Chapter 14: Ch 14 - Am i a toy?
Klaus woke with a start. His eyes snapped open, and he sat bolt upright, disoriented. He looked around the small, familiar room. Sunlight was streaming weakly through the window, painting the dusty air in pale gold.
He blinked, surprised. He didn’t even remember falling asleep. One minute he was lying down, the next it was morning.
He fumbled for his phone on the nightstand. The screen lit up, showing the time. It was well past nine in the morning. He had slept for hours.
his haze from the sleep finally settled
"How long has it been since I had a proper sleep?" he mumbled to himself.
The question hung in the quiet room. He didn’t have an answer. His past few years in this world flashed through his mind.
The constant struggle for safety, the endless fear of death, the gnawing regret of not being strong enough.
He remembered being awake for days sometimes, powered only by desperation and cheap energy drinks to save money for the cheapest skill book in the market.
Back in his last life, at his peak, he had felt a spark, a drive, a sense of purpose that pushed him. Here, it had been mostly chaos and a raw struggle to simply exist. He clenched his fists on the thin sheet, a surge of old resentment mixing with new resolve.
"I will become so strong," he vowed, his voice low, "that I will never have to worry about sleep and comfort again. Never worry about anything."
He remembered the system, the panels, the new information. He still needed to understand it all. He looked at the translucent status panel floating in front of him.