The first of many.

[Shen] stared at the message in front of him with a confused look, feeling that whatever was in front of him was not a good sign. He was not the greatest connoisseur of Games, Anime, and other things, and he could consider himself at most: a Casual RPG player.

Seeing a floating screen looking like the windows of a roleplaying game created a certain bad feeling in [Shen's] heart, he preferred not to believe that something of this level was about to happen to him. Maybe some Monster would appear that he had to defeat? Or learn to use a weapon. Playing games and physically doing such tasks were entirely different things.

''Tell me I'm hallucinating...'' [Shen] commented with a lost look as he looked out the window, hope carried in his tone praying for an answer like 'hah, I got you! Is a joke!' appeared. But to [Shen's] dismay, nothing has changed. ''... ''

He could not consider himself a Man with great intellect, or even someone with a special ability. He was at best and at best: handsome, which definitely wouldn't help in an environment like this. [Shen] looked around him in search of finding someone, even if he is a colorless person... and nothing was found.

Returning his gaze forward, he looked at the icon of a door that was drawn just below the welcome message. He didn't want to explore the surroundings without knowing where he was, because he was afraid. And he definitely didn't want to be yelling in a dark place so, with almost zero hopes, he lifted his finger and pointed it at the door icon, pressing on it.

-[ Input recognized. ]-

-[ Delivering to the User's initial Reward. ]-

-[ Reward will vary with difficulty... ]-

A white glow had been released from the door and the previous window was consumed by the same glow, turning completely white with the golden lettering. Almost like it was something divine, which made [Shen] appreciate what he was seeing. He was someone who was easily distracted.

-[ Difficulty detected. ]-

-[ Reward properly generated. ]-

-[ Opening Status Window. ]-

Three new small windows appeared and held such things written separately. Thanks to the emergence of such screens, [Shen] came to his senses and started reading them, still confused. And luckily, he could understand what was to come now.

''Probably a Window like in that RPG game? This can be a really good thing if I'm lucky...'' [Shen] commented, that he was creating expectations and fears as he spoke. Expectations that he would somehow not feel pain if he got strong enough, and fears that he would have to start from 0. Sometimes in strange situations, Humans tend to become quite stupid.

-[ Name: [Shen] ]-

-[ Age: 22 ]-

-[ Male gender ]-

-[ Title: [Nightmare Guest] ]-

--------------------------------------

-[ Level: 0 ]-

-[ Experience: 0/1,000 ]-

-[ Stamina: 0/100 ]

-[ Powers: [To the race of survival]+, [One who forgets, but does not die]+ and [Blur]+ ]-

--------------------------------------

-[ Strength+: 10 ]-

-[ Dexterity+: 8 ]-

-[ Agility+: 10 ]-

-[ Intelligence+: 5 ]-

-[ Senses+: 10 ]-

-[ Charisma+: 10 ]-

---------------------------------------

-[ Blessings: None ]-

-[ Allies: 0 ]-

-[ Companions: 0 ]-

A considerably large Status window appeared, which looks the same as the previous windows: White with gold lettering. There was vague information about [Shen] in certain parts, while in others: things [Shen] had only seen in games. [Shen]'s expectations were crushed and he narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling despair begin to take over his body. He could somehow consider himself a fearful person, who was easily nervous in a good adrenaline rush.

'' Why? ''[Shen] asked feeling wronged, a Human's basic reaction to feeling dissatisfied with something that has been given to them. His eyes roamed all over the Window in hopes of finding something, and it was at that moment that [Shen] touched himself. He had three Abilities. ''!! ''

With a desperate reaction, [Shen] pressed his finger on the glowing + sign next to each Skill's Name, if he was right and it was indeed, as in some simpler games: this would open a Window explaining to [ Shen] what he wanted to know.

And luckily, [Shen] hasn't been disappointed for the first time since he arrived at this location. A window like all the others appeared, but this time with a different Content.

