth in its flavor.

Lark’s hands ran up the sides of his head.

Water was still running.

There was a knock at the door, and then another.

Sphinx. His eyes narrowed as he grabbed a kitchen knife.

It was then, Lark realized something was wrong with him. His hands were no longer trembling as they were in previous fights, nor did he feel any trepidation. It was a feeling that this action was necessary. To kill.

Once that piece of understanding locked into place naturally with the order of things, the tightness in his throat cleared. He forgot how he answered the door. Was it natural? Did his face show any anger? How did he act…?

He might’ve forgotten himself, but his lookalike greeted him with all-smiles as if he knew Lark would react in this manner. That justified the reward, Lark supposed. A life for a life.

“SIM alert: User has killed an administrator.”

“SIM reports user has gained an achievement: First kill.”

“Please check inbox for rewards and status screen for skill updates.”

“Survival duration: 3 minutes and 10 seconds.

“World reset in 10…9…”

Lark laid on his back and stared at the ceiling, then to T.V. in his living room. The news from the previous day was replaying. Benny’s voice, mixed with both solemn and playful tones with each segment. “Seriously, what’s going on?”

“See it’s fun, treating everything like a game!” Sphinx had taken Wangshi’s chair and said, “So how was it? Killing me?”

Talking to Sphinx and trying to understand him as best as Lark could put it, was like taking one of the thousands of various sized gears in a machine and spinning it. The other pieces would simply be forced to move by physics. Although he might’ve thought there was any semblance of understanding before, he was quite wrong. These other 999 pieces, he still needed to figure out.

He blinked and returned to facing the ceiling. “Uneventful.”

“Seriously?” Sphinx sounded disappointed. He was unpredictable like that.

“Your body is weak.” A sudden turn in his demeanor told Lark they were moving onto the next phase. An apple materialized in Sphinx’s hand. He rubbed the apple’s skin against his white robe. “I died easily because your hoo-mun body is squishy.” Taking a large bite into the apple, Sphinx's mouth covered with juice and flaky yellow meat. Lark closed his eyes at the nauseating sound.

It’s only been a (very long) day since Lark learned of Sphinx’s existence, yet all his idiosyncrasies very much annoyed him. It was worse considering Sphinx even looked like him.

“An apple, really? Isn’t that kind of cliche, even for you Sphinx?” Lark retorted, not even bothering to glance at him.

“Oh, finally talking back. I thought puberty was almost over for you. I guess not.” A second fruit materialized in his hand. A fleshy tomato, which was bustlingly ripe “A single stab and twist.”

Sphinx played with the tomato in his palm like a strange hackey-sack till the green stem suddenly popped out. Lark’s eyes widened. Did the tomato just pulsate?

“Too easy! And I get easily fatigued in this body!”

A soft sigh floated up to Lark’s ears.

“It’s no good if we keep playing like this.”

White as snow nails dug freely through the red, tomato skin. Each finger carved out raw tissue and seeds till his entire palm drenched in the tomato’s carcass.

“I’m not cleaning up that shit.”

Sphinx’s silvery irises shook, but the usual Chesire smile overlapped his expression.

“I think… three more rounds should do it…”

COSMO’s voice reentered the room. “World reset in 3…2…1!”

Lark’s eyebrows lowered. “Bring it on.”

Normally, there should be consequences for killing people just as there should be equal consequences for dying, however, SIM looked at these conditions as achievements. Not that he had time to ponder over why that was, but Lark found himself in the middle of his high school, where he automatically thought about the philosophy behind his so-called training.

Lark gritted his teeth, already tightening his hold on the revolver. Although he could make several guesses as to why Sphinx was torturing him like so, it’d be helluva a lot easier just knowing. One, was he really getting stronger? And second, was Sphinx really trustworthy?

“You know Lark,” Sphinx’s timely voice sent a cold sweat behind his ears, “when you’re confronted with that option to fight or flee, I definitely don’t want you to freeze. People are clumsy, more so when they’re in a panic. They slip on shit, fall down awkwardly, sprain limbs, and get tired quickly. A build-up of mental fatigue so to speak can happen in a snap. These exercises are to prevent that.”

