POTLS - Chapter 7: Spilling Out

The sensation of weightlessness, that floating drift, gradually faded away.

Paul closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, Earth's world greeted him.

The afternoon sunlight bathed his gaunt, sharp-featured cheeks. Before the Portals appeared, he never imagined he'd miss the polluted city air as much as he did now. Gone were the heavy metallic stench and foul odor of blood that had weighed on his spirit. In their absence, his mind found a strange clarity.

The bustling noise of the city no longer irritated him. The blaring horns now sounded like melodious tunes guiding him back to a place of peace. Though this world had never been kind to him either, at least it hadn't taken his life—not even once.

Only now did he truly feel warmth again. Before, he'd spent an entire hour lying on cold ground, gradually cooling until he drifted into a space devoid of temperature.

As he prepared to take a deep breath, someone shoved his shoulder from behind.

"Move it, dipshit!" The harsh voice felt like it pierced straight through Paul's eardrum.

He shifted aside to let the man pass, frowning. The guy had an undercut hairstyle, an elongated face, and narrow dark eyes beneath thin eyebrows. His build matched Paul's—lean yet strong. He radiated hostility and contempt for the world. Though Paul had every reason to hate the world too, he still clung to a sliver of hope, unlike this man who seemed to possess nothing but pure hatred.

Normally, as someone who drifted from place to place, Paul wouldn't let such an encounter slide. Anyone picking a fight when he was in a foul mood would get a harsh response. The sensation of returning from death typically brought relief, but the pressure of being on his last life left him on edge. If he won a fight, he could even pocket some cash from the troublemaker to cover medicine and food.

But this time, Paul didn't dare react. He was a wanted man, hunted by The Crouching Tiger guild. Drawing attention would only invite trouble he couldn't shake.

Paul stepped away from the Portal area, avoiding further collisions. He glanced back at the strange Portal that had appeared on Earth over six months ago. Its rim formed a blue circle with unstable, jagged patterns. Each Portal had a different color, and researchers were still trying to find connections between them, wondering if the colors might be some kind of signal.

At the center of the Portal was a pitch-black void. Currently, the bottomless hole was spitting out survivors after their seven-day trial.

Some emerged with exhausted, disappointed faces. Others were jubilant, having achieved their objectives. Still others, like Paul, showed little emotion, having gone through too much to react strongly to anything anymore.

And then, there were the mangled corpses.

For Survivors on their final life, there was no gift of regeneration after death. They came out exactly as they had died.

Eyeless faces, fleshless limbs, hollowed-out torsos—incomplete body parts ejected like garbage. Crimson Moon Estate was considered a moderately difficult map, yet it ranked first in producing the most grotesque deaths. Compared to The Shifting Arcana Library map, where most deaths were at least clean, the difference was stark.

Despite having witnessed this scene several times, Paul couldn't suppress the nausea rising in his throat.

He turned away, covering his mouth, glancing past the Survivor Support Center staff rushing to collect what no longer resembled human beings.

The white-uniformed staff, faces masked, worked hurriedly to assist everyone. Later, they would conduct DNA tests, cremate the remains, and return the ashes to grieving families.

The Portal area for the Crimson Moon Estate map was located on a high school football field. Immediately after the Portal appeared, the government had requisitioned the area. Tents and prefabricated buildings now housed Portal Defense Initiative and Hunter Support Center members. Occasionally, space was provided for other organizations or guilds with various purposes.

Today the place was relatively quiet, with only a few figures sitting in the bleachers, observing everything. Those watchful eyes made Paul uneasy, afraid that Crouching Tiger's underlings might be present.

As a precaution, he had spent all his remaining gold on the most valuable item in the shop, fearing the hawks might use artifacts to peek at survivors' gold and essence counts. He couldn't see far enough to identify if anyone was using the Prying Eye artifact.

That was how headhunters tracked promising survivors. Looking at high essence counts revealed who was approaching the threshold for ranking up. With over 500 essence, halfway to the 1000 needed, Paul wasn't particularly enticing prey.

Though artifacts had good applications, their misuse was far more common. Predators hunting for victims to scam used them extensively. Once they locked onto a target, they'd offer various transaction deals like they had with Paul's group. They prepared different scenarios for those with little and those with much. A potential assessment chart circulated among these scammers. The result was always the same: trouble impossible to escape.

Paul had already lost essence once before, which explained why his essence count was still so far from ranking up.

The system wasn't harsh with F-rank survivors; rewards and incentives for them were consistently the highest among all ranks. Yet not everyone could take advantage of this. Paul and his team had been among the first Survivors. The "Portal Survival Guide Volume 1: Fundamentals of Portal Survival" had taken two to three months to be compiled and published by the PDI.

As a result, their initial lives had been wasted, with essence and gold earnings in meager amounts, ranging from 10 to 50. Even though many Survivors managed to reach the sixth night—a respectable achievement—they still couldn't gather enough essence to rank up.

That's why Paul's group had fallen into a trap. To preserve their remaining lives. Ranking up didn't restore lives; it only granted three additional resurrections. The general consensus was to conserve lives as much as possible at Rank F. System support disappeared entirely from Rank E onward.

Paul's group had looked to the future, made choices that affected their present, and ultimately regretted not being able to change the past.

The essence extraction process was painful and inefficient, preserving only a third of the original amount. Yet cowards resorted to any means to absorb the easiest path to ranking up—stepping on others' lives.

Gold could be forcibly exchanged at an 80% rate, making it an even more attractive target. Paul's non-round number helped him avoid prying eyes somewhat.

He approached one of the tables set up around the Portal. He pressed his finger against the identification scanner in front of a staff member. After verification, he received his personal belongings: just a jacket, wallet, keys, and a few candy bars for hungry moments.

Beside him, a woman who had just emerged from the Portal collapsed. Looking at the small, frail girl, he felt a moment of empathy. She must be new, still unable to accept that the world had changed irrevocably.

The future could only get worse.

He looked back at the bodies being arranged in black bags, his mind flashing to images of David, Kate, and Lina. They had been brought out the same way. He had witnessed it all. Kate and Lina had no family members present, as neither had dared tell their families about their involvement.

David was different—a talented young man from a respectable family, ironically chosen to become a Breach Survivor. His parents had connections and had rushed to the Portal area when his body was ejected.

They had broken down, crying until no tears remained, before a heartless corpse with a distorted, unrecognizable face. Yet somehow, his mother had recognized him immediately, even before DNA testing.

Paul had watched the kind-faced woman faint repeatedly, her trembling hands wanting but not daring to touch David's face. He had stood in a corner, grinding his teeth in anger, helpless. David, though robbed of his promising future as a lawyer, had been a skilled Survivor. Too straightforward and abrasive to turn a blind eye, he had tried to save Kate and Lina. His actions had led to cruel punishment.

Paul turned his head to the side and saw David standing next to him. His square face with its goatee gazed at the corpses with fury and regret.

Paul deliberately turned away.

As the last survivor of the group, he had to run. Run until he gained the ability to return and settle all scores.

Paul walked away, his hand clenched with hope. Before him flashed information about the item he'd purchased from the store for 200 gold, discounted from 2000 thanks to his Last Life Special Coupon.

<<Rank Transcendence Token>>

• Temporary rank increase for one run.

  • Grants associated stat bonuses.

  • Unlocks rank talent.

• All effects lost after one run.