Mark opened his eyes slowly, only to find a ceiling of dark wood with crossed beams and a couple of cobwebs swaying with the draft. And instantly, the pain hit him.

It was a throbbing headache that pulsed from the base of his skull to his temples, as if someone had hit him with a hammer while he slept.

Then came other sensations: a dry mouth with his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, his stomach growling insistently, and also a deep pain running through his entire body, as if every muscle and every joint had been broken and then put back carelessly.

’Everything hurts like hell...’, he thought, gritting his teeth.

He looked to his right and found a small window with the curtains half-drawn letting in the soft light of dusk. There was a table next to the window with a pitcher of water, some folded cloths, and what appeared to be a bowl with leftover food.

Then he looked to his left and saw Zilu sitting on a wooden chair next to the bed, her head hanging forward and her rabbit ears completely relaxed at the sides. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was slow and deep.

Mark looked at her for a second and then looked down at himself.

He was lying on a bed, his tunic had been replaced with sleeping clothes he didn’t recognize, and it looked like someone had cleaned his body.

’Where am I?’ he thought as he sat up on the edge of the bed with difficulty.

The movement cost him more than it should have, as his arms trembled as he leaned on them and his legs felt weak, as if he hadn’t used them in a long time.

"What happened..." Mark muttered aloud, running a hand across his face.

He tried to remember the last thing that had happened before he lost consciousness.

"We defeated the serpent... we left the Great Forest..."

After that, everything became blurry.

The images reached him in a haze, like old photographs where nothing could be distinguished anymore.

"We headed toward the village... and then..."

Then what?

Mark frowned, trying to remember, but it was like trying to grab smoke with his hands. He tried to remember beyond that, but his brain wouldn’t give him an answer.

It wasn’t until his gaze landed on a corner of the room where a huge greatsword leaned against the wall.

Upon seeing it, the memories he was missing came crashing down on him all at once.

His encounter with the other reincarnate, the fight, the frustration of not being able to resurrect the head, the dizziness, the pain, the screen that appeared in front of him talking about "data loading," and then how white light enveloped him.

"What the fuck was all that...?" said Mark in a low voice, looking at his hands.

And as if his words had been an invocation, a screen appeared in front of him.

This one had a red border that flickered and a warning symbol in the center with large letters at the bottom.

[CRITICAL ERROR]

Upon reading what it said, Mark quickly extended his hand and touched the screen.

[SYSTEM STATUS REPORT]

[User Profile Loading: STOPPED]

[Download Progress: PAUSED AT 20%] 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

[Connection Status: NO NETWORK]

[Cause of Interruption: Forced extraction during transfer process]

[WARNING: Only partial data from your profile was able to be loaded. Please check your new interface to see the new available items.]

Mark read each line, and then reread them.

"Huh?" he said with a completely confused expression. "What do you mean by ’new interface’? And what ’new items’?"

Then he raised his hand and opened his stat window, but upon doing so he quickly realized it wasn’t the usual one.

The simplistic interface he had seen since day one, that basic window with plain text and gray borders that looked like it was made by someone who had just learned to program, was no longer there.

In its place was a completely different interface.

The borders were golden and elegant, with an ornate design that Mark recognized instantly.

That was the user interface from Eternal Conquest Online.

The same one he had seen thousands of times on his monitor, the same one he knew by heart after years of playing, copied down to the last detail.

[User Profile]

[Skills]

[Equipment]

[Inventory]

[Quests]

He was about to start exploring his new interface when the bedroom door burst open.

"Zilu, it’s my turn to take care of the Master," said Aria, entering with a small wooden board with food on top. "And I brought you something to eat because you haven’t been eating well for days and I’m already getting worr—"

Aria stopped mid-sentence as she noticed her master was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking directly at her. The board of food slipped from Aria’s hands and fell to the ground with a thud that sent the bread and fruit rolling in all directions.

She stood frozen for a second, then crossed the room in three steps and threw herself directly onto Mark, wrapping him with both arms with such force she almost knocked him over.

"MASTER!" screamed Aria, her voice breaking as she buried her face in his chest. "YOU’RE FINALLY AWAKE!"

Aria’s tears started falling instantly, soaking Mark’s sleeping clothes as she clung to him with no intention of letting go.

"We were all so scared!" she continued between sobs. "So scared that you would never wake up again!"

"Aria, calm down..." he said, raising a hand to place it on her head. "I’m fine."

"You’re not fine!" protested Aria, not lifting her face from his chest. "You were lying there without moving or reacting and no matter how much we called you, you wouldn’t respond!"

Aria’s loud crying caused Zilu to open her eyes abruptly, disoriented, her ears jumping up from the startle, and upon waking she saw Aria hugging her master who was now sitting on the edge of the bed.

"M-Master...?" said Zilu, her eyes opening wide.

"Good morni—"

Mark tried to respond, but he couldn’t. Because Zilu got up from the chair so forcefully that she knocked it backward and, just like Aria, threw herself at him.

She grabbed her master’s other arm with both hands as tears began to slide down her face.

"Master!" said Zilu, her voice trembling. "You’re awake! You’re really awake!"

"Yeah... I am," said Mark with a short laugh that came out a bit hoarse from his dry throat. "Both of you calm down, I’m fine, there’s no need to exaggerate."

"We’re not exaggerating!" they both said at the same time without letting go of him.

Mark looked at both of them, then began to stroke Zilu’s hair with one hand and embrace Aria with the other, letting both of them vent.

Aria kept her face buried in his chest, crying, and Zilu clung to his arm with red eyes and trembling ears.

"I really am fine," Mark repeated in a softer tone. "I just need some water and something to eat."

Then Aria lifted her face from Mark’s chest, revealing how tears still ran down her cheeks.

"Master..." she said with a broken voice. "You were unconscious for a week."

"...What?"