Gold hot rays pierced my eyes, which seemed to want to be shut. With extreme effort, I forced my body to peel back my eyelids, revealing the outcome of it all. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this.

Huh.

A warm fireplace rested across from me. Looking down, I was covered in fur blankets and even wearing a fresh pair of clothes. The thought of someone changing me didn't particularly startle me; my last cognisant memory was a five-hundred-foot-tall tidal wave crashing down. My pride could handle the blow if the outcome were a warm bed and newly washed linen.

Taking my nose down to the fabric, I sniffed.

Yup, Savage Lands doesn't have that kind of cleaning supplies. These were freshly washed, rinsed, and spritzed with perfume.

I mumbled to myself as I began to breathe it all in. Being alive sure came as a shock that took some time to get used to. But, going by experience, given enough time, I would quickly take life for granted. Some things never change.

Wherever this quaint room was, I knew one thing: it rested in the realm.

Giving myself some time to soak it all in, I got up and did some stretching and pushups, and then, for the final mental stretch, I opened my system stats.

(Lvl.99 Adventurer: Soul Of The Broken Blade User; former Rogue; former Guild Leader)

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Age: 33

Height: 5:11

Weight: 185

Main Combat Stats:

Strength: 100/?

Dex:100/?

Stamina: 100/?

Mana: 100/?

Soul Warden: 100/?

That was odd. I had figured that by the time I had disappeared out of the realms, the whole continent would have entered the next phase, and a new expansion would have once again pushed the boundaries of man's capabilities. Adding new levels of strength, only to balance that out with foes and biomes that are fiercer than the last.

If that were the case, my stats would have an endpoint. It would tell me how far I was from the limit. In this realm, in which stats scaled exponentially, no one ever hit the max before another expansion came and raised it again. Mercy, that name ringing to my mind, like a sword cutting flesh it stung. He was one of the few Guild leaders, that greedy fuck who siphoned every exp bonus, every tonic, every elixir to grind out those stats to near max, but never hitting the total cap.

Then what were these question marks?

Before I could get lost any further, with pointless ponderings that I couldn't answer in my current state, a knock came on the door at the end of my little room.

You probably aren't awake again, but late dinner is being served if you want to come down and join everyone.

Before thinking, the words flew from my mouth with the urgency only an empty stomach, which only just realized it was painfully depleted, could muster.

Yes! Warn them that I'm starving! I'll want triple servings of anything being served!!

The footsteps stopped from the other side of the door, and a high-pitched shriek came through.

I hope that was merely a shock and not a sign that I wasn't getting triple servings…