CHAPTER 89: PENALTIES...

[Author’s note: One of my beta readers pointed out that Nolan must have also seen James play the game when he saw the memories of his past life. The answer is no, because it was like a fast forward flash of video clips, not a detailed movie of his entire life. Nolan only focused on important parts, and James just staring at a metal box with a weird grin didn’t seem important for him to pay attention.]

==

’Nahh... hell nah!! What the actual fuck is this? This is too crazy!’ Johan’s mind went into genuine disbelief for a minute.

What was fate? The things that will happen to them in the future. Basically meaning Nolan could control the literal future in whatever way he wished. And this reward meant he would be able to do that with the past too—change someone’s entire life? Wasn’t this literally unbeatable?

This was definitely an ability on the level of Schrödinger’s Cat... or maybe even worse.

But, this actually made sense.

Nolan was a DLC character—either an important villain or ally, most likely depending on the ending you finished the game at.

But no matter what, to fight toe to toe with the endgame Leor, he had to be overpowered... no, even more than just overpowered.

’And... I can revive Alya with this too? But, maybe she’s already Vivi, that’s why the system said it this way.’ Johan’s mood soured a bit.

[Option 3: Stop all connections with Nolan, nod respectfully, and leave. Then never have any contact with him no matter what.]

(Rewards: Twenty million points.)

Johan’s eyes widened. This could actually be extremely helpful.

If he just accepted this option, he would receive the twenty million points reward immediately, technically.

Then he could do twenty spins of one million points each—every one of them with a huge chance of a reward that would make saving Acier and the rest much easier.

[Option 4: Use the new [Defuse] host developed in this area. If successful, it will instantly kill Nolan’s current consciousness, as he is not in the space—but is the space.]

(Rewards: Awaken the consciousness of the real Leor Milford inside current Leor’s body, leading to a fight for control—immensely weakening Leor, or even directly removing his consciousness.)

’Wha–!? Original Leor would be so easy to manipulate... I can make him do anything.’ Johan grinned at the possibility, wondering if he should choose this, but—

Johan clenched his hands till his knuckles turned white. ’I want all of the rewards...’

The last reward could be an actual game-changer in the fight against Leor too.

Johan had no idea how many abilities Leor had gained, or if there was even a way to defeat him. He could already move at the speed of light, as Nolan said—meaning he had gained favor from the hardest nut to crack.

He was definitely good at it, maybe as good as Johan. Even Johan had to admit that. Now, after so much time, who knew how many abilities he could’ve gathered...?

This was one of the best options with the goal Johan currently had: killing Leor, and saving his family. But the twenty million points were like a guaranteed reward... He couldn’t be hasty. And suddenly, an even more important thing flashed in his mind.

"System, can you tell me what penalty I will suffer if I fail to complete the quest?"

Johan wasn’t sure if the system would just tell him, but he had to try his luck. Because what if the penalty was something like—your heart will stop?

He couldn’t take such a risk. As a professional gambler, his greatest advice was: you had to know what you were gambling with first.

[Sure :D]

The system’s smile seemed too happy to talk about penalties, making Johan develop strange superstitions.

[If failed to complete Option 1, the host will have to kill seven hundred million humans. Failure to complete will result in an extremely bad luck.]

Johan’s eyes widened. This was obviously bad. Trying to kill Leor and Vivi was already hard enough, and with hexes—like Leor just entering a reality, or Vivi stepping into a higher dimension where death didn’t exist—

Nolan’s warning started ringing in Johan’s mind. Like, in a way, the system was the one who gave choices—and now penalties too—which basically meant that it could control and predict the choice Johan would make, and basically make him do anything it wanted.

He also grew curious about how bad the "bad luck" would be. Like, would it just rain whenever he wanted to soak in sunlight? Or while firing a fireball, the spell exploding in his hand even as a stage zero sorcerer, like how Erwin’s ability did?

[If failed to complete Option 2, the host will have to kill Selene after breaking her mentally. Failure to comply will make the Creator Ymir hate the host.]

Johan’s entire body shook. This was a penalty that sounded the scariest—probably the fastest way to die—remembering how Ymir could kill someone just by thinking of killing them. And he wasn’t really going to kill Selene anyway, no matter what.

But again, how much hatred wasn’t clarified. And if he was an ally of Vivi—her daughter—she would definitely show mercy, right?

And also the fact that the system basically provided a guide, so the chance of failing was already low.

[If failed to complete Option 3, the host will turn into a woman. Also, in this process, lose all of his powers, becoming just an average woman ;)]

Johan shivered more at this option than he had at any other—instantly cutting Option 3 out of the list.

Also, Nolan was a very important character, and basically reeked with lore. There was no way he would just cut all connections without using him. On top of that, if he accidentally talked with him—he would lose all his abilities, and... he would become a woman.

Hell no.

Option 4 didn’t exist any longer.

[If failed to complete Option 4, the host won’t even have the time to receive a penalty because of how fast he will be killed, so the penalty is death.]

This was quickly cut out too.

The risk was just too much—be it using [Defuse] for the first time in a way like this, or Nolan’s bloodthirst, and the fact that he could crush Johan with a single stare.

Suddenly, Johan thought of another very important thing that he had to take care of.