[special reward: open?]
"Yes." Leon said as the holiday wrapped present in his hands bounced around unnaturally.
After confirming, the gift bounced high as it opened itself up, turning into a blinding light under the night sky.
"Maybe I should have done this in the morning." Leon thought as he held his hand over his eyes.
The light flashed a rainbow of colors, cycling through like it wasn't sure what it wanted to land on. The rarity of items and skills followed the colors of the rainbow for the most part. For F through A rank, the colors were Grey ,Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, with Yellow being taken out due to Gold representing S rank.
The ranking and colors of items and skills also didn't necessarily represent the just the current strength of said item or skill, but also their potential. That was why even though his Cloak was only C rank right now, which gave it a green colored glow, it had a hint of of an outer golden glow due to its potential.
As such, the same items or skills could have their own evolutions, even if it isn't specified. Granted it is much harder to upgrade them than upgradable items or skills, but the possibility is there. That was why the Universal Law was considered fair, as all beings could potentially have the same equally overpowered equipment as long as they put the time and effort into it.
Those who got their hands on upgradables and high ranked equipment and skills early, were usually the lucky 'Protagonists' as the system put it.
Leon waited a few minutes for the reward to decide what he would receive, as it was a random reward. Just about anything would be good for this stage of terraforming, he couldn't care what he got. Considering however, that he was a 'Protagonist' with a 20% increase in luck-based events such as this, he would most likely get something of E rank at least.
Not soon after, the gift's light died down revealing a glittering golden glow filled the night sky. Leon widened his eyes for a moment before narrowing them. What were the odds of him actually getting an S rank item so soon?
"Did you do something?" Leon questioned the system suspiciously, who was surely listening.
[No....]
Definitely suspicious.
Leon glared at nothing, "What happened to not interfering? And I thought you said you couldn't predict what would come out, yet you're able to give me higher ranked items??"
[Erk! W-Well to be fair, I can't predict random rewards... but I can change the probability of certain rarities appearing... Teehee~]
"Take it back." Leon said as he did even try to touch the item.
[What?! I did all that work and you won't take it now??]
"Stop trying to control everything. I just want to live my life normally. This is clearly a cheat. Get rid of it, I don't need a reward."
[Are you mad??! Who would say no to an S rank item? Not even Ascendants of the highest tier would say such blasphemy! Who cares if its a cheat?!]
"I care. Its my choice whether I use it or not."
[B-But-*swish*
[Hey! Don't ignore me again!!]
Leon sat down on his log again, ignoring the golden glow of the item only a few feet away. He just casually ate his food that was still over the fire, swiping away the messages he was getting from the bratty system. He was a stubborn old man but even if this was a matter of life and death, he felt it was still unfair.
"You're supposed to uphold 'complete fairness' yet you just tampered with my reward. Is that something you can even get away with?" He commented after the messages went silent for a while.
[...]
"I don't need your help to get strong but its not like I plan to take over the Universe anyways so don't bother with this shit. Let me live how I want."
[...]
Leon continued to eat silently after that before getting up and going to bed. All the while the golden glow of the S rank item sat brightly in the spot it was left in.
- - -
In another part of the Universe, far away from earth at the heart of where Universal Law takes effect, an unknown being looked through a familiar translucent screen at an old man sleeping peacefully in the middle of the wilderness.
Time passed slowly as the being sat in silence, wracking their brain to figure out why anyone would ignore such an amazing gift. They had already sacrificed a lot of power just to imprint the system's information into the geezer's mind, and again a second time to tamper with the reward results.
- - -
First light quickly came and Leon got up to continue his normal, daily activities. He first got out and started the fire in his camp before going around the perimeter, checking the traps he had set up for any game.
He came up empty handed but that was normal, as these traps were meant to mostly keep animals away from his camp. When he came back he noticed that the item that was off to the side, no longer had the same glow as before.
Instead of the vibrant golden glow of a high ranked item, it was red. More dull in appearance than it used to be.
"You tampered again?" He commented before his ears were assaulted by more loud dings.
*ding!* [Don't give me that you bastard! You said you didn't want a high rank item for some reason so I turned it into a low rank one. I can't get rid of an item that was already opened but I locked it so you have to work for those extra powers now.]
Leon didn't comment, as he honestly didn't expect this brat of a system to do something like this. He leaned over and grabbed the item, causing the glow to dissipate and reveal the item beneath.
[The Eyes of Heimdall, Watchmen of the Norse Gods (E)<-{S} {Locked} -
Heimdall, a God of Norse Mythology, had the abilities of Foresight and Foreknowledge, as well as the eyes to see through to the Truth in the Universe. After his death during Ragnarok, his eyes were removed but could not be used by other Gods. Eventually it was taken by Universal Law, and bestowed upon you. As his successor, it is your duty to see through lies using your new powers to keep balance throughout the Universe.
This item has devolved, preventing you from using its true power.
{You are able to see longer distances with greater detail.}
{Due to your slightly improved foresight and foreknowledge, you are able to see the actions of others in 'slow motion' to some extent.}
More of this item's power will be unlocked as the 'Player' grows stronger.]
"Hmmm..." Leon stroked his beard as he thought.
It was definitely weaker than the original item that could 'see through the truth in the Universe.' Leon had no idea what that even meant but he didn't care, as he had no intention of seeing any part of the Universe other than earth.
[Well? Is it to your standards now?] They system complained but its sarcasm didn't get through.
"Good enough." He said simply and got up to continue his life in peace.
Leon took a look at the item again and thought about using it.
*ding!* [The item: 'The Eyes of Heimdall, Watchmen of the Norse Gods' will bind to you, Player Leon Hudson, would you like to proceed?]
"Yes." Leon answered and immediately after the pair of eyes in his hand glowed before disappearing altogether.
He didn't feel all that different at first, but once he blinked a few times, he realized that his eyesight became much more clearer. In his old age, his eyes were beginning to fail him but now it was like he was back in his youth, probably even better than that.
He looked off into the distance and was able to pick out individual trees in greater detail than using binoculars. He spotted an eagle flying in the distance and could make out the texture of its feathers without much effort.
Even if this was only an E ranked item now, it was still severely overpowering in his mind. He couldn't really tell how to use the secondary function of seeing things in 'slow motion' but hopefully on his next hunt he'd be able to try it out.
He cooked up more of the wolf meat from his previous hunt. There was no annoying notification about a stat increase, either meaning he only got one stat from one wolf, or it could be random. It wasn't much of a difference for him anyways.
As he was finishing up munching on his food, he heard another annoying ding, causing him to roll his eyes and make his food taste worse than it actually was. He was about to swipe it away again out of habit when certain words caught his eye.
"A Quest?"
*ding!* [Main Quest - Survival (F): You have survived the first day! Congratulations! However it is far from over. Humans are not the only creatures evolving as such, you cannot let your guard down for a moment.
- survive for a week (0/7) days
- kill at least 1 monster (0/1)
- reward: (F) item x1 or (F) skill x1
- failure: death
- bonus: kill 20 monsters (0/20)
- bonus reward: the option not chosen from the main quest reward
- Hidden - ]