-[ Name: To the race of survival ]-

-[ Rank: A ]-

-[ Description: All those who once became truly strong, ran away from something, even if unconsciously. And this time will be no different, run from everything and everyone, don't confront them. If you do, you will die. ]-

-[ Effect: Every second the User continues running, he will receive 2 XP. For every +5 Agility, the XP gained will increase by 1. ]-

-[ Activation Method: Run. ]-

-[ Cost: Nothing. ]-

''What?...'' [Shen] looked at this skill in disbelief. It was extremely simple, and at the same time extremely frightening. If he ran, he would get stronger. But how scary was this? It was telling him that he would have to run from something at this location. ''... ''

The Fear [Shen] felt increased, but strangely, his legs weren't shaking. He looked around with much greater fear than before and trembling arms but found nothing. Feeling that it would be better for him to find out everything he had to find out at once, [Shen] pressed on the rest of the Skills, to find out what was written there.

-[ Name: The One Who Forgets But Doesn't Die ]-

-[ Rank: A+ ]-

-[ Description: Everyone brags about remembering things, but one day, they end up dying. Either because you remembered a lot of information and didn't find what you needed at the time, or because of general incompetence. But you... you will be different. You will forget everything until you become someone new while being unable to permanently die. ]-

-[ Effect: With each passing day, 1% of the User's memories will be permanently erased, leaving only their Name and age behind. In exchange for this, for every 1% that is erased: the User will receive an extra life, which will be activated whenever he is killed, making him go back to the period before the tragedy began. ]-

-[ Activation Method: Spend a day | To die ]-

-[ Cost: Time. ]-

A shit skill. That's what [Shen] thought the moment he saw it, he was happy not to be able to die but at the same time, desperate to know that one day he was going to disappear completely. Giving space for another 'he' to appear and take his place. His eyes blurred and he clasped his hands, there was no point in heightening his fear because of this, and he couldn't do anything to negate this effect.

He could only try to accept it and move on, trying to ignore the 'losing memories' part. He moved his finger hesitantly to the final +, on the last skill. And finally, he pressed the same.

-[ Name: Blur ]-

-[ Rank: E ]-

-[ Description: Humans are unable to stay perfectly focused, unable to keep a goal or a true promise. And you are no different. ]-

-[ Effect: User is unable to maintain Focus in any type of everyday/normal Situation. But in return, you will become 100% focused when your life is on the line. ]-

-[ Activation Method: Passive. ]-

-[ Cost: Nothing. ]-

This was the least scary Skill among them all. And he wasn't going to complain about it. Having seen everything and more about Skills, [Shen] moved his finger towards the + in Attributes.

*BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP*

[Shen's] heart began to beat at a high rate. It looked like he was being warned of something, with an unnatural sweat starting to trickle down his forehead. He was confused and even more nervous, imagining that something bad was happening, and so, he looked around to try to see the reason for this. And this was his best and worst decision.

Standing almost 80 meters away, in a frontal-diagonal line to the left of [Shen], there was a black figure. It was quite tall almost three meters tall, with an extremely thin and black body, with lines of the same color spread across his body as if he was trying to hold the Monster's parts. Its Head was the largest part of his body and had a strange shape, completely black, making it impossible to identify what it was.

[Shen] took a step back, feeling a surreal and justified fear of such a creature. That the instant it saw [Shen's] retreat step complete... Chaos started.

*#%@&$%@#¨$%#%@#$@%!*

A surreal sound arose from the creature itself as it ran towards [Shen], at a remarkably good speed. This was the final trigger for [Shen] to turn around and start running around the buildings, trying to follow a straight line while going around some walls.

[ +2 XP ]

[ +2 XP ]

[ +2 XP ]

Dozens of messages began to appear for [Shen] over time, including some larger messages that he didn't have time to look at. Or rather, did not enter into his point of view. He was focused on running, his heart feeling like it was going to jump out of his mouth.

He could hear the thump of the Monster running after him, the hairs on his back standing up with every step of the creature as if it were getting closer.

[Shen]'s footsteps were stomping as if he wanted to have incredible super strength to start an extremely strong run that would only stop when the creature could never find him again. And besides such footsteps, ragged, desperate breathing could be seen in [Shen], it was a truly pathetic scene.

A 22-year-old adult male, with considerable muscles, desperately fleeing a creature as thin as a stick, carrying only height. The Fear in [Shen] was so great, that his slightly blurred eyes were now watering, with the same tears streaming down his face from time to time.

