Venus stared ponderingly at the white screen floating before him.
[Do you wish to bind 'The RPG System' to your soul?]
[Yes/No]
For the previous five minutes, he had been wondering if he was hallucinating or finally lost his marbles and the unknown place he woke in was the asylum.
He considered it for a while. There was nothing to lose even if he chose [Yes] either he would get a system and achieve strength or spend the rest of his life in what he thought to be an asylum.
He pressed the [Yes] button. It was astonishing that he felt a texture similar to a glass screen under his finger.
[Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of The RPG System.]
The text on the screen changed again and showed a few options.
[Please choose the difficulty:]
[As Easy As Breathing]
[Do you want riches? Look under your feet you will find a hidden chest full of treasures. Do you desire strength? Just shoot an arrow in the sky, and it will randomly kill a Dragon. Want to be in a relationship? Slap a random girl then she will profess her undying love to you. Choose this difficulty to become the Overlord of the world.]
[Easy]
[You don't have to worry about exams. Just fill your sheet with bullshit, and you will ace the exams. You will never be depressed. You don't have to worry about getting NTR'd by your wife or girlfriend. Who says life is hard? Life is easy, just like this difficulty.]
[Normal]
[For a boring regular life, press here.]
[Hard]
[To question your existence, choose this option. Getting NTR'd is a common occurrence become used to it. Most of your lovers are Feminazis or Karens. But don't give up because with hardships comes rewards.]
[Very Hard]
[Choose this difficulty to get fucked very hard. You might become an orphan at birth with a demon sealed inside you; the village hates you. You don't have friends; people want you to die. You are the epitome of depression. However, with strong will and belief, you can die satisfied in your old age. That is if you can survive that long.]
The next option had skulls at each end of the word, emanating an ominous aura.
[Hell]
[There are hundreds of ways to suicide. Why would you choose this?]
Venus' finger hovered above the last option when his dark eyes fell upon it. His hardcore gamer instincts' thrashed and screamed at him to smash that button, but rationality did not allow such a move after reading the description.
"Should I pick this difficulty or not?" he contemplated.
The tree above rustled against the night winds. Small waves slushed in the lake nearby. The bright white orb illuminated the surrounding forestry with its soft glow.
He sat there, eyes and a finger lingering on the ominous option. A while later, he decided against it, "No, I am not sure if I would revive after dying."
His gaze drifted towards the first two options. He rubbed his chin, "Not the first one. Life would be too boring if I get everything effortlessly. [Easy] is good. Though there won't be many challenges, I'm sure I can live a good life."
"[Hard] and [Very Hard] are tempting. But I am not masochistic enough to make my own life hard." He laughed.
"[Easy] it is then." The index finger stayed an inch above it. "Elf girls, Catgirls, Fox girls hehehe… Get ready! Because this daddy is coming to MESS YOU UP!"
His finger approached the option as he manically laughed. His mind envisioned the soft thick thighs of the elven girl, the massive boobs of the fox girl and the imouto-type cat girl calling him 'Onii-chan~'.
He was grinning like an idiot and slurped the drool back in his mouth when he felt something small hit his hand.
"What was that?" He looked down. It was a round-blue fruit. Picking up a chirp, he turned up at the tree. A red bird as big as his palm perched on the branch, pecking at the fruits in bliss.
"Hey, birdie~ how are you doin?" he cheerfully asked, taking the fallen fruit he offered to the bird, "Here, you dropped this."
He smiled as the bird chirped and flew down. It landed by his leg and ate peacefully. He chuckled, "Let's see what features this sys---"
He froze. He rubbed his eyes, looked and then froze again. On the screen, it read.
[You have chosen difficulty.]
['Newcomer Gift' obtained.]
['Pity Gift' obtained.]
Blankly, he gazed at the screen. A moment later, he dropped to his side. Hands between his thighs, he began giggling, "Ruined. I'm ruined. My life is ruined. What's the use of living if I am going to die soon? How will I die? Would I get eaten by wolves? Or some monster will pop up from the lake and crush me under its feet? Am I going to be squashed by a meteor? Is some monster going to drop me from the sky so I'll get splat to death? Anyway, whatever it is, I'm not going to survive. So what's the use of trying to survive? I might as well wait here and become food for the maggots."
There was no end to his despair-filled giggles until a sharp chirp pierced his ears along with several hits on his head, pulling him out of despair.
