> "Finally, I can beat this cursed intro sequence!"
Otilia could almost see it—her victory, herself soaring through the skies aboard a majestic pterosaur.
She raised her hand crossbow...
Fired!
> *Whoosh—*
The grapple bolt flew toward its target.
But…
> *Clink—*
It barely grazed the pterosaur's talons. The flying beast staggered—but didn't latch.
> "Huh—?!"
For a moment, Otilia was frozen mid-air.
And then—
> "It wasn't supposed to end like this—!"
She plummeted straight into the sea.
> *GUAAHH—!*
The pterosaur let out a squawk as it flapped upward, almost mocking her as it flew off.
> **[YOU ARE DEAD]**
> **[A stunning death. We can't wait for your next performance.]**
An all-too-familiar, creepy laugh echoed again.
> "Who wants to be the star of a death show?! DAMN YOU GAME DEVELOPERS—ugh!!" she shouted, voice shaky with frustration.
> "That was so close!" she grumbled. "This game is *unplayable!* The timing to fire the hand crossbow was insane! No auto-lock? No guidance?! DID NO ONE THINK ABOUT PLAYER EXPERIENCE?!"
She stomped her feet furiously in protest.
But after a moment, she calmed herself. The producer had baited her again.
She realized now—being overexcited from discovering the pterosaur mechanic, she had overlooked her lack of *actual experience* using the crossbow.
> "Damn it! The targeting should've autocorrected! If I miss by an inch in midair, that's it? What kind of busted design is this? Garbage game!!"
She ranted louder—but deep down, she wasn't quitting.
This was the charm of a fully immersive world.
Games that strip away the safety nets.
Games where every death *hurts*—and makes you want to try again.
Like **Dark Souls**.
Like **Sekiro**.
Games that turn rage-quitting into an art form.
Otilia reached out to select **[Yes]** to try again… but suddenly paused.
The option had turned from crimson **red** to a dull, **gray**.
> "Huh?"
A new line appeared:
> **[You have reached the death limit for today. Game cannot continue.]**
> "What?! You're telling me I can't play if I die too many times?!"
Then came another message:
> **[Nightmare World will be closed shortly.]**
> "WAIT—! No! Hold on, I can do it next time! I was seriously just one move away! Don't shut it down, please—I have questions! I—HEY! DEVS! Are you listening?! Let me back in!"
But the system didn't respond.
The fog around her grew heavier, swirling thickly. Otilia's body began to tremble with exhaustion… sleep washing over her like a tide.
Her eyelids grew heavy… and darkness claimed her.
## **Back in the Nightmare Core**
> "So... how much did we get?" Evan Walker asked, glancing over at the misty mass near him.
The **Nightmare Lord** gave a dismissive snort.
> "Pitiful. Pathetic."
> "No seriously, give me numbers."
> "Fine. Converted to your human metrics... I gathered around **140 Nightmare Power**," the Nightmare Lord said flatly.
> "Is that... good?"
> "Each normal death from a standard human yields about 10 units. Otilia is special—her spirit density bumps that to 30 per death."
> "So three deaths equals 90, and the rest comes from emotional surges—panic, curiosity, frustration?"
> "Exactly. Total: 140."
> "It's not high, but not terrible either," Evan mused.
> "And more importantly, it proves this model is viable."
> "Setting pain to 20%... you weakened the harvest."
> "That's the *point*," Evan countered. "I wanted the experience to be challenging, but not **traumatizing**. If she'd experienced 100% pain—like full drowning—you think she'd *come back* for another run? You'd scare away every player."
The Nightmare Lord growled low and ominous.
> "Just a swarm of ants. With my power, they'll crawl in whether they want to or not."
> "Still part of our agreement, remember? My way first. You've waited centuries—you can wait a little longer."
There was an annoyed puff of shadow from the Nightmare Lord.
> "Fine. But I could've harvested tenfold by now…"
> "By the way," Evan continued. "How much Nightmare Power does it cost to bring someone into the Nightmare World?"
> "Basic pull-in is 10 units," the mist answered simply.
> "So one normal death's worth… Interesting."
> "Which means..." Evan mulled aloud, "encouraging more deaths *does* create an exponential growth loop—but only if people keep coming back."
> "So raise the pain—"
> "No."
> "But—!"
> "NO."
Evan shut the debate down immediately. The Nightmare Lord let out a dramatic roar… but Evan had stopped listening.
Instead, Evan opened up the interface console of the Nightmare Realm.
> "Based on Otilia's gameplay, I think… we need a **minor update**."
He began typing quickly, deep in thought.
> "I wanted to give players a horrifyingly realistic world—but for casuals, that's *still* too much. We need something that helps them engage sooner."
> "Something to help them learn faster…"
He tilted his head thoughtfully, then turned toward the Nightmare Lord.
> "Hey… is there any feature we could add to allow players to gain abilities more efficiently? *Any* way for them to unlock skills more quickly?"
**To be continued...**