Pain

[Daily Quest failed!]

[Warning: Punishment initiated]

[Pain Simulation: Jingu]

[Attention: Punishment in action - remaining time 23:59:59]

[Attention: Daily Quest Timer has been reset]

[Side Quest (Daily) - Reject Humanity, Return to Monke (Incomplete)]

"Argh" Ethan fell to his knees while grabbing his head with both hands. His face turned red from the excruciating pain and he began to sweat. It was as if his skull was being squeezed and this rendered him powerless.

<The Great Sage Equal to Heaven looks away due his PTSD>

<Love and Fertility Influencer does not like what she sees searches for something to help you in her accessory box>

<Love and Fertility Influencer smiles as she finds something thinks may be able to help you stabilize the pain>

[Love and Fertility Influencer wants to gift you a skill]

[Do you wish to accept ?]

The buzzing prompt woke Ethan from the pain he's been enduring. He found it odd for a goddess to gift him a skill this early but accepted it due to the unnatural fact that he is a regressor. Since this gift was not bound by any contract or quest, he accepted.

[Attention: You have received the A-Rank Passive Skill - Masochist]

[Pain is only an illusion! You gain resistance to the pain you feel after a certain amount of time. The stronger, the better the results. Feel more pain and you may just one day get rid of it completely!]

[Current Pain Index: 12% Pain Reduction]

'What a bullshit name.' Ethan thought but he won't complain. The skill he just received has good potential and will make his journey a bit more comfortable.

He got up and sat down on a chair, feeling satisfied as his new passive skill worked just as he intended.

'But damn, she just gave me an A-Rank Skill for free. I wonder what she wants from me.' Feeling a bit more clear-headed after he got used to the pain, he wondered about the identity of the goddess.

'The only people I can think of are Aphrodite or Freya. I knew their apostles from my time before the regression. Sadly, they never mentioned the nickname these goddesses used.'

Thinking a bit about it, Ethan decided to dig for some information.

"Oi, thanks for the gift, it helped me a lot."

<Love and Fertility Influencer is glad that her bias feeling better>

"You keep calling me your bias. What does that even mean?"

<Love and Fertility Influencer says that you are a special being with fate no one else can match up you!>

<Father of Gods and Men laughs at the Love Fertility Influencer statement>

<The Great Sage Equal to Heaven tells Father of Gods and Men fuck his horse instead watching disciple if he thinks the Monke is a joke>

<God of Death and Embalming conjured a chair observes the situation while eating popcorn>

...

Getting annoyed at the pop-ups, Ethan closes the system window. Looking at the clock, there was a lot of time before sunrise, and since the pain won't go away for 24 hours, he'll try to gain some useful passive skills he had gained prior to the regression.

During his time in the apocalypse, he met the Martial Saint, who helped him strengthen his foundation with a few passive skills that had unique ways of acquisition.

'Alright, first I need to get that skill' Ethan mused and went to the bathroom to fill up the tub. 

While the bathtub was being filled with cold water, he got salt from the kitchen and a blindfold.

<Love and Fertility Influencer is curious about what you are going to do with those items>

<God of Death and Embalming has a hypothesis but does not want to share his thoughts with the crowd>

<The Great Sage Equal to Heaven is sure that it going be interesting>

Ethan ignored the notifications and sprinkled all the salt he found into the tub of cold water and waited for it to dissolve. Then, he blindfolded himself and took a deep breath.

After that, without hesitation, he ducked his head into the water. The cold liquid enveloped him, a sensation of immersion and detachment washing over him.

The blindfold and the salt made him feel like he was deep inside the ocean. Now, he had to endure the sensation of drowning until he got a notification.

This unorthodox method was one of the secrets that made the Martial Saint, well, the Martial Saint. He put himself in danger in the most trivial places to trick the System into giving out achievements and skills. He 

He could feel his strength wane as the minutes ticked by. His lungs burned and the headache got stronger. Ethan endured, knowing he was practically immortal, he wanted to abuse this effect for his gain. Soon, he lost all the air, and his lungs filled with water. But instead of dying, Ethan was now painfully circulating water in his lungs instead of air. This unnatural occurrence made him uncomfortable, but knowing that he couldn't die, he pushed on.

[Attention: Due to surviving an impossible situation you have gained a passive skill]

[F-Rank Nullify (Growth)]

[An impossible skill handed out to those who have survived an impossible situation. A skill as broken as the user. It grants nullification of physical, magical, and mental attacks at the highest rank. Level up this skill by enduring other impossible scenarios]

'A growth Skill!' Ethan thought as he coughed out salt water out of his system.

'But this one is different from the one that the Martial Saint got back then. He received an A-Rank Passive Skill called 'Immunity of the Hero' Ethan mused and read about his new skill. Although it was currently at F-Rank, the fact that it was a growth-type, made it at least an S-Rank Skill if used correctly. The effects were busted and this got Ethan thinking.

Was it possible to generate impossible skills by abusing his immortal physique? The answer is yes, he just proved it.

<Love and Fertility Influencer dropped her make-up brush after seeing what you have done>

<God of Death and Embalming is mildly surprised by the turn events>

<The Great Sage Equal to Heaven encourages you abuse this>