《Vanilla》 Prologue Now that I have time to write again, I¡¯ve decided to improve my writing skills through this pure action demon lord vs hero story. In my other stories, I¡¯ve noticed a disturbing trend of having overcomplicated plots in general. In this story, I¡¯ll be keeping it as simple as possible and focusing on creating a good story while sacrificing originality, etc. Beginning and system shamelessly stolen from Kumo Desu Ga, Nani Ka. If you have any questions, comments, potential enemies, suggestions etc, please leave it in the comments. But most of all, enjoy. --- The battle between the Demon King and the Hero. A battle that leaves the earth scarred and the populace cowed is repeated once again. Whenever the Demon King is slain, another one inevitably rises. Thus, the Demons are never truly eradicated. Similarly, a powerful human arises whenever the hero is slain, so the humans are never eradicated. The entire world rests on this delicate balance. Although, one could truly argue that the balance is anything but delicate if one were to consider the sheer number of iterations of the earth shattering duels between the Hero and Demon King. Two magics are unleashed. The Hero and the Demon King are both annihilated. This isn''t a particularly interesting result, considering the same ending results each time-- one battle, two deaths. Strangely, when the magics collide, beyond any semblance of luck, they combine and rip through the dimensional bounds and fire into a foreign world. Perhaps, even luckier, the blast of energy actually hits something in the vast emptiness of space. Unfortunately, that ¡®something¡¯ was earth, and as it hit, a single person was caught in the blast and his soul was dragged back into the first dimension. Arguably even luckier, the soul was dragged into a dungeon rather than the reincarnation cycle. As of now, Shiro Hayuata, an eighteen-year-old NEET, was the luckiest unlucky bastard to have ever been born. But luck is mostly dependent on perspective, right? ? Ahhgh I tried to groan. Every part of me hurt like it was on fire. Am I in hell? The pain seemed to subside as quickly as it came. I looked around and found myself lying on the ground of a rather wide tunnel. I turned around, and staring at me, was a little green humanoid creature. Normally, you would call these things ¡®goblins.¡¯ Usually used as trash mobs in RPGs for grinding EXP. As the staring contest continued, it reached behind its back and pulled out a knife. Nope nope nope NOPE NOPE NOPE I quickly scrambled to my feet and began sprinting in the opposite direction. Everyone knows that before a human gets his pointy stick, pretty much anything can kill him. Looking back, I could see the stupid goblin still chasing me with the knife. At the side of the tunnel, I spotted a rock about half the size of my head. Fuck this. I picked up the rock and flung it at the goblin. The goblin didn''t get out of the way fast enough and the rock caught it on the side of the head. Immediately, it fell to the ground clutching its head and screaming. The knife clattered as it hit the floor. I picked up the fallen knife and stabbed it into the goblin repeatedly. Its screams got louder before a stab to the eye finished it off. What a piece of shit. More importantly, though, how did this get here? Or rather, how did I get here? Did I accidentally go to sleep in the VR gear? ¡°System Menu!¡± I called out. ¡­ ¡°System Menu!!¡± I yelled a bit louder. ¡­ Still no response? The system must be buggy. I heard footsteps approaching in the distance. Maybe yelling that so loudly wasn¡¯t the best idea¡­This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. A group of three goblins showed up in front of me, one of which was holding a rusted sword. Although the quality isn¡¯t the best, a rusted sword is still a sword. Hearing footsteps behind me, I turned and saw two jumbo goblins behind me, both of which had rather large, but chipped swords. They were both at least a head taller than me. Considering that I¡¯m 170 cm, that¡¯s pretty large. The fuck is this difficulty? Not even rust is this hard! Taking their distance and speed into consideration, I have around 5 seconds to kill these three normal goblins before the two jumbo ones get to me. I leapt towards the three incoming goblins. The forward-most goblin began his attack with the rusted sword. It was a slow and extremely projected attack. Ya know, this may be easier than I thought. As the sword swung through the air, I blocked it with the flat of the dagger before driving the tip into the lead goblin¡¯s throat. I passed by the gurgling goblin and I picked it up by the bloody neck, being sure to conserve as much momentum as possible. My next step planted my foot firmly in place as I transferred all my momentum into the goblin and sent it flying into the next. I crouched down, picking up the dropped sword and springing at the last goblin in the same motion. Instead of slashing, I raised the sword in front of me and charged, stabbing the last goblin through the eye and running the blade through its head. The goblin¡¯s knees went limp and it collapsed on the floor as I pulled the sword out of its bloody face. I turned my attention back on the fallen goblins. Two casual pokes put an end to those problems. ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV1 > LV2¡· Yeah, there¡¯s no way this isn¡¯t a game. I looked up to see two trains headed for me. Well, no use throwing away free EXP, right? I hefted one of the knives and felt for the center of mass, which happened to be just past the handle. In any game, throwing is quite the vital skill. Being able to maintain ranged supremacy in the early stages of any game is a really easy way to get plenty of free stuff and a good head start. I¡¯ve killed at least several hundred players simply from wounding or even outright killing them from a distance. There¡¯s nothing more satisfying than maiming someone with a well-thrown dagger in the first minute of a game. Effective throwing is how the early human became earth¡¯s apex predator, after all. I staggered slightly as I let the knife fly. Huh, I seem to be about as strong as I am in the real world. Now that I think of it, wasn¡¯t I walking on a sidewalk a few minutes ago? The knife embedded itself into one of the jumbo goblin¡¯s thighs, causing it to stumble and trip. The other jumbo goblin quickly closed the gap. I feinted a charge and the jumbo goblin responded with a cleave that caused the air to hum slightly. I immediately retreated half a step and hit the back of its sword in the direction it was headed, causing it to overshoot much more than it would have. The impact was immediately followed by the true lunge which tore through the left half of its neck. Blood instantly poured out of the wound. What a filthy casual. The jumbo goblin stumbled backward in surprise. I rushed again and attempted to decapitate it, but the blade got caught in the spine. What a shitty blade, I bet the tiles in my bathroom are sharper than this piece of trash. I pressed the attack and attempted to decapitate it. Sadly, the sword once again got caught in the spinal disks and failed to pass all the way through. Honestly, this piece of metal is more like a jagged club than an actual sword. At this point, I stopped caring which is how I found myself bashing the floored monster repeatedly in the head. ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV2 > LV3¡· ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV3 > LV4¡· ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV4 > LV5¡· Wow, three levels from that kill? Amazing! I need more of these jumbo goblins! I immediately turned my attention to the jumbo goblin that had unsteadily gotten back onto its feet. Trying to recover? As if. I charged it and feigned a chop to its neck. The goblin weakly raised its arm to block. I half-considered just going through with the feint, considering how badly the blood loss had already affected the jumbo goblin. In the end, I opted to just break its wrist with my trusty club sword. My swub. Now, with my superior physique gained from my levels, I shall cut thy head off! I swung my swub again and laughed as it entered the jumbo goblin¡¯s neck. Suckseh- huh? The blade had once again gotten stuck in the jumbo goblin¡¯s spinal cord. Wait, did the extra levels even give anything at all? I''ve been bamboozled¡­ by this shitty excuse for a game¡­ What even is the point of levels? Screw this, I''m out. ¡°System override, force quit.¡± ¡­ ¡°System override, force shutdown!¡± ¡­ Yoooo, blocking those functions is highly illegal and supposed to be impossible¡­ How does this game even exist? Wait, there is one foolproof method to figure out if I''m in a VR machine. I walked up to a wall and licked it. Hmm, tastes like rock. No. No. No. I licked my arm. Tastes like arm. This is most definitely not a game. The full dive machines work because they communicate with bypass devices connected onto the twelve pairs of cranial nerves that send sensory input. That being said, there is a device on all but the taste nerves due to early legislation. Thus, the VR taste test is the easiest way to figure out if you are in full dive equipment. That being said, it is impossible that I am in full dive equipment because the taste bypass machines don''t exist in my brain. Unless some government agency kidnapped me? But I was on a rather busy street¡­ Now that I think of it, what happened? I was on my way to the convenience store and then¡­ there was¡­ What was there? God dammit, fuck my memory. Wait, it was a large explosion! I saw the sidewalk break apart right before I was swallowed by the blast and killed! So does this mean I''m dead? If I take into consideration that I gain nothing from leveling up and the fact that I am indeed an atheist, I can conclude I am probably in hell. But the real question is, which hell? Which god¡¯s hell am I in? Who was really right? Which one of the thousands of religions was the right one, and which one of potentially hundreds of thousands of branches was correct? And more importantly, which god was it that did such a shitty job at leaving evidence for his existence?! I demand to see his manager! But that implies that this is hell. Ara, it is probably best to collect more information before proceeding. *gurgle* I look down at the poorly decapitated jumbo goblin and stomp on its head a few times. ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV5 > LV6¡· ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV6 > LV7¡· I feel much better. No thanks to the extra levels. ------ end I originally thought that I should make chapters 10k words long, but I then realized that may cause the line of problems my older attempts (we don¡¯t talk about disappointments 1 and 2) had, which had an overcomplicated plot. By keeping it short, I¡¯ll probably be tempted to make smaller shifts between chapters¡­ but we¡¯ll see. 1. Useless levels Lol my art skills are bad. Minor formatting changes: spacing 2.0 -> 1.0, + 1 space after paragraphs --------- Although there is much fun to be had in killing a target, it is arguably much more fun looting the corpse. After all, the food you didn''t pay for tastes the best. I immediately discard the trash that is my swub and pick up one of the jumbo goblin¡¯s shiner swords. Although it¡¯s a bit chipped, it¡¯s definitely sharper. Pity it''s a bit heavy. Oh well, nice swords don''t grow on trees. Not on the trees near me, anyways. I go around and gather the three knives the goblins had. Useful little things, yet highly expendable when you have multiple. I take a little fanny pack off one of the goblins and store the knives in it. None of the goblins, big or small, have anything else of use. What kind of bastard has a sword, but no sheathe?! If you don''t have one, I guess I''ll just have to make my own. I use one of the knives to skin a significant portion of the jumbo goblin¡¯s back off. Using the belts from the goblins, I create a simplistic sheathe. Sure, the moisture might rust the sword, but I¡¯ll just get another if that happens. A more pressing issue is food. I''m trapped in what seems to be a massive underground cave system. And I''m hungry. Surely, there''s food somewhere around here, right? Right? RIGHT? Which way is the way out of this place? A tunnel ahead and a tunnel behind. Exactly a fifty-fifty chance of getting the correct path, assuming there is one. Without further ado, I began walking forward. This is going to end well. As I rounded a curve, I noticed a chest lying next to the wall. It was about the size of a large shoebox. Damn, I love big chests! Just as I was about to open it, the top opened to reveal a gaping maw full of rows of teeth. The box instantly jumped at me with the agility one would not expect a box to have.