Deep within the Valley of Defeat, Zetsu Vyhynul and his teammates were hard at work grinding against bosses for rare drops. The party of five was in desperate need of quick money to purchase upgraded gear sets for the next step of their questline, which was being directly sponsored by the God of Perseverance itself, but didn’t grant anyone extensively useful quest rewards. The best they could get was with their healer Mikaeus, who had chosen to become a tortle cleric of Vytravryo - it was how they’d gotten such a series of quests in the first place. His rewards were, however, not monetary; he gained experience in traits he couldn’t use during the quests, and received a boost of experience gain that grew with every completed quest, and the gain extended slightly to the rest of the party. Other than that, it was just rations and the occasional loot bag, which seemed to top their rarities out at the ‘Epic’ rarity, which was already far too weak for their needs.

Zetsu sighed as he parried a dozen more blows from a bugbear boss, finally receiving an opening and dealing a massive killing blow to the sizable goblinoid. The quests weren’t so difficult as they were tedious, and it really got under his skin; he’d assumed the quests would be about breaking their boundaries, but he also supposed that was hard for experienced level 90 adventurers. This was far from the sort of perseverance he expected Vytravryo to have them vie for, but it sure was some kind of mental exercise.

The flood of goblinoids once more shifted species, from bugbear to akkinko - turtle-shelled, thin monstrosities that were far smaller and weaker, but insanely durable. The source of the torrential flow of low-rank bosses - an imp priest named Jainko Dia - was utterly unreachable through roughly fifteen shields and reflective powers. The more goblins that were summoned, the more the shields reinforced themselves. It might have seemed like a hopeless battle to anyone else, but Zetsu had been around the block more than once - he knew if this hellish brat went into a mana crash, they’d have at least three minutes to shatter the shields. Once those went down, the fight would be over.

Zetsu called out to Bud, the bearkin barbarian; the raging grizzly in question was holding back to reserve some semblance of stamina, but once he heard the team’s strategist, he broke into a cheshire grin and full sprint. His fur began to shift from brown and fluffy to red and jagged, almost like a porcupine’s quills. His teeth elongated, his eyes grew wide and crazed, and his entire body suddenly began arcing scarlet bolts of electricity like a plasma ball. He carved his way through the onslaught like a gruesome snowplow, crushing and slinging away the gore that violently ruptured before him.

This was the first of a simple three-step plan: Bud would rage and make a clear shot, where Zetsu himself would launch a spear of solid orichalcum enchanted with every armor piercing rune in every magical codex he could find, powered further by his drow Enchanter ally, Jen. Her Traits gave her the ability to optimize and ‘overclock’ runes; the enchantment and, sometimes, even the item would be obliterated after the use of both the item and the ability, but that effect would be devastatingly effective. Finally, their gorilla-goliath hybrid teammate Varch would use his monk abilities to disable the big boss’s movements for a small time. That would be more than enough to allow them to seal their victory.

The strategy was practically flawless; it was simple enough that they could change gears in their approach rapidly, and never had to worry about getting past unique shields that ignored whatever given abilities their opponent might have. They’d done it quite literally tens of thousands of times by now, be it in training or in practice - the party practically flowed thanks to this level of intense muscle memory. Zetsu smirked, pulling out the spear and feeling its heft, figuring out how best to launch it with his newest Class - he’d gotten both a Hyper Mage and an Elemental Monk of Air class up to 100, and hadn’t used them for a few days due to unlocking a class he’d much rather focus on training as fast as possible: Force Sorcerer.

As he was in the motion of throwing the spear, just shy of the follow-through, he got a system message.

[Hard Reset in progress.]

He hadn’t the faintest idea what that meant.

Unfortunately, he found out rather quickly.

The setting sun over the desert seemed to almost blink before the group, an instant of darkness bathing the world in a sightless void for but a moment. Within that moment, several things happened at once.

Bud, while raging and glowing brightly, blinked out just as fast as the sun did, but his light did not return an instant later. His arms were swinging his extraordinarily heavy axe one moment, custom built to allow devastating blows utilizing his prodigious Strength stat. The next moment, a sickening tearing sound heralded the loss of both arms, ripped away at the elbows. The loose tendons and eviscerated muscles dangled from wounds pouring blood. His stance was unnaturally off, his spine being crushed at over half a dozen ligaments from the follow-through of the swing. Bud’s determined face grew intensely pained, then he let out what should have been a bellowing war cry.

