CHAPTER 322: ROOM 203, CURSED ROOM - 'NEW BEGINNING' RE (2)

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User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 683,615

Current Location: Floor 2, Room 203 – Cursed Room ‘New Beginning’

Sage’s Advice: 3

– Han Kain

Assuming the scenario hadn’t changed, I thought of various possibilities.

Why did no one have any memories related to the spaceship after the first attempt?

For others, it was natural they had no memories since they never woke up from cryosleep in the first place. But why didn’t I have any memories either?

The first possibility I thought of was amnesia. At that time, the Status Window had weakened, so I might have lost consciousness as soon as I saw Adravita, or there might have been memory loss due to the side effects of cryosleep that the AI mentioned several times.

However, as I looked closely at the Status Window, another possibility came to mind.

Date: Day 683,615

Roughly calculating, 1870 years had passed since I woke up on the spaceship. Why didn’t I notice this ridiculous change before?

It couldn’t be just because the Status Window malfunctioned. At that time, although the text was blurred with strange alien language, the “date” was surprisingly readable.

At the time of entry, the number 118 was clear, and by the time we left, the number 131 was visible. After escaping, it was actually Day 131.

In other words, even then, the date calculation on the Status Window was carried out normally. Therefore, that confusing number needed to be understood in a different sense.

I recalled what happened in Room 103. Even after others died in vain during the progression, Songee spent a long time alone, but the Status Window didn’t count the time Songee spent alone.

Something similar happened in Room 104. After I died, it took nearly a month for Ahri to escape by beating the judge, but the Status Window didn’t count the dates after my death.

Perhaps I didn’t wake up at all on the spaceship during the first attempt. Did the Status Window not count the days, considering that I didn’t participate normally during that period?

What about the subsequent cryosleep? Did it count because I fell asleep again after participating in the scenario?

Thinking this way, another question arose. Why couldn’t I wake up during the first attempt, and only woke up in this attempt?

If we think about who woke me up, the answer to this part came out.

Recalling what the AI said on the spaceship, it wasn’t natural for a crew member to wake up during cryosleep.

The spaceship’s AI woke me up to handle the situation when Adravita did something strange, which meant, conversely, that we wouldn’t have any reason to wake up if Adravita didn’t do anything.

In other words, the being that woke us up in the second attempt was Adravita. Unlike other ordinary NPCs in the Cursed Room, as a Convict aware of the attempts, it changed its behavior when the attempt changed.

Why did it change?

Did it have some change of heart watching us during the first attempt? Does it want something from us now?

— Re□□mber.

Thinking about this again, it seemed like it was saying “Remember.”

What are we supposed to remember? Is it telling us not to forget what happened on the spaceship? Did it want to let me know the background of Room 203?

Thanks to waking up early, I did get a lot of information that would have been difficult to obtain originally.

The background of Room 203 started on an exoplanet pioneering spaceship. What was dwelling in Ahri’s body was the spaceship’s AI, and Adravita was a divine being that joined to help humanity’s planetary pioneering.

While this information itself seemed very valuable, I didn’t understand why the Convict wanted to convey this information to me.

Also, that information was just a story from the distant past at this point. So what on earth happened in this world for 1870 years?

The AI that treated me politely 1870 years ago now called us “traitors” and was in a frenzy trying to capture and kill us. Adravita was leisurely floating through the air traveling and farming on the continent.

As my thoughts reached this point, I remembered my companions.

Are they all doing well?

Teammate Location Information (!)

Kim Mooksung: 872km Northwest

So it came out like this.

The stage of Room 203 was a disgustingly vast primitive continent. Civilization had long since collapsed, there were naturally no means of transportation, and no place names. So it could only inform the location in this way.

It was meaningless.

What was I supposed to do knowing this? Walk 872km northwest? At least they were all alive.

– Thud!

“Divine One! May I come in for a moment?”

“Just a moment.”

Date: Day 683,615 (Day 139)

I added the date excluding the cryosleep time with a pen to make it easier to understand. I should ask the owl to subtract the cryosleep time later when I meet it.

Shortly after, the tent opened, and Old Wolf Claw entered.

“Divine One! I have an urgent matter to discuss.”

It was probably related to the Writhing Fangs or teeth or whatever. It was time to deal with the current problem after pondering this much.

As soon as I went out of the tent, I told the warriors I would deal with the Writhing Fangs. Like last time, the warriors’ eyes lit up as they stood.

– Grrrr!

A terrible sound was heard from the western sky. As if it had been waiting, Scenario Comprehension informed me to slay the Writhing Fangs.

Reassuring the trembling tribe members, I left the tent with the warriors.

“Let’s go! The rest of you, light some fires.”

***It was similar to before.

Those who survived meeting the Writhing Fangs clumsily tried to convey information to me, and Old Wolf Claw moved while forming a protective formation to protect me, commanding the warriors.