"What the fuck do you want!?" He glared at the bird.
Chirp!
The little bird pushed a fruit in his direction with its beak, then chirped again. He picked up the fruit, "Do you want me to eat this?"
Chirp!
He raised a brow and asked, "Are you going to feed me until I'm fat and then eat me later?"
Chirp!
He did not know how but understood the bird was angry as it raised its wings twice.
"So you're not going to eat me?"
Chirp!
"I see. So you gave it to me because I looked hungry to you?"
He was indeed hungry and tired. Too much happened in a day. First, he had lost all the money in his bank due to some hacker. Second, his girlfriend got pregnant by someone who wasn't him. Third, when he was wallowing in sorrow, he got stabbed by a serial killer and died a dog's death in an alleyway.
When he awoke in this world, the first thing he saw was a few giant bird-like creatures going somewhere. Everything around him was unknown. Unknown plants, trees, bugs, lake, place. His reaction to all this was laughter, a peal of loud euphoria-filled laughter.
He was away from it all. He had escaped his shitty life and could start with a blank slate in this new world. Venus had read enough novels to understand that he had reincarnated in a different world.
Towards the lake, he rushed while removing his clothes. He made a big splash in the lake and swam in exhilaration. His arms and legs moved till exhaustion then he floated in peace taking the scenery around him.
When the sky was darkening, he noticed a white screen it didn't take him any longer than a moment to realise what it was.
He scrambled to the edge and hurriedly wore his clothes. Taking a seat under a tree, he began staring at it.
...
Venus was sitting on a branch with the bird. They were eating fruits together while relaxing he said, "Open status."
The white screen suddenly flashed before him showing texts and digits.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Name: Venus Atlanta
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Level: 1 (0/100)
Race: Human
Class: None
[Statistics]
HP: 10/10
MP: 105/105
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 6
Vitality: 6
Agility: 3
Intelligence: 20
Magic: 5
Spirit: 5
Charm: 8
Luck: Error
[Abilities]
‹B›
+10 Intelligence
+5 Magic
+5 Spirit
+100 MP
» Charm doubles when trying to communicate with a herbivore.
» Gain the ability to understand Herbivores.
» Effectiveness of elemental magic will increase by ×1.5.
» Any class related to nature will gain ×1.5 more EXP.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Venus was surprised to see his Luck stat showing an error and decided to enquire the system about it. However, the answer he received almost made him cry.
[Due to the difficulty 'Hell', the host's luck has plummeted into oblivion. The system is unable to ascertain a numerical value. As such there are chances that you might die by choking on air.]
He nearly choked on the food when he heard that. With great difficulty and lots of water he survived the ordeal and shouted, "This is unfair. You are such a shitty system. I want to complain to customer service this is a violation of customer rights!"
[The moment the host chose 'Hell' difficulty, the host had lost every right. The host is now a slave to the system and if the host wishes to continue living, the host must follow the system's commands.]
"But I'm the host here. I own you. I am the master. You have to follow my orders." desperately, he said.
[Host is the master only in name now. Again if the host wishes to live either host has to do as the system orders or the host surrenders his life.]
"But… but… how am I supposed to live if I am going to face death at every step!?"
[Host cannot rely on luck to face calamities anymore thus host needs to use his strength and wits to overcome the disasters. However, for every disaster host overcomes host will be rewarded appropriately.]
"Really!? What kind of rewards!?"
[Of course, the host will be able to live another day.]
"What the fuck!?"
[A word of advice, the host should think carefully before making a move.]
Venus did not reply and just crossed his arms with a pout. Silence reigned for a long time. The red bird had already fallen asleep in his lap. He began planning for the future when he remembered, "System, when did I get the ability ?"
[The ability was granted by the system as a reward for successful merging.]
"I see." he thought about the next question before asking, "Was it a predetermined ability or random?"
[Random.]
"Oh." the quietness engulfed them for some time, he was thinking of a good plan for the future but nothing came to him, so he asked for a suggestion from the system.
[Host should have a rest for now. A well-rested mind will greatly help to construct future designs.]
He mulled over its words before sighing in resignation. 'What has happened has happened. I should not cry over the spilt milk and should enjoy every moment I get. After all, the next could be my end.' he chuckled, 'I wonder, what have I done to deserve this?… anyways…'
"Good night, system." he closed his eyes, finally attaining some peace after all the commotion.
"Good night, host. Have a good rest."