Above Lark’s racing heart COSMO’s voice entered from the school’s speakers:
“Survival countdown 1 hour.”

Lark cocked a brow. “I have to run around for an hour this time?”

“Just try to.” A crackled laugh dispersed as the speakers cut out. Lark hurried to find a place to duck into. This time he was familiar with the terrain, after all, he only attended this school for the last four years. He cut over the lunch tables when a hail of spears launched at the deck in front of him. “Holy shit—”

Lark swerved his gun to the closest Redcap and fired three times. The psionic bullets quickly decimated its face, killing it. With his free hand, he summoned Gushi behind him. Meanwhile, he heard COSMO’s voice with a new announcement: First monster kill.

“Gushi! Boiling Body! Propel!”

“First party kill.” A second goblin fell.

“Damn right,” Lark said, squeezing the trigger in front of the third target. The psionic bullet spun a spiral of flames, which pronounced a large flaming hole on the Redcap’s shabby shield. It chucked the shield onto the goblin next to it as soon as its arm caught on fire.

“Not very smart, are they?” he muttered under his breath, and then he directed his gaze upon his slime. After using Boiling Body, Gushi’s strength was on par with a Redcap.

“Gushi, eat up, but save some of the pointy stuff,” he quickly ordered. The slime bounded on top of a dead goblin, and then another till the lunch deck was cleared out of dead goblins.

“SIM reports user has unlocked Sharpshooter Mastery skill.”

Lark tilted his head. He can unlock skills inside his Mind Space? Did they translate to real-world skills or like Gushi, did he need to relearn them?

“Live through this round, before you ask so many questions.”

Gushi’s antenna flashed a red beam. Lark didn’t have time to sigh at Sphinx’s interference nor check his updated status because an army of slime bats arrived. More than forty minions surrounded them.

“Don’t bother talking, if you’re not gonna answer.”

Instead of using the revolver right away, Lark opened his storage ring and pulled out a kitchen knife.

“Gushi, shrink back to normal first, then fire back at them,” Lark said as he jumped onto a table to gain higher ground. In a second, Gushi transformed back to his usual size and rolled forward like a ball before bouncing. The slime’s body slammed against three bats in a row, then ricocheted off a wall and continued propelling back and forth between monsters.

“Nice,” Lark cheered. He threw the knife into the most condensed population. The slime bats screeched horrendously, having their wings sheared off. He pulled out a second knife immediately after and shot off another five rounds before any of them could get any closer.

Lark noticed his aim centered better than before. Compared to his first knife throw, the second one sailed through at least four bats and the knife held steady instead of wildly swinging like a boomerang. Even his psionic fire bullets had a more punch to them than before. The blast area effect had a wider burn range. It must be because of the new skill…

He let out a low whistle. “Gushi. Spear please.”

The slime quickly spat out a dull brown stick with a leaf-like blade at the top. Amusingly, the Redcaps might've been better off fighting with bare hands. The spear’s stats were lower than a tree branch.

Lark picked it up nonetheless and swung it over his shoulder. He imitated the throw like how’d he had seen the track and field guys do it. The spear flew faster than he had expected and it lobbed a messy hole through another set of bats. “Speed is nice,” Lark said to himself until he saw what remained. The spear tip splintered off as soon as it collided with the locker. Then he shrugged. “As I thought, it’d be better to just dice’em up.”

Gushi had put over twenty slime bats to rest, while Lark dealt with the remaining three using the last of his kitchen knives.

“COSMO how much time remaining?”

“Forty-four minutes and fifteen seconds…” the robotic voice reported from his smartwatch.

Lark stretched his hands. They were beginning to stiffen. He’d underestimated how unreliable his stamina was in a prolonged fight. Gushi noticed and bounded up to him, extending his antenna over his hands.

He titled his head in surprise as a black box notification popped up. “Y-you’ve figured out how to use Perception in this way?”

