"The red sea…" Oliver muttered.
He slowly rose from the ground and moved farther away from the crimson waters to survey his surroundings while keeping his distance from anything that might be lurking beneath the surface.
Observing his environment more closely, he quickly recognized where he had arrived. The Outer Ring, essentially a nursery for Puppets, the birthing ground and the precise location where every human who entered the Garden of Death first appeared.
The Garden of Death was divided into three distinct regions: the Outer Ring, the Middle Ring, and the Inner Ring, each progressively more perilous and unforgiving than the last.
To escape the Garden, one had to reach the Inner Ring, where the gate required for escape awaited. However, in reality, very few ever managed to traverse the Middle Ring unscathed.
Of course, there existed an alternative condition that could be fulfilled to escape from the Middle Ring, which most chose to complete upon arrival rather than risk pressing onward to the Inner Ring and facing near-certain death.
According to the storyline, Oliver was the only character who ever reached the Inner Ring, confronted death more than ten times despite the immense power he had attained by then, and only barely succeeded in breaking through the gate to return to the real world.
This was revealed during the epilogue, after the conclusion of the story.
Here in the Outer Ring, massive, dense vines spread across the ground, with some rising and intertwining to form towering structures throughout the area.
However, the vines did not grow near the shoreline, instead keeping a noticeable distance from the sea.
Oliver recognized the waters; they were nothing short of a death trap. Stepping into the sea was akin to opening a gateway to certain doom, with no possibility of escape, regardless of strength, whether human or Puppet.
During the first arc of the novel, everyone sought to avoid the red sea, and whatever lurked beneath its surface was never revealed, even by the end of the story.
He looked toward the sky. It was locked in a perpetual dim twilight, suspended between day and night, just as described in the novel.
Oliver chuckled.
"Everything matches the description I read. Wonderful."
After thoroughly assessing his surroundings and confirming that there were no Puppets in sight or nearby, he picked up his Imperial sword from the ground and turned to move farther away from the sea, heading toward the dense vines.
What stood before him rose like a wall of tightly interwoven vines, several meters high.
He sighed.
"Here I come, power and Joshua. Tsk."
Oliver stepped closer and began to climb, gripping the vines and pulling himself upward while using his footing to maintain balance as he ascended.
After a brief struggle, he managed to reach the top and dropped down on the other side.
He sat on the ground to catch his breath before summoning the system with a focused thought.
[You have received two Red Tickets.]
Oliver smiled.
'Oh great!'
The Red Tickets were similar to rare draws in gacha systems, offering every human in the Garden of Death a form of reward.
Each person received two tickets, designated as False and Truth. One of them always granted a fixed reward, a companion beast, while the other produced a completely random outcome, which could either be beneficial or detrimental.
Naturally, he was confident that the second ticket would yield a fortunate result.
Although it was never explicitly stated in the novel that one of these tickets contributed to Oliver's overwhelming strength, he strongly suspected it did, as this had been a widely accepted theory among readers.
He quickly drew the tickets.
Two crimson slips materialized out of thin air and landed in his hands.
Oliver tore one of them first, and a golden streak of light surged through the air, forming a thread that seemed to weave something into existence.
[A Beast has appeared: Chimera Wolf.]
[Origin: A mimic-type beast born from fractured essence. It can replicate the form of any monster it sees, copying up to fifty percent of its abilities. Its growth is dependent on absorption and evolution.]
The thread completed its work, stitching the final strand into place as a small creature took shape and remained suspended in the air.
Its body resembled that of a wolf, yet its form appeared unstable, with grey and black skin that flickered faintly as though it had not fully anchored itself to reality.
It hovered with a dim glow, its presence light and unnatural.
Though it was clearly a newborn and far from its complete state, it possessed the potential to grow and evolve into something far more formidable.
By consuming Fragments obtained from slaying Puppets, it would be able to evolve over time.
These same Fragments also served as currency within the Garden of Death among humans, as well as the resource required to rank up, much like experience points (EXP) in games.
Oliver already knew there was a faster method: the forbidden fruit that grew on the Sacred Tree.
A single fruit that appeared once every hundred years.
The challenge, however, was reaching it.
The Sacred Tree stood at the boundary of the Outer Ring, and passing through that path was the only way into the Middle Ring. It was not something he could attempt at this stage.
For the time being, feeding it Fragments remained the more practical option while he focused on growing stronger and locating Joshua.
Oliver extended his hands forward, allowing the sleeping newborn beast to descend into his grasp as its form fully stabilized.
This was the same creature that had always accompanied Oliver in the novel, though at the time it was revealed, it had been significantly larger and fully evolved.
Since it held little relevance to the main plot, its name had never been disclosed.
Since it was pocket-sized, he carefully placed the creature into his pocket and let it rest.
It was bound to awaken sooner or later, so for now, he had to provide it with warmth, much like a newborn.
"Well, I will give you a name later, little one," Oliver said, proceeding to tear the second ticket.
[Bonus Enhancement: Your Blessing has evolved.]
Oliver grinned with excitement.
"I just hit the jackpot, alright!"
Blessings were the unique gifts bestowed upon everyone from birth following the emergence of the Garden of Death.
However, at the initial stages, they remained completely dormant, only granting minor superhuman enhancements.
