A Beginner Village in Every Sense

Another dungeon...

And this time, there was no prompt...

Habitually reaching up to dig at his ear, Gu Mo could not help raising an eyebrow. So far, he had not figured out the mechanics or rules behind these "dungeons," but every time he entered or exited one, there seemed to be some kind of "prompt"... Yes, that electric sensation shooting through his brain, along with the meaningless fragmented noises he had previously mistaken for auditory hallucinations.

He had not understood it before, but now he naturally realized that it was probably a notification issued by the system whenever he entered or left a "dungeon."

It was just like the garbled text still displayed on the Status Panel, the unselectable options, and all sorts of bugs. This part of the system notifications probably had similar display errors and could not be converted into information he could properly receive, which was why it had always been so torturous.

Of course, torturous as it was, and incomprehensible as it was, the biggest difference was whether it existed at all.

If he had that prompt, then even if he could not understand the fragmented noise or tell what it meant, as long as that piercing electrical sound rang out, it could at least warn him in advance. That was the point.

But now even that was gone. Before, he simply could not understand it; now, he could not hear it at all... It was still the hottest stretch of summer, yet Gu Mo felt himself trembling all over in the heat, cold sweat soaking his body, his hands and feet icy. Could this Idiot System just get better already? It was full of ways to screw him over. When would he finally be able to stand tall?!

He had thought things had improved today, that some problems had been fixed and it could at least be used somewhat normally. But apparently, it had fixed nothing at all. One issue was resolved, and another popped up somewhere else.

The thought made his teeth ache. Gu Mo surveyed the desolate mountain landscape around him, then instinctively looked back. Behind him was another remote, barren path. The gate and guard booth at the entrance to his residential complex had vanished, and naturally, so had the road and the snack street across from it.

He stood there alone on a lonely mountain path beneath a silent night sky as black as ink, the stars and moon hidden behind leaden clouds. On one side were low earthen slopes and dense mountain woods; on the other, a swift, winding river...

As the evening wind howled past, the trees on the slope rustled...

And in the lightless darkness, the river nearby resembled a pool of thick black ink, so deep it seemed impossible to dissolve...

Amid this silence, nature held none of the tranquil stillness or pristine beauty one might expect. Instead, it was filled with an ancient, eerie atmosphere. Whether it was the shadowy forest or the pitch-black river, both made one deeply uneasy.

Gu Mo felt his scalp prickle as well, especially now that he knew this was no longer one of his distorted hallucinations but an unknown "dungeon"—not the orderly real world that completely followed physical laws.

Who knew what Demons and Monsters might emerge.

"Sure enough, there's no way back..." Gu Mo muttered as he looked at the forest path before and behind him, which seemed no different from each other. He was clearly caught in a dilemma. There was not even a one-click option to abort the mission and exit the current dungeon instance. That was seriously inhumane.

"Let me think..."

Forcing himself to calm down, Gu Mo carefully recalled his only two dungeon-running experiences so far. He concluded that there should be two ways to leave a dungeon: one conventional, one unconventional. The former was to follow the scenario's theme and rules and go through the intended process—

Like Yukihira Restaurant?

Though honestly, he did not know how he had cleared that one. He could only guess that it had been a peaceful, story-oriented "dungeon," with food as its theme. There had never been any strict requirement to fight monsters or kill enemies, so he had happened to stumble in and order a meal...

And that meant the "dungeon" was cleared?

Of course, that was only a guess based on limited clues. The truth might not be anything like that. For now, Gu Mo could only think along those lines, since he had to come up with some idea to try and solve the problem... As for the unconventional way to leave a dungeon, he would not consider it for the moment.

Thinking of how he had suddenly "blacked out" last time and then awakened back in the real world, Gu Mo decisively passed on the second possibility.

He turned to look at the blackened night sky, then at the dark path winding ahead. With a sigh, he stopped hesitating and started forward. There was no point lingering here, since he could not simply return the way he came.

—Then he would first see what this "dungeon" was like.

And admittedly, beneath the unavoidable unease and doubt, Gu Mo also felt a faint expectation and excitement that even he noticed. It completely overwhelmed the fatigue that had clung to him ever since he woke up that evening...

