I kept my gaze fixed on the far wall of the summoning chamber, my expression carefully blank. No point giving them the satisfaction of seeing my fear, my frustration. They were going to kill me anyway. Might as well make them work for it.

'Moron' grabbed my arm, his grip bruisingly tight. I let him haul me to my feet, my body moving on autopilot.

'Ben's here again,' I noted, watching the second guard fall into step behind us. 'In the first loop, after Sancta kicked the bucket after I made the deal it was just 'Moron' dragging me around. Then in the second both of them came.'

I frowned, trying to parse the discrepancy. 'What caused something like this to change the first time? Was there some event or interaction I was overlooking?'

It was frustrating, this constant groping in the dark, blind to the mechanics of my own existence. But frustration was a luxury I couldn't afford. Not now. Not ever.

The walk to the cell was a blur of cold stone and the ever-present scent of ozone. I barely registered the guards' presence, my mind already racing ahead, planning, strategizing.

The heavy clang of the cell door slamming shut was like the starting pistol of a race against death. I didn't waste a second.

'Blessing Inventory.'

Available Blessings:

Subterfuge Skill Aptitude (Passive) (x2): Increases the rate at which you gain experience in all Subterfuge-based Skills by 100%.

'Subterfuge, huh?' I thought, scanning the description. Useful, maybe, but not exactly what I needed for my current plan of turning myself into a one-man army. Still, I had two open slots so I might as well make use of them.

'Slot it.'

Blessings:

Permanent Blessings (2/2):

Divine Identification (Locked In)

Authority of the Time Loop (Locked In)

Temporary Blessing Slots (2/3):

Body Skill Gain Multiplier (Passive) (x3)

Subterfuge Skill Aptitude (Passive) (x2)

Empty

I closed the menu, my gaze sweeping across the confines of my cell. It was time to get to work. Every second counted. Every death was going to be a lesson, I knew.

—

I glided my hands against the heavy weight of the bars, cold and unforgiving against my palms, they mocked my situation. Escape seemed like an impossible dream.

Then it hit me. I didn't need to overpower 'Jin'. I just needed him to not be in my way. And how did you deal with an obstacle as stupid as 'Jin the Moron', who guarded things in the dumbest way possible, by destroying what he was guarding?

You didn't. You went around it.

My gaze swept across the cell, taking in every detail: the rough-hewn stone blocks that made up the walls, cool and damp against my fingertips when I pressed my hand against them; the narrow slit of a window high above, the faintest sliver of moonlight filtering through the grime; the heavy wooden door barred from the outside, its metal hinges slick with what looked like old oil.

'Think, Raymond, think,' I urged myself. 'There has to be another way.'

My gaze fell on the far wall of the cell, the one furthest from the door. It was made of the same rough-hewn stone as the rest of the cell, but I noticed something strange about the mortar between the blocks… it looked different somehow. I moved over to it and glided my palms against it when ’Moron the guard who kills the guarded to support his family by killing other families’ wasn’t watching. The seams connecting the brick were weaker, they flaked slightly as I moved my hands over them. I could probably shatter this part of the wall after a few loops.

I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the protesting ache in my muscles. It was time to experiment.

First, I had to try to learn how to move silently. I started by experimenting with different ways of placing my feet, feeling the slight give of the stone floor beneath my worn leather soles. I shifted my weight, trying to anticipate the minute sounds my movements created: the rustle of fabric as my shirt brushed against my skin, the soft sigh of my own breath.

Minutes stretched into what felt like hours, my initial clumsiness giving way to a growing sense of control. Each failed attempt, each noisy stumble, was a lesson learned, a piece of data to be processed and incorporated into my next attempt. Finally, I found a rhythm, a way of moving that minimized sound without sacrificing too much speed. It was an awkward, almost painfully slow stepping motion, like wading through thick mud, but it was progress.

I forced myself to relax, to keep my movements slow and deliberate as I resumed my practice. Jin might be an idiot, but I didn’t need to make his job any easier.

Two notifications, blinking into existence before my eyes, told me I was on the right track:

Rudimentary Stealth (Body)(-2 Evol) is now level 1!

Slow Silent Walking (Body)(-2 Evol) is now level 1!

A grim smile touched my lips. It wasn't much, but it was a start. Every journey began with a single step.

I continued my silent walking practice with a renewed focus. The feel of cold stone beneath my bare feet, the subtle shifts in balance as I distributed my weight, the almost imperceptible rustle of fabric as my clothes brushed against my skin—every sensation was a lesson, a piece of data to be processed and incorporated into my movements.

'Slow. Deliberate. Controlled.' The words echoed in my mind like a mantra.

It was grueling, painstaking work, but the steady stream of notifications told me I was making progress.

Skill Increased: Slow Silent Walking (Body)(-2 Evol) is now level 5!

Skill Increased: Slow Silent Walking (Body)(-2 Evol) is now level 8!

Three hours in, I felt a shift, a subtle realignment within my own body. It wasn't just about placing my feet correctly or controlling my breathing anymore. It was about posture, about moving with an economy of motion that minimized wasted energy and unnecessary sound.

