DIE TRYING [A Roguelite Extraction LitRPG]

Wade had learned something about Play: She didn't like to work.

In fact, all she seemed to want in life was to play games and watch stories mortals came up with. And for whatever reason, being tied to the System as Wade's sponsor meant she had certain responsibilities to Wade.

Other questions she told him to basically get fucked. But anything she didn't immediately tell him to fuck off on, he found out she would be compelled to answer if he demanded it again. All the goddess could do was delay answering. And as Wade asked and prodded, he realized where that line was: Explaining things to him about the storefront, as a tutorial.

Wade suspected it had more to do with her being a goddess of games - which meant following the rules of the game. And giving a tutorial was part of the rules.

There were a lot of options the storefront gave them. Wade made sure she explained every single one to him in detail. He couldn't hurt the god physically, but mental torture was on the books.

As he learned, THE GAME only allowed people themselves to cross between worlds. When he went to sleep in either world, he'd wake up in the other where he left it prior. But only that. No gear or anything could be transported between worlds.

Only thing that seemed an oversight was pajamas, which Play thought was a courtesy to the players for modesty reasons. And likely one of those 'judgements' the System would do on a case by case basis.

Wade had a feeling if anyone tried to put on some kind of super-pajama set, they'd be showing up naked in the other world instead. No sleeping in a kevlar jacket or modern armor.

At least - nothing for everyone else. Wade had one benefit no other player did: Market.

Market's blessing had been what sent him into this world with anything he was sleeping with. Clothing, smartphone, even other people.

It would return him the same way - so long as he was sleeping. Death wasn't sleep, and the system would default to what everyone else got if he came back home dead - just transit. And Market's blessing cut both ways in this regard: The system hadn't brought back his work clothes with him. Which meant if he brought something to Azdrial and died, it wasn't coming back home with him. Not even his pajamas or nightwear.

He'd gotten a few more answers on the rest of the system. The ones that cost three coins or more were way off his radar for now. But the ones that cost one coin were clearly expected to be obtained soon and likely critical to the game.

Mini-map gave him a full map of everything he'd explored, and could potentially spot some hidden bonus rooms and loot. Although Play didn't know if those rooms or loot were generated by the System, or just the System pointing out where there were potential goods to be had. And it apparently had a small blinking icon next to it that claimed unlocking this would open up new items to buy that depend on the mini-map. But until he unlocked it, he wouldn't know what they were.

Challenge mode would give him a multiplier of some kind if he accomplished something. In the same way Lethal Difficulty applied a modifier to his final score, challenges did the same. Given how many coins everything cost, Wade was certain most of his coins would come from completing quests under some kind of challenge.

The questline likely wasn't a single quest either, but probably unlocked a series of quests one after another. And Play was mostly certain those quests would be permanent, which meant dying wouldn't reset the entire thing.

But all of that was moot. There was only one thing Wade had on his mind when it came to the storefront: "Play, can I pay for healing with the storefront? Like a potion or a scroll?"

She gave the deepest sigh possible. "Let me guess, your little sister and that other guy again? Your best and only friend out there?" She sounded extremely bored.

She could be an amoral psychopath if she wanted, Wade knew what he wanted and he wasn't going to back down on that. When she ducked and avoided a question like that, it meant she'd be forced to answer by her own rules. All he had to do was keep pressing. "That was a question about the storefront."

The goddess brought up her TV remote and paused her show, sat up on the couch and folded her hands on her hips as if she was about to scold him. "You know mortal, if you had more than two brain cells in your head, you'd realize the only person you should be putting your resources into is you. Being sentimental is just holding you back. It's a ruthless world out there, adapt already."

She brought out the menu and then pointed things out. "Buy the boon for five coins. Questline is an economy engine, prioritize it next. On Earth, buy a high-penetration crossbow and find ways to improve the arrows, that'll do better than the axe and cost just money. Skip paying bills and max out a credit card for the funds. Guns are better but require paperwork you can't handle yet. Get Early Access in case tomorrow's random boon could use Earth items to make it work, Illy or Leon would have a high chance of picking up the minimap so you can bum off theirs for loot. Don't worry about rebalancing your stats or healing your debuffs, you can get the moonwing elf to heal your neck and leg when you're there. That's what you should be doing."

Wade matched the glare. "You didn't answer my question, isn't that against your own rules?"

She narrowed those soulless empty eyes, and Wade saw a flicker of genuine anger there. "I think you're forgetting something - The real player in this game is me. You're just the first gacha pull, the selective starter summon. I can get others if you're problematic." She vanished, before appearing behind him like smoke curling over his shoulder."You're my little marionette, and your tragic little backstory is of no interest to the story I want to see. Don't play the wrong game now Michael~ We have a world to burn down."