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Motherfucker!¡± I instantly leapt back and drew my sword as it latched onto my arm. A searing pain set into my arm as the rows of teeth sank into my flesh. Panicking, I bashed the thing with my sword, but that just seemed to only drive the top teeth deeper into my arm. I need to calm the fuck down. I took a few deep breaths. Blood dripped onto the ground. Calmly, I turned the box onto the side, and I broke both hinges. The bottom half of the box instantly detached from the top and clattered to the ground. After stomping on it a few times, the bottom half stopped moving. I then ripped the top half off of my arm and threw it on the ground to repeat the process. In a very short amount of time, the ground was covered in a layer of broken, splintered wood and the splattered remains of what looked like¡­ a raw meatball. Almost automatically, I tore a strip off my shirt and wrapped up my bloody arm. I already hate this place. You know what I really want right now? An AK. Or even better, an automatic shotgun. I could have killed all these bastards by just moving my pointer finger a tiny bit. One day. Ahhhh~ my arm hurts¡­ I swear I¡¯m going to murder every box I see in this fucked place. I need to get out of here¡­ Hmm, this should be one of those ¡®dungeon¡¯ settings, so if I begin encountering more dangerous enemies, I know that I''m going the wrong direction, while if I encounter less dangerous enemies, I should theoretically be headed for the entrance. Wonderful! I''ll be out of here in no time at all! I continued to walk forward, but soon, I encountered a solid wall of spider webs. Just beyond the spider webs, there lay a flight of upward stairs. I took out my knife and tried cutting through the silk, but the knife just got stuck. It was like the silk was covered in some kind of super glue or something. In the end, I lost the knife. ¡°Dammit, fucking spiders!¡± I''ll be back! ¡°I''ll genocide you¡­ after I destroy all the chests!¡± Suddenly, the wall of web fell towards the ground at me. I turned and leapt away with all my might. Dammit, if you got that on my shoes, I would have killed you all in a bonfire! ¡­ I''m still going to kill you all though! Within the wall of webs, a spider looked at me curiously. I flipped it off and ran away. As I ran, I somehow went off on a path separate from the one I came from. A few minutes later, I was hopelessly lost. Not that I was ever un-lost. Screw those spiders. I could have gotten slightly less lost if it weren¡¯t for them. I rounded a curve and spotted a goblin. It seemed to be smashing a rock onto another rock in a corner. Well, thanks for the useless EXP I guess? I sent its head flying and took a look at what it was smashing. A little head poked out of the rock. Oh. It¡¯s a turtle! Although levels seemed to be worthless, I still had a strange desire to kill the turtle. Ahhh~, how regrettable¡­ I was about to bring the rock down onto the turtle when it suddenly began to rapidly inflate. I backed away slowly from the turtle whose head had now turned bright red. BAM The turtle violently exploded. Next to my head, a shard of shell had embedded itself into the wall. Note to self, stay away from turtles. A long wail interrupted my thoughts. A goblin charged out of the darkness and attacked me. It was frothing at the mouth and screaming furiously. I killed it with relatively no effort. The wails then began rising in volume and quantity. I¡¯ve got a bad feeling about this... 2. Shadow Another group of goblins appeared and closed in on me like I was the finish line to some race. In this group, none of them had swords. ¡°Know your place, trash.¡± There was truly no challenge to mowing them down. A few strokes of my trusty sword made quick work of the mob of goblins. That makes seven goblins since my last level up? I didn¡¯t get another level? Why are goblins so useless? You know, this is taking too long. When the next group of goblins came, I killed all but one of them. Instead of killing the last goblin, I simply chopped its arms off and kicked it around a few times. The last goblin quickly fled in terror. I¡¯m sure this goblin will lead me back to at least a few of its friends. Although the dungeon was semi dark, it wasn¡¯t difficult to track the goblin at all. All I really had to do was follow the trail of blood from the two stump arms. I didn¡¯t spot any light sources, but I could still clearly see the ground and down quite a distance in each direction. Eventually, the tunnel widened out into a rather large cavern. Inside the cavern was thirty or so huts with goblins ambling about. The goblin I had followed had collapsed in the middle of the village and was sobbing wearily. I hadn¡¯t imagined that the goblins had formed a village in this dungeon¡­ If they have food, I will have struck the jackpot! After sneaking into the village, I found a little corner and hid. From there, I watched the proceedings. A hunched figure walked out of what looked like a central tent. It was holding a staff in one hand, and a tome in the other. The figure read the tome silently and the tip of its staff began to glow, after which it tapped the armless goblin in the head. The glow transferred from the tip of the staff to the goblin¡¯s body. An apparition of a lady wearing a white robe appeared above the goblin. She pointed at the goblin and vanished. The goblin¡¯s iris turned golden, as if a drop of golden ichor had been dripped into its eye. It then trembled slightly before passing out.