The Final Desperation

a/n: I will put the game prompts in parentheses and EverRealm's prompts in square brackets

(Due to your choice, the cards from the other classes will be deleted.)

(A new deck will be generated.)

(Please review.)

 

(Assassin)

Class: Priest

Lv: 1

Health: 150/150

Mana: 150/150

Cards:

1. Light heal: restore 50 hp, cost 10 mp
2. Medium heal: restore 50% of hp, cost 30 mp
3. Dispell: Remove 1 status effect, 10 mp
4. Silence: prevent a target from using magic cards for 2 seconds, 10 mp
5. Holy smite: deal 10% of maximum mana as damage, 5 mp
6. Close wound: close a torn wound, 20 mp
7. Holy Fire: Deal 50% of max mp as damage, 100 mp 
8. Protective shield: Summon a shield with 100hp, 25 mp
9. Repel: Push all targets away from you, 50 mp
10. Cleanse: Remove filth, 5 mp

The priest class is definitely a support class. Out of the ten cards Genji got, only two of them are damage-dealing one with terrible numbers at that. After that, there are two that protect him and the rest are support at best. Not a good start, but Genji can deal with it. As Genji was about to start the game, another prompt came from the system.

(Personal cards will now be generated.)

"Personal cards? I see. Our abilities in the real world are converted to a boost in the game. That's why Seer wanted combatants to be the first ones in. With a combat ability, they can get stronger and kill the targets."

(Outside interference detected. Extra personal cards will be generated.)

[For every piece of Legendary equipment sealed, you will get a personal card for it. This is compensation for the restriction in this area.]

[While you are in this area, you will experience the following restrictions:]

1. All equipment is returned to the personal storage
2. The personal storage is sealed
3. Consumables from EverRealm will not have any effects
4. Your stats are sealed and have to follow the area's rules
5. Your talent is sealed
6. All damage suffered in this area will not be healed upon exiting

(You have received the following cards)

• Enigma: Gain access to your shadow energy for 5 minutes
• Shroud of Terror: Teleport to any position in a 100-meter radius
• Lethal Opportunity: Summon 2 daggers that deal 1,200 damage each
• Saber of Infection, Jaguar: Summon a poisoned saber that deals 500 damage and 50 poison damage per second for 30 seconds
• Curse Bearer: Curse a target with 5 high-level curses

As for [Kracken's Grasp], Genji didn't have it equipped because he was worried about the curse when he doesn't meet the requirements. Because of this, it was never sealed so Genji wasn't compensated for it.

Genji wasn't that upset about that though. At least he has an advantage over the natives of this world, though he doubts it will be for long. And if any of the members have any legendary equipment, they will also get this boost.

Lastly, he was still able to sense [Curse Bearer], despite it being supposedly sealed.

"Unrestricted, huh? Unaffected by world restrictions. That counts as a world restriction?"

Genji can tell. The cursed flintlock was still fused to the black mark on his hand. That being said, Genji will try his best to not use it if possible. This is a powerful trump card now that he's in this weakened body.

Genji walked into the portal that appeared in front of him and started the game. When the light faded, Genji realized he was in a church. The sound of ringing bells came from outside as white doves flew past the windows. The colorful window panes shine beautifully as the sunlight passed through them.

[You have completed the second link of your mission. You have unlocked the final link.]

[Final Link]

Mission: Make as much progress in the game as possible.

Note: This mission difficulty has been lowered in accordance with your low world count.

Note 2: The actual final link is to obtain the Pristine Gem before EonRealm. 

Note 3: Due to the nature of this mission, you can end this world at any time and enter world settlement

Note 4: Your rewards for this world are dependent on your performance in this final mission. Should you obtain the Pristine Gem, you will be heavily rewarded.

 

EverRealm was very clear about the requirements of this mission. Genji can stop any time he wants. As long as he's willing to give up on the rewards, that is. No risk, no reward. While this does make things easy, Genji didn't know what caused this change.

