Second Draft - Reincarnated Into a Game in Impossible Mode

"..."

Ryoshu woke up.

He realized he was floating.

The surrounding space had no characteristics whatsoever.

It wasn't hot. It wasn't cold. But despite this, goosebumps involuntarily rose on his skin.

Ryoshu wasn't just floating aimlessly. He was sinking deeper into what looked like the bottom of a deep, silent ocean.

Ryoshu didn't know how much time had passed anymore. An hour? A day? ...Or perhaps several years had already gone by?

He wasn't even sure if this thing called "time" was still flowing. But if time didn't exist, how could his consciousness continue?

Ryoshu tried to move his body only to realize his helplessness. He couldn't control even his fingers or... his eyes, as if his body had been completely taken away. The only things that still existed here were his vague thoughts and partial sensations.

Suddenly, from the water's surface above, a blinding light pierced through hundreds of layers of water to reach him. Accompanying it was a voice both familiar and strange, very gentle:

"M-master..."

Since when has Ryoshu been anyone's master? His curiosity began to peak.

"Master! Wake up! You're about to die!" - But when Ryoshu heard the content of that desperate call more clearly, he finally realized where he was.

Ryoshu jolted awake.

'Time Bullet!' - He instinctively activated that technique by reflex.

Time, which was already flowing slowly thanks to the passive skill Death Sense, was now covered with another effect.

Ryoshu opened his eyes and tried to understand what was happening.

But contrary to his expectations, in front of Ryoshu now was a pile of sand standing upright. It looked as if it was trying to shield him from something.

Fumiya was that sand protecting him.

Although he was very grateful, its efforts were truly quite useless. Because basically, how could a pile of sand block an attack from a high-level monster?

But Ryoshu couldn't do anything either because the cave he was in was too dark and quite narrow. If he jumped out to avoid it, he might create even more trouble.

All the Mana that Ryoshu could see was quickly absorbed into his body. A dark blue Mana quickly covered his blood vessels and made his heart beat three or four times faster.

Unfortunately, that Mana wasn't meant for Ryoshu. However, he didn't regret transferring all the Mana that had just been pumped into his body to Fumiya.

That pile of sand, when catalyzed with an enormous amount of Mana, immediately became stronger.

Its shape transformed from that pile of sand to a large Mana wall surrounding his body. It was certainly stronger than the makeshift shield Ryoshu had made himself last time.

When time flowed normally again, he suddenly felt an enormous pressure.

It pushed against the sturdy shield standing in front of him. And right after, his body slammed into the stone wall behind him. Ryoshu's face turned pale and looked as if he was in great pain.

On his right side, a sharp rock pierced through his flesh. If it had been just a bit off, his vital organs would have been punctured.

Despite the pain, Ryoshu still tried to stay calm. Waiting until the force weakened, he took the opportunity to take out his Hidden Mask.

"Fumiya! Get into my shirt!" - Ryoshu didn't forget to remind his friend who had just taken the full brunt of the attack to hide.

The space around was pitch black, so he couldn't identify which Slime monster it was. But that wasn't the most important issue at this critical moment.

The sand had merged onto his hoodie in the form of unique golden outlines.

He then transferred Mana into the Hidden mask and ran as fast as he could away from the monster.

The sound of Ryoshu's footsteps grew heavier with each second as he ran.

----0w0----

'Phew... I bandaged it in time. God... it hurts so much...'

Ryoshu was lying flat next to an antique wooden chest. He tried to control his breathing as if afraid that the Slime would find him again.

'Why was I attacked anyway? Clearly, I had cleared all the Slimes before...? Or... don't tell me they now have patrol features?' - He smacked his hand against his face. Perhaps Ryoshu had set up camp too close to the next wave of monsters.

After running desperately while continuously losing blood, Ryoshu was now completely exhausted.

But he didn't forget to check the time before preparing to take another nap.

[13:01 Wednesday, August 23, 2023]

'...'

'Damn it.' - Ryoshu began to tear at his hair over his stupid mistakes.

This was the first time in many years that he had become so angry. Perhaps it was because Ryoshu always had to live with a cool head.

"I forgot to set an alarm clock..."

Only 18 hours left, less than a day, until the exam day.

But that's not counting the time Ryoshu needed to rest before the exam day. So if he subtracted about 8 hours, he only had 9-10 hours left.

Meanwhile, he had only gone through just over half of the first section. What's more, the first half was much easier than the second half.

'But finding these gloves is also quite... decent, right?'

--------

[Hunter's Gloves] (E-) 

Description: These specialized gloves were used by hunters from ancient times. Somehow they ended up here? 

-Dexterous Hands

Increases attack accuracy by 5%.

-Hunter's Instinct 

The less preparation time for an attack, the more Damage increases. 

Maximum: 1 second will multiply base damage by 2. 

Minimum: 10 seconds will multiply base Damage by 1.1.

--------

Ryoshu quickly put them on his hands. He tried making a fist to see if they fit properly and then quickly continued on.

He tried to speed up and do everything faster. For low-level monsters like F-rank, he would use the bow to increase experience for his Archery potential.

But if they were E-rank or higher, Ryoshu would use the Hidden Mask and skip them entirely. Because of that strategy, he was getting closer and closer to the boss. But he still had no way to defeat it with his current combat power.

Since Ryoshu remembered all the moves and movement patterns of most bosses in the game, along with the help of the passive skill Death Sense and the active skill Time Bullet, his evasion ability was now almost unmatched, except for a few missteps.

But what he lacked most now was penetrating power. Ryoshu lacked an attack strong enough to pierce through the C-rank Slime. If he used all the power he currently had, that is, using both Stab skills now at level II and the newly acquired skill - Sniping, he still couldn't pierce through even half the way to the boss's core.

If it were other types of monsters, he might be able to use the strategy of slowly whittling down their health. However, for monsters without blood, that strategy would be completely useless.

"So the only way to turn the situation around now is the skill that will be unlocked when Archery potential reaches E-rank..." - Ryoshu sighed as he opened his status panel to check the skill upgrade situation.

But perhaps the results still weren't very promising. Nevertheless, he still had to continue moving forward.

He only hoped the next wave of monsters would help his Archery skill reach E- rank.

'I must admit, thanks to the Sniping skill, shooting arrows from farther distances has become much easier.'

If shooting from over 50 meters was previously a miracle for him, now Ryoshu could easily repeat that feat continuously.

But the most regrettable thing was that he hadn't gotten any Critical Hits from those shots.

"A whole 20% Critical Rate if you include the 10% from the Formless Bow... and still nothing!" - Ryoshu could only lament his bad luck.

And suddenly, from afar he saw another Slime, but this time it was much stronger than the other Slimes.

'But it's not as strong as the Elite ones... so it's probably around E+ rank... like the first one that ambushed me... And if it's like last time, I definitely won't be able to pierce through its slimy shell easily...'

But thinking again, besides combat experience and new skills, Ryoshu's stats had also increased quite a bit. Though still not equal to before he performed the Permanent Stat Change bug.

--------

[Main Stats] 

Strength: 7.4 → 7.8 (Unranked) (!) 

Endurance: 8.8 → 9.2 (Unranked) (!) 

Agility: 8.0 → 8.3 (Unranked) (!) 

Perception: 10.2 → 10.3 (F-) (!)

--------

'Not to mention these newly acquired gloves, I'm sure I can defeat it!' - Ryoshu encouraged himself.

This time, Ryoshu didn't use the Hidden function of the mask anymore. He just transferred Mana into his hoodie, and immediately a bow appeared in his hand. He pulled the string as fast as possible and then his mouth muttered the skill name:

"Sniping."

In Ryoshu's view, a bright red dot appeared pointing straight at the core of the E+ rank Slime. This was the exact spot where his arrow needed to hit. If he hit it, he would achieve the 10% Critical Hit rate effect.

And there was another difference compared to before. Fumiya was becoming more and more proactive. That helped Ryoshu a lot in increasing the arrow's power. To speak more specifically and clearly about the benefits it provided him, it probably made the attack about one and a half times... or even twice as strong.

He felt very happy that it gave him so much attention.

"Thanks Fumiya as always!"

Ryoshu's hand released the arrow.

The arrow went in a clean line to the exact red spot. It penetrated through the slimy layer without stopping even a bit and pierced straight into its core.

The Slime exploded, signaling his easy victory. Ryoshu couldn't help but feel satisfied with what he had just accomplished.

"Looking on the bright side, if I escape from here, I'll become much stronger than before."

That was also the reason Ryoshu chose this Temple from the beginning... although things didn't go exactly as he thought.

From the void, the cold sound of the System rang out to his anticipation.

[Potential "Archery" has risen to rank E!]

An abundant source of power and information was continuously pumped into him as if he had just used doping.

'So this is what it feels like when you level up...'

