Chapter 8 - Fatigue

"Haaah... That marks... the—"

Yuuto barely had time to finish his thought before his stomach twisted. His body lurched, bile burning up his throat—

And he vomited.

His arms trembled as he braced against the frozen ground, gasping for air between ragged coughs. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, blinking past the dizziness.

"…Sixtieth time I've stabbed myself to near death…" His voice was hoarse, more breath than words.

His vision blurred. His head pounded. Every limb felt like lead.

His fingers twitched against the knife still clenched in his grip. He exhaled sharply through his nose.

'Since my defense stat got higher, I had to stab deeper… had to do it more. And thanks to my regen—'

His breath hitched.

"Haaah…"

His fingers curled into the bloodstained dirt as he brought up the status window before his eyes.

Status Menu

HP: 10,000/10,000 (HUNGER -1,000 | SLEEP DEPRIVATION -1,000 | MENTAL FATIGUE -8,000 TO MAX HP! GET A GOOD NIGHT'S REST AND EAT SOMETHING TO RECOVER!)

MANA: 5,000 / 5,000

DEFENSE [LV.2] → [LV.3] – You are now moderately more durable; enemies will have a harder time injuring you! Lower-class negative effects cannot afflict you, and those that do have a significantly reduced effectiveness.

REGENERATION [LV.4] – Heals 500 HP per second. [PASSIVE]

'That fucking stat... Level 3 after five hours of continuous stabbings? Damn it…'

His body swayed. The world tilted.

He shook his head, forcing his mind to stay sharp.

'Any more would be counterproductive…'

Yuuto grimaced, rubbing his temple with bloodied fingers.

'Mental fatigue? I have nothing like that… What the hell are you even on about…'

His skin was pale as the snow outside. The massive pool of iced-over blood around him—mixed with bile and the stench of iron.

He forced himself to glance at it.

'All this… Roughly, what? Five liters of blood…'

His vision swam again.

His body swayed.

He barely stopped himself from toppling over.

"Haah…" He gave a weak, breathless chuckle.

"Thank god I already threw up…"

'I need to keep myself upright...' He thought as he held his shoulders together, shivering violently, looking at another stat that was increased in that time:

COLD IMMUNITY EQUILIBRIUM [LV.4] ---> [LV.6] – Extreme resistance to cold damage—but cripplingly weak to heat.

'Probably due to the blood I've lost, I wasn't able to retain body heat properly... Add that to the cold environment...' He couldn't help but chuckle. 

'Three birds with one stone... Well, if I don't die, that is.' Yuuto thought as he summoned his inventory.

Nothing.

'That dumbass had a dimensional-storage like ability and didn't think to use it..? That sandwich I ate was perfectly preserved, so this inventory suspends it in time to boot, right?'

'Tsk.... I didn't want to use this, but I guess I don't have much choice.' He thought as he looked at the coin meter the inventory had.

[x100 gold]

"Open shop..."

[Legendary Gear]

(For the discerning warrior with an obscene amount of wealth.)

🔹 [Eldritch Fangblade] – A cursed blade forged from the fang of an ancient abyssal beast. Increases Strength by 5000% when wielded but steadily corrodes the wielder's sanity. Extended use may lead to permanent madness.🪙 Price: 110,000,000 Gold

🔹 [God-Slayer Gauntlets] – Each strike ignores 90% of the enemy's defense and adds 5000 stat points to strength. However, every attack permanently removes one random stat point, even on a miss.🪙 Price: 112,000,000 Gold

🔹 [Divine Phoenix Core] – A one-time use artifact that instantly resurrects the wielder upon death, restoring them at half HP. Burns away 50% of total HP upon revival.🪙 Price: 40,000,000 Gold

🔹 [The Everhungering Blade] – A cursed weapon that devours the life force of those it slays, granting +1 Strength per enemy within level range. However, it cannot be sheathed until it has claimed 100 lives. If more than 4 seconds pass between kills, the blade will seize control of the wielder's mind.🪙 Price: 1,000,000 Gold [90% DISCOUNT!] [ONLY ONE LEFT!!!] [BUY NOW!!]

🔹 [Timebreaker Dagger] – A dagger infused with temporal energy, allowing the user to freeze time for 0.5 seconds per strike landed. Effect only activates if the user has 90% HP or higher.🪙 Price: 999,999,999,999 Gold

Yuuto's eyes flicked between the absurd price tags.

'Yeah… not touching those.'

'The Divine Phoenix Core is tempting. But if it clashed with my [FINAL STANCE] revival skill? Then it'd just be a waste of gold.'

His gaze drifted to the Timebreaker Dagger.

