I was sweating; my hand was pierced and bleeding profusely. But, compared to my victory, it was just a detail.

I approached the unconscious assassin and checked his pulse. It was weak and slow, but still there.

Then, I opened the sales window and began my favorite part: looting.

"I'll start by selling the things that don't seem valuable, and I'll finish with his weapons," I thought as I surveyed his equipment. I liked saving the best for last.

So, I started by undressing the Assassin and taking his boots. I tried them on, but they didn't fit me. I decided to sell them.

"LOW-QUALITY ASSASSIN BOOTS! 20 DP, 12 PP!"

"Low-quality?" I muttered, disappointed.

However, it was evident that this weak player wouldn't be wearing valuable equipment. I had become used to selling quality items.

Almost ashamed, I wanted to caress my screen and apologize for selling something so mediocre.

"I need to calm down; I'm becoming a bit too arrogant," I thought. My victory had inflated my ego.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I resumed my task. After each new sale, a loading screen halted my progress. Now I understood that this method was a kind of 'nerf' against thieves. During a battle, it was difficult to sell items, making the strategy of selling without fighting challenging. Was it to force thieves to fight, and ultimately to kill? It wasn’t clear.

Once the loading was complete, I proceeded to sell all the armor. This brought me a total of 125 DP and 30 PP. Together with the boots, it totaled 145 DP and 42 PP.

I now had 145/280 DP for level 7.

Next, I had to sell the two blades. I started with the one he had attacked me with initially. "LOW-QUALITY SHORT ASSASSIN'S BLADE! 30 DP, 5 PP!" It was disappointingly low.

I now had 175/280 DP, with only 105 DP remaining. If the other blade were worth the same, I wouldn't have enough points to reach level 7.

I picked it up, gazed at the blade stained with my blood, then closed my eyes. "Please be of good quality..." I prayed.

I then placed it in the sales square.

"POISONED MEDIUM-QUALITY BLADE! 50 DP, 10 PP!" It was of better quality, which was a relief. But one detail was bothering me.

"How is it poisoned?" I mused aloud.

Unwrapping the bandage on my injured hand, I took a look at it.

I swallowed nervously as I saw the black wound and the highlighted veins colored in a violet hue.

I then looked at my profile and saw that my health bar was violet instead of red. Just above, there was the word "poisoned."

In a panic, I counted my points. 225/280 DP and 57 PP. Just enough to level up.

"Oh... Luck hasn't abandoned me," I thought, relieved. Without wasting a moment, I allocated all my PP to reach level 7.

I watched the wound on my hand heal and disappear as if nothing had ever happened. My health bar returned to normal.

I turned to look at the unconscious assassin.

"Using poison... What a coward," I thought.

He could have killed me, yet he didn't hesitate to use it.

"But thinking about it, he must have thought that I was trying to kill him too," I reasoned with myself.

Regardless, I had done what I needed to do. Everything was sold.

But I couldn't just leave him there; if a Drifter passed by, his death would weigh on my conscience.

So, I dragged him to a bush and hid him as best as I could, covering the bush with any branches I could find. After ensuring one last time that he couldn't be seen, I continued on my way.

My feet were hurting; I missed my boots. It was mid-afternoon, and the most strategic plan was to return to my base, sleep there, and visit the Merchant the next day. But visiting the Merchant without any PP didn’t seem smart; I needed to accumulate some to buy a new chain.

As I pondered about the Merchant and his defensive skills, I remembered the lack of information the system had provided about this seemingly harmless class.

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If I had relied on that information, I would be dead.

The system seemed to enjoy playing with the information it provided, creating a false sense of security. It reveled in drama and death.

In the end, despite the beautiful landscapes, Hell was true to the image I had of it.

Walking a few more miles, I finally reached my base's tree.

"That Brute had incredible strength to be able to throw me so far," I reiterated in my mind, intending to learn from this. I understood that there was no way I should try to fight a player of such a high level.

But looking at the tree that housed my base, a new problem emerged. I realized that without my chain, climbing would be impossible.

I had chosen my tree well; its branches were sturdy but spaced too far apart for easy climbing.

I hadn't anticipated losing my large chain. Despite all my planning, I always ended up rushing a decision that wasn't ideal.

My small chain wouldn't suffice to climb that smooth trunk. I would have to spend the night elsewhere.