"And every game has rules." Wade said, not backing down, turning to stare her back eye to eye. "I asked how much for a healing potion from the storefront. Are you going to ignore the rules of this game?"

The mention of her not playing with the rules of a game were a particular kind of insult to the goddess that got under her skin faster than anything else Wade had uncovered thus far. "You're really pushing it mortal, tread carefully." She vanished again in a puff of smoke, reappearing back on her couch, already looking back at the TV. "It's one coin for a set of five."

The System's storefront gave a lot of options for upgrading the system itself or adding new features, however when it came to actual goods and items, it was clearly designed for just the basics. It expected them to find better out in the world. Or make his own healing potions with the alchemy unlock later.

Which meant if he could buy healing potions, they might be the lowest level. Would those be strong enough? "Will it heal my family or do I need to pay more coins for that kind of level?"

She tutted. "You barely survived three hours in Azdrial and you're trying to spend what limited resources you have on other people? Stop being stupid, nobody back on earth matters anymore, they may as well all be NPC's."

"They're not NPC's." Wade hissed. "And I don't give a shit if it's not helping me out. And I especially don't give a shit if it's not helping you out. Answer my questions."

"Getting angry over this, are we?" She stretched lazily on the couch like a cat would, deliberately taking up more space. "You know what's really funny about you mortals? You're all so... predictable. Like NPCs following their programming. 'I must save my friend!' 'I must avenge my family!'" She mimicked in a high-pitched voice. "Sister, brother, parents, all the same to me. Nobody cares except for you Michael."

Wade's fists clenched at his sides. "I'm not here to entertain you. Just tell me if the potions will work or not."

"Hmm..." Play twirled a strand of her hair, looking up a the ceiling. "How about we play a game?"

"You leave them out of this."

"Ahhh, but they're already in it~" Play's voice took on a sing-song quality, as if she was mocking him. "They're all just background characters. Forget their names, it's not worth it."

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"They're not to me. They deserve better."

"Who cares what some random people deserve or don't? Mortals die all the time, it's what they do." Play shrugged. "Some sidequests are better left abandoned, you know? Not worth the effort just to see a bad ending. Video games can get away with this, you can play again as many times as you want until you get the good ending. Can't do that in life, and the bad endings really suck. I'm doing you a favor, Michael. I really do recommend you quit. For your own sake."

"This isn't a game to me, you goddamn sociopath." Wade hissed. He could smell the oil on the ground now. The broken glass on the roadside, the ringing noise of the dashboard, blood flowing down his head as he groggily woke up in that car. And he'd been the lucky one.

Play laughed, then vanished from the couch in black smoke. She reappeared from above, as if she'd dived into a pool, hands reaching down, cupping his cheeks as she floated in the air. Those horrible soulless eyes burning into his own. "You look guilty. I can fix that."

Wade stared back, frozen in place.

"How about I make them forget about you?" She whispered. "Then you'd be off the hook. Wouldn't you like that? A fresh start, where you owe nobody anything at all."

Something deep snapped inside Wade. He threw a punch at her face, and it passed through her as she turned to smoke. He saw the tendrils whisk around him, reappearing into a solid figure further off.

He lunged out, anticipating where she'd reappear and was correct. His hands wrapped around her throat for a third time, yanking her out of the air. Whatever was keeping her floating vanished in a moment, and she was once more mortal again, held in his iron-tight rage-fueled grip.

The goddess didn't even flinch, her purple eyes stared back at him with mild amusement now. As if she was simply allowing this just to see what would happen next.

"Don't you dare touch them Play."

A grin spread on her features, she reached out and patted his cheek condescendingly, even while he held her in a vice grip around that pale neck of hers. "I thought I already told you Michael: you can't hurt a goddess like me. Not like this anyway."

Wade didn't let go, staring back at her with hate he'd never felt for anyone in his life before. "If you even touch them, I'll kill you. I will find a way to kill you even if it takes me years."

She sighed dramatically, as if dealing with a particularly slow student. "Look, I'm not trying to be malicious. I'm trying to help you avoid some future pain."

He shook her.

"No, I really am! Caring about NPCs always ends badly, everyone's too fragile in this world. Everyone you love and care about eventually dies. You're going to come back one day and find them dead because other people couldn't hurt you but they can hurt them. And there'd be nothing you can do about it but cry and bury them. And sometimes the world isn't even going to let you do that." Her voice took on a sing-song quality, she bobbed her head back and forth to it even as he held her throat. "So, better to cut those ties now before someone else does it for you~"

Some part of his head clicked into gear. This wasn't an enemy he could beat with brute strength. "Play, I know deep down inside that dead black heart of yours, there's still a spark of humanity in there. Help me."

