As soon as Agga's figure disappeared between the trees, I slumped down. "Stupid game… bite me!" I decided to take a look at my gains before heading off into the woods.

All three bars were filled, blinking green, and as I watched, they emptied with a rewarding ping. My weariness faded somewhat. I had to look at them to get them to benefit me? Fucking hell… I knew immediately that I wouldn't be able to summon the status in battle. Sadist developers... The bars filled for a bit more, stamina the highest, but none even half full.

Grabbing the ax I struck the wood experimentally. The status disappeared, and I had to wait ten seconds before it appeared again. Muscle mass had increased. I tried again, and this time muscle mass, stamina, and coordination rose a bit.

Half an hour later, my muscle mass filled up, raising to level two, and the others were close. One hundred hits for one muscle mass, two hundred for coordination and stamina? Frowning, I chopped some more and summoned my status to see the progress. I blanched. Now I'd need two hundred strikes for muscle mass? Staring at the three values, I sighed.

> 03/10: Muscle mass

> 03/12: Coordination

> 03/10: Stamina

A warning sound came, and on the status, my food meter was in the red and blinking angrily. That's it for the grinding, I thought in disgust.

Sitting down, I wondered if I should leave. Without food, I'd be in trouble, but the tree wasn't even half-finished, and Agga would want the ax back.

After deliberating, I decided it was worth the risk. Perhaps she would give me some food, and I could finish increasing my stats while making her happy. Otherwise, I'd explore the town and woods. If I died, so be it. I was tired and missed Sandra. I'd been in-game for a long time, and she must be worrying.

If she can even get out! I frowned. Sandra was stubborn and a completionist. If she was stuck, she would continue until she died. Well, her character. Thinking of dying reminded me of something.

I wondered if the emergency response had detected our low food intake already. With some luck, they would disconnect us through the override. Then I laughed. More likely was that they'd inject us with liquid sustenance and put it on our tab. There went our Christmas presents. At least I had a week off, so I could continue for a bit longer. Perhaps things would change for the better.

If only I'd known.

Another hour later, I was getting bored. I got up to move around a bit when I heard a soft cackling that made my hair stand up straight.

The woods suddenly seemed darker, and the sounds creepier. Turning full circle, I froze. Two sparkling red eyes looked straight at me from within a dark leafed bush.

My fingers tightened around the ax handle. I backed up, getting the fallen and partially chopped tree between me and whatever it was in the bushes. My focus increased, the sounds becoming crisp. All my thoughts vanished, and I felt energized. It was something that had happened many times before, usually during PVP.

"Here kitty, kitty," I muttered, and the eyes narrowed. An angry screech made my hair rise, and a thin, emaciated arm stretched from the bush. Long fingers made a gripping motion before disappearing. The bushes shook a bit, and the sound of soft footsteps made my skin crawl.

I followed it, my palms sweaty. Then the sound vanished. "Shit…" I cursed as I listened to the wind and the rustling leaves.

Something broke out of the undergrowth behind me. "Shit!" I swirled around, sweeping the ax in a half-circle. A loud howl reverberated from the trees as I connected with something. Jumping back, I focused on the small thin shape. Smaller than me even, and as thin, it held an arm to its chest. A long purple tongue licked the deep gash while heavy-lidded red eyes glared at me.

Wight? I thought as I moved forward. I couldn't let it go back into the forest and waylay me. Keeping my lower arms down, that kept trying to make me use them, I got ready to strike.

A piercing howl came, and I clutched my head. I barely managed to keep hold of the ax. My vision was blurry, but I saw something move. One-handed, I struck down with the ax, my arm moving slower than before. Debuffed! I panicked as the wight dodged under the ax. As I jumped back, pain blossomed from my stomach—a deep gash, just shy of disemboweling me. I felt the blood drip and stream over my belly and legs. Ignoring the increasing pain was impossible.

This wasn't right! The pain level could never be this high! Panicking, I slashed forward, but the wight easily dodged. Then it began circling. I followed it, turning as it did, but my vision was darkening even more.

"Pathetic…" a soft, hard voice made the wight turn to the forest. Seeing the opening, a sudden, badly timed fear of kill-stealers, made me jump forward. Swinging sideways, I struck the wight's neck. I'd been aiming for the head, but I wouldn't let that stop me. Slamming the ax blade into the gurgling thing's body, I kept hitting it until it stopped moving. A soft series of pings followed in quick succession, but at that point, I fell on my knees, gasping for air. The ax slipped from my fingers, thudding on the ground. With my blurry vision, I saw a four-armed figure walk forward. I could barely make out a black tunic with a large red dagger when another pair of running feet came from the side.

The last I heard was Agga's annoyed voice. "Just a night wight…"

When I woke up, the first thing I felt was that someone had put something cold in my mouth. Cold, bitter, and slimy.

I tried to spit it out when a hand kept my mouth closed.

"Don't you dare! You've no idea how lucky you are to get a gift like this. Now stay down until your mouth starts tingling and heats up like an oven! Then you can spit it out."

Agga's voice sounded upset and relieved, and somehow it made me feel a bit better. They are NPCs, dumbass. I reminded myself, but my feelings ignored my advice, as they usually did when I saw cats. Looking at the wooden, spiderweb covered ceiling, I guessed I was back in the Agga's place. Had I died and respawned, or survived?

A tingling sensation spread from my tongue, and I frowned. Super nasty stuff!

