[ Warning. You have been poisoned. ]

[ Multiple additional health penalties in place. ]

A slew of blue screens popped up before me all at once.

Damn it. I knew it wouldn't be pleasant, but having to experience it is something else entirely.

I clenched my teeth as the effects of the five needles spread, starting with an intense itching of my right wrist as the Fire Ant began its effects.

[ Health penalty in place. Your right arm will experience itching for the next half hour or as long as you continue to be in contact with the poison. ]

[ Update. ]

[ Itching poison 90% nullified by paralysis poisons. ]

Hah. I wondered what would happen with all five of them injected simultaneously.

[ Health penalty in place. Your right arm will experience paralysis for the next hour or as long as you continue to be in contact with the poison. ]

[ Current Paralysis Intensity : 90% ]

[ Your right arm's Strength is decreased by 90% ]

[ Current Itching Intensity : 10% ]

I could not feel my right wrist and arm, which now hung utterly useless by my body. The mild itching from the Fire Ant poison felt practically like a welcome treat.

The blue screens continued popping up one after the other, informing me of all the side effects that hit me.

My stomach churned violently, and hot gasses seeped from my mouth and behind, foreshadowing what was about to come.

Damn it.

[ Health penalty in place. Your stomach is unable to digest your food. Everything inside will be removed momentarily. ]

I had tried out a few needles in my first life to get a handle on how they felt. Still, I never tried any of the more potent poisons, and I certainly never tried the Yellow Volcano on myself. The prospect of violently vomiting and shitting out my innards was hardly an appealing ordeal, even if it wasn't deadly.

"Hold up there! What is going on with you?" The Farmer cried out.

However, I couldn't see him anymore.

[ Health penalty in place. You will experience blindness for the next half hour. ]

"What's this black mark on your eyes??" he called out.

I guess the Black Ink had finally spread from my wrist to my face.

Finally, the popup I was most eager for about came up.

[ Your health is dropping at 20 points per second. You have 250/300 HP remaining. ]

[ Health penalty in place. Your heart rate is slowing, and you will fall asleep into a permanent slumber unless an antidote is administered. ]

The purple needle, known as the Violet Delight, had begun its effects. A soft, sweet, candy-like aroma filled my nose. My whole body felt like it was floating on clouds, and my mouth curled into a smile.

I had obviously never tried out the death-inducing needle on myself ever before but had heard from Kleave that it provided a reasonably pleasant death to its victims.

"You! Get me all our health potions!" The Farmer's voice sounded beside my ear. His arms were carrying my body somewhere. "I absolutely cannot have him die on me!"

Ah. No. I would really prefer to die if you don't terribly mind.

[ Your health is dropping at 20 points per second. You have 230/300 HP remaining. ]

My mind felt like cotton candy, with everything seemingly slowed down and softened. My eyelids fell shut, not that it mattered whether they were open or not. The Black Ink needle was still preventing me from seeing anything.

[ Your health is dropping at 20 points per second. You have 210/300 HP remaining. ]

Only the blue notifications continued to appear in my mind, crystal clear, even if my senses were fading.

My stomach churned violently again, but even this, I somehow didn't seem to care much about. Instead, I accepted what the Yellow Volcano was about to do to my insides in an oddly peaceful manner, as if I were merely accepting a hot cup of hot chocolate.

What a weird needle this is….

I felt my body being set down and rough hands searching my clothing, obviously looking for the antidotes, but them also being needles and made invisible along with the poison needles, The Farmer was out of luck.

"Damn it, who doesn't carry an antidote on them?" The Farmer muttered, but then his voice changed to its usual high pitch. "Ah! Give that here!"

[ Your health is dropping at 20 points per second. You have 190/300 HP remaining. ]

I felt something cold press against my lips, and a liquid poured in.

Another blue screen appeared.

[ Poison unable to be nullified. Quality of the health potion is not high enough. ]

"Heh." I smirked.

Kathy's poison needles were too strong for whatever healing potion The Farmer was attempting to use on me.

[ Your health is dropping at 20 points per second. You have 170/300 HP remaining. ]

I felt my left sleeve pulled up and a pinch on my skin.

Did he just inject something into me?

[ Itching poison nullified. ]

[ Blinding poison nullified. ]

[ However other poisons were unable to be nullified. Quality of the health potion is not high enough. ]

[ Your health is dropping at 20 points per second. You have 150/300 HP remaining. ]

Ha!

"He's still fading! Get me our strongest health potion!"

The Farmer's high-pitched voice sounded far, far away from me and yet right beside me as well. My mind seemed to be floating.

"Get me the essence of a phoenix claw!"

Damn it.

I frowned.

The essence of a phoenix feather was a powerful antidote against most poisons, including those of a demonic nature. However, the essence of a phoenix claw was the diamond standard. It could practically recuperate someone from the dead, but it was not cheap. It was so expensive that I had only ever heard of it being used to save a Daylan princess—not that it did her any good, as she was killed a month later by other means.

But why does he care so much about keeping me alive? Is his client really that important to waste a health potion that expensive on me?

