Thump thump thump thump.
His heart beat like a drum.
Yuuki maintained his forward-leaning posture, his eyes unblinking as he looked at his right hand.
The scalpel was plunged deep into the brain-like mass, and with a twist of his wrist, a large void was carved out.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see solidified ‘petals’ all around him, some already breaking the skin and embedded in his flesh, with crimson blood beads trickling down his skin.
In just one second, these bone-knife-like things would shred his body like a blender, turning him into another bloody work of art.
“But I gambled correctly.”
With heavy breaths, Yuuki watched as the ‘flower’ quickly withered, as if all its moisture had been drained.
The split petals retracted towards the center, reconstructing a towering chest, a fair neck, and a blonde, blue-eyed head.
The sweet-faced girl’s eyes were vacant as she stared blankly at Yuuki, then slowly sank.
Huh?!
Yuuki instinctively took half a step back, then watched as the unblemished corpse, as if sinking into quicksand, completely melted into the floor in just a few seconds.
“That’s it?” Yuuki blinked several times, then quickly turned around, seeing the scratches on the wall and floor, and only then did he turn his head back in a daze.
Did I really kill someone?
Was this thing human or ghost?
There was no answer, but no matter the outcome, he wouldn’t feel much guilt.
Not until a strange sound echoed once more, and he leaned against the wall as if all strength had been drained from his body.
[Player has completed the Newbie Guide]
[Completion: S]
[Personal Panel activated. Display now?]
This Reincarnation Game indeed lacked prompts, and it wasn’t like infinite-style games with phased mission guidance, but some principles were universal.
The voice, as if synthesized from countless people, invigorated Yuuki.
He tightly grasped the keyword ‘game’ and sought the most advantageous solution based on the information he had observed.
There were no points, but the’S’ completion rating indicated he hadn’t guessed wrong, and it also made him roughly understand the meaning of ‘Newbie Guide’.
“It’s an elimination system. This way, even those who use the simplest solution won’t be too foolish, and it also gives me a general idea of this game’s style.”
It was somewhat eerie, with a cruel elimination rate, focusing on player self-exploration.
He couldn’t find a similar script for now.
Yuuki lowered his left hand, which had been resting on the door.
He had chosen to gamble but not go all-in, having prepared a backup plan long ago.
The doorknob was already turned.
If an accident had occurred just now, he would have unhesitatingly crashed through the door.
Just like now, even though a gap appeared in the door, the monster, hitting it with full force, remained unmoving.
“Since you can’t see it, you can’t break through it. If there was a gambling element, it was more about whether this identical door pushed inward or pulled outward, but this game wouldn’t mess with my mind like that, right?”
Yuuki instinctively curled his lips into a smile, a sense of winning exhilaration filling his heart.
It took him several seconds to regain his indifferent expression.
Don’t celebrate yet.
I’ve only explored the tip of the iceberg of this game.
I need to continue.
“Display panel.”
Player: Sorajima Yuuki
Physical Strength: Human (Excellent)
Idiosyncratic Trait: None
Equipment: Scalpel (Common)
chaos item: None
Main Skills: Firearms Usage (Beginner), Combat Techniques (Proficient), Sharp Weapon Usage (Skilled), Biological First Aid (Proficient), Reconnaissance (Skilled), Self-Hypnosis (Proficient)
Enhancement Count: One
Specialization Count: None
The panel displayed in a thousandth of a second, but Yuuki’s eyebrows immediately furrowed.
This panel wasn’t what he had imagined.
“Let’s not talk about items and equipment for now, but why isn’t there any data quantification? And what is Idiosyncratic Trait?”
The strange voice was clearly lazy.
Yuuki’s mind was full of questions, but there was no intention of answering them.
He could only helplessly rub his chin and make some general judgments.
Physical Strength was obviously the basic attribute value.
Fortunately, he noticed an asterisk ‘*’ after the panel and focused his gaze on it, reading the content:
[Physical Strength is the player’s current comprehensive value, including strength, speed, endurance, intelligence, etc. The human stages are: Frail, Ordinary, Excellent, Limit, Extraordinary, Transcendent. Display detailed data?]
“So it’s an average value. ‘Human stage’ means there are non-human existences later on?” Yuuki immediately understood.
This data quantification was quite scientific, as biological conditions could fluctuate, making it impossible to simulate with simple numbers.
A mother, seeing her son about to fall from a building, can rush across the street in seconds and then catch an impact of several hundred kilograms with her bare hands.
What would her speed and strength be?
A soldier on the battlefield can go days without a drop of water and still fight and kill enemies with a gun.
What would his endurance and willpower be?
Yuuki didn’t dwell on this question, just curious as to why he was rated as ‘Excellent’.
“Display, no, close!”
In just one second, he let out a painful growl, clutching his head with both hands and dry-heaving repeatedly.
It took him a long time to recover, veins bulging on his forehead.
“Data quantification? Are you messing with me?”
The brief glimpse just now almost made him faint, because this panel was too detailed, excessively so!
Muscle fiber strength, cell activity, alveolar oxygen capacity…
there were thousands of items, all dense with decimal points.
This was simply not something a human could analyze; at least, the human brain couldn’t process so much data in a short time.
It felt more like a taunt from the game:
You like data quantification, don’t you?
Is this detailed enough?
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Yuuki opened his eyes with lingering fear and immediately lost interest in this panel.
