Watching him as he falls down to his death, the unknown female stares at Kyle with eyes glimmering with pleasure.
Her blank-lifeless expression, now, resembles that of a child as she watches Kyle sinks down like a paper boat to the bottom of a lake with a faint smile showing on her face.
The effect of the poison injected to him by her is already manifesting his entire body, leaving him with just a few able limbs to move.
Freefalling, Kyle lift's his left hand a bit, trying to reach out to the woman watching on the edge of the chasm as if he is asking her for help, for rescue, yet he knew that it would never happen because right now he is looking to the very reason why he is about to meet his death.
He felt totally annoyed as he stares back at her. He really wanted to hit her at least once before he respawns to the start-town due to the blissful expression that she is showing to him as he falls down.
It is provoking, yet all he can do now is stare at it since it is the only view there is.
In an instance, the figure of the woman becomes smaller and smaller as he falls deeper down.
The strong pulling force makes Kyle feels like his entrails is going to burst out of his belly any moment and at the same time, the sudden shift of his position from a horizontal fall to a vertical one with his head pointing to the ground made his heartbeat rapidly as he can feel the surging blood flowing in his veins.
The terrible feeling of falling knowing that any moment, his entire body will hit the ground and the force of gravity combined with the height he fell and his weight will definitely crush him flat.
Although Kyle knew that it is just a game but the feeling he feels right now is real… very, real.
Knowing that there is no escape from his fate, Kyle closed his eyes and wait for the quick and instant kill that will happen to him.
"Just wait for me you crazy whore, I'm going to spank that bum of yours when we meet again nonstop."
After a few seconds, a loud pop along with a squirting sound like a bug is being crushed enters Kyle's ears followed by total darkness.
Kyle's screen is pitch-black while his HP gauge is surrounded by a reddish shadow telling him that it is now empty, on the same time, a notification on the center of his screen keeps on blinking.
[You have died]
This is the first time Kyle dies in this game and he knows that there should be a window stating that he will be revived after an hour or so with all the penalties stated on it, but what appeared on the screen is not what he expects it to be.
[A resurrection Item (x1) is found in your inventory, would you wish to revive?] [Yes] [No]
'Huh? A resurrection item? Just when?' Kyle thought as he tries to recall how he was able to obtain such an item.
Kyle knows that thinking more about it will only cause him headaches and he won't miss this chance to be resurrected without any penalties, so he did what most players will do.
[Yes]
After pressing the button, another notification pops on his screen.
[Ether has been used.]
'Ether? Oh… right, I remember it now! I saw it back when I was in the tutorial field when I search for a weapon in my inventory.' Kyle thought as he recalls the time when he scans his inventory the day he undergoes tutorial and that was a few days ago.
The notification continues as the item takes in its effect.
[The warm light of the Ether enters your entire body. The blessing of the gods is now bestowed unto thee]
[Ether has taken effect. Removing all debuff and recovering HP to maximum]
And a brimming bluish light covers Kyle's entire body while slowly lifting him upwards as if the light is helping him stand on his two feet.
[Congratulations! You have been revived!]
After the notification, Kyle's body returns to normal as the effect of the immobilizing poison has been flushed away by the Ether off his body.
Kyle opens his eyes once more and found himself on the bottom of the chasm.
He stares up from where he fell and saw a thin strand of light flowing from one end to the other, At that time, Kyle realized how high he just fell.
'It's like looking at the great wall while in outer space.' He thought while looking to the mouth of the chasm that is now as thin as a thread above him.
As his eyes slowly adapt to the darkness of the place, Kyle scans the surrounding area and found nothing but pointy stalagmites rising high up the ground that he eventually felt lucky for himself that a smug appears on his face.
'Good thing I didn't fell on one of those.' He thought while looking on the pointy edges of the stones and imagining some gory scenes if he didn't get lucky.
But aside from the luck he had for not falling on one of the high-rising stalagmites, there is one more problem he is facing, and that is on how he can be able to go back up the chasm.
He walks to one side of the chasm and found out that it is impossible for him to climb up since the wall is almost smooth and flat with no dents or bulging rocks to grab on as he climbs and even if there is, he still doubts himself if he can possibly climb up since he has no experience in both wall climbing and rock climbing.
'And what if I fall down again?'
His mind is now clouded with lots of possible scenarios that he crossed out the idea of climbing up the chasm, leading him to the one and only solution for his problem, to walk around until he finds a way up rather than climbing it like a monkey.
Then there is another problem, the darkness obscuring his view adds up to one of his many problems, he is bothered by the fact that there might be monsters lurking in the shadows and are just waiting for the right time to pounce him, so instead of marching forward to the darkness with only sheer courage, he first think of a way to solve it.
"Argh! Maybe I should just revive normally and respawn in my start town with all the deduction!" He said as he now realized how bothersome it is to be revived in such an unknown place with no enough lighting to find his way out of the place.
And after a few moments of thinking it thru, he found an answer that just lies in wait inside his inventory.
Kyle quickly opens his inventory and scans it, swiping up and down while reading the name of each item in it.
'Oh! There it is!'
He then pressed the item and a floating window with two commands appeared.
[Are you sure to use the selected Item?] [Confirm] [Cancel]
'Good thing I was tantalized by this item that I bought it though it is just a decorative one.' He thought as he pressed the confirm button.
[You used a Firefly Lamp from your inventory]
And a lamp appears in front of Kyle with thousands of glowing fireflies inside, illuminating a small portion of the place but is enough for Kyle to keep on going in his search for an exit.