Was it only based on his world count or did his status play a part? If it was his status, Genji can understand why. From the sound of things, this task might take a long time. The time EverRealm might not want him to waste. As for why EverRealm wanted to rush him, only it would know.

Other than that, Genji had no other guesses about the sudden change in mission. 

After Genji finished observing his surroundings, he finally turned to the older man with a long beard that was standing in front of him. The person gave him a warm smile before opening his mouth to talk.

"Are you ready to begin your journey, young priest?"

"I am."

Genji noticed that above the elderly man's head was a golden name. Father Juan. Combining that with the clues he has, Genji assumes this is some kind of opening for the game.

"Very well. I will give you this staff blessed by our lord. May you have a safe journey."

The elder handed Genji a metal staff and said his prayers. Genji took it and swung it around. Nothing special. Just a metal staff as far as he can tell.

[Priest Staff]

Effect: When using cards of the priest class, you can make the effects brighter. 

Note: Go and show those heavens the glory of our lord, young priest.

 

Genji was speechless at this item. It does nothing but make him a bigger target. Just every priest's dream in the wilderness, isn't it? A dream to go meet their lord that is.

"Thank you. I will cherish it well."

Genji decided to be polite anyways. It never hurts.

"Go, son. May you have a safe journey."

"I will, but can you tell me where this is? Maybe a map?"

"Go, son. May you have a safe journey."

The elderly person simply repeated his answer with the same expression. Genji waved his hand across the elder's face.

"I will. Can you tell me the name of this town?"

"Go, son. May you have a safe journey."

Hearing the NPC repeat himself for the third time, Genji realized what he was dealing with. A dumb character that was designed to repeat a preset line. 

"No way all the NPCs are like this, right?"

"Go, son-"

"Okay, I get it. I'll leave now."

"-a safe journey"

Genji turned around and started walking for the exit of the church. After Genji went out of sight, an intelligent glint flashed through the priest's eyes. If Genji was still here, he would have realized the elder wasn't as dumb as he first showed. The elder smiled and laid back on a rocking chair with his hands interlocked behind his head.

"Works every time. As long as I repeat myself enough, these otherworlders will eventually leave me alone. Man, life is so easy as a guide."

 

---

 

As Genji walked out of the church, he found himself in a small town. The houses were made of wood and straws. The road was unpaved, the walls, if you can call it that, were made of wood. To Genji, it's at best a slightly taller fence. As Genji approached the exit of the town, Genji was stopped by a guard.

"Hello, adventurer. Can I trouble you to hunt some slimes for me? They've been infesting the area and I worry about the problems of overpopulation. I promise I will make it worth your time."

Slime hunting? Isn't that the most basic level of quests in an RPG?

(The guard, Haste has offered you a mission.)

(Slime Hunting)

Requirements: Kill 20 slimes

Reward: 2nd progression card, 200 exp

Penalty for failure: none

 

"Sure."

When Genji saw those rewards, he knew he can't afford to decline the mission. That's a progression card and if he wants to make progress in the game, he will need as many of those as he can get. His rewards depend on it after all.

"Thank you, adventurer. You can find a good amount of them in the field outside the town."

Genji followed the guard's instructions and came across a group of green slimes, all jumping up and down. Seeing him, the slimes started bouncing toward him with those beady eyes.

Holy smite, -13

About one-tenth of the health disappeared from the target. Not a very strong result.

"It's a good thing I don't have to rely on these two crappy skills to deal damage."

Lethal Opportunity

Two daggers resembling his own daggers materialized next to him and propelled themselves at the bouncing slimes. They pierced through one slime each and continued flying toward the next slime. It wasn't until 24 slimes were killed that these daggers lost their momentum and fade away. Genji took a moment of silence before looking away from the splatters of slime.

(You have gained 48 exp)

"I never realized how strong that is in the early game."

Genji shrugged and walked back to the guard.

"Hello, adventurer. Welcome to Starter Village#906."

