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 sent 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. After about an hour of traveling towards his valley, he had stopped to do what little he could to patch himself up from the recent encounter. His worst injuries were his bruised ribs and swelling eye, both of which were hard to treat aside from herbal poultices to reduce swelling, which were too demanding to make on the road. Instead, he focused on the myriad of little cuts he had received, using strips of his shirt to bind the last of the herbs he had taken from Mike’s store to the more severe wounds. He was kind of hoping that he would gain another level in First Aid from his efforts, but alas, he was still level 3.

After 20 minutes of doing what he could, he continued onwards to his valley, his pace slower than it had been when traveling to the town the previous day, but still faster than what he could have managed the day before… or 10 days before if Bart was to be believed. He had a hard time processing that he had been asleep for 10 days, but compared to everything else that had happened in the previous 24 hours, he couldn’t dismiss it out of hand.

The journey was uneventful for the next 12 hours, with the only occurrence of note being his rapid healing, which surprised even himself. Many of his wounds had already healed all of the way, although his eye and ribs were still bothering him. The blissful monotony was broken when a notification dashed all of his hopes that he had sufficiently scared away the townsfolk from seeking him out:

[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 and broke his vengeful reverie. 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.

The occipital bone above his eye throbbed, as if in response to his question, reminding him that with his Luck, the odds were probably pretty high. A loud gurgle from his belly seemed to shout back at the discouraging bone, daring its almost-healed status to compete with the gnawing hunger he felt. For a few moments, he was locked in indecision, before he remembered the increased speed with which he had fought the cultists. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to test himself.

His increased Dexterity made his sudden lunge deceptively fast, but the rabbit was prepared, darting away with almost the same speed he had before it got out of range and stopped to watch him warily. For the next 20 minutes, he lost himself in the thrill of competing against another creature as he chased the rabbit, neither gaining advantage over the other in the brutal game of Cat and Mouse that predated both of their species.

The thrill of testing his newfound limits was electrifying, making each of his attempts as exhilarating as the last. There were a few moments when he considered dumping his remaining stat points into Dexterity to close the gap between him and his quarry. Logically, he knew that a split second decision like that was irresponsible though, so he chose instead to carefully maneuver the rabbit, slowly cutting off its possible escape routes. Finally, he rushed straight for the rabbit, who upon realizing that it was cornered, tried to dart around him. Mike was prepared for this eventuality, and lashed out with his right hand, grabbing the rabbit by its hind legs and securing his first meal in over 24 hours.

With a light heart and a whistle on his lips, he arrived back at his valley in the fading light. The prospect of a good meal and some healthy exercise had helped simplify his what had begun to seem like a shattered existence.