He exhaled slowly while imagining himself swinging a scythe like a madman. The thought sent a chill down his spine, yet it also felt strangely satisfying.

The next skill was Plant Summoner.

Plant Summon Lv Tier 0 [0/2]

Plant Tamer [Locked]

For some reason, Plant Tamer was locked, and the Plant Summon skill allowed him to summon a certain type of plant, though he didn’t know much about it yet.

Then he looked at the attributes again, and this time his focus lingered on the lifespan section. His eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to understand it properly.

The base lifespan attribute showed the life a person was born with. As for tradable lifespan, it can be used to convert into real lifespan with a ratio of 10:1.

It meant you could exchange ten years of life to extend one year of your current life.

It could also be used to level up class-related skills.

There might be more applications to it, but he didn’t know much about them yet.

However, this wasn’t the only thing that bothered him.

At the same time, the monsters in this game also targeted the lifespan. By plundering a player’s lifespan, these monsters could evolve and grow stronger.

Reign slowly inhaled as this realization settled in his mind.

As expected, this world was like a game of chess.

Are awakeners the hunters?

The thought came naturally, but the next moment, he dismissed it with a faint shake of his head.

It was utterly wrong.

In this land, weak players were merely the prey.

His fist tightened slightly as he looked around,

This was why so many people would struggle just to even survive. Never mind killing monsters to gain lifespan,they would be killed by monsters countless times until their lifespan was completely drained.

Unable to kill monsters and having lost all their lifespan, they could only watch helplessly as their lifespan hit zero and then die abruptly.

The idea of dying again and again while losing years of life with each death made his stomach churn, but he forced himself to stay calm.

So, the monsters were essentially another type of player. It was the law of the jungle and survival of the fittest.

As Reign contemplated this, he suddenly saw several lights flicker nearby. The sudden change startled him.

He saw a group getting slammed onto the ground.Then,heir bodies formed out of light as if they were being reconstructed piece by piece.

Their limbs appeared first, followed by their torsos, and finally their faces all knitting together in an unsettling manner.

Beside one woman were three other men. They seemed to be a team that had just died in the wilderness and returned.

Behind them, many more appeared in the same way.

Reign frowned as he watched them.

"The hell is going on?"

One of the men groaned as he pushed himself up from the ground.

His body was shivering slightly as he spok"That squishy slime just ate my whole leg."

Another person snapped back immediately whose face became pale as he spoke.

"Leg...? Did you forget how that slime sneak-attacked from behind and engulfed that boy’s entire head?"

A few people nearby flinched at those words, and one of them let out a sharp breath.

"Hiss... are slimes really that fierce?"

"Forget the slime... that small cat-like monster.It bite me in the shoulder and took half my health. How are we supposed to fight that?"

"Wasn’t it just the trashiest Level 1 lizard? We ganged it and were only able to take off a third of its health?"

"We actually got team-wiped..."

Soon, various murmurs began spreading through the area, and the atmosphere turned chaotic as fear and disbelief mixed together.

"What?"Reigns mumbled in shock.

"It hasn’t even been a few minutes since we spawned, and people already jumped into the fray only to get killed."

"By the time I finished going over the skills, people had already started leveling up and dying," Reign muttered a bit loudly.

His voice was loud enough to reach someone nearby.

His words caused a nearby person to snap, and the man turned toward him with an irritated expression.

"That’s because they’re smart unlike you,idiot, just standing here."

Reign slowly turned his head, his gaze landing on a bratty, handsome boy who looked no older than him, though his attitude was clearly far worse.

The boy crossed his arms and spoke with a sharp tone.

"Speed is everything. You have been standing here for a few minutes while others might have already leveled up."

Reign frowned slightly, then met his gaze without any hesitation.

"Then why are you here running your mouth instead of leveling up?"

"That’s..." The boy’s words caught in his throat, his expression stiffening.

Reign’s eyes narrowed slightly, and a faint scoff escaped his lips.

"That’s because you died right."

The boy’s face turned red instantly, and he clenched his fists.

"Run in ahead of everyone only to die. You really seem smart."

Reign snorted lightly, then turned his body without waiting for a reply.

"Wait... What did you say?"

The boy shouted behind him, but Reign ignored him completely and sped off without looking back.

_____

Soon, Reign arrived at the town’s boundary.

It was inconspicuous, marked only by some broken rotting wooden fences that looked like they could collapse at any moment.

Beyond them, the land stretched out in silence, a faint unease lingering in the air.

Once he crossed them, it would no longer be a safe zone.

Arriving there, he paused and carefully looked at the surroundings.

After confirming that no one was nearby, he moved quietly and slipped into a hiding spot behind a cluster of uneven rocks and dry bushes.

Rubbing his palms together slowly with a mix of faint excitement and tension flickered in his eyes.

"Time to see my Summon."

He didn’t know much about summoning, so he focused his thoughts on the Plant Summon skill. Almost immediately, a notification flashed before his eyes.

[Please come up with a term to summon the creature.]

Reign’s eyes lit up the moment he read it.

After a rough thought,a spark of excitement crossed his face.

"Wow! One Man Leveling-type shit."

"Sounds cool."

He rubbed his chin slowly while thinking.His lips knitted together as he tried to come up with something that sounded both powerful and unique.

Several ideas came and went, but no matter how hard he tried, his mind felt strangely blank.

Even after thinking for a while, he wasn’t able to come up with anything good, and his expression turned slightly annoyed.

In the end, he let out a small breath and decided to settle with something simple.

"BLOOM!"

[Keyword BLOOM has been selected as the summoning key.]

The moment the system confirmed it, a sudden flash of light burst before his eyes, forcing him to shut them tightly.

In the next instant, everything around him changed.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing inside what looked like an ancient labyrinth.

"WHAAATT!"