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Chapter 1: Wait, what?

At first, it was a normal day, just like any other day. But of course, it didn't stay that way.

I went to the grocery store, to buy some eggs, flour, and sugar. I was planning on making some donuts when I got home. Of course, baking is not really a hobby of mine, but my friend Kevin likes my food and asked me to bake some donuts for him.

Well, when I walked out of the grocery store, I saw a child in the middle of the road. He seemed like he wasn't being very cautious. I put my groceries down and immediately ran over, because I had a bad feeling about this. After a quick check, I noticed a truck was about to hit him, so I grabbed him and pulled him off the lane. That kid sure was lucky today.

Me: "Hey! Are you okay!? That truck was about to kill you!"

Boy: "Um... thanks for saving me! I'm fine."

Me, now somewhat angry: "Ugh. Well, make sure to be more cautious next time. You can't skip around of the road like it's a playground."

Boy, now startled: "Hey, I was paying attention. It's not my fault that Truck-kun has a quota?"

I laughed. "<Truck kun>? Pfft!" Then I spoke sternly: "This is real life, doofus, not an anime!"

I would later come to eat those words, like a picky child who hasn't eaten in 10 days, begrudingly swallowing every last greenbean, and wincing every time.

Boy: "Well, I gotta go home."

The boy then crossed the street. This time he looked both ways. When he got to the other side, he glared at me. Yup. Kids really are just as mean as adults sometimes.

I picked up my groceries and started walking home. My house was only a quarter mile from the store. When I got to the Alansurn Clocktower, which is halfway to my house, I had a bad feeling again. I stopped and decided to look around my surroundings.

Then I saw someone hiding in the alley on the side of the clocktower. The person came out, pointing their rifle at me. They were wearing a black hoodie, and had on a mask so I couldn't see their face.

Me (thoughts - this is just a statement that I was thinking in my head): 'Who is this and why is he bothering to threaten me?'

I spoke up, and spoke in a very optimistic tone: "Hello?"

Man in hoodie: "What the fuck? Is that really how you address someone who is pointing a gun at you?"

I shrugged: "I don't know. I'm not really used to having my life threatened like this."

Man in hoodie, speaking very menacingly: "Alright, listen! My buddies want to violate you, and then harvest your organs. Follow my orders or I will shoot you."

Me: "Um, no thanks."

I walked over to him and he started moving his hands around a lot. He ended up pulling the trigger and shooting me in the leg.

That sent an immense wave of pain through my body, but I stayed focused on defeating him. I grabbed his arm and pulled while punching him in the gut. He must not have had a lot of fighting experience because it was super easy and he wasn't even close to stopping me. I was able to slam his head into the brick wall of the clocktower, which knocked him out.

Unfortunately, one of his buddies showed up. I saw this dude, and he was pointing another rifle at me. He was bald, and has some crazy tattoos all over his head.

The bald dude immediately shot me, in the head, which doesn't make any sense. Why would they kill me if they want to harvest my organs? I think organs from a live donor are more useful than from a dead one. Well, I guess they can still use them for whatever purposes they wanted them for.

At least my death was kind of quick. I still wonder why I was killed by random thugs in a small town. The actual chance of that happening is less than the chance of winning the lottery twice in a row. Thugs like them are usually part of large gans in cities, and I wasn't in a city. I lived in a small town in Ohio of all places. Thugs like that usually would have been caught by the police and put in prison a long time ago. Also, evil people like that usually only hurt people who live in their area of people they know. I had never even heard a rumor about thugs or murderers in our town, and I had always kept track of the rumors in town. There hadn't been a murder in over 2 years, and the last 3 murders were domestic cases where the criminals had a mental disorder that made them overreact to their emotions.

Well, when I died, I wasn't sure what would happen. As a proud polytheist, I expected to go to some kind of world of the dead. That's not quite what happened though.

I found myself in a dream state, with some kind of computer screen in front of me. It was a strange, somewhat futuristic interface, with a dark blue background and white text. I think I've seen this nonsense in a movie before. Here is what the interface said:

== START ==

You have died. In you past life, you earned 2743 reincarnation points (RP).

You survived Truck-kun's attack. +50 RP

You saved a child's life. +50 RP

You forgave your neighbor for trying to kill your sister. +10 RP -- Oh, um, I don't think I should be rewarded for just doing the right thing.

RP: 2853

====

Congratulations, you have been chosen by Aragloran, the god of flames and lord of souls, to reincarnate in his world: Zerofell.

