Sitting upright on her bed, Jun Li held in her hands a note she found on her bedside. With a moment’s confusion, Jun Li remembered how the Trial had ended, and that she must have lost consciousness near the end. 'Is this becoming a habit…?'

  Looking outside, it had become dark since the Trial, yet slowly grew brighter with each passing moment. Jun Li had been unconscious for much longer than she first realized.

  Ignoring her aching body, Jun Li turned her attention to the note. ‘Hmm… Trial… second place reward…’ Something in the note catching her eye, Jun Li turned to her bedside table, only now noticing a small, thin box on its surface. Leaning over to pick it up, a sharp pain shot through Jun Li’s side, causing her to falter slightly on the way.

  She had overdone it during the Trial, though even now, she felt there wasn’t much choice in the matter.

  Pushing through the pain, Jun Li picked up the box described in the note and looked it over. The box was sealed and obviously airtight.

  The moment Jun Li opened it, the air in the room became dense as a weighty energy billowed forth from the opened box.

  As the air thickened, breathing came with more difficulty to Jun Li, but with each breath came an energy more vigorous than any Jun Li had experienced.

  Feeling the pain from her overstrained body begin to fade, Jun Li looked into the box. Inside, a single mushroom laid against the cushioned lining, flat enough to fit inside the thin box, and wide enough to fill the interior.

  The Lingzhi Mushroom had an unusual coloration and was a deep, grey-white color, like that of a dense cloud about to rain.

  Shutting the box, Jun Li fell back and stretched out on her bed. It was definitely enough for her to make a breakthrough into the Late Qi Condensation Stage, considering how the aroma alone had imparted enough energy to improve Jun Li’s battered state.

  Despite this, Jun Li had no intention of eating the Lingzhi to Cultivate right away; she felt that would be a waste.

  Her memories told her that eating Medicinal Plants raw was wasteful in the extreme; to make better use of them, Jun Li would need to use a Pill Furnace or Cauldron to refine the Lingzhi into a Pill or Elixir.

  The problem was, not only did she not own a Pill Furnace of Cauldron, even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to use them properly; memories alone were not enough for her to become a master Alchemist.

  Jun Li considered bearing with the disappointment and using the Lingzhi as is, but found the waste too upsetting to truly consider.

  She didn’t want to waste any opportunity or ignore any advantage. If Jun Li wanted to guarantee a good chance at receiving a reward in the next Trial, two months away, she would need to have broken through to the Late Qi Condensation stage.

  Jun Li could make a breakthrough right away by using the Lingzhi, just barely. But thinking forward, she knew it would be better if she waited until she could properly refine it.

  Within the next two months, Jun Li would have to become an Alchemist, skilled enough to properly refine her reward.

  Now with a clear objective, Jun Li stood up, grabbed the box with her reward, put her patchwork hat on, and left for the Repository, hoping they would have a Furnace or Cauldron to spare.

  Stepping out of her house, Jun Li let out a sigh, realizing over the next two months she would also need to properly learn a Martial Art, she couldn’t count on every coming Trial to be as peaceful as the race was supposed to be.

  ‘So much to do…’ Lamenting how busy she was going to be during her time at the Sect, Jun Li made her way through the Outer Sect, trying to decipher her inherited memories of Alchemy.

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  With a bit of luck, she would be able to teach herself the basics. The more she pried into her memories, the more her face distorted in both confusion and amusement.

  So many of her memories regarding Alchemy were… too esoteric. Such things as the ‘Earthfire Cauldron,’ ‘Six Directions Billowing Furnace,’ ‘Wuxing Alchemical Transformations,’ and ‘The Mortal Furnace Art’ came to her before she could even remember the most basic facts about Alchemy.

  Jun Li wasn’t sure whether to feel pleased or frustrated, having so many memories of Alchemy to work through.

  As Jun Li slowly sorted through her memories of Alchemy, she noticed the Plaza was rather quiet today, perhaps because of how early in the morning it was, and she made her way through the wide paths between the stages without encountering anyone, gliding along on her Movement Technique.

  Reaching the Repository, Jun Li peeked inside, seeing Elder Shao alone in the building, Jun Li stepped inside. “Good morning, Elder Shao.” Jun Li stopped to bow a distance away, still a bit unsure how to act around Elder Shao, despite coming here every week to restock her house.