She looked at him as if he'd just said the stupidest thing ever, then started laughing, "I'm a god, Michael. I have no humanity in me."

"Yeah? Then what about the phone?"

She stopped laughing.

Wade knew right then and there he'd caught her by the throat in a way that actually mattered. "That's an entire coin I could have used to buy the minimap, or unlock the challenge modes. All used on your mortal's stupid little phone for a job you don't care about." Wade continued, following his instincts. "But you still warned me even knowing it's the furthest thing from fucking optimal. So why?" The strength drained from his fingers by the second. He was making a gamble here. Play didn't suggest things that weren't the best way forward. Every bit of advice had always been like that, except for that phone. So some part of her deep down still had some kind of empathy and Wade reached out for it. "Please, just goddamn help me. Just this one time. I can't lose them. I can't."

Play's smile had completely faded, and she slowly turned to stare down at Wade. "….Like looking into an old mirror." She hissed, still limp in his grip, those cold dead eyes of hers twisting with disgust. "I really hate that desperate look in your eyes."

Her expression held for a moment, then something broke and she finally looked away. "…Don't buy healing potions. Buy a healing ring and a novice mage learning kit from the storefront. Both will cost you one coin each. Zinny will come looking for you on Earth, trying to sneak behind my back and make a pact with you. Ask him to teach you how to use the ring. When he asks for payment, offer one of the mana potions in the kit. He'll accept."

"Mana po-"

Play vanished from his hands. Then reappeared on the couch.

"No more hints. I'm the goddess of games and stories human, this is my game, and you are the sledgehammer I'll use to break all the other gods and murderers still kicking rocks on Azdrial. You're my walking revenge, nothing more. Do we understand each other?"

Wade stared in silence as Play turned to the TV and clicked the unpause button, continued her soap opera.

He didn't quite understand how, but he'd broken through and gotten Play to give him actual usable advice. And whatever Play's personal baggage was, Wade wasn't going to prod further. Not when he had his own family to take care of.

"Buy the ring for one coin." He said, sitting back down on the couch.

Play didn't say a word, but he saw his coin counter go down by one.

A ring with a deep ruby red seam embedded within appeared before him, floating. He reached a hand for it. "Identify."

Ring of Healing (Basic Quality)

He recast identify on the nameplate itself next, and got the detailed information same as he had with the scroll.

Ring inscribed with runework for defused healing. Channeling mana through this ring will allow for minor healing.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Now for the second part. "Buy a novice mage learning kit please."

Once more another coin vanished from his storefront collection, and a rugged little backpack appeared before him. He grabbed and opened up the back, showing him a wealth of items.

Four little bottles glowing with some blue liquid inside. A smaller box that contained a mithril looking pill, and a collection of trinkets he had no idea their use for. Scrolls as well were neatly assembled and held together by twine.

"And this will be on earth with me when I wake up?" Wade asked, looking between his new gear and the goddess.

"If you leave it here with me, it'll get transfered over to Azdrial next to you. If you walk out that door with it, it's on earth now." Play said with a shrug, not bothering to look his direction. "Don't wear it before bed either. That wouldn't matter to other player probably, but you have Market's blessing. So if you go to sleep with that ring on while on Earth, you'll carry it over to Azdrial. Don't die again over there, or else you'll have to go the distance to get it back."

Wade gave a confirm hum. He had everything he needed to help and the way back to earth now.

"You're not out of the Nathir city yet, got a day to prepare yourself before you respawn right next to the golem again and you currently have five more coins to spend." Play said, without looking at him. "I think you already know what you need to spend it on."

The implied 'and not on more stupid shit for other people' went unsaid. For once Wade didn't bite back.

Besides - if he didn't buy the boon, he'd never get another chance to. He had to collect as many as he could to up his options to work with. He clicked on the menu item, and confirmed buy.

"Is that it? Is it already set?"

"The boon? Yeah you have it equipped for good now, at least until you swap it with something else in the future. Give it a test run on earth or something, now I'm real busy here trying to watch my show mortal. Shouldn't you be going back to earth? You kept whining about it the whole time about that, there it is." She pointed right at the cracked doorway. "Just walk on through."

The wires coming out the doorway back into the room to power everything made him suspect this room was connected to earth in ways that went back and forth. The TV, show and everything here didn't seem powered by magic. But before he could experiment with the idea or ask more questions on how to find Play again on earth, the world rotated around him, and he saw the doorway open up and advance until it swallowed him whole.

She was kicking him out.

Pure light blinded him, then only darkness.