Chapter 3: Spin of Fate

Chapter 3: Spin of Fate

I gasped, breathing in the sunlight and the crisp mountain air as the purity of nature filled my lungs. For a moment, everything stood still.

 I looked around and felt like I had stepped into a painting. 

Towering trees reached toward the sky, their leaves whispering in the wind.

Massive mountains framed the horizon. Below, rivers shimmered like silver threads winding through the earth. 

The cave I had escaped from sat high on a rocky ledge, just above a waterfall that crashed down into the valley beneath me.

The sight overwhelmed me.

“How did a thousand goblins ever get up here?” I wondered.

 

One wrong step and you would fall to your death. You would meet your ancestors in seconds.

 I shivered at the thought.

“This is terrifying. I need to climb higher.”

I made my decision quickly. I would go up, not down.

 There was something below that even the goblins feared. It was the only reason I could imagine for them coming here.

“They must have migrated to survive,” I said quietly. “They’re probably checking caves, searching for food.”

That had to be it. 

The system had already warned me. Everything about that cave felt off. My instincts told me I was right. Going down would only bring me closer to whatever drove them away. 

Even if I reached the bottom safely, the monsters waiting there would be worse than anything I had faced so far.

So I climbed.

My body felt strangely light.

 I wasn’t hungry. I wasn’t tired.

 Each step felt natural, as if something inside me had shifted. I scaled the steep mountain without struggle. 

Time passed quickly. 

When I felt like half an hour had gone by, I paused to catch my breath. I hadn’t reached the top, but I didn’t continue.

Something interrupted me.

A sound echoed inside my mind.

✨🎉DING

【YOU HAVE CHOSEN THE CORRECT OPTION. YOUR DISCIPLINE HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED. AS A REWARD, THE SYSTEM WILL GRANT YOU A PERMANENT BLOODLINE THROUGH THE LUCKY WHEEL.】

 

🎡 【PLEASE TAP TO SPIN THE WHEEL CAREFULLY AND TRY YOUR LUCK AT WINNING AN EPIC BLOODLINE.】

 

"..."

I blinked, stunned.

“A bloodline?” I asked aloud, my voice quiet in the wind.

The system responded instantly, explaining everything with sharp clarity.

I finally understood what it meant.

“If I inherit a special bloodline, I’ll gain powerful abilities. That would help me survive,” I said with cautious hope.

For the first time, something felt possible. But as I processed the details, my hope began to dim.

“Wait. Permanent? I can’t change it once I get one?” My voice hardened. 

That changed everything.

It was a gamble. 

A dangerous one.

If I received a strong bloodline, my chances would rise. I could fight. I could venture into the forest below. Maybe I would even win against whatever monsters waited. But if I ended up with something weak or useless, I would be stuck with it, carrying constant shame and humiliation forever.

It could even make things worse. It could kill me.

I stood there, frozen by the weight of the choice. My heart raced. My thoughts spun. This moment felt too familiar.

It reminded me of my old life, of all the risks I had taken.

I used to gamble everything: time, energy, money. I chased things that always slipped through my fingers.

I lost more than I ever won.

But I kept going, because when I did win, when something finally worked, it erased the pain of every failure.

Not everything in life can be earned through hard work. Sometimes you need luck.

And more than that, you need courage.

The courage to take the risk.

And here I was again.

My hand trembled, but I didn’t let doubt hold me back. 

I stared at the screen. 

My voice stayed steady.

“Draw now.”

My heart was pounding.

I could feel it racing in my chest, but I still pressed forward.

The system responded, and the screen lit up with a spinning wheel, just like those you see in game shows or mobile apps. 

A massive disc turned over and over, blurring with speed inside the glowing interface.

I waited, tense and breathless, my eyes starting to sting from how hard I was staring.

“Yes, that’s it, hit that golden mark. Come on. Come on. Damn it, it missed?!”

The words exploded from me in a high, angry voice, sharp with frustration and foul language.

 My nerves were shot. 

This was no harmless spin. 

It was a gamble with my future hanging in the balance.

 I needed something rare. I needed a bloodline that would change everything.

“Please,” I whispered as the wheel slowed down.

My body leaned with it, tilting slightly as if it would help guide the disc. 

A smile crept onto my lips. It looked like it might stop on the golden mark after all.

But then, without warning, it skipped past and landed on the silver one.

I stumbled back, stunned, almost throwing up blood.

“This isn’t fair. It was about to stop. Why did it keep going? This is rigged. It’s completely rigged,” I said through gritted teeth, my voice rising in disbelief. 

I hated the way the system had pulled me in and raised my hopes, only to crush them again. 

My resentment boiled over.

“This damn system is so twisted. Petty and cruel. Always messing with me. I swear, if I don’t get my revenge one day, I’d rather die right now.”

I could feel it. The system was playing with me. Pushing me. Mocking me. Testing every edge of my will.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. I had to think clearly. This wasn’t a time to break down.