Skill Evolved! Slow Silent Walking (Body)(-2 Evol) has evolved into Silent Walking (Body/Subterfuge)(-1 Evol)!

I allowed myself a small smile. Progress. It wasn't about brute force, not anymore. It was about patience, about exploiting every advantage, no matter how small.

Skill Increased: Silent Walking (Body/Subterfuge)(-1 Evol) is now level 3!

Skill Increased: Silent Walking (Body/Subterfuge)(-1 Evol) is now level 7!

Another few hours passed, and with it, another evolution.

Skill Evolved! Rudimentary Stealth (Body/Subterfuge)(-2 Evol) has evolved into Weak Stealth (Body/Subterfuge)(-1 Evol)!

Exhaustion tugged at me, but I pushed it aside. I was on a roll, and something told me that pushing past this point would be… unwise.

Stolen novel; please report.

"What in the hells are you doing?" Jin's voice, sharp and laced with suspicion, cut through the silence like a knife.

I froze, my heart pounding in my chest. He'd noticed. Of course, he'd noticed.

"stretching! " I declared, my shifty eyes giving more evidence to my obvious lie.

Not that I really cared to try hiding it at this point.

Jin snorted, his hand resting on the pommel of his sword. "Stretching? You call that skulking around your cell, trying to be all sneaky?" He shook his head, his expression a mixture of amusement and disgust. "Trying to get a head start on your training, are you? Well, let me stop you right there. Trying to learn subterfuge before being assigned by the Empire is obvious treason. And I kill traitors. Painfully."

He let the words hang in the air, a clear threat.

I met his gaze, my expression carefully blank. He was right- but only partially.

I'd been careless. Overconfident that he wasn’t smart enough to figure out that he was watching someone training to be stealthy.

I had a lot to learn about surviving in this world.

But he was right about another thing.

I was definitely a traitor, because I had no fucking interest in serving these assholes. I'd destroy this empire the first chance I got.

Jin’s threat hung in the air between us, a tangible reminder of my precarious position. He watched me for a long moment, his hand still hovering near his sword hilt, before finally turning away with a disgusted snort.

'Right,' I thought, my muscles tensing with frustrated energy. 'Subterfuge training would have to wait.'

It was frustrating, having my plans so easily derailed, but I was learning, albeit slowly and painfully, that patience was as crucial as any skill in this gods-forsaken world.

'One step at a time, Raymond,' I reminded myself. 'First things first.'

I dropped to the floor, my body automatically falling into the familiar rhythm of pushups. The rough stone bit into my palms, a welcome counterpoint to the churning anxiety in my gut.

Each push, each bead of sweat that rolled down my forehead, was a small victory. Strength. I needed strength. Not just to fight, not yet, but to break free from this cage, to carve a path toward freedom.

The hours crawled by, marked by the rhythmic thud of my body against the stone floor and the steady stream of notifications that marked my glacial progress.

It was slow, agonizingly slow, but it was something. Every point of strength, every ounce of endurance, brought me one step closer to my goal.

I varied my routine, cycling through pushups, squats, lunges, and whatever other exercises I could manage in the cramped space. My muscles screamed in protest, but I pushed through the pain, driven by a desperation born of repeated deaths and a growing understanding of the stakes.

There was a strange sort of freedom in the repetition, in the knowledge that no matter how badly I messed up, no matter how much I suffered, death was just a reset button, a chance to start again, to refine my approach.

As 'Jin the Moron' settled into his nightly routine—a symphony of snores and mumbled curses—I allowed myself a small, bitter smile.

'Soon,' I thought, my gaze drifting towards the far wall, the one with the weaker mortar. 'Soon.'

For now, strength training it was. But once the idiot was asleep… I had plans for those newly acquired acrobatics skills. And in the loop after that… well, subterfuge was calling.

I just had to be smart about it. No more unnecessary risks. No more alerting the guards to my true intentions.

They thought they had me trapped, broken. They had no idea the kind of monster they were creating.

I lost track of time, my world shrinking to the confines of the cell and the burning in my muscles. Each repetition, each bead of sweat that stung my eyes, was a testament to my resolve. I would not break. I would not yield. I would endure.

The air grew thick and heavy, the silence broken only by the rasp of my own breath and the rhythmic thud of my body against the stone floor. The faintest sliver of moonlight, filtering through the high window, painted the cell in shades of gray and black, transforming familiar shapes into grotesque shadows that danced at the edge of my vision.

Hunger gnawed at my stomach, a dull ache that I ignored with practiced ease. Thirst was a sharper pang, but even that I could push aside, my focus narrowed to the relentless pursuit of strength.

'Stronger,' I thought, the word echoing in the silence of my mind. 'I have to be stronger.'

I imagined the bars bending beneath my grip, the stone crumbling beneath my fists. It was a fantasy, a distant goal, but it fueled my efforts, gave me something to cling to in the face of overwhelming odds.

The system chimed in, its notifications a constant counterpoint to the rhythm of my movements.

Skill Increased: Exercise (Body) is now level 13!

Skill Increased: Exercise (Stretching) is now level 10!

