My heart was pounding as though it might tear its way out of my chest.
I couldn’t remember ever being this embarrassed in my life. Even accidentally walking into the girls’ bathroom in my old life hadn’t been this bad.
At least back then, I had lowered my head, apologized, and left within a few seconds. This time, I had gotten a woman I barely knew to kiss me, only for my body to betray me right in front of her.
Worse, Rose’s laughter was still ringing in my ears.
I kept running, though I no longer knew why. I was already far enough away from the pharmacy. Rose wasn’t following me, and there was no sign of anyone shouting after me.
But I knew that if I stopped, I would start replaying what had just happened. So I kept moving.
Streetlights blurred past in streaks of yellow. The white bag swung from my good hand, the medicine boxes inside knocking against each other with every step.
My bandaged hand throbbed faintly, and my hair clung to my face. Even though I felt like I was suffocating from the heat inside my black tracksuit, I didn’t stop.
After running for several minutes, I spotted a small park beside one of the buildings.
It was barely large enough to call a park. There were a few trees, an old slide, two swings, and three benches placed beside the path.
Right now, however, it looked like a sanctuary.
I turned off the sidewalk and entered the park before stopping a few steps later.
"Hah... Hah..."
I was completely out of breath.
I planted my hands on my knees and lowered my head. My lungs burned, and my heart was still hammering against my rib cage.
"Why... did I... run so far?"
This body’s stamina was truly awful. I wouldn’t have been out of breath after such a short run in my old body.
At least, that was how I remembered it.
Once my breathing settled a little, I straightened up and walked toward the bench farthest from the road. I dropped onto it, placed the bag beside me, and leaned my head back with my eyes closed.
For the next few minutes, I did nothing.
The wind rustled through the leaves. Somewhere in the distance, the sound of a car engine rose before slowly fading away.
It was good that no one else was in the park. I wasn’t in any condition to deal with another person right now.
"Damn System..."
I touched my cheek as I muttered.
There was no warmth left where Rose had kissed me, but my face began burning all over again whenever I remembered it.
The System had thrown that quest at me without any warning, and similar quests could appear in the future.
Or worse...
If kissing someone was only the beginning, I didn’t even want to think about what the next quests might demand.
I swallowed at the thought. The System might truly be determined to ruin my life.
Then again, that same System had given me three Eclipsie Points, and I still hadn’t asked what those points were used for.
Perhaps all this humiliation would at least earn me something valuable.
"System," I muttered.
A blue window immediately appeared before my eyes.
[I’m here, Chosen One.]
"Shut up and tell me what I can do with these points."
The System remained silent for a few seconds before new lines appeared.
[Eclipsie Points can be used for two primary purposes.]
[1. Increase your stats.]
[2. Perform card draws.]
I raised my eyebrows.
"Card draws?"
[Yes.]
The window expanded.
[Card Costs]
[10 EP — 3-Star Card]
[20 EP — 4-Star Card]
[50 EP — 5-Star Card]
[100 EP — Rainbow Card]
"What the hell is a Rainbow Card?"
[It is a special card containing high-tier rewards.]
"What kind of rewards?"
[Cards may grant abilities, items, and various special rewards.]
That sounded much better than I had expected. If the cards could actually grant powerful abilities, not having a Nexus might no longer be such a serious problem.
Then the System continued.
[Warning: Not every card will produce a positive result.]
[Some cards may summon monsters, curse the user, or temporarily or permanently reduce the user’s stats.]
I stared blankly at the words for a while before rubbing my forehead with my bandaged hand.
"Don’t get angry," I muttered. "Don’t get angry, Noctis."
I took a deep breath.
"That’s exactly what this bastard wants from you."
I shouldn’t have been surprised that the System had placed both threats and rewards inside the same draw. After all, this was the thing that used large breasts as a failure penalty.
"Then what the fuck am I supposed to do with three points?"
There was no answer.
"System?"
It remained silent.
Just as I was about to curse at it, another section appeared at the bottom of the window.
[Available Cards]
[3-Star Card ×1]
I narrowed my eyes.
"Wait, what?"
I sat upright and leaned toward the screen, but it moved with me, keeping the same distance between us.
"I already have a card?"
[Yes.]
[It was granted as a welcome gift for accessing the System for the first time.]
[Would you like to use it?]
I wanted to say yes immediately, but I stopped myself.
The System had just told me that a card could contain a curse, summon a monster, or lower my stats. Now it was offering me one for free.
I already didn’t trust it, and anything it gave away for free seemed even less likely to be safe.
Maybe the moment I opened the card, a three-headed monster would appear in the middle of the park. Perhaps I would turn into a frog, or the System would make another ridiculous change to my appearance.
That last possibility was somehow the most frightening.
On the other hand, there was no way for me to grow stronger without taking any risks. I didn’t have a Nexus, all my stats were at ten, and I had no idea how to return to my old world.
If I wanted to survive here, I couldn’t completely ignore the opportunities offered by the System.
I raised my head and looked at the night sky.
"Ahhh, God..."
I slowly released the breath in my lungs.
"Fine. I’ll draw the card!"
[Wonderful!]
The System responding with such enthusiasm for the first time immediately made me question my decision.
[Cards are being prepared for the Chosen One.]
"Wait, I changed my-"
Before I could finish, my vision went black. It was as though every light had gone out at once and the bench had been pulled out from beneath me.
I instinctively reached for something to hold on to, but my hands grasped nothing but empty air.
"Fuck!"
A moment later, my vision returned, but I was no longer in the park.
I was in a place that was dark yet somehow full of light, and I had no idea how both could be true.
Everything around me resembled an endless night. There was no ground, no sky, and no horizon. Despite that, light filled the entire space.
Thousands...
No, tens of thousands of cards floated through the void.
Some shone with golden light, others gave off red sparks, while some illuminated the darkness with waves of purple and blue.
Every card had its back facing me, preventing me from seeing what any of them contained.
When I moved my feet, I realized there was nothing beneath them. Somehow, I wasn’t falling. I was simply floating in midair.
I spread my arms slightly and leaned forward, causing my body to move.
"Whoa..."
I accelerated and flew between the cards.
"I can fly in here."
For the first time, I genuinely liked something the System had done. I circled around a cluster of cards before rising higher again.
The lack of gravity felt strange, but after a few attempts, moving became easy.
Then I remembered why I was here.
"But I still can’t see what’s written on the cards."
When I reached toward a nearby red card, it drifted back several inches as though trying to escape from me.
Apparently, I couldn’t turn any of them over until I made my choice.
"So I’m supposed to choose one of these?"
[Yes.]
I looked around, but there were no clues other than the patterns on the cards. They were all the same size and gave off similar amounts of light.
"How am I supposed to choose when they all look the same?"
There was no answer.
After passing a card decorated with orange flames, I noticed another covered in green vines.
Perhaps the colors had some meaning. Red might represent attacks, green could mean healing, and blue might indicate magic.
"The colors are different. Does that mean anything?"
The System answered immediately.
[No.]
[The colors and patterns are purely decorative.]
My expression fell.
"So there aren’t any clues."
[Correct.]
I let out a deep sigh. In that case, there was no point in overthinking it.
I closed my eyes, spun around several times, and pointed in a random direction.
"Fine, let’s do it this way."
I opened my eyes.
My finger was pointing toward a navy-blue card drifting slowly among the others. Pale-blue stars decorated its back.
It reminded me of the ceiling in the room where I had woken up that morning—or rather, that evening.
A blue background covered in stars...
"That one!"
I floated toward the card. As I approached, the stars on its back began glowing more brightly.
The instant I reached out and grabbed it, the card spun around and released a white light so bright that I had to narrow my eyes.
Once the light slowly faded, the image on the front became visible.
A slender snake with snow-white scales was coiled around a silver branch. Its pale-blue eyes stared directly at me.
New words appeared beneath it.
[White Snake ★]
[Type: Passive — Regeneration]
[Effect: Increases the user’s natural healing and cellular regeneration efficiency by 100%. Minor cuts and bruises heal faster.]
I had barely finished reading when the card melted in my hand, transforming into particles of white light.
As the particles traveled from my palm into my arm, I felt something cold crawling beneath my skin.
"What is-"
My vision went black again.
The next moment, I found myself sitting on the same bench in the park. The bag was still beside me, and the trees continued swaying in the wind.
It was as though everything I had just experienced had been nothing more than a vision lasting a few seconds.
When I felt a faint itch beneath the bandage, I raised my hand and turned it over several times. The throbbing from the wound hadn’t completely disappeared, but it was weaker than before.
The ability was really working.
I tilted my head and reread the information window.
"This isn’t bad."
A regeneration ability would always be useful, especially when I had no idea what kind of dangers the System might throw me into.
However, there was one problem that caught my attention.
"Why is it only one star?"
I frowned.
"The card I used was three stars."
[The star rating of a draw card does not guarantee the reward’s initial star rating.]
[Higher-star cards increase the chance of obtaining more valuable rewards.]
"So a three-star card can give me a one-star ability."
[Yes.]
"Scam."
[An ability’s star rating can be increased by spending Eclipsie Points.]
A new window opened in front of me.
[White Snake ★ → White Snake ★★]
[Required Points: 5 EP]
[Current Points: 3 EP]
I studied the screen for a while.
"That’s a little more promising."
I only needed two more points. Once I completed another quest, I could upgrade White Snake to two stars.
But what about five stars?
At the moment, it only improved my healing and regeneration by twenty-five percent. How much would that increase at two stars?
Could it close serious wounds at three stars or repair broken bones within minutes at four?
And at five stars...
Could I regrow a severed limb or survive wounds that would normally be fatal?
Perhaps the ability would affect more than injuries. It might also improve my stamina by allowing my muscles to recover much faster while I fought.
The longer a battle lasted, the greater my advantage would become as my opponents tired.
If I upgraded it enough, maybe...
I felt the corners of my lips curl upward.
"Hehehe..."
I was sitting alone in an empty park at night, laughing like a lunatic.
The moment I realized that, I fell silent.
A black cat was watching me from the nearby bushes. After our eyes met for several seconds, it turned away and left as if my presence made it uncomfortable.
"Don’t look at me like that."
The cat didn’t answer.
Naturally.
I took a deep breath and rose from the bench.
"I should probably head home."
Just as I picked up the bag, my phone vibrated and a notification appeared on the screen.
[24 minutes until your scheduled livestream.]
A System window then opened in front of the phone.
[Ongoing Quest: Reach 100 concurrent viewers during a livestream.]
[Failure Penalty: Large breasts.]
All the excitement vanished from my face.
"Ah."
My dreams about cards, abilities, and regrowing severed limbs disappeared in an instant.
I tightened my grip on the bag.
"I need to get home."
This time, I truly started running.