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The goblins in the surroundings were so shocked that some also fainted. Others bowed down to the central goblin, which had now surprisingly half-regrown his arms. The central goblin was carried back into the hunchback¡¯s hut. A celebration of sorts was then carried out. A boar was roasted and some kind of drink in a keg was rolled out. My question is, where¡¯d they get the wood? Should I just kill them all right now to steal the food? But if I just sneak in after they go to sleep, I¡¯ll be able to get more free meals since I can just come back whenever I¡¯m hungry. If I kill them all off right now, it may be unprofitable! In that case, it''s decided. I will wait until they go to sleep. Then I¡¯ll go and eat all their food. Hahaha~ ? Back at the goblin village, most of the goblins had gone to sleep. There were a few guards, but they were posted at the entrances and not across the village. I casually walked in and tore off a few chunks of boar and helped myself to some of the drink. It was pretty good. The boar was well cooked and the drink tasted like some sort of cider. I look forward to future dividends to this investment. Hey, what about the weird golden-eye goblin? I wonder how much EXP I would get from killing that one? Hmmm, it should be fine if I kill just one. Killing one shouldn¡¯t impact their meat making capabilities. It¡¯s decided then. After I finish this food, I¡¯ll go kill him. What kind of idiot kills on an empty stomach when there¡¯s a free meal to be had? In a very short amount of time, I had finished my pork chop. I was about to reach for another when I remembered the golden goblin. Begrudgingly, I got a refill for my drink and hefted my sword. I¡¯ll take some for the road¡­ I hacked off another chunk of meat and put it in another mug. I¡¯ll come back for this later. Inside the central tent, the hunchback was passed out in a corner with his tome over his face. In the other corner, the golden goblin was laid on the ground. Huh. I swore this guy was a foot shorter the last time I met him¡­ Oh well. Who cares? I lifted up my sword and stabbed it down into its eye. Instantly, it began shrieking in a high pitched scream. I lifted my bloody, brain-covered sword out of its gaping eye-hole, and stabbed it back into the goblin¡¯s throat. *gurgle* ¡¸Title Awarded: ¡ºSlayer of the Chosen One¡»¡¹ ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV7 > LV8¡· ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV8 > LV9¡· ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV9 > LV10¡· ¡¸Level Threshold reached, Skill Point (1) granted.¡¹ [README: Skill Points may be used to upgrade any aspect of yourself or your ability to perform any action. Upgrades focusing on a portion of yourself rather than yourself as a whole will be proportionally stronger.] ¡­ Huh, so he was a chosen one. Oooh, three levels and a ¡®Skill Point?¡¯ So levels aren¡¯t totally useless after all? Wait, the lady must have been the one to bless that goblin thing! If I maim more goblins, maybe there¡¯ll be more chosen ones! More chosen ones = more levels! Unfortunately, the hunchback goblin waking up interrupted my excitement. I fled outside, half on fire as a large blast set the hut ablaze. ¡°Insolence,¡± a voice whispered. As it spoke, the air trembled violently. I picked out a dagger from my fanny pack and threw it just as the goblin mage walked out. A thin eggshell-like membrane over the mage deflected the dagger. The goblin mage smiled slightly and straightened its back. Our eyes met for a brief second. When one plays enough RPGs, one knows when to fight and when to flee. I picked up the mug with the meat in it and fled for my life. ¡°Entering Reprisal, level one,¡± the golden-eyed mage said. 3. The Reprisal of a God I ducked behind a hut as a fireball the size of my body went sailing past. Damn, that would have killed me! Huh, so I can strengthen something? Should I strengthen my arm? If I do that, maybe my knife can pierce the shield. But what if it doesn¡¯t? Then I would truly regret not upgrading my legs. But what if I run away when upgrading an arm would kill it? Then I would be the disappointment of the generation¡­ I took a sip of the cider. Then it¡¯s decided. I want to upgrade my right arm and hand. ¡¸Upgrade applied.¡¹ ¡­ Nothing happened. My arm didn¡¯t change. I slapped the hut behind me. A hand print was clearly visible. Woah~ That¡¯s impressive. It looks like a normal arm, but it¡¯s actually swole as fuck! Hahahahaha I grabbed a rock and jumped out from behind the hut. ¡°Hahaha, my right arm is a lot stronger than my left...¡± I threw the rock as hard as I could at the goblin mage. Upon impact, the shield cracked and the goblin mage was sent toppling backward. Ahahaha~ I drew my sword and approached the mage. A goblin tried to block my way, so I chopped down on his head. A juicy slicing sound was emitted as two halves of goblin fell away from each other. The mage¡¯s golden eyes widened at the realization of what was happening. In an instant, I was upon him. A split second and two swings later, his shield had splintered and the blade was swinging towards his face. I sipped my drink as I expected the mage¡¯s body went limp. Contrary to my expectations, the goblin mage vanished from his position following a sharp cracking sound. I leapt to the side as the hairs on the back of head stood on their ends. Another massive fireball flew past me and hit a hut.