I think I felt relieved seeing this kind of scene before... But now it was a hindrance. I already knew as much as I needed to about the opponent’s characteristics, and the me then and the me now were different.

Now that my Blessing was intact, I could use the strongest authority of the Grimoire, “The Power of Incarnation”, while protecting my mind with the Blessing.

“Don’t block my view and step aside.”

“D-dangerous—“

“Just do as I say. And stay together among yourselves, only Old Wolf Claw follow me.”

“Understood.”

“If I collapse, grab my body.”

“Yes.”

I recalled the first battle with the Writhing Fangs.

The monster preferred to pounce on beings that deviated even slightly from the formation rather than targeting grouped humans, right? Aiming for that habit, I went out of the formation alone, and the warriors looked at me with anxious expressions.

– Swish!

The sound of branches twisting and heavy flesh moving through the gaps in the leaves was heard. I immediately summoned the Grimoire and glared in the direction the sound was coming from.

At the same time as I recognized the tentacles showing eerie movements—my consciousness left my body.

My consciousness—soul—floated into the air.

The mind gained freedom, escaping the stuffy flesh. As a result, a situation that could never be understood from a human perspective came into view at once.

Three unpleasantly writhing tentacles were aiming at us, squeezing between the trees in the dim forest.

According to the information obtained in the first attempt, those tentacles were a kind of parasitic organism and separate beings from the main body. Therefore, I should be able to control them simultaneously through the Power of Incarnation.

As my will became clear, pitch-black threads extended from the Grimoire and entangled the three tentacles.

Go back! Explore your main body!

– Writhe!

For a fleeting moment, the tentacles shook up and down as if to resist the power of the Grimoire, but the time of rebellion was not long. They were too lacking in intelligence and rank to resist the power of the Grimoire.

Eventually, the tentacles began to retreat towards the main body of the Writhing Fangs.

“...”

Considerable pain overwhelmed me even though my consciousness had left my body. I had already given the command, so it should be okay to withdraw the power, right?

My floating soul quickly returned to my body. Once again, the shackles of the flesh bound my soul.

“Urgh!”

When I returned to my body, my eyes were already bloodshot and blood drops were falling from my nose.

“A-are you alright?”

The old man holding my body was anxious. Instead of answering, I looked to the west.

– Kyaaah!

An endlessly ominous, yet pain-filled cry was heard.

“Did I deal with it?”

“Pardon?”

“Send a few people to check. It might be dead.”

The warriors showed reactions of utter disbelief.

What would it have looked like to them? Did I just stand still alone, nosebleeding and collapsing?

Shortly after, one warrior, who bravely ran off, returned completely dazed and reported that a mountain-like mass of flesh believed to be the Writhing Blade had been discovered.

Hearing those words, the warriors began to kneel before me with indescribably distant expressions.

“You are... truly a person sent by heaven! The Divine One really—“

“Enough, enough, let’s go back. I’m a bit tired.”

The Power of Incarnation was on a different dimension from Possession in terms of difficulty. Although the actual time I used the power seemed to be only a few minutes, my whole body felt drained.

At that moment, Scenario Comprehension updated and gave guidance to pay attention to the tribe’s song.

...Up to here is similar to before. Now, how should I proceed from here?

***There was a time when endless glory was with the descendants of heaven.

I leaned against one side of the tent while listening to the familiar song.

Waking up in a primitive tribal society and defeating the monster attacking the tribe. Up to here, the progression wasn’t much different from the first attempt.

What should I do from now on? One more time to the mountain range like before? Or should I follow the traces of the supernatural being said to be in the sky as the owl advised?

Come to think of it, what are the others doing? I hope no one died in the meantime?

Cha Jinchul: 282m East

Cha Jinchul: 218m East

Cha Jinchul: 174m East

“Huh?”

Cha Jinchul: 42m East

“H-Hyung?”

– Thud!

“Divine One! A monster is approaching from the plain—“

“Move aside!”

With a truly earth-shaking shout, the outside became incredibly noisy.

– Flap!

As the tent opened, Cha Jinchul with his glorious physique entered. At the same time, the tribe’s warriors surrounded Jinchul with spears, beginning to emit a fierce aura.

“Hey!”

“...D-did you run all the way here?”

“Yeah, kid. I thought about it and our tribes were next to each other, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Coming back in, I roughly remembered the location. If you pass by the riverside and go straight, it’s your place, right?”

It wasn’t only the Convict that changed behavior when the attempt changed. Weren’t we the ones who came up with different strategies every time?

In the second attempt, Cha Jinchul, empowered by Courage, ran to find me as soon as the scenario started.

Come to think of it, there might be more companions who can do something similar?

I instinctively felt that, just as Adravita had done, my companions would also act differently from the past.