'First time Haruno looked at this, it was 100M Gold. Then the devs of this system must've realized just how broken it was and jacked the price up to 1 Trillion Gold—completely unbuyable, since the max gold cap is 100B.'

His eyes drifted to the Everhungering Blade.

'This one, though… Nobody wanted it. So they slashed the price to 1M, just to get rid of it. Makes sense. Who the hell would willingly buy a weapon that forces them to slaughter 100 people just to put it away? One guy eventually did, though…'

Yuuto's gaze darkened.

'…But that's a problem for later.'

Then—his eyes locked onto something else.

🔹 [Polpo's Mechanicus] – A glove imbued with high-level telekinetic magic, allowing the user to grab and lift items from up to 10 meters away. Requires 500 Agility to wield.🪙 Price: 37,500,000 Gold

Yuuto's fingers hovered over the listing.

'Haruno was a dumbass, but at least he recognized how busted this one was for him. He could summon blades and wield them remotely, extending his reach by 10 meters…'

But Yuuto exhaled.

'Whatever. Nice lookaround, but I've got bigger issues right now.'

He scrolled down.

Price: 8,999,999 Gold [High-End Consumables] (For those who like to live extravagantly.)

[Elixir of Endless Night] – Grants complete immunity to all status effects for 24 hours.

Price: 2,500,000 Gold

[Tears of the Archangel] – Instantly restores all HP, MP, and removes all debuffs. Can revive the dead if used within 10 seconds of death.

Price: 5,000,000 Gold

Yuuto's gaze sharpened. 'This one… I always had a theory about it. A shame it was never utilized in the story.'

Tears of the Archangel.

Bleeding? Counts as a debuff. Sleep deprivation? A debuff. Hunger and fatigue? Also debuffs.

'Meaning… if I had just one of these, I'd be at full power instantly.'

Then, a darker thought crept in.

'…Wouldn't cancer also count as a debuff?'

His fingers tightened around the screen.

'So this thing could cure any disease… and it costs only 5,000,000 Gold? Wow. Even the price tags here prioritize slaughter over healing and self-care... Then again, the fact that they put self-care stuff at lower prices could mean they encourage that over the slaughter... Oh well.' He scrolled further.

[Forbidden Tome of Abyssal Knowledge] – Increases intelligence by 500 permanently, but curses the user with recurring nightmares of the abyss.

Price: 4,250,000 Gold

[Necessities & Common Goods] (For the struggling survivor with barely any cash.)

'Finally...'

[Dried Meat Rations] (3 Days' Worth) – It's salty!

Price: 75 Gold

[Purified Water Flask] (1L) – Drinkable, non-toxic. Tastes like water.

Price: 50 Gold

[Basic Healing Potion] – Restores 500 HP over 10 seconds. Tastes like cough syrup.

Price: 120 Gold

[Cheap Tent] – Protects against mild weather conditions.

Price: 500 Gold

[Firestarter Kit] – For when you don't want to freeze to death. Single-use.

Price: 200 Gold

[Stale Bread] – Crunchy. Too crunchy. Possibly a weapon if thrown hard enough.

Price: 25 Gold

Yuuto eyed the menu. 'Hm… I could spend my 100 gold on meat rations and stale bread, but then I'd have no water. And who's to say the snow outside is even safe to drink?'

'Nah.' With a deep sigh, he made his choice.

"Two stale breads and one purified water flask."

The system responded instantly. Three items appeared in his inventory.

🔹 [x2 Stale Bread]🔹 [x1 Purified Water Flask (1L)]

[GOLD: 0]

'Broke and hungry... This is supposed to be a power fantasy...' He sighed deeply.

'Guess I really am living the protagonist experience.'

Yuuto pulled out the flask of water and a stale bread. 'I should eat slowly... especially after losing so much blood.'

He took a bite. A sharp crunch filled the cave as his teeth sank into the hardened crust.

'Not bad. The inside's just as rough as the exterior… Crude, but filling.'

He washed it down with a sip of water, letting the liquid soften the dry texture before taking another bite. Slowly, methodically, he ate until the bread was gone.

[HUNGER STATUS LIFTED!][MENTAL FATIGUE x8 → x4]

HP: 10,000/15,000 (SLEEP DEPRIVATION -1,000 | MENTAL FATIGUE -4,000 TO MAX HP! GET A GOOD NIGHT'S REST!)

Yuuto exhaled, feeling the sluggish return of his strength. 'HP should start regenerating back to 15k in about ten seconds… I did good.'

With a small sigh of relief, he leaned back against the cold rock, letting exhaustion finally settle in.

'Now... To get a shuteye...'