Close-Combat Pay-to-Win Mage

A blood-red moon hung in the sky.

Nearby, a pile of campfire embers flickered, on the verge of dying out.

In the distance stretched what seemed to be an endless wilderness.

Luo Yong awoke from a dream to find himself in a dilapidated campsite, utterly alone. The cold wind whistled around him, threatening to drive a man mad.

What on earth was going on?

He had only failed to confess his feelings, spent his eighteenth birthday alone, eaten cake, watched some anime, and then put on a late-night film. How could he have woken up in this godforsaken place?

Had he made the wrong wish when blowing out the candles?

Or was this just a dream—albeit one that felt far too real?

A faint rustling disturbed his thoughts.

Something crawled over the low fence—a spherical creature, its body shimmering with iridescent colors beneath the bloody moonlight.

By the flickering firelight, Luo Yong discerned it was a spider, as large as a watermelon.

He looked around. Besides a few pieces of nearly spent wood, there wasn’t a single decent brick or stone in sight.

Where was he?

A frantic search through his pockets yielded nothing. Wallet, phone, ID, even the photo of the girl he’d secretly loved for ages—none of them were with him.

Scrabbling in the dirt, he found only a half-burned iron rod by the fire, glowing red at one end—barely usable as a weapon.

He stabbed at the spider.

The rod wasn’t sharp, but it plunged deep into the creature’s body with a dull squelch.

Instantly, a searing pain shot thr