Breaking the System Pt 1

"... So that happened... umm do I get an explanation for what I got to do or am I just gonna be stuck here in the void," Rica said as the light finished merging. Her feelings finally stabilizing after the repeated shocks. A window popped up again in response.

[Requiem System unlocked]

Initiating skill test in 3...2..1 *Ding*

[Casting Pocket Rock]

There was now a fist sized rock with googly-eyes in Rica's hand. "What?"

[Pocket Rock] - skill generates enchanted rock that can be thrown, used as building material, catalytic material, or burial material. Rare chance of googly eye variant. Rare chance of confusion and KO (knockout) on crit. Strong against Undead. DMG is based after 1/2 Strength stat. 1MP

"Why don't you check your status first before we get carried away. You already spent 24 hrs here watching your world crumble, even if it felt like a few minutes to you." Death said.

Rica could not stop the jaw drop, but figured that she was already in for a ride so she might as well enjoy it. "Great... um Status Open then?" A pale blue window opened in front of her eyes in response.

Status

-----------------------------------

Host name: Rica Noct

Age: 20 (Happy Birthday)

Race: Human

Class: Death Saint

Level: 1

HP (Health points): 100/100

MP (Mana points): 10/10

Elemental Affinities: Earth, Water

STR (Strength): 17

DEX (Dexterity): 14

CON (Constitution): 10

INT (Intelligence): 10

WIS (Wisdom): 7

CHA (Charisma): 16

AP (Ability points): 0

Skills: [Appraisal+], [Calming Aura], [Slash lvl 3], [Throw lvl 1], [Bash lvl 2], [Reap lvl Max]

Spells: [Pocket Rock: 1MP], [Rest: Active Aura 5MP per Target], [Pack Tame: 10MP per level...Current Pack: N/A]

"...Oh what do ya know it's my birthday," Rica said as she did a double take at her stats. Blinking rapidly, she gestured to Death to take a glance as she was puzzled. "The Hell is this? Why is my wisdom so low?"

"Probably because you are impulsive with what you try to tame... Does Danger Mittens ring any bells?" The sass was not lost in Death's monotone reply.

"Ok, point taken, Moving on... are you going to explain why Mr. Jingles is here?" Rica pressed not wanting to relive that memory.

"Meow"

"Consider him emotional support considering that you are masking your emotions so expertly one second and falling apart the next. Which reminds me, try to keep it together till the end for the others. You will know what to do when you see what you face, but if you let your guard down too quickly then it may just be the native creatures that will return you to my domain." Death waved in an exhausted motion. Wind in the Void began to billow and twist around Rica and Mr. Jingles. It was Time to go.

"Well that isn't ominous at aaaallllllll.....!!!!" Rica screamed as she began to fall. A glowing magic circle began to glow beneath and grow until it swallowed the duo whole. It took everything in her power not to close her eyes, a habit she had picked up from her previous exploits, so she got to see everything as they faded into the blinding light. It was hallucinogenic to say the least as their very flesh scattered like the leaves in the wind. If this had been been a another story it would have been pretty as they scattered into golden and glistening sparkles becoming one with the magic. Unfortunately for Rica, this was not the case with her tale. It was Death that had cast this spell and created what can only be described as a a magic portal meat grinder.

At some point in this process Rica gave up watching this hell and when she opened her eyes she saw an ornate gothic throne room with gray stone walls and red tapestries depicting a Draconian Imperial Seal. Oddly enough the room was empty of life save for her and an equally traumatized cat.

The summoning circle scorched into the floor cracked with each step and Rica almost stumbled as she realized that she did not spend her time wisely in the void. She did not know how to fight monsters other than zombies and she was puzzled as to why she would be... "MotherF****er!" It was pretty obvious that she was not summoned to fight a Demonlord. The room had been trashed.

There were no guards here except haphazard suits of armor on display and there was nothing to denote life had once been here save for the bloody hand prints on the door. Heading away from the throne, Rica scanned the room for the print's owner, picking up an ornate mace from one of the armor displays. The blades would have been useful if they were sharpened, but sadly they were just for decoration.

[Basic Ornate Mace]

An ornate mace encrusted with varying gemstones and created during ...

"blah, Blah, Blah... the info is nice, but not what I need when the U.I. [user interface] is the size of my field of vision." Rica complained. It was like someone was asking to get bit while reading all of these windows out in the open and even Rica wasn't dumb enough to let this continue. "System... open system customization." She hoped that she would have some options, but she wasn't so lucky.

[Processing Host Inquiry... Denied]

"Two can play that game," Rica said as she continued to scan the room. A faint gurgling could be heard to the right of the door, but it was louder than the shuffling outside. Blood slowly seeped from below the door into the the red carpet runner. Grimacing, Rica conjured her next words carefully recalling how her friends used to haggle in videogames before the world fell. "Request admin approval for system customization if you want this host to last longer than a day. Restrict Full Appraisal to the bare minimum necessary for survival unless in designated safe zone. Save lore for those areas where I can put it to use. I'd prefer something like those old RPG side scrollers and maybe... a death sound for the enemy?" She was not good at haggling, but she got the point across of what she needed.