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The hut exploded, sending burning logs flying everywhere. The goblins still left in the village fled for their lives. At this point, the mage switched tactics. A hail of purple arrows flew at me. I switched my sword to my left hand and drew a dagger with myright. Sadly, I had to drop my mugs. What a waste. By employing a combination of dodging and swatting techniques, I managed to get a moment¡¯s respite. In that split second window, I flung the dagger. The dagger shot through the air faster than my eye could follow. It slipped through one of the cracks in the mage¡¯s shield and impaled itself into the mage¡¯s leg. A sharp crack echoed through the dry air and the mage vanished. That fucking teleport is getting a bit annoying. But if you insist on playing hide and seek, I¡¯ll be happy to oblige you. I also hid behind one of the huts. A person¡¯s peripheral vision is based primarily on movement. Therefore, if you blend into your environment and remain perfectly still, you can quite easily evade detection. After a minute, the mage still didn¡¯t reappear. I decided to try to flank it. After a moderately lengthed detour, I spotted the goblin mage healing itself. Unfortunately, there weren¡¯t any rocks around to throw, so I had to physically sneak up behind it. I never thought I¡¯d say this, but I really need to start carrying rocks around. You know, maybe I should also make a sling. If I ever find a piece of rope, that¡¯ll be the first thing I do. A sling will let me throw projectiles at stupid speeds if I use my right arm. As I got closer, I thought of more ways to kill the teleporting bastard. When I was finally just a step away, I decided to opt with a simple stab. Although it would be nice to make it suffer, it would be most unfortunate if it escaped. My blade shot forward. In all fairness, the goblin should have died. But I failed to take into consideration how much it would be knocked forward. Thus, as the goblin fell forward, my blade missed by an entire inch. Shield broken, the goblin teleported away again. The goblin showed up around ten feet away from where I hit it. Wait, now that I think of it¡­ The goblin mage has always only teleported no more than ten or fifteen feet. Additionally, there appears to be some sort of cooldown or preparation time associated. The goblin could have definitely dodged a lot of my projectiles if it could teleport without limit. The fact that it teleported after I landed a dagger is supporting evidence that cost isn¡¯t a limiting factor. After all, if cost was a limiting factor, the goblin would not have teleported after the fact I landed a dagger on his leg because now not only does it have to teleport, but it also has to heal its leg. Therefore, I conclude that it is highly likely that the goblin mage is unable to teleport longer distances and has usage restrictions on the spell. I charged the goblin mage who was standing a mere ten feet away. After a brief chase, the goblin managed to teleport away again. However, this time, I spotted its destination: the roof of a hut. I grabbed the rim of the hut with my right hand and performed a one handed pull up. With nowhere left to run, the goblin mage was promptly skewered. ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV10 > LV11¡· ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV11 > LV12¡· ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV12 > LV13¡· ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV13 > LV14¡· ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV14 > LV15¡· ¡¸Title Awarded: ¡ºAposticide¡»¡¹ Hmm, and five levels as well. The mage was an apostle? ¡¸Title Awarded: ¡ºHe Who Opposes a God¡»¡¹ ¡¸Skill Awarded: ¡¼Domain I¡½ (Passive)¡¹ [README: If you are reading this, it probably means that your relationship with a god is utterly irreconcilable. You¡¯re definitely going to need Domain so that you don¡¯t die instantly. Domain I radius: 10m] ¡­ He who opposes¡­ a god? All I wanted was the levels! I looked up and realized that I could see myself. In fact, I could sense an area of around a meter around myself. Beyond that, the very essence of space seemed to be crushing down around me. The pressure was so great that my ¡®domain¡¯ seemed to be crushed inwards until it extended no more than about six inches off my skin. Well, good thing I¡¯m not claustrophobic. 4. Running From God Sorry, life happened. I¡¯m back though. ----- When the space around you closes in on you-- when the air itself tries to crush you, you would expect that there would be some sort of resistance when you tried to move around. Strangely, that wasn¡¯t the case. I could freely move around without interference. Even though the air itself was crushing against me. Even though a god wanted to kill me. ¡­ Must be a failure of a god. Such was the only logical conclusion. To be unable to strike down a puny mortal who interfered with the plans of a divine being. Not only to interfere, but to outright kill such a god¡¯s messenger. And to escape without so much as a scratch. The only logical conclusion is thus. The god must be a failure. Nai waa~ 1 Even among gods, there are excelling figures and failures. Wait, I thought gods were omniscient and all powerful? Clearly not here. Hmm, if I were a god, I would probably tell my followers that I was omniscient and invincible. Hah Life is full of mysteries, isn¡¯t it. Well then, I must do what any sane, rational person would do in this scenario. I raise both middle fingers to the skies and laugh wildly. ¡°Hahahaha, is this some kind of a joke? If you¡¯re a god, then I must be your manager! Ahahaha! If I knew you were this useless, I would have just left the mage alone and waited for more chosen ones to appear!¡± ¡°Haha, do your best to kill me! If one comes, I¡¯ll kill one! If a hundred come, I¡¯ll kill a hundred!