It seems the Mission and Lottery Systems might be a good hit. Keep ‘em coming! Just gonna push through with these next several chapters. After this week, Josh will be reborn!

About God damn time, too. I am literally arguing with myself these days.

BTW, beautified some of the previous chapters, although no real change occurred with the story.

==

“Yes, what is the question?”

“This means we can all see these Missions? What about the Quests and Lottery winnings?”

“Only the Mission List is the same for everyone. Some people might receive a specific Mission of their own, and those will not be shown to others. Quests are received in person, so no one will have the exact same Quest List. And the stuff you win from Lottery will actually be showcased like in an MMO.”

“In what way?”

“Okay, then.”

“Right, can we get on with this? Or is there more?”

Indeed, both the [Tyrant] and Lance were still standing on the table/arena. While Lance was still contemplating what he heard, he was also warming up to fight.

One could tell the both of them were really reckless. Josh remembered [Rock Man] was also called a pervert which seemed to match with his initial impression of Lance, too. What was strange was that the [Tyrant] was really showy, while [Rock Man] was rather subdued.

Lance seemed to be a strange mix of both. When he stuck out, he was the nail not hammered down. But when he was quiet and laid back, it was hard to notice him. But if you actually watched him, it was fascinating. He held himself upright, yet casual. He was powerful, thanks to seeing his Status, but he didn’t look it.

He was contradictory. He seemed to try too hard in appearing as if he didn’t care about his appearance. But then Josh remembered Death’s words. But the [Tyrant] didn’t seem like he was pulling a façade. That seemed more like [Rock Man] trying to not let his perverted side known.

In fact, that fit him well. A façade that went out of control. Could his habits of trying to fit into society created some sort of stress? In this world, people were more true to their feelings, what with the Beast Forms and all.

And if the [Tyrant] was the skeleton never in the closet, could it have something to do with hating the world? Of course, having to stifle your true self would lead to a frustration, and he also said he hated himself, but this was getting confusing.

“Aww, why stop there? You were getting to the good part.”

“Heh? I was actually on the right path?”

“Hmm? What are you guys talking about?”

“You.”

“Hah?!”

“Enough. Let’s fight!”

“Right!”

Instead of activating their Magic or Skills, they punched each other, fists slamming together.

“Hoh? You’re not that bad.”

“Heh, you’re actually slightly stronger than me.”

“Hehe, but it seems you will outlast me.”

“Not to mention I’m faster, too!”

To prove his point, Lance began to run around the small arena with speed almost twice that of the [Tyrant].

“Speed means nothing if you can’t damage me!”

“Fine.”

Lance stopped in front of the lizard King and started to glow. The air became full of static, as his hair made him look like he was becoming Super S©iyan or something.

Seeing Lance set up an attack, the [Tyrant] readied his defense.

“[Tough Scales]!”

“[Plasma Arrow].”

“What? I don’t remember you having that Skill. What happened?”

Before Josh could tell what was going on, a purple arrow shot out from Lance’s pointing index finger towards the [Tyrant] at high speeds. It stabbed through his defenses in an instant! The [Tyrant] instantly felt pain all over his body.

“Argh! What the shit?!”

“Heh, I made my own moves and Skills. The Skills I made were thanks to manipulating Electricity. I can create techniques of great power. I just had to focus my Lightning Qi and launch it straight out. Even if most of my Skills were removed, if I tried hard enough, I could recreate them.

Besides, the extremely intense power of lightning spreads out upon contact. You have to be made of rubber or something not to be damaged.”

“Tch! Fine, if actual combat won’t work, let’s try something else!”

The [Tyrant King] calmed down as he began to focus his attention straight at Lance.

“[Confuse], [Induce fear], [Bliss]!”

All of a sudden, the air in the room became fuzzy and blurry, as Illusion Magic soared through the air, hurling towards Lance. He just calmly stood there and took it.

“What? Realizing your fate? Haha!”

“I didn’t realize something created from me would be so cliché.”

“Huh?!”

Nothing had happened to Lance!

“I’ve felt worse from the monsters that roam the Great North. Every monster there develops tricks to lure or weaken their prey. I had to build defenses to such attacks. Besides, attacks of these levels would be destroyed by a simple [Lightning Zone].”

“Dammit! Again!”

“Sure. Let’s continue.”

While the two kept fighting, Lance never once lost. Sure the [Tyrant King] was stronger and smarter, it meant nothing to such a terrifying and god defying existence as Lance! Of course, if they actually had their true strength, they might have killed everyone here. And Lance would have lost. No doubt. The Stats and amount of Skills would confuse anyone.

Josh continued to feed Flare while [Rock Man] started to warm up.

Death played on his phone, but ultimately did not pay attention to the brutal one sided destruction.

Finally, Josh couldn’t take it anymore.

“Why not stop there. He hasn’t been able to even scratch you. You’re too fast, you can last longer, and you have more Skills. What’s the point of continuing this battle?”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“If he wishes to continue, that must mean he can see victory. Which means there might be a way that he can beat me.”