For instance, Oliver had been born with heightened sensory perception, allowing his hearing to surpass that of an ordinary human.
Only upon entering the Garden of Death could a Blessing fully awaken into a specialized ability.
Now that Oliver's Blessing had evolved even further, it meant his ability, also known as Hue, might have expanded significantly.
"So the popular theories across the internet were actually accurate? The author never ceased to surprise me. I wish Oliver had been the main character. He had so much potential. Oh wait, I am Oliver now…"
Oliver scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression before summoning his main status screen.
[Oliver Rothyl]
Race: [Human]
Hue: [Shadow], [Chaos], [Infinity]
Stitches: [None]
Rank: [Unranked]
Fragments: [0]
Keepsakes: [Imperial Sword]
Oliver's eyes widened in shock.
'Huh? It was mentioned that Oliver had three Hues? Besides, it is not possible for one to possess three… Oh, is this because of the second evolution, granting him two additional ones? According to the novel, he only ever used the Shadow Hue, so unless the other two were deliberately concealed, this might be a deviation from the original story… I hope the story is not already changing simply because I reincarnated into this body.'
Oliver was beginning to feel that the story might be changing, as there was no mention of anyone possessing more than one Hue, not even Teresa, the main character. Under normal circumstances, that simply was not possible.
Stitches, on the other hand, were independent skills intrinsically tied to a Human and a specific Hue.
But since he now possessed three Hues, there was a possibility that Oliver could manifest entirely different categories of Stitches.
A sudden memory replayed in his mind at that moment.
A flicker of dread washed over him instantly.
He finally recalled the eyes and expression Teresa had given him seconds before their transportation.
It could have been faintly playful, but undeniably predatory.
He could not understand why, and more importantly, the novel never implied Teresa had any connection to Oliver in such a manner.
If anything, it resembled the kind of gaze a yandere might give to a love interest, but Teresa was not a yandere.
Yet, in that moment, she had behaved exactly like one.
'Is the story really changing? There is no way Teresa is suddenly… no, no, no. That should not be possible.' Oliver thought.
Luckily, they had each been transported to random locations within the Outer Ring, just as mentioned in the story, and of course, he knew her location.
Ultimately, he decided it would be best to avoid her entirely, like a plague, until he escaped the Garden of Death.
That would be safest.
And if she truly was behaving unpredictably, distancing himself would ensure his survival as long as she did not actively seek him out.
He stood up from the ground and retrieved the sleeping Chimera Wolf from his pocket. It showed no signs of awakening anytime soon.
Oliver looked ahead and observed the distance he would have to cover.
Fields of dense vines stretched outward, rising high and even engulfing certain structures and areas.
Fortunately, he was familiar with parts of this terrain, making it possible for him to avoid the most dangerous routes.
Puppets did not emit sound, rendering his heightened hearing useless for detecting those horrific entities.
All he had to do for now was hunt Puppets, grow stronger, find his younger brother, and follow the storyline's trajectory, meaning he needed to reach the Inner Ring.
Oliver began walking forward with measured, cautious steps.
As he ventured deeper into the area, moving further away from the Red Sea, he began noticing signs of Puppets scattered throughout the surroundings.
Massive gashes marred the thick vines, some even severed entirely, as though a desperate struggle had unfolded in the area…
***
Far to the western region of the Outer Ring, Teresa perched atop a towering tree that stretched several hundred meters into the sky, far beyond anything that could exist in the real world.
She sat calmly on a massive branch wide enough to rival three ordinary trees combined.
Teresa hugged her Imperial sword close to her chest like a child.
Similar trees stood scattered across the area, each equally immense, though spaced widely apart, making them visible even from a great distance.
Below her, five String Puppets wandered around the base of the tree.
Their forms were grotesque, with hunched bodies and elongated limbs bent at unnatural angles. Thick, layered carapaces covered their entire bodies, overlapping like reinforced armor plates, dark and jagged in texture.
Their heads were small and slightly sunken into their shoulders, with hollow cavities where eyes should have been, while their mouths stretched unnaturally wide, reaching toward the back of their heads.
They moved with stiff, jerking motions as they patrolled the area, searching for anything they could consume.
Puppets were classified into five ranks, from Rank One to Rank Five, and a String Puppet was considered Rank One, the weakest classification.
Even so, one was still a serious threat to an Unranked Human, even after the evolution of a Blessing.
Not to mention five at once.
There was a high probability she would be killed before she managed to take down even two, so she had to wait, either for them to pass or for their numbers to thin if they separated.
Humans were also categorized into five ranks: Rookie, Specialist, Severer, Hand of the Maker, and King.
The King rank was the highest ever recorded, existing at the level of a demigod, if not a god itself.
Teresa did not appear concerned about being discovered.
Her thoughts were elsewhere.
She hugged the sword a little tighter as a faint smile formed on her lips.
"I cannot believe I do not even know his name. How can someone like that exist in this world without my knowledge? I need to find him at all costs. He must be somewhere in the Outer Ring like me, but where?"
Teresa lowered her gaze toward the String Puppets, a dangerous glint flashing in her eyes.
They were already beginning to separate, with one still lingering close to the tree.
"Finally… you are mine."