Impossible Difficulty

'It's impossible for us to survive this.' Thought Merlot as he could feel the infime changes he brought to Michael's Magic Stat.

He tried to release everything inside the young man's body, as maybe that could help him survive a bit longer, so he could think of another plan to save his own skin.

But...

'It's not possible. This pipsqueak will soon die.'

Merlot couldn't see the system's prompts, as the thing known as 'System', was actually the Will of the Multiverse that had the role of guiding the races that were given the opportunity to step inside the true Universe.

Merlot also had to go through a Tutorial at some point in his life, when he wasn't even a mage, much less the Strongest One to ever exist.

But again, the System didn't favor anyone, it was just a multitude of data that displayed numbers for the 'weak' to see.

At Merlot's ex level, he didn't even bother to see his improvements anymore.

He also didn't have any real hopes at this moment.

'Even when I and Valiant started our Tutorial, we only selected the Nightmare Difficulty, I don't think I've ever heard of someone else capable of clearing the Impossible Difficulty...'

That was the true reason the once-strongest-mage sighed and despaired. Despite his attempt to help Michael obtain a head start, the System acted like a bitch and stopped him.

"Ah..." Michael let out a soft moan as he woke up, he could barely open his eyes and tried to ignore his headache as he took a look around.

Black trees, creepy atmosphere, cold wind that could be felt in his bones, and a strange feeling of being constantly watched.

'I'm in deep shit.' Thought Michael, as he remembered the last few minutes, and what he's been through before arriving here.

'This should be the Chilly Forest, the first zone.' Not having the guts to speak out loud or make any kind of noise, Michael stood on the ground as he tried to call the System he saw before.

'System show yourself.'

...

No response. He tried again.

'System, I'm calling you!'

...

Again, no answer.

'Show system! Status Window. Show Status.'

When Michael thought of 'Show Status', a light screen with a few words appeared before him.

[Status: Alive]

'Fuck you System!' Michael cursed the System for a while, despairing that no command could make the system show itself.

It was at that moment that an old man's voice was heard in his head, "Kid, just say 'System Interface'."

As Merlot said this, he heard Michael say the exact same words without any hesitation.

'System Interface.'

[System Interface]

[Name: Michael Smith]

[Age: 24]

[Level: 0]

[Experience: 0/50]

[Strength: 11]

[Agility: 9]

[Stamina: 10]

[Magic:31]

Inventory/Skills/Shop/Coins/Missions

As Michael checked his stats, he was surprised to see the ??? before Magic, being replaced with 31.

'When did I get so good at using Magic, or maybe I have some affinity to it? Or maybe is it because of...'

"It's because of me!" Shouting this inside Michael's consciousness, or better said, soul, Merlot patiently waited for Michael to answer.

———

A/N: I'll use " when Merlot speaks, since no one other than Michael hears him anyway. If I use ' — as in thoughts, it will be confusing for when Michael tries to think of something.

———

Unfortunately for him, there was no response.

"Could it be that this pipsqueak didn't hear me?" Feeling a little confused, Merlot thought that something went wrong and maybe he was the only one capable of hearing Michael's thoughts.

But the next thing stunned the old mage who saw and heard everything during his time, 'I can hear you, I was just busy thinking of something.'

Michael casually said, as if he was not surprised by Merlot's presence inside his body.

And he wasn't.

Why?

Because this would explain his high Magic Stat, the warm feeling of something inside him' existing', the feeling of being watched before...

Everything made sense now.

Merlot was silent for a while, he tried to comprehend Michael's actions until this point, and he found out that the young man before him was an enigma.

'I don't really understand some things at the moment, but I hope you will try to help enlighten me about them.' As Michael said this, he waited for an answer from Merlot, but it never came.

'Are you still there?' Despite asking this, Michael knew that Merlot was there, just that he was purposely ignoring him.

'Alright then, I guess it's time for us both to die.' When Michael said this, Merlot was confused, before he was horrified.

"IS SOMEONE HERE?!" Suddenly shouting at the top of his lungs, Michael had a grin on his face the entire time.

"What are you doing, you stupid human?!" When Merlot realized what Michael did, he was stupefied; the young man's guts astonished the old mage to no end.

'It's your own fault that I had to do this for you to speak. Now we either wait for my death, and most likely yours too, or you can tell me what is happening and what I should do from now on.'

"You're crazy! Insane, stupid, damned pipsqueak!" Despite Merlot's anger, he controlled himself in the end before quickly shouting some things inside Michael's mind,

"Quickly, say..."

"Quickly say... what?" Michael taunted, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Merlot sighed deeply, realizing the mischievous behaviour of Michael. "Fine, you insolent fool. Just be careful with that attitude in this dangerous world. We need to coexist if we want any chance of survival."

Michael chuckled, seemingly unfazed by Merlot's warning. "Coexist? Sure, old man. Just don't cramp my style, and we'll get along just fine."

Merlot shook his head, silently accepting the bizarre partnership thrust upon him. "We're both stuck in this mess, whether we like it or not. Now, let's figure out how to navigate this tutorial without getting ourselves killed."

"That's for you to figure out, I'm going to be responsible for the execution of the plans."

A ring increasingly arrogantly, Michael ignored Merlot and tried to find other uses of the System.

'Show Coins. System Coins.'

When he said System Coins, a small screen appeared in front of Michael and showed him a string of numbers.

[Coins: 100]

'That's all? So lame...' Shaking his head, Michael continued to use different commands to see which one worked.

Soon, he got the hang of them, and different screens appeared before his eyes.

[Inventory: Shortsword(Common Rank-Damaged)]

[Skills:None]

[Shop: Level 10]

[Missions: Survive for one year]

"Even when I participated in my Hell Tutorial, I received 1500 coins; 100 is just..trash."

"As for my weapon, I had a shortsword of common rank, but yours is damaged..."

Hearing Merlot mention that he already participated in such a tutorial, Michael's eyes lit up and he wanted to ask some questions, but the old mage beat him to it.

"Don't even bother, from what I know, Tutorials are different for everyone, there's no point in comparing my own to yours. Just the gulf between what I received and what you received is enormous."

'I understand, well, I should probably check out the area before me.'

Thinking so, Michael got up from the ground and took out his shortsword from his Inventory.

Seemingly made out of steel, and after talking with Merlot, Michael quickly realized that weapons were split up in a few ranks: common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, mythic.