Day 4 START

Markus got up early and took a shower. Unlike the real world, the game world did not have diseases, but it was still nice to take a warm shower each day. He dried himself, put on his clothes, and bought the mystery meal from the shop. The mystery meal changed each day but was always better than the Hard Bread sold for 2 Credits.

Today's mystery meal was steak and eggs. The steak was juicy and the eggs tender, well worth the 20 credits. Markus finished off the meal quickly and put on his armor, effectively tripling his strength. While the update had gotten rid of some armor stats, for some reason stats like strength remained, even though in real life it would actually lower the user's STR.

He pulled up his status, smiling at his stats but furrowing his brow at others. His STR had gone past 50 while his DEF was close to it, but his WIS stat was close to that of his AGI despite not having any armor stats.

Is it some kind of passive effect?

He then opened up his skill list, willing it to reorganize itself.

Stamina Skills (Active)

Uppercut Lvl 9, Throw Lvl 7, Walking Lvl 7, Running Lvl 7, Examine Lvl 7, Reading Lvl 5, Writing Lvl 5, Listening Lvl 4, Climbing Lvl 4, Communication Lvl 4, Kick Lvl 4, Studying Lvl 4, Concentration Lvl 3, Gathering Lvl 3, Hiding Lvl 3, Spying Lvl 3, Scratch Lvl 3, Punch Lvl 3, Jab Lvl 2, Hook Lvl 2, Jump Lvl 2, Cleaning Lvl 2, Cooking Lvl 2, Dodge Lvl 2, Riding Lvl 1, Trip Lvl 1, Crafting Lvl 1, Dismantling Lvl 1, Disarm Trap Lvl 1,

Stamina Skills (Passive)

Breathing Lvl 9, Sleeping Lvl 7, Premonition Lvl 7, Training Lvl 7, Paralyze Resistance Lvl 5, Adaptation Lvl 4, Unarmed Mastery Lvl 2, Fall Resistance Lvl 1, Weapon Mastery Lvl 1, Target Lvl 1, Poison Resistance Lvl 1, Petrify Resistance Lvl 1

Mana Skills

Mana Circulation Lvl 4, Mana Amplification Lvl 1

He disregarded the masteries and resistances right away. That left Breathing, Sleeping, Premonition, Training, Adaptation, and Target. It definitely wasn't the effects of Breathing, Training, or Sleeping, and Lvl 1 effects wouldn't be strong enough to do this. After whittling it down to two, he tapped on both to see their effects.

Premonition Lvl 7: ERROR Adaptation Lvl 4: A measure of how well the user can adapt to a situation. Increases survival skills over time.

"What the hell?"

Why is Premonition giving an Error? Is it not supposed to exist or something?

Markus flashbacked to the last time he had seen an Error message. It was after he and his crew had defeated a Dark dungeon using a loophole. The blue screen at the end of the dungeon attempted to calculate the rewards but broke down and glitched out. It had ended up giving them a Tier 3 reward, one rank higher than usual.

It was a time of happiness that soon turned to misery. They had spread the loophole on the forums but it apparently hadn't worked after that day. Markus and the crew had to lie low for a bit after that.

Premonition has become Lvl 8!

He tapped on it again.

Premonition Lvl 8: ERROR

Examine Premonition.

Premonition Lvl 8: ERROR

"Examine Premonition."

Premonition Lvl 8: ERROR

"Fuck it. At least I know why my WIS is increasing now."

He waved away the screens and grabbed his bag, stepping outside.

First on his list was the job agency. This was, after all, a simulation of real life, so naturally, there would be one.

It was on the eighth floor of one of the apartment buildings. There were no elevators since it was one of the smaller ones meant more for businesses rather than living space. The receptionist greeted Markus at the door with a wave of his hand since he was busy working at his desk behind the glass. There was no line there considering the fact that there was more than one job agency (the other was in a larger building with an elevator so more players went there) and that players weren't too willing to climb up and down eight flights of stairs.

There were a few reasons why he had come here instead of the more popular agency. For one, there would be fewer people coming here due to the aforementioned reason. The second was because this agency had a broader range of jobs and was actually the main branch.

"How can I help you?" the goblin asked, typing away at his laptop.