A minute later, I upgraded my opinion to vile, repulsive super peppers. Sandra would love these; she had inherited her mother's lead mouth.

Bending over the edge of a straw-filled bed, I spit the stuff into a wooden bucket.

"Good, now get up and sit down!"

Blinking at the odd contradiction, I saw Agga sit at the table below the stair. Another stool stood opposite her. Right, that makes more sense.

Getting up was a whole deal easier than I had imagined, and feeling far too healthy, I looked at my stomach. A thin red line crossed my flesh, all that was left of the deep gash. A healing potion then, one with a kick.

Agga scraped her throat, and I dashed to the table to sit down.

"So. One chance, who are you, and why do you have the strength of a five-year-old toddler!" Agga glared at me, her arms crossed.

So, she must have figured it out or that Hans guy came by. My mind spun, and after a second, I remembered the harbor. Remembering some stupid classical movie Sandra had made me watch, I quickly concocted a story.

Lowering my shoulders, I sighed. "I don't know. The first thing I remember was waking at the harbor, drenched, and freezing."

I saw Agga's frown deepen. Some truth never hurt! "I wandered through town and was attacked by a rat. I managed to kill it with a plank but got scared. Seeing the light from your shop…"

I let my voice trail off, trying my best sad panda gaze.

Apparently, they didn't read a lot of books, or I'd finally reached the limit of the AI. Agga nodded, her frown turning to a sour look.

"You should have said so at the start! I thought you were merely sick. Your silly lie almost got you killed!"

Seeing her worried look, I suddenly felt bad for lying. She reminded me of Nana, but younger.

Shrugging, I looked around the room to avoid looking at her. Damn these AI. I'll need to write one long-ass review later…

"Well, at least you got something out of it. You must have reset during a near-death experience. Killing a night wight on your own at level one has probably boosted you up a great deal."

I had what now? "What do you mean, reset?" I blurted before thinking.

Agga grinned, the change so remarkable I gaped at her. It took a decade of her age, and she suddenly just looked middle-aged instead of grandma-aged.

"You mustn't know any of this. Well let's get you up to speed!"

Forcing down a grin, I nodded. Yessss, tell me everything!

"If you almost die and get a glimpse of the door of stone, all things besides your race reset to what you had when you were born. Rich people sometimes do this if they get bored."

Blinking, I grinned. That's some hard-core reset, I thought. They must be planning to sell skill up tomes in the cash shops on the free to play worlds. Poor suckers.

Faking sadness, I gasped. "So, I have to start all over?"

Agga smiled tenderly and shook her head. "No, no. Killing that wight will have given you enough points to reach level three."

Wait, so I could get exp from killing?

My face must have shown my confusion as Agga laughed again.

"Why don't you look at your status?"

Feigning ignorance, I looked at her. "How?"

"Say status."

Acting the fool, I complied, trying to be convincingly surprised when the blue window popped up. It wasn't too hard because the bars were all filled, and there were a dozen lines of text blinking screaming for my attention at the bottom. Values began increasing over the board, and as they did, I felt the little fatigue I had disappear. I felt strong, stronger than the day before, and the prospect of chopping a tree seemed like a fun idea.

> Derived Strength: 3

> Derived Dexterity: 2

> Derived Constitution: 3

> Derived Intelligence: 1

> Derived Common sense: 1

> Derived Charisma 1

> Total mass: 60 KG

> Current weight: 60 KG

Active attributes: (Easily changed)

> 06/10: Muscle mass

> 01/40: Fat

> 07/12: Coordination

> 04/10: Stamina

> 02/10: Learning rate

> 05/99: Knowledge

> 02/10: Beauty

> 00/99: Grooming

> 01/20: Well spoken

A soft laugh came from Agga, and she stared pointedly at my arms. Raising all four, the headache came again, but I ignored it when I noticed the changes. Although still skinny, there were now muscles clearly visible under my thin skin.

"Now, I can't see your status, so tell me… does it say a name at the top?"

Looking at the top, I blinked. "Just three dots…" I muttered, honestly surprised. Normally we got the default nickname we had attached to our account.

"Right, then that settles it. You didn't almost die; you did die. A name only resets on a full resurrect. That also means you have no chance of regaining your lost memories."

Seeing her sad look, I frowned. Wasn't that just a bit too weird? Why, if you didn't get your memory back, would anybody ever bother to resurrect someone?

"Right, what are your strength and constitution now?" Agga said, a flicker in her eyes.

"Both three, "I said, wondering how the values increased so much from killing that night-wight.

"Good, still low, but at least now you are close to what I had expected you to have, "Agga said, getting up. She rummaged in one of the cupboards before putting a plate with a piece of dried apple and bread down.

"Eat this. It should refill your stamina. After that, we will head out again. It's not that late yet, and that tree won't chop itself!"

I barely heard her, grabbing the bread and chomping down on it. It tasted divine, and I hadn't realized how hungry I was until the whole plate was cleaned, and my stomach still rumbled. Looking up at Agga, I saw her stare painfully at the empty plate before looking at me.

"I have no more, and if we don't return the wood today, there won't be any more for a midweek."

Realizing she must have given me her last supplies, I was starting to feel bad. The knowledge she was just an NPC didn't help the matter a lot either, so I got up and stretched my arms. The lower two seemed to cooperate a bit better, although doing anymore more than raising them still brought on a sharp headache.

"Let's go!" I said, trying my winning smile again. Agga just nodded and walked out of the door.