'Sometimes, I feel creepy for myself for being too well prepared.'
Kyle grabs the lamp in front of him while on his other hand, is his dagger in case of an emergency and then after preparing himself, Kyle begins his possibly long journey searching for a way out.
As he walks further, Kyle noticed some dimmed glowing dots of lights on the ground some are compressed with each other, while others are distant. The tiny bits of lights are spreading across on both sides, up to the top edge of the chasm.
He walks closer to the one nearest to him that is as big as an infant's hand and squats down in front of it. He placed the lamp he is holding on the ground and began scanning the light-emitting object.
After scanning it, he realized that the light came from a mushroom that emits a pale green color and there is a whole field of them.
He gently poked it and at the same time, slides the same finger down to feel its texture. After successfully feeling the texture of it, he noticed that the part of the finger he used to touch the mushroom is glowing with the same color.
"Bio… luminescent mushrooms?" He said
Then a system notification appears, stating if he wants to add the item to his inventory.
'This is an item?'
Kyle then adds the item into his inventory and eventually picks up more of the luminescent mushrooms scattered on the ground. After being satisfied with the number of mushrooms he hoarded, Kyle turns to his lamp and is about to pick it up, when suddenly, a voice echoes and it is the very same voice Kyle heard back when he was facing the Red Dragon.
"Hey…"
"Over here."
Kyle instantly grabs the lamp and began turning around while holding it as he searches for the voice calling for him.
"Come… over here…"
Not knowing where the voice is coming from, Kyle continues on walking forward since it is the only option he has.
While walking in a straight path, the voice calling for him becomes louder and louder. As he passes thru the end of the luminescent mushroom field, Kyle found an altar-like structure made of limestones. At the same time, the altar also serves as a dead-end of his chosen path and he has nowhere else to go but to turn back.
"Over here."
Kyle walks slowly to the stone altar and found a deep-blue-colored gemstone floating on the center of the altar.
"Over here…"
Kyle slowly reaches out for the gem with his bare hand and the calling for him continues in a repeating manner like a broken record that keeps on looping over and over again.
A portion of his mind tells him not to touch it, while the other half of it tells him to do so.
But even though there is a struggle between what to do or not in his mind, his body already made its choice and is now moving on its own as if it is drawn to the gem that reflects the color of the deep blue ocean.
The moment Kyle touches the gem, a bright blinding light brims out of the said gemstone, too bright that Kyle felt that his eyes are starting to burn up, forcing him to shield it with his vacant hand while the other is still holding the gem.
The blinding light is already a nuisance for Kyle, making it worst, the continuous call of the same voice keeps on pestering his ears.
At the same time, memories of a certain person he once knew flash back to him in a very rapid way.
"Hey Kyle, what are you doing?"
"Kyle, are you busy now? Want to hang out for a bit?"
"That's funny Kyle."
"Kyle…"
"…Kyle…"
"Kyle…"
"Kyle."
The same sentences keep on repeating in a fast phased cycle until it was suddenly replaced by a loud static noise followed by total silence.
The blinding light slowly subdues and Kyle has a gutfeel that it is now safe to open his eyes back.
As he opens his eyes, the dark gloomy place is shifted into a bright grassland. On the vast greenfield are colorful wildflowers of different kinds blooming all over the place as their petals are being blown away by the passing wind.
The stone altar in front of Kyle is now replaced by a huge shade-giving oak tree, while behind the tree, Kyle can clearly see the vast blue ocean as the sound of the tranquil waves hitting the rocky ledge below sends a soothing sensation to his soul.
As Kyle relaxes himself with the tranquility of the place and breaths in the fresh salty air, a gentle tap on the shoulder made him turn around to where he felt the tap.
The moment he turns, a finger poked his chin, halting his head from going straight to his desired direction, and then the finger is pulled out from his chin right away, followed by a gentle giggle that leads to a burst of meek laughter.
As Kyle completely turns around, he saw a girl wearing a white sundress accompanied by a boater with a sunflower ornament on the base of the hat's crown. Her long black hair flows down to her chest as it sways along with the gentle blowing breeze.
But Kyle can't clearly see the face of the one wearing it since the hat is currently obscuring his view of her, and another reason is that she is slightly tilting her head down while covering her mouth as she laughs.
The laughter continues on and on until she felt satisfied with her laugh.
"You done?" Kyle asked as he felt a little bit offended by her literal laugh attack.
But the girl didn't answer back immediately, she raised her right hand gesturing Kyle to wait for a few more seconds, while her other hand is still covering her mouth.
Then after a moment, she takes in a deep breath and exhales it with a loud "Hoo", blowing out the air in her lungs to compensate for the time she didn't breathe just to laugh at Kyle.
"How about now?" he asked again.
And the female nods twice agreeing to his statement of her being done on laughing.
The female slowly lifts her head up to look at Kyle's face and greets him with a gentle and warm smile that can capture the hearts of many.
"Hello, Kyle." She said.
Kyle was stunned after seeing the girl's face. His reaction is somehow absurd and is similar to that of a person who saw something that is not supposed to be there as if he saw something that doesn't exist.
Seeing Kyle's reaction, the girl leans on her shoulder to check if there is something that is behind her yet found nothing. She turns her gaze back to Kyle with a curious look on her.
In the shock at what his eyes are gazing right now, Kyle can only say one word while stuttering as he utters it.
"A…"
"Ah?" She mimicked Kyle.
"Alice!?"
And the girl can only express a face of wonder to Kyle for stating the obvious.
"Yes… Why?"