A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 42: Rest

Shu started walking a minute later with the bat resting across one shoulder and one hand dragging along the wall whenever the tunnel tilted too hard. The new skills, the sealed cores, the ruler mark, all of that crazy nonsense was still sitting in his head, but right now the strongest thing he felt was simple, exhaustion.

"Haaa," he let out a long breath, forcing one foot in front of the other. "I am so tired."

That wasn’t him being dramatic either. His ribs no longer felt shattered, the cut on his cheek had closed, and even the deep damage from that underground mess had mostly faded, yet his body still felt wrung out in a way he had never experienced before.

’It is not pain anymore,’ he thought, rubbing at his chest with one hand while he kept moving. ’I just feel completely drained, like something reached inside me and used up everything it could find.’

The Admin answered right away.

[Internal status audit available.]

[Would you like to review current body condition?]

He kept walking and rolled his eyes at the panel.

"You know what, sure," he muttered. "Since you’re already squatting inside my system anyway, show me how bad the damage is."

The window shifted.

[Body Status:]

[Critical structural damage: Repaired]

[Surface lacerations: Repaired]

[Internal instability from overload: Stabilized]

[Current condition: Severe fatigue]

[Recommendation: Rest]

He stared at the last line for a second, then barked out a tired laugh.

"No shit," he said, adjusting the bat on his shoulder. "You stuffed extra cores inside me, rewrote my whole skill list, and now your genius advice is rest?"

The system, as usual, had nothing useful to add after that.

He kept making his way up through the tunnel, boots scraping over dirt and old roots while the red glow behind him slowly faded. Without that fake heart pumping corruption into everything, the whole underground path already felt quieter, deader, as if the place had lost the thing forcing it to stay alive.

’Good,’ he thought, ducking under a low patch of roots. ’After all that, if this dungeon still had another surprise waiting for me, I would actually crash out.’

His arm burned a little when he looked down at the mark again. The lines were dim now, only giving off a faint blue pulse every so often.

’No way this is my life now,’ he thought, turning his wrist a little while he walked. ’A ruler mark on my arm, extra sealed cores in my body, and an Admin sitting in my system talking to me like I am some kind of project.’

That should have made him more nervous than it did.

Maybe he was too tired for proper panic, or maybe after getting stabbed, eating monster cores, fighting a tyrant, and stealing a dungeon heart, his standards for insane had gone up too much. Either way, all he managed was a dry look and another sigh before he kept moving.

The tunnel sloped higher after that, and with every step the air changed a little more. It was still dirty and thick from corruption, but fresh currents were starting to slip through, carrying the smell of wet leaves and bark from the forest above.

"Almost out," he muttered, more to keep himself moving than anything else.

His bat answered with a soft pulse through the handle, and that made him glance down at it with a tired expression.

"You too?" he asked, shaking his head once. "Don’t start acting sentimental on me now."

It was probably just Living Arsenal making the link feel clearer, but the timing still felt weirdly good. The two threads stretching back toward the eggs at home were still there too, faint and distant, yet steady enough to make his chest loosen a little. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

’At least they’re safe,’ he thought, and that was one of the few comforting things he had right now.

He climbed over a split root and finally reached the upper path where the tunnel opened wider. The red glow was almost gone here, replaced by dim natural light filtering down through cracks above, and the second he saw it, his whole body tried to relax too early.

That was a mistake.

The fatigue hit harder the moment he loosened up, making his knees dip before he caught himself on the wall. He stayed there for a second with his forehead nearly resting against the dirt, breathing slow so he would not do something embarrassing like pass out five steps from the exit.

’No, absolutely not,’ he thought, jaw tightening. ’After everything that happened down there, if I collapse now, I will actually be pissed off.’

He pushed off the wall and kept going.

By the time he stepped out into the forest proper, the first thing he noticed was the change in the air. The corruption was still there, but it had thinned enough that the place no longer felt like a living throat trying to swallow him.

The second thing he noticed was how wrecked the area around the opening looked.

Broken roots, split trunks, blood, ash, and chunks of bark were everywhere, with the whole stretch of ground looking like several fights had rolled over it while he was underground. That made sense since the strike team had been moving through the dungeon this whole time, but seeing the aftermath still made him exhale.

"Damn," he said, scanning the mess. "Looks like everybody had a rough day."

He took a few more careful steps out from the opening and stretched one shoulder, testing his body again. The answer stayed the same, mostly healed, no major pain, but still tired enough that a real fight right now would feel terrible.

’Good enough,’ he thought, looking around the area. ’Now I just need a decent spot to sit before my legs start protesting again.’

He moved through the trees for a bit and found a broken patch near a thick root where the ground was mostly clear. It wasn’t much, but it was hidden enough and quiet enough, so he dropped down there with a long breath and rested the bat across his lap.

"Phew," he muttered, leaning back against the root. "This is nice."

The second he stopped moving, the tiredness hit harder.

’I am actually tired as fuck,’ he thought, closing his eyes for a second. ’If that monster count doesn’t finish soon, I might just sleep right here.’

He pulled up the mission window after that and watched the number for a bit. It was still climbing little by little, which meant the guild was still out there doing the hard part for him.

"Love that for me," he said quietly, then let the screen hang in front of him while he rested.

His thoughts drifted to the being that brought him here in the first place.

’Will I ever get to talk to that thing?’ he thought, staring up through the gaps in the trees. ’Because I have way too many questions.’

Why him.

Why Zoxhia.

Why give him this system.

Why apologize first, then throw him into all this bullshit anyway.

He let out a tired breath and rubbed at the ruler mark on his arm with one thumb.

"Seriously," he muttered, voice low in the quiet. "If you’re watching all this, the least you can do is answer me once."

Nothing answered him.