Wren Lux felt the ground vanish beneath her feet.
A moment later, as she regained her senses, her vision was entirely swallowed by a vast expanse of pure white.
She had returned to the familiar construct space.
There was no sky here, no boundaries to the ground, only endless white…
and the newly packaged instance floating in midair.
Compared to the instance, it was almost excessively quiet here.
Wren Lux was still frozen in her wild, flailing punching stance.
Noticing the change in her surroundings, she blanked for two seconds before slowly lowering her hands.
But soon enough— She recalled the system’s evaluation.
“Who are you calling a crybaby coward!” Thinking about it carefully, she was still angry and indignant.
That was a completely normal reaction, okay!
Who wouldn’t be terrified hacking someone with an axe for the first time!
You try it if you’re so tough!
Besides, she was being influenced by another set of memories!
She didn’t cry!
She cursed a few more times, but gradually, her voice trailed off.
The anger came quickly, but it faded just as fast.
Although the clear evaluation was a bit awkward, she had ultimately beaten the instance.
Overall, the rating was quite high, meaning she could finally use it to secure a loan and publish the instance online.
Furthermore…
Wren Lux felt she was actually pretty amazing.
Even though the process was hard to put into words, she had cleared a live-action version of Resident Evil 7 in just over four hours.
The sense of accomplishment was overwhelming.
That exhilarating rush of winning a grueling marathon had arrived—late, but it was finally here.
And along with it came an intense desire to share her victory.
Wren Lux couldn’t help but straighten her posture.
Placing her hands on her hips, she looked at the system panel in front of her.
“Am I awesome or what?
Aren’t I amazing?” …No one answered her.
The white space remained completely silent.
The game system, of course, would not respond.
And there was no one else in the construct space to share the fear, anger, and joy she experienced while clearing the instance.
Wren Lux paused, then slowly lowered her hands and sat down.
The pure white floor was cool and pristine.
She pulled up her beautifully contoured long legs, hugged her knees, rested her chin on her arms, and offered a soft smile.
After a long while.
Having sorted out her emotions, Wren Lux lifted her head.
She reached out and swiped open the windows that had been popping up frantically earlier, which had shrunk to the top-left corner during her wild punching fit.
Time to check the rewards.
[Instance Verified!] [System Rating Generated——] [Instance Name: Resident Evil] [Instance Rating: C→S] [Instance Type: Horror/Survival/Puzzle] [Ticket Price: 200 Survival Points] [Instance Description: One day, Ethan Winters receives a message from his wife, Mia, who has been missing for three years.
Tracking it to an abandoned estate in Louisiana, he is met by the Baker family residing in the madhouse.
He is forced into a twisted and brutal battle for survival against the malicious Baker family…] [Instance Feature Tags: When facing the extreme terror, physical torment, and inhuman monsters of the Baker family, players must demonstrate psychological endurance and a will to survive that surpasses ordinary people.
The only reason the player risks venturing alone into this monster’s lair is to find his wife who has been missing for three years.
This conviction is the root of the player’s resistance against fear.
It is also the courage of an ordinary person facing terror for love.] [Possible Rewards: ‘Ordinary Person’s Courage’; Precious Items; Attribute Point Rewards.] [Creator: Wren Lux] ‘An S-rating?!’ ‘The instance I copied from my past life’s memories is actually an S-rating?!’ ‘And there really is a skill reward for clearing it!
Ordinary Person’s Courage…
isn’t that the instance theme I wrote?’ ‘Are the clear rewards actually tied to the instance theme?’ ‘Doesn’t that mean…’ Wren Lux thought of something, her beautiful eyes lighting up.
Also, with an S-rating, a ticket price of 200 felt a bit low.
But Wren Lux quickly realized it was too early to worry about that.
She gathered her stray thoughts and clicked open the next window.
[Construct Rewards Calculating——] [Instance Rating S, Instance Clear Score SSS——] [Construct EXP +480] [Spirit Attribute Points +7] [You have leveled up to a Level 3 Constructor!] [You are the first Constructor to create an S-rank instance!
Special rewards calculating…
Congratulations!
You have obtained the special skill [Anti-Visual Imagery]!] ‘It’s here!’ ‘The self-preservation ability I’ve been dreaming of is finally here!’ Wren Lux was thrilled.
However.
‘Isn’t this a skill used for constructing instances?
What does adding ‘Anti’ mean?
Can this even be rewarded to players?
Did I get this because I used it too much?’ ‘Or is there some other evaluation criteria?’ Mixing excitement with a hint of confusion, Wren Lux clicked on the skill.
A new window popped up.
[Special Skill: Anti-Visual Imagery] [Rating: SS] [Type: Perception / Passive Trigger] [Ability Description: Close your eyes.
