Kyne, after eating the fruits and drinking water until he was satisfied, suddenly thinks of something.
"System, save my current state."
Kyne spoke the words in an experimental tone, expecting nothing to happen. To his surprise, a second after the command, the familiar metallic sound echoed in his mind.
'Ding!'
[Command executed successfully]
[Current state saved]
"That's it!" Kyne celebrated with a wide smile. There really was a way to save a state for his body to return to. This was perfect, it meant he could always return to an optimal point, without hunger, without thirst, and well rested.
But his triumph lasted only a few seconds.
A sharp and sudden pain pierced his abdomen, as if someone had driven a twisted knife into his entrails. Kyne doubled over, his fingers digging into his stomach.
"What the hell?" he growled through clenched teeth.
The pain intensified, becoming a terrible cramp that seemed to twist his internal organs. His mind raced, searching for possibilities.
"Was I poisoned again? How?"
His eyes scanned the surroundings frantically. Was it the fruits? No, he had tested each one after resurrecting, and besides, he now had resistance. The air? No, he already had mana affinity.
Then his gaze fell on the lake, where moments earlier he had drunk avidly.
"The lake? Could it be the lake?" His voice was a hoarse whisper, cut short by another wave of pain.
"It's not possible that the lake is poisoned, is it?"
The pain continued for several minutes, a constant agony that made him roll on the ground, cold sweat running down his face.
And then, just as abruptly as it had begun, the abdominal pain subsided, replaced by a new sensation. A voracious, cannibalistic hunger, as if his stomach were trying to devour itself.
Kyne could have looked for something to eat, there were more fruits on nearby bushes, but he decided to wait. He wanted to see where this would lead.
The minutes dragged on. The hunger mixed with the pain, creating an experience of suffering that was almost interesting, it was new. Kyne observed his own body deteriorate, the weakness that took over his limbs, the vision that began to blur, and the mental confusion that set in.
Half an hour after drinking the water, his eyes closed and darkness took over.
…
[You were killed by Rank F+ Parasites.]
[You received: Parasite Resistance (Rank F-)]
[You will respawn in 3… 2… 1…]
Kyne woke up gasping, his body intact in the same place where he had fallen.
"Huh." He murmured, sitting up.
"So the water is contaminated with parasites… I should have thought of that."
His mind was already at work. Parasites. That explained the sequence of symptoms. Initial abdominal pain, probably the parasites settling in, then voracious hunger, then them consuming his nutrients, then weakness and death.
"Anyway." He continued, standing up and brushing the dirt from his back.
"At least now I have another resistance."
That was when he noticed something important. He wasn't hungry. Nor thirsty. His body was perfectly fine.
"I returned to the saved state." He noted with satisfaction.
"I'm not hungry or thirsty… and it also seems the parasites are gone, since I don't feel anything anymore."
Kyne walked to the edge of the lake and looked at the now suspicious water.
"Every time I come back, apparently anything that affects my body that isn't natural to me is expelled." He reasoned out loud.
"Just like the knife left my body when I resurrected the first time."
It was a crucial discovery. It meant that any disease, infection, parasite, or foreign substance would be purged during resurrection. His body would always return to a "pure" state, based on the last saved state.
"Definitely another interesting thing." He concluded with a smile.
"Besides the sensations before death."
He decided to leave. There was no reason to stay there. He chose a random direction, east, following the path of the larger sun, and began to walk.
The forest was dense, but not impassable. Kyne observed everything with curious eyes, the trees with bark that looked like matte silver, the flowers that closed when he approached, and the small animals that fled his passage.
For hours, the journey was peaceful. Too peaceful, in fact. No animal attacked him, and no creature showed hostility. Kyne began to wonder if he was unlucky.
Then it happened.
He stepped on a rotting log that was hidden beneath a layer of dry leaves. It wasn't a normal step, it was a step with all his weight, and the log gave way with a wet crack.
But the worst part wasn't the fall. It was the splinter.
A huge shard of wood, sharp like a spear and the length of his forearm, was pointing upward from the log. When Kyne stepped down, it penetrated deeply into the sole of his left foot, piercing flesh, muscle, and tendons.
"Aaah!" The scream escaped him before he could stop it.
The pain was sharp, penetrating, and pulsing with each beat of his heart. Kyne looked down at the piece of wood that now jutted from his foot like a macabre banner.
"Damn it." He muttered, teeth clenched.
Without hesitating, without thinking about the consequences, he pulled his foot back hard.
The splinter came out with a horrible sound, a wet tear that made his stomach churn. Blood gushed from the wound, bright red against the blue grass. A lot of blood.
Kyne staggered, almost falling, before leaning against a nearby tree. His vision darkened for a moment. The wound was bad, much worse than it had initially seemed.
"Should I kill myself and return to a better condition?" He murmured to himself, examining the foot that now throbbed with almost blinding intensity.
His mind analyzed the options. Die quickly, maybe stab himself with a sharp branch, and return with his foot healed. It would make practical sense.
But then another line of thought emerged.
"No." He decided, shaking his head.
"I shouldn't. I should die in other ways, and, that way, I'll receive more adaptations. If I just keep killing myself, maybe I won't receive them."
The logic was simple. The system seemed to reward him with specific adaptations for the cause of death. If he deliberately killed himself, perhaps the system would interpret it as "suicide" and not grant relevant adaptations. Better to let nature take its course.