Normal Reincarnators always kept a reserve of Reincarnation Points as a safety net. If a challenge failed and they were thrown into the dangerous observation zone, those saved points could mean the difference between recovery and total collapse.
But Liza was different.
Because of [Presence Dilution], an extremely dominant skill in the early floors, she had rarely faced real danger. She cleared instance after instance smoothly and saw no urgency in spending her points to strengthen herself. Over time, she accumulated more than three thousand Reincarnation Points.
"Hurting other Reincarnators?" she said calmly. "I can accept that. The Reincarnation Space is cruel by nature. We chose to step into it."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"But watching a child like that die in front of me? I couldn't live with that."
She had already considered withdrawing last night. She didn't want to stay in this suffocating orphanage for another second. The only reason she hadn't left immediately was Nina, the little girl who called her "Big Sis" in that soft, trusting voice.
She just wanted to see her one last time.
Liza wasn't naïve. She understood she didn't have the strength to overturn the farm's fate alone. With only a stealth-oriented skill and no major combat power, she couldn't confront the monsters directly. She even regretted hoarding her points. Three thousand was nearly enough to push [Presence Dilution] to A-rank.
But she had hesitated.
Because once you stepped onto the tenth floor, everything changed.
The tenth floor was infamous. There were no reliable walkthroughs. No low-risk farming instances. Every challenge was a gamble. If she spent her savings and still failed, the deduction would leave her crippled. Without enough points to strengthen further, she would be trapped—forced to wait for instance rotations or slowly decline.
Many Reincarnators stalled at bottleneck tiers like this eventually faded out.
Arthur understood her situation completely. At this point, she had no reason to lie. She had even revealed her skill and mission details. If he chose to, he could expose everything after leaving this dungeon. The leverage was entirely in his hands.
And yet—
Despite her rational surrender, he could see it.
She hadn't truly given up.
Intelligent people don't struggle when the outcome is absolutely hopeless. They accept it cleanly. But if there is even the faintest glimmer of possibility, they will never release it.
Arthur saw that glimmer in her eyes.
"So—"
He spoke the words she had subconsciously been waiting for.
"Have you considered that there may be other ways to clear this instance?"
Liza's pupils contracted slightly.
Smart people didn't need things spelled out. From the moment he said that, she understood, he was extending a hand.
"You know of another clear condition?" she asked immediately.
That was the core issue. Even if Nina was temporarily safe, the farm would tighten its procedures after the previous disruption. The next shipment would be guarded heavily. An ambush would be far more difficult.
Which meant the next child selected… would almost certainly die.
Unless there truly was another path to victory.
Unfortunately for her, once her identity was exposed, she had effectively lost her value as an undercover agent. Any intelligence she submitted now would be highly suspect. Worse—she herself would likely become the next "shipment."
She understood her own limitations very clearly.
Her skill had a daily duration limit.Her physical stats were reduced to one-tenth.In this child's body, she was physically weaker than most of the six- or seven-year-olds in the orphanage.
If she wanted to clear this dungeon now, she would need an entirely different victory condition.
But discovering an alternative clear route in a tenth-floor dungeon? That was nearly impossible.
Arthur smiled calmly.
"Of course there is."
"I've been preparing for that objective since the very beginning. If you join us, it'll only increase the success rate."
Liza swallowed. Her throat felt dry.
"What… exactly is that objective?"
Since he had already decided to pull her in, Arthur no longer hid it.
"That would be—"
A confident smile curved his lips. Combined with his steady tone, it even bordered on arrogance.
"Escape the farm with all the children."
For a moment, Liza genuinely thought she had misheard him.
For Reincarnators, merely surviving until the deadline was already a brutal challenge.
And he was saying...
Not only escape.
But take everyone with them?
Was he insane?
Arthur looked at her stunned expression and smiled even wider.
"Doesn't it sound exciting?"
"In this farm, aside from the caretakers, everyone is a human child under twelve. Our official mission is simply to survive past our twelfth birthday."
He tilted his head slightly.
"But if we just hide and endure until then… what's the meaning of that?"
His voice grew firmer.
"We're Reincarnators. We climb towers filled with impossibilities. If we're going to live through countless worlds, are we really satisfied scraping by in the most mediocre way possible?"
He slowly spread his hands, not dramatically... but with the quiet confidence of someone who had already envisioned the ending.
"I refuse to crawl through a dungeon just to survive."
His eyes sharpened.
"If there's even a one percent chance, I'll bet everything on that one percent."
"I'd rather challenge the impossible…"
His voice dropped, steady and burning with conviction.
"…and turn it into something people would call a miracle."
The air between them felt heavier.
He stepped half a pace closer—not threatening, but overwhelming in presence.
"Tell me," he said softly, locking eyes with her, "don't you want to be part of something like that?"
"You were ready to withdraw. Ready to accept failure."
A faint, daring smile curved his lips.
"If you're already prepared to lose… then why not gamble once?"
"Why not stake everything—"
"—on a future where Nina doesn't just survive…"
"…but gets to live. Truly live."
Silence followed.
Liza felt her heartbeat quicken.
It wasn't logic that shook her. It wasn't strategy.
It was that reckless certainty. That intoxicating belief that the board could be flipped over entirely.
In her mind, another silhouette overlapped with the boy before her—a genius who once turned impossible games into spectacles of dominance.
Her lips trembled slightly.
"…Are you..."
"...Blank?"
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Hey everyone!
I've just opened a new poll on my Patreon where you can help decide which Anime world the protagonist will visit in one of the upcoming dungeons. That's right, this time you will help shape the direction of the story!
The options are already available on Patreon, and the world with the most votes will become the setting for a future dungeon arc.
1 — Sword Art Online
2 — Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry
3 — Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
If you want to participate in the vote and influence the story, feel free to check it out. Your choice might decide the next chaotic adventure, even free members can vote.
Anyway… let the voting begin.
See ya!