Dave narrowed his eyes and brought his excitement under control. For a moment, he had forgotten about the circumstances that brought him here. The virtual world of his favorite mobile game was a bit too addictive. He squeezed a smile to his face and looked at the message box. He had been too engrossed in the game. Now it was time to go back to the dangerous real world.

Dave rubbed his face and pressed [Yes].

[Closing simulated world…]

The world dimmed as the expansive grassland faded to the backdrop, like how ice melts into water. Inky darkness enveloped everything like a devouring maw of a hungry beast. Dave sighed. He was back in the dark world with his senses stripped. The only thing accompanying him was a blue game window hovering seamlessly in front of him.

‘Back here again, huh?’ Dave pinched the bridge of his nose. He had somewhat expected to be here again.

The transmigrator took a look at the panel.

[Sephirot Exchange Store:-]  [Your Total EXP: 14,078]

1. Health Potion(20) <<10 EXP/bottle>>
2. Leather Gloves(8) <<100 EXP/piece>>
3. Leather Footwear(6) <<100 EXP/piece>>
4. Iron Sword(10) <<100 EXP/piece>>

[You will return to real-world in 00:10:45:07]

‘Something’s fishy! What is this?’ At first, Dave didn’t know what to make out of this new window. Nothing on it made sense to him. But, after taking a closer look at the items listed, he understood. It was just an assumption, however. An experiment was necessary to prove it.

Dave pressed his index finger on the first option.

[How many Health Potions do you want to buy?]

[__] [0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9]

Dave entered twenty. A new message box appeared.

[Health Potions x20 -> 200 EXP]

[Proced? – Yes/No]

After he punched yes, the blue holographic box brightened considerably. Dave noticed the first option had disappeared from the list. Taking note of this little tidbit, he repeated the process for all the items listed. He invested a sum total of 2600 EXP in total. Dave still didn’t know the meaning of doing this. He simply went with the flow.

The ten minutes timer ended in a blink of an eye. The blue window vanished, followed by a wave of nausea hitting Dave with full force. When he opened his eyes, Dave was back in the real world, kneeling in front of the mirror and breathing heavily. He felt oxygen-deprived. There was an inexplicable pain on his muscles— as if he was being poked with needles all over.

It lasted for more than a minute and faded over the next few minutes. On the ground, Dave was a shivering mess of sweat, drool, and other facial fluids. 

‘What a horrible feeling,’ Dave complained. ‘Is the price of going to that world? Isn’t it too much?’

He called out the interface. There was something he wanted to confirm.

Name: Davian De’Lore

Occupation: Runaway prince, Vagabond, Beggar

Titles: Sealed Vessel; Betrayer of Kingdom

Level: 0 (Permanently Locked)

EXP: 11,478/0

[HP: 114/144][Mana: 42/42]

STR: 14        INT: 7

AGI: 11         WIS: 6

DEF: 7          LUCK: 4

PHY: 12        STA: 12

Skills:-

 [Sephirot Lv 1]

Inventory(00:50:22):-

[Health Potion x20; Leather Gloves x8; Leather Footwear x6; Iron Sword x10]

The stats had changed from what he had seen before. All attributes have increased by two points. That wasn’t the only change, however. Under the [Skills] tab, there was a new tab. But that wasn’t what surprised him.

‘To think I can bring back things from that world to here-’ Dave was pleasantly surprised. Just some time ago, he was despairing about his lack of ability and his unsure future. But now, he can travel to a place awfully similar to a game he liked to play. He can grow stronger there and can even bring back items to this world. It was like a ray of light in the darkness.

‘Is this what it feels like- to rise to heaven after dropping to hell?’ Dave mused. He now felt a little confidence in his future. At least, it wasn’t as hopeless as it was before. Dave picked himself up into a sitting posture. A foul scent wafted into his nostrils. Pinching his nose, he inspected for the source and realized the cause was himself. Of course, the pigsty he called home had also contributed to the cause.

Davian, the third prince, had escaped the capital in a hurry. The very day his big brother succeeded the throne, he issued a capture order against him. His crime was treason and colluding with external forces. Thanks to the sacrifice of a few of his loyal men, he was able to escape the capital relatively unscathed. The set of clothes on his back and the accessories on his person were all he managed to bring out.

In the past few years, he had sold them all. In essence, his status as a beggar was not entirely an act. Ignoring the foul scent coming from him, he inspected the room. It was a small thatched hut with walls made from mud. It had a straw roof— on which Dave spotted some sprouting edible mushrooms. On one corner, there were two wooden boxes. One of them belongs to him. In these few years, what little things of value he had managed to gather, he had put them there. 

The Kingdom of Marvella was too vast. Even after years, he only managed to reach the edge of his kingdom. At the moment, he was in a city known as Krill. Krill was the border town that acted as a sort of buffer point between Marvella and its neighboring kingdom, Sulos. Both kingdoms had never seen each other eye to eye and only maintained cordial relationships throughout the years.

Due to the nature of this town, it had been granted relative autonomy over courses. Unless it was wartime, the royal family couldn’t exert their influence over here. The third prince had chosen this place to hide solely for that reason. Moreover, it also helped that the lord of this town was a powerful individual. Not even the royal family dared to mess with them.

The third prince may be a cripple who couldn’t level up—he definitely wasn’t a fool. He had planned his escape route quite meticulously. In fact, he had planned this for a long time. Somewhere in the back of his head, he always knew one day he would face serious trouble.

The royal family was probably one of the cruelest places in the kingdom. Power struggles of various scales were going on all the time. In the end, the king's children were pitted against eachother with powers supporting each side. A brutal place hidden behind the shiny walls of the golden palace—such was the opinion of the third prince on the royal family.

Staring at the gathered items on the ground, Dave began planning on his next course of action. He was not afraid of taking bolder steps, not anymore. The existence of the Sephirot world had made him somewhat confident.

‘First, I need money,’ Dave noted. He was just a beggar, and his entire life saving amounted to the few crystals on the bowl. ‘Then, I need clothes and get out of this place. Third, I need a way to earn EXP.’

There were many ways to earn EXP, but, most of them were not accessible to him at the moment. In the vicinity of the Krill, even the weakest monster was around level 40. They were not something he could mess around with his current stats.

‘Forget it, I’ll think about it later. For now-‘ Dave sniffed himself and blanched. He nearly cried from the smell. ‘I need a bath. First, I’ll clean myself, and then I’ll think about how to deal with the items.’