[Day 7]

By the seventh day rolled around, the entire village was basically subdued. She managed to get enough dose of the [blue flower poison] to directly incapacitate them all. 

After throwing the rest to the river, the waves that occasionally still surged—the river’s last resistance— finally calmed down as well. 

The three of them didn’t have much to do anymore. Kirana just went off to find a comfortable bed in the village chief’s house and slept until the evening, healing herself and restoring her stamina. When she woke up and walked out of the house, she saw the two brothers in front of a fire... baking chicken. 

“Oh, Miss Kirana, you’ve woken up!” Banyu greeted her when he saw her emerge. 

“Here, have some too, Miss,” Bintang offered. The teenager had really calmed down from the angry, angsty one she had seen before. 

Kirana’s lips twitched. “Did you guys slaughter the villager’s chicken?” she asked. 

“Well, they won’t need it,” Banyu replied with a wide smile. “It’s good to lay back and enjoy after everything that has happened, right?" 

Kirana surrendered and joined them in eating. It oddly tasted good despite eating amidst of all unconscious villagers like this, but that was probably because she hadn’t eaten anything all day. 

She was finishing off her last drumstick when she noticed Bintang, this teenage boy, glanced at her a few times. 

Kirana was amused, although her stoic face betrayed nothing. “What is it, Bintang?” 

Bintang quickly put out a flattering smile. “Uh... Miss Kirana, can we have your contact info...” 

Kirana didn’t expect to ever see a flattering smile from the sullen teenager. On the side, Banyu frowned. “Bintang, that’s rude!” 

“Well,” Kirana slowly said, “I haven’t gotten a secure line yet. Leave me your number, I’ll contact you later.” From the interaction these last few days, she thought that these two brothers were quite good-natured. At least, if there was anything happening, they would be suitable to cooperate with. 

Bintang smiled widely. “Sure! It’s 08xxxxxxxxx!” 

“I remember,” she replied then casually repeated the string numbers. “Is that right?” 

Bintang’s eyes, ironically, were filled with stars. “Yes! Miss, you’re awesome!” 

Despite her best efforts, a small smile curled at the edge of her lips. That was the moment that the dungeon’s announcement sounded. [Congratulations for clearing the D-Level dungeon, ‘Mountain Village’!] 

 In the blink of an eye, she was suddenly back in her room. 

Kirana glanced down at her phone screen as the so-called [Celestial Game] automatically counted her experience. 

[Main Quest: Survive for 7 Days – Completed] 

[Here are your rewards:] 

[Coins x10] [Inferior Healing Potion x5] [Soulbinder Hairpin] 

[Side Quest: What Happened in Mountain Village? – Completed – Coins x5] 

[Hidden Quest: The Village Chief’s Wife – 50%] 

[Hidden Quest: The Abducted Women – Completed – Coins x10] 

She blinked. She didn’t manage to finish that hidden quest, it’s fine, but [Soulbinder Hairpin]? She looked into her [Space Bag] and found, to her delight, that the small golden hairpin had transformed into a bigger weapon! It was still the same shape, except that the flowers on the point of the hairpin had transformed into a handle, although it retained the flower pattern. This was practically a dagger. When she clicked on the item name on her screen, she found a description: 

[Soulbinder Hairpin: Gifted to a young girl from her beloved older brother, and now given to you, this hairpin has been bathed with blood and grew. From the blood, connected to the soul: using this, you can bind an enemy’s soul for five minutes, leaving an empty shell. Be careful, bound soul can take revenge! It can only be used once every day.] 

She snorted, but felt delighted, nonetheless. It didn’t matter as long as she had a proper weapon. Was this what Banyu called useful stuff that he could identify? An artifact of some sort; belongings of the dead. 

She continued scrolling. 

[Achievement: Crisis Prevented! - Killed the zombies before they can be released with strength.] 

[Achievement: Ritual Smasher– Broke the ritual completely before the river god can be summoned.] 

[Achievement: Sanity Breaker – you broke the villagers’ sanity by killing the shaman...] 

[Achievement: Overachiever – you managed to kill all threats and solved the dungeon ahead of time limit, leaving time to kick back and relax...] 