It was hard to think of what could be useful compared to not having the system at all, but when it came down to it the thing was a bonus.

[Processing Host Inquiry... Message sent]

[Awaiting Approval...]

Blinking away the window, Rica sighed and turned towards the source of the sound. Mr. Jingles growled at what could only be described as a breathing corpse propped up against on the room's wall pillars. The gaunt face framed by mid-evil helmet hair and blood soaked scarf twitched and pulled at itself unnaturally as it began to turn towards Rica. The iconic jester's vestments further exaggerating the process of reanimation to an almost cartoonish level. As it gradually twisted itself like a puppet, Rica could only watch as she was currently being assaulted by messages from the system.

[ERROR... THREAT DETECTED... ERROR APPRAISAL... $&^$#@#! ERROR]

[ERROR... @#%#$^&&$#@*ENEMY DETECTED... ATTEMPTING APPRAISAL... ERROR]

[ERROR... ERROR...@#%%#@%# ERROR!!!]

The Creature lunged!

With mouth agape and hands contorted into claws it sought to rip an tear at the food in front of it. Rica could just barely parry the blow. Sidestepping to the right as the feral corpse slumped left before catching itself. It rapidly twisted and arched around to face its prey with a force that made its bones audibly snap and tendons twist. Meanwhile the error messages continued to swarm and cloud Rica's vision.

"NOT GOOD!" Rica swung blindly as the creature lunged. Mr. Jingles dodging out of the way as the corpse slammed it face into the nearby pillar. Rica was stunned as she could barely see the corpse slumped over and contorting back up.

[Appraisal Complete... Mr. Jingles, Job: Cleric...etc]

The area around the cat in her vision was clear of the errors for legibility; and now that she could see, Rica could Fight!

Crunch!

Raining the mace down as fast as she had raised it up, Rica bashed the undead's skull in like a pinata against the pillar. Repeatedly. Why? Because Double Tap saves lives better than Goodbyes. It wasn't until its head looked like meat paste that the kill confirm message...although buggy... popped up.

[ERROR ... UNDEFINED ENEMY @$$#%^$$%#... EXP. Rewarded 0]

"What the hell...? Well I guess things couldn't be that easy... umm System send Error Report and the last 5 min to Admin. Repeat prior request with urgency." Rica was really hoping that the Admin was Death since they made this buggy thing in front of her. She couldn't imagine what would happen if it had been outsourced to some lesser being without the ability or attention span to fix this.

Feeling surprisingly breathless, Rica appraised the mace again and was not surprised by the durability numbers considering she had done a number on it getting the zombified fool to stay down.

[Durability 30/100]

[Host Inquiry Processed... Message Received... Opening Message]

{Hmm... I can see where this could be a hindrance. This world revolves around systematic methods, but creatures of alien descent are not effected properly by this world's laws. The same goes for you and the heroes summoned of course so we made a replica system. Unfortunately, it appears you lot are grossly incompatible with the world laws... While it would have been better for you to naturally adapt to the world and accept its nature, it appears some steps must be taken. For now, try to give the poor souls you come across Rest and hunker down where you can adapt to the adjustments.

------Death}

Mission Acquired --- [System Update 2.0]

Requirements: Hunker down in Safe Zone while avoiding infection for 8hrs...

Reward: Updated Systematic UI Components, Target System Marker, Level Damage Limiter Partial Removal, Situational Safe Zone and Sanctuary Ward

[The required adjustments have been accepted, but doing so many alterations at once is risky. Find a place to hunker down before you get yourself killed. Appraisal will be altered accordingly to display safe zones in which lore can be accessed. Weapon stats will be reduced to displaying special abilities and directional range. Damage limited by level gap will be applicable when circumstance allows. Name appraisal will be limited to specialized enemies in battle. Targeting System Marker will be applied to discovered enemies along with corresponding health bar. EXP conversion to be updated to be based on quantitative souls reaped.]

Rica sighed.

"Come on Mr. Jingles, I have a bad feeling about this. I just hope that I'm wrong."

"Meow"

Soft moans and thumps hitting the bloody door to the main hall behind them, Rica scanned for another way out. It looked like in addition to the bloody door there was two others in the room to the left and right of the throne. Towering windows behind the throne revealed the light of the mid afternoon sun and that while there were no walking corpses on the ground below Rica could see the remains of abandoned weapons and goods littering the area. Hopefully this meant that the castle was sealed off, but this would also make escaping the place all the more difficult. Taking one last glance about the room Rica and the cat left through the left door and into the unknown.

Eyes that seemed to absorb the shadows itself watched above the arched rafters and their smooth chuckle went unnoticed under the moans of the undead as the door creaked shut.

'Prey'