[System]: Class has successfully been created.
[System]: Rules of the game will now be explained!
[System]: When you die. Your stats will be reset.
[System]: When you die. You will drop all items (Not including those soulbound).
[System]: You can respawn at an unlocked temple.
[System]: Thanks to your 'Death Refusal'. You can refuse death and fully resurrect at a cost.
[System]: There is no level cap. But it will become harder to level-up as you progress.
[System]: You will be kicked upon death back into the real world.
[System]: You cannot return to the game until your next sleep cycle.
"So if I understand this correctly. If a normal player dies. They lose all of their equipment besides soulbound items. They also are reset back to level 0 and lose all their progress. Not only that... but they are kicked from the game for a period of time."
Mark felt his 'Refuser' class was too powerful! He could directly bypass the harsh penalty as long as he had levels to spend.
Mark also thought of an exploit. He wondered what would happen if he used points from leveling up and then spent his levels to go in an infinite cycle.
But now wasn't the time for exploiting. He needed to finish this tutorial!
[System]: Begin class change? Y/N?
"I thought I already created my class?"
Mark was confused. It had already been confirmed that his class was successfully created. Why was it asking again... perhaps it was just a mechanism to make sure he had no regrets.
Mark decided to pull up his inventory and check his equipment. He wanted to see his new unique soulbound items.
[System]: {
Head: none,
Necklace: none,
Body: "Shirt",
Legs: "Jeans",
Feet: "Shoes",
Hand: [none, none],
Ring: [none, none, none, none, none, none, none, none],
Ammo: none,
Accessory: none
}
"..."
Nothing had changed.
"System! What is going on!"
[System]: Begin class change? Y/N?
Mark had a bad feeling about this. He decided to pull up his properties.
[System]: {
Name: Mark,
Title: Maverick,
Race: Human,
Class: None,
Level: 0,
HP: 100/100,
MP: 100/100,
Strength: 10,
Perception: 10,
Agility: 10,
Vitality: 10,
Intelligence: 10,
Attribute_Points: 0
}
"It seems that while my class does exist. I have not yet switched to it. I suppose that is why it is asking me if I want to begin my class change..."
[System]: Begin class change? Y/N?
"Yes!"
[System]: Warning!
[System]: Proceeding means creating a source.
[System]: System functions will be offline during this process.
[System]: Note: Prepare yourself.
[System]: Begin? Y/N?
"Source? What the hell is that?"
Mark wasn't expecting an answer. But he ended up getting one.
[System]: The 'Source' is the equivalent of the players soul.
[System]: The {PLAYER} is immortal.
[System]: This is because the 'gods' form a contract.
"Contract? Becoming immortal..."
Mark felt that this wasn't simply mechanics of a game. Perhaps there was something deeper happening here.
[System]: Your 'Source' is the origin of your avatar.
[System]: Your soulbound items and skills unique to your class.
[System]: They are all rooted in your 'Source'.
Mark felt uneasy for some reason. He had yet to get his class and its perks.
"If the system is down during this process..."
Mark was afraid for some reason.
But then he remembered...
This was just a 'game'.
"I'm probably overthinking this."
"Begin class change!"
[System]: Beginn-ERROR!!!
[System]: Shutting down...
Mark was still standing in the arena.
He waited while holding his breath.
"System?"
There was no response.
Mark even tried to view his inventory. Nothing happened. He tried his properties. Nothing. His equipment... It was as if there was no system at all.
He hadn't been playing this 'game' for long either way. So these habits weren't too ingrained within him. But it did feel like he was losing some support.
As he was standing there. The ground started to shake as if there was an earthquake. Mark struggled to stay balanced as he almost fell to the ground multiple times.
At the edges of the arena. He saw a creature made completely of shadows rushing towards him.
"I guess I will need to fight that. I wonder if I can level-up without the system active?"
Mark wondered why the system even needed to go offline for this 'class change'. It didn't make much sense to him.
Mark remembered that his real body was still in reality. This was a special place without real life consequences. He felt his blood boil as he ran straight at the shadowy creature.