“What’s with that clichéd MC super hero mentality? I thought you were a pervert?”

“I am. I am also a battle junkie. If he manages to beat me, then there would be something for me to work on and fix. I’m just being selfish, so don’t think better of me.”

Once Lance had realized Josh’s male mentality, he decided to ignore his beauty detector and treat Josh as any normal guy. Or rather, he treated him too casually.

“Well forgive me for thinking you were good.”

‘Huh? Am I really that upset at his attitude? Weird.’

“Huh…fine. I quit. I give. Enough is enough.”

“I guess I’m next. I’m not really strong or fast, I just know a lot of Spells. Even then, I can only cast some of them.”

“No worries, let’s go.”

Although it was to be expected, everything the [Rock Man] used was smashed apart by Lance’s attacks.

“I concede defeat.”

“Thanks for letting me see your Spells. They will help me make more attacks.”

“Great. Go ahead and get stronger. Whatever.”

“Yip!”

From Josh’s lap jumped Flare as she began to jump up to the arena.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Flare began to do a little work with her magic as she started to make fire appear in the air.

“Oh? You want to try your hardest Spell against mine? Sure.”

‘He understood that?’

The fire Flare created began to combine and hover around her tail. It took on a blackish color and turned demonic in appearance.

Lance on the other hand gathered his magical power into a rod of electricity.

As the two forms of magic took shape, Josh realized that this was [Black Fire] and [Lightning Lance]!

Instead of throwing it, Lance rushed forward, with his lance in hand.

Flare met him with a flick of her tail as the demonic flame came in contact with the [Lightning Lance].

The fire began to consume the very lance itself! Probably since it was made entirely out of Mana, it was obvious that this was no accident. Flare had an evil, if not mischievous grin. But that grin seemed to wash right off after the lance glowed a slight blue. The [Black Fire] was instantly burnt out into embers until dying out completely.

What had happened?

“Haha! All I had to do was to not let the lance release any Mana. I realized after a bit what was going on.”

“That doesn’t explain HOW you did it! What was that?!”

Out of nowhere, a mature woman’s voice rang out through the room. Everyone except Death stared at the little [Fire Ferret] who just spoke.

After quickly recovering, Lance explained, although sheepishly,

“Well, the lance was created from a Spell originally, but manipulating the Electricity within it allows me to empower it further. All I had to do was absorb the Mana and all that would remain would be lightning.”

“And what about realizing what my [Black Fire] did so quickly?! Huh?!”

Flare was angry. She spit and raved after her loss.

“Well, I had learned to adapt quickly while fighting for my life in the Great North.”

“The Great North this, the Great North that. Shut up! I wanted you to use magic for that exact purpose! What a cheater! I don’t accept this! I want a rematch!”

“Hehehe, I guess 50 odd years can spoil a lady, huh?”

Lance was just standing there scratching his head, wondering how he was going to resolve this problem. But before he could get anywhere, Josh decided to help out some and divert the attention away from him.

“I won’t fight. There’s no way I would win against anyone here. You all have a lot of Skills and Stat boosts. While I may be extremely skilled, I can’t overcome such trying obstacles. Flare, did you want to continue eating? You left your bag here.”

“Hmph. I guess there’s no need to deal with such a lowly cheater. Josh is a much better definition of character.”

As Flare turned around to face Josh, Lance bowed slightly in his direction, in a silent form of gratitude.

“So who’s next? It’s obvious Lance won, but did no one else want to give it a go? Oh, I guess Josh also got last place, then, huh? Well that’s no fun. I guess we’ll have to have a penalty. Well, what did you want, Lance? Women, Spells, Skills?”

“Actually, can you take off a Skill?”

“I can. Or rather, the author can.”

“Then can you remove the [Tyrant’s] [Time Flies]? If he didn’t have that, he might have actually beat me. He also would have been given this by me, essentially. I feel really bad about that, and I wanted to fix it.”

“Okay, sure. But the author wants to know your real reason.”

At first, the lizard King was about to cry for happiness, but upon hearing Death’s reply, he couldn’t help but be suspicious.

“Fine. I wanted it to be seen as ”

“Got it. It’s done. 100 Mission Tokens have been given to you.”

“What?!”

“Come on!”

“Smart.”

“What a cheating bastard!”

“Hahaha! This is going to get interesting!”

==

Here I am! Listening to your comments! I might make some adjustments to your inputs like names and effects (although you might have already noticed that). Things like sprouting a Japanese Porno MC from any part of the body has to have a limit, after all. Although, I don’t know who will get it. Consumables and other disposable items won by the players can be purchased by the players as long as they fulfill the conditions.

1. Must have won it in the Lottery.

2. Must have the necessary Mission Tokens.

3. Does not already have 10 of said Item.

Going over some of the Lottery Items, some appear to fit better in a different category. I will try my best to make them fit well, but this Lottery means all items have a chance! So list all the items you want, and can even be pets or companions! Although, let’s not add more Copyright stuff, okay?

Oh, and I’m a dick, aren’t I?