Instead, a feeble groan escaped his throat as he collapsed into a bleeding heap.

Jen, for her part, tried to finish casting the spell. This channeled all but one of her remaining Mana into the spear, and she had managed to do so before the sun flickered; however, she did not finish the incantation. With a loud zap, which was quickly followed by sizzling flesh and the smell of burning hair, Jen was no more than a molten heap of flesh and bone on the ground. She would normally be fine if hit by her spell’s recoil, but as Zetsu was figuring out rapidly, this was anything but normal. Her body’s tattoos - runes engraving most of her skin in elegant designs - no longer glowed with magic, either. It implied a depowering of his deceased ally, which made him realize he was breathing heavily.

To his other side, Varch had been deflecting enemy attacks with extreme ease. He’d seen him a mere handful of seconds before the blink, and the massive man was doing incredibly well. He took out bosses by the dozen, the weak level 25 enemies being crushed by the sheer force and expert placement of his blows.

After the blink, in the quarter of a second it took Zetsu to look at him, Varch had been overrun by the bosses. His body was being trampled by rushing feet and vicious punches, taloned footprints engraved into his corpse. His insides spilled through every natural orifice, some even spilling through a few exceptionally deep gouges caused by the stampede. By the time the rush of minor bosses had gone over the man, his tattered remains looked like a half-kneaded lump of fleshy dough.

Zetsu himself began to scream then. The bosses were already turning in his direction, and his entire body was wracked in pain. He let out all of his grief and frustration into one long, resounding banshee screech that seemed to shake even Jainko Dia itself. He looked around wildly for Mikaeus, but there was no sign of the healer. This meant he was either dead, or somewhere in the background doing everything in his power to protect his one remaining teammate.

Zetsu took a breath; of course Mikaeus was still alive. He had been a Cleric of Perseverance for so long that no goblin flood could stop him, and any of his clerical abilities remaining intact meant almost assured survival for him. For but a moment, Zetsu considered opening the party menu, to check on his healer’s condition, but stopped himself. If the healer was dead, his situation was truly hopeless, and he wouldn’t be able to pull through. If the healer was alive, he didn’t want to get his hopes for victory up. He’d just have to put his faith in his old friend.

Suddenly, time slowed down. The bosses trudged along at a snail’s pace, and Zetsu could only move his head and face. He looked around, teeth gritted. The system must have gone through some sort of immense alteration, but he didn’t know how. Was Otectvurce alright? Did he have enough tributes and power to manage the system?

A series of messages flashed into Zetsu’s eyes. He scanned over them quickly, though his usually rapid reading speed was greatly hindered. His Intelligence was in the tens of thousands, so he should have been able to read a lot faster than he was at that moment.

Unfortunately, the first message gave him all the information he needed to know what was truly happening.

[SYSTEM ALERT!

Due to the requirement for new random-access memory to be installed into all sentient living beings on Terraegnus, the system has undergone emergency maintenance. All soul-based pain and discomfort is from Otectvurce transferring or otherwise altering your own random-access memory to amend this issue. This will not hinder any of the contents of your character sheet, nor will it impact loot or experience gain; however, something else may remove information from your character sheet, which is irreversible.

The reimplementation of the system, which should take approximately 140 milliseconds, will undoubtedly have some issues related to it. Expect low-priority items to be removed from your inventory, and know that any unused traits will have an approximately 13.07% chance of being deleted. This is for the random-access memory to function properly and cannot be negated, undone or ignored.

After this message, you will receive an alert that informs you of any missing character sheet information, save for coinage and items; coinage will be unaffected, and items will have an individual window upon opening your inventory.]

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Zetsu swallowed hard, mind viciously reeling. He cursed under his breath a half dozen times before mentally closing the first window. His arm had the localized pain now, including his shoulder; he couldn’t tell why, but the follow-through of the orichalcum spear was most certainly the cause. A thought flashed in his mind of Bud that he waved away, choking up as his eyes began to burn.

