PMEVBO 5

That was when a searing heat began to flare in my chest.

“Ugh.”

I felt the metallic scent of blood fill my mouth as I stared at the character status window in despair.

HP: 50/100

HP: 40/100

Ah, I’m screwed…

As they say, it’s the “perhaps” that kills you.

The worsening pain and the relentless decrease in HP were a warning. At this rate, I would be dead before long. I had to do something to survive.

But what could I possibly do…?

Sub Quest: Generating Reward…

Sub Quest: Reward Generation Complete!

The sudden notification startled me so much that I briefly forgot the pain in my chest.

────【 Skill Draw Ticket 】────

Would you like to use Skill Draw Ticket (x1)?

Yes / No

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I had been waiting for this “Skill Draw Ticket” with bated breath, but encountering it at a moment when I had to grasp at straws to stay alive made the feeling really special. This ticket was my final lifeline.

I might pull a healing skill or something similar.

Even though I was destined to be excommunicated in the near future, Lucariel’s occupation was a Priest. In most games, a cleric uses healing skills. With the mindset of a gambler betting his entire life on the last card in his hand, I selected “Yes.”

─────【 Skill Draw 】─────

Pick a number from 1 to 100 to attempt the Skill Draw!

Skill Draw Tickets: 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

.

.

.

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

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Seeing the numbers from 1 to 100 arranged reminded me of the punch-out prize boards I often saw at home as a kid. You know, the ones where you’d tear off a ragged scrap of paper to exchange it for the prize written inside. My brother used to love those.

However, I had no luxury to indulge in nostalgia.

HP: 38/100

“Ah!”

It felt as though my internal organs were being shredded by the fierce momentum of the poison. My vision went white; I nearly lost my balance and collapsed, only barely managing to stay upright by clutching the dining table.

I had to pick something very quickly. It was all or nothing. It was better than doing nothing and dying.

I quickly pressed ‘1’.

──────【 1 】──────

Loading…

────────────────

God… please let me draw a healing skill. If I die here, who will take care of my brother’s meals…

It was the first time in my life I had prayed to God so fervently. One might think he would listen, but God ultimately abandoned me.

───────【 1 】───────

⧓ Discernment ⧓

Congratulations!

You have acquired the skill ‘Discernment.’

────────────────

“Ugh, what the hell is that…?”

Instead of a healing skill, I had pulled some unknown skill. I was losing my mind.

─────【 Inventory 】─────

Skill ‘Discernment’ has been successfully saved to your inventory.

As a reward, the skill ‘Discernment’ will be automatically cast once in 5 seconds.

────────────────

“No, I’m asking what that is! Why are you casting it on your own…cough!”

Hot, metallic blood surged up through my parched throat. After vomiting enough blood to stain the front of my shirt crimson, I felt a wave of intense dizziness.

Unfortunately, five seconds passed in the meantime.

──────【 Skill 】──────

Casting Skill ‘Discernment’!

────────────────

Ah, I’m doomed.

──────【 Discernment 】──────

Making a correct judgment for the achievement of ‘???’

────────────────

It seemed my fear of failing to pull a healing skill had been too great. I had completely forgotten the dictionary definition of the word ‘Discernment’ until now.

‘Discernment’ means ‘the ability to judge well.’ Therefore, the Discernment skill was one that helped the player make the right decision.

──────【 Discernment 】──────

For the achievement of ‘Player Survival’—I make a correct judgment.

────────────────

“Ha…”

My guess was correct. The “???” was the reward for casting the Discernment skill, and this time, it was Lucariel’s survival, my survival.

In other words, I could live. It was at that exact moment, just as the tension left my body in relief, that it happened.

Crash!

A chair, thrown by my right hand acting on its own, smashed the dining room window to pieces. My body began to move of its own accord, as if I had suddenly developed Alien Hand Syndrome.

This is insane! What is this…?

Even in my terror, I couldn’t scream. My body, having broken the window and escaped the annex, began to run toward an unknown destination.

Where am I going…?

The situation was so absurd I couldn’t even manage a hollow laugh.

I suddenly realized what kind of skill this “Discernment” actually was.

This was essentially an auto-play mode. To put it simply, I had become a game character hunting automatically via AI. Me.

Isn’t this fantastic? If I just stayed still and watched, the “Player’s Survival” would be automatically achieved. Furthermore, perhaps thanks to the Discernment skill, I was currently free from pain.

“Cough!”

Even if my body was technically dying in real-time.

My mouth continued to cough up red blood, but my legs continued their sprint. Actually, this had already moved beyond what one would call a sprint. I was moving by jumping between the various spires rising throughout the ducal castle.

I have no idea how a human can do this. Is this the power of the skill, or the power of being the villain?

More importantly, where the hell are we going and what are we doing…?

HP: 10/100

My HP had already dropped to 10. I started to feel anxious.

…If this goes wrong, my HP will hit zero in mid-air and I’ll die.

Then, the frantic running stopped.

My body, which seemed as though it would halt atop a spire, suddenly committed to a dizzying plunge.

Certainly a “correct judgment” isn’t replacing death by poison with death by falling?! This was the very definition of a silent scream. To be at death’s door and unable to even scream was incredibly unfair.

Whoosh!

However, my falling body suddenly performed an acrobatic mid-air spin. Like a gentle spring breeze, I glided naturally through an open window at the top of a tower.

Is this a dream? I was so lightheaded after dramatically avoiding a fall to my death.

HP: 5/100

In that time, my HP had been cut in half.

Since things had come to this, it had to be here. Something to stop my death by poisoning. But the only people in this room were a plump, middle-aged man and a scrawny child.

The fear of death felt as though it would swallow me at any moment. But I did my best to pull myself together.

The room contained nothing but a single old chair. The middle-aged man, dressed in obviously expensive clothing, did not suit this room.

The one who belonged in this cramped, filthy room was the child dressed in shabby, tattered rags. A small body, wrapped tightly in heavy restraints, lay helplessly on the floor. Like a butterfly caught in a spiderweb.

“How dare you!”

Crack!

“A mere thing like you!”

Crack!

“Defying me?!”

Crack!

A whip landed relentlessly on the child’s small, immobile body. Meanwhile, the man was so engrossed in the whipping that he failed to notice an intruder.

“Haa… Today, I shall beat some sense into you once and for all, you little brat.”

Those were the man’s last words.

“Aarrgh!”

Because my body delivered a magnificent dropkick straight to the man’s head.

The man took the hit and feel, unable to get back up.

…Is he dead?

Of course, a perverted child abuser who found joy in whipping a helpless child deserved to die. But killing him with my own hands was a bit…

HP: 2/100

Whatever. What does it matter? I’m the one about to die.

Cough! The blood I spat out formed a dark stain on the stone floor. The amount of blood I vomited this time was as much as the maid who had died.

HP: 1/100

Someone save me. I don’t want to find comfort in taking a piece of human trash along as a traveling companion to the afterlife.

Rip!

Just as I thought it was over, my right hand tore away the front of my blood-soaked shirt. This was the second time I’d experienced semi-nudity since being possessed. This time, however, I didn’t even feel embarrassed.

When I came to my senses, I was lying on the floor. I was holding the child, whose entire body was already bound by restraints, in my own arms and legs.

Then, a miracle happened.

HP: 1/100

HP: 2/100

HP: 3/100

The HP that had hit rock bottom began to rebound.