Much to my relief, the Lich disappeared quickly when he first appeared. I was glad when he decided to spare me. Knowing I was close to death's door at that moment filled me with dread.
Well, you can guess what happened afterward about knowing the quest the system gave me.
'I arrived in this world just for about an hour or so, and suddenly just out of f*cking nowhere, a Lich, a powerful undead creature of all things appeared and f*cking cursed me! god f*cking damn it!.' I couldn't help but rant with the swirling emotions within me, mainly anger, about the whole situation.
I know I was being brat about the whole thing, but can you blame me? Like, what are the chances of that happening? Slim, right?
And don't get me started on my system. The nerve, The AUDACITY of it just made my anger increase to a certain degree.
How could it assign me to this type of quest? How could a slime such as myself kill a freaking Lich? It even gave a punishment for failing! And guess what? Death! Damn death! How ridiculous is that?
Like seriously, just by looking at his stats alone, I already knew I would get destroyed in merely seconds by just confronting him.
Now don't get me started on the status effect. It was the final nail in the coffin.
First of all, I don't know what the 'Taint of the Void' meant, but I knew one thing - that I would die if it was completed.
It's enough to send me into despair.
It was like poison, I would treat it as poison. It would slowly kill me as time gradually passed. Great, if I don't die from the status effect, I might die by my quest, and vice versa.
After calming myself down, I try to see the positive side of this situation. Not that it outweighs the negative side, but still, at least there is.
The quest rewards are what I am talking about. It is very appealing, very much so if I could kill the Lich. But the difficulty of the quest outweighs the reward.
Sigh, just kill me now.
All hopes of a peaceful, slice-of-life type of life in this new world turned to dust and reduced to atoms.
Currently, I was situated around in the middle of the group of slimes. After that encounter with the Lich, I didn't dare to escape or wander when it was around or until the coast was clear. I naturally behave and act like a normal slime. The slimes stopped moving and were completely still like they were waiting for something.
A signal perhaps?
The bad news was that my status effect grew by a mere 2% when I was not paying attention to it. It was only when I got bored and decided to check my status that I realized how fast it grew. I began to wonder how long it would take to complete and how much time passed until it rose to another 1%. That's when I began to calculate how many minutes it would increase. When it was 3%, I started counting.
After a while, I got the result - five minutes.
So every five minutes, It would increase. I did the math, so every hour it would increase to 10 percent. Basically, I have 10 hours left to live.
10 hours and my quest limit is two days… How the hell-
Ahh never mind, I'm not even questioning my system's ways of torturing me anymore.
Basically, that two-day limit is a scam. I have 10 hours to do my quest before I don't die. Knowing that I was basically screwed.
My previous calmness was again replaced by anger.
How can the system expect me to act? Fight it right here? Right Now? With what? Let him die by my squishy body?
But, despite the circumstances, That doesn't necessarily mean I would give up now... maybe, but not yet. Sure, my target is a Lich that is basically two times, if not, three times stronger than me. But that doesn't mean my chances of winning are zero. Remember I have what's called a cheat. And that cheat is gonna help me. If only I could figure out how it could do that. It doesn't even want to talk to me or try to help me.
First of all, I must get this straight - fighting is not an option. I repeat not an option unless I want a death wish. But it is the last resort.
Looking at the quest information, it doesn't necessarily say I would kill the Lich to finish the quest.
There were two options I could think of right now. The second option was the most viable for me.
The second option centered around focusing on saving all these slimes instead. However, the problem was I didn't know how to get all these slimes to listen to me, let alone command all of them to follow me. I assumed that all of them were following the Lich since they all traveled the same path; none of them would wander around as far as I observed. In a sense, they are being controlled. Possibly, influenced, I think.
Obviously, I can't escape this cave if tons of slimes are gonna follow me around and where would I even place them?
That poses another problem. If they are controlled then the only way to uncontrol them is to smash out the source.
The source was none other than the Lich.
So this second option went back to the first option, which was to kill the Lich.
"..."
Strangely, I can't decide whether to laugh or cry.
///////////////////////////////////////
Death wish.
Did I have that? Yes. Yes, I did.
After nearly minutes of begging the system to help me find ways to beat the Lich or at least give me some overpowered skill while at it, it just ignored me. How rude is that?
Now chances are close to none since this cheat is not acting as a cheat. Where's my freaking overpowered skill?!
It gave me a quest, an unreasonable quest that is, and not at least gave me some stuff to actually handle the quest. Is this a scam? Do you really want to kill me, system?
Much to my surprise, it actually responded.
[The system assures the host that the system cares for the host truly like a mother would for a child.]
Oh, so you're f*cking with me then? You Motherfu-
I couldn't help but want to strangle the system right about now. It even dared to say how caring it was to me. Shameless. SHAMELESS!
'Calm down, calm down. Valt'
'Don't act like a spoiled brat. Don't act like a spoiled brat.' I kept repeating to myself. While I'm grateful to have a system to begin with. But still…could I get at least something nicer and helpful? Please...
I thoughtfully gave the final last 'f*ck you' to the system before finding myself at peace,
Setting aside my anger, I began to strategize or plan how I was gonna handle this situation. Ranting will do me no good; even begging won't do, so I just have to rely on no one but myself.
