Insomniac Player

The dawn appeared, darkness of night vanished with the arrival of radiant sun, or whatever that was up there.

None of the players had time to enjoy the sun-bath. Damien stepped behind and dodged a goblin’s wild swing.

The stone sword whistled over his head before burying itself into a tree trunk.

The goblin yanked once, twice. It refused to come out.

"..."

The goblin looked at the sword, then at Damien and gave a helpless growl.

Damien politely stabbed it while it was busy negotiating with the tree.

Beep.

---

➤[Goblin Lv.3 Eliminated.]

➤[Experience: +10]

---

He didn’t even feel guilty this time.

Growth. That was called growth.

He quickly retreated behind John as another wave of monsters moved forward.

The battlefield erupted into chaos, filled with clashing steel, frantic shouts, and the acrid scent of smoke and blood.

Players shouted warnings.

Wolves howled from every direction.

John’s mace rose and fell like a blacksmith determined to flatten the entire forest.

Finding a brief pause to breathe, Damien opened his profile again.

➤[Player: Damien]

➤[Level: 2

Experience: 30 / 200

Class: N/A

Titles: N/A

Strength: 10

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 20

Stamina: 08

Agility: 10

Speed: 10

Dexterity: 10

Mana: 10]

➤[Available Stat Points: 3]

"There they are." Damien smiled merrily as he saw three points.

He focused on Speed, and a small plus sign appeared.

He pressed it mentally; the number changed instantly.

Speed: 10 → 11

A pleasant sensation flowed through his legs.

Nothing dramatic. Just... lighter.

Like someone had secretly removed a pair of invisible ankle weights.

"So that’s how it works."

His eyes drifted lower.

Stamina: 8.

He frowned; that number irritated him.

Everyone else’s weakest stat seemed respectable.

His weakest stat looked like it had been personally insulted by the System.

"No." He refused to let that continue.

One point. Stamina: 8 → 9

Another. Stamina: 9 → 10

The available points dropped to zero.

Damien took a long breath.

His chest expanded more comfortably than before.

The lingering weight in his body eased ever so slightly.

It wasn’t enough to erase years of insomnia.

But at least his statistics no longer mocked him.

"Much better." He took another big deep breath.

John finished smashing another goblin and walked over. "You alright?"

Damien nodded. "I figured out how to spend stat points."

John blinked. "...Spend them?"

Damien looked at him. "You haven’t?"

"I don’t think so."

"Open your profile."

John obeyed immediately. A moment later his eyes widened. "It says I have six available points."

"Exactly."

"You knew that?"

"You levelled up twice, each gives 3 points."

John nodded. "So... what do I do?"

Damien stared at him for a long second, then realisation dawned. "...You’ve never played video games, have you?"

"I played cards if that counts."

"That’s not remotely the same thing."

John scratched his head sheepishly. "I’m old."

That... was difficult to argue against.

"Just press the plus sign beside whichever stat you want," Damien instructed.

"Oh!" John immediately began fiddling with his status window as a child discovering a television remote.

Meanwhile, Damien glanced toward the nearby Players.

If John hadn’t figured it out... maybe they hadn’t either.

He jogged over while they caught their breath between attacks.

"Excuse me."

A spear user looked over. "What is it this time?"

"You can spend the available stat points after levelling."

The three Players looked at one another, then back at Damien.

One sighed.

Another rolled his eyes.

The third pointed his sword toward the monsters. "We know."

"Oh." Damien was surprised.

The swordsman fumed. "And stop acting like you’re some genius; we’ve known since we levelled. Don’t be over-smart."

Damien blinked. "...I was trying to help."

"We’re good."

"... Alright." He quietly walked back.

John looked curious. "How’d that go?"

"They told me to shut up."

John burst into laughter.

Damien sighed. "They probably play video games."

"What?"

"They already knew."

"Oh."

"They weren’t impressed."

John nodded sympathetically. "I wasn’t impressed either."

Damien quietly looked at him

John coughed. "You explained it after I accidentally found the button."

Damien hardened his stare. "I literally told you where the button was."

"You did."

"So I helped."

"You did."

"..."

"...I still wasn’t impressed."

Damien briefly considered letting the next goblin educate John instead. Only briefly, but which Goblin has strength to injure that ginger ox, Damien pondered.

A distant roar resounded through the forest. Both men turned.

The number of monsters had increased again.

Far more goblins poured from between the trees.

Additional wolves appeared alongside them.

The Players who had finally stabilised the battlefield found themselves being pushed backwards once more.

"This is ridiculous!" someone shouted. "They just keep coming!"

Damien watched quietly.

His mind ignored the fighting, ignored the screams, ignored the wolves.

Instead... It focused on one sentence.

The System’s objective.

Survive for 72 Hours.

Not... Kill every monster.

Not... Clear the battlefield.

Just... Survive.

His eyes slowly widened. "...Wait."

John smashed another goblin. "What?"

Damien barely heard him; his brain had already begun racing.

The System had been very precise with its wording. It always was.

If the objective had been extermination. It would have said so.

Instead, it only required survival.

Which meant, a grin slowly appeared on Damien’s face. "We’re idiots."

John looked offended. "I’ll have you know I passed high school."

"Not that."

"Then what?"

"We’re solving the wrong problem."

John frowned.

Damien pointed toward the endless sea of monsters. "We’ve been fighting because we assumed we had to."

"...Yeah?"

"But the System never told us to fight."

John squinted his eyes.

Damien looked at him with tired yet hopeful eyes and continued. "It told us to survive."

Silence overcame John as he looked at the battlefield.

Then he wheeled his head towards Damien, a tender smile spread across his face.

"...You’re saying..."

Damien nodded. "We don’t need to win; we just need to avoid losing."

John’s eyes grew brighter. "...I like where this is going."

Damien inclined closer so only John could hear. "I think I have an idea."

The giant tightened his grip on the mace. "What kind of idea?"

Damien looked toward the dense forest stretching beyond the battlefield.

A place the Players had completely ignored since arriving.

His smile widened. "The kind that doesn’t involve me dying for the third time."

John chuckled. "Now that’s the smartest thing you’ve said all day."

Without another word, the two quietly began backing away from the battle while everyone else remained too busy fighting to notice.

Damien could only hope the monsters were as bad at thinking as they were at swordsmanship.