Death After Death

Chapter 123: Routine

What should I have done differently? That was Simon’s first thought when he felt himself return to life on his lumpy bed in the cabin before he even opened his eyes.

It had been a great run. In many ways it had been his best run ever, but the ending left him feeling unsatisfied, not to mention that he could feel that he’d become soft and weak all over again.

During his most recent run, he’d spent the better part of a year in the Pit that time. He’d become strong and capable. By turns he’d been a hero, a hermit, and a healer. He’d almost become a serial killer.

Now he was just... Simon, which was simply disappointing.

But before he got to the business of living, and even before he talked to the mirror to record everything before he forgot and became just plain Simon once more, he reflected on whether or not he should have done anything differently, and eventually, even though he’d met such a tragic end, he decided that he’d done everything he could.

Once that was done, he got up, rekindled the fire in the hearth, and immediately started cooking his sausages while he had a long conversation with the mirror about everything he’d done. Once he’d eaten and told it every last detail about the plague, the shipwreck and spider city, he finally asked, “Show me which levels are currently accessible.”

‘Level 1 - Rats in the root cellar

Level 4 - Skeletons in a crypt

Level 6 - Zombies in an inn

Level 10 - Fire elementals in Ionar

Level 13 - A demon in a church

Level 23 - The Sea Seraph

Level 25 - Black swarmer on a farm

Level 27 - Centaurs near Crowvar

Level 28 - Poisoned Oasis

Level 29 - Cultists in a village

Level 31 - Dragon in the mountains’

“So, 20 levels down, wait, I thought it was 19?” he said to himself, as he started counting the levels off on his fingers.

Simon spent the rest of his daylight sweating and working, though even he knew he was mostly just looking for anything to do that didn’t involve thinking about meeting with Freya again. In principle, he was okay with the idea, but in reality, he was more than a little concerned about what would happen to his mental state if he saw her hanging around with new friends or, worse, a new man.

So, after all that was done, he took a mercifully quick dip in the cold stream, and then he went back to his cabin and barred the door for the night to avoid any unexpected guests. Once that was done he sat down with his favorite least favorite meal of bread, cheese, and wine and looked to the mirror.

“Alright, mirror, let's see my character sheet,” he said with a mouthful of bread. “Let’s see what damage I did to myself this run.”

‘Name: Simon Jackoby

Level: 31

Deaths: 39

Experience Points: -912,358

Skills: Agriculture [Below Average], Archery [Average], Armor (light) [Great], Armor (heavy) [Below Average], Armor (medium) [Average], Athletics [Average], Baking [Poor], Cook [Above Average], Craft [Average], Deception [Average], Escape [Poor], Fishing [Above Average], Healing [Above Average], Investigate [Good], Maces [Average], Ride [Average], Search [Average], Sneak [Above Average], Spears [Average], Spell Casting [Good], Steal [Poor], Swimming [Above Average], and Swords [Great].

Words of Power: Gervuul (greater) Meiren (fire) Aufvarum (minor) Hyakk (healing) Vrazig (lightning) Dnarth (distant) Oonbetit (force) Zyvon (transfer) Gelthic (ice) Karesh (protection) Uuvellum (boundary) Barom (light) Delzam (cure)’

His character sheet appeared on the screen in small glowing blue letters like always, and he studied them for several minutes before he said anything else. He’d definitely taken a big bite out of his negative experience points last run.

He couldn’t recall the previous number, but it had to be at least thirty or forty thousand. So he just needed like 30 more runs like that, and he’d be back in the positives.

The thing was, he wasn’t certain that he’d still be here in thirty more runs. Even if he just cleared three levels at a shot going forward, he’d be done before then.

“Wouldn’t that be ironic,” he said to himself. “I beat the pit, but I don’t have the experience to become a human again, so she makes me a damn Koala anyway.”

He laughed at that, and made a note that he should probably take things a little slower and spend more time helping people so he could get his experience situation handled in the near future. Would that work? Probably. He probably could have solved the problem by just spending the rest of his life healing people in Abrese.

He wasn’t sure if he would have enjoyed that or not, ultimately, but there was no denying it would have been a good deed and would have done wonder’s for his experience or karma or whatever it was. As he laid back on his bed and folded his arms under his head, he said quietly to himself, “Maybe I should just, settle down somewhere for a while. You know, kill a king, rule a kingdom marry a nice princess, whatever.”

He laughed at that, of course, but he probably could have found some noble’s daughter to marry after he’d ended the ghosts plaguing Darndelle. There was a good reason he didn’t, though. Once he put down roots, it would be a lot harder to keep going, and what could be sadder than living the same life over and over again, trying to reclaim what he’d lost?

No, he was going to have to find some way to spend some downtime between levels without proposing to the first girl who looked at him. He wasn’t sure he could cope with the idea of running around the world on the lookout for his kids and grandkids. That could get weird pretty quick, and there was no telling how just that one detail could screw up future levels.

Those were the thoughts that Simon fell asleep to, but he found no answers, not even in his dreams.