Ivan’s consciousness drifted up from a heavy, chaotic void.
He struggled against the weight pressing down on his mind, forcing his heavy eyelids open.
Instead of the blood-soaked battlefield of Terra, he was greeted by a gentle, warm light and the unmistakable texture of grass blocks.
He bolted upright, finding himself sitting squarely on a pristine patch of pixelated dirt and grass.
‘Am I dead?’ he thought, dazedly pressing a hand to his chest.
Just moments ago, a cold steel longsword had driven straight through his ribs.
“What is wrong with you?” a cold, familiar voice cut through the air, dripping with unconcealed disdain.
“Are you still half-asleep?
Did you completely forget you had a Totem of Undying equipped?” Ivan snapped his head around.
HIM floated a few feet away, arms crossed over his chest, glowing white eyes glaring down at him.
“Oh, right,” Ivan muttered, slapping his forehead in sudden realization.
“But why does my body still hurt so damn much?
It feels like every bone in my skeleton was dismantled and jammed back together backwards.” He grimaced, rolling his aching shoulders and stretching his sore limbs.
HIM scoffed, turning his head to stare intensely at a perfectly standard grass block, completely ignoring the complaint.
Heavy, rhythmic footsteps approached.
Steve walked into view, resting a diamond pickaxe casually over his shoulder.
“HIM forcefully took over your body the exact second you triggered the Totem of Undying,” Steve explained in his usual steady tone.
He paused, shooting a dry look at HIM, who was currently pretending he could not hear anything.
“But he fought a bit too enthusiastically.
He did not monitor your physical load in time.
After all, you are still just a fragile human right now.” “Hmph,” HIM snapped back immediately.
“It is not my fault this kid is too weak.
If I had my way, those punks would have been wiped off the map ages ago!” HIM drifted closer, getting right in Ivan’s face.
“Hey, how long do you plan on lying there?
Hurry up and eat the golden apple you just got from that achievement reward in your inventory.” “Wait a minute,” Ivan blinked, catching the slip-up.
“You know about the system?” HIM looked at him like he was the biggest idiot in the universe.
“Please.
It was Notch who fished out your pathetic little soul after you died from playing video games for too many days straight.
As for your so-called system…
it is probably just a little toy Notch threw together based on your strange memories.” Ivan stared.
“Then why me?” HIM paused his floating, actually appearing to think seriously for a few seconds.
Then, he delivered an answer that left Ivan entirely speechless.
“Because you just happened to die at the right time?” Ivan decided to permanently shelve that philosophical crisis for later.
He mentally summoned his interface.
[Mission Completed: Ensure all Rhodes Island personnel evacuate safely] [Reward Issued] [Mods Unlocked] [Farmer’s Delight] [Butchercraft] [Better Storage] “Huh?
They are all casual life-skill mods this time,” Ivan muttered, rubbing his chin.
The grim survival style had taken a very sudden turn into a farming simulator.
He opened his inventory to assess the damage.
Every single piece of his armor had shattered during the desperate battle, leaving him with nothing but a handful of Ender Pearls.
But sitting quietly in the bottom corner of his grid were two full stacks of Golden Apples and a stack of Golden Carrots.
“This is a bit too much, isn’t it?” Ivan gasped.
The achievement rewards were absurdly generous.
However, the euphoria vanished the second he glanced at the top corner of his vision.
Two glaring debuff icons pulsed ominously in his status bar.
[Weakness VIII] (Remaining 47 hours 59 minutes) [Mining Fatigue VI] (Remaining 47 hours 59 minutes) Ivan let out a long, defeated sigh.
He had originally planned to use this downtime in the consciousness space to grind out some heavy resources, maybe build an automatic iron farm or set up a Wither Skeleton grinder.
“Looks like I will have to wait until next time,” he grumbled.
Then, his eyes shifted toward the floating entity nearby.
A shamelessly fawning smile stretched across his face.
He rubbed his hands together and sidled up next to HIM.
“Hey, Big Bro HIM.
Since you, my wonderful elder, saddled me with such a massive debuff timer, shouldn’t you give me a little something extra for self-defense?” Ivan battered his eyelashes, gesturing wildly.
“Like your serpent blade.
I think that would do nicely.
Hehehe…” Ivan let out a strange, slightly unhinged laugh just picturing himself carving through Reunion soldiers with that overpowered weapon.
“No,” HIM rejected him instantly, floating backward to create distance.
“Scram.” “Please!
Big Bro HIM!
You are the absolute best!
Just one little sword!” Ivan dropped all remaining dignity and lunged, wrapping his arms securely around HIM’s floating leg.
Annoyed beyond belief by the clinging parasite, HIM extended a single finger and pressed it hard against Ivan’s forehead, halting his advance.
With his free hand, HIM reached into the empty air.
A flash of dark purple energy tore through the space.
He casually tossed a pair of dual pistols into Ivan’s chest.
The guns were heavily sci-fi in design, pulsing with dark purple energy circuits.
“Whoa, the Requiem of the End,” Ivan breathed, recognizing the modded weapons instantly.
“Satisfied?” HIM asked, his voice dripping with irritation.
“Satisfied!
Very satisfied!
Hehehe,” Ivan giggled, stroking the cold metal barrels.
But a second later, he looked back up, his eyes wide and utterly sincere.
“But I still want your serpent blade more.” A few feet away, Steve watched the shameless display.
He silently raised a hand and dragged it down his face.
History really did repeat itself.
The next second, Ivan was mercilessly booted out of the consciousness space.
“Scram.” Ivan hit the cold, hard ground of reality, rubbing his aching backside.
“Damn it, if you do not want to give it to me, just say no.
Why do you have to be so violent?” he grumbled, slowly pushing himself up from the floor.
His movements kicked up a thick cloud of dust in the abandoned storeroom.
Before the dust could settle, the faint sound of footsteps echoed from the corridor outside.
The steps grew closer, finally stopping right at the edge of the dilapidated doorway.
Two young girls stood in the dim light.
Ivan recognized the two little bears instantly.
Truth and Gummy.
Truth scanned the room with rapid, calculating eyes.
She took in the shattered windows, the scattered debris, and the highly suspicious young man standing in the center of it all.
Her eyes hardened with immediate vigilance.
She stepped forward, deliberately shielding Gummy behind her back.
“Who are you?
Why are you hiding in here?” Ivan forced his brain to reboot.
He quickly plastered the most harmless, awkward smile he could manage onto his face.
Slouching his shoulders, he instinctively rubbed his stomach, pitching his voice to sound perfectly weak and pathetic.
“Uh, I…
I was just so hungry.
I wanted to see if there was any food left in here.” His voice trailed off into a raspy whisper.
Combined with his pale, battered appearance and the massive Weakness debuff dragging him down, he genuinely looked like a starving refugee on the brink of collapse.
Gummy peeked out from behind Truth.
She looked at the young man, who did not seem much older than them, clutching his stomach in the ruins.
Her natural sympathy quickly overpowered her caution.
She reached out, gently tugging at Truth’s sleeve, and leaned in to whisper.
“Truth, he has bear ears too.
He is an Ursus just like us.
How about we take him to Sister Zima?
Let Sister Zima decide what to do with him.” Truth frowned, her sharp gaze lingering on the bear ears atop Ivan’s head for a long moment.
She looked back at his face.
Her eyes were still guarded, but the hostility in her voice softened just a fraction.
“You.
Come with us.” [Rhodes’s Note: Enjoying the operation so far, Doctor?
(This daily grind literally pays the landship’s rent!
to use the links!)