Divinity: Against the Godly System

Ryder was already a level 2 player. He still had 3 uses of {Enraged Slash} left for the day; thus, he decided to move deeper into the valley. 

After a short while, he finally noticed the Nine Sun Grass. He realized that he was inside the territory of the 2nd level beasts; strangely enough, only a single beast was there. It was a 2nd level monster that was sleeping right beside the Nine Sun Grass.

He knew about the beast. He has faced the same beast last time, but he was a level 3 player at that time. He still decided to check the game screen for the info on the beast, just to be sure. It had been over 3 years since he last faced the beast after all.

[Name: Profound Bear

Species: Monster

Level:2 

A monster that is known for its super strength. It's only known weak point is its speed.]

"Oh, right, I can't see its stats yet. I forgot I don't have the  {All Seer} now " He let out with a disappointed look on his face.

{All Seer} was a skill that almost all players were able to learn in the higher stages. It was helpful and called an important skill as it showed the opponent monster's stats in more detail, including its special skills.

"Its speed is slow, but I can't say if it's slower than me or not. Last time I fought them, I was level 3, and my speed points were 6. They felt slightly slower than me, but now that I have a slower speed, our speed might be the same." 

Ryder fell in thought as he observed the bear.

" Oh well, What's the worst that can happen?  I'll just cut them apart by {Enraged Slash} if I'm in trouble." 

Ryder smiled as he walked forth with the sword in his hand.

Ryder didn't know, but when he said that, a white flag was raised above his head.

He tried to keep his foot silent as he walked towards the grass, but it was at that moment he heard the grim reaper's voice once more.

<A new Sub- Mission has been assigned to the host.

Mission: Take the nine sun herb to the novice village without attacking the profound bear.

Reward: "All-Seer' Skill shall be given to the host.

Punishment for failure: The host will die in a nuclear blast after he fails the mission.

Time limit: 2 hours.>

Janus gave him another mission.

"What the fuck? Did you seriously say that if I fail... There will be a nuclear blast in my city?" Ryder asked with an impossible look on his face.

He felt like Janus was clearly messing with him now.

<Not in the city. To be precise, the target of the blast will be the Host's room. Though the city might be lost as collateral. There's no need to worry about it. It's not like the host was ever going to go to heaven anyway.>

Janus replied as if he was talking about something minor.

Ryder's face twitched as he heard Janus' reply.

'You bastard, Are you telling me that I'm going to hell? More importantly, have you gone crazy? What's with this scary punishment?' He said to Janus in his thoughts.

Ryder wanted to curse Janus loudly, but he didn't want to wake up the bear now that he wasn't allowed to attack them.

Janus didn't reply anymore.

'He doesn't want to kill me now... He wants to kill everyone.'

Ryder wanted to cry, but no tears came out of his eyes.

'At least increase the reward. The punishment is so scary; the reward must be good as well.'

Since he was already trapped in this nightmare, he tried to ask for a better deal.

<Rewards are pre-decided. They can only be decreased, not increased.>Janus replied.

'Hmph. Alright, I'll only take the All-Seer. Don't increase the reward. Here's more. You can even keep that nuclear bomb. I have a much better idea; why don't you shove that up your a..' Ryder cursed in his mind in anger, but Janus didn't respond.

He decided to focus on the task at hand and ignore Janus.

Ryder stepped forth. There was only a few inches of gap between him and the profound bear. Ryder was moving as slowly as he could so that he wouldn't wake up the bear.

He caught the stalk of nine sun grass and brought them out of the ground.

He gently turned back and was about to leave when he heard some movement behind him.

He looked back in curiosity, but his eyes opened wide in shock as his eyes met the bear's eyes.

The profound bear was awake and looking at him.

<Janus thinks the host should run.> Janus' voice appeared in his head again.

" You bastard, it's all because of you!" Ryder cursed Janus as he started running. He ran as fast as he could as if his life depended on it, which was true in a sense.

If he attacked the bear, he would be killed as a punishment. If he didn't attack the bear and the beast killed him, he would be logged out for 24 hours. In that case, he wouldn't be able to complete his main mission of being the first person to pass the novice village and would die as a punishment.

Now that he thought about it, his life really sucked at the moment.

The bear kept following him as it roared madly; thankfully, Ryder's assumption was correct. He and the profound bear had the same speed.  If he maintained his current speed, he might be able to succeed.

Unfortunately, the bear's roar attracted other monsters. 5 more profound bears came out from nearby and started following him. There were only 10 meters of the gap between Ryder and his death...  the profound bears.

Ryder was running when a snow wolf appeared in front of him. It jumped at Ryder.

"You think you can bully me as well?" Ryder roared in anger as he used Enraged Slash.

[+20 experience points]

The notification floated in front of him, but he ignored it.

The snow wolf was sliced apart, but because of the attack, the gap between him and the profound bear had decreased.

Now there was only a gap of 5 meters between them.