NOVEL NEXT Know your place (1)
Chapter 19: Know your place (1)
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[You've been infected with the status, "Severe Bleeding", you'd lose 1 HP every 30 seconds.]
[-1 HP!]
[HP: 1]
'So, I have 30 seconds before I die. Awesome.' Neji gritted his teeth while blood covered his eyes, dripping from his cracked up skull.
The pain he was experiencing was otherworldly, but still – it was nothing compared to the time when he 'fought' the Gods.
With uneven breathing, he moved his head all around, looking for anything that might save him.
He did have some bandages in his inventory, but his wounds weren't small enough for them to work nor did he have enough time on his hands to apply them.
With a racing mind, he examined the loot that was spread out around him.
First, his eyes wandered on the loot dropped by the weakest monsters – he found nothing. Then the loot dropped by the strongest monsters – still nothing. Finally, the loot dropped by the boss monster – nothin-
Wait.
There were three green potions, 'Which are the stamina potions,' Three blue potions, 'Which are mana potions and…' Finally, there were two red potions, 'Something I have never seen before.'
There was also a shining golden fruit laying beside it, but he didn't seem to care about it.
Instead, he moved towards the potions with a limp, his legs felt as if they were noodles, but he pushed on. Standing over the potions, while blood dripped down his arms, he chanted:
'<Observe>!'
A surprising hologram of information appeared in his retina.
[Health Potion x 2
Description: Heals HP to 100%, thus healing almost all negative effects.]
Oh… "Goddamn."
By the time he could even realize it, the potion was already in his remaining hand. He tried opening the cap, but the cap-
It was one of those bronze/steel caps that you can only open with a bottle-cap opener…!
"WHO THE HELL MADE THIS GAME!?"
[10 seconds remaining until the HP bar reaches 0!]
"Ugh."
Neji brought the small bottle towards his mouth and squeezed on the cap with his teeth.
"Arrrr-"
His teeth were hurting but he could feel the cap slowly move under his teeth. But-
Tek-
With a sharp pain, something cracked inside his mouth, his teeth jumped out of his lips along with the bottle cap and–
[5 seconds left]
The world around him slowed down. He could see a single broken tooth plunge ahead with the bottle cap. In a hurry, his hands shook – the red liquid inside the bottle spilt over his hand a little, causing the glass bottle to slip on his hands and start falling towards the ground as well.
His body moved automatically, he didn't even know how fast he moved but at that moment, he felt like he was the fastest man alive.
Before the capless bottle could fall and spill all the liquid on the ground, he leaned over, tripping in the process, and caught the bottle's mouth in the middle of his teeth.
He turned around and started falling on his back causing the liquid to barely enter his mouth.
[You have consumed a health potion! HP would be healed instantly!]
Thud!
[-1 Hp!]
It seemed he would have died if the potions took more time to heal.
"Wow..."
[Stamina: 5/410]
[HP: 409/410]
"I am not dead." He spoke in a flagarbasted tone, almost not believing what has just happened.
-
–
—
The next time I woke up, I found myself lying on the ground.
Being so low in the stamina bar, I had fallen asleep. Luckily all the monsters die after the boss is killed, so I was not in any kind of danger.
Realising I was safe, the first thing I did was look down on my right arm.
"Damn."
I raised my palm in front of my face, squeezing it into a fist, hit the ground and dusted it off.
My hand was healed! It was as if I got a new one. No scratch, no nothing!
"But why was my arm severed? Why didn't my Gamer's Body function?"
I asked out loud, not expecting an answer. But the System still answered me.
[Master does have the Gamer's Body, it is just different from the one you are familiar with.]
"Hm," Continue.
[You can still lose your body parts, go blind, have scratches on your skin, etc. But as long as you can reach 100% HP, all your bodily injuries would be healed unless it's blocked by magic spells beyond System's reach.]
Wow. Not on the same level as the original Gamer's Body, but that doesn't mean this isn't broken.
Though, I am curious, why is this system so nerfed? It took me 10 years to advance the Observe skill to level 50. I don't assume it's the curse's fault?
[Master is right, it's not because of the curse. Rather, the First Gamer's fault.]
'...' That guy again?
[Yes. After some intriguing development, the previous Gamer made fun of the Creator of the Gamer System, causing the Creator to chuckle at his fate. To teach him a lesson, the Creator changed a few things in the system. He said,] after a pause, a different voice came out of the system, ["Meh, it's no fun if Gamers can enter the power of a True God in less than 50 years, it's just so boring. Hehe, let's make some “slight” adjustments."]
The voice the system spoke in was a weirdly saturated one that seemed to be uttering thousands of languages at the same time yet still being still discernible.
Wait, you mean to say, UnknownGamer69 caused all this? And now that he's dead, I am here to suffer with his punishment?
What the fu-?!
Sigh… well, not like I can do anything about it.
Moving on, I honestly thought the powers that existed in the Roulette were made by either the "Fate" or "Great will of the Omniverse", but this is new.
So there is actually a sentient being that created my System?
"Who is he? Is he stronger than the Primordial God?" I asked.
This time, the system answered in its usual voice. [I can't say that for your own good, Master. You're too weak to even hear his name and still survive.
Though he does have a "safe name". Some call him: "The One Beyond Omnipotence"]
I tilted my head. "Hm?"
Interesting.
Can anyone even be beyond Omnipotence? Sounds like bullshit.
Either way, this kinda annoys me. So he is the guy (other than the previous gamer) behind the nerf? Yeah, he made the system and all, to begin with, but that was a shit move.
Fucking cunt.
Why are Gods so cunt-ish anyway?
A sigh escaped my lips– but it stopped midway as multiple messages appeared in front of me.
[Condition 1: "Acquire knowledge on the Source of the System" has been met!
Condition 2: "Learn about the changes in the System generated by OBOP" has been met!
Rewards have been calculated!
Reward 1: Every skill will level up 2x faster!
Reward 2: Every ability of the User that isn't included in "Skill Page", (in this case, Quirks), would level up 2x faster!]
Ah- what?
«—(★)—»
Neji was kind of surprised. So the nerf isn't eternal? It can slowly be taken down by completing conditions?
"Very interesting."
A 2x boost at skill level-up would help a lot. About 20 years should be left until the Gods will find him, so with double exp, he would be able to get 40 years worth grinding.
The unfortunate part was, the boost only applied to skills and Quirk(s), not general level up. And the even more unfortunate part was, currently he only has 4 skills that can be levelled up.
<Observe>; LVL 50
<Physical Endurance>; LVL 15,
<Acupuncture Massage>; LVL 30
<Pain Tolerance>; LVL 15
The active skills can't be levelled up since he can't even use them. While the rest of the skills don't even have the level-up system.
"Maybe the System Creator isn't that bad of a dude."
The thought crossed his mind while he was fetching the loot spread over the battlefield.
That thought soon vanished though. Neji felt the 'OBOP' was just playing a game. Asking him to do what he isn't obliged to – while manipulating his greed.
If there was a single thing that Neji hated the most, it was being controlled and forced. Doesn't matter even if the person doing that is someone close to him.
That is `one of the` main reasons why he couldn't outright forgive Kimi.
"But," Towering over the remaining health potion, Neji shrugged. "Let's play the game your way for now. I am desperate."
Neji needed to get stronger. Previously he merely needed to do so for himself. But now, he's got a family to protect.
He crouched down and picked up the remaining red bottle. A health potion. It's rarer than he thought. So he must hold on to this for now. It would be of great help in any emergency.
A small grin appeared on Neji's face. "For now though, it’s time to grind."
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