He wasn't armed and didn't really have any combat experience. But he rushed at the creature as if he didn't fear death.
He smiled as he sent a punch toward its head.
But its arms were like scythes. In one attack. It disarmed him... he lost his limb he had used to attack. He held his stub that was cut so cleanly it hadn't even started to bleed. As he was about to cry out in pain. He realized something horrifying...
"My pain refusal..."
"I haven't unlocked it yet! I don't have the refuser class..."
"FUCK!!!"
"FUCK!!!"
Before he could even recover from the shock. The creature swung its scythe like arms again. This time removing both of his legs.
He collapsed to the ground in a puddle of blood as his consciousness began to fade in and out. This didn't feel like a game at all.
His thoughts became gibberish as he struggled to remain aware. His mind started to think for ways to survive. The instinct to live was strong. But before he could even do anything. His head was chopped off.
He felt cold.
Everything went black.
----------------------------------------
Mark felt as if he had spent an eternity in darkness. It was cold and lonely. There was no hope of escape. But then he felt 'it'. Something grabbed his consciousness in death and brought him out of this nothingness.
"His consciousness is damaged. It is too weak."
"Are you sure he is qualified to become a {PLAYER}?"
"Nguvhxis! Why did give him 'something'. This isn't like you at all..."
"Why do we allow Nguvhxis to control nothing..."
Mark wasn't exactly sure where he was. Everything was dark. But there was a single white ball of light. It was as if everything about it was HIM.
"He is listening to us..."
"Oh? You are awake?"
Mark felt millions of different colors flash by him. He had no body. It was as if the white ball of light was his body. The stress alone from whatever they were doing seemed as if it was going to tear him apart.
The blackness transformed into a room. The room looked weirdly ordinary.
There were some people sitting. It wasn't grand at all.
"Our forms are adjusted to be comprehensible to you."
"Unfortuntely. You will not remember this little 'meeting'."
The moment the man said 'meeting'. It looked as if the room changed to be a gathering of gods. It was as if Mark was appearing in front of giants. Beings on a completely different level.
This illusion lasted for only a small instant.
But one of the 'gods' smirked.
"His quasi-source didn't even tremble... Impressive!"
"You! He's mine!"
"Why not let him choose?"
"Interesting..."
The man stood up from his seat and pointed at himself.
"It is a taboo to tell you our identities. But I don't give a shit. I am [redacted]. God of [redacted]."
"I quite like your source. So I will make you my apostle. What do you say?"
Mark was a bit confused. He had forgotten most of his memories while waiting in that darkness for seemingly an eternity.
Mark decided to ask some questions.
"You are a god?"
"Correct."
"You wish for me to be your apostle?"
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Indeed."
Mark felt a cool feeling flow through the white ball of energy that was his 'body'. Information about his... class?
"I refuse!"
"... you refuse?"
The white ball of energy pulsed with confidence.
The god seemed to get angry as a killing intent was released. It was as if the aura alone was going to wipe out his light!
"I... am..."
Mark felt the stimulation awaken his memories. He remembered this was just a game! Why should he be afraid? He also remembered that he had just died in this 'game'. But more importantly. He remembered he was in the process of his class change.
Mark instantly had some theories. You might think he was arrogant for refusing becoming an apostle. But he instinctly felt that his hidden class required him to act in such a way. Otherwise, if he allowed himself to follow the flow. He might end up with a completely different class.
Upon seeing his confidence. The god seemed to become even more interested in making him his apostle. With the wave of his hands. The scene changed.
Mark was no longer simply a ball of light. He had regained a body!
Mark was carrying a boulder on his back as he slowly crawled forward. But his awareness had gotten used to these changes. It was like lucid dreaming. He remained aware. The sudden shift in environment and sensory information might have confused a normal person. But Mark was getting used to this weirdness.
As he crawled forward. He was struck by a whip.
He had lacerations all over his body. He felt his entire body burn. He felt so tired. But whenever he slowed down. He was struck.
Mark tried to rebel. He tried throwing down the rock. But it was as if this body was not his own. All he could do was carry it and move forward.