  Elder Shao looked up for a moment before turning her attention back to her book.

  She didn’t recognise Jun Li as the Disciple who had received second place in yesterday’s trial, and indeed would not have recognised Jun Li at all, were it not for the patchwork hat she regularly wore.

  Jun Li, having seen Elder Shao give the normal response, felt a bit relieved. “I was wondering if the Repository had any Pill Furnaces? Or uh… Cauldrons, to spare?”

  Hearing Jun Li’s question, Elder Shao didn’t bother to turn her way and instead closed her eyes for a moment. “Hmm, no. Such devices are too advanced and too expensive for us to keep spares. You’d be better off trying to get one from the Alchemist’s Association in the city.”

  Jun Li found this answer somewhat off-putting, as if Pill Furnaces and Cauldrons were as expensive as Elder Shao said, surely the Alchemist’s Association would only be willing to part with them for a steep price.

  Though Jun Li felt dissuaded, she bowed to Elder Shao and offered her thanks.

  Rather than leave the repository right away, Jun Li instead turned to scale the stairs to the second floor.

  The first four floors of the Repository were open to all Disciples, and as long as it’s recorded, any Disciple can take whatever they want with little restriction.

  Jun Li made her way past the first and second floors, both containing mundane supplies and victuals, and further again past the third floor, a floor filled with tools ranging from those of warfare to those of woodworking and glass blowing.

  On the fourth floor, Jun Li took her time looking around, as she hadn’t spent much time here during her previous trips to the Repository.

  The fourth floor of the Repository was a library, of sorts. Bookshelves lined the walls, with plenty of seating scattered irregularly around the room for studying.

  A few steps into the room, near the stairs, a large bin was filled with numerous books and manuals. An eclectic collection of reading material yet to be sorted.

  Jun Li had come here today to find a new Martial Technique, despite having already partially studied a Martial Technique, one included in the Glass Cloud Manual.

  Her past experiences with the Billowing Glass Palm, particularly those in her duel, left a bad taste in her mouth. Unreasonable though it was, Jun Li couldn’t bring herself to keep training in it.

  Looking through the shelves, Jun Li found all manner of manuals. Cultivation Methods, Martial Techniques, Movement Techniques, and countless compilations describing all manner of Techniques.

  As Jun Li went from shelf to shelf, time seemed to slip by faster and faster. Even after an hour had passed, Jun Li felt no closer to finding a Martial Technique that felt right to her.

  The countless manuals describing myriad techniques of swords, sabers, and spears seemed to blend together into an impermeable haze.

  Jun Li couldn’t begin to imagine herself fighting like that. Her physical strength wasn’t nearly as refined as she would have wanted it to be, and Jun Li didn’t believe she could make proper use of most weapon-based Martial Techniques.

  Eventually, Jun Li tired of scouring the bookshelves, having found naught but mediocrity and pipe dreams.

  Turning her attention instead to the bin near the stairs, Jun Li began searching through the pile. ‘This one is trash… Useless… Not possible for me…’ Tossing aside manual after manual, Jun Li eventually paused, noticing something at the bottom of the bin.

  Pushing aside the crumpled manuals in the way, Jun Li uncovered a small Jade Slip like the one she was given for identification the day she came to the Sect. ‘Did someone drop this…?’

  As Jun Li picked it up, she pushed a bit of Qi into it, hoping to find the name of the Disciple who surely dropped it. The moment she did, however, an entirely unexpected form of information returned to her.

  'Sparking Thorn…’ What was contained within was not the identity of a Disciple, but an entire Martial Technique, transcribed into a Jade Slip.

  Anywhere But Death [A Grimdark Isekai

  by Melpomelion

  Eleven gods. Ten trials. One throne. A girl who dies, rewinds, and refuses to give up.

  What to Expect:

  - Emotional turmoil, graphic violence, constant hopelessness, and occasionally graphic gore.

  - While the main narrative follows the protagonist, certain arcs will temporarily step away from her perspective.

  - Light LitRPG elements without numerical stats and progression unfolds slowly for action-oriented audiences.

  - Each chapter typically ranges between 1,500 and 3,000 words.