[SYSTEM ALERT!

You have lost the following traits:

* Trait: Charlatan

* Trait: Cooking

* Trait: Crafting - Bows

* Trait: Crafting - Arrows

* Trait: Crafting - Leather Armor

* Trait: Crafting - Robes

* Trait: Elemental Manipulation - Earth

* Trait: Elemental Manipulation - Fire

* Trait: Elemental Manipulation - Water

* Trait: Elemental Manipulation - Light

* Trait: Elemental Manipulation - Darkness

* Trait: Improvisational Crafting

* Trait: Mining

* Trait: Smiter

You have lost the following classes:

* Hyper Mage

* Elemental Monk - Air

NOTE: YOU HAVE LOST ALL TRAITS ASSOCIATED WITH THE GIVEN CLASSES UNLESS THE GIVEN TRAIT IS YOUR PRIME TRAIT. ]

Zetsu felt his heart drop and stomach leap into his throat. He felt like hitting something, but also like vomiting - he had lost decades of work in the blink of an eye, and in the middle of a boss fight no less. His body already felt far heavier and slower than it should have. He cursed another string of expletives, then opened his character sheet.

After seeing nothing but level 3 Force Sorcerer under his classes, he felt the tears truly begin to flow. Frustration, depression, stress and fear all boiled to the surface in an amalgamation of horrible, his body wracked with both physical and emotional turmoil. Zetsu was only alive right now because he wasn’t directly in the fray, and he felt his guilt surpass all other emotions at that moment. Able to take a reprieve from the fight at hand, he cried, weeping openly to the sky as time was still frozen, and did so for a couple of minutes before he could bring himself to continue reading on. The pain in his arm by now was vicious, though still nothing seemed inherently wrong just by looking at it.

Tentatively, Zetsu opened the next alert.

[ADMIN ALERT!

I am truly sorry to each and every one of you Heroes who put your lives on the line each day. The system is my responsibility, and I have failed to have it function flawlessly for your time here. I cannot apologize enough to all of you, and if you require the return of your traits, races or classes, come to my temple when possible. I will do what I can.

Please, forgive me.

-Otectvurce ]

█ Zetsu stood for a long moment. It was the last alert, and he felt the vicious conflagration in his heart find a new target to aim his fury at. He knew from relatively similar past experiences that, once he closed this tab, the world would return to normal speed. He looked to his arm, which felt as though it was being lit aflame and skewered with hundreds of thousands of pins and needles. His brain was desperately looking for a solution, scanning his abilities with fervor. He desperately wanted to find a way to one of this damned god’s temples, to give his clergymen a piece of his mind. To give the god himself a piece of his mind.

But he knew he wouldn’t make it five feet from this spot.

The traits that he could have used to escape were all related to his lost classes. The only ones he kept were the two or three unrelated combat abilities he’d used just before the reset. He had no traits that could save him, no tricks or allies that would aid him. He had lost everything but his inventory and his stats.

Wait… his inventory!

Zetsu flicked open his inventory screen and, immediately closing the laundry list of deleted items, wildly skimmed through it. Once, twice, three times. He hunted for something he could use to make a quick getaway. A grappling hook had nothing to hook onto, and a rope didn’t provide much more. His personal mount was still on a summoning cooldown. The only other thing he had that could work were his enchanted gauntlets - they allowed him to, for a small mana cost, teleport in the direction of the punch to a max of 5 feet. All he’d need to do is equip them, and use a basic flurry trait for as long as possible.

Then, he froze.

Zetsu saw his arm.

The tendons within were the only things holding the limb onto his body, torn muscles and sinew flapping slowly in the air like a flag. He could no longer feel it, though the stump that remained connected to his body was more than enough agony on its own.

The gauntlets wouldn’t work.

He couldn’t use them unless both were activated together.

He desperately navigated to the party menu, scanning over the names in a frenzy. His own health was getting dangerously low, and every other name was greyed out.

Even Mikaeus.

He stopped. His heart had sunk so far, Zetsu could swear it was out of his chest. His body ached, brain wracked with pain. He didn’t want to die like this - he was just a cumulative level 203 Hero! If he would die here, he’d at least hoped it would be fighting a god or peacefully in his sleep.

