NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Reversal – Power Born of Pain
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Huh…?
What's this feeling?
My body—light. My thoughts—clear. That constant haze… gone.
It's like the pain and exhaustion that's been weighing me down all this time just vanished.
The penalties… the crushing stats… where did they go?
"Let's check…"
> Status Window
Name: Krai Andrey | Level: 8 | Rank: E
HP: 521 (+500)
MP: 65 (+80)
ATK: 74 (+70)
DEF: 53 (+50)
AGI: 61 (+60)
STR: 70 (+65)
VIT: 67 (+90)
TEC: 36 (+55)
INT: 9 (+60)
RES: 29 (+40)
Skills
— Eternal Revival
— System (Reversal, Death Gauge)
My eyes widened.
"Wait… what the hell is this?"
All those deadly penalties I took—
They've reversed?
+90 VIT… +70 ATK… even +60 INT?!
Every single stat I lost from dying… came back as a buff.
I scrolled down.
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> [Skill Gained: System]
— Reversal: Converts all penalties, debuffs, and status abnormalities into positive effects.
— Death Gauge: Tracks mental degradation from excessive death.
Current Death Gauge: 0%
Warning: If gauge reaches 100%, Player advised to stop reviving for mental stabilization.
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So that's it…
The System must've fused with me automatically when I grabbed that crystal.
That voice—"Welcome, Player…"—wasn't just some mysterious entity. It was this—a full system interface accepting me.
And thanks to Reversal, all those agonizing deaths…
All that suffering…
Was now making me stronger.
I clenched my fists. My muscles pulsed with raw power.
"This... this might be the turning point."
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I thought Eternal Revival was a curse.
A death sentence.
But now?
If every death gives me power, then I'm no longer the weakest.
If I keep dying… I'll keep evolving.
> "If this keeps up… I can rise to the top."
"No—I will rise to the top."
I'll become the strongest Raider.
Earn wealth.
Buy peace.
Maybe… find my sister again.
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Anyway, back to reality.
My eyes drifted toward the statue at the center of the temple.
Still massive. Still faceless. Still terrifying.
Its head had tilted slightly.
"…Did it just move?"
I blinked, and it was still again.
No way. Just my imagination.
I turned away.
Ding New Quest
Escape the room!
Huh the quest well I was going to do that.
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The exit was ahead—a corridor of stone leading back the way I came.
But as I stepped closer—
Click.
No. Don't tell me…
I looked up.
Arrows slid from walls. Plates pressed down. The room reset.
"All the traps reactivated?"
Figures. This wasn't a reward room—it was a trial. And it wasn't done testing me.
Even if I revive, I still feel pain. It still hurts.
The fire. The suffocation. The mental decay.
If I can avoid dying again—that's the true victory.
Let's test this new strength.
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I stepped forward—
WHOOSH!
Arrows ripped from both sides.
I ducked low. Spun. One zipped just past my ear.
"Too slow."
Another came straight at my chest.
My hand snapped forward—caught it.
I held the arrow between two fingers.
It vibrated in my grip.
"I can see everything. AGI + TEC boost… it's like my reflexes are reading time itself."
More arrows came. I weaved between them like I was dancing through raindrops.
The air felt off.
Krai slow his steps, eyes narrowing as he scanned the narrow hallway. The walls were cracked, ancient, but something about the floor pattern ahead didn't match the rest. Too clean. Too symmetrical.
Click.
His foot had barely grazed the tile when he heard it—the soft, fatal sound of a trigger snapping into place.
Instinct kicked in.
He twisted to the side, body low. A whoosh tore through the air as a volley of metal spikes exploded from the wall behind him, slicing through where his head had just been.
He rolled once, came up on a knee, heart pounding.
"Close one," he muttered, eyes flicking toward the hidden mechanism now exposed in the wall.
Another step, another second of hesitation—and he'd be dead.
CRACK!
A section of the ceiling opened—
A stone serpent dropped down, jaws wide.
"Another one?"
> [Summon Item: Short Knife]
I hurled the blade into its mouth.
It detonated.
BOOM!
Debris rained. I slid through the dust cloud and landed in a crouch.
Two traps down.
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A rumble.
The floor shook.
Panels slid open revealing a spiked pendulum swinging with deadly rhythm.
Three of them. Spaced precisely. Fast. Deadly.
I calculated the pattern instantly.
1… 2… 3…
NOW!
I dove between the first two, rolled under the third—barely missing the edge.
CLANG!!
The last pendulum slammed into the wall behind me. Missed by inches.
"I wouldn't have survived that before…"
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Then came the flames.
The floor split apart. Lava bubbled.
"Again with this?!"
I leapt—but a gust of wind knocked me sideways. Another trap.
"Damn wind magic?"
I twisted mid-air, grabbed a ledge jutting from the wall, and swung myself upward.
I landed on a narrow beam and sprinted across it, ignoring the rising heat below.
"Come on… is that all you've got?"
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But the room had one last move.
Chhk.
Walls opened. A dozen mana turrets activated, blinking with red lights.
They hummed.
"Mana-type attacks…"
I braced myself—
They fired.
Streams of searing energy carved the air toward me.
I zigzagged. Vaulted over rubble. One beam grazed my shoulder—
I gritted my teeth and shoved forward.
A final burst of mana crackled toward my back—
I slid under it, sparks flying overhead.
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And then… silence.
I stumbled into the final corridor.
Dust behind me. Traps behind me. Pain behind me.
Ahead—light.
The exit.
I'd done it.
I passed the death room without dying once.
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Dong. Dong.
The statue behind me groaned with one last echo.
Almost like it was… acknowledging me.
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"I stood there, panting, looking at the large hole I'd fallen through."
This place tried to break me.
But I endured.
Because I've changed. I am not the old Krai Andrey.
> "I'm convinced now."
"With the used of Eternal Revival… and the System…"
"I can actually become the strongest Raider the world has ever seen."
Not just because I refuse to die.
But because dying is how I grow.
NOTE:
TEC: Technical Capabilities
MP: Magic Power
VIT: Vitality
RES: Magic Resistance
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