Aa……v….ra….Aara….

“5 minutes more.”

[Aarav, I know you want to sleep but this is an emergency!]

“Hmmm……emergen-.....EMERGENCY!!?.”

[It seems that you blocked the burrow entrance way too perfectly. I noticed a gradual decrease in the oxygen level in your blood and I realized that it may be prudent to wake you up.]

“Yeah well, you did a good job, Morgan.”

[Aarav, there are a few notifications you should know about.]

“Hmmm…..tell me about them while I freshen up.” Saying so I kicked the boulders away and walked to the river to complete my morning chores.

[First, Assimilation period has come to an end. There will be a 1000% increase in the number of creatures below Lv 50. There will be a 750% increase in the number of creatures above Lv 50 and below Lv 100.]

“What is this assimilation period thing and why didn’t you inform me about this sooner?” I yelled in frustration and I tried to become as alert as I can be. I tensed my body and carefully checked my surrounding. I don’t know how I missed all this because the change around me is so obvious. Birds are chirping in the trees and fishes are frolicking in the stream. I can even see some small critters around me, some are completely focused on my movements while others are completely unaware of me.

[Aarav, I guess the homesickness is strong in this one.

“Wait! Did you just make a- ”

[so, as I was saying, I couldn’t tell you about the assimilation period because you didn’t ask. You can almost say that I am a poorly programmed code. I must give an announcement when everything comes to an end but there are times when I cannot announce the beginning of an event.]

“Oh!....that sucks.”

[On to the second notification, you have completed your first system quest, Quest 1, and 100 sp has been added to your account. I suggest you use it immediately so that you can complete Quest 3.]

“Do you know that the feeling of wiping your butt with leaves? It’s the worst I have ever felt in my life.

[Aarav, I suggest you invest in wet wipes. System store sells both toilet papers and wet wipes for the same price, but the feeling of wet wipes is more comfortable.]

“But what about fire?”

[You can learn to create it or use fire magic, so need to invest in it now.]

“I am pretty hungry. I haven’t eaten anything since I came here.”

[Whenever you Level up, simple physical problems will be cured. These include starvation, dehydration, mild cold and cough etc. Reach Lv 12 before you die of starvation.]

“Wet wipes it is then. Open the system store Morgan.”

[Aye]

Time suddenly stopped around me. Everything quickly lost all its colour and my surroundings are enshrouded in darkness…. again. A blue system menu appeared in front of me. I can see 6 options present on it: Skill book, Weapons & Armor, Potions & Pills, Pets, Miscellaneous and Lucky Draw.

I select miscellaneous and a new screen appeared in front of me. There are two options which I can select from. One is a search option and the other one is a list option. Instead of clicking on these I call out Morgan to help me.

“Morgan could you please show me a list of everything that I could buy with 100sp and keep your recommendations at the top of the list.”

[Aye]

Everything blurred for a few seconds and a list appeared on the blue screen. I can see some potions, a few weapons and armours, and lots of miscellaneous stuff. The most eye-catching is the wet wipes at the first place in the recommended section.

I think Morgan is developing his/her own personality. On one hand he will be able to help me more easily because of enhanced thinking but on the other hand, he will have to deal with everything Morgan does before fully developing a personality. I just hope that a yandere or something worse doesn’t become my system.

To increase my chances of survival my best bet would be a combat skill. My stats have increased my physical performance tremendously, but I always feel deep inside my bones that this is not the limit of my body. There is only one skill book available. Its price is 99 sp and it is ranked in the last place.

“Morgan, what is this Martial All-rounder skill?”

[It is one of the best skill available out there, but it has a very big disadvantage. The amount of EXP required to upgrade this skill is 100 times compared to other skills during the basic level. And it increases by 10 times every level, so by the Master level, you will almost need 100,000 times the normal EXP. And believe me, that’s a lot of EXP we are talking about.

It allows you to have mastery over 100 unarmed and 100 armed combat styles. The reason it is sold so cheaply is that no one in their right mind will buy it.]

“Morgan, I want this skill book and use the remaining point to buy some wet wipes.”

[Aarav, it has been done but would you mind explaining to me why did you buy such a useless skill book instead of something like a health potion or weapon? Oh, and you completed Quest 3 and you have been awarded one free lucky draw ticket.

A book and a packet of wet wipes appeared in front of me. They are floating in the air. Nothing seems special about them. I put away the wet wipes in my inventory and carefully looked at the skill book. I tried to read it but I couldn’t understand the language.

“Morgan, it's very simple. It is the only skill book available. Now open the help me use the lucky draw ticket, if I can get something awesome then I will be able to become stronger very easily.”

[Aarav the draw is starting.]

The blue screen in front of me disappeared and a big wheel appeared in front of me. It has 6 sections on it. They are labelled the same as the options in the system store.

The wheel started rotating rapidly and a dart appeared in my hand. It seems I need to aim. It is not much of a lucky draw if you have some power over the rewards. But the me right now can’t make use of this advantage because I can’t see anything as the wheel is spinning so fast.

I threw the dart and hoped for the best. As soon as the dart touched the wheel stopped instantly. I realized that the dart has landed on the Weapons & Armor section. After a few seconds, the dart appeared in my hand again and the sections on the wheel became numerous. I can’t even figure out the number of sections the wheel right now.

The wheel started spinning crazy fast and I threw my dart again. A glare of white light appeared in front of me. After it disappeared a black scythe was floating in front of me.

[Congratulations Aarav, you have obtained Reapers’ Fang (sealed).]

