First Enemy: Rice Bug!
[Warning: Dangerous opponent approaching!]
[Warning: Dangerous opponent approaching!]
[Warning: Dangerous opponent approaching!]
Yi Chang suddenly awoke to the blaring alarm of his system, as large red text flashed on the screen. "Holy shit! What's going on?!"
[Warning: Dangerous opponent approaching!]
Yi Chang tried to look around to see where this opponent was; however, due to his limited sight and mobility, it was useless.
"I can't fucking see for shit! Can you pull up an image or video, so I can see what the hell I'm up against?"
[Opening camera function… please wait... ]
When the hourglass loading screen popped up again, Yi Chang felt the urge to rip out his 'hair.'
"Oh, my god! Not this loading screen again!"
Come on—hurry up! I'm going to be fucking dead before I can even see what the hell this dangerous thing is!"
Finally, it seemed that the system's downloading time had decreased, as the hourglass loading screen disappeared.
[Camera function opened!]
"Finally!"
On-screen, the camera showcased an aerial view of his location.
'Damn, is that what I really look like?' Yi Chang was baffled at how pathetic he really was. If it wasn't for the tiny marker indicating which one was him, he wouldn't have known which rice grain was him.
"Wait a second, what the fuck is that?!"
Suddenly, a massive fat bug appeared from the corner of the screen!
"Holy shit! Look at the size of that thing!" Before, Yi Chang wouldn't have considered a small black bug of that size to be large; however, when you are a rice grain, anything and everything appears to be titans and giants amongst men.
In the fat bug's mouth was what appeared to be… a grain of rice!
"You're shitting me!"
'What do I do?!' Yi Chang tried to wrack his brain of anything that he could possibly do to avoid his possible doom.
"Fuck, if only I could move!"
Ding!
[You have obtained a new skill: <Sway: Lvl. 1>!]
Ding!
[You have obtained a new skill: <Appraisal: Lvl. 1>!]
"Huh?!
What the hell, how is that supposed to help me?!"
[Using skill: <Sway> you can avoid any oncoming attacks. Temporarily increases DEF by +1.] The robotic voice answered.
'Hmm, I guess that's better than nothing… ' Although he would've preferred a more offensive skill, given his current situation, perhaps this was just the right thing.
"What about this other skill, <Appraisal>?"
[Using skill: <Appraisal>, you can appraise any object or being and see an overview of their stats.]
'Huh, so that's what it does huh. Very video-game-esque.
So let's see if I can appraise this bastard.'
Yi Chang narrowed down on the black bug on the screen. "Appraise!"
[Loading appraisal… please wait…]
[Appraisal successful!]
[Species: <Common Rice Bug>
Lvl: 2/20
HP: 5
MP: 0
ATK: 3
SPD: 2
DEF: 2
Skills:
<Chomp: Lvl. 3> Whenever you bite an opponent, it deals +3 damage.
---
Common Rice Bugs are common insects that consume and lay their eggs on rice. Each bug can do this up to 254 times. The egg then lives in the grain kernel, eating the nutrients, for a few months, and then hatches.]
'Damn! How is it that this rice bug has more stats than me?!' Glaring at the bug's stats, Yi Chang couldn't help but feel resentful at his puny amount. 'Ugh, never mind, what's the point of being envious? I have more important things to worry about!'
The oncoming bug that is!
'And what the hell is up with that fucking bug's skill?!
One hit deals +3 damage?! One hit with that and I'm a goner three times over!'
Despite its size, this rice big seemed particularly ravenous as it devoured more food than its body could possibly handle.
'Perhaps beings are more vicious in this world. Even common bugs could be considered some type of monster!'
At least to him, of course.
[Warning: Dangerous opponent approaching!] The robotic voice blared again, reminding Yi Chang of the oncoming danger.
"Alright, alright! I got it!"
'Hmm, I might as well try it out <Sway>, considering I don't really have a choice!'
On-screen, the black bug was slowly inching closer all while greedily gobbling up his fellow rice grains. Yi Chang swore that he could hear their tiny rice screams as well; however, that could just be his imagination.
After all, last he checked, the other rice grains didn't try to reach out and communicate with him.
'Hmm, everyone is truly out only for themselves…'
Munch, munch, munch!
The sickening crunch of rice hulls grew louder as Yi Chang watched the rice bug grow closer. He didn't bother to use his skill right away since that would only bring more attention to himself.
And that was something that he wasn't mentally prepared for.
The best option would be to wait for the rice bug to strike first!
Yi Chang could only watch in anticipation as the rice bug grew closer to him. He could only watch in silent horror as the panicle* is getting cleared of its rice grains.
Crunch, crunch, crunch!
Soon enough, the rice bug was right overhead. Yi Chang could feel its beady eyes look down at him in greed and hunger as its antennae twitched about.
'Here it comes…!'
Opening its mouth, Yi Chang could practically smell the stench of rot coming from the bug. 'How many rice grains have this bug eaten?!
Ah, shit!'
"Sway!" Yi Chang suddenly felt his body dodge the bug's mouth as he teetered a hair's width away from the bug's waiting mouth!
Clomp!
The bug bit the air in confusion.
'Holy shit, it worked!' Yi Chang cheered. He couldn't believe that it actually worked!
However, now was not the time to celebrate, as the bug went back for a second bite!
