Day 1. Hour 4.
The Maintenance Tunnel was boring. It was damp, smelled of chlorine, and the only enemies were Sludge Rats (Level 1).
Arthur stabbed a rat. It squeaked and died. +5 EXP.
He stabbed another one. +5 EXP.
It was mindless work. To a normal player, this would be hell. The EXP was abysmal. You would need to kill hundreds of rats just to move the experience bar by 1%.
But Arthur wasn't farming EXP. He was farming Time.
He sat down on a dry patch of concrete, checking his watch. HP: 605 / 610
He waited a minute. HP: 605 / 611
He killed a rat that got too close. HP: 605 / 612
"This is the game," Arthur whispered to the dark. "Don't die. Don't rush. Just exist."
He set a routine. Kill rats for food (the system allowed monster meat to be edible if cooked, mostly). Drink condensed water from the pipes. Sleep in 20-minute shifts to avoid ambushes.
Day 3. Hour 12.
Arthur woke up to the sound of splashing water.
A Sewage Slime (Level 3) had oozed out of a drain. It was an acidic blob the size of a beanbag chair.
[Enemy Identified][Acidic Slime][Ability: Corrosive Touch (-5 HP/sec)]
Arthur stood up. He cracked his neck.
He didn't dodge. He walked straight into the slime.
The acid sizzled against his skin, burning holes in his already ruined trousers.
[You took 5 Acid Damage.][You took 5 Acid Damage.]
Arthur looked at his health bar.
HP: 3,450 / 4,900
"Tickles," Arthur muttered.
He raised Brutus's heavy mace. He still didn't have the Strength to wield it properly with one hand, so he used two.
SPLAT.
He brought the mace down like a pile driver. The slime flattened, quivering.
SPLAT.
-25 Damage.
It took him ten hits to kill it. The slime dissolved, leaving behind a small, green crystal.
[Loot: Minor Poison Shard]
Effect: +1% Poison Resistance (Crafting Material).
Arthur picked it up. His hand was red and blistered from the acid, but the wounds were already closing.
"One percent," Arthur calculated. "I need more."
He checked his status. The Glitch had been running for roughly 60 hours. 60 hours x 60 minutes = +3,600 Max HP.
His base HP plus the glitch... he was approaching 5,000 HP.
A Level 10 Tank in full raid gear might have 2,000. Arthur was Level 3.
"Not enough," Arthur said, tossing the shard into his bag. "The Toxic Sewers deal 50 damage a second. That's 3,000 a minute. Even with 5,000 HP, I last less than two minutes."
He needed to survive indefinitely.
He resumed the grind.
Day 5. Hour 6.
Arthur stood at the edge of the [Hazard Zone].
The blast door leading to the main sewer line was open. Beyond it, the air wasn't air anymore. It was a thick, luminous green fog. The stone walls were melting. The metal railings were rusted through.
[Warning: High Toxicity Environment][Entering will cause massive continuous damage.][Recommended Level: 20+]
Arthur checked his stats one last time.
[STATUS: Arthur Lin]Level: 4 (Rank F) HP: 7,820 / 7,820Vitality: 25 (All points dumped here) Regeneration: 2.5 HP/sec (Natural) + 1 HP/min (Skill)
Level 4. He had leveled up yesterday after genocide-ing the local rat population. Vitality 25 gave him a base regeneration of 2.5 HP per second. It was pathetic compared to the 50 damage incoming.
"But I have these," Arthur murmured.
He opened his bag. He had spent the last two days hunting Slimes. He had collected 12 [Minor Poison Shards].
He couldn't "craft" them into gear—he wasn't a Blacksmith. But he could "consume" them.
Wait, that wasn't a standard mechanic. Most players would sell them.
But Arthur remembered a lore entry from a similar game. Resistance is built through exposure.
He took a shard. It looked like green rock candy. It smelled like bleach.
"Bottoms up."
He swallowed it.
[System Alert: Consuming Raw Material...][Warning: Internal Damage Detected!][You took 200 Poison Damage!]
Arthur doubled over, vomiting bile. His stomach felt like he had swallowed a live coal.
HP: 7,620 / 7,820
He wiped his mouth. He waited.
[System Alert][Trait Acquired: Minor Poison Resistance (Passive)][Current Resistance: 1%]
It worked. The System rewarded idiocy, if you had the HP to survive it.
Arthur ate the second one.
-200 Damage.Resistance: 2%.
He ate them all. Twelve shards. 2,400 Damage taken. He didn't even drop below 60% health.
[Poison Resistance: 12%]
"Better," Arthur wheezed. His throat was raw.
12% reduction on 50 damage = 44 damage/sec. Still too high.
But he didn't need to live there. He just needed to dive in, grab the good loot, and get out.
"Hit and run," Arthur decided.
He took a deep breath, held it, and stepped into the green fog.
[Zone Entered: Toxic Sewers][Environmental Damage: -44 HP/sec]
The pain was instant. His skin started to itch, then burn. His eyes watered.
HP: 7,815... 7,771... 7,727...
The numbers ticked down like a countdown timer. 7,800 HP / 44 DPS = 177 Seconds.
He had roughly three minutes to find something worth dying for.
Arthur sprinted.
He ignored the Rotting Crocodiles (Level 8) sleeping in the sludge. He ignored the Plague Mosquitos. He ran along the maintenance walkway, scanning for the glint of gold.
Vance's map said there were chests.
One minute passed.HP: 5,100 / 7,820
His skin was turning red. Blisters were forming on his arms.
There.
At the end of a collapsed catwalk, half-submerged in the glowing green water, was a chest. It wasn't gold. It was iron, covered in glowing moss.
Arthur jumped the gap. He landed heavily, the rusty metal groaning under him.
He kicked the chest open.
Inside, resting on velvet that hadn't rotted, were two vials and a pair of boots.
Arthur grabbed them without looking.
Two minutes passed.HP: 2,400 / 7,820
"Time to go!" Arthur screamed at himself.
He turned and ran back. The crocodiles were waking up. One snapped its jaws inches from his leg. Arthur didn't stop to fight. He tanked a tail whip (-150 Damage) and kept running.
HP: 1,200... 800... 400...
The exit blast door was ahead. The clean air was visible.
He stumbled. His vision was blurring. The poison was affecting his nerves.
He crawled the last ten feet.
He collapsed onto the concrete of the Maintenance Tunnel. The fresh, stale air of the safe zone washed over him.
[Zone Exited][Poison Effect Fading...]
Arthur lay on his back, chest heaving. His skin was peeling like a sunburn.
HP: 112 / 7,825
He had almost cut it too close.
"Worth it," Arthur coughed, holding up his loot.
He identified the items.
[Item: Potion of Greater Antidote] (Cures all poisons instantly). [Item: Potion of Swiftness]
And the boots.
[Equipment: Swamp Walker's Boots (Rank E)]
Defense: +5
Effect: Grants traction on slippery surfaces.
Effect:[Filter]: Reduces environmental poison damage by 20%.
Arthur started laughing. A painful, rasping laugh.
12% base + 20% boots = 32% Resistance. Damage reduced to ~34 DPS.
He could stay in longer next time.
He put the boots on. They were ugly, covered in green scales, but they fit perfectly.
"Vance," Arthur whispered. "You sent me here to die. You just gave me the keys to the kingdom."