As your spiritual energy expands, your brain will automatically construct a mental image of your surroundings.
Within this imagery range, any lifeform with strong life fluctuations will be perceived by you, unaffected by ordinary obstacles.] [Perception Range: Base Radius: 15 meters Spirit Bonus: +12 meters (Current Spirit: 12) Final Perception Domain: 27 meters (Radius)] [Identifiable Targets: Humans, animals, anomalous creatures, and other entities with strong life fluctuations] [Cost: None] [Note: Now, please close your eyes and imagine the outline of an orange…
Even if there is no orange nearby, the image of an orange automatically appears in your mind, right?
Although it’s blurry and not very clear, it still appears.
This is called visual imagery.
The human brain is amazing, isn’t it?] After reading the skill description, Wren Lux’s eyes lit up instantly.
‘Isn’t this an absolute god-tier detection skill?!’ ‘Not only does it ignore obstacles, but the range is huge!
The base radius alone is 15 meters, and it scales with Spirit!
And the Constructor reward just happened to give Spirit attribute points.’ ‘Wow.’ Looking at the skill’s range description, Wren Lux subconsciously visualized it in her mind and felt it was a bit exaggerated.
She had only created one instance, yet she was rewarded with 7 Spirit points.
If she kept progressing, how absurd would this skill’s detection range become?
Unfortunately, the skill didn’t seem to have a filtering function.
In a city, there would be living things everywhere…
Wren Lux couldn’t think of an immediate application for it, but that was fine.
It was only for now; it would definitely come in handy later.
Besides, it was perfect for preventing sneak attacks.
Satisfied, Wren Lux closed the skill description and continued reading downward.
The Constructor rewards were excellent.
Next, it was time to see how her instance clear rewards turned out.
[You have cleared the ‘Resident Evil’ instance!] [Instance Completion: 100%] [Overall Clear Evaluation: SSS] [EXP Obtained: 1150, Survival Points: 2400] [Items/Equipment Obtained: Hand Sanitizer*10, MPM Handgun*1.] [Special Rewards Obtained: Agility +2, Strength +2, Spirit +4] [First Instance Clear, SSS Evaluation Reward Obtained: Atypical Courage] [Calculation Complete.] Wren Lux: “…” ‘Wasn’t it supposed to be Ordinary Person’s Courage?
What does Atypical Courage mean?’ She clicked open the description.
[Skill Name: Atypical Courage] [Rating: SSS] [Type: Spirit / Attribute Enhancement (Special Variant)] [Effect Description: 1.
Passive: When the player suffers severe injuries such as dismemberment or impalement, or is in a state of extreme terror, emotional breakdown, or near-death, rational suppression will be shattered.
The survival instinct enters an overloaded state, reducing pain by 50%, while simultaneously converting your [Spirit] attribute into an equal amount of [Agility] and [Strength].
2.
Active: The skill can be manually activated.
Upon activation, the player will lose 1% of their current HP per second.
When facing terror, gore, and desperate situations beyond common sense, ordinary people have no superpowers, only an unyielding obsession to never back down.
But you, you crybaby coward, are different.
You will start to enjoy the battle.
You will start hunting the monsters.
You will no longer try to understand fear, but instead intend to exorcise fear through physical means.] [Skill Passive Duration: 300 seconds] [Note: At first, you were scared to death, but later you felt that hell was nothing more than this.
Since the monsters are unreasonable, you will be even more unreasonable than them.
This courage does not stem from love, but from your nearly burnt-out nerves and a trace of…
inexplicable twisted amusement.] “…” Wren Lux fell silent.
‘This feels incredibly strong.’ Although she currently lacked a systematic understanding of the gameplay in this digitized world—the Constructor system, the skill system, the attribute point system, the instance system…
she was still hazy on all of it.
She didn’t even have a clear grasp of market prices.
But the phrase ‘converting your [Spirit] attribute into an equal amount of [Agility] and [Strength]’!
She could definitely understand that.
‘To put it bluntly, isn’t this just losing Sanity to gain strength and speed?’ ‘…Directly transforming into a reckless berserker.’ ‘Not to mention the skill also reduces pain.’ ‘No matter how you look at it, this is a massive win.’ After all, the trigger conditions for this buff were suffering severe injuries like dismemberment or impalement, or being in a state of extreme terror, emotional breakdown, or near-death.
In such situations, a player would either be on the verge of madness or death.
Who needs reason at that point?
‘I’d be dying anyway.’ ‘How do you expect me to stay rational!’ If Spirit attributes could be converted equally into Strength and Agility at a time like that, it would indeed be incredibly practical.
However…
Wren Lux hadn’t expected this skill to have a manual trigger.
And the description was a bit awkward; it felt like the system had custom-tailored it based on her performance in the instance.