I watched the blue screens continue to roll through, informing me of my inevitable death.

[ Your health is dropping at 20 points per second. You have 70/300 HP remaining. ]

I couldn't wait for it to come fast enough.

A cold glass object pressed against my lips, and a warm liquid poured into my mouth. I felt sparks on my tongue as it gushed in and went down my throat.

Damn it. It even tastes expensive.

Closing my lips didn't do me any good. The Farmer had seen to it that my mouth remained open to take in the essence of the phoenix claw.

Then a violent explosion that I would have never welcomed in any other instance finally arrived. My breakfast came gushing up my throat and out of my mouth like a volcano, pushing out everything from my insides, including the essence of a phoenix claw.

BLEHH!

I felt hot liquid and pieces roll down my face, but I didn't care. I couldn't even smell it, as foul as I imagined it to likely be. Instead, the soft, sweet, candy-like aroma of the Violet Delight poison was taking over all my senses.

[ Your health is dropping at 20 points per second. You have 50/300 HP remaining. ]

Who knew the Yellow Volcano could be so useful?

My innards seemed to be gushing out of me nonstop, incapacitating me from being able to take in any health potions, as hard as The Farmer might have tried.

[ Your health is dropping at 20 points per second. You have 30/300 HP remaining. ]

Ah, but I should find a better and faster means of dying in future rounds. Experiencing all five poisons at once is still rather unpleasant, even if the alternative was dying an excruciatingly slow death under the care of The Farmer.

[ Intelligence : +1 ]

[ Intelligence : 57 ]

Tsk.

Is that the System's way of making fun of me, even as I struggle with death?

[ Your health is dropping at 20 points per second. You have 10/300 HP remaining. ]

[ You have died. ]

[ Reset in progress. ]

[ Beginning Round 8. ]

***

I pulled off my blanket and stared at my new ceiling. It was a light peach, while the walls were painted deep navy. A white chandelier that appeared like a floating cloud hung in the center. The morning light poured into my room, making everything seem to glow.

The soft and warm blanket felt reassuring against my body, but it was such a complete contrast. It felt like the violent death I had experienced just moments ago never occurred and was a faraway nightmare.

I sighed.

I restarted earlier than I intended. As a result, I didn't have a proper plan to save Fin, nor how to prevent the Selvine and Mentisun families from setting my family's path to destruction. Not to mention the slew of issues I had never worried about in my original life.

I had a Daylan prince who may or may not have been the same warlock-cat that killed me in Round 6; I had a Daylan war that nearly came about because of said prince's disappearance, only to be circumvented by the untimely and entirely unpredicted death of the Queen Yadana of the Daylan Dynasty, which I still couldn't understand how it had come about. I still had no information regarding the Genuiver Duchy's politics and how to transform Duncan Genuiver into a proper heir of his land. Nor did I learn what happened to Leona and how to prevent a similar fate from occurring again.

And finally, who would want me captured and kept alive as a vegetable so badly?

Hiring The Framer was not cheap, and wasting an expensive essence of a phoenix claw in an attempt to keep me alive was baffling. What sort of return on investment were they expecting? And what did that mean for me in this round?

[ Welcome to Round 8, Luca. ]

[ Congratulations! Achievement unlocked for having died 5 times due to poison. ]

Blue screens appeared before me.

"Seriously? Dying is an achievement?" I whispered.

[ New skill unlocked! ]

[ Poison Identifier: Level 1 ]

[ You will notice if something is poisoned upon observation. At Level 1, you can gauge if the observed poison is Mild, Medium, or Severe. Note that this skill is not limited to a specific number of uses per day, but you will receive small health damage if you overuse it more than $@ times. ]

Oh great, the 0.4 penalty again.

Knock. Knock.

"Young master Luca?" Denise's voice sounded from outside. "Are you up? Can I enter?"

"Yes, you can enter," I called back.

Denise walked in, wearing a blue knee-length dress and in her hands, like always, was tea and a washbasin. Her short brown hair was held up by a yellow headband, just like every other round. It was peculiar how this one little detail never changed. Was there something about the color that kept it the same round to round?

She set down the tray and handed me my morning tea.

I gazed at the dark liquid inside, or rather, at the blue notification that appeared in front of it as I tested out my new skill.

[ Poison Identifier in effect. ]

[ The tea is poisoned. The poison level is: Mild ]

"Hah," I sighed at the confirmation.

So she was poisoning me all this time in my original life. And if it was a mild poison, it would explain why it took so long to have any discernible effect.

I glanced up at Denise.

"It's a new type of black tea grown within Adovoria itself, flavored with dried blackberries," Denise explained, misunderstanding my look for a question.

"Thank you." I set the cup down, having no intention of drinking it.

Now, what was I going to do with her? It wasn't like I had time to plan appropriately before I restarted.

"I'll dress myself today, so you can leave for now," I said.

Well, in any case, before I had to figure out what to do about Denise and plan for the slew of other issues awaiting me in this round, I had a dagger needing to be tossed at a certain someone.