It read off Gushi’s updated use of Perception, which extended to pinpointing weaknesses of creatures. In its owner’s case, Gushi examined Lark’s hands to note where the damage had occurred, be it overuse of his strength or torn muscles.

Quickly, Gushi swallowed Lark’s hands inside its body. Lark didn’t squirm as much as he did before the first time Gushi had done that, but this time a bubbly, viscous fluid coated the webbed space between his pointer finger and thumb. A mix of soapiness and medicinal ointment tickled his nerves. What was this feeling close to, he wondered, a sponge bath?

“Thanks,” Lark said after Gushi released him. His treated hands felt fresh out of a spa. The slime saluted him with its antenna. For the time being, the antenna remained a neutral color, meaning no enemies were within 200 feet of them. Before facing off with a new potential threat though, Lark checked his status.

“Lark Rune [Trickster]

[Survivor][Beginner Beast Tamer][Familiar*]

*Happiness Level: 30%

STR: 18

DEX: 20 (+5)

INT: 18 (+5)

MG: 15 (+10)

SP: 200

*LUK: 35 (-0)

Happiness level has a direct relationship with LUK.
Remember: Happiness has little to do with luck, but luck comes to those with happiness.”

Lark grumbled at the message noted at the bottom of the screen. Another five percent immediately deducted from his happiness level screen.

“Fortune cookie nonsense,” he said. There was no one to argue with though, so looked at the skills he obtained next.

“??? - Innate Skill - User can understand the cursed/undead creatures for reasons unknown.

Alchemy - Life Skill - Rank F - User can craft simple potions, salves, and tonics.

Effects: As the user discovers and crafts more products, this skill will help produce more potent effects. As DEX increases so will the user’s flexibility in handling craft materials.”

Sharpshooter Mastery - Life Skill - Rank G - Training this skill will lead to more sharpshooter related focuses.

It was mildly interesting to learn he now possessed three skills. One of which SIM couldn’t identify, yet marked as an innate skill. Lark couldn’t help but assume there might be a strong possibility, this condition was related to his failing eyesight. It wasn’t that far-reaching that both coincidences could be linked since both had unknown causes and failed to be determined by SIM’s scanning abilities. However, this lack of information also revealed SIM wasn’t omnipotent, it was assessing him and his surroundings constantly before delivering information.

Lark put the thought temporarily behind him as he examined the Sharpshooter Mastery skill box.

When he tapped it, the skill transferred him to an outlined shape of an octagon. A picture of a target centered inside of it. Attached to the left side of the octagon was a line trailing to circle with a palm print inside it.

“[Steady Hand] - Increases precision and accuracy.”

Although it was a strange-looking flowchart, Lark immediately thought of Runesteam and the game he played with the twins. In the beginning, Teddy only knew how to use fireball, but after he killed a few minions with fire magic, his character learned how to use firebolt, which was an evolved form of fireball with a faster hit rate and increase in critical damage.

“It’s a skill tree…”

Upon closer examination of this branching skill, he noticed something odd. “Where did the rank go?”

His question would have to wait.

Suddenly, Gushi jumped onto his head, entire body shivering. Their shared Perception skill activated. Approaching from behind the school’s cafeteria was the disfigured humanoid. All traces of its previous human container gone, fully blood-red eyes and gooey black skin with brownish, popped out veins, no visible green hair nor any semblance of human conscious.

Lark inhaled through his nose, dragging in the scent of crisp, seared flesh. His skin flushed as though there was a heater in front of him, faintly recalling Silvina’s attack blowing across the battlefield.

He affectionately tapped the top of Gushi’s slime coat. “I won’t let you die again,” he promised.
“I have an idea.”

 

---

SIM was a tool developed in Pantheon to reinforce the user’s Mind Space through a dream-like simulation, where freedom reigned and everything was only limited by creativity. However, an object this powerful drove Immortals mad.

They remained hostage to the illusions SIM granted them. Envision reunions with passed loved ones, an endless supply of treasure and money, defeating enemies effortlessly, and so on. SIM granted all these wishes and the countless scenarios fed into endless lust and greed.