"Sway!" Again, Yi Chang's body moved out of the way and barely missed the bug's attack. 'Hey, I think I'm getting the hang of this!'
"Sway!"
Clomp!
"Sway!"
Clomp!
Back and forth Yi Chang would narrowly avoid the bug's vicious bites, and with each dodge, he grew confident in himself.
"Haha, try again, you overgrown bug!" Yi Chang taunted as he swayed away from the bug's awaiting mouth once again. "Wooo, I think I'm getting the hang of this!"
Each time the bug would snap at him, he would simply sway out of the way like bamboo in the wind.
Ding!
[Proficiency in skill: <Sway> has increased to Lvl.2!]
'Ooh, nice!' Yi Chang whistled in approval as he swung out of the way from the bug's gluttonous mandibles. 'I guess the more I use a skill, the higher the skill level increases.'
Twirling around, Yi Chang felt that finally had some semblance of control over his new body as he swiftly dodged each of the Rice Bug's attacks.
"Haha, suck it you-"
Snap!
Suddenly, Yi Chang felt himself falling from the stalk!
'Shit!'
"No, no—Ahh, fuuckkk!" Yi Chang watched in mortification as the distance between him and Rice Bug grew immensely as he barreled straight down to the ground!
Yi Chang waited for the moment of impact as he felt his body grow closer to the floor. 'Goodbye world—!
Oh, wait. That wasn't so bad!'
Whether it was the mud or the fact that his body was too small, Yi Chang barely felt anything after he plopped into the mud.
Looking up at the bug, he mentally flipped off the Rice Bug. 'Haha! Wooo! Fuck you!
Whatcha gonna do now, huh?' Yi Chang taunted the bug from below. The Rice Bug glared at him before turning tail and scurrying away.
"Haha, that's what I thought!"
Ding!
[Achievement: Starship Trooper. Survive a bug attack!]
[You've obtained +5 system points!
Total system points: 86 points.]
'Huh? What the heck is this achievement? Only five system points for surviving that ordeal?!' As much as Yi Chang wanted to riot, he couldn't find the willpower within him to do anything.
'Hah, whatever. Let's see what I can do with these system points.' Seeing as he already had a reasonably sizable sum, he should be able to buy something good in the shop, right?
[Opening system shop… please wait…] The hourglass loading symbol appeared only for the briefest of seconds before a shopping catalog popped onto the screen.
"Whoa, isn't this kinda cheating? What the hell is up with all of this stuff?" Everything ranging from weapons and armor to potions and spell books was neatly advertised with a first-time buyer's discount.
In addition, some of these items appeared to be legendary items!
'What kind of psycho gives out these things so frivolously?!' Well, he supposed that being a system means that you have access to certain liberties, but even then; some of these items were a bit ridiculous.
Scrolling through the shop, a particular item caught his eye.
'Huh? Plant golem?'
[Item: <Rare - Plant Golem>
Stats:
HP: +15
MP: 0
ATK: +5
SPD: +5
DEF: +10
This item grants the user the ability to temporarily use the form of a <Plant Golem> as a proxy. Duration: 72 hours.]
'Whoa, this is just what I need!' Finally, he could have arms and legs again! He'd even have a face! Even though it's only a standard smiley face, it was still better than nothing.
Plus, with this item, his stats would at least be buffed up to a point where he would be able to survive another Rice Bug attack.
'I wonder how much this item is?'
[Price of <Rare - Plant Golem>: 150 points.]
'150 points?!' It took so much effort in order to get 5 points and to get 64 more would be a grueling task.
'Hmm… I guess I'll save these for a different time.' Looking at the price tag of each item and the amount of system points he had made him want to cry tears of poverty. 'Haha, I guess some grinding is needed in order to buy anything from this shop.'
After checking out the rest of the shop items, Yi Chang figured that he was better off just saving his system points for now.
However, just before he closed the shop tab, the alluring glimmer of the <Lucky Wheel> caught his eye.
'Hmm…' His eyes narrowed in at the discounted price of the first spin. '50 percent off the first spin…' Yi Chang eyeballed the spin button, which has "100 pts" crossed out in red and "50 pts" over the top of the button. On average, a spin would cost 100 points, but for his first spin, it would only cost 50 points…
The deal was quite tempting. And it would be a shame to leave the shop without getting at least one thing…
"One spin wouldn't hurt, right?"
[Would you like to spend 50 points on the <Lucky Wheel>? Y/N?]
"Yes."
Ding!
[Congratulations! You've obtained: 1x <Rare- Plant Golem>, 2x <Uncommon - Random Skill Card>, 2x <Common - Random Item Card>.]
'Woah! What the hell is my luck today? Are my reparations finally coming in?' 50 points to obtain a rare item that costs 150 points and more? Yi Chang felt that things were finally falling into place!
'I wonder what kind of skills I could get from these skill cards. Even though they're ranked as uncommon, they'll probably be a welcomed addition. Same thing with these random item cards.'
[Would you like to use 2x <Uncommon - Random Skill Card>? Y/N?
This action cannot be undone.]
"Yes."
Ding!
[You've obtained the skill: <Grow: Lvl. 1>!]
Ding!
[You've obtained the skill: <Harden: Lvl. 1>!]
1* Panicle - part of the rice plant where the rice grains are located.