Ken stood in front of the mission board, eyes scanning the bottom row — the F-rank section.
Escort a merchant? Too long.
Gather herbs? Boring.
Kill one dog and bring its head?
"Simple enough," he muttered.
He tore off the mission slip and shoved it into his pocket. The guild clerk barely looked up as he walked past.
On the way out, Ken glanced at the cracked mirror by the entrance. His eyes glowed faintly — that cursed yellow hue. The side effect of Soul Reset. Every time he died, that glow got stronger.
He sighed. "Might as well check the system again. Maybe I've finally leveled up…"
He opened the interface with a thought. A dull chime rang in his head as the transparent blue screen blinked into view.
[Player: Ken]
Level: 1
Soul Trait: Soul Reset (Active)
Deaths: 623
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Endurance: 1
Intellect: 1
Willpower: 1
Still nothing changed.
Ken frowned and focused harder. A blinking icon appeared in the top left. He tapped it.
Another window unfolded:
[Stat Upgrade Notice]
Your body has been marked by the Soul Reset curse.
Due to your broken soul, each stat requires 10,000,000 deaths to increase by 1 point.
Deaths remaining until next Strength increase: 9,999,376
Deaths remaining until next Agility increase: 9,999,377
Deaths remaining until next Endurance increase: 9,999,378
Ken stared at the screen. Blinking. Unmoving. The silence around him made it worse.
Then—
"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF RPG IS THIS?!"
He practically screamed into the sky. A nearby bird flew off in panic.
"Ten million deaths?! For ONE stat?! That's not grinding — that's freakin' torture! Who made this dumb system?! Whoever coded this, I hope YOU get Soul Reset, you absolute—"
He cut himself off, fists clenched.
"No wonder I'm still weak… This world doesn't want me to get stronger. It wants me to suffer."
After a long pause, Ken let out a slow breath and turned back toward the mission path.
"Fine. You want me to die a million times? I'll start with one damn dog."