¡± Suddenly, a warning came up. [Level 2 Reprisal Warning: A cross-floor attack has been initiated on you. Current Special Forces delegated: < 125 >] [Level 2 Reprisal Warning: A cross-floor attack has been initiated on you. Current Special Forces delegated: < 180 >] [Level 2 Reprisal Warning: A cross-floor attack has been initiated on you. Current Special Forces delegated: < 210 >] ¡­ ¡­ The numbers began to rapidly rise. Hey¡­ Those are rather big numbers. Maybe I misjudged. This god might be a bit powerful after all. Wait, there¡¯s still that book and staff from the goblin mage! I ran to the corpse and stripped it of everything.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Huh, what does this ring do? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): A excess mana storage device. Will drain mana from or to the user until the %capacities match. Can store 513 units of mana.¡¹ ASA? How convenient. The convenience is strong in this one. Let¡¯s be good friends, little ring! What if I run an ASA on the staff? ASA. Work. ASA Staff. ¡­ Hmm. How to I get this to work? How did I get it to work with the ring? Uhh¡­ That¡¯s a good question. How did I do that? Wait. I know. I asked what it does. Hahaha, I went full goldfish there for a second. I tried the tactic. What does this staff do? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): A channelling device with magic circuits pre built into it. Channelling mana will activate the magic, no skill required. Current configured spell: ¡¼Siege Fireball¡½Cost: 50 units.¡¹ Huh, so this is the thing that the goblin used to one shot the village structures. I looked around and admired the smoldering heaps of building materials around me. The fireballs move super slow though, so they¡¯re probably useless against people¡­ unless they¡¯re so tightly packed that they can¡¯t dodge. I checked the cross-floor attack notification. Almost 500 now. This is bad¡­ What does this book do? PleasebeusefulPleasebeusefulPleasebeuseful¡­ ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): The gospel of Tamit. The tale of his heroic deeds and ensuing ascension is told. It is said that he has a thousand wives. Flint-notes. Chapter Summary. Characters. Themes. Motifs and Symbols. Miscellaneous Information.¡¹ How big is my mana pool? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): Your mana pool has a size of 50 units and regenerates at 0.3/minute. Time required to regenerate 50 units: 02:46:40. Current Capacity: 50/50 <+ 513>¡¹ I channelled my mana and watched silently as the book was consumed by the ensuing explosion. How regrettable. ¡­ Huh, so I should have full mana in two minutes. Strange that the milliseconds were listed. Wait a second. Waiwaiwaiwaiwait. How much mana do I have? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): You currently have 0 units of mana.¡¹ What¡¯s my mana regeneration rate? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): Your mana regeneration rate is 0.3/minute. Time required to regenerate 50 units: 02:46:40. Current Capacity: 50 <+ 513>¡¹ Aww shit. Mistakes were made. That¡¯s not two minutes and forty six seconds. That¡¯s two hours and forty six minutes! Buyer¡¯s remorse just set in¡­ What should I do? Uhhh¡­ ¡­ Well, if one pokes a hornet¡¯s nest and then finds out that he has run out of insecticide, one has no choice¡­ But to flee. I immediately scramble into action. I throw all the stuff into a bag I found. I also stuff a large boar leg into the bag and grab a small barrel of drink. Time to go! Screw this place. Screw this god. Screw this cross-floor attack. Most of all, screw my mana regeneration! [Level 2 Reprisal Warning: Special Forces have finished amassing. A total of <718> units have been deployed.] [README: Special Forces will not be obstructed in any way by the normal dungeon monsters.] Nai wa. I know I said that I would kill a hundred¡­ But doesn¡¯t seven hundred seem¡­ a little high? How much mana do I have? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): You currently have 0.7 units of mana.¡¹ I hefted the barrel of drink a little higher and redoubled my speed. I¡¯ll be damned if I have to drop my food! God¡­ One day I¡¯ll make you pay! ---- Omg google docs formatting copies perfectly wtf this is gr8 i r8 revolver out of revolver. This may seem like an atheist author¡¯s incessant bashing of religion, but it really isn¡¯t. It¡¯s just the set-up for a future arc. )) 1 Full weeb ¡®No way¡¯ 5. Tactical! Text colour red O.o it works ------ Run. Faster. Ahead of me, there was a goblin. Screw you! Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m in a hurry? I cut it to pieces and continued. ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV15 > LV16¡· Cool. Four more levels before I *probably* get something! As I keep running, I hear a slight buzzing in my ear. *swat* I look at my hand. It¡¯s a mosquito. What the fuck? Why are there mosquitoes here? Where¡¯s the DEET when you need it? I hear more buzzing and so I look around. But I see nothing. Something lands on my arm. I look at it and a mosquito seems to fade into existence. What this fuck is this? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): Mosquito, blazing fast insect capable of injecting weak poison and cloaking. Best in swarms, heals after consuming blood. In high enough doses, the poison will paralyze and dull judgement.¡¹ Special¡­ Forces¡­ Mosquito? Hahahaha, and here I was thinking that I would get swarmed by a thousand elite goblins or something. The poison will paralyze? Dull judgement? I suddenly drop everything and begin swatting wildly. fuckfuckfuckFUCKFUCKFUCK Wait, calm down Calmness Not dying yet I¡¯m calm¡­ probably. Can I detect the mosquitos with domain? ¡­ Hello? ASA? WHAT TRIGGERS ASA DAMMIT! ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): What command syntax - what [reference pointer] Identifies [reference pointer] Additional details available depending on [reference pointer] Activation prerequisites: query intention and Domain-Level privilege¡¹ Oh. That¡¯s dumb. I knew that. I was close¡­ ¡­ What is Domain? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): Domain ability summary - Implements a personal Access Control List (ACL) to control use of the Augmentation System Commands (ASCs) while within the radius. Grants Domain-Level Privileges to the domain owner. Personal commands and scripted passives can be created. Full API available here. The strength of Domain weakens exponentially with distance from the source owner.¡¹Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡­ So what I¡¯m seeing is that it¡¯s useless. Maybe if I knew how to script? That would be overpowered. But I don¡¯t. So it¡¯s worthless. Sometimes in hollywood, some characters claim to have ¡®written their own code¡¯ to ¡®hack some computer.¡¯ Those are all lies. They downloaded the software off the internet and then they pretend they wrote it. Besides, no one would waste time writing software if there¡¯s free versions widely available¡­ Only idiots would do that. Google, I need you! ¡­ Sadly, google is not there to answer my pleas for help. I have to rely on myself. Yosh! I redouble my swatting efforts. You may be invisible¡­ But I can still swat randomly! I feel stinging pains in my crippled arm and my legs. I hate this place. True to my word, more than a hundred dead mosquitoes lie scattered in my wake in a matter of minutes. ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV16 > LV17¡· Oh, I get EXP from killing mosquitos? Well they are Special Forces. Considering I killed more than a hundred to gain a level, the efficiency is not high. Ha~ I really thought there was going to be a thousand goblins... I guess I was wrong about being wrong that god was useless. All he can summon are mosquitos. Send more free levels please! I suddenly feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. My instincts are screaming, why? Footsteps? Behind me? I whip around, but nothing is there. What? I swing my sword through the air randomly and rush forward. A rather large-ish goblin suddenly fades out of the shadows screaming bloody murder. It appears to be holding its stump arm. What is THAT? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): Mk II Goblin Assassin, lightly armored goblin that attempts to kill distracted targets. Capable of stealth. Mk II grants heightened physical abilities.¡¹ Sneaky Mark II goblin?! ¡®Only mosquitos my ass!¡¯ Bamboozled again! The goblin rapidly retreats and throws a dagger. I slap the incoming dagger out of the air using my sword. The shadows on the ground shift around and the goblin vanishes. I slash through the air to the left of the spot where the goblin disappears. Luckily, I chose correctly. The goblin screams shrilly as it dies pathetically. This god is too crafty for its own good. It sends a bunch of mosquitos to trick me into thinking its actually a shitty attack, but then a sneaky goblin arrives! I could have died! Looking around my body, I suddenly realized that the mosquitoes have landed on me while I was distracted. I swat wildly again and kill several dozen of the densely packed mosquitoes in seconds. This combination attack is seriously strong¡­ The mosquitoes distract and whittle while the-- *twang* As I was busy analyzing the strategies, a light whistling sound could be heard. I feel a sharp pain in my back. I¡¯ve been shot by an arrow! I furiously search for the perpetrator, but there¡¯s none to be seen. A sneaky archer?! What kind of bullshit is this?! I pick up a rock and hurl it in the general direction from which the arrow came from. There is a sharp *crack* as the rock smashes into a wall, followed by a light *pit-pat*... Almost as if something was fleeing¡­ Motherfucker¡­ You think you can shoot me in the back and run? I pick up more rocks and hurl them towards where I hear the footsteps. *crack* *crack* *thud* The third rock doesn¡¯t hit a wall. A goblin with half a head and a bow falls out of the shadows and lies on the ground. A pool of blood rapidly grows around the body. Lemme guess, a special forces sneaky goblin archer. Well¡­ What is it? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): Mk II Goblin Assassin, lightly armored goblin that attempts to kill distracted targets. Capable of stealth. Mk II grants heightened physical abilities.¡¹ Close enough. I look at the arrow wound. The arrow has completely penetrated my body. There is both an entry and exit wound. Well shit. It kinda hurts when I walk. Should I pull it out? The wound might get bigger since there isn¡¯t hospital care nearby. I carefully try to pull the arrowhead off of the arrow. Arrowheads are lightly fastened to the arrow shafts with tar or some weakly binding adhesive because arrow shafts are scarce. After all, there aren¡¯t many plants that grow in a ¡®shaft-like¡¯ way. Thus, for easy reuse of arrow shafts, arrowheads are made expendable. Unfortunately, the arrowhead appears to be firmly stuck on the shaft. Who the FUCK MADE THIS?! I snap the head off and pull the rest of the arrow out from behind. I turn the rest of my shirt into a bandage. I¡¯m going to run out of shirt at this rate. Fuck this place so much. How much mana do I have? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): You currently have 6.2 units of mana.¡¹ I think I have to get a healing mechanism with my next skill point or I¡¯ll be screwed. What¡¯s that? Four levels? Easy peasy. Ish. At least I got a free bow and arrows¡­ Hey, I said ¡®what,¡¯ but the what command didn¡¯t activate? That must be the ¡®query intention¡¯ prerequisite. I hear the characteristic footsteps again. Today¡¯s going to be a very long day. ------------- Sorry about the late-ish release. Didn¡¯t like a piece of it so I chopped it off and redid it. Pace seems slightly fast, but direction is correct so therefore there probably isn¡¯t a problem. 