But while his body wasn't under his control. His mind was.
"Alright. I am currently doing the class change."
"I died in the arena. Entered a black space..."
"I met some gods and refused to become one of their apostles."
"He waved his hands and I appeared in this reality. Where I seem to be tortured to move forward infinitely. I cannot control my body or its actions. But I feel all the pain."
"Is he trying to break my spirit? Or is he venting his frustration?"
Mark's mind raced as he put the pieces together. He was trying to figure out how to escape this hell. But there seemed to be now way out.
After a few hours. The pain was throbbing and Mark collapsed.
Mark was happy his body finally gave out.
"It isn't infinite!"
Mark was looking forward to death already.
But then he watched in horror as time rewound. He was back at the start with a perfectly healthy body and was carrying a boulder.
One of the 'funny' things was. If he slowed down. He was struck.
But he couldn't speed up or control his speed at all. He was getting punished with pain for no reason!
This experience did not give mark a good impression of these 'gods'.
"Pain... endless pain..."
Mark experienced this cycle a few times and felt as if his mind was going to shatter. He wasn't becoming numb to it. Because before his body got used to it. It would reset and he would be back to square one.
With a healthy body.
"Pain..."
Mark then remembered.
"Pain Refusal! I'm an idiot!"
What exactly had Mark figured out? This experience had left him with insane control over his mind. His thoughts could remain clear despite the endless torment.
It wasn't clear at first. But after a few cycles of this. Mark started to feel that deep within his sea of consciousness. Hidden beneath an endless fog.
There was something there!
He spent weeks focusing on his mind and unraveling this part of his consciousness. There were benefits to doing this.
He found a white ball of energy.
"This must be the source!"
"The system told me that this is what makes a player immortal in combination with the contract with the gods."
"It is like the save file for the player. The class and abilities are probably a result of its composition!"
Mark focused on the source. Within it he felt an ocean of information. But it was paradoxical. There was almost no information at the same time.
"Pain Refusal!"
Mark had already designed this perk and it was integrated into the system. Right now, it was like finding an object with the value set to 'false'.
Mark didn't have the hidden class yet.
He basically through instinct and deliberate tampering with his source. He switched this 'false' to 'true'. He unlocked pain refusal!
The moment this 'switch' flipped. There was a change in his body that he couldn't control. It moved as if it was unburdened. It no longer flinched at the strikes.
The body was also smiling.
Mark felt no pain at all. It wasn't even uncomfortable!
He still couldn't control the bodies actions. But this was no longer a hell! It was a time for him to think and plan. He was starting to have fun.
But before he could get too comfortable.
He felt everything blur as he was in the meeting with the gods again.
"Are you a masochist? What did you do?"
Mark laughed.
"So what if I am?"
"..."
It seemed that the other gods had watched Mark's performance. A few of them offered for him to be their apostle.
But Mark had only one response.
"I refuse!"
Mark then looked around and spoke to the gods.
"To be honest. I feel I am also a god."
Mark remembered the promoted version of his class.
Godiefyer.
When Mark tampered with his source. It felt as if he had became an admin. After getting brought out of that illusion. He was back in the body of the ball of light.
But things were different... altered.
"I don't only refuse becoming an apostle."
Mark laughed more and more. He was really starting to get into the roll of his class.
"I also refuse death!"
It was like another 'false' became 'true'.
The god's were wondering what he meant. But before they could do anything. His source vanished.
----------------------------------------
Normally. A player would keep no memories of their experience with the gods. So the torture and other things would long be forgotten. With only a select bit of information retained.
But Mark essentially created an exploit around this unknowningly.
His thoughts became gibberish as he struggled to remain aware. His mind started to think of ways to survive. The instinct to live was strong. But before he could even do anything. His head was chopped off.
He felt cold.
It felt as if his spirit stepped outside of his body. He was looking at his chopped up body on the ground.
"Hahaha!"
He felt deep within his mind his source. It was branded with two abilities already.
Pain Refusal
Death Refusal
His body began to regenerate in an instant.
"It cost a level to use my death refusal..."
"But I am level zero?"