It was a permanent bloodline after all. Maybe... silver was still something.

“Silver might be good. Maybe it’s still good,” I told myself softly.

 I leaned against a nearby rock, waiting for the result to show. My heart beat faster again.

I held my breath and watched the screen.

Then came the sound.

DING

✨🎉【CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE OBTAINED A BLOODLINE: TYPE O. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY UNIQUE BLOODLINE. THE SYSTEM WILL NOW BEGIN IMMEDIATE INTEGRATION. PLEASE PREPARE FOR THE CHANGES AND ADJUST ACCORDINGLY.】

...

“What?”

I stared at the words.

 My breath caught.

“Type O? Are you serious? You said it was magical. Why does it sound like a regular blood type from my past life? One that just attracted mosquitoes? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Frustration returned so fast it burned. I couldn’t help but smile like a foolish idiot, clenching my jaw as veins throbbed with anger.

My emotions spiraled.

The betrayal stung in a way I couldn’t explain. My hatred for the system grew deeper with every breath.

I bit my lower lip, hard. The sharp pain helped ground me.

It would heal, like everything else. But this stress... this frustration... it wasn’t just mine anymore. It could hurt the life inside me too.

I placed a hand gently on my belly. It was still flat. My waist hadn’t changed at all.

“That’s because I’m only one day pregnant.”

I spoke the words softly, almost to myself.

Just saying them reminded me of what mattered now. I patted my stomach gently, breathing a little easier as the anger began to fade.

“System, don’t push a pregnant woman too far. You don’t want anything to happen to my baby, right? So behave.”

My words came with a crooked smile, half a joke, half a warning. I was desperate.

I needed something to shift the tide in my favor. I knew the system must care about the pregnancy in some way.

I waited, hoping it would react.

"..."

But it didn’t.

Nothing happened.

I stood there in silence, disappointment settling heavily over me.

I gave up hoping for an answer. 

My time had already been wasted, toyed with by this twisted system.

So I climbed.

There was nothing else I could do.

I moved forward in silence, pushing past the heat, the sweat, and the frustration. 

Every step reminded me that if I wanted to survive, I had to keep going. No matter what the system tried to take from me.

Hours passed.

I kept stopping halfway, drained from the steep path ahead. I was growing more exhausted with each step.

 I had no way of measuring how vast this mountain truly was, but it stretched far beyond what I could see.

The climb was hard, and each time I looked down, my heart tightened. The drop was so high it made my stomach churn with fear.

I paused to catch my breath.

“I need to explore this mountain,” I said to myself.

Eventually, I arrived at a new area. It looked similar to the lower part of the mountain, with thick trees and tangled underbrush, but now a small river ran through the center of it. 

The scenery took my breath away. Bright birds I couldn’t name darted through the branches, and strange animals that looked like oversized rats scurried across the forest floor. 

I didn’t know what they were, but the sight of life in this stillness made my chest ache with quiet hope.

A wide, open space near the peak stretched out before me. 

For the first time since arriving in this world, I felt like I had found something close to safety. I might be able to survive here. I could gather food. Drink clean water. 

Maybe even breathe without fear for a moment.

I patted the dust from my clothes, then ran toward the river. It flowed under the sunlight, its water gleaming a rich, blue color that looked impossibly pure.

 Without hesitation, I dropped to my knees and dipped both hands into the stream.

 I brought the cold water to my mouth and drank, again and again. 

Each sip felt like life itself.

“Ahh… this water really is a blessing,” I whispered, my voice light with relief.

I washed my face and arms, scrubbing away the dirt and sweat.

The urge to jump in and let the water carry everything away tempted me, but I held back.

I had to stay sharp. I couldn’t be lulled by peace, not here.

“Nothing is safe yet,” I said softly.

This was still goblin territory. I knew they had a presence on this mountain. They could be close. Too close.

I rushed to finish washing and leaned over the water again.

Just for a moment.

That was when I saw it.

My reflection stared back at me from the surface of the stream. I froze. My breath caught in my throat.

I blinked, unsure if what I was seeing was real.

I had never given much thought to beauty. It never mattered in the life I had lived. There was no space for vanity when survival came first. 

But now, as I looked into the water, I hesitated.

Was that really me?

I stayed still. I didn’t move. I didn’t dare touch the water. I was afraid the image might ripple and vanish.

So I watched her—watched the quiet face staring back.

My face.

Eyes that didn’t match. One golden. The other a soft blue, like the sky before dawn.

My eyes.

My exhaustion. 

My fear.

And something else.

Loneliness.

The water’s stillness mirrored the silence inside me, like time had paused just long enough for me to see who I had become. 

Not a warrior. 

Not a survivor. 

Just a girl, pregnant and alone, on the peak of a mountain that should have killed her, holding onto pieces of hope in a world that kept trying to take it away.

I wanted to reach out. 

I wanted to touch the reflection, to know if she was still real. 

If I was still real.

But I didn’t.

I just watched her.

And I hoped she looked stronger than I felt.