I had circled around the cliff from which I had jumped the first time I was there.

I ran between the trees, but none of them attempted to attack me.

My theory was that they only attacked when the sunlight began to fade. But that didn't explain why they never attacked me again.

Still, I decided to be careful.

After an hour, I ventured onto the trail after the small beach that surrounded the lake.

My map had been reset, so I blindly searched for the camp where I had been held captive.

I only had vague memories to guide me.

By the way, if everything has been reset, that includes discoveries too, and if that's the case, there's nothing to gain from making them.

Being an enlightened made everything much more challenging.

I walked until I reached a fork in the path.

On the right was the hole I had fallen into.

I had planned to avoid it, but at the last moment, I changed my mind.

I moved forward, tapping the ground in front of me with a branch.

I did so until I found the trapdoor.

I pushed it open to check the inside.

Everything was dark, but I could make out two glowing white eyes staring back at me.

I leaped backward, letting go of the branch, and the trapdoor closed.

I was on the ground, my heart racing.

There was a Drifter who had fallen inside. I hadn't expected that.

I composed myself and cautiously approached the trapdoor once again.

"If he's still in there, it means he can't get out. Everything is fine, I'm not in danger," I muttered.

I pushed the trapdoor open again with my branch and approached the hole with caution.

He was there, just below me, silently watching.

I looked at him with curiosity and disgust. Then, I began to scan the area around him to check if he was alone.

To my horror, I discovered that he was surrounded by what appeared to be human bones.

Had he fallen with other Drifters?

That must have been it, or perhaps unfortunate players had fallen into this deadly trap, and he had eaten them.

This horrifying sight made me want to run away once again, but I controlled my instincts.

I couldn't afford to flee at every challenge.

I bent down to start my task.

I brought my hand closer to the trapdoor to hold it open in place of my branch.

My objective was to retrieve the trapdoor to sell it. But as I looked at the gruesome spectacle just beneath my feet, I realized that by doing so, I was preventing other players from falling in and being devoured.

I felt guilty for thinking about my own interest first instead of saving lives.

But I didn't have the whole day to think and feel guilty; I got back to work.

I leaned closer to better see the part of the trapdoor that was fixed to the ground.

A metal piece of the trapdoor was hooked onto the stone.

It seemed too heavy and sturdy for me to detach.

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I had to destroy the most vulnerable part.

I examined the mechanism that allowed the trapdoor to open and close.

It was all made of wood and didn't seem too complicated to destroy.

I went to find a large stone to keep the trapdoor open and another pointed stone to saw through the wood.

I sat down with one leg bent and the other dangling into the pit.

I kept an eye on the Drifter, but he didn't move. He looked at me with his empty gaze, probably hoping that I would make a mistake and fall in.

I brought the stone closer and began to saw through the wood.

After five minutes, I saw that the wood had barely been scratched, and my outstretched arm was already getting tired.

I glanced at my endurance and saw that I had lost 1 EP.

I leaned back to stretch my back.

I'm not sure if this is the best way to saw through this thing.

Since the beginning, I had been thinking of a way to use my power to help, but this small chain seemed almost useless.

I put down the stone and let the chain slide through my hand.

My powers didn't allow me to alter its structure. I could attach and detach the chain because the last link had a small opening, maybe that could be useful.

I tried various things, stretching the chain and attempting to saw through the wood with it, then I tried using the open link, spreading it slightly, to scrape the wood.

It had no impact.

I retreated until my back was lying flat on the ground.

I'm glad I have a power, but I would have preferred something else.

If the power was linked to how I died, the possibilities were endless.

If I had died burned, I could have been a human torch.

Or if the explosion had killed me, I would control explosions.

That sounded good.

Or even if the stone that had fallen on my head had been fatal, I could control stones.

Everything sounded better than having a miserable chain around my neck.

But in the end, I got up, willing to try one more thing.

As I walked around the trapdoor, I found several small pointed stones.

I took a large stone and used it as a hammer to push the pointed stones between the links of my chain.

I broke many stones, but after almost an hour, I finished my work. My chain had small stones fixed between each link.

I placed the chain around my fist, then realized it was a mistake to have placed stones all around it.

I couldn't hold it without injuring myself.

I looked up at the sky, contemplating my own foolishness.

But it didn't matter much; there were another way to use the chain.

I placed the pointed side on the wood, letting it wrap around the mechanism like a snake.

I hoped that its slow movement would be enough.

I kept the palm of my hand pressed against it to activate my power.

At the same time, I had my screen open to monitor the progression of my EP.

The chain circled around the wood, repeatedly and continuously.

I watched as the wood gradually became thinner and closer to giving way.

To my great surprise, the chain completed the task in just a few minutes.

This power is not as useless as I thought.

I kicked the side of the trapdoor a few times to make it give way completely, then I grabbed it.

It was finally in my hands.

After removing the stones I had attached to the chain, I carefully placed it back around my neck.

It was already 3 PM, and I hoped that this piece of wood would earn me something.

I opened the sales screen and waited for it to load.

This loading must serve a purpose; Hell never does anything by chance.

The sales square finally appeared, and the screen enlarged, as if it knew what I wanted to sell.

I passed the trapdoor through the square, and it disappeared into the system.

There was another short delay.

"The wood and even the part of the mechanism I added, they're all of good quality. I'm sure I'll earn at least a few points," I muttered, feeling the stress building up in me.

A few words appeared.

"PREMIUM QUALITY TRAPDOOR! 199PP!"

I looked at the message with disbelief.

It can't be. An item placed in the middle of nowhere is worth that much?!

I was happy but shocked.

For once, things were going better than expected, and I discovered that it worried me just as much as when everything went wrong.

I immediately started to believe that something was amiss.

It was as if the system had made a mistake and might take away my PP, so I quickly allocated them to my debt bar to level up to level 2.

Suddenly, a message indicated that I had gained 4 talent points. And the debt bar, which had been full just a moment ago, emptied completely.

I decided to wait before allocating my talent points.

My past experience had taught me that it was good to remain flexible.

My HP and EP were back to their maximum, and I was ready to head towards the forest.

But before that, I headed once again towards the hole in the ground.

I looked at the creature, then my eyes settled on the weapon it was holding.

It resembled half of a spinal column with a very sharp edge.

It must be worth a lot.

I was tempted. Very tempted to retrieve its sword and sell it.

But I knew it was a stupid idea, an idea that was highly likely to get me killed.

So why couldn't I take my eyes off that sword?

I was convinced it would help me level up.

The Drifters were so strong; they couldn't possibly not use high-level weapons. But I already had another objective; I didn't have time to waste.

So I decided to go into the forest, gather what I could, and then come back here, perhaps to retrieve the monster's sword.

A few hours ago, I didn't know how to efficiently accumulate debt points, yet a path was now unfolding before me. A path of a scavenger. A path of a thief.