For whatever reason, these users never left, finding a fake paradise inside SIM. Eventually, the inevitable occurred. Thus, Sphinx was hidden away inside SIM for a period of time until the apocalypse came to Pantheon. Or so Sphinx had wanted to explain earlier until Lark had killed him, followed by a thorough sass session.

“What will you do, my ward?” Sphinx peered down from a makeshift cloud chair. He floated above the scenery with a pair of fox-ear hearing aids and underground-ostrich binoculars. “I’m oh so, so curious.”

It appeared only the Cursed Human spawned nearby, however, Lark glimpsed back every few steps to make sure he wasn’t followed.

Sphinx feigned ignorance earlier, but Lark was sure the callous attitude came from dying. Even now, he couldn’t forget that utter despair he continuously felt at random moments. Gushi’s death. His arm and then his own death. And finally Sphinx’s death. The latter having the most chilling effect on his mind. A chill brushed under his arms and ran deeper into him like a cold sting.

It was easy dying. Not so easy surviving. The fact he was immersed in a world set with 75% realism kept coming back to him and what it really meant— were their deaths 75% real or did it have a 75% chance of occurring in a forced setting, or what did Sphinx really intend to show him at 100%?

Agitated, Lark nearly bumped his shoulder against a random locker. The rusty metal bracket caught onto his sleeve and left black marks while skinning the top of his skin. He hissed. Gushi bent its antenna downward as if looking in his eyes then to his shoulder. Next, it bobbed up and down in an understanding manner and a piece of the slime split away, the same way a crumb would fall from a cookie.

To Lark’s immediate shock, the dislodged piece went under his shirt on its own to where the scratch occurred and began healing him.

“Didn’t know you could do that. Very cool.” Lark patted Gushi, who seemed to believe he needed the blob of slime left under his shirt for the time being as it was in no hurry to reattach itself.

Lark stepped out in front of the library porch. The Cursed Human currently walked in circles in front of the cafeteria. Low growls echoed from inside its chest once it reached the edge of the building, then it turned around, acting like a haughty security guard.

Normally, when school was not in session a metal fence would block out the front entrance which was wall to wall with glass windows and an automatic sliding door. Normally that is. From the adjacent school building, Lark could see the doors ding open and shut every time the Cursed Human walked close to the sensors.

“It's walking in loops just like how a monster would in a game.” Lark’s eyebrows raised in annoyance, and then he ducked behind a low-rise bush debating if the Cursed Human was under SIM’s control or if it acted naturally like that.

He brushed the back of his neck, forgetting his hair was tied up, and he let out a depressed sigh. “It doesn’t matter,” he said and poked Gushi’s body. “I will protect you, this time.”

A hand pressed against over his wrist, where the blue tattoo wrapped over his skin like a vein. That’s right. I’m still connected to her, right?

His eyes cooled in front of the empty library porch. Sphinx couldn’t summon Jaime earlier to possibly try to kill him, which meant SIM was too low level to bring out certain…subjects. But he had to test his own limits.

“Print Master Nympha.” A tiny white circle dotted the ground and instantly turned green.

…It worked!

A feeling of triumph flushed through his cheeks as a tiny purple mouse materialized.

“Finally, remembered me, little Familiar? You smell stronger.” The shapeshifter’s whiskers shook. Her nose pointed up. “The other one is just watching you… what a troublesome protector.”

Lark snorted. “Protector, my ass.”

Nympha made a little swish of her tail, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Lark, and her crystal-like eyes trained on the sky.

“Wait for me, have your gift out before I return.” Her form curled into a ball which then shot straight up. With no clue with what just happened, Lark stood there with Gushi wiggling on his head. He hadn't planned on using her again to get out of this mess, but it would've helped if she had insisted. A tight frown screwed on his face.

“That didn't work at all,” he murmured. Gushi comforted him by patting his nose again.

He pulled out a circular, white stone from his shirt pocket. It was the spirit stone Nympha had given him after he rejected the Cosmic Egg. It was also a small consolation prize in return for taking an eighth of his soul.

Its ovaline and white surface reminded him of a hard-boiled egg. While it felt hard and cool to the touch as most gems were, it was also springy to his surprise. “Scan.”

