"I officially hate teleportation!" Desmend announced as he set foot on the other side. The others are nowhere in sight. "This is a stupid way to travel." The Chosen One took in his surroundings. At least he was no longer at the lava cliffs. But now, he was in a barbarian style village made of stone and clay. He could see details of the houses everywhere, but they were too damaged for him to make out any details. There seemed to be some kind of market going on in the town centre. It looked like there might even be a temple somewhere nearby. Also, the entire thing was on fucking fire. Was this village attacked?

But there was no time to complain and question on the fire as a new foe walked over in Desmend's line of sight. It was an ogre... It looks just like the games he used to play back on Earth, except it was a lot bigger than in the video games. And it's holding a "IS THAT A KID BODY!?" Desmend blurted out loud enough that the ogre turned its head down at him. It roared and advanced towards the Chosen One with a speed that could only come from pure muscle power. It threw away the dead rock child and charged.

Ok, attack first. Think later, so the Chosen One charged into the beast with all his strength. The creature roared like thunder and tried to stop him, but it wasn't enough. So Desmond went straight through its midsection and continued forward.

What was the thing about the Orges in the book? Ogres are tough; Their physiology makes them farewell in extremely harsh environments and relatively safe from disease. Ogres are omnivores; They can eat nearly anything without adverse effects, even spoiled or toxic foodstuffs that would fell most other creatures. They are also dumb as shit, especially compared to humans, elves, and beastmen.

They also have the same weak points in the human body.

Desmond kept rolling along the ground with the ogre right behind him until he could hear the crunching of bones, followed by a scream that lasted only a few seconds before ending in silence. His eyes darted around, looking at the area. Then he noticed something moving over there. Another ogre? No, this one had blue skin and no horns. This was obviously an orc! This orc was shorter than the ogre but definitely not weak.

"Inspect." Desmend eyes glowed, looking at the ugly thing. Black tattoos filled his bare skin. Its only similarities to the previous monsters were the ugliness, the pointed ears, and the loincloth it wore. Both its ears and nose had earrings, and its eyes were glowing red. Unlike the ogre, who had brought no weapon, this one wielded a large sabre.

Sanguine Orc Warrior (D) — 500 / 500

─ Endurance: 1000

─ Health: 650

─ Stamina: 450

─ Vespa: 500

─ Skills:

─ Searing Sabre (D) — 1/1

─ Brutal Charge (D)

"Well, that's new!" Desmond's entire body glowed with purple energy. The orc swung its sabre. Desmond deflected it easily with his force shield. Then it swung again. This time Desmend blocked the blow and dodged to the side. The orc swung again, and Desmond barely deflected it with his force mage skill.

This is a tremendous leap from the other monsters he faced. It would be a challenge. Still, Desmend was confident that he could win. Now he needed to show off his skills. Desmend summoned more mana to his shields with his next block and increased their size. The orc's arm was cut off completely, and it cried out in pain.

The ogre behind him raised its fist for a downward strike. Desmond caught it with his shield and pushed its face against the ground. It howled in pain and anger. Desmend got up and took out his clackers. "I hope you explosion, you bitch!" Desmend screamed as he shot his clackers at the orc. The orc didn't even have time to prepare for the attack, and its body exploded into a cloud of dust.

"That should take care of that". Desmend thought as he turned back to the ogre. He was still standing with his hand raised and a smirk on his face.

─ You have killed Sanguine Orc Warrior (D)

─ Ogre was level 7

─ Experience Gained: 1800

"What are the rules to this game?!" Desmend yelled, confused as to why he was now getting exp. "Why are my life points!?"

It had served a single purpose: to kill the antro rock clan. There was nothing else. It was a program, and programs had no feelings or emotions. It had no name, no past, no future. Its entire existence was in the here, in the now. Its success didn't matter either, for it would still be destroyed should it kill the being it was destined to kill. A weapon for the Blood lord. All it could do was live its brief existence to the fullest, which meant also killing the human who just appeared out of nowhere.

It was significantly stronger, heavier, and faster than the human. So it should have been, at least. But, unfortunately, that's not what it found.