Ultimately, it was just a judgment of himself and couldn’t affect others.
Instead, the game’s style was irritating.
He had never heard of a game where just looking at the panel could make someone faint.
If it were during combat, that experience would have been enough to die several times over.
So he became even more cautious, pulling himself together and carefully examining the explanations.
Skill levels: Beginner, Proficient, Skilled, Excellent, Master, Legendary…
This was relatively easy to understand, and Yuuki quickly grasped it after a brief comparison.
For example, due to objective reasons, he had only trained with firearms at a shooting range.
His more focused hand-to-hand combat skills were naturally superior.
As for sharp weapons, which should refer to swordsmanship, it was even stronger than hand-to-hand combat.
And the intelligence analysis and detail observation he had focused on training over the years were all categorized under [Reconnaissance], so getting a’Skilled’ evaluation was reasonable.
However, transitioning from Skilled to Excellent required two enhancement points, and from Excellent to Master required three, and so on.
This fit the ‘game’s’ positioning: the more specialized, the harder it is.
“Idiosyncratic Trait is the concretization of a certain characteristic or wish in my life. Oh, this is quite novel.” Yuuki was very interested in this point on the panel, as it was absent from the games in his memory.
The description sounded a bit like a natal magic weapon in cultivation novels, but unfortunately, it wasn’t unlocked yet, so he could only research it properly later.
He appropriately reined in his curiosity and focused his attention on the last unknown item.
[Enhancement Count: Can enhance any one of items, equipment, or skills]
[Specialization Count: Can specialize Physical Strength, Idiosyncratic Trait]
[Both can raise one evaluation level, or be consumed to randomly obtain a skill or item (new players only)]
Hiss, so generous and violent?
Yuuki was stunned.
He hadn’t expected the stat allocation in this Reincarnation Game to be so simple and brutal.
Leaving the lottery aside, raising one evaluation level?
He knew that his ‘Proficient’ level combat and swordsmanship took ten years and countless hours of sweat to achieve.
This seemed a bit out of character for the game’s style.
But he calmly thought about it and found it reasonable.
“These rewards definitely aren’t plentiful, and specialization points are even more precious than enhancement points. Did my unconventional approach earn me a newbie gift pack?”
This monster wasn’t actually strong; old players in the game could certainly defeat it.
But don’t forget, this was a ‘Newbie Guide’.
Ordinary People, let alone observing details and gathering information, would probably wet themselves at the sight of it.
Those with slightly better composure might choose to avoid it or charge through, but no one would try to find a way to solve it in unknown chaos, or rather, have a way to solve it.
“Unless someone was dragged into the game carrying a rocket launcher, ordinary firearms wouldn’t stand a chance. Even if someone had extraordinary psychological fortitude or observational skills, they wouldn’t understand the meaning of ‘game’—at least not yet.”
Being dragged into this eerie castle, any human would only think about how to survive, not about strategies.
Only someone like Yuuki, who was constantly preparing for exams and always ready, would take an unconventional path and understand the universal principles of ‘infinite’ or ‘reincarnation’.
“Is this the biggest benefit my transmigration gave me? Hmm, if I hadn’t come here ten years early to train in various ways, my frail otaku body wouldn’t have been capable of carrying it out.”
Yuuki smiled.
Only with the combination of consciousness and ability was he qualified to receive the ‘newbie gift pack’.
As he savored it, he felt something was off.
Why did it feel like a script had been written for him?
“Forget it, now’s not the time for wild thoughts. I’ll think about how to use the enhancement count later. First, let’s see my teammates.”
He shook his head, looked at the red-glowing door crack, took a deep breath, and gently pushed it open.
Creak—
The door let out a grating sound.
Yuuki stepped out, his brows instinctively furrowing.
The monotonous, long corridor was finally gone, replaced by a grand hall, luxuriously and anciently decorated.
A huge and magnificent crystal chandelier emitted a not-so-bright light, but it was enough to clearly see the people and objects in the hall.
A blood-red thick carpet, various swords and blades hanging on the walls, a huge round table in the center, some sofas and tables scattered around, and directly opposite the door was a floor-to-ceiling window, dark outside, making one wonder where the red light from earlier had come from.
His gaze swept across, excluding the decorative armors.
Yuuki could distinguish nine figures, male or female, standing or sitting, but none were speaking.
Only the ‘tick-tock’ of a clock could be heard.
Two people stood on the table, clearly drawing more attention in the dead silence, but Yuuki’s gaze only lingered on them for a second before turning to the window.
The night breeze stirred the white sheer curtains, making the person appear indistinct, yet Yuuki stared intently at her.
The reason was simple: the person was simply too dazzling.
Her tall figure paired with waist-length black hair, appearing distinctly layered under the warm light, and her bunny girl outfit looked incredibly sexy yet out of place with the environment.
Her beautiful small face was taut, as if trying to adapt to the situation, literally a sight that evoked pity.
The girl quickly noticed his gaze and, as if in self-defense, glared back fiercely, pulling the sheer curtain around herself.
But the impolite Yuuki did not avert his gaze.
This had nothing to do with playful anger; rather, Yuuki knew the person, or rather, he had been planning to go to Kanagawa Prefecture to find her just over ten minutes ago.
A massive amount of doubt once again filled his mind.
Yuuki’s lips moved, and an absurd thought flashed through him:
Reincarnation Game players don’t dream of bunny girl senpai!?