6. Almost Blind It hurts. It use to be just my arm. Now its my stomach as well¡­ Ahhh, it hurts~ Now that I think of it, it¡¯s kind of cold here too¡­ Don¡¯t tell me I¡¯m sick?! Arrow must have nicked my intestines Hah~, I¡¯m going to die of septic shock at this rate. What I need right now is another one of those chosen ones. Sleeping, preferably. If only¡­ As I round the corner, sure enough, there¡¯s a sleeping goblin on the ground. What?! I rub my eyes. What the hell?! This is too good to be true! Wait, I have a secret weapon! What is that, ASA? ¡¸Augmentation System Analysis (ASA): Mirage Low level illusion generated by a Mirage Variant on the Curse tree¡¹ Wut. I¡¯m being fucked with. Suddenly, I felt a burning anger fill me. I stand still and inspect the area around the mirage. Footsteps, at least four. That means there¡¯s probably more standing still in ambush. Multiple arrows appear out of nowhere and sail towards me. Since I¡¯m partially expecting them, I almost lazily reach out with my sword and smack them out of the air. Some of them outright miss. Now, in the time while you¡¯re drawing another arrow¡­ I throw a rock. *crack* I throw another rock. *thud* A rock finds a target. Unfortunately, it¡¯s a rather small rock so it doesn¡¯t outright kill the goblin. A third rock finishes the job. ¡¶EXP Threshold reached, Human LV16 > LV17¡· Complete silence. The illusion vanishes. I suppose they gave up on that.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Invisibility and illusions. What¡¯s wrong with this place? The developers must have accidentally set the difficulty too high. Or god hates me. Based on recent events, strangely, the second one seems more probable. Where¡¯s my shotgun? Well, I probably don¡¯t even need that. If my augmented throw can destroy a goblin skull, surely, their bone strength must be pitiful¡­ even if they are mark twos. I stare at the wall and in a figurative sense, the wall stares at me. If you aren¡¯t going to make a move, then I suppose I will. I run around and wildly swing my sword. It hurts my stomach, so after about three seconds of this I have to stop. Footsteps? About ten feet ahead of me! Die, bastard! I rush forward and swing in broad strokes. My stomach hurts, but it¡¯s worth the sacrifice. My sword finds a target in the darkness. A goblin is split in two at the waist. An arrow sails over my head. Another grazes my shoulder. I whip around and search for the perpetrators. The bisected goblin can bleed to death. Considering the two arrows earlier missed, they are either very far away or can¡¯t aim. If either condition is true, they probably don¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll prioritize the closer ones and the ones that can aim. After all, if they can¡¯t hit me, I can probably ignore them. Hmm, if they stand perfectly still while cloaked and sit in a corner, there¡¯s nothing I can do. Another arrow sails through the air. Surprisingly, it hits another cloaked goblin who falls to the ground screaming. Hahaha, so they can¡¯t see the other cloaked ones either? I walk up to the unlucky bastard and stab him in the face. Haha killsteal! Is that even how this works? Does the finishing blow determine EXP or does contribution amount determine it? I¡¯ll have to perform experiments later. I immediately run back to the wall so I can¡¯t be shot from behind. Dammit... if they weren¡¯t cloaked, this would be dead easy. I would repeat the randomly swing my sword tactic, but I feel like I won¡¯t be as lucky if I¡¯m shot from behind again. I have no choice but to walk with my back to a wall. Wait a second. I pull out the bow and arrows I looted off the goblin assassin¡¯s corpse. Although I can¡¯t sword-deflect while I¡¯m holding the bow, I¡¯m kind of feeling lucky. I send a shot in the general direction of where the last arrow came from. As expected, my shot misses where I was aiming by several feet. I correct my aim, but this time I overcompensate slightly. None of the arrows hit anything, but I hear panicked running. You think you can run? I shot again¡­ and missed. Dammit, he ran away. I hate this place. Why am I even fighting these guys? I have no good way to de-cloak them. I¡¯m going to die if I keep fighting these invisible goblins. They hardly give EXP, they¡¯re impossible to kill and they randomly shoot arrows at me. Should I just run? If they just hide, I¡¯m screwed. Yeah, I¡¯m going to run. Time to go. I shift my bag to a slightly more comfortable position and flee. ? As I run down the narrow hallway, I suddenly stop, pick up a rock, and fling it down the hallway behind me. There¡¯s a distinctive *thud* as a goblin is taken out. Fuck you! Stop following me! I turn back around and keep moving. Can¡¯t go upstairs because of the stupid spider. My only choice is to go down. Wait, since the spider is blocking off the path up, does that mean that the cross-floor attack gets stuck there? Mmm, I may have killed off most of the special forces already if that¡¯s the case. Except I don¡¯t know BECAUSE EVERYTHING¡¯S INVISIBLE! Where are the stairs to the next floor? I need to find the stairs. After around fifteen minutes of searching, I find the stairs down. Thankfully, there are no spiders on these stairs. Screw all you fuckers, I¡¯m out! I leap down the stairs and into the next floor. I shield my eyes as I¡¯m bombarded by the bright light. Why is it so bright inside of a dungeon? Slowly, my eyes adjust. I look around. That¡¯s really green. How is this in any way a dungeon? No matter how you look at it, this is clearly a jungle. Notif: stuff Ok, can''t believe iPhone''s cut feature doesn''t put the content in the clipboard so I''ve just lost everything I spent the last fifteen minutes writing. (Now I''m being plagued by 500 character minimums because apparently you need to salt the wound smh) Anyways, gist of what I wrote was I''m going to rewrite this shit til I git good because quality problems. I''ll keep rewriting until I can consistently not have to rewrite multiple times to have a working chapter and for better quality in general.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Cya when 2.0 hits! --ToBeAndNotToBe