As the last drops of life drained out of him, Alexei felt something grab hold of his consciousness, an invisible force that yanked his soul out of his dying body like someone ripping a plant out of the ground, roots and all.
The sensation was deeply wrong.
"I just died?"
Even as his soul fully separated from his corpse, floating there, he couldn't quite process what had just happened.
He had so many complaints. Starting with the fact that he'd survived, he checked some internal clock that didn't exist, one hour and seventeen minutes in this new world before getting himself killed.
"If this were one of those webnovels, I wouldn't even make it past the first chapter."
He looked around, trying to get his bearings. His current state was strange. No body and ability to move. Just awareness, floating in space.
"So what, I'm a ghost now? Is that it?"
He'd never died before, and right now he wished he could somehow reach back to Earth and post on some forum: "Died in another world, became a ghost, what do? Urgent, please advise."
His non-existent eyebrows furrowed as he tried to think through his situation.
Was he stuck here forever as some kind of spirit? Doomed to haunt this specific patch of murder-trees for eternity?
Or, and this thought made him want to laugh and cry simultaneously, was his "path" in this cultivation world supposed to be as a ghost cultivator? Would he eventually become some kind of Undead Emperor, ruling over legions of spirits while complaining about how stupid the whole system was?
That'd be fitting, actually. Very on-brand.
Finding nothing useful in his surroundings, he turned his attention back to the ground below.
The spider was still there, holding his mangled corpse in its legs, chewing. The sight should've made him sick.
Instead, he just felt annoyed.
Maybe it was because he didn't have a body anymore, no adrenaline to spike his fear response. Or maybe he was just too dead inside, metaphorically and literally, to care.
From this perspective, watching the spider eat was almost hypnotic. The way it moved its front legs while chewing, like it was savoring every bite...
"Congratulations," he told the spider, even though it couldn't hear him. "You've discovered the worst-tasting human in—"
The corpse exploded.
Not metaphorically.
The spider froze, its multiple eyes blinking.
Its head swiveled left, then right, mandibles working silently as if trying to process what its definitely-not-sophisticated brain had just witnessed.
Where food?
Food was here.
Now food not here.
Where food go?
It started searching the ground, checking under leaves and between roots, clearly convinced it had somehow dropped its snack.
Meanwhile, Alexei was having his own crisis, but for completely different reasons. Because the moment his corpse had exploded, a screen had appeared in front of his soul. A very, very familiar screen.
[You Died!]
[You were killed by Speckled Demon Spider.]
[Score: 0]
[Respawn]
"No fucking way."
It was the death screen from Minecraft. Exactly the same, minus the "Title Screen" button that would normally be there.
His thoughts, which had been scattered and fragmented, suddenly snapped into clarity.
His cheat ability, it wasn't unlimited stamina. It wasn't super healing.
It was Minecraft mechanics.
He was a goddamn player character!
"Are you shitting me right now?" he asked the void, which didn't answer because it was the void. "I died and became Steve?"
His non-existent eyes were locked on that beautiful button.
[Respawn]
The spider below was still searching for his body. He ignored it completely.
He focused his will, his consciousness, his intent, whatever the hell counted as thought when you were a disembodied soul, on the button.
"Respawn."
Reality twisted. That same pulling sensation from before grabbed him and yanked, dragging his consciousness through space, folding him through dimensions that made his non-existent head hurt.
When his vision cleared, he was standing somewhere slightly different.
But he recognized it immediately.
This was exactly where he'd first woken up. The same patch of forest floor, even the same rotting log off to his left.
His spawn point.
He looked down at himself. He grabbed his arm and squeezed, feeling real flesh under his fingers. Checked his chest where the spider had impaled him.
Nothing.
He was wearing the same ridiculous robes, his hair was still that unsettling silver-white, but everything else was fine.
The realization hit him.
He couldn't die.
Not permanently, anyway.
He was immortal as long as the respawn mechanic worked.
"Okay. I can work with this."
The grin that spread across his face was probably manic. Definitely manic. He didn't care.
Time to run some tests.
---
Twenty minutes later, Alexei had confirmed what he'd suspected.
The Minecraft mechanics were fully intact.