“Item: Spirit Stone (spirit) (rare)
+10 LUK
+2% Healing and calming effect

A raw material used for various crafts.
Some places take this rare ore as currency.
Can be used to passively restore spiritual energy.
Hidden energy can be felt while holding the spirit stone.”

Lark smirked and raised it above his head. “Hold onto this for me Gushi.”

The slime stretched over his hand, careful not to knock off the stone, and quickly absorbed it inside its slime cavity.

“Do you feel any different?” Lark asked and Gushi’s body twitched. Its antenna glowed white for a second before it returned to a neutral hue. To answer his question, Gushi acquiesced the blob of slime it had lent to him earlier, then repeated its splitting. This new piece of slime bubbled over his chest in a similar action as before except this time, the slime was a fluffy white color and was as soft as cotton.

Gushi wiggled again as if asking for a compliment. Lark chuckled, unable to put words to the short bursts of energy he felt through the cotton slime. Weightless against his chest, the cloud blob didn’t impede his ability stoop close to the ground. “I see what you mean. It’s good. Very comfortable.”

Gushi combed through Lark’s hair, apparently pleased. They proceeded to watch the Cursed Human while waiting for Nympha. After three minutes, however, Lark decided Sphinx must've kept her occupied somehow and said to Gushi, “Sphinx said I only had to survive an hour, which means I don't have to fight, but I know he wants me to…and…I gain experience and bonuses for defeating them. You do too…”

He hesitated, picturing his arm again in the jaws of the monster, and the astringent taste came back on his tongue. To fight or to avoid… which one was the correct path?

 

---

 

Far above the duo, another pair faced off above the clouds. Their eyes matched one on one, unshakable dueling ideologies could be seen on their faces, neither wanted to yield in their current stare-off.

Sphinx began, “You’re not going to help him?” The question started off with a curious tone, but ended on a sour note and rather glaringly when Nympha’s tail swished.

“I am,” she said, “I need some answers though.” Unlike Sphinx who sat sprawled across a cloud cushion, Nympha hovered in the air as if she were standing on an invisible plate. Sphinx, the disinterested party in this discourse, ran a finger through his white hair strands and pulled it back over his ear.

“I’m listening.”

Nympha broke eye contact first and her tail flicked behind her ear. A silver needle produced in her tail’s grip as if it appeared out of thin air. It shot out faster than Sphinx could blink and when he looked over at the hole in his cushion, he blinked twice. “Rarely am I surprised,” he said, still eying the state of his cushion, “but you shouldn't have missed at this distance.”

“I’m testing something,” she said, her tail now carrying a stack of needles. “You didn’t even try to dodge.”

Neither moved and the distance between them did not lessen.

“No wonder the soul contracts turned out so well, you and my ward would rather keep it inside your heads than to ask directly. Identical behaviors lead to the same mind.”

“The snake and the crab.” Nympha lowered her tail and jumped forward. She landed on another invisible plate, and then another, seamlessly arriving before Sphinx’s side without pause.

“I prefer the more modern idiom, the pot calling the kettle black, at least no one dies in that one.” Sphinx cruelly laughed as a needle lodged into his shoulder. No blood trickled out, it simply stayed. Another impaled his foot. Then into both his knees. Nympha showed no sign of stopping until her body grew five times in length, taking on the dog-like form she used to carry Wangshi. Her tail, thick and rough like rope, wrapped around Sphinx’s neck. Tight enough to threaten his air supply, but loose enough for his mouth to talk.

“Tell me, why I can’t exert my soul force here.”

“If that’s all you wanted to know you could’ve just asked…” Sphinx swallowed as the squeeze around his throat tightened. “Jokes aside. Do you know where ‘here’ is, to begin with? I’ll give you a hint: it’s a Mind Space, but it doesn’t belong to Lark’s. It’s an Immortal’s plaything.”

Nympha tilted her head.

“Oh wait, I just gave the answer away. My bad.” Sphinx replied with a wink. “We should talk to get to know each other more, don’t you think?”