After all, who was truly willing to settle for the drudgery of life, to face the same unchanging routine day after day?

Humans craved safety, but they also craved adventure. If they did not have to bear the pressures of reality and had the confidence to face risks, anyone would be willing to embark on an unknown adventure—perhaps not glamorous, perhaps even utterly miserable, but certainly extraordinary.

Dissatisfaction with the present, a yearning to grow, a search for oneself...

When everything left room for choice, the canvas of life naturally gained more colors.

The mountain path was rugged and winding, seemingly carved along the narrow angle between the riverbank and the foot of the mountain.

It was unpleasant to walk on, and the road was truly narrow, barely wide enough for two adults to walk side by side... With the black river right beside it and the sound of rushing water in the night, it was hard not to feel worried.

One careless misstep into the water, and out here in the wilderness, no monster would even need to show itself to claim someone's life.

Not long after walking onward, Gu Mo spotted traces of human habitation. It was a dilapidated wooden boardwalk built along the riverbank. The remains of half a bridge stood nearby, apparently washed away on the other side after falling into disrepair.

This side of the bridge was half-submerged as well. He could not tell whether the wood had already rotted away, since the river was too black to see clearly. He had no desire to approach the water under such conditions; even while walking, he had tried to stay as close to the inner side as possible...

Drawing back his gaze, Gu Mo frowned. Signs of human life were certainly a good thing, but roads and bridges could reveal a place's economic development and technological level—

So was this scenario some isolated place deep in the mountains, far removed from modern prosperity?

Or... an underdeveloped ancient world?

With those doubts and expectations in mind, Gu Mo continued carefully onward. His pace was neither slow nor fast, and he made every effort to lighten his footsteps. He had some confidence in himself, but not enough to be reckless. He still needed restraint when restraint was called for.

After walking for some distance, he faintly heard strange, subtle noises ahead. He stopped and listened intently for a long while, unable to be certain. It sounded like firewood crackling as it burned, carried over by the night wind.

Holding his breath, he cautiously continued for a short distance. As he rounded a bend in the mountain road, the view suddenly opened up before him—

An ancient village, built around the river, stood on the high slope ahead.

A wooden gate and wooden fences formed its outer wall, but the entrance stood wide open. He could clearly see the buildings inside the village, all ruined wooden houses. Even the windows appeared to be covered with paper...

—Was this really an ancient setting?

Though he had already considered that possibility, Gu Mo was still somewhat surprised. At the same time, he finally understood the source of the sound he had heard. His judgment had been correct. Firelight glimmered from several places in the village, where wooden houses burned and collapsed amid the flames.

It was not just flames and charcoal. He took only two more steps forward when a gust of night wind blew toward him, carrying a thick stench of blood straight into his face.

Gu Mo's expression shifted slightly, and his heart tightened. He immediately raised his alertness by another two levels. His nerves had already been tense, but now they were stretched to the breaking point. This scenario seemed even less friendly than the last one. Was it really throwing violence and gore in his face right from the start?

He carefully swallowed, glanced back, and considered whether even greater dangers might be lurking outside the village in the pitch-black night. At the same time, he softened his footsteps as much as possible and slowly moved forward, strange thoughts surfacing in his mind.

What was he doing? Why was he here doing this?

His thoughts had begun to scatter uncontrollably under extreme tension, random and unfocused ideas churning through his mind. He could only do his best to rein them in, while also feeling a little nostalgic for the version of himself yesterday, when he had still been unable to determine the truth.

Now that he knew what was going on, it was much harder to remain so fearless.

"No one... Strange, have they all already been killed?"

He passed through the village gate and slowly followed the road along the riverbank. Looking around, Gu Mo found no one and heard no human voices. That was a very bad sign... Most likely, there was no one alive left in the village.

Then who was responsible for all this? In ancient times, in a village like this, could it have been bandits or mountain brigands?

"Cherry blossoms...?"

