With darkness falling Ash started looking for a place to rest. Finding a building that said Inn from the swinging sign he pushed through the door to warmth and the smell of woodsmoke and stew. A half-dozen patrons clustered around tables, mugs in hand, talking loudly. None of them looked up when he walked in but the noise level drasticlly fell and he could feel the the heaviness that settled over the inn.
The innkeeper, a broad-shouldered woman with streaks of silver in her dark hair, raised an eyebrow as he approached.
"Room?" she asked.
"Yeah," Ash said. "Just for tonight."
She slid a heavy iron key across the counter. No menus, no interface prompts, no neat confirmation window. Just the key, cool and solid in his hand. He turned it over, half-expecting glowing runes or a tooltip to appear. Nothing.
"Up the stairs, last door on the left," she added. "Don't track mud on the floorboards."
Ash muttered thanks and climbed the creaking staircase. The room was plain: a narrow bed, a small desk, a single shuttered window. About what you would expect from a simple inn. But when he sat down, the mattress pushed back against him — firm but real, carrying the faint smell of straw and soap. He lay back, staring at the ceiling beams, and for the first time since spawning into this strange world, he felt the ache in his muscles ease.
So the game tracks fatigue too? Or maybe it's just me.
The note from the notice board tugged at Ash's attention all evening. The words had been simple, almost generic — Cave near the forest edge. Unusually aggressive beasts. Exercise caution. But in a game that had stripped away his class, his map, even his ability to earn experience the usual way, this felt like the first breadcrumb worth following.
By dawn, he was back on the streets. Lanterns guttered out one by one as the sun rose, painting the cobblestones gold. The ache in his shoulders had faded, though faint stiffness remained
."So the pain lingers," he muttered.
No reset. No fresh slate after logging off. Just a body that remembered every bruise.
Still, something about that permanence sent a thrill up his spine. This wasn't a grind. This was survival.
He cut through the northern gate. The dwarf guard from the night before gave him a sidelong look.
"Headin' into the woods?"
Ash shrugged. "Figure I'll take a look around."
The guard's gaze lingered on his faint glow, but he didn't press further. "Don't stray too far. Things out there aren't as simple as they look."
Ash smirked. Perfect.
The forest opened ahead, branches swaying gently, their shadows sharp in the morning sun. Birds scattered at his approach. Every sound carried weight — the crunch of his boots on fallen leaves, the whisper of grass against his legs, even the flutter of wings in the canopy above.
He kept to the cobbled trail at first, noting the patrol routes of low-level monsters he'd fought before. Goblin-things lingered near the treeline, weak, predictable. He ignored them. No XP, no progress. Pointless.
Instead, he focused on landmarks: the twisted oak by the fork in the road, a shallow creek cutting diagonally through the underbrush, and the faint trail of smoke curling deeper into the woods. A mental map built itself step by step — not a glowing overlay, but something rawer, more primal.
Hours passed. Sweat dripped from his forehead, muscles burning with the effort of hiking rough terrain. At one point he slipped on moss-slick stone, landing hard on his shoulder. Pain flared white-hot, and he hissed through his teeth.
"Unbelievable," he muttered, rubbing at the bruise. "I'm actually sore from falling in a game."
But even as he cursed, a grin tugged at his mouth.
The deeper he pressed into the forest, the more the atmosphere shifted. Trees leaned close together, muting the light. The air cooled, damp and heavy. The usual chatter of wildlife faded, replaced by silence broken only by distant, guttural growls.
Ash slowed his steps. Instinct prickled the back of his neck.
"Guess I'm close."
Finally, the trees parted, revealing a jagged hill of stone at the forest's edge. A wide fissure split its base, shadows bleeding outward like ink. The mouth of the cave loomed before him, ringed by claw marks etched deep into the rock. Bones lay scattered near the entrance, picked clean.
Ash crouched low, studying the scene. The remains weren't just of animals. A rusted helmet, a torn scrap of cloth, and the broken shaft of a spear lay half-buried among the bones. Whatever was inside, it had been feeding on more than beasts.
His fingers twitched toward his interface. Stats unchanged. Classless. Still no XP. Nothing to lean on but instinct, reflexes, and a handful of potions.
For a long moment, he hesitated. This wasn't like other games where death was a slap on the wrist, a respawn with a minor penalty. Here, pain lingered. Fear had weight. And yet — his chest buzzed with anticipation.
"This is it," he whispered. "Finally, something worth the risk."
He tightened his grip on the hilt of his starter blade, squared his shoulders, and stepped into the darkness of the cave.