The human weaved his pointy shiny stick around with such precision and fluidity that even it was mesmerised by its death-promising beauty for a moment. Then, the repeated attacks of the pointed edge awakened it. Its skin wasn't used to being cut up so much like this. It tried to close the distance with its supposedly superior speed, but it failed. The human wasn't exactly as fast as it was, but his footwork was exquisite. It tried to get away from the fists strikes but found itself with its back to a burning hut while still under attack.

Its eyes opened wide when the human stepped in front of it and raised his sword high above his head. Its instincts told it to run, but it couldn't move. It was frozen in place.

Out of alternatives, it rushed against the human even at the cost of its own blood. Going for an axe strike with all its might.

The fool human tried to block, but the sheer weight of the axe strike and the strength behind the attack quickly broke through the purple shield. The human disappeared before the attack could land on the ground.

It wasn't surprised when a blade reached for its neck as soon as the humans' feet touched its shoulder. It knew that could happen and was prepared to intercept any enemy attempts at reaching its neck. Yet, the human movement proved impossible to stop. The blade crackled with purplish light, and, to its surprise, the attack cut clean through its neck.

It died with regrets, failing to have achieved the wishes of the blood lord.

Sanguine Orge Titan (D) — 0 / 500 → 1,944 LP

Desmend's battle against the ogre and orc had been the hardest one yet. And he got life points this time... "Man, the rules of this world are so very annoying," He muttered to himself. "That battle was so hard. There is a reason I hate glass cannon classes."

To begin with, he had had to keep his Vespa circulating to give him a slight boost of strength and speed. The physical boost spell on his legs for a quick burst. His slashes and kicks hit but did negligible damage, as the monster's skin was frankly thick. It also parried most of the slashes, which caused Desmend to give ground on the very unfamiliar burning village. Purifying the smoke was very taxing.

Still, he would've won with time, slash after slash, at its weak points, if it weren't for its decision to rush with an axe strike, he wouldn't have his chance to go for the neck with his full might when that happened, even scoring two relatively deep strikes to the ogre's brachial artery on its shoulder. Yet it didn't die. If he hadn't tried that Flash stop move, he would never have made it to the neck.

He stepped back, suffering from a tired body. His lifepaths may offer high damage, but getting hit even once would have killed him. Something not covered by the combat spell or armour; also, basic attacks are really draining on the body.

He had to get away from this place. He must make a plan.

His eyes focused on the orc. The body disappears into the air. Desmend noticed that it wasn't trying to follow him. It probably wanted to chase down the fleeing villagers. They must have already fled when he attacked the orc and the ogre.

Desmend walked a few steps backwards and then ran in the opposite direction.

His entire body hurt a lot. One reason Clementine and Aura said before was important was that one must be prepared ones' body to receive larger amounts of Vespa or Mana for long periods. He was still in the beginner stages. Hell, it was only his first fucking week! The most he could do was imbue his body with Vespa for less than a minute, and unless someone could heal him, he wouldn't be able to infuse his body with Vespa or Mana for at least half a day.

If he insisted, his muscles, heart included, could burst open and give him an excruciating death. The fight from earlier was him just using Vespa for thirty seconds before breathing deeply to try again.

"Next wave?" He said. He'd remembered the goddess troll talking about waves or something.

The next wave is in 2 hours. Head East-south. 9 enemies downwards in groups of 10. It's been ten days since you killed a monster; the newbie bonus is now over.

What worried him the most was the fact was the perfect grammar. Oh, fuck no... When he returns, the Chosen One swears to give this job to someone else! According to the blue boxes (which had perfect grammar now), that had been a weakened form of the final boss. He wasn't sure he had enough time to train enough to beat a stronger monster.

The bonus must have started when he killed the scorpion back then. Fucking stupid game...

A blue box appeared in front of him when he walked away from the burning village. He saw the words in it and quickly made his way to the eastern forest.

Congratulations to my crazy handsome dweeb who defeated a middle boss!

By killin' enemies, fer shure you have accumulated Life Points or LP. Such a cute name, man, right? LP is like, wow! thuh only currency accepted by thuh Goddess System. Thuh Goddess System is thuh source of all messages you have been receivin'.