Her lips twitched. Well, were much stronger zombies supposed to be released later? It was just she and the other two find the hidden place and killed those mangled corpses before they could become stronger. That was good. 

At the bottom, she found familiar words. [Please prepare for the next dungeon. Countdown: 6 days 23 hours 5 minutes...] 

She sighed and went to check her inventory. She now had a total of 30 [Coins]. Looking at the [Achievements] tab, she claimed all of them, getting her a total of 4 [Lucky Draw Ticket]. Sighing, she went to gamble on all of them. No sense in waiting. 

[Are you sure to use [Lucky Draw Ticket]?] 

She tapped yes. The roulette screen appeared in front of her eyes. It started to turn and fall to... Uh. [Congratulations, you get: [Stamina Candy] x1!] 

...That thing is worth one point in the store... At most, it temporarily increased your stamina for a minute, but after the increase, your stamina would decrease sharply. 

After a week of constantly being on edge, Kirana didn’t have any more energy to be angry at the game. She continued clicking use on the ticket. 

And she drew... What? [Exclusive Refinement Material]. It just sounded like a general RPG material for weapon... When it appeared out of the roulette, it was shaped like a beautiful red gem. 

She glanced at her phone. In her [Inventory], this item was added. Kirana tapped it to see the description. 

[A chance to upgrade your equipment to an exclusive one! There is only 5% chance of upgrading. If it fails, the equipment will be destroyed.] 

She hissed. Such a huge risk, especially for those who didn’t have anything to begin with. In depression, she continued drawing the lot. 

[Congratulations, you get: [Lucky Charm] x1] 

In the shape of a four-leaf clover, the lucky charm was just... well, a plant. The description stated that [Lucky Charm can increase your luck by 1%! Not stackable. Disappear one day after use.] When she checked the store, it was priced at 10 coins. 

Kirana closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened it again. Anger was not conducive to anything she wanted to do. Calm down, calm down... 

Kirana controlled her strength in time before she destroyed her own phone. And then she thought again. Maybe it would work? She knew it wouldn’t, but she had half a hope that it would destroy that damning game app along with it. 

She let herself bring rise to anger and in turn, her phone screen started to crack. When it did, she threw it at the wall. 

It shattered. 

When she took it again and realized that it was completely destroyed, Kirana laughed. She laughed because she felt like a lunatic, laying back down on her bed and closing her eyes, feeling exhaustion filling her body. However, a notification sound appeared around her, causing her to sit up, alert. 

To her utterly blank face, a holographic screen appeared in front of her, with the same interface as the cursed app in her phone. 

Kirana laughed again. Bitterly. She knew it wouldn’t happen, yet she hoped. Whoever was behind this game, they were from a much higher civilization than Earth, and it wasn’t something that she could fight.  

Resigned, she opened her eyes and continued using her last [Lucky Draw Ticket]. 

[Congratulations, you get: [Poison Mushroom] x1!] 

[Poison Mushroom: Throw it and hypnotize your enemy with the wonderful color of the mushroom! When using it, there is 50% chance that it will also apply to you.] 

50% chance?! That was completely outrageous. But as she had become reconciled to her fate, Kirana moved on to the [Profile] tab. 

There was a pop-up notification in front of the screen. [Congratulations, you’ve leveled up to: [D-Level]! You are now of [Advanced] class title.] 

She observed her profile for a moment. 

 

Before, her “class title” was novice. Apparently, it changed every level. Kirana also noticed that her stats had actually increased, and it was increasing based on what stat she used in the dungeon. She kept evading attack, so her agility and speed increased by two levels, as with the case with her toughness. Her strength only increased one level, because she didn’t use it much in the dungeon. 

She fell into a thoughtful silence. What was the highest level? If she reached the highest level, could she find out what this game really was, and how she could get out? 

So many questions... so little answers. 

Well, there was really no other choice. Her mind that had been strung for a whole week finally relaxed as she took in the sight of her own apartment, one that she had decorated herself, a safe space that she had created. Registering that, Kirana staggered to her bedroom and threw herself amidst the pillows, getting her very well-deserved rest.