Even without looking, I knew there was nowhere to dodge inside a coffin this narrow.

Damn it...

The soldier thrust his sword downward, aiming straight for my skull. I didn’t move, not even once. Yet the blade kept on coming, piercing straight through me.

Was the sun setting again? The world turned black, as dark as night. I couldn’t tell whether I was unable to move, or if I was simply choosing not to move at all. I let it be.

Once he pulled the sword out, he would leave. If I stayed still, utterly still, he would go away. I decided to commit to that choice until the end.

Thunk! Crack! Crunch!

The crude iron sword stabbed through my skull twice, then again through my neck, my spine, and my ribs in rapid succession. It didn’t matter. The more broken I was, the easier it was to play dead. If I could just outlast this one moment...

[Health has fallen below 0%.]

***

Ding!

[...tion complete.]

[Current Purchasing Power: 96.7%.]

Clatter!

I jolted upright inside the coffin. "You damned bastard!"

Move, and I die. Stay still, and I die. So what am I supposed to do?

My outburst could have drawn them back here, but waiting would only end the same way. If that was the case, then I’d rather fight.

[Class Revocation Perk: Number of Ruin]

[Experience gained increased by 666%.]

[Stat points gained per level-up increased by 6.]

Thanks to the Lurium I’d absorbed in the imperial archives, the perk was now active again. Overwhelming experience gain and stat growth. If I could just kill one of them in a surprise attack, the rest would be far easier with the boosted stats.

I crawled desperately out of the coffin, dragging myself behind a nearby rock. From the Inventory, I drew the rapier I’d marked earlier and gripped it tight.

"I heard something... over there?"

The same one who’d killed me before. He was close, too close. I already knew his movements.

Swish!

I lunged forward and drove the rapier toward where his chest would be. A precise, sudden thrust.

"Whoa!"

But he twisted aside with surprising ease, dodging my attack.

Crack!

Then, he struck me hard across the jaw with his fist. The blow came out of nowhere. There was no stance or warning. I was lifted off the ground.

"What the hell is this?"

Crunch!

He followed up immediately with his other fist. With my low Health stat, even my bones were brittle, and my two ribs snapped as I was hurled backward.

[Warning! Health has fallen below 75%!]

The ambush had failed, but I couldn’t stop now. I refused to let go of the sword. Turning my back to him, I used the twist to drive the rapier backward in a blind thrust.

"Urgh...!" The soldier grunted in shock.

It wasn’t an attack a human could predict. The blade had likely scraped his leg through the armor. A thin line of blood trickled down from the wound.

Crunch!

My vision spun several times.

Thud.

I caught a glimpse of a white skeletal hand clutching the ornate hilt of the rapier. Pointless, really. The familiar skeleton lying on the ground no longer had a skull.

Crack! Crack!

A heavy scabbard struck something again and again.

Smash!

Within moments, the bones shattered completely.

***

[Succesion Complete.]

[Current Purchasing Power: 96.7%.]

"Agh..."

A sigh escaped me. I had managed to stab him, or perhaps just graze him. Should I search my Inventory for a poisoned weapon? Something that could kill with a single touch. But among all the items Isaac had stored, there was nothing like that.

For a fleeting moment, I found myself wanting to blame him. Pathetic. Ever since I began working with Isaac, I’d stopped thinking for myself. He’d always told me to rely on my own mind, but once solitude faded, so did clarity.

As a result, I hadn’t given something as simple as deciding what to store in the Inventory a real thought. In hindsight, I should be grateful that I’d stuffed in at least a few swords from that mountain of radiant gems.

Clink.

Remembering Isaac’s gleeful expression as he’d piled treasure into the Inventory, I clenched my hands tight.

If I died here, he’d mock me for eternity. I’d already wasted five of Ashton’s books and lost two swords. This spiral wasn’t good. What would Isaac do?

Negotiation?

With my current state, those nameless soldiers were basically stronger than the duke or Leandro. Well, weaker than Pretcher, maybe, but far beyond what I could handle now.

The answer was clear. I had to talk. There had to be some way to persuade them.

I opened my Inventory and looked inside. The books were too precious to risk, and weapons were scarce. Still, there was one thing I had in endless supply: gold, jewels, and treasure. All the wealth Isaac had gleefully crammed inside, promising to take it all from the imperial vaults.

I can use this...

I didn’t know why they were here, but they were ordinary soldiers. Most humans valued money more than their own lives. Even soldiers endured their miserable existence for the sake of meager pay. There was no way anyone would patrol a lonely graveyard in the middle of nowhere, late at night, unless it was for money.