He could punch trees, and they'd break into perfect cubes that compressed themselves and flew into an inventory that existed in some kind of pocket dimension. His maximum reach for mining was exactly six meters, same as in the game.
The inventory screen opened with a thought, showing a grid of slots ready to be filled. The crafting menu was there too, 2x2 for basic crafting, expandable to 3x3 if he made a crafting table.
He crafted a wooden sword just to test combat mechanics. It weighed almost nothing, but when he took a practice swing at a nearby tree, it smashed into the bark with enough force to gouge out a chunk the size of his fist.
That's when he realized: the weight of the materials hadn't disappeared. It had been compressed into the sword itself.
He tested it, tossing the sword lightly to the ground.
It hit with a thunk that created a small crater in the packed earth.
In his hands, it felt like holding a regular wooden sword. But that was game mechanics at work, inventory items and equipped gear didn't have weight for the player. The moment he let go, though, physics reasserted itself.
Unfortunately, there was no Settings menu. He'd checked multiple times, trying to will it into existence through sheer force of desire.
But honestly? He could live with that.
His character screen showed him in third-person, a small avatar that moved in perfect sync with his actions. The figure looked... well, not quite like him. The game had given him some kind of default skin, apparently, because the avatar was more streamlined, more androgynous than his actual body felt.
Whatever. Cosmetics didn't matter when you were trying not to get eaten by giant spiders.
He checked his hotbar, nine slots that he could cycle through with a thought, and selected the wooden sword, felt its weight materialize in his hand.
"Let's visit that spider."
The confident smirk lasted exactly as long as it took him to remember how his first encounter had gone.
"Okay, maybe... I should come up with a plan."
---
The journey back to the spider's territory took about forty minutes of jogging. When he pushed through the last line of bushes, ready to shout something dramatic and probably stupid, the spider was ready for him.
Splurt.
Something wet and white shot from its rear end before Alexei even registered the spider had moved. The webbing expanded mid-air, transforming from liquid to a sticky net in the split-second it took to reach him.
"Oh you've got to be—"
The web hit him face-first, wrapping around his body before he could dodge. The strands were strong, sticky, and numerous enough that his arms were pinned to his sides immediately.
Then the spider charged.
"—KIDDING ME!"
Shhhhhk.
[You Died!]
[You were killed by Speckled Demon Spider.]
[Score: 0]
[Respawn]
---
"Blyat."
Alexei stood at his spawn point again, arms crossed, scowling at nothing in particular.
That hadn't gone according to plan.
The spider had web-shot him before he'd even finished pushing through the bushes.
"Okay," he muttered, already crafting a new wooden sword. "That was embarrassing. But now I know it can shoot webs. So next time—"
He paused, working through the situation.
The spider was fast. It had ranged attacks. It was at least three times his size and probably had more raw strength. But he had respawns. He had a weapon that could potentially hurt it. And most importantly, he had information now.
"Next time, I don't stop at the bushes. I go straight through, sword first, and—"
No. Wait. That was still stupid. The spider would just web him again.
"Circle around? Get behind it?"
That could work. Probably. Possibly.
"Ah, screw it. I'll figure it out when I get there."
---
Forty minutes of jogging later, Alexei was back.
The giant snail that had been clinging to the tree earlier was now on the ground, its massive shell cracked open. Pale green blood mixed with chunks of white flesh were splattered everywhere.
The spider was still eating it, completely absorbed in its meal.
The snail was still alive. Its eyestalks twitched weakly, and Alexei could swear he heard it making pained sounds.
"Tough bastard," he muttered.
This was perfect. The spider was distracted. The snail was nearly dead, easy experience points if he could just finish it off. Two birds, one stone.
He crept forward, wooden sword raised, trying to be quiet despite every instinct screaming that he was terrible at stealth.
The snail's eye swiveled toward him. If it could talk, it probably would've said something like "Kill me please" or "End my suffering" or maybe "I curse your entire bloodline."
Alexei raised the sword higher.
Behind him, something rustled in the undergrowth.
His blood went cold.
No. No no no...
He tried to spin around, but he was too slow.
Shhhhk.
The spider's leg went through the back of his skull.
[You Died!]
[You were killed by Speckled Demon Spider.]
[Score: 0]
[Respawn]