Genji's eyes twitched when he heard the generic greeting. The game developers aren't even trying to hide that this is a simulation.

"I finished the slime hunt."

"I understand. Here's your reward."

The guard summoned his collection, took out a card, and handed it over. Genji took it and stuck it into his own tome. When he did, he realized the guard's eyes have glazed over. When his eyes focused again, he said, "Hello, adventurer. Welcome to Starter Village#906."

Genji rolled his eyes and left. No point in listening to the guy repeat himself.

Looking around, Genji saw no point in staying in the village any longer. He walked back outside the fence and started looking for monsters to hunt and level up. Compared to the psychics that started earlier, he's behind right now. As for his destination, it's beyond the slimes. They are easy to kill but provide low exp.

(You have killed a slime x 17)

(You have gained 34 exp)

(You have leveled up)

(Your class cards have gotten stronger)

Although he tried to avoid the slimes, they came to him as he went through their territory. Genji then dispatched them with his dagger card and continued moving. From what he can tell, level-ups only affect his class cards, not his personal ones. Since that's the case, he might as well take this chance to power-level himself and leave the starting village.

After an hour of tracking through the area, he finally found a different area. A forest with lots of wild animals. 

(Tiger lv 7)

Health: 600

....

 

Doesn't matter. Insta kill. This killing spree continued until Genji reached level 10. Once that happened, he has to go back to the village and find an NPC to give him the advancement quest for his class. Following the arrow that showed up in his view, Genji soon found himself back at the church he came from.

The arrow guided him to an elderly figure that was leaning back on a rocking chair. Father Juan, the same person that gave him the priest staff 2 hours ago.

"Hey, Juan. I'm here to accept my advancement quest."

Juan opened his eyes and looked at the familiar face in front of him. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he tried to keep a stoic expression, pretending he doesn't understand how monstrous the leveling speed was.

Genji noticed this but paid no mind to it. The game developers sure have a wide variety of reactions, though their AI is dumb.

"I see, young priest. You must have worked hard. It has been a while since I last saw you and you have grown stronger. Since you are prepared, allow me to open the portal to the advancement trial."

The elderly figure clasped his hands together and started praying. Seconds later, a white portal opened up before Genji.

"When you enter, God will be the one to test you."

At this point, Genji was brushing off everything the priest was saying as background stuff. His sole focus right now is to level up as fast as possible. Genji stepped through the portal and found himself in a room with multiple doors.

(Choose your trial difficulty. The result of your choice will affect your power after advancement.)

1. Easy
2. Medium
3. Hard
4. Expert
5. Asura
6. Hell
7. Impossible

Genji didn't even hesitate and picked 'impossible.' It's not that he's overconfident or anything like that. No, he knows what he's doing and chose this because he has confidence in the personal cards he received. If 4 legendary equipment cards are not enough to clear this stage, then he doesn't know what will.

You have to realize, not everyone has a piece of legendary equipment, not to mention 4 of them at the second step. As he walked down the hallway behind the rightmost door, he came out of a colosseum.

 In the middle of the opening, a large creature lay dormant. When Genji saw this creature, he rubbed his eyes to double-confirm his target. Those spikes along the back, the claws and teeth, those large bat-like wings, and the shiny scales covering the body. There's no doubt. This is a dragon.

"No wonder why this is called impossible. You're having me fight a dragon this early in the game?"

Despite Genji's complaints, he wasn't feeling annoyed in the slightest. A wide crazy smile plastered itself on his face as he pulled out his tome and walked into the open. As soon as his foot touched the floor of the arena, the dormant dragon began to stir. Genji tried to use a card effect to get the upper hand but got no reaction from the tome. 

"A cutscene? Won't even let me strike first? What kind of idiot designed this unrealistic system? If this was the real world, I would have slashed the shit out of this guy before he got up. Like seriously. It's been 20 seconds and this dragon still hasn't gotten on its feet. Holy shit, could this dragon be obese?"