"Have I gone into the negatives? Or does it not matter because the system isn't functioning?"
"Oh! I guess I don't even have the class yet. I'm still doing my class change!"
Mark was feeling a lot more confident.
Mark stood up from the ground and adjusted his shoulder as he stared at the shadowy creature. It screeched and rushed at him.
"I have no defense against its attacks. My reaction is also too slow."
"So how do I win?"
Mark was diced and sliced once again.
When he died. He entered a unique perspective and could observe the general situation around his body. Mark felt something missing in his source.
"The respawn mechanic isn't unlocked because I never formed a contract with the gods..."
"I am essentially a bug in the system. Once the system goes back online. I won't be able to abuse my abilities without a cost."
"Since the system is offline. The original penalties aren't being enforced."
"This means..."
"I can refuse death infinitely!"
The shadowy creature looked at his corpse in confusion. Hadn't it killed it?
But it began to regenerate fully!
Mark stood up and cracked his neck.
"Is that all you've got!?"
He rushed at the creature.
Death. Death. Death. Death. Death.
With each death. Mark was getting better at predicting its movements. It was also slowing down over time. Mark's energy was going back to full with every ressurection. While the creature didn't have infinite stamina.
Mark wasn't mindlessly dying. He was monitoring his source and trying to unlock his damage and location refusal as well.
Soon he found the proper 'false' and switched them to 'true'.
Mark was thriving without the restrictions of the system. The use of his abilities became instinct.
The creature slashed at Mark but its scythe like arms were stopped as if it had tried to cut through a block of solid steel.
Mark finally got some hits in.
"It should cost 10 MP a second..."
Mark wondered if his theory was correct.
But after 10 seconds...
His ability didn't shut off!
The creature attacked. But it was doing no damage. Mark grabbed it and punched repeatedly. It was quite tough. But since his body became invulnerable. It somehow added more force to his attacks.
Soon...
He had killed it.
"I win!"
The ground started to shake.
Then he saw two of these creatures rushing at him.
----------------------------------------
Mark was surrounded by over 64 of these creatures. He stood there laughing as he was attacked from every possible angle. He was stabbed directly in the eyes and groin. But he was invulnerable!
Not only that. While he wasn't able to level-up. He could feel that with each foe defeated. Some exp was lingering in the environment. This was used by his source!
There were limits to manipulating his source alone. But with endless resources and his broken abilities he could further tap into his potential. He wasn't able to give himself powers that weren't there. But he was able to slowly unlock things that were already there.
Soon he took the raw exp and filled in the blueprints of his equipment. Soon he had equiped Hat of the Refuser, Robe of The Refuser, Legs of The Refuser, Boots of The Refuser, Ring of The Refuser, Necklace of The Refuser.
With every wave, more and more creatures appeared. It appeared that the amount doubled each time. Mark would intentionally disable his damage refusal just to die and refresh his stamina every now and then.
Eventually... after a few days of fighting.
Mark was breathing hard in an empty arena. He had just killed the last one. Whenever he killed one, their corpse would drop to the ground and quickly 'decay'. After a few minutes, the corpse would vanish.
Because of this. The arena was completely empty.
Mark sighed in relief.
He was quite mentally tired from this ordeal. He also felt that he had reached the limit of his source. He couldn't store any more experience within it. All factors of his class had been unlocked. He could control his class abilities as easy as moving a limb.
The arena began to shake again. A magic circle appeared in the center of it. Nothing happened after this however. Mark waited for a few minutes and then remembered he was invulnerable.
He walked to the center of the pentagram.
Five podiums rose up from the ground.
Mark could read the plaques.
Strength
Perception
Agility
Vitality
Intelligence
The podiums were at the points of the star.
Mark saw a flash of light as his body began to become transparent. In the center of his chest was his source. The arena turned into information and scattered as Mark found himself floating in a void in the center of the magic circle.
"It seems I have to make a choice here..."
"What would a 'refuser' choose?"
Mark felt that a 'refuser' wouldn't specialize at all! But he didn't know how to not choose an option.
