Kyne woke up again, drawing in air.
This time, the air entered like a blessing.
Not just clean air, it was as if every pore of his body were breathing for the first time. A wave of freshness and vitality coursed through his being, from the tips of his toes to the roots of his hair.
It was like spending an entire life with a clogged nose and, suddenly, having all nasal passages completely open.
He took a deep breath, and the air did not merely enter, it flowed. Bringing with it a sensation of energy, of clarity.
Kyne remained lying down for a moment, simply feeling his body function, his lungs filling and emptying effortlessly.
Then, he noticed the grass beneath him. Soft like velvet, with a lush thickness, and a vibrant blue that was almost unreal.
Each blade of grass had a faint luminescence, creating a gentle glow that stretched as far as his eyes could see.
He sat up slowly, observing the world around him. He was in a clearing, surrounded by trees with leaves in shades of violet and silver. The two suns bathed everything in a strange and beautiful light.
And he was naked, completely unclothed, with no trace of the clothes he had worn in his apartment. Kyne believed they had been destroyed during the transmigration.
The reality of the situation hit him like a punch to the stomach, followed immediately by a wave of euphoria so intense it left him dizzy.
He started laughing.
At first, it was just a broken sigh. Then, a loose laugh. In seconds, it turned into uncontrollable laughter that shook his body against the bluegrass.
Kyne fell onto his back again, eyes filled with tears as he laughed until his stomach hurt.
Three deaths. Three deaths in less time than it took to drink a coffee. The knife. The spatial pressure. And now this, suffocating on the very air of a new world.
Each death brought something, an adaptation. He was learning from each end, becoming more suited to survive.
When the laughter finally faded into broken chuckles, Kyne lay there, staring at the two suns, a sense of peace washing over him. This was real. Better than any dream he had ever had.
Then he remembered something. Something from the stories he used to read on Earth.
"Status." He said out loud, in a serious, experimental tone.
The translucent screen appeared immediately before his eyes, floating in the air with no apparent support.
————————————————————
[Immortal Adaptation System — Status]
Name: Kyne Fritz
Age: 18
Talents: Immortal Adaptation (Unknown Rank)
Rank: F-
[Adaptations] (+)
————————————————————
Kyne looked at the screen, his eyes fixing on the words "Immortal Adaptation." The rest hardly mattered at that moment. Those two words were everything.
He focused his mind on it, trying to draw out information. As if responding to his thoughts, a new window opened.
[Immortal Adaptation: Renders the host incapable of truly dying. The user will resurrect 3 seconds after death at the location of death or the nearest safe possible location. Deaths may generate adaptations according to the cause]
A new laugh began to rise in his throat, but it was interrupted by a sharp, sudden pain in his left leg.
Kyne shouted in surprise, jumping up. When he looked down, he saw a creature that made his heart race, not from fear, but from fascination.
It was a spider the size of a hand, with a hollow metallic body that camouflaged itself perfectly in the grass.
Eight tiny eyes shone like drops of amber. On Kyne's leg, two small red puncture marks were already swelling visibly.
"I must have lain on top of it." Kyne murmured, more to himself than to the spider, which was now retreating quickly through the grass.
"And because of that, it bit me…"
His leg began to burn. The pain was sharp and throbbing, radiating from the bite. Kyne sat down again, watching in fascination as the swelling increased, the skin turning red and then purplish.
Then came the paralysis. It started in the affected leg, a tingling that quickly turned into numbness.
It spread upward, through the thigh, then to the hip. Kyne sat more upright, supporting himself on his arms as he watched his own body succumb to the venom.
"This is fascinating." He whispered as the paralysis reached his torso. His abdominal muscles began to give way, and he fell onto his side.
"The speed of action… It's truly fast…"
His breathing became difficult. His diaphragm was paralyzing. Kyne struggled to draw in air, but his lungs no longer responded.
His vision began to darken.
He died with a smile on his lips.
…
[You were bitten by a Rank F Blue Grass Spider and died from poisoning.]
[You received: Poison Resistance F-]
[You will resurrect in 3… 2… 1…]
Kyne woke up breathing deeply. His leg was perfect, without swelling, without pain. He sat up, looking around the clearing. The spider was gone.
"So that's how it works." He said to the empty air, a smile of understanding lighting up his face.
"I die, I come back, and I become a little more resistant to whatever killed me."
He stood up, brushing the blue grass from his back. His eyes swept over the clearing, the forest beyond, and the two suns in the sky.
There was an entire world to explore here. An infinity of ways to die.
Kyne smiled, and for the first time in his life, he felt truly free.
"Right. How should I die this time? I'm really looking forward to it."
"HAHA!" He said as he took his first step on the bluegrass, toward the forest of violet leaves.