Random thoughts went through Genji's head as he waited for the cutscene to end. 10 seconds later, the dragon finally got on his feet and the restriction that was preventing his movement disappeared. Instantly, Genji opened his tome and tapped on all of his personal cards.

Enigma, Shroud of Terror, Lethal Opportunity, Jaguar, Curse Bearer

Genji teleported onto the dragon's head with the second skill and launched 3 weapons shrouded in shadow energy at the neck before five orbs of darkness came out of his fingers and entered the dragon's body. The dragon's head jerked to the side as a large impact hit it.

Genji saw that one-fifth of the dragon's health has disappeared. As the dragon recovered itself and was about to rampage, a feeling of weakness hit it. All the strength it wanted to unleash dissipated as the large lizard sagged down. The curses from Curse Bearer have kicked in. It's two front claws came down to support its tired body as it tried to fight off the sleepiness plaguing his mind.

Holy Fire, Smite

Genji used his other damage-dealing spells since his personal cards have entered cooldown. He continued to spam these two skills and drained his mana pool. Soon, his skills came off cooldown and Genji summons the two daggers again. This time, he grabbed them before they could automatically shoot out at the dazed lizard.

Using the brief moment of contact, Genji injected a large amount of his shadow energy into it and ignited his shadow flame. Then he let go to avoid being dragged along by the projectiles.

*ARRRRRHHHHH*

Two large holes opened on the back of the dragon, severing the wings and causing a lot of bleeding. Another 40% of its health disappeared like that. Genji didn't let up and activated Jaguar to ignite another shadow flame, draining the rest of his shadow energy. If this was the outside world, Genji would not have been this reckless with his energy usage, but it's not.

Despite him being drained of shadow energy, his body felt no weakness. In this game, shadow energy is not part of his body, but an accessory he gained from using a skill card. Because of this difference, he doesn't feel the repercussions of this dumb use of energy.

"On that topic, doesn't that mean I can recklessly experiment with shadow energy? I won't have to worry about energy deviation or any of that crap?"

Genji saved that thought and turned to the dragon that was struggling to get up.

"Let's end this first before I play around."

Curse Bearer

Five more black orbs entered the dragon's body, causing it to finally succumbed to the tired feeling that was tormenting his mind. The dragon's eyes drooped and fell asleep before its head could crash into the ground. 

Genji teleported away to avoid the impact and looked at his handiwork. 

"That was easier than I thought. Oh well. Time to end this."

Once his skills came off cooldown again, he beheaded the sleeping dragon and finished the last of its hp.

(You have cleared the Impossible Advancement Trial)

(You have unlocked 5 new class cards)

(Due to this amazing accomplishment, you can select 7 of the following rewards.)

1. Gain a high-level card
2. Strengthen an existing card
3. Gain an advanced class (Selectable once)

Genji looked at these choices and selected the third option and the second option 6 times. Then he put all 6 strengthening into Lethal Opportunity, boosting it to ridiculous levels. Why care for 6 high-level cards that he can't use with his mana when he can get one OP card to solve all his problems?

(Lethal Opportunity)

Effect: Summon 16 daggers that deal 12,000 damage each.

The damage increased by 10 times and the amount by 8. A total increase of 80 times.

"This should allow me to catch up to the forerunners of this game."

Genji pulled up the leaderboard and looked at the first place. Level 79. He has a long way to go.

(You have gained the advanced class: High Priest)

(High Priest)

Description: Your support cards have become more potent and a slight increase in your offensive cards.

 

Genji couldn't have it any other way. He doesn't need offense right now so the small boost in class offensive cards doesn't bother him.

"Time to leave," Genji thought as a portal opened up before him.

As he stepped through, he found himself in a different church than before. A church where he can see well-built buildings through the large glass panes.

(You have entered Nacruis City.)

Back in the starter village, Father Juan was relaxing when he got the summary of Genji's trial. 

"WHAT THE HELL?!?!?! IMPOSSIBLE DIFFICULTY IN 7 MINUTES?!?!?!"