The wind brushed against my face.

The tweeting of birds and the warm touch of the sun on my skin were comforting.

Underneath my fingers, the ground was rough, filled with small hard pieces of soil, slightly moist.

That's when it hit me - I was sprawled on the ground, my eyes closed.

Suddenly, I forced my eyes open, greeted by a massive, blue sky stretching out above me.

Tiny, white clouds sporadically dotted the azure expanse.

Trying to sit up, a sharp pain erupted from the top of my head, rushing down the back of my neck.

It felt like my head was in a vice, tightening with each second. Closing my eyes against the pain, it abruptly vanished, as if by magic.

I opened my eyes again. The fact that I could open them felt like a miracle in itself.

Taking in my surroundings, I noticed trees all around and some big rocks strewn about.

I realized I was in a clearing.

The scent of pines and earth filled my nostrils.

The soft rustling of leaves caused by a gentle breeze added a soothing background noise. It was a picture of tranquility.

And there, before my eyes, out of place, was a blue screen.

It displayed a message: "WELCOME BACK, OKOVANI VORU! YOU HAVE BEEN RESURRECTED THROUGH A SECRET EVENT! HOW LUCKY!"

Oko... Vani Voru...? Was that my name?

I couldn't remember.

And resurrected? Yes, I had been here before.

It was coming back to me.

This clearing, these rocks, these trees.

Yes, I had to be careful with the trees.

But what else? How did I die?

Closing my eyes, I saw flashes of my past.

Someone standing over me, pressing against my throat.

I ran my hand across my throat, feeling uneasy.

And then, I felt a chain.

Since when had I been wearing a chain around my neck?

My memory was hazy, but I managed to remember some things, and that was already something.

I got up and asked the screen for more details about the secret event.

"THE CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN MET! YOU HAVE UNLOCKED A SECRET CLASS! YOU ARE NOW AN ENLIGHTENED!"

"An enlightened? The conditions? What conditions?" I asked.

The screen showed a new message: "YOU DIED WITH YOUR XP AND DEBT BAR FULL! AT THE SAME TIME AS THE LUNAR CROSSING! BEFORE LEVEL 10!"

Yes, I died at night...

Someone sacrificed themselves to help me.

It was coming back to me.

"What is the secret class you mentioned?" I asked next.

"THE ENLIGHTENED IS A SECRET CLASS THAT IS OBTAINED AT LEVEL 1! YOUR POWER DEPENDS ON HOW YOU DIED! YOU CAN NO LONGER GAIN XP!"

"My power? Wait, what? I can't gain XP anymore?!" I muttered.

I asked the screen to display my profile.

The number of changes overwhelmed me.

First, I was back at level 1, so I had naturally lost all the talent points I had allocated.

That wasn't a big problem since reaching level 10 again should be quick with all the knowledge I now possessed.

But, as the screen had said, my XP bar had disappeared.

And there was another strange change: my debt bar had grown and was now split in two.

It displayed 0/75 twice, so 0/150.

150 debt points at level 1?

I began to seriously doubt whether this secret class was truly a gift.

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And there, near my stats, something new had appeared.

Four separate statistics, each showing one point.

Chain Constitution, Chain Speed, Chain Strength, and Chain Perception.

A chain? No, before that, how do I level up? I tried to make sense of it all, but it was too many changes at once.

The screen displayed a new text: "TO LEVEL UP, FILL THE SECOND HALF OF THE DEBT BAR!"

The second half, so that's why it was split in two.

It was as if the XP bar had been added to the debt bar.

As I read more on the screen, I understood that the first half represented the "mandatory" debt that would drive me insane if I didn't fill it before the end of the month.

Filling the bar completely would level me up, but the bar would then empty entirely, as if it was an XP bar.

This change seemed significant.

I had to completely rethink my way of playing and my strategies for leveling up.

But I no longer had the patience to try to understand all the implications of this new rule.

I wanted to understand my new power.

The screen had mentioned a power related to how I died.

"Tell me more about my power," I asked.

The screen displayed a new message.

It was talkative today, lucky me.

"POWER TO CONTROL CHAINS!"

I had spoken too soon. That was the only information it gave me about my power?

Controlling chains?

So if I find a chain, can I make it move however I want? Something like that?

Perhaps that explained my four new stats.

I could enhance my chain.

I had no idea how to use this power, but I wanted to try.

I felt that familiar excitement again, the excitement of discovery.

If experiencing this excitement is the foundation of the Dreamers' way of life, then I want to be part of it!

It brought back memories.

Upon reflection, all the problems I had faced were somehow connected to Dwellers.

And adopting their way of life had made me so unhappy.

But now, I was finally regaining the joy of playing.

"Alright, how do I find a chain?" I said, realizing that I had one around my neck.

I ran my fingers through its small links.

I concentrated, visualizing the chain detaching itself and sliding between my fingers like a snake.

To my great surprise, it worked.

I saw the chain slip between my fingers and coil around my index finger like a boa.

It seemed alive.

Such excitement surged through me that I wanted to jump for joy.

I had a power, a real one.

I sat back down and experimented with my little chain.

It wandered over my shoulders, my head.

I even reattached it around my neck.

But whenever it wasn't in direct contact with my body, it became an inert chain again.

As long as the chain is in contact with my body, I can make it do whatever I want. So, this is my power.

It was a modest power, but I saw great potential in it.

"If I enhance the chain's stats, it can become a powerful ability."

I wanted to level up not just to resurrect, but to see my power evolve.

But for that, I needed a lot of debt points.

I can take on quests to earn PP or find Black Turcos. No way am I killing or selling humans.

I knew that there were plenty of Turcos in Hermine, the village where I died.

But I had no desire to go back there.

And besides, I wouldn't be able to return without magic.

The other place where there were Turcos was where I had been held captive, in the middle of the forest.

The idea was tempting.

I could even find items there.

But once again, the danger made me reconsider.

I had come close to death several times, and in the end, I had truly died.

I had to completely rethink my approach to avoid falling into those situations again.

Alright, I'll take on quests.

I asked the screen to display the available quests.

"KILL A PLAYER! 330 DP 60 PP!"

"KILL A PLAYER! 330 DP 60 PP!"

"KILL A PLAYER! 330 DP 60 PP!"

I stared at the screen.

Three times the same quest, there must be an error.

I closed the screen and asked to display the quests again.

The same thing appeared.

It wasn't a bug.

The system wanted me to kill in order to level up.

"Okay, so quests won't help me level up. I need to find something else," I muttered, setting that aside as if I hadn't seen anything.

I twirled my chain at my fingertips, lost in thought.

My options were limited, and staying at level 1 for too long was the biggest risk I could take.

"Hey, screen. How can I earn debt points?" I asked.

"TO EARN DEBT POINTS, KILL, STEAL, ENGAGE IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING, OR EAT RARE TUBERS!"

I didn't learn anything new.

I felt like I had no choice anymore.

It was risky, but I had to return to the forest, where I had been held captive.

My captor had bags full of Black Turcos.

And he had items I could sell.

I just hoped that nobody had found that place since then.

I raised my chain along my arm and up to my neck, where it reattached.

I took one last look at my profile.

It was early afternoon, and I had time to go before nightfall.

I lowered my gaze to the orange stamina bar.

Strangely, it had decreased by several points, and it was at 31/40 even though I had hardly moved.

"Show me the details of my EP," I asked the screen.

It displayed a small list that mostly consisted of this entry: "CHAIN CONTROL -1 EP!"

"I lose EP even when using my chain for such simple things?" I thought.

I asked the screen to display more details about chain control.

A new page opened.

It was a detailed description of my abilities, something I had never seen before.

My only ability was chain control.

I also saw that it was possible to allocate talent points to reduce the energy consumption of each ability.

I now had three possible choices to allocate my talent points: my stats, my chain stats, and now my abilities.

Everything was becoming more complicated.

But something caught my attention.

Above the small square representing my chain control ability, there was a little black square that said "UNLOCKED AT LEVEL 10."

That mention sent shivers of excitement through me.

A new ability to unlock?

It was time to grind DP.