[Short Story] A New Grim "Reaper" (Patreon)

Deep in a tomb, forgotten by all, a man named Ven’or stands over an ornate burial mound. Yes, a mound and not a coffin. Quite the strange thing to find in a tomb. Though the wall art in the chamber was nice enough.

And it was definitely a chamber, if not some other term like “hall” or “auditorium”, definitely not any word that would make you think it was small. Because while it wasn’t mind-bendingly big or anything, the place did a good job of mimicking a large forest clearing. Though the trees are all carved out of various types of precious stones and gems.

Above it all was a vast mural covering the domed ceiling. Across an artificial sky were scenes of a shadowed being swinging a scythe. Ven’or wasn’t exactly too up on scythe fighting styles besides knowing that irl it isn’t exactly the smartest weapon to use. Good thing this was a VR game and good thing for him they tend to use classic memes.

Of course, he would have settled for a legendary class of any sort. While he did prefer magic, melee could be fun as long as he was winning. More importantly, scythes equals Death and Ven’or was playing the villain this time around. Being good was nice for a little roleplaying, but there was a reason evil characters tended to control the top of the leader boards.

Ven’or wanted one of those spots this time. Sure, in the last true virtwar, his guild had been in the top million. Quite the accomplishment considering a true virtwar would include the entire Milky Way. But he wanted to breach the top trillion of the single player board. A tough ask, but this might just be the key.

With shaking hands, Ven’or reaches up to a blue screen only he can see. It asks a simple question but the consequences either way would shape his future.

{Accept the Mythic inheritance of the [GRIM REAPER]?

Warning: The inheritance involves a class change

Yes/No}

Ven’or’s hand pauses, unsure of which to choose. If he takes the inheritance, he might even make it into the top billion. Mythic classes are so rare that sometimes not even a single person within an entire solar system would have one. Unique to the extreme, choosing to take it would mean being hunted.

The much safer choice would be to sell the information. As a level capped dark mage, Ven’or was certain very few beings would be able to reach this place, let alone discover it. Just by sharing the system message and putting it up to auction would instantly grant him generational wealth on a galactic scale.

He breathed out and firmed his will. Money wasn’t true power. Any ancient family or megacorp would still be able to crush him like a bug. Plus, he had really gotten into the whole evil thing and had a few enemies out there that would try to disrupt the auction or snatch the inheritance. Ven’or shook his head and pressed yes.

Then things started to go wrong. The mound flattened out, not the most worrying, but when rows started to be magically plowed into the field Ven’or, frozen in place by the system, started to shout. His crazed ranting grows louder as seeds pop into existence and plant themselves one by one in the rows.

“No! Screw you system! I’ve done that!”

Small plants burst up and started to grow at an accelerated rate until in front of him there was a lovely little field of wheat.

“Stop! I retract my answer! I don’t accept this!”

A scythe pushes up through the ground next to him and his hand is forced to grasp it.

“I’m going to switch out of this damned thing as soon as possible!”

*Ding*

{Cursed Mythical class Grim Reaper automatically equipped}

“Cursed? The Damn class is CURSED?!?”

{Activating Class Tutorial}

“Cancel! Skip! I don’t want to touch those damn plants!”

Despite his requests, Ven’or’s body begins to move in a robotic fashion towards the wheat field. His hand’s shift to hold the scythe in that classic farmers stance and he involuntarily takes a swing at the wheat in front of him.

“I’m tired of this! I escaped the guild to get away, to actually play. Why did you trick me into this?”

{New Skills overwriting old Skills}

“You’re even taking my skills? That shouldn’t be possible! Even if a warrior switched to mage, they would still keep their weapon skills.”

As Ven’or’s body swings the scythe over and over, he begins to feel a change. At the start, he can tell the only reason he is able to hold the scythe is because the system is supporting it. Now, though, it feels like he is getting stronger, an almost nostalgic feeling if not for the horrible memories surrounding it.

{Stat reassignment in progress}

Ven’or doesn’t even bother saying anything, instead taking a moment to feel what has changed. Though that alone points him toward the answer. Of course, his strength had grown, but knowing that the situation is pointless to rail against means his wisdom stat had gone up. The fact that it took the system mentioning it meant something else.

As a mage, Ven’or had been pumping his intelligence stat. Sure, going mono stat causes problems. It was also one of the reasons that evil players took the top of the charts. After all, who cares if you have some system induced personality problems when you’re playing the bad guy?

Mind you, the system can’t actually ‘change your mind’, but like alcohol it can reduce inhibitions and such. Though just like any other time Ven’or had gotten a higher wisdom score, he admits to himself that is there really all that much difference between changing someone’s mind and adjusting said mind so it makes the decision you want?

And just like every other time, Ven’or places that line of thoughts right to the back of his mind and labels it “don’t touch unless you want men who don’t officially exist to show up uninvited to your house”. That out of the way, though, other memories under the label of “emotional baggage” have a chance to bubble up. Because really, there isn’t anything wrong with being a farmer.

Ven’or tries to shake his head. He can’t go back!

{Alignment set to Unaligned Neutral}

“Now hold the phone! Why are you touching my damned alignment? I can be an evil farmer! There are untold numbers of poisonous plants out there to grow if you’re really going to force me down this route!”

The system, of course, ignores him as it continues to force his body to harvest the wheat field. Each swing of the scythe goes smoother as Ven’or’s technique improves, or rather, reverts to using previous experience. Ven’or starts to cry.

“Why? I left this behind! I. I just. I just want to forget. I can’t go back to that life. They’re all gone now. Moved on or worse.”

The system, of course, ignores this as well. There are plans in motion and one person’s woes aren’t going to change that as all over the world at that moment other similar people are experiencing the same type of incident. This was just the start, the system wasn’t a neutral party anymore.