Chapter 2: The Ghost of Weeping Woods
After another few hours of difficult navigating, he finally arrived at one of the checkpoints. And to Novis's surprise the system had actually rewarded him for it!
*DING*
[Discovered Checkpoint: Weeping Woods. +100 EXP!]
[You have leveled up! All stats have increased by 1.]
"Oh? I actually thought the system would never reward me, heh. It seems that It's not that stingy after all."
[Of course this System is not stingy Host, I am a kind and magnanimous system!]
"…."
'So it can talk now too..?'
"Well whatever, I might as well go and search this place. Maybe there are weak monsters I can defeat or something."
Suddenly rustling could be heard in the trees, at first it seemed natural as if it was caused by wind..
"But why are they swaying like that when theres no wind…"
And then a tall figure popped out of the bushes, it jumped at Novis with a quick speed. When it pounced on Novis it tried its best to grab him, but unfortunately for it Novis had the {Battle Prediction} passive skill.
Novis tried his best to dodge the figures assault but failed.. The figures speed was higher than Novis's so he was hit dead on even though he saw through it.
*BANG*
[-10 HP, 90 Remaining]
"What the hell…?"
Novis groaned in pain as the assailant was on top of him grabbing for his neck viciously. Novis was currently locked in tug-of-war with the dark figure who turned out to be a man with extremely pale skin.
"Get.. Off.. Me!"
Novis yelled as he threw the man to the side and got up, he started breathing heavily, at the time he did not notice that his eyes were glowing blue.
The man slowly got up and turned to Novis, and at the sight of him Novis noticed that he was actually heavily injured.
"What are you looking at you idiot! You need to start running now!"
Novis was angry at the man for not even apologizing, but hearing his fearful tone he was slightly intrigued.
"Run from what? I need to go through the forest not out of it, whats causing so much trouble that I cant just walk through?"
The mans face went blank for a second, he sighed and walked up to Novis, he placed his hand on his should and said.
"Listen here kid, if you wanna be devoured by the <Weeping Ghost> or her undead army then go ahead. But im not staying here to be eaten by mere zombies."
Novis had a slightly confused but shocked expression on his face.
'Zombies and Ghosts? How the hell am I supposed to beat that if I don't even have a weapon?'
*DING*
[A route quest has been issued!]
[>—————————————————————<]
]> Route #1
• Be brave and enter the forest, challenge the <Weeping Ghost> and win.
Reward: 1x Quick-Wind Boots, 1x Well Sharpened Sword, 250 EXP.
]> Route #2
• Wimp out and go around the forest, and miss possible opportunities to protect your life.
Reward: 1x Title: The Cautious Hero, 1x Cool Looking Blunt Sword, 1x Leather Gloves, 100 EXP.
[>—————————————————————<]
"I mean… 100 EXP isn't that bad.. plus its not like I can even fight ghosts or zombies with no equipment."
Muttered Novis after carefully looking over the options and weighing the pros and cons.
[Tch, wimp.]
"Excuse me?"
[Hm?]
Ignoring the systems comments he chose the second option.
[You have gained a 'Cool Looking Blunt Sword'!]
[You have gained 'Leather Gloves'!]
[You have been awarded the title 'Cautious Hero'!]
[+100 EXP, 150 more to level up!]
After seeing the notifications Novis was delighted, even though the sword he had was useless it could still be used. So he wasn't really complaining much.
"Well, its time to find my way out of here I guess.. Sir, do you know the way ou-"
He realized mid-sentence that the man was already long gone, and he was all alone.
"…Seriously? Well whatever, I'm sure the system has a map function, right?"
Novis asked in a suggestive voice, and a grin on his face.
[Hmph!]
A map of his surroundings appeared in front of him, and when he looked at it his grin disappeared completely. Replaced with a shocked expression and a slacked jaw.
"You did this on purpose didnt you?"
On the map Novis was the green dot, and there were currently 10 red dots surrounding him. But there was also one distinct purple dot at the back of them, and he already knew who they were.
[This system isnt sure what your talking about. But the Host should learn to be more heroic, Im not called the 'Great Hero System' for no reason.]
"…..I hate you.."
[Who said I ever liked you, my last Host was a billion times better. HMPH!]
'Bro this system is gonna try to kill me one day..'
"Lets see, it seems that the closes one to me is to my ri-"
~"RAAAAGH!"~
With the help of the {Battle Prediction} skill, Novis narrowly avoided the zombies attack.
"What the.. It made literally no sound when it came up to me… If I hadn't of looked at the map I…"
A slight fear wormed its way into his heart, but then an unknown force came over him. He felt more determined and his blood started to boil in excitement.
'Wait a minute. Im the main character here, why should I be afraid of some cannon fodder!'
"Equip, Cool Looking Blunt Sword!"
The sword appeared in its sheath in front of him, he grabbed it and took a stance.
'I wonder if this will work, I mean I've only seen this in anime but lets try it!'
"Quick Draw Style: Single Stroke!"
With all of his 11 stat points worth of strength he struck out as hard as he could toward the zombie..
But…
[-5, The enemy has 35 HP left.]
"…."
[….]
'Fuck..'
Despair flooded his mind again, he genuinely thought he would just be eaten by zombies. Or maybe his soul would be swallowed by the <Weeping Ghost>.
But then that strange feeling came over him again, he felt even more determined than before.
[Passive Skill: Brave Heart, has been created.]
[What..?! Since when could you just create passive skills! This shouldn't be allowed!]
Unbeknownst to the System and Novis, his eyes were glowing blue and a blue crescent moon mark appeared on his back.
"Heh, I guess my main character powers have finally kicked in!"
And with that Novis went on to kite all of the zombies until eventually none were left, and by the end of it.. He reached level 5.
[Tch… Fuck you and your protagonist BS, this is just too much..]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone