Instead of teleporting to a different level, I was back in the room I started in. Exactly as he was before, Hoshi was waiting for me in the chair. "Finally, I was starting to think you failed!"
"What am I doing here, I thought I was supposed to go to the next task?"
"Yes, but I have a decision for you to make first. You have now received a D+ rep, however, while trying to accomplish that task you must have noticed certain people with traits that boost their strength."
He must have been talking about those bloodlusted people.
"The ones you encountered were people with a very common and weak trait. It has a cool name though."
His ego never fails to amaze me.
"Anyways, I'm willing to propose a double or nothing deal for you. Either you can walk away with the D+ rep right now, or, if you complete this next task properly, I will give you an exclusive trait and an A- rep to start you off."
That sounded too good to be true. I asked if there was a catch but he looked at me with a blank face and said there was none. I was still suspicious but accepted anyway. As I started to fade to the new level, a smug grin started to form on Hoshi's face. "I forgot to tell you, if you die at this level, you will be disconnected from the system and be gone for good. Have fun!"
Before I could curse him out in anger, I disappeared.
'What the hell. WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL.'
'I COULD DIE FROM THIS AND THAT DUMBASS FORGOT TO TELL ME.'
I teleported back into the Forest of Ronins.
The scroll appeared in front of me. I was shivering in anticipation of what the next task was supposed to be. I slowly opened it up and read it.
Task 2: Find a forbidden scroll and master the skill inside of it.
Oh. That shouldn't be that bad. Hopefully.
I knew I had to look for a building where the scrolls would be found.
I'd just have to look for it...
It didn't take long. I spent 4 days wandering around when I saw a stronghold. It had to be that place, it was too much of an eyesore not to be. I perched on a hill close by to scope the area. I noticed the large squadrons of samurai marching around the place, in very methodical, almost patternlike trends. I noticed that there was a switch on samurai in certain areas every so often so I planned my strike according to that. Once the samurai were in the middle of their switch, I snuck into a door and hid right away.
I wasn't the most muscular person in this world, so I was able to stealthily move around the area. Eventually, I was able to find a room with thousands of scrolls in it. I locked the door and searched through all of them. Every single one. The total added up to 1825 scrolls, with the number of forbidden ones being 0. None of these seemed like "dark arts" I had to learn. I had to continue my search.
Eventually, I found what must have been the main room. Inside were many mats, and a giant throne in the center. Either the person who sat in that was very large or very egotistical. As I continued to look around, I noticed an ominous site of oni masks. Inside the mouths of those masks were scrolls. All I had to do was grab one of those and leave.
Small problem though. They were lined up on the ceiling. I'd have to climb the goddamn ceiling to do this.
I found a pillar that led up there and started scaling it. Soon I reached the top, there was no lighting here so it was dark. I planned to reach for the nearest one but at that moment the door was opened. Many people started to pour through it and sit on mats on the floor. After everyone was situated, thundering steps shook the room, a giant man stepped inside and slowly, and intensely, made his way to his throne. This guy was obviously the leader, and I was stuck in the most uncomfortable position.
The group started talking. It was pretty boring stuff, they wanted to expand their land and power over others in the area, tributes to the government were to be increased, blah blah blah boring political stuff.
I was getting restless. I knew that this meeting would not finish anytime soon after the long list of topics to talk about had been revealed. In what was the most idiotic move I had ever made, I decided to reach for the closest scroll quickly so I could leave this function unseen.
The oni mask closest to me had calligraphy in the shape of clouds on it, the scroll itself was a deep blue. I tried my hardest to get to it in a slow manner, my hand stretching out as far as it could. Soon, I was within grabbing distance of it, my fingers were able to touch the side of the scroll. However, this action pried it loose, the forbidden art had fallen out of the mouth of the oni.
Life turned into a sort of slow motion.
I saw as my hopes and dreams of living in that new world came crashing down on me.
It felt like an eternity.
A metallic clunk rang around the room.
Right in the middle of the floor, my scroll had landed.
I looked down, with hundreds of pairs of eyes looking right back at me, including the red and angry eyes of a giant.
Shit.