I was spellbound by its beauty. I gently caressed its body, it was not cold as I expected. It seemed to radiate a warmth completely inconsistent with its name and use. As soon as I touched its blade, a mall cut appeared on my fingers. But it didn’t end there, 9 drops of my blood in a very peculiar fashion were absorbed by the blood.

I noticed a weak jolt in my mind as if something was knocking on it, asking for permission. It felt very familiar and friendly that I allowed it to enter before I even realized it.

I realized that I have made a very deep and sacred bond with the scythe. I can feel its curiosity about everything, just like a newborn trying to observe everything around them. I can even sense the happiness it is feeling right now from our meeting. For some reason, I can feel, even though feel is not the right word, that the scythe is a she.

She asked me for permission to be closer to me, although I didn’t understand what it meant by that, I instinctively knew that it is not harmful to me. I gently touched her body and I leaned closer it and said, “Your name from now is Freyja Winehouse and we will be together forever, even death won’t do us part.”

[Hidden Mission completed:

Soul Partners 1: Form a soul bond on a partner level with any kind of sentient being.

Increases the strength of the soul bond by 10%.]

I feel a great bout of happiness flowing through our bond and Freyja floated and disappeared within my body. I couldn’t see her, but I could feel her position as clear as day. She is inside my heart and it seems like my blood is working as some kind of nourishment for her. But it doesn’t hurt me at all. It's just like any other organ in my body. They need my blood to stay alive and they grow stronger as I do. Freyja truly has become a part of me.

Now then its time to use the skill book.

“Morgan, I want to use the skill book Martial All-rounder”

[Aye]

A bright light completely shrouds me, and I feel something being forcefully squeezed inside my brain. A tremendous amount of pain hits me out of nowhere and it all disappears quickly as it came.

[Aarav, please choose your primary weapon for armed combat and primary body part for unarmed combat. Using primary weapons increases attack power by 10%. They can never be changed so please choose carefully.]

Without much thinking, I decided that my legs are the best for unarmed combat as they will ensure a holistic development of my combat style.

[I choose Scythe as my primary weapon and my legs as my primary unarmed weapon.]

[You have learned skill Martial All-rounder (basic) Lv 0.]

I can sense the difference within me. If earlier, I was a tiger then now, I am a tiger with wings. It feels like I have been using my legs and scythe for fighting for more than a decade.

I quickly come out of the space created by the system and start looking for prey to complete my Quest 2 in earnest.

Time skip - 45 minutes

II finally find my prey. According to observe skill its name is Earth Gnome and it is Lv 10. I bring out Freyja and grip her tightly with one hand. Instantly all the knowledge about how to efficiently integrates into my body.

I try to sneak over but as soon as I reach the 3-meter mark, the Gnome turns and looks at me, and gives me the nasties smirk anyone can imagine. It shouts in a very strange manner, maybe a war cry, and starts running towards me with full strength.

I was mentally prepared for a frontal confrontation, but I realized that nothing will prepare you for it. You need to experience it understand its horror. My body completely went numb from the sudden action of the Gnome. Before I even realized I, he was within Freyja’s attack range.

My body moved instinctively and one of the gnome’s leg was severed. I quickly reprimanded myself and swung my scythe at gnome’s neck. I could see in its eyes that it has accepted death but even then it gave me a smirk and shouted something with all its might. It stopped as abruptly as it had started as its head was severed.

[You got 300 Exp.]

[Quest 4 : Kill 100 Earth gnomes.

Rewards – 500 sp. Failure will result in a deduction of 1000 sp.]

Before I could even understand anything completely, I hear a loud chattering coming from all around me. There are at least 500 Earth gnomes surrounding me.

“Morgan, how many free APs do I have?”

[Aarav, 36]

“Add 10 points to endurance and 3 points to strength, agility and flexibility each.”

[It is done. You will begin to feel the change shortly. Now you have 17 free APs remaining. Your soul attribute has increased to 8 and your bond with Freyja has been strengthened.]

“Thanks Morgan, but TMI, ttyl.”

I look around me and I know that the only way to survive in this situation is to attack the weakest area and break free from the circle.

I run towards the direction which has the least number of melee fighters and I start using all the knowledge I have about killing using scythes. I jump around the battlefield to keep the enemies confused and start hacking away at everything that moves.

Blood keeps splashing over me, some of it even gets into my mouth. It feels disgusting and tastes gross, but I don’t have time for these emotions if I want to keep my life. So, I keep spinning and swinging Freyja in the most efficient manner as if my life depends on it. Actually, it totally does.

After some time, I started feeling overwhelmed by the number of archers the enemy has, so without any second thought I added 3 points to agility and flexibility. I also added 5 more points to endurance and finally, it reached 20 points. A few notification sounds popped but I had no time or concentration for them.

All I could focus was on wielding Freyja as effectively and efficiently as I could. As the battle progressed my familiarity with combat and scythe-wielding increased and the battle became a bit easier. Slowly I fell into a trance, and all I cared about was killing anything near me.

After some time, I realized that there was no target for me. I looked around and noticed a scene that would perfectly fit the purgatory. The place was filled with incomplete corpses of earth gnomes. Some were disembowelled, some had lost their limbs, and most were decapitated.

My body relaxed finally, and the tiredness hit me like a bullet train. Without much thought, I started running towards my burrow.

As soon as I saw the stream I jumped in it and started rubbing away all the blood on me. After most of it washed away, I walked towards my perfectly hidden burrow, removed some rocks blocking the entrance, entered inside, put the rocks back in place.

Without even bothering for some kind of fire, I turned around and face planted into the ground. As soon as my cheeks felt the coldness of the floor, I was completely gone.