Skill Increased: Exercise (Body) is now level 14!

Each ping of the system was a small victory, a reminder that I was making progress, however slow and incremental. But the numbers themselves were meaningless. It wasn't about the levels or the skills, not really. It was about the fire in my gut, the refusal to give in, the knowledge that every pushup, every squat, every bead of sweat was a fuck-you to the empire that thought it could break me.

The night dragged on, an endless cycle of exertion and exhaustion. And as the first faint hint of dawn touched the sky, painting the narrow window with a sliver of pale light, a new notification, unexpected and exhilarating, flashed into existence before my eyes.

New Skill Acquired: Meditation (Mind)(-1 Evol) is now level 1!

Meditation? What the-

I stopped mid-pushup, Baffled. How? Why? I'd been trying to turn myself into a flex-machine. How does that have anything to do with meditation?

Then again, maybe there was a connection. Maybe the relentless focus, the single-minded pursuit of gains, had unlocked something.

Either way, I had a feeling this new skill was going to be useful.

I didn't know how though.

So I went back to my pushups and waited for something to happen.

Hours had passed, and I found myself staring at my skill board with a sense of grim satisfaction. The numbers weren't impressive by any stretch, but they represented progress. Hard-won, agonizing progress.

Exercise (Body): Level 16

Exercise (Stretching): Level 14

Meditation (Mind): Level 1

Silent Walking (Body/Subterfuge): Level 20

Weak Stealth (Body/Subterfuge): Level 1

Brawling (Body/Combat): Level 6

Exhaustion Resistance (Sleep): Level 4

Exhaustion Resistance (Physical): Level 5

Pain Tolerance (Body): Level 6

Minor Acrobatics (Body): Level 1

Not bad for a guy who'd been a stick-thin, rail-road spike of a high school teacher just a few loops ago. Jin had left about an hour earlier, probably to stuff his face or torment some other poor bastard. I was just starting to contemplate my next move when the cell door clanged open.

Dodon. Fucking fantastic. He was a full 12 hours early.

"You," Dodon began, his voice grating like metal on stone.

"Forgot to check my blessing. Move." I finished for him, mimicking his flat, emotionless tone. A manic grin spread across my face. Oh, this was fun.

Dodon's helmeted head snapped back as if I'd physically struck him. "How did you-" he started, then cut himself off with a snarl. "Nevermind. Come. Now."

I could practically feel the confusion and anger radiating off him in waves. It was great.

Then my thoughts turned to anger black as bitch and savage.

‘You're going to die, you piece of shit,’ I thought, the savage rage bubbling up inside me ready to overflow. ‘You, and this facility. You clearly have no idea how that orb reacts to multiple blessings, do you?’

‘This whole fucking empire. It's all going down. You killing me just helps me further. But you know what?’

‘Why not have a little fun on the way out?’

I sprang to my feet with exaggerated enthusiasm, practically bouncing on my toes. "Sir, yes sir!" I chirped, snapping off a mocking salute. "Where to, oh illustrious keeper of the keys?"

Dodon's hand twitched towards his sword, and for a moment I thought he might just cut me down right there. But no, that would be too easy, wouldn't it? Instead, he grabbed my arm, his grip painfully tight, and started dragging me down the corridor.

I didn't resist. That would have been too boring. Instead, I complied with every order, every direction... in the most infuriatingly chipper way possible. I skipped down hallways when they told me to move forward, hummed off-key tunes when they told me to ‘stop humming like that’, and asked inane questions about the architecture.

"Ooh, love what you've done with the place," I cooed, gesturing at a particularly grimy section of wall. "Very 'dungeon chic'. Do you do all your own decorating, or is there an 'Evil Overlord's Quarterly' you subscribe to?"

“ARGH!” Dodon roared impotently as he reached to strangle me, only holding himself back with massive effort.

I smirked.

—

By the time we reached the orb chamber, I could practically hear Dodon's teeth grinding inside his helmet as his left shoulder twitched and his head kept jerking slightly. The other guards looked on in a mixture of confusion, bafflement, and barely-concealed amusement.

The orb pulsed with an eerie light as we approached, its surface smooth and cool beneath my palm. I felt the familiar surge of energy, as the Orb went red and turned gold, I saw the panic dawning in Dodon's posture as the orb's glow intensified to a blinding radiance.

I turned to Dodon, a savage smirk twisting my lips. "Been fun, you piece of shit." I said, snapping off one final, mocking salute. "See you next loop, you self regurgitating asshole!"

The last thing I saw before the world dissolved into a blinding white explosion centered on the orb was Dodon's helmeted face, tilted in, despite his covered helmet obscuring it, I could tell was, an expression I could only interpret as utter bewilderment that was turning into a blind furious rage at a blinding speed but a bit too slowly.

New Skill Acquired: Taunt (Mind/Strategy/Charisma)(Active) is now level 1!

CRITICAL SUCCESS! CONFUSION BONUS! LAST WORD BONUS! CREATIVITY BONUS! UNCOMPREHENDING BONUS!

Taunt is now level 10!

Then, darkness. And the familiar scent of ozone.

Round and round we go.

Take number four here we come.