First, I need something that could harm the Lich. Something that is at my disposal. Casting my abilities aside, I went to my skill.
I set aside the skill: Identify and focused on the skill: Gluttony.
Could I eat the Lich? That's the first thing that came to mind. As funny and ridiculous as it sounds, it was plausible.
[ANSWER: The Gluttony skill isn't bound by the host's current power, and it operates independently. Thus it does not require a set of requirements. The host can consume anything/anyone, but the host must remember that consuming a higher entity is not recommended when the host's current level is far beyond the enemy.]
Sounds pretty overpowered to me. If my gluttony could consume a higher entity, perhaps sort of like almost a god? Could it be that this is my cheat?
From one side, it sounds hella strong. This skill is the only skill I have that is basically an attack. But on the other, it's quite not really a good skill against something that has intelligence.
If somehow I got close enough to the Lich, I could use the skill and probably be successful in consuming it. But that would be too easy, right? As far as I know, he would have a wide variety of spells that could counter my gluttony. Heck, knowing just how powerful the Lich is. I don't even know if getting close to him is possible.
Not to mention, I don't know how fast my gluttony skill can activate, swallow, and consume the Lich entirely. Judging from how long it took for my body to regain its original state when I first used it to consume the ore, it would probably take too long. And the bad news was that there was no way to improve that as it was labeled as a special grade. It does have its pros and cons.
But to actually confirm that…
'System, is there to improve my gluttony's skill efficiency when digesting something?'
[ANSWER: The SKILL: Gluttony is linked to the STAT: Dexterity. Improving the STAT: Dexterity will improve the digestive efficiency of the SKILL: Gluttony.]
'But you said earlier that it was max level? Shouldn't the digestive efficiency be at max?' Now I was getting suspicious of the accuracy of the system's information.
[ANSWER: The SKILL: Gluttony is at a maxed level in terms of power. However, the digestive efficiency will depend on the Host's dexterity.]
'How much would I need to put on Dexterity before I could see some noticeable changes in its speed?'
[ANSWER: If the host reaches 10 Dexterity. The host will begin to notice the changes in the speed.]
That far huh?
'Does it apply to other skills?'
[ANSWER: Yes. For example, the SKILL: Further Identification is linked to the STAT: Intelligence. If the host wants to acquire more information about the target, the host's intelligence must be improved in order to do so.]
'Oh, that explains the requirements…'
Currently, at the moment, I am still within the group acting like I am one of the controlled slimes. I took another good look around to see if the Lich was nowhere to be found.
I was planning to escape from the group.
Why would I escape, you may ask?
Well, it's simple. Remember the ore I found? That one that gathers exp? Well, I want to consume it as much as I can. There are still some risks, I know. Knowing that I am affected by an unknown spell, I would very much guess that the Lich would know where I was. It could be a tracking device or a bomb that could detonate when I was about to leave the group. But I didn't care. It was better to take the risk than do nothing at that place. I would still be dead anyway, even if I didn't take the risk.
If I die attempting this and that very well be it.
I just hope the Lich wasn't too keen on me. I mean, I got to hear him say 'Interesting' two times to me. If that doesn't sound like a bad omen then I don't know what the heck it is.
Slowly after each minute, I would move slightly to the side, sometimes I would take a big leap of distance. The Lich was nowhere to be found, which was quite worrying. Maybe just like before, It would appear suddenly. I hope that's not the case.
Within just a couple of minutes or so, I finally arrived at the edge.
Now time for my planned escape. I quietly narrowed my way down the small hole I found, squeezing my way through it without any problem.
I wasn't too sure if this hole would actually get me to a new location but to my relief, it did.
Finding myself in a new area, I waited for about a minute. Waiting to see if the Lich would do something about my escape. I prepared myself mentally and ….
Nothing, nothing happened.
Could I be wrong?
I wouldn't say that. It could be that the Lich doesn't simply care I escape. I mean, I am just one not many. I hope that's the case.
I began searching for the ore which was surprisingly kinda hard to find. It was like finding diamonds in Minecraft. Much to the minutes spent searching for it, I only found one in the end.
[Allummine Ore Consumed!]
[ - Host Gained 10 exp!]
[Lvl: 1 → 2]
[The Host has ascended to a new level! Congratulations!]
[Reward]
[+1 Stat point gained]
[Bonus rewards: To congratulate you on your first ascension, The System has provided an extra 5 stats points and a random skill chest reward. When opened, the host will obtain a random skill.]
Honestly, I didn't expect the bonus rewards.
If this was some way of saying sorry, then I'll accept it. That doesn't necessarily mean I fully accepted the forgiveness.
Still, The emotions that I am feeling right now are akin to buying a new gaming computer, I mean look at that! 5 stat points! That is extremely helpful. So as a normal and logical person, I decided to save it for future use. Now for the other reward which is the skill chest, I was debating whether to open it or save it but decided on the former.
[Congratulations! The Host has obtained the Skill - Bounce(Normal)]
[Bounce(N)(Lvl:1) - A skill used to propel higher onto the air]
Bounce? Seriously?
Out of any skill, you gave me bounce?
Still, I am not in a position to complain. At least, the skill has its uses. I could use it to dodge an incoming attack or something. With nothing else to do, I went out and sought more of those ores. I wasn't done yet.
The Grind Never ENDS!
Especially when my life depended on it.