Gift

All of a sudden, a dazzling light emerged from thin air, flickering and creating a loud noise, like a flash bang. Marius instinctively shielded his eyes with his arm and strained to make out what was happening.

Gradually, a woman's body, which was curled into a fetal position, emerged from the light—floating in the air.

She had long, silky blonde hair cascading down her back, lifeless golden eyes, and wore a white robe over white garbs, both laced with golden outlines, which were tightly wrapped around her body. Adorning her neck was a glowing iron collar, embellished with intricate rune symbols.

As the light dwindled, Marius couldn't believe his eyes when his vision returned and he saw a woman of unparalleled beauty. Never in his life had he seen such a good-looking woman.

To regain control over himself and stop the staring, he gave himself a firm slap on the face, where he then glanced away and coughed.

"What type of gift is this?" Marius asked, wiping away his nose bleed. He had expected to get a weapon or some type of cheat. Not this!

["IT" is impressed with your reaction. Many mortals, upon seeing a goddess, immediately act on their barbaric instincts]

Upon hearing this, Marius momentarily froze. Did he just hear the word: "goddess"? If so, wouldn't that be… bad?

Squatting down, holding his head, he acknowledged the horror of this gift. Despite her physical appeal, her personality would probably be terrible—filled with haughtiness and egotism.

"I refuse." Marius stood up, turned around, and waved his hand in the air, dismissing the gift. He adamantly refuses to be accompanied by a spoiled child as he attempts to find a way back to Earth.

He had no interest in becoming a babysitter or dealing with constant headaches.

[Hero, rest assured. She is merely an emotionless servant who will assist you on your heroic journey]

Upon hearing this, Marius, who had been on low-alert, was now on high-alert as he had a sense that something was off, as again, like a broken record, the mechanical voice brought back up the hero topic.

Was this gift to coerce him into becoming a hero? To monitor him? He knew well that wasn't the case, as he guessed he was being watched by something or someone who is called: "IT".

From what Marius has gathered by listening to the voice inside his head, it seems that "IT" is the one who owns this mechanical voice, also implying the system, and this game-like world, Pax. 

"Uh, I'm getting a headache," he muttered under his breath. He was feeling very paranoid right now.

Marius couldn't explain it, but he had a strong feeling that this was some kind of trap. Thus, he decided it would be best to refuse the gift. After all, he was being cautious. He didn't want to be stabbed in the back later on.

"As I've repeated countless times. I have no intention of becoming a hero. So, take the gift back."

All Marius wants is to concentrate on leveling up, to become stronger and finding a way home. He doesn't want to be paranoid by this "gift" the entire time.

[Impossible]

"Why not?" Marius forced a smile. He was becoming increasingly irritated. All he wants now is to kick off his daily quest, which he had read earlier.

Standing here all day is not something he can afford in terms of time. Knowing that the forest was likely infested with monsters, he wanted to just kill these 5 Horn Rabbits and get out before nightfall.

[Information denied]

"I'm done talking with you." Marius was fed up with talking to the system. He knew he had wasted enough time.

His intention was to gather as much information as possible. Unfortunately, the mechanical voice seemed to be tightly controlled. So, he couldn't get much. 

[May fortune smile upon you, hero, as you begin your adventure to become more powerful, so you can protect this world from the darkness that threatens all!]

In response, Marius raised both his middle fingers and directed them towards the air. "Go fuck yourself."

[Voice deactivated]

"About time." Marius sighed. "Now I can focus."

Glimpsing over at the goddess, who was still suspended mid-air, curled up in a fetal position and hadn't blinked once, concluded it would be best to refrain from getting involved with her.

"She'll live," Marius shrugged. He guessed, given her divine status, she most likely was overpowered in her own right. He wasn't convinced that anything in this forest could pose a threat to her.

Even if it wasn't a monster, if a bandit or adventurer were to appear, he doubted they would be able to do anything. Either way, he didn't really care about her.

With a yawn, Marius tapped on the map positioned in the top-right corner of his vision. It promptly enlarged, displaying small red dots which each was a Horn Rabbit, marking its location within the forest and distance.

"The closest one is 25 feet from here." Clicking on the red dot, Marius swiped out of the map. "Alright. First, I should test out my skill before I engage."

Despite not having high expectations for this default skill, he still wanted to give it a shot.

He believed that testing and improving his default skill would be advantageous in the long term, especially since the Shop would remain locked until he reached level 5. He also planned on leveling up all the skills he buys with his Skill Points in the future. 

Marius didn't want a skill that had no practical value. Because this was his first one, he desired to start leveling it as soon as possible, together with himself - shared experience.

'Now, how do I activate a skill?'

Thinking about it for a couple seconds, Marius simply uttered the skill name, "Bony".

At that moment, he sensed a small energy leaving his body, making his legs feel slightly weak. Appearing on the grassy ground, a small black and gray circle with a miniature tombstone on it began emitting a faint blue glow.

A little skeleton, standing at a height of only three feet, emerged slowly from the circle, its eyes glowing red and wearing a tiny golden crown.

With a small wooden sword in hand, the skeleton raised it and shouted in a royal-like voice, "who summons me, Bony, the undead king?"