It was a hopeless situation, and the ambiance of the place didn't seem to help.

...

Darker places with low lighting, places with pink lighting...strange symbols, and many other things. [Shen] had gone through all of this, trying to get away from the creature, which luckily: he seemed to succeed.

When he arrived at a strangely open part with a yellow light at the top, which caught the entire place, [Shen] stopped hearing the creature's noise. He could no longer see her in his field of vision and his full focus had been deactivated, allowing his thoughts to explode.

His head throbbed from the absurd amount of noise he'd heard thanks to System notifications, and hyperventilating wasn't a good combination, adding to the headache.

[Shen] placed both hands on her waist and tried to straighten her spine while looking up. He needed to rest, but he knew it would be worse if he sat on the floor, as he had no confidence in running away from that creature again. His priority was currently on the Messages in front of him, he needed to see what kept coming to him as he fled, hoping it was some kind of help.

Clicking on a spot that had a letter icon with a '+99' written on it, [Shen] was surprised by a large number of messages saying -[+2 XP]-, alongside two larger messages.

-[ Congratulations, you've reached half EXP for level 1. ]-

-[ Congratulations, you've reached level 1.+ ]-

The last message seemed to have arrived a few moments ago when he was in his last seconds of running. [Shen] moved his curious finger to the + of the message, and pressed it, causing a new window to appear.

-[ You were rewarded with the following things for reaching level 1: +20 Attribute Points, 1 Card. ]-

[Shen] was pleasantly surprised seeing the 20 Attribute Points, feeling that it was extremely stolen to level up. If their current physical attributes were around '10' and '8', if he put '20' on any...he would definitely be in the full range of a Human. Or maybe, even pass!

This was incredibly good news for [Shen], who was slightly overshadowed by the Letter that appeared floating in front of him. Moving his left hand, [Shen] picked up the letter and opened it, which had…bad stuff inside.

-[ If you get stronger, they get stronger too. ]-

-[ There is no real exit, you are here. Forever. ]-

-[ Read the Messages, to move to the Next Floor. ]-

-[ The higher your Level, the more intense the chase. ]-

These were messages that shattered [Shen's] hopes, which wasn't too difficult considering the series of depressing things that had enveloped him during this time.

[Shen] gave a sigh that contained a strong urge to continue what he was doing while running: Crying, but he tried to suppress it as much as possible. He knew what it was like to try to run while crying and tired, and it was definitely not a good thing.

[Shen] kept the letter he received in his pocket, thinking it was best to keep it. Because trying to keep things in mind wasn't a good idea, considering...his Skill...

Following the Letter's order, he looked around for the Messages he was supposed to read, and strangely: he only now noticed a strong red, almost black writing, which was on the wide, yellowed wall in front of him.

'' Do not run away. Look back. Stay still. ''[Shen] read aloud, unconsciously. His fears mounted as he read the supposed orders, and when he was done, he looked back.

...She was. The Figure facing him, coming towards him again. [Shen's] eyes were filled with a surreal and frightening dread as he tried to run again.

This is the keyword, he tried.

On his first step, [Shen's] foot ended up twisting as he made an extremely clumsy and fast step, causing him to fall to the ground while feeling an extremely strong twinge in his foot, making him unable to stand up calmly.

He tried to suppress the pain as he got to his feet, his desperation increasing each time he looked in the direction of the Monster, who was approaching at a terrifying speed.

''N-no, stay away! Please! ''[Shen] cried out in fear and despair to Figure who was less than 10 meters away, but this had been ignored.

With his fear and dread on the surface, and a cold sweat covering his whole body...

The Figure sprang towards him.

**%#U@$IU*@%#I$U%I@#UI#2%!**

With a surreal and terrifying scream, she threw [Shen] to the ground with high brutality, and before he could think, an unimaginable amount of Pain filled his entire body, erasing his vision.

...

...

...

-[ You died. ]-

-[ Skill [One who forgets but does not die] has been activated. ]-

-[ Returning to the moment before the Tragedy. ]-

-[ Remaining uses: 0 ]-

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