Gu Mo gently raised a hand and caught a dark purple petal drifting down from overhead. Looking up as if sensing something, he belatedly realized that his attention had been entirely drawn by the firelight and blood stench at first, and he had failed to notice the many cherry trees in the village.

They were not spread in vast groves or forests, but there were indeed quite a lot of them wherever he looked...

At that moment, dark night cherry blossoms fluttered down in profusion, creating a dreamlike, mysterious, hazy beauty. If the backdrop had not been a burning village and the air had not been thick with blood, the sight of those blossoms in full bloom would have been breathtakingly beautiful.

Gu Mo blinked. This scene felt strangely familiar too. He seemed to have recalled it not long ago...

He hesitated, then continued onward. He had not gone far before making another discovery.

Thump! Thump! Thump!...

A heavy, massive creature was moving nearby. It seemed to be dragging something equally heavy along the ground, making a scraping sound.

Concealed in the shadows beneath a night cherry tree, Gu Mo stared expressionlessly toward the distant noise. It appeared to be a low depression in the village, surrounded by raised earthen slopes. Within it was clearly a disorderly graveyard, with tombstones and burial mounds scattered everywhere.

A huge Ox-Headed Monster stood upright on two legs, clad from head to toe in heavy armor like a warrior. Its eyes shone with a scarlet, bloodthirsty light. With one hand, it pushed an enormous spiked iron club as thick as a tree trunk, pacing back and forth through the graveyard as though patrolling its own domain of death...

So it really was this!

Gu Mo covered his forehead, his eyes vacant. Perhaps due to gameplay-oriented design differences, this place differed from a real location, so he had not recognized it the instant he saw the village.

But after seeing the night cherry blossoms, the graveyard, and the Ox-Headed Monster in the graveyard, it would have been strange if he still failed to realize it.

So this scenario belonged to the world of the Nioh series...

This should be Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village, a village that had once prospered by providing cattle, horses, and a post station. Yet amid the chaos of war, it had ultimately failed to escape the ravages of conflict. With so many Aramitama born in that war-torn age, monsters had inevitably appeared here as well, and the entire village was destroyed overnight.

"I'm dead, I'm dead... How am I supposed to clear this dungeon..."

Gu Mo withdrew his gaze from the Ox-Head Demon in the distance, cautiously holding his breath and not daring to make the slightest sound.

Even setting that thing aside, the final boss at Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village's Ancestral Hall was a Horse-Headed Demon of the same level. Was this really a dungeon he could handle?

In the game, the wife he had created... Ahem, the pretty young lady he had created could absolutely show off her skills and effortlessly crush everything. If she returned here in the late game, she could even make the boss's Health Bar disappear instantly.

But what about in the real world? Look at that Ox-Headed Monster, nearly three stories tall and clad in heavy armor. Gu Mo suspected that even if he raised his Strength to 20, he still might not have the power to move that spiked iron club the monster was dragging one-handed along the ground...

Health Bar disappearing? Yes, someone's Health Bar would definitely disappear. He just would not say whose.

Come to think of it, had his cheat gotten the direction of its upgrades wrong? While brutally screwing him over, was it dedicated to giving his enemies an enjoyable gameplay experience? Otherwise, how could it explain why the functions it provided him were filled with bugs and incomplete services, while the dungeons it sent him into all seemed so obviously beyond beginner difficulty—

Especially this one. It was way too hardcore for a newbie like him.

In the game, this was the beginner village. But leaving aside the game stats of the wife he had created, even in terms of the setting, she was the strongest Half-Yokai, the greatest demon of the Sengoku era, capable of beating Shuten-dōji into the ground and killing Ōtakemaru. How could her beginner phase possibly compare to the beginner phase of an ordinary person like him?

Just as Gu Mo's expression kept changing and he felt trapped in an absolutely unsolvable dead end, faint footsteps suddenly sounded behind him.

He instinctively turned around. After freezing for a moment, his eyes lit up at once—

"Wife!"

He was saved!!

"?"

On the path behind him, the black-haired girl with long straight hair, her face covered by a cloth mask, a sword at her waist and a bow on her back, was clearly stunned.

So there was still a living person in the village. But what was this person talking about?