His bow knowledge had been partially perfected. Now he was confident that he could shoot from a distance of... at least 100 meters. Ryoshu raised his hand and clenched his fingertips tightly. A completely new sensation that he himself could feel in his hands.

[Based on what you have done at F rank, you have unlocked the skill "Charged Attack" (F-)!]

'Huh? How are Charged Attack and Critical Hit different?'

Ryoshu was curious, so he immediately opened the status panel to check.

--------

[Charged Attack] (level I) 

Description: When activated, each second spent preparing an attack will consume "Stamina" and "Mana" to increase "Attack Power" and "Critical Hit Rate" by 0.5%. Maximum: 20 seconds.

--------

'Ah... so it's like a charged attack mechanism?'

"Wait a minute... this is exactly what I've been needing all this time?! It will solve the Attack Power problem while these gloves will take care of the Damage issue."

The two concepts of Attack Power and Damage look somewhat similar but have some differences.

Attack Power is the maximum Damage potential that can be inflicted, while Damage is the harm that the opponent receives after factoring in Defense and some environmental factors.

Therefore, if Attack Power is higher, then Damage after being doubled will be even higher. And if Attack Power is lacking, even if Damage is doubled or tripled, it still won't cause much harm.

Excited to have solved part of the problem, Ryoshu immediately wanted to test himself against higher-ranked monsters like the Elite Slime.

'I've collected tons of Magic Stones, and after this trip, I'll have some money to invest in stocks.' - He rubbed his hands together and licked his lips in a rather unsightly manner.

Ryoshu continued to a section of pitch-black corridor. Fortunately, he had a torch so he could still see.

Even without a torch, Ryoshu was confident he could pass through here without any light. Simply because he had walked here many times in the previous version.

However, when Ryoshu reached the end of the corridor, he suddenly found no way forward, only a large wall blocking the path.

'How strange? Why is there a dead end here?'

He began to explore this strange wall. On the wall was a painting that felt like it was drawn from ancient times.

The image of a thunderstorm along with the appearance of terrifying, horrible monsters was the disaster lurking for humans.

Those humans tried to fight back, but they couldn't win.

'Is that their fate...'

He couldn't help but shudder at this horrific plot.

Ryoshu noticed an ancient text, very scrawled, which he had never seen before.

But shortly after, he guessed. No, Ryoshu was almost 100% certain that the ancient text written here was the two phrases he hated most, and at the same time, loved the most.

Rainfall Disorder - the name of the game and also the name of a series of phenomena about to happen in this world.

Since finishing this game, he had become even more uncomfortable when it rained, whether in the game or in real life. Each time rain came, it made him feel not safe at all.

'So this exists?' - Ryoshu touched the wall and rubbed it.

But when entering the main storyline, everything would become clear.

'I must become stronger... Right now I'm still too weak. If I don't try harder, I won't be able to protect the protagonist.'

Ryoshu unconsciously clenched his palm. This was like a warning bell that the coming disaster was no child's play.

'This is Rainfall Disorder, after all? It's not a game for children to play after stressful study hours.' - He was very angry at himself for being so careless.

At least in the game, Ryoshu could respawn after dying. But here, he only had one life... Though that was just a hypothesis he had never dared to test.

'After all, who trapped me here? And why this game? A hardcore game... and even the hardest among them. Surely many characters will die in this disaster if I don't do anything.'

And when important characters die, that means his own death. But the worst hasn't come yet, Ryoshu still has time. If he knew how to make use of it, he could win this damn game with help from the main characters.

'I have to admit that the fate of the characters here is unfortunate. Suddenly forced to live in this harsh world....'

Ryoshu hated those who took away the freedom and happiness of others the most. He despised those called slave masters.

'And coincidentally, I've also become one of those forced into this world...'

And now, Ryoshu had realized the truth he had been trying to avoid for days.

'Ironically, I have become a slave.'

A slave to entertain the person who put him in this damned virtual reality game.

A slave to the harsh fate ahead.

A weak slave, powerless, voiceless before the busy current of life.

Ryoshu could no longer contain his anger and punched the damn wall as if it was the thing blocking him from freedom and happiness.

The wall shattered into pieces and revealed another cave.

'This is the next path in the game...' - Ryoshu recognized immediately in astonishment.

Although many details had changed, most things still remained the same as the original game version.

'I will maximize all my knowledge to survive and eventually defeat this damn game!'

Ryoshu had found a new purpose for himself: to survive in the hardest game while taking revenge on the person who put him in this situation.