Cool right? I got thuh idea from your video games... Skyrim is like, wow, awesome! You cannot transfer LP to others. Your LP is like, wow! Thuh sum of your accomplishments, like thuh Goddess System, only rewards those who deserve it.

Meanin' you're not thuh only one with like, ya know, this system, my favourite boy!

For now, man, you can use your LP to increase any of your Vespa and Magic/Mana stats. Thuh cost of each can be checked by sayin' "Stat Store."

Later on, like, wow, LP will also be capable of purchasin' items, like enhancements, fer shure and skills. Unfortunately, those options are currently blocked. PS: Go for improvin' your dragon egg, man, kid!

"Stat Store," he said, very interested in what he could buy, also suppressing the urge to groan at her grammar again.

Stat Store - Used to increase the Body's Vespa Respiratory and Mana Nodes.

These are the stats of your Vespa and Mana, not your regular body. You are the first to figure it out so fast!

Your LP: 1,944

-

Rank: G → F | 10,000 LP

-

Health: 100 / 100 (1.1/hour) (Vespa/Mana) 100 → 105 | 105 LP

Stamina: 100 / 100 (0.51/min) (Vespa/Mana) 100 → 103 | 130 LP

0.52 → 0.6/min | 60 LP

Mana: 100 / 100 (.51/min) 100 → 105 | 105 LP

0.52 → 0.6/min | 60 LP

Vespa: 100 / 100 100 → 105 | 105 LP

-

Strength: G → F- | 10,000 LP

Agility: G → F- | 10,000 LP

Charisma: F → C- | 75,000 LP

Intelligence: E → C- | 50,000 LP

Resistance: G → F- | 15,000 LP

-

Upgrade Dragon Egg Rank: G → F | 10,000 LP

Dragon Scale Size: G → F | 10,000 LP

Upgrade Dragon DNA: G → F | 10,000 LP

THOSE PRICES ARE INSANE. Desmend eyes widened at the amount of work he had to put in just to buy one upgrade, and it wasn't to his fucking body even! The Chosen one also found it strange that he could use LP to raise both rank and strength. He had thought his rank determined his power because it was the rank that showed when inspecting enemies. So how could they be improved separately? Also, why did the rank increase from G to F, yet the attributes go from G to F-?

Would he even notice the change if he'd bought it? This game is broken. Maybe the Chosen One should buy the health upgrade first?

There were no instructions on how to purchase anything, but he has video game knowledge. So might as well, and besides, the healthier his Vespa and Mana were, the more he could gain from them?

"Purchase max hp," he said.

The message he received was very unexpected.

Incompatibility Warning

The Goddess System has detected u r a Vagabond in the da first stage- Your Vespa has part QI (sub energy)

Changin' your bod nodes and lungs further by usin' thuh means of thuh system is, ya know like, faster and easier than cultivatin' Qi.

However, like both paths are incompatible. Like, ya know, this is not a problem for rank, oh, baby strength, like agility, like, wow or resistance, like but meddlin' with health and stamina will change you in ways that will make any common cultivation method useless. Should you choose to continue, mostly, you will become unable to grow stronger through cultivatin' or trainin' baby!

Do you wanna proceed?

"Hell no!" he said right off. "Go fuck yourself!" Desmend can't even believe he has to work hard for his stats now! He knew it, but he expected to be wrong. But no, he is never wrong!

Suppose he'd taken that shortcut, right now. The Chosen One might cut his Vagabond's lifepath in the future if he found himself stuck, but for now, it was too good to give up. Since this Qi is part of Vespa now, meaning he can't and shouldn't weaken it! The conman in him wasn't about to take a dirty deal like that for absolutely no reason.

"I bet the girls are just loving this right now..."

That meant he had no reason to check the prices until he had 10,000 LP. Fucking great! Now he should cultivate maybe that help regain his strength, but he needed peace and calm to focus. Guess mom was wrong about reading all those cultivating books. Not like he had any genuine hope, anyway.

"I will complete this dungeon in no time. I mean, how long can I take?"