System Leader chuckled to himself as he watched the anomaly’s dot get further and further away from the group of assimilants on the map. He was surprised at how quickly the anomaly had grown and was quite entertained as he watched the anomaly quickly tear through 10 assimilants. True, many untried system leaders might start worrying that this anomaly would prevent the assimilation of the planet as a whole, after all, the System couldn’t integrate anyone from a planet til they reached their second class evolution and until all anomalies were eliminated, but System Leader knew better. He had dealt with many anomalies in the past and he was confident that this one would be taken care of in plenty of time.

Still, he was eager to get on to retirement, so he figured he should enact Anomaly Eradication Phase 1, the first phase in the standard 5 phase plan that would ultimately ensure the anomaly’s demise. This had worked on thousands of planets over the millenia, and he wasn't at all worried that it wouldn’t work now. Especially since this anomaly in particular had the lowest luck score he had ever seen.

“System, in 12 local hours, roll out the phase 1 anomaly message to all assimlants in Noob Zone AA12.” System Leader said, sitting back to watch the fun.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Bart was bored. He was discovering that this was probably the worst part of being spent to respawn, well, other than the pain of dying. Before the System had taken over, he would habitually entertain himself on his smart phone anytime he had to wait. But now he just had to sit here, staring at the large countdown time that told him he still had to wait another 36 hours before he could respawn. It wasn’t like he could just sleep either. When waiting to respawn, all you could do was wait.

After another 12 hours, a system notification broke the silence:

[Attention Noob Zone 5: A New Boss has been created for the zone.

Mike the Unlucky]

[Attention Noob Zone 5: A new Zone Quest has been initiated.

Quest: Kill Boss, Mike the Unlucky

Rewards: Instant increase to level 11 and graduation from the zone for each party member.

Party members will also split 1000 Gold for each kill Mike the Unlucky has when defeated]

Bart’s thoughts ran rampant with the way the rewards could change his life. Being the first into the Ranker Zone would allow him to stock on the new supplies that would be available in that zone. He could finally go from being a small business man to a man of power with that head start. The gold reward was nothing to scoff at either. 1000 Gold would buy pretty much everything in his store, and at a minimum, the reward was double that since Mike had killed him twice.

Bart grinned as another thought crossed his mind, of all the people in the village, Bart was probably the only one who knew where Mike’s camp had been before the System integration, after all, Mike had told him in great detail on, on multiple occasions, about how wonderful the little valley was. He was willing to bet that the valley would continue to serve as his base camp. Even though other groups may have a 36 hour head start, with his inside knowledge, he would definitely be getting a piece of that reward.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Ralph was also watching the respawn timer when the boss notification popped up. He immediately thought back to his final moments of life and the cold, hard eyes that had sent him here. Dread once again filled his consciousness at the memory. If you asked him, the System wasn’t offering enough of a reward to go after that monster. Maybe he should take up farming?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Mike had made pretty good time, battered as he was after the fight. He had done what little he could to patch himself up soon after leaving the group of survivors. He was kind of hoping that he would gain another level in First Aid, but alas, he was still level 3. Still, he was very surprised at how quickly he had healed. Now just 12 hours later, he was approaching his valley, where hopefully he could wait out this apocalypse in peace. He had done all he could to scare other people away… would it be enough?

[Congratulations! You have been promoted to a new monster tier: Boss

As a boss, your death will offer increased rewards to your killer’s party.

Expect an increase in those targeting you.

Apologies in advance for the inconvenience]

His head was still reeling at the injustice of it all when another notification appeared.

[Congratulations on your promotion to Boss!

Calculating rewards……….]

[Congratulations! +1 Strength]

Mike softly cursed the System. What kind of a reward was +1 Strength compared to the trouble this new bounty on his head would bring? He couldn’t be certain, knowing as little as he did about the System, but he would wager that his luck score was used to calculate his promotion rewards.A movement in the bushes to his left caught his eye. A perfectly plump rabbit, just waiting to be stewed with some wild carrots and sweet potatoes. Maybe his luck was changing?

Realizing he didn’t have a bow, Mike eyed his Dayton ax distrustfully.

“What are the odds that this ax can ricochet back if it is thrown?” he muttered to himself. Remembering his newfound speed, and deciding that the risk wasn’t worth the reward, Mike rushed the hare at top speed. All his other problems could wait, for the next hour, satisfying his empty belly and testing his new limits were the only things he would let himself care about.