"I'd like to see if there's a position available on a farm or as a chef," Markus replied.

"Hold on, give me a second..." the NPC suddenly finished typing and closed his laptop, before turning around and grabbing at a stack of papers behind him. "Let's see here... we've got a position open at Habas Farm on the northern side of town as a farmhand, and a spot at the soup kitchen, but you won't be paid for the latter. They'll tell you more about the job details when you get there."

"Wait, there's a soup kitchen?" asked Markus, furrowing his brow.

"Hmmm? Oh, that's right, you're a player. The soup kitchen was added in by the GMs as compensation to the still-living players. There were a few other things added and removed that the council is pretty ecstatic about, but you don't need to know. Anyway, are you going to take the positions?"

Markus thought it over for a few seconds before replying.

"I'll take the farmhand one as well as the soup kitchen one but only if you tell me where it is," he said.

"The soup kitchen is next to the town hall, on the right-hand side. And now, if you'll give me a moment, you should receive your quests right about... now."

Quest Received: Habas Farm Worker

Work on Habas Farm as a farmhand.

Rewards: 100 Credits per hour. Accept Quest? Y/N Quest Received: Soup Kitchen Chef Work at the soup kitchen as a chef. Rewards: None. Accept Quest? Y/N

Markus hit Y for both and headed down the stairs, getting Climbing to Lvl 5.

Meanwhile, the few survivors of William's group had gotten together in a bar. As they had received the rewards from the update, Aaron had called them all together for a meeting to decide on what to do with the majority of the earnings. He had given some extra money to people to figure out what the Lottery function did, as well as find out what else they could buy from the NPCs and the shop. Now they were here for their next course of action: how to deal with Markus.

The mood in the room was tense as fuck. Aaron had paid for a separate room with the update earnings, but there weren't enough chairs available, so he and William sat on the two chairs and looked down upon the other group members on the floor. Even with air conditioning, you could see the sweat on the lackeys' faces.

"Alright, so listen up! Now that we've gotten most of our monetary expenses out of the way, we need to figure out how to deal with that monster. Anyone got any ideas?" Aaron said.

Silence filled the room before a man in the back raised his hand slowly.

"Yes, Drake?" Aaron asked, with the temperament of a teacher speaking to a child.

"W-well..." the man stammered out. "Couldn't we just leave him alone? I mean, he managed to-"

Aaron cut him off. "Do you really think that guy can forget things so easily? It's us or him, so we gotta strike first. Besides, you saw how he treated the rest of us yesterday. If we leave him alone, he'll send us to the wolves."

"B-but-"

"Shut up your plan is retarded. Anyone else?"

Another man raised his hand and Aaron gestured at him.

"If we spread our forces within the city, we can-"

"There's 12 of us do you really think we can cover that much ground? Rejected."

A third person brought up their plan. They got kicked between the legs for saying it.

"Great, looks like I'll go ahead with my original plan," Aaron said.

A few people had looks on their faces as if to ask "then why did you ask us" but quickly composed their features as Aaron's glare swept over them.

As Aaron explained the plan, he berated them and verbally abused them. He told them that they were only useful as cannon fodder, and so that was what they were going to become. And so all of his henchmen came to the same conclusion.

Drake stood up. He was followed by Andrew and Jake. The remaining members followed suit, encircling Aaron and William. Naturally, William got into a fighting stance, but unfortunately, his Karma wasn't doing so well and he was still under the effects of the beer that he drank a while ago.

"Hey! Sit down, you little shits! Listen to- You fucker, that hurts! Where the fuck did you get-"

Aaron was cut off as Drake stabbed him in the side. William tried to punch him but he dodged easily and grabbed his neck with his other hand. Drake nodded to the rest of the group. There was no turning back now.

A blue screen popped up in front of Drake, who waved it away for the moment.

Unlocked FJSJ Lvl 1!

Markus sneezed. He'd been having a weird feeling for a while now, but he shook his head and got back to work. Right now he was weeding the fields using his hoe on Habas Farm. The weather was mildly warm that day, but not warm enough to make him sweat. Around him, only a few other workers were there. The manager was under a tree, fast asleep, his hat covering his eyes.

