A man was 2 meters away from me. Crouched on the branch, his arms resting on his knees. His eyes were shining.

He was talking, asking me a question. "A not very tall woman, black hair. Class Brute, level 84," he explained.

He was talking to me, but all I was thinking about was the horrible decision I had made to settle on this tree.

I had never had so many problems with other players as here.

"Are you listening?" he said. I came back to myself.

Without even asking, my screen opened when I fixed my gaze on the man in front of me.

Was it an effect of my perception level? I slid my gaze downwards to look at whom I was dealing with. "PLAYER A3WQP9212 - LVL 72 - 240/240HP - CLASS: ARCHER"

"Level 72... Of course," I thought.

Despite my mind remaining calm, my body was paralyzed. I felt it trembling.

Then I felt nauseous. Was this a technique of this man? No... It was something else... It was my body's reaction to the idea of reliving what I had experienced while facing the Brute.

The fear of ending up in the same poor state again haunted me. Leveling up did not erase traumas. "Who?" I replied.

If I said I knew her, would he attack me? As long as I wasn't sure of his intentions, I better be cautious.

After hearing my answer, he pointed at my boots and asked, "Are these yours?"

I looked at my brown metal boots. It's true they clashed with my style, but why ask?

"Yes, why?" I replied.

"I followed tracks that came from a little further to the East. There was a fight, and a guy was buried. He was missing a part of his armor... Including the boots. And oddly enough your boots seem to be part of his set," he said.

Was he some kind of cemetery police? Was it a crime to recover a dead person's items? I didn't know what to answer.

Obviously, if he wanted to kill me, at his level, he would have no difficulty doing so.

"I'm not here to judge, I just want to find the woman I described to you," he said next.

His voice was calm, soothing.

"Why?" I asked.

"Let's say she has committed very serious crimes and she has to be judged for that," he explained.

"And what does that have to do with me?" I then asked.

"I know you don't want to have anything to do with high levels who shouldn't even be in this area. So in exchange for your information, I will give you PP. And then I will leave, and you will never see me again," he replied calmly.

He knew which buttons to push to make me cooperate.

"How much?" I asked, interested.

I was still scared, but something stronger made me speak: greed.

I wanted the Brute to pay for what she had done to me, but it was secondary to me.

The most important thing was to buy a new chain.

My response seemed to puzzle him, as if someone of my low level wasn't supposed to be concerned with getting a good deal.

"Okovani Voru... You have a secret class? Interesting," he said as if he was looking at my profile for the first time.

Would he suddenly change his mind and want to sell me?

"I will give you 300PP, that's not bad for your level, is it?" he then proposed.

I felt a relief, then some excitement. 300PP falling from the sky, it was my lucky day.

"Deal," I said with a smile. Then I cleared my throat to tell him as best I could everything I had seen.

"Last night she attacked the Knight you saw buried, and me. She was talking about selling me, then when we tried to defend ourselves, she got angry and threw me in the air. I almost died. The Knight didn't survive, as you saw," I explained, without giving too many details about my relationship with the Knight. He looked thoughtful, staring down at the bottom of the tree.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Mmm... Yes. I saw her again today, she was talking to a wandering Merchant, then she went West," I said, reflecting if I had other details in mind. "Ah, and she's level 85, not 84!" I finally said.

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"She leveled up..." he repeated bitterly. I guessed that this information changed the situation. After all, gaining a level allowed you to heal from any injury or status. It could completely turn a situation around. "Thank you, that was helpful," he said.

At the same moment, I lowered my head to see my screen flashing, I saw my PP increase by 300. He had kept his word. Looking up, I saw him walking on the branch, then he jumped and disappeared.

It was the most profitable conversation imaginable.

I couldn't sleep after that. I thought about everything that had happened.

"A level 72 archer against a level 85 Brute? It seems unbalanced. But he seemed confident," I thought. The other detail that puzzled me was this story of crime and justice.

Were there such things in Hell? Since I had been here, everything seemed to be a matter of strength.

‘The strongest decide and crush the weakest.' Again, this person came from the East and said he had no business here, if not to hunt down this Brute.

The East seemed to be a very different territory, I wanted to go there as soon as possible. But I needed to become stronger.

"As soon as the sun rises, I'll go see the Merchant," I thought.

