Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Chapter 146: Different rules

[You have entered an area with a different time flow Enough nutrients detected.]

Had it been before Sofia's, or Gaya's, visit, Adam would have been worried about an over activation of his brain, after all for a game to use areas with a different flow of time, the brain will have to work twice, or thrice in this case, as fast as it normally should.

But this wasn't just a game, his soul itself was sent in this avatar, and had Sofia's protection, so he wasn't worried this might harm him.

For now, he was just curious as to what kind of challenge he would be presented with. But as soon as he closed the message, and actually entered the challenge area, Adam felt a big change. With a frown, he tried to activate his system, to look at his status, but received a notification instead.

[System has been shut off in this area.]

The change Adam had felt came from his vitality. As close to reality the game was, it wasn't perfect. It didn't come from a problem with realism, since this was a real world, but because of the different rules, namely, the system.

The system wasn't something unique to players, and as thus hadn't been introduced by Sofia. Instead, a long time ago the gods grouped together to create this system for all living beings. Sofia had just pushed it a little more to make it seem like a game.

But Adam had a theory, an hypothesis, which he was pretty sure was accurate. It was that when Sofia's power and protection left his avatar, and it truly became his, his system would also change to become closer to the one NPCs, or rather the real inhabitants of this world, had.

Anyway, he had felt the change because his vitality in the real world was similar to a regular human, his heart, his brains, his organs was what made him live. But in the game world, every being was protected by the system, and the physical damage one suffered would go along with the HP one has.

One of the consequences is the damage one receives, but also the degree of injury. To lose an arm in Epoch, for example, no matter how much strength is behind the blow, the blow only needs to deal more than a certain percentage of the target's HP to cut the arm, making it much harder to dismember someone than in the real world.

However, receiving damage was also very different. Whether one hit the tip of the finger or the middle of the chest, the damage received would be the same. The only exception was the weak points, but even then the damage was only doubled.

When Adam had fought the Grootslangs, he had hit and impaled the brain of one of them, but it hadn't been killed thanks to the vitality added by the system. Had the exact same monster been hit in the same way in the real world, it would have died without a doubt.

And even dealing fatal injuries was harder. For a person in the real world, their defense at different spots in the body wouldn't be the same. Piercing through someone's tummy was way easier than through their leg or their forehead. But in the game, the defense was the same all around the body.

But when he entered this challenge area, he felt like the system's protection had disappeared. While this was still his avatar's body, he knew that if a blade were to target his heart, he better protect it or dodge or he would die, no matter how much HP he has.

The system's shut off was actually a good thing was Adam, because the system actually weakened the ability of someone skilled killing much stronger foes, and privileged strength the most. In the game world, even if one over skills his opponent so much he can't be hit, if the other has too much HP then the skilled one has no chance.

But in this world, unless the difference in strength was so high that their skin was too tough to pierce for his blade, not many could rival his skill.

However, it wasn't all positive. Losing the system's assistance also meant he could only use the skills he had perfectly mastered, and he couldn't use his inventory, so taking any loot from this world was going to be hard since he didn't have a bag or anything similar.

Thankfully he always had his sword on his back, unlike some players who preferred to have it in their inventory because it was heavy. Had he been one of those players, he would have to fight with his bare hands.

Anyway, he stopped those useless thoughts and looked around himself, wondering what he had to do. He had spawned on top of a mountain, or rather a hill, and he had a great view of his surroundings. Actually, this could be a great spot to meditate, he could feel he was really surrounded by the world, by nature.

But it wasn't time for this. He could see a city in the distance, it would take around an hour for him to reach there. Bordering the city was a forest, which extended over a large area, too large for him to see it's end.

Assuming the city was north of his position, and he was facing it, the forest was going from North to South West, going through West.

South would then be a big lake, South East a small village, and East to North East was a real mountain this time, with the top covered by the clouds, but clearly clad in snow.

So Adam had different choices, and with no indication, he didn't know whether finding the right destination was part of the test. Thinking about it, Adam decided to just go to the location that attracted him the most.

The forest was a big no, he didn't like forests that much in the first place, and with how big it was he didn't see any point going in there unless elves or fae inhabited it. As for the mountain, it wasn't really much of a choice either since it looked quite perilous, and although his great vision allowed him to see a path leading up the mountain, it didn't look like an enjoyable climb.

So that left him the city North, the lake South and the village South East. After a moment, he decided to go North. This was because he felt like that once there, he would be able to gather information about the other locations.

And chances were, this choice didn't really matter. Maybe that whatever directions he went to, it wouldn't change anything and he would be led to the same location in the end. Well, only one way to know, go to the city.

Adam tried to summon Neith, but found himself unable to. Apparently, the Pet Space was considered part of the system. Left with no other choice, Adam began walking toward his destination.

When he was on the hill, he wasn't able to see the path to the city completely, and didn't see any lifeforms from where he was.

But as he walked toward the city, he met his first monsters. A pack of wolves. There wasn't any official path leading to the city, at least not where he was, so it wasn't very surprising for there to be monsters.

The wolves didn't attack immediately, but quickly surrounded Adam first, making sure not to leave him any space to flee.

But Adam wasn't worried and let them. He may have lost the system, he still kept the majority of his strength, only losing some of his skills, and so his senses were as good as before.

And from what he could feel, those wolves weren't a threat, they were about as strong as a newly promoted Silver Rank, a Level 50. If converted to the real world, then they were monsters who had just broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. Since Adam himself was about as strong as a weak Gold Rank, which is a weak Core Formation, those wolves didn't threaten him in the slightest.