But to Jainko Dia?

The first boss in the second quest line for a god he didn’t believe in?

A part of Zetsu snapped then. Not in rage, nor in hopelessness. It was the part of himself that still feared death. It had grown weak over time, but only now did it truly break away. Only when he was faced with certain doom.

He was down an arm. The bleed effect would be at least three to five hours long, but the damage would only let him live for about five minutes. He felt a resolve he hadn’t discovered in a long time erupt within his soul, and he saw the transformation trait he’d created so long ago. Somehow, despite only tinkering with it and trying to make it more usable, it wasn’t deleted with his other traits that went unused for at least a day or two. The transformation was practically unusable, and would leave him for dead after it was done. The offensive possibilities, however, would be incredible.

He took a deep breath to re-center himself. He focused on his mana, on his stamina and health. He focused on his elemental heritage of air and sky, and brought forth the lightning aspect from within. He brought a health potion out of his inventory, set all of his resources to 1, and took the glowing red, blue and green sphere into his body.

His once-human facade was stripped away, skin peeling from thunderclouds and hailstorms. He let out a resounding battle cry, and the swirling orb’s mass re-allocated itself around his unmoving body. This would increase each of his stats by twice the amount of resources he’d used put together.

In his Raging Storm Genasi body, Zetsu let out an echoing scream that made him seem as though he was both underwater and all around the Valley of Defeat. He closed the window and left the menu, time returning to normal. He felt a power flow through him that could only be nature itself, the clouds in his body a mixture of dark gray and red. His lightning was a bright green, and his hail was a deep, royal blue. His eyes swirled with golden and white light, otherwise mere holes in the thunderclouds that were his head.

Fully understanding that this would be his final assault in the mortal realms, Zetsu closed his eyes. He silently thanked his deceased allies, praying to the god of the afterlife for their safe passage. He clenched his remaining fist, feeling more tears coming. He only had one minute in this form, and due to his lack of healing and sacrifice of health, that was about how much longer he had left to live. He would not go silently into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Zetsu’s fist impacted one of the bosses, chain lightning exploding from it and spreading to dozens of other swarming goblins, Mikaeus took a shaky breath, releasing the True Invisibility. He did regret becoming a Zealot in addition to his Cleric class, considering the excessive force and dubious decisions the patron he’d selected forced upon him. The one upside was gaining True Invisibility - a form of invisibility that very few could lay claim to. It allowed the user to become not only unseeable, but intangible while remaining able to interact with items as though nothing had happened. It was an ancient, complex and somewhat costly ability, but it was one Mikaeus was all too grateful for. This particular form of True Invisibility even granted him the ability to fade out his name within the party, as though he were out of range or dead. He held his new class and abilities close to his chest; his allies didn’t need to know about the sudden and borderline criminal activity he’d participated in during the last few weeks, between the riots, kidnappings and destruction. He was a cleric, after all.

Despite every fiber of his being trying to justify his fleeing, Mikaeus’s vision was obscured by tears as he ran from the scene, endlessly swearing under his breath. His speed was low, but he hadn’t lost any traits due to consistently healing and training while the others focused on getting one class or trait up to max at a time. He once more turned around, crying as quietly as he could, and cast a few hastening spells on himself.

He trusted Zetsu to pull through somehow. He believed that if Zetsu didn’t make it, he deserved to live with the survivor’s guilt. He couldn’t do much for Zetsu’s missing arm, either; it had been snatched up by the flood of goblins almost immediately after it was ripped off, and the spear was stolen from Zetsu quickly after. There was nothing left on the field for Mikaeus to really do, unless the healer put himself in mortal peril.

Truthfully, Mikaeus didn’t want to abandon his teammate. He cared for Zetsu fiercely, and saw him as a brother. He adored the good times the group had together, and the fact that they all were working on self-improvement alongside their classes and traits gave Mikaeus something to put stake into. He truly loved his party.

Unfortunately, Mikaeus had recently made a pact with a mad god, and his entire universe - their entire universe - could be put into jeopardy if he didn’t capitulate.

This is why, ultimately, Meiyojev took priority over Zetsu.