Standing there, arms folded, hands on my hips, I looked lost and disillusioned.

"Well, in that case, I might as well go and see if I can find the Knight," I thought.

Either he was dead without armor, or he was dead with his armor destroyed. In either case, I doubted I would retrieve many points, but it was better than waiting idle until nightfall.

About twenty minutes later, I found the area where the Brute had wreaked havoc.

Fallen trees, holes in the ground, blood here and there.

"After she threw me, there was a big fight. This Knight managed to defend against…" I didn't finish my sentence. I had just seen where the blood trails led.

The knight was on the ground, his armor shattered.

His corpse left no doubt: what happened here was not a fight but an execution.

"What a waste…" I muttered under my breath, thinking about the PP I had given him to end up in this state.

Then I felt guilty.

"This guy fought to the death instead of running away. He deserves all my respect... And the death of a player is far more dramatic than the loss of a few points…" I told myself.

But strangely, these thoughts found little resonance in me. I couldn't detach myself from the idea that I should have kept those points.

I sighed after saying "what's done is done." Then I bent down to collect the remains of his armor. Everything was stained with blood. There was a hole in his breastplate. Trying to remove it, I almost vomited. He had a gaping hole in his abdomen.

"Ok, I'm going to leave the breastplate here, anyway, it must be worthless in this state." I thought.

The only parts of his armor still in good shape were his boots and his greaves.

I took the boots and tried them on. They didn't match my style with their shimmering brown color, but they fit like a glove.

It was perhaps destiny that these boots come back to me. I liked these better than the low-quality ones from the assassin.

I then sold the greaves, which I found too heavy to wear. They brought me 30 PP.

"No DP because it's not theft if he's already dead, I guess." I murmured.

I found it surprising that the Brute hadn't sold his armor; she could have easily made some points. But it wasn't hard to imagine that she didn't want to get her hands dirty or something.

The question now was where his sword was. I carefully looked around.

"He attacked her when she threw me, so the sword must be nearby." I thought as I stood up to check the area where I had taken off.

There was a bit of blood on the ground. And near there, the sword.

The blade was reddened by blood. So he probably managed to hit her.

Seeing this, my respect for this player increased. In some way, my points had been useful if she had been injured.

I picked up the sword and looked at it. "Now that I no longer have my big chain, should I keep a weapon with me?" I hesitated.

The lure of gaining points was strong. But thinking about it, I could probably gain more by selling it to the Merchant instead of the system.

After all, he had given me PP for boots that were worthless.

I decided to take the sword with me. It would serve to defend me until I sold it.

Now that I had collected everything, I returned to the Knight to give him a dignified burial. I picked up a piece of wood that was lying around and used it as a shovel.

As I dug, I thought about my day. My idea was to build a base where I wouldn't see any players. In the end, I ended up seeing more players in one day than since I arrived in Hell.

Maybe the good decision was to change my base location.

"No. I've never leveled up as fast. The risk is huge, but that's how I'll get stronger." I told myself.

After all, I wasn't far from unlocking a skill at level 10. Then, I wouldn't need to hide anymore. I was confident that this skill would take me to a whole new level.

Once the Knight was buried, I returned to my base. A detail had escaped me earlier, indeed, I had thought to place my base where I could easily flee in case of problems: near other trees.

These trees had closer branches, which allowed me to climb.

That's what I did, I took this opportunity to go to the top of the tree closest to where my home was. Once up there, I jumped onto the branch that served as my terrace. I barely caught it, but my small chain secured my grip.

I pulled myself up onto the branch and moved crouched to the large hollow in the tree. I was finally home, safe for the night.

I had placed a pile of leaves on the wood to sleep better. As I lay down on them, I congratulated myself for taking the time to make this cozy nest.

It was late afternoon, and I had leveled up recently, yet I felt tired. Not physically, but rather mentally. It seemed leveling up didn't solve everything.

I fell asleep quickly.

.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" said a voice.

I opened my eyes. And slowly raised my head. There was a man squatting on the branch in front of me.

It was dark. I could only see a wide-shouldered silhouette.

His eyes shone like those of an animal. He was staring at me intensely.

Was this a dream?

"I'm looking for someone, you might know something about it." he continued.

I shivered, feeling the cool wind. The cheek that had been lying against the leaves felt itchy.

No, this wasn't a dream. This person was indeed there, in my base. I was in danger.