Time stretched along, and night descended upon the land in all its glory.
The sky overhead had turned a deep blue, stars scattered like broken glass across velvet. The air was cool, laced with the earthy scent of moss and smoke.
Somewhere off in the dark, something howled—high-pitched and distant, too far to be threatening, but close enough to remind me I wasn't in Seoul anymore.
The clothes Nyssa gave me were a little too tight for comfort. The shirt hugged my arms like a clingy ex, and the pants rode higher than I liked, but they did their job. I wasn't freezing, and more importantly, I wasn't dangling free in the wind. In my book, that counted as a win.
Still, I had to wonder... Why the hell was I so calm?
Seriously. I had died. Like, actually died.
Face down in soda, meatball lodged in my throat, hentai on the screen.
A death so ridiculous it deserved a laugh track.
Then, I woke up here—in the middle of nowhere, naked, with a mysterious glowing interface in my head and a dagger-wielding wild girl staring me down.
And yet? I wasn't panicking.
If anything, I felt better than I had in years. Focused. Balanced. Like someone took the static out of my brain and rewired it for efficiency.
"Confidence modulator?" I muttered under my breath, remembering the line from earlier.
[Passive Buff Active: Libido & Confidence Modulation +10%]
Status: Stable
Side Effects: Enhanced mental resilience, lowered social inhibition.
Yup. Cheat codes. My brain had been patched by horny space magic.
And I was... kinda okay with it.
I shifted on the ground, glancing over at Nyssa. She sat with her back to a thick tree trunk, legs loosely crossed, polishing her shortblade with a worn cloth. Her expression hadn't changed since dusk—calm, but alert. Eyes half-lidded, but never still.
She looked like the kind of person who slept with one eye open and a weapon in arm's reach. The kind of person who didn't waste words unless she needed to.
Or maybe she just didn't like me.
Hard to blame her, honestly.
I poked at the fire with a stick, pushing a blackened log inward. Sparks spiraled up into the dark, vanishing into the stars.
For a while, neither of us said anything. Just the fire, the wind, and the distant rustle of unseen wildlife.
The forest here was dense. Untouched. Ancient in a way I couldn't put my finger on. Every tree seemed to lean a little closer than necessary, as if listening.
"You from around here?" I finally asked, voice casual.
Nyssa didn't look up. "No."
"Helpful."
She paused her cleaning, then shot me a look. Not hostile, just… neutral. "North of here. Small clan. Mountain edge. You wouldn't know it."
I nodded slowly. "Right. Mountain murder clan. Makes sense."
That earned a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth. Almost a smile. Almost.
"You're not from anywhere," she said after a pause. Not a question. A statement.
"Yeah. You could say I'm... new in town."
Another pause. Then, without looking at me: "You're strange. But not soft."
I blinked. "Thanks?"
"No insult. Most die in a day. You didn't."
"Well," I said, "dying once already gives you a certain perspective."
She raised an eyebrow but didn't ask.
Progress.
I leaned back and exhaled, watching the smoke curl skyward. The night was colder now, but not biting. I could feel the fatigue creeping in behind my eyes.
But just as I started to let my mind drift—
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Bond Progression: Nyssa - Stage 1
Emotional Sync Detected
Trait Gained: Scent Memory
Libido Modulation: +5%
Proximity Buff: +10% Focus / +5% Regeneration
I froze.
For a second, it felt like the air got thicker. Not heavy, exactly—just charged. Like static before a storm.
This system... it was doing something. Connecting dots I hadn't even drawn.
I sucked in a breath, and exhaled deeply, cursing whatever power was flowing through me.
Now my brain was a dating sim. And apparently it came with... smell-based emotional bonding?
That's not creepy at all.
I glanced at Nyssa again. She hadn't moved, but somehow... she looked different.
She was still polishing. Still quiet. But that scent—her scent—it was stronger now. Sweat and pine and something deeper. My heart picked up, subtle but sure..
My body reacted before I could even stop it—pulse quickening, throat dry.
I looked away fast, forcing my gaze to the fire.
Nope. Not doing this. Not going full simp for the first hot fantasy chick who doesn't kill me on sight.
[Trait: Scent Memory - Active]
You've bonded with the pheromone profile of Target: Nyssa.
Emotional presence stabilizes internal mental state.
Minor physical synchronization in progress.
Synchronization? What the hell did that mean?
I swallowed and forced my eyes away from her. My thoughts were spiraling again, and not in a panic sort of way. More like… interest. Curiosity. Pull. I could feel the line being drawn between us, invisible but real.
Something cracked in the fire. Nyssa looked over suddenly. Her gaze pinned me for a long moment.
"You're flushed," she said bluntly.
"Too close to the fire," I lied.
She stared a second longer, then nodded and shifted slightly away—maybe giving me space, maybe just repositioning. Still, the tension between us lingered in the silence.
Eventually, she closed her eyes.
Not asleep. Just... conserving.
I lay back down, arms folded behind my head, the system's presence humming low and steady in the background.
And slowly, the stars above blurred as fatigue took me.