He swore. Due to his equipment, he'd had a hard time controlling his strength. He bent down and ripped the weed out of the earth, before tossing it aside.

After weeding his section, it was time for harvest. By using mana, crops could be grown in mere days or even hours, meaning that they needed people to harvest them every day. He dug around the plants and carefully pulled them up, grunting with the effort. Since they were grown with mana, they would have augmented properties compared to normal plants, which included their size and weight. It took him close to half an hour, but he finally pulled out all 20-foot long carrots. As a reward, he got Gathering to Lvl 4.

He lifted each, grunting at the weight, over to a large black bin on wheels. He then moved the bin over to the front where they would be taken away for cleaning, inspection, and processing.

After another hour, when they were done being processed, he took the seeds and planted them, covering them up in the holes he had taken them out of before.

That should be enough work on the farm. Now to the next job.

Markus went up to the foreman and tapped on his shoulder. The foreman, who was sleeping, woke up and rubbed his eyes. He looked at Markus, opened up a blue screen, and tapped "Complete", before going back to sleep.

Quest Complete! Reward: 200 Credits.

As he walked down the road towards the center of the city, he noticed something sticking out of the tall grass. He walked over to it, realizing that it was a severed hand. Next to it, partially hidden by the grass, was a naked torso, legs, as well as a pair of blood-soaked pants. He moved further in to find two heads next to each other, facing down. Markus turned one of them over to find William's drunken face staring back at him. Scrawled on his forehead was a message.

It read, "TRUCE."

Looks like there's a new leader. I wonder how many of them are left now?

He grabbed his hoe and slung it over his shoulder. Better to be ready for an ambush than to be not ready and be dead.

The soup kitchen was practically deserted. There was only one player: Markus, along with a few NPCs.

They were now chopping up vegetables to use for stew. Today's menu was wolf noodle soup, made with potatoes instead of wheat. A few players had come by but had decided that they preferred the shop's food over the soup. The only ones that really stayed and chatted were NPC workers, who after a long day's work, preferred homemade food compared to the system's mass-produced meals.

Weapon Mastery has become Lvl 2!

Markus waved away the screen and placed the large pile of chopped vegetables into the pot, where they would simmer for another hour. They kept a few pots of soup ready in case they ran out.

When he was done with that he was directed over to the dismantling area. Here the wolf carcasses were butchered and dismantled. While this was useful for Markus, what he really had come for was here: the Purification skill. A few monsters had poison in their body, but Purification negated that. It became very useful later on when the game was updated again and that "some" turned into "all" monsters.

Unfortunately for Markus, it was a mana skill. Which meant that it would be rather hard for him to learn at his current level. He had gained the skill before, however, so at least he knew how to use it. And so, after a few minutes of "learning" (aka the NPC failing to describe the sensation) he successfully acquired the skill.

Learned Purification Lvl 1!

Next up on his list was the library. He finished chopping and dismantling more ingredients before leaving the kitchen.

Quest Complete! Rewards: Bowl of Wolf Noodle Soup

The meat was chewy, the noodles grainy, and the soup oversalted but he gulped it all down anyway. NPCs had a different sense of taste compared to most players. For example, if a goblin NPC ate a bowl of human ramen they would have thought it was baby food.

"Hey, is that the guy?"

"Yeah, it's the douchebag."

"Should we get him?"

"Let's go."

A group of 6 players crept silently towards Markus as he walked down the street. It was close to nighttime and so they thought they wouldn't be detected. Unfortunately for them, he had heard them long ago.

He turned into a dark alleyway and they followed. When he reached the end of it, he stopped and turned around. Standing before him were 6 angry faces.

"Get him!" one of them shouted.

The sound of weapons being taken out could be heard clearly. One of them made a move but tripped and fell to the floor. As he fell, he felt something on his neck. Then there was a crack, and he felt no more.

"What the-" Those were the last words of another man before his head fell to the ground, a jagged mark where his head once sat.

The rest of them stopped. Was this really a good idea? Unfortunately, they didn't get to think about that any further as Markus drove his tonfas into their guts. Once they had doubled over, he went straight for their necks with an uppercut. Soon, 6 dead men lay before him. He sold all of their equipment and bought a bottle of water to clean off the blood before heading on his way.