Shuttling Between the Two Worlds

Ugh..

The first thing that I saw after waking up is that I am lying down in this.. green pool that is 2ft deep.

I tried to move but to no avail. My armor is frozen after all. Even though I made the stupid mistake of not using this panel earlier, I can still make rational judgements.

It seems that I am inside a 'nest'. Removing this suit and trying to escape here is definitely a no go. What would happen if I die?

[You would use up your one-time revival chance.]

Oh, there's also that. What would happen after that?

[You'll be ejected from this world. Entering it again will cost 1,000,000 exp.]

Wow. Just imagine, 1M exp is equivalent to 1M chickens. I only have 7k left, which means that I'll need to butcher 993,000 chickens just to have this chance.

Nope, I ain't doing that.

[Lugh Austere Bayer]

Rank: E+

Latent Potential: C-

Exp: 7,268

Strength: D-

Agility: D-

Stamina: E+

Vessel: E+

Wisdom: E-

Traits:

[Dagger Mastery (LV3)]

[Dexterous Hands (LV4)]

Chances for survival.. Nope, upgrading one subrank at D needs 4k exp(I tried doing so earlier morning). Even if I raise my strength to D, its a nest. There's surely an S+ Rank here.

Then.. Masteries. I am so stupid to waste my 10k exp on something that didn't have any immediate effect. I should've opted for increase of mastery level instead.

Now, what should I choose? [Sword Willows] or [Silent Steps]?

Wait, how much does an upgrade from Initiate to Familiar cost?

[2,000 Exp. As you go further, it is increased by times two.]

Then, 6k exp will allow me to jump to <Experienced> in one go. It will also allow me to upgrade both. What should I do?

Ugh.. Wait. I recall something. Why did I choose Sword Willows as an option when my sword is missing?

That's it.. My memories. I love you.

[Increasing Mastery of [Sword Willows] from Initiate to Experienced. This action will cost 6,000 exp. Continue?]

'Yes.'

As soon as I affirmed, huge amounts of knowledge popped inside my head. It's not knowledge, but rather, its Understanding.

Knowledge allows you to know; Understanding allows you to know and utilize it. Panel for the Win!

[Sword Willows(purple)]

-A fusion technique borne from several purple-ranked techniques. It's optimized to better contain the energy generated from the [Military Fundamentals—Cultivation(gold)].

Current Level: Experienced

-Allows the practitioner to unleash 1,000 Aura blades with sword intent. You can still do so without a sword, which will decrease its effectiveness by half.

Yep, Without a sword. Hah.. Though I bet it'll consume most of my reserves, it's all worth it. Furthermore, 1,000 Aura Blades can surely let me escape here, right?

After this power up, I tried to look at my surroundings. It seems like most of the squad is here.

"ARGH! EVERYONE, LIVE!"

Captain's voice!

As soon as he said that, the frozen status on our armor is gone. An electrification even happened, jolting all of us awake.

[System restarted.]

[Warning! Armor in contact with corrosive acid!]

[Defensive ability decreased by 68%!]

[70% of the modules are not responding.. Restarting.. Restarting failed.]

A series of red alerts greeted my sight. Not only that, we also saw our captain being de-shelled out of his armor and his body parts getting eaten one by one.

Captain..

Though only for 6 months, he truly cared for us all. Damn my stupid head!

"I'm throwing it! Grasp the opportunity to escape!"

The vice captain told us in a hurry. It seemed that his Psionic Bomb is still working.

"Count to 3! After that, we run!"

He said as he threw the bluish gray round thing at the front. Since behind us is a dead end, we only have the choice to run in the front.

3. 2. 1. 

Pzzt!

An electric-like sound buzzed, before a whistle-like sound marked its explosion.

"Go!"

[Silent Steps]

I activated this technique along with everyone else, allowing us to run much faster. As for captain..

He's still barely alive, though we're all sure that he'll die soon. Nobody stopped to 'help' him.

Sigh..

I grabbed the miniature psionic blaster out of a module(6 bullets) before shooting at his head which was now in the open due to the de-shelling before.

Bang!

Before he died, I heard him say..

"Thanks."

[Experience Gained. Exp +40,000]

If its the usual, I would totally rejoice with the fact that I gained 40,000 exp. I would think that "B rank's exp efficiency is this big? Wow!" but no. I just feel so terrible right now. Even with this second 'life', its my first time killing a human—my captain at that.

I didn't feel the instinctive gag reflex, but tears poured out of my eyes. Another notice popped up, but I didn't have the time to read it .

Fuck. I didn't stop running after all this. With my 32k exp, I upgraded my Agility straight to the C Rank. I would've loved to upgrade my mastery of [Silent Steps] as well, but now id not the time.

We all ran in this big cave. Before, I am at back, but I can now be in the middle. Agility stat gave me more control of my body, including speed bursts. 

Hah.. I am out of gas. Upgrade my Stamina to D rank!

[6,000 exp spent. Upgraded Stamina stat to D Rank.]

With it, my previous tiredness was gone. New power filled out my tired body.

"They're catching up!"

"Hurry!"

Some of the slower ones—those who had their masteries at the start of Familiar level, had been eaten already by the never-ending black bugs, a part of the zerg squad called "Swarm".

"Fuck! Use the Sword Willows!"

The Vice commander said. Everyone had a back up sword, only I didn't. They truly are veterans who took into account the loss of their weapons..

As a sure-kill skill, it truly is strong. Nearly a thousand of black bugs were slain just by a 10-man squad.

As for me, I also used it, though I only released 10(Initiate). As for why, I had a hunch after seeing what happened to the captain.

"We can only use it for one last time!"

Hearing that, all of us got into a panic.

"He survived?!"

"He's still here? No, he's exhausted. Do it!"

After saying some incomprehensible words, he..

"Kuah!"

Shot me in the stomach.

"Buy more time for us!"

I can't believe it. No, its more apt to say that I DID expect it. I am confident with my C Rank Agility. But nope, overconfidence it is. 

As I lost my balance and fell on the ground head first, the swarm overtook me. Before dying, I managed to mutter these words along with the activation of Sword Willows.

"FUCKERS!"

A rain of purple aura blades appeared, killing a few thousand black bugs. Though, it didn't manage to prevent my eventual end—death.

[Experience gained. Exp +5]

[Experience gained. Exp +5]

[Experience gained. Exp +5]

[Experience gained. Exp..]