103 Deaths

Jo Yuan sat on the cold altar, eyes narrowed in determination. This time, he wasn't going to panic. He wasn't going to rush into anything blindly. He had learned that much already.

"I need to remember," he whispered. Each death was painful, but each gave him something important—knowledge. He needed to use that to survive.

Taking a deep breath, Jo Yuan stood and began his journey through the dark hallways again. Every corner, every detail mattered now. He recalled the traps, the hidden dangers that had killed him before. One by one, he started testing everything carefully.

Step there? No, that's where the spikes shot out last time.

Touch this wall? No, it triggers the stone ceiling.

He walked slowly, memorizing the places that led to death. And every time he made a mistake, he would die and wake up again at the altar. But each time he grew a little smarter, a little more careful. He was building a map in his mind—a map of death.

...

Soon, Jo Yuan wasn't just avoiding traps—he was dodging death entirely. He knew where each trap was hidden and how each one was triggered. He avoided the spikes by leaping over them, sidestepped the collapsing ceiling by hugging the wall, and even slipped past the shadowy creature that had taken him before by using a secret passage he found after his 32nd death.

It wasn't perfect, though. The deaths still happened. Sometimes he made a small mistake, a slip of the foot or a wrong turn, but each time he died, he learned. And each time he woke up, he got closer to understanding how the place worked.

The traps… they're all connected, he thought. There was a system, a pattern. The more he experienced, the clearer it became. He was getting stronger—not physically, but mentally. His mind was sharpening with each loop.

By his 50th death, he could make it past areas that had killed him dozens of times before without breaking a sweat. But still, the big question remained unanswered: Why was this happening?

...

Jo Yuan felt different now. Each loop, each life, had given him more control. He was no longer stumbling blindly. He had almost mapped the entire area, and the strange symbols on the walls started making sense to him.

After his 78th life, he found an ancient inscription near the exit—a place he had never reached alive before. It talked about "the cycle of trials" and how only "one who understands the path of death" could escape the cursed altar.

"So that's it," Jo Yuan murmured. "It's a trial. A test. This whole place was designed to kill me over and over until I figure out."

But there was more to it. The timing of the explosions, the way the traps activated—they weren't random. Everything happened in cycles. It was like the place was resetting with him, waiting for him to learn enough before letting him move forward.

After dying again from a trap he had overlooked, Jo Yuan woke up on the altar for the 103rd time. He sat there, calm, staring up at the ceiling, piecing together everything.

"It's a test of knowledge and memory," he realized. "The altar… it resets me because I haven't passed yet. I have to not just avoid death, but understand the reason for every trap, every danger. Only then will the path open."

...

Jo Yuan stood with confidence this time. He had lived through 103 lives here. He knew every trap, every creature, every deadly mechanism. Now, it was time to put his theory to the test.

Moving through the dark halls, he retraced his steps, but not just to avoid danger. This time, he looked deeper. He observed the patterns of the traps and how they were activated. He noticed the way the symbols on the walls flickered when he stepped in certain places. He even timed the explosion near the exit.

It all fits. The traps didn't activate randomly. They reacted to him in specific ways, testing his understanding. And now, with this knowledge, Jo Yuan walked confidently toward the exit once more.

He reached the spot where he had always died, the place where the explosion had taken him countless times. But this time, he stopped right before it. Don't rush. He closed his eyes and stepped backward, not forward.

Nothing happened.

He smiled. "That's it." The trap had been set for anyone who rushed toward the light. By stepping back, he had avoided it.

The path opened before him. No explosion, no trap. Just a clear way forward.

Jo Yuan walked through the exit, leaving the cursed altar behind. After 103 lives, he had passed the test.