Suddenly it started to rain. The raindrops hit against the branch and the entrance of my den.

I lay back down, lulled by the sound of the water.

.

The sun woke me up. The smell of the rain had almost disappeared.

Everything was dry.

I descended from the tree the same way I had climbed up, then I started heading toward the lake to catch a fish.

I was hungry and thirsty.

Levelling up had spared me from these unpleasant sensations, but it was time to take care of that.

I also planned to clean my clothes at the same time.

Mundane tasks brought me great peace, they made me forget for a moment that I was in Hell.

Once at the lake, I undressed and scrubbed my clothes against a rock at the water's edge.

I didn't have soap, but the main thing was to remove as much of the dirt and blood stains as possible.

Once done, I let them dry and went for a naked swim. I didn't like the idea of leaving my clothes unattended for too long, but I had no choice.

Chain in hand, I dove to look for fish.

I saw them swimming in the distance, but they were much faster than me, and my chain was too short to help me.

I quickly surfaced, I couldn't hold my breath for very long.

"I'm slow and I have little stamina. I can't catch fish," I thought.

I kept an eye on my clothes, then decided to dive again.

The lake was much deeper than I thought, it was impossible to see the bottom.

It was while observing the darkness that carpeted the depths that I saw something move.

Something huge.

In a panic, I started swimming to the surface and towards the shore.

I felt like at any moment something could grab my leg and pull me down.

But none of that happened.

I reached the shore out of breath.

"Never again... am I going to swim..." I muttered.

I didn't know what was at the bottom of this lake, but it was huge.

I couldn't help but think about the rewards that killing such a monster could bring. But that was wishful thinking.

No chance I would try something that would surely get me killed.

I went to get my clothes, still slightly damp, to put them on, then I moved away from the lake with an empty stomach.

I opened my map to see which direction to take. It was north, I remembered. Near the village.

I went through the forest, looking here and there with my screen to see if I could find anything of value.

After about two hours, I arrived near the place marked on my map.

On the way, I came across a bush with a good number of purple berries. I kept some in my pocket in case I got poisoned again and I sold the rest.

That earned me 17PP.

So I now had a total of 337PP, enough to cover my debt of 310DP.

I was still walking in the forest, there had been an incline for about twenty minutes.

I could see a wall in the distance, as I approached, I realized it was a face of the mountain.

But I was at the place indicated on the map.

I looked right and left, that's when I saw a cave about fifteen meters to my left.

There was a sign in front of it: "Buy Sell."

It was most likely the place.

There must have been another way to get there, otherwise I couldn't see how his carriage could cross such a dense forest.

Once in front of the cave, I noticed large rectangular stones had been arranged in front; behind these stones was a wall. And this time, it was a real wall.

It was smooth and seemed solid.

It looked like a stall, like in a store, but without a merchant.

"Is anyone there?" I asked.

I heard metallic noises behind the wall.

Then a small hatch opened in the stone and a robotic voice came out.

"Ah, it's you. Have you changed your mind about your chain?" he asked.

I didn't understand how customers were supposed to find this place. But it was clear that this Merchant was taking precautions to avoid being robbed.

"No, I'm here to buy a new chain. Show me what you have." I asked.

The hole in the wall stayed open.

Then my screen opened and a sort of catalog appeared on it.

Many chains of all lengths, thicknesses, qualities.

And all prices, too.

"Press the one you want and it will send the payment to me. Once received, I'll send you your chain." he said.

By moving my finger a few centimeters from the screen and lifting it, new items appeared.

I wanted to buy everything.

But to my great disappointment, there were few chains worth 300PP.

I saw some of them for over 1000PP.

But these ones offered stat bonuses. This was the first time I had seen that.

Using these weapons could strengthen my abilities or my body.

I wanted one of those. I clicked on it, even without having enough points to see what would happen.

But nothing happened.

"If you don't have the means to pay, don't try to click anywhere." he said, annoyed.

I wanted these premium chains, but even if I had 1000PP I wouldn't use them to buy one. That seemed abusive.

"Isn't there another way to buy besides PP?" I asked.

There was a silence.

I must have seemed cheap.

"There may be a way..." he said.

"If you do me a 'small' favor, I might give you a weapon that will satisfy you," he continued.