== END ==

Ooh, a menu. The options are: (1) Isekai protagonist easy, (2) cry baby easy, (3) insanely easy, (4) very easy, (5) easy, (6) normal, (7) hard, (8) very hard, (9) insanely hard, (10) land of pain hard, and (11) haunted nightmare hard, (100) the one who climbs the mountain.

I'll go <the one who climbs the mountain>. It can't possible by that hard.

== START ==

-- the one who climbs the mountain --

~~ selected ~~

~~~~

The same as haunted nightmare hard (difficulty 11), except all challenges are active.

== END ==

I decided to read the challenge list too.

== START ==

-- Notice --

These challenges appear as "perks" in your appraisal box. Only a person who already knows about the challenge (in general) can see it if they cast appraisal on you. Appraisal level 7 is required to see perks (and challenges).

~~~~

-- 25 challenges --

--- [1] expert mode ---

This user cannot see appraisal boxes.

--- [2] hardcore mode ---

This user cannot be revived or respawn after death.

--- [3] arena mode ---

Other users will reincarnate in the world, seek out this user, and challenge this user. Reincarnated users will not be satisfied with a tie. Reincarnated users will feel a need to fight this user to the death.

--- [4] deathworld mode ---

All monsters who spawn within 2 km of this user will spawn as legendary enemies, if possible.

--- [5] salty mode ---

All water within 5 km of this user automatically becomes salt water.

--- [6] never-ending nightmare mode ---

The sun will never rise where this user is.

--- [7] weakest warrior challenge ---

Stats of this user can never go above 1.

--- [8] cursed ocean challenge ---

Any curses this user has cannot be removed using light magic, life magic, or holy magic.

--- [9] blind monkey challenge ---

Only applies at night:

• This user's person is blind.

• Monsters spawning within 1km of this user have 50% higher rarity and stats, and 100% when this user is sleeping.

• Strong monsters within 1km of this user are notified of this user's presence and attracted this user's person.

--- [10] antisquid challenge ---

Only applies at night:• This user's person only has 1 arm.

• Monsters spawning within 1km of this user have 50% higher rarity and stats, and 100% when this user is sleeping.

• Strong monsters within 1km of this user are notified of this user's presence and attracted this user's person.

--- [11] black beacon mode ---

All monsters hate this user's person and want to kill this user's person. This user's presence can not be concealed from any entity that seeks it out.

--- [12] anti-cry-baby challenge ---

This user cannot rest in villages (and town-like places). Citizens of villages (and town-like places) hate this user and want to see this user die.

--- [13] the final nomad's perilous journey ---

This user will spawn in the most difficult place possible, with no tutorial. This user cannot use, see, activate, or fully participate in tutorials.

--- [14] slappy raccoon mode ---

This user can not deal critical hits to enemies with sheer luck alone. Raccoons deal double damage to this user.

--- [15] the monster lord's call ---

Monsters have doubled stats when fighting this user.

--- [16] pure pain mode ---

This user experiences twice as much pain, and cannot use magic or skills to nullify pain.

--- [17] elemental vulnerability ---

This user takes double damage from magic.

--- [18] unascended miner challenge ---

This user requires 10 times as much experience to level up.

--- [19] cry eater's challenge ---

This user loses 1 max HP and 1 max MP while crying. Map HP and MP are given back when this user stops crying.

--- [20] anti-skill challenge ---

This user cannot obtain skills. Using a skill orb will simply damage this user.

--- [21] "Who needs sleep?" challenge ---

Every morning, while this user sleeps, this user will experience a nightmare so terrifying that this user will have a heart attack and almost die. This nightmare also sets this user's current MP to 0 for the next 24 hours.

--- [22] solo mode ---

This user cannot have familiars, followers, or party members. This user also cannot share experience with others and this user cannot receive buffs from others.

--- [23] brave mode ---

This user cannot use teleportation items or spells in dungeons.

--- [24] ultimate rizz-lock ---

This user can only learn and can only use earth magic.

--- [25] two-faced scum challenge ---

This user will take on a male form after sunrise, and a female form after sunset.

== END ==

Well, that sounds like a lot of fun. Remembering all 25 of these challenges will be the hardest challenge. I'll make sure to focus on the most important ones the most, of course.

I just checked. Apparently the <two-faced scum challenge> causes me to switch genders during the day and the night. So I guess I will be a man during the day, and a woman during the night.

After reading the list of challenges, I realized that I was about to reincarnate in the standard japanese fantasy world. You are probably wondering why I chose the hardest difficulty level when I didn't have to. Well, it's because I am really brave, and I found life here on Earth to be a bit too easy. Also, I already died, so what more do I have to lose?