She had let loose way too much in the later stages, and it seemed the system had mistaken her for a psychopath…
‘But whatever.’ ‘Having a manual trigger for this skill is a good thing.
After all, who gets their hand chopped off for fun?
Let it misunderstand.’ As for whether she would actually use it.
Wren Lux didn’t seem to have any immediate use for it, unless she ventured into system instances or went straight to the frontlines…
But that didn’t matter.
You can never have too many skills!
This was a god-tier self-preservation ability!
Furthermore.
There was one more thing worth noting.
This ‘Atypical Courage’ appeared to be a special variant.
‘Is the original skill this strong?’ While pondering this, Wren Lux sifted through the messy array of prompt windows in front of her…
After some effort, she finally found what she was looking for.
[Skill Name: Ordinary Person’s Courage] [Rating: S] [Type: Spirit / Attribute Enhancement] [Effect Description: When the player suffers severe injuries such as dismemberment or impalement, or is in a state of extreme terror, emotional breakdown, or near-death, rational suppression will be shattered.
The survival instinct enters an overloaded state, reducing pain by 50%, while simultaneously converting 35% of your [Spirit] attribute into [Agility] and [Strength].
When facing terror, gore, and desperate situations beyond common sense, ordinary people have no superpowers, only that unyielding obsession to never back down.] [Cost: None] [Duration: 300 seconds] [Note: I am just an ordinary person.
I didn’t come here to save the world; I just want to bring my wife home.
This ordinary love gives me the strength to face the abyss.] “…” Wren Lux cupped her smooth chin, revealing a thoughtful expression.
‘This should be the skill normally rewarded to players by the instance.’ The two skills were largely the same, but the effects…
the latter was essentially a heavily nerfed version of ‘Atypical Courage,’ and it lacked a manual trigger.
‘But it still feels pretty strong.
Like I said…
if you’re about to die, who needs reason.’ ‘This should be quite appealing to other people, right?’ ‘The temptation of the berserker.’ Speaking of which…
even ignoring this skill.
The Survival Point reward for this instance was incredibly generous—2400 points!
The clear reward was almost enough to cover the rule stabilization fee!
She was only short 600 points!
With such a lucrative Survival Point reward…
it felt like she didn’t even need to publish the instance online.
She could just keep creating instances, clear them herself, earn Survival Points, and then create more instances…
Wouldn’t that be a perpetual motion machine?
Zero expenses, just pure Survival Point profit!
Wasn’t this much faster than making players pay for tickets and waiting for dividends?
Wren Lux suddenly felt like she had discovered a bug…
and was itching to exploit it.
However, just as Wren Lux thought this was a viable plan…
she looked at the instance’s S-rating and felt it would be a shame.
After all, she had worked so hard to create this instance and clear it to get a rating.
It was the very first S-rank civilian instance.
Not publishing it just felt like a waste.
What if a lot of people played it?
What if the ticket dividends were massive?
What if this skill could help the domestic frontline war effort?
‘Hmm…’ Wren Lux rubbed her silky long hair.
‘Forget it.’ ‘I’ll just take out a loan and publish this instance first.’ ‘If it doesn’t perform well, I’ll just give up on publishing instances in the future.’ ‘…I’ll just make them and play them myself.’ As for the ticket price…
200 it is.
She had originally priced it based on the [Lone Walker] instance.
Although it was a bit low, now that she had a backup plan, she wouldn’t raise the price.
‘Yeah.’ Having made up her mind, Wren Lux checked the other windows.
After confirming she hadn’t missed anything, she closed them all and began summarizing her gains.
The instance had received a rating and could finally be published online.
And she finally had a means of self-preservation…
though she felt she was still lacking offensive methods.
[Atypical Courage] only provided a buff; it couldn’t serve as an actual attack.
Perhaps her next instance could be an action game, so she could see if she could learn some offensive skills…
After all, she couldn’t just punch people, right?
Hmm…
actually, it wasn’t impossible.
Even though she was wearing Ethan’s skin in the instance, her body was ultimately still her own…
and she had cleared it in the end.
She could still run, jump, wield an axe, shoot a gun, kick down doors, and vault through windows…
It wouldn’t make sense to strike hard in the instance but be meek and submissive in reality, right?
It was the exact same body…
Thinking of this.
Wren Lux clenched her delicate fists and lightly threw a punch forward…
then her movement froze.
She looked down at her proud bosom, which was jiggling from the force of her punch, and then at her slender, pale arms.
Okay, it wasn’t exactly the same.
At least it didn’t look the same.
Wren Lux simply leaned back and lay down, her pretty face flushing slightly.
“I’m such a hassle.” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Otaku_Senpaii Want more chapters?