As Mark floated towards 'strength' and moved away from the center. A new podium appeared from the void. It was glitching and looked golden. The other podiums were white.
On the plaque.
It read '???'.
Mark ignored the other five podiums and floated towards the center again. The moment he reached this podium. The other podiums vanished.
The white ball of light became golden.
Then it seemed that reality fell apart.
Mark found himself in a golden transparent room. Outside of this room was an endless nothingness. It would seem that this room had been fused with his source.
Mark felt his source vanish from his sea of consciousness. It instead became an external object. It was floating in the center of this room.
A skeleton formed around it. Muscles and veins. Fat and skin.
Mark felt as if it followed his intent and he was designing his body. He made it look different then his real body.
Then clothes formed on his body.
'Ring of The Refuser' = 'User cannot get drunk or poisoned'.
'Hat of The Refuser' = 'User cannot get blinded'.
'Robe of The Refuser' = 'User cannot bleed'.
'Legs of The Refuser' = 'User cannot be slowed'.
'Boots of The Refuser' = 'User cannot take fall damage'.
'Necklace of The Refuser' = 'User can disguise themselves'.
Mark felt he had lost his 'admin' perks.
The white ball of light became a shining golden ball of energy. It originally looked like a ball of plasma. But now it was crystalizing.
This golden ball of energy slowly solidified. It became like a glass orb.
It could no longer be tampered with.
It would seem he had 'locked' his class permanently.
An ordinary player would respawn at a temple they had unlocked. This was thanks to the contract they had with the gods.
The price was all of their experience. They would lose all progress.
Mark didn't have a contract with anyone.
So he couldn't spawn! But he had instead carved his own unique path. Instead of respawning in a temple. He would respawn in this golden room.
[System]: Class change complete!
[System]: The {PLAYER} can only ever select one class.
[System]: You cannot change your class.
[System]: Your class is 'Refuser'.
[System]: The first player to successfully bypass the administrators.
[System]: Your temporary title has expired.
[System]: {
Name: Mark,
Title: None,
Race: Human,
Class: Refuser,
Level: 1,
HP: 100/100,
MP: 100/100,
Strength: 10,
Perception: 10,
Agility: 10,
Vitality: 10,
Intelligence: 10,
Attribute_Points: 1
}
[System]: {
Head: "Hat of The Refuser",
Necklace: "Necklace of The Refuser",
Body: "Robe of The Refuser",
Legs: "Legs of The Refuser",
Feet: "Boots of The Refuser",
Hand: [none, none],
Ring: [none, none, none, none, none, "Ring of The Refuser", none, none],
Ammo: none,
Accessory: none
}
[System]: Title unlocked 'Hacker'.
[System]: {
Title: "Hacker",
Description: "You have successfully exploited the system in a way never done before. Due to your actions you have successfully created your own temple in a seperate dimension. Thanks to your superb control of source. While you can no longer mess with your source. It is possible to trick the contracts in other sources. As long as this title is equipped, you can innately feel source!"
}
[System]: Do you wish to equip 'Hacker'? Y/N?
"Yes."
[System]: {
Name: Mark,
Title: Hacker,
Race: Human,
Class: Refuser,
Level: 1,
HP: 100/100,
MP: 100/100,
Strength: 10,
Perception: 10,
Agility: 10,
Vitality: 10,
Intelligence: 10,
Attribute_Points: 1
}
"I am essentially trapped in this room. But I can feel 'it'."
Mark could feel an absence of source in the world. Thanks to his new title. He could feel all sources in the overworld.
Mark realized something here.
"I am the only player. If I can get other people to play this 'game'. I can observe their sources using my title and learn how to manually respawn. It will take some work..."
"But if I can learn how to exit this room..."
"I will be able to explore this new world!"
Mark had a lot of experimenting to do. It was time to leave the game.
"How do I log out?"
The system didn't respond.
"I suppose it isn't that simple."
It seems that the system only really answered questions while one was in the tutorial. He would need to explore things himself going forward.
Mark focused on his source. The feeling that he had lost once it became 'external' was slightly back from his new title.
He then opened his eyes in reality.