I would persuade them with the treasures, show them just enough to lower their guard. Then, kill them when the moment was right.

Once they saw the treasures appear from thin air, their minds would be blinded by greed. They would beg on their knees for another glimpse, another handful. Even devils would bow to gold.

Srrrk.

I reached into my Inventory, closing my fingers around a gleaming gold bar. Under the moonlight, the ingot shimmered with an almost divine glow. Even I felt its allure. To ordinary men, it would be utterly intoxicating.

When I’d first picked it up, even the Appraisal skill couldn’t determine its value. Regardless, anyone could sense that this was something worth stopping for, something worth dying for.

Clatter.

This time, I wasn’t equipped with a sword, but a heavy ingot. I deliberately let it knock against the stone as I stepped out of the grave.

Tap!

As expected, I heard approaching footsteps. Instead of charging out with my weapon drawn, I tossed the shining gold bar toward the sound of movement.

The shadow stumbled backward in shock. "Wh-what the...!"

It was a completely different reaction than when he had slashed at my fluttering book earlier.

Got him.

As expected, the golden radiance had bewitched him completely. I craned my head slightly. The soldier stood there, frozen, his sword hanging awkwardly at his side. His eyes locked entirely on the gold.

It was perfect. I pulled another bar of gold from the Inventory and held it up so the light struck it in full. The moonlight danced across its surface, like pure, tangible magic.

The soldier gaped, staggering forward. "W-wait...!"

"Stop right there! Take another step, and you’ll never see this gold again!"

The burly man blinked in confusion. To prove I could make good on the threat, I pushed the gold halfway back into the Inventory, then pulled it out again. Half-vanishing, half-returning, a golden apparition.

He gasped in disbelief and froze on the spot. "A-aah!"

A second soldier, long-faced and nervous, hurried over. "Wh-what’s that? Is that... gold?"

One glance at the treasure was all it took. Their suspicion of me vanished completely, replaced by raw hunger. I withdrew the bar fully, letting it sink into the void of the Inventory. When it disappeared before their eyes, the long-faced soldier stopped dead in his tracks. It was just as planned. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"What the hell...?"

"Everyone take one step back. If you don’t, I’ll make all of this vanish forever."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I heard the sound of retreat from three different directions, obedient and fearful. I reached into the Inventory again and pulled out a handful of radiant jewels. Even beneath the moonlight, they shone brilliantly, and I could feel the heat of the soldiers’ gazes fix upon them.

"Five steps back," I ordered.

The soldiers obeyed like well-trained animals, stepping back exactly five paces. Their docility was almost comical. I found myself wondering what expressions hid beneath those helmets.

"Is that... real gold?"

"It’s beautiful..."

"They look fake, like glass... Are those real? This isn’t some necromancy trick, is it?"

Their grips on their swords loosened. Even through the visors, I could feel their eyes wavering. The plan was working, but the mention of necromancy made me uneasy. I had to be more direct.

Clink!

I scattered a shower of golden coins from the Inventory. Thousands of seiron gleamed under the moonlight, and the air filled with the gentle music of wealth. For men who couldn’t gauge the value of gemstones, coins were perfect, immediate, and undeniable.

In truth, I hadn’t collected many gold coins from the archives; they were too common there to bother with. But at this moment, it didn’t matter. The soldiers’ reactions were everything I’d hoped for. Their breathing grew ragged, their composure vanished.

The first soldier, the huge one, let out a beastlike cry of awe. "Whoa... Whoooa!"

I could see it clearly now. Resisting was beyond them. They wanted to touch and make it theirs. Their swords clattered to the ground as they dropped to their knees, clawing at the scattered coins like starved beasts.

"I am the one who awakened you," I said, my voice calm, commanding. "These treasures are infinite. Take your time."

The soldier who had been staring at me earlier finally managed to say, "Who... who are you?"

"I am Isaac, the Saint of Gold. Consider it the greatest fortune of your life that you met me tonight."

The name had slipped out before I realized it. Immediately, I wondered if I’d chosen too famous a one.

"Isaac?"

"Never heard of him..."

Their confused muttering reassured me. Maybe they’d slept through their history lessons, or perhaps the name had been forgotten in this version of the Empire. Still, something about their ignorance felt wrong, almost cold. There were more pressing questions, though.

Their loyalty bought with gold, it was time to demand answers.

"I have something to ask you. What day is it today?"

That was what mattered most. The point in time of my return.

The soldier, still collecting coins in his helmet, answered casually, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "It’s January 20th."