Am I Useless?

"What the hell did I play?" Su Li scratched his head in confusion.

"You should hurry up and look in a mirror, you perverted older brother!" Su Lin Yue shoved Su Li in front of the bathroom mirror.

The young man in Big Shorts reflected in the mirror still had handsome features, but his complexion...

How should he put it?

Heavy dark circles hung beneath his eyes, as though someone had punched him twice.

His eyes were bloodshot. He looked exhausted, yet strangely excited.

Combined with his overly pale skin... no matter how he looked at it, he seemed like someone who had overdone it.

"WTF? What's going on?"

Startled, Su Li pinched his face with one hand and pulled at his eyelids with the other.

"I clearly feel full of energy, like I'm bursting with strength. Why do I look like I've been completely drained?"

Was this the legendary consequence of cultivating too much? His mind was in heaven, while his body was in the ICU?

Before Su Li could diagnose himself, Su Lin Yue beside him was already stamping her feet in anger.

"Su Li! How many times have I told you..."

The young girl bit her lower lip, her face flushed with the frustration of seeing him fail to live up to expectations. It was hard to tell whether she was angry or embarrassed.

"You need to take care of your body! You're a single adult man, so it's normal to have certain needs, but... but you can't stay up all night doing that!"

"If it really comes down to it..." Su Lin Yue took a deep breath, as if making some enormous concession.

"Even if you can't find a girlfriend, you could spend some money... that would be fine too! What you're doing is seriously harming your body!!"

"Huh?" Su Li looked utterly bewildered.

"No, sis, listen to me. I was playing a game. It really is a proper game, and it can even train your body..."

"I'm not listening! Get out!" Su Lin Yue covered her ears, her eyes full of disappointment.

"If you ruin your health, what am I supposed to do in the future?!"

With that, Girl grabbed her schoolbag and, as if fleeing this room filled with "decadent vibes," turned and ran for the front door.

"Hey? Yueyue! Breakfast! Breakfast!" Su Li hurriedly called out.

"I'm not eating! I'll buy some buns outside the school!"

Bang! The security door slammed shut.

"..."

Su Li looked at the empty living room and sighed helplessly.

"This girl's imagination is way too wild. I'm fighting to save another world, yet somehow in her mouth it became..."

Shaking his head, he returned to the dining table and turned his grief and indignation into appetite, wolfing down both servings of the loving breakfast in a few bites.

After eating and drinking his fill, Su Li studied his body in the mirror for a while longer.

Aside from the exaggerated dark circles and slightly paler skin, there really was nothing unusual.

He even squeezed his muscles and found them firmer and stronger than before.

"Probably the game's mental strain was too high, causing a stress response that carried over to my body." In the end, Su Li could only attribute it to that.

"Forget it. As long as I don't suddenly drop dead, it's fine. Besides, shut-ins don't need to see anyone anyway."

After doing a quick cleanup and tidying the house until everything was in order, Su Li checked the time.

"Only eight o'clock. An hour and a half has passed since I buried myself. How much time has passed in the game?"

He lay back down on the bed and put on his helmet.

"Back to war!"

Aetherland, a village near the Undead Mountain Range, before Su Li logged in.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The once-quiet wooden hut shook under a series of violent knocks.

"Rosalia! I know you're in there!" Lainer's voice came from outside the door.

"You little bitch! Open the door right now! You still haven't given me enough of your things! Don't think you can hide by playing dead!"

However, there was no one inside the house.

At that moment, Rosalia was curled up in a cramped, dark cellar, both hands clamped tightly over her mouth, not daring to make the slightest sound.

Her large eyes were filled with terror, and her frail body trembled like a frightened quail.

"Still not opening the door? Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!"

Crash—! The fragile door finally gave way under Lainer's kick.

Heavy footsteps entered the house, accompanied by the sound of drawers and boxes being rummaged through.

"Huh? Where is she?" Lainer's cursing voice filtered down through the gaps in the floorboards.

"Damn it, she ran pretty fast! Don't let me catch you, or I'll break your legs!"

He tore through the house, but aside from a few moldy loaves of bread, he found nothing.

"Damn poor trash!" Lainer spat heavily, then kicked over the only table in the room before finally stomping out while cursing.

"When I catch you, I'll definitely sell you to those priests who like little boys!"

Only after the footsteps had completely faded did Rosalia dare to push open the cellar hatch and cautiously poke her head out.

The little house, once simple but fairly tidy, was now a complete mess.

As she looked at the scene before her, the fear in the young girl's eyes gradually faded, replaced by a flame called hatred.

"Damn Lainer, I'll kill you someday!" She clenched her fists, her nails digging deeply into her palms.

"One day, I'll make you pay!"

Rosalia took a deep breath and pulled a black book, wrapped layer upon layer in oilcloth, from her clothes.

This was her only hope.

"As long as I can learn the spell written inside, even the most basic one, I'll have the power to protect myself!"

She opened the book and began chanting devoutly at the obscure runes within:

"Great God of Death... wandering souls that linger upon the boundary between life and death..."

"Please heed my call... I offer flesh and blood as the lure... my soul as the foundation..."

"Please make a contract with me... and kill the enemy before me!"

However... once, twice... ten times.

Apart from a faint, chilling wind, Rosalia received no response.

Instead, she felt as if all the strength in her body had been drained away. A wave of dizziness struck, and she collapsed weakly to the ground.

"Why...?" Rosalia clutched her hair in agony and let out an unwilling cry.

"Why is there no response? Am I useless? Am I destined to accomplish nothing and only be bullied for the rest of my life? Su Liya, what should I do?" Tears slid down her dirty cheeks.

But soon, she wiped away her tears.

Since she could not learn magic for now, she could not stay here any longer. Lainer would definitely return, and she might not be so lucky next time.

"I have to leave this place..."

Rosalia quickly climbed to her feet, found a tattered cloth bag, and stuffed in a few pieces of clothing and the remaining rations. Finally, she hid the magic book close against her body.

Taking advantage of the absence of anyone nearby, the small, thin figure quietly slipped out of the village and vanished into the vast wilderness.

At the same time, deep within the Corrupted Cave.

A small mound suddenly rose from the previously flat ground.

Crash! A pale, jade-like hand of bone broke through the earth.

Su Li brushed away the dirt covering his body and sat up from the crude grave.

"Aetherland, your emperor has returned!"