“Open Inventory”
[Your Inventory] [2 Items]Nothing new, hmm, well at least I tried…
[What’s the matter human Z-A-N-E, giving up so soon?]Zane kept his silence, looking at his rusted sword. He caressed it gently as if the sword was of great value. Well in a way, it was the only item of value he possessed. This lonely sword could be his salvation, his way out of this mess.
One of the Hivelings was now right in front of him, getting its claws ready to snatch Zane’s head away in one swift strike.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”
[Excuse me?]“It doesn’t matter how much I fight, even if I fail to die this time, you’d just buff up your ugly monsters again and send them straight towards me, right?”
[Correct…]“Well that’s fine with me, you know…”
[Why would giving your life away like that be fine?]“You know…”
[No I don’t know what you’re talking about, what are you mumbling about? I don’t want you to die in a boring way; you see, I gave you that weapon for a reason, perhaps you will be able to damage a tiny portion of that monster’s HP before getting shredded limb from limb…]The Hiveling was now ready to strike, its sharp metallic claws greedily took their chance and went straight for Zane’s neck.
*SLASH*
One by one, the claws fell on the ground, causing the Hiveling to let out a screech. It tried to rebalance itself and moved away from Zane. The Iron Sword did manage to deflect and cut off the claws but it broke off into two pieces in the process.
[You… Broke your sword?]“Yeah, so what, it was good for nothing as it was anyway…”
Zane’s casual tone annoyed the system, it materialised in front of Zane and showed an arsenal of emojis portraying various feelings.
“What? How am I supposed to sharpen this sword otherwise?”
[Sharpen it?]The blue display aimed its view towards the now broken iron sword, a sharp edge had been formed in the process of it breaking off, making the sword at least capable of hurting a hiveling and potentially, killing it.
[…]The display disappeared instantaneously, leaving small blue traces behind.
Zane leapt towards the nearest Hiveling and thrusted his sword straight towards a gap in its exoskeleton.
[Hiveling Lvl. 50] [HP: 999/1000]He kept slashing with his sword, ignoring how little damage it did. All that mattered to Zane was the monster’s HP’s bar that was slowly but surely moving into the yellow zone.
[HP: 998/1000] [HP: 997/1000] [You’ve gotta be…]“I’m not making any Jokes, I’m in for the long grind.”
[HP: 990/1000]…
[HP 1/1000]“Pfuh, I’m getting tired, can’t you at least give me a decent sword next time? And this hiveling is way too agile, I need to deflect his claws now and then. Why is it screaming so damn loud if it feels no pain?”
[Hiveling Lvl. 50] [HP: 0/1000]The creature exploded, blue fragments flew in random directions.
[ . . . ]F****** finally. I’m used to grinding on Immortal Legacy, but this is next-level grinding…
The other Hivelings, who were still waiting for their master’s command, were glaring at Zane from a distance, if an insect could portray a confused stance, then this was what they must’ve looked like.
[WARNING: QUEST LIMIT IN 30 MINUTES] [Details: complete the task within 30 minutes or it will result in failure. Causing the player to die.]“So instead of letting me grind through these hivelings? You change the quests’ requirements and force me to finish it within 30 minutes?”
[…]“No response huh?”
*RUMBLE RUMBLE*
The hiveling performed the same kind of movements as the previous one; at first, he’d just glare at Zane without acting, then it would jump right above him, preparing its claws in mid-air. After preparing its combat stance, it would fall down with its body acting as a pestle – as if Zane was the mortar and the System was using the hiveling as a pestle, cooking a delicious dish of Human ragu.
*SLASH*
[Hiveling Lvl. 80] [HP: 1499.99/1500] [WARNING: QUEST LIMIT IN 25 MINUTES]“Heh, so I’ve gotta change my tactics to complete the quest within the given interval…”
Zane started rapidly stabbing the hiveling, giving it no time to respond to the barrage of attacks. The hiveling was paralyzed by the number of rapid attacks. Since the system hasn’t implemented anything like stamina yet, he could freely mass-stab the insect to death.
[HP: 1490/1500]…
[HP: 1/1500] [HP: 0/1500]“Jeez, even with my rapid stabbing technique, I only managed to defeat it in 5 minutes which makes my time left at…”
[WARNING: QUEST LIMIT IN 20 MINUTES]Right… Seems like I really need to find another way of dealing with these creatures. If grinding isn’t working out, then what can I do with equipment as shitty as this?
A scribbling noise could be heard, emitting somewhere near Zane. He turned around and was greeted by a drenched system, sweat pouring out of thin air and a notebook filled with scribbles floating near its position.
“Taking notes?”
[…]Upon noticing Zane, the display turned transparent and disappeared.
“Guess he doesn’t like that…”
He directed his attention towards the remaining Hiveling.
[Hiveling Lvl. 100] [HP: 2000/2000]“Hey, insect!”
*SCREEEE?*
“Ready to die?”
*SCREEEE!!!!!*
“Thought so…”.
[…] [Hiveling Lvl. 100] [HP: 0/2000]*SCREEEEEE*
Slowly, but surely, Zane got used to getting spawned to the System’s empty, and rather dull-looking virtual dungeon every 24 hours – if you could call a box with nothing but a display and a few monsters a dungeon…
[Welcome back Player, a new item has been added to your inventory!] [Your Inventory] [3 Items] [Broken Rusty Iron Sword] [A Note] [Wooden Sword]Here we go again…
[Goblin Lvl. 50] [HP: 1500/1500]*SLASH*
[HP: 1499.999/1500]…
[HP: 0/1500]*GUUUGYAAA*
“I’m actually starting to enjoy this, even if it takes a s*** ton of time to kill them. Anyway, back to grinding! Gotta grind’em all!”
