Garett, Ashley, Trevor, and Samantha were all running for their lives.

They had barely escaped from some men who were higher leveled than they were, and they were lucky to escape with their lives.

Even using magic, which they seemed to not have any resistance to- and one of her strongest spells at that- Ashley had only been able to deal a moderate wound to the guard. Physical attacks seemed to be very weak against him, and if they allowed the battle to go on any further their side would certainly have taken casualties.

In a worst case scenario, a death spiral would occur. This was common in party based games. If one character dies, then the whole party is left with a significant gap in strength.

If the mage dies, then the party is left without a means of attack or buffing. If the tank dies, then the party is left without a means of taking the damage dealt. Either way, losing a member could very easily spiral into a party wipe.

This wasn't a game either. Not only would losing a member create a gap in abilities for the party, but the psychological torment of losing a comrade would effect everyone, possibly leading to panic or rage, and creating an uncontrollable situation.

Fortunately, the party did not suffer such a fate. This was completely due to Samantha advancing herself and obtaining the barrier ability which she used to block those arrows.

Had she not obtained this ability, the likely hood of all four people being killed then and there was almost 100%.

The party was making their way through some reeds, trudging their way through the swamp. Samantha was horrified at having to get so dirty, but now was not the time to care about such trivial things.

She was a demon now, whether she liked it or not. Even if she had the abilities to seduce or a high charisma, she knew deep down that she would be looked upon by society as nothing more than a monster. This hit her hard.

"Thank you. If it weren't for you, then our entire group would be dead. You saved us all.", Garett announced to Samantha.

"Looks like you finally stopped being useless. About time.", Trevor remarked.

A tear fell down Samantha's cheek, and she turned to face her party members, who were all smiling at her gratefully.

She smiled back- for the first time in her life.

This was the first time she had ever smiled without putting on an act.

"I told you to stop being so rude to such a beautiful woman, didn't I?", she said happily.

"Who was it that ever said you were a beautiful woman?", Trevor said with a sigh,  jokingly.

The four laughed as they continued trudging through the woods.

They all had now been through multiple battles, and were beginning to develop a liking for each other. Even though their personalities may have rendered them incompatible at first, they were now acting as if they were lifelong friends.

[Your bond as a party has become stronger]

[Level up! Lvl 6 Exp: 10/35]

[Note: Due to nightmare mode effects, the system has applied an exponential growth formula instead of typical linear growth. Statistics and abilities will grow accordingly]

Something then hit Garett.

The effects of the system had changed things drastically so that the stats on a good chunk of their equipment and the corresponding effects no longer applied.

He checked the logs to confirm, and came to the following conclusion.

The first thing was that now that attack damage was based on a roll which was solely effected by a given stat, that any buffs to that damage due to equipment were now null. This included his own wooden club, and he determined this by looking at the magic damage done to the guard by Ashley. Her [Ragged hood of lesser magic] should have rendered +1 Magic damage, but this did not go into the calculation.

It was likely that Samantha's staff of healing would also not yield any benefits anymore, as it didn't increase the intelligence stat but rather simply increased healing effects, which were based on intelligence.

He did notice something else.

While the 5 statistics were the only things that seemed to effect attack power, the defensive statistics still remained functional while they attacked those soldiers. The proof was that Trevor's arrows had been nullified due to the physical damage resistance.

So, the statistics that remained in effect after nightmare mode had been turned on were the 5 base stats, along with physical defense and magical defense. Any other direct buffs were null, however the 5 base stats could still be increased themselves.

Garett shared these findings with the party members.

"I see. You're likely correct. Good work noticing such a small detail. We didn't have time to check anything in the haze of the battle, but it's good to understand exactly what limitations we have and how to maximize the use of equipment and other resources.", Trevor commented.

"I don't really get it but if you say so then it must be right...", Samantha commented.

She seemed to be getting less and less arrogant as time passed. Perhaps she was realizing just how inferior she was in intellect to Trevor.

"Those with low IQ don't get an opinion. Keep your mouth shut, popular girl", Ashley stated.

Of course, she was just messing around with Samantha, who had realized this at this point.

"You be quiet, otaku girl! As if you understand what they're talking about!"

"Ah, but I do."

"Ngh!"

Samantha bit her lip and stopped talking.

Back to the topic at hand.

[Level up! Lvl 6 Exp: 10/35]

[Due to nightmare mode, many spell properties have changed. Changes are listed below]

[Player Garett: Strength +3]

[Strength: 7]

[Dexterity: 2]

[Perception: 1]

[Charisma: 1]

[Intelligence: 4]

[HP 25/25 MP 20/20]

[Player Trevor: Strength +3, Intelligence +2, Dexterity +2]

[Strength: 4]

[Dexterity: 9] (-1 For Suit)

[Perception: 7]

[Charisma: 4] (+5 with cultured beings)

[Intelligence: 6]

[Powered shot (Lvl 2). Shoot an arrow with +3 Dexterity on roll. Costs 5 MP]

[HP 20/20/ MP 25/25]

[Player Samantha: Dexterity +3, Strength +1, Intelligence +2]

[Strength: 4]

[Dexterity: 3]

[Perception: 5]

[Charisma: 7] (+5 Halo)

[Intelligence: 8]

[HP 20/20 MP 30/30]

[Physical Resistance Down]. (Lvl 2). Costs 5 MP Decreases an enemy's resistance to physical damage by Intelligence roll/3]

[Player Ashley: Intelligence +5, Charisma +1, Strength +2]

[Strength: 4]

[Dexterity: 4]

[Perception: 6]

[Charisma: 2] (+5 with lawful beings)

[Intelligence: 16]

[HP 20/20 MP 40/40]

[Fireball]-(Lvl 2)  5 MP (Single target, damage is based on intelligence roll and magic resistance)

Note: [Wall of Fire](Lvl 1) Costs 10 MP, Area of effect spell. Creates a wall of fire that will do intelligence based damage to any who pass through it. Can be placed on top of enemies.

It seemed that the parties health and mana was increasing significantly now. In fact, they were now strong enough where they might stand a chance against those guards from earlier if they used proper strategy.

"It seems like our abilities are growing faster now that we are on a harder difficulty mode. This could be extremely beneficial... on top of that, those guards were level 10 and 15 respectively, and their statistics were not much greater than ours, with our only limitation being the randomness of a given roll. Events aside, we might actually be able to survive in this state...", Garett analyzed.

But it was too early for celebration. Samantha brought up a grim topic.

"Hey... do you think all humans would think of us as monsters? Those guards seemed to hate us for some reason..."

It was a good point.

The guards seemed to be very eager to kill monsters, without even considering trying to reason with them. Not only that, but they seemed to be prejudice against even Trevor, an elven figure.

This implied that there was more to it than simple "I'm hunting those who are a danger to humanity"

He seemed to believe he was superior to monsters in every way- both in intellect and in existence.

This was likely not a coincidence.

When one felt threatened by someone, they would usually deceive themselves into believing that they are better than them for other reasons.

If a boss sees a worker doing better at a task than he could do, he might use the excuse "The reason I'm the boss is because my skills are better for leading. Since I have the skillset to stand at the top of society, and that worker only has the skills to be at the bottom, I am better than him."

Could this be the same principle?

Were humans perhaps jealous of the monsters abilities to fight, and as a result refuse to even try to reason or negotiate with them, under the pretense that the monsters are 'lesser beings'?

Who knew, but Garett wasn't enthusiastic to meet more humans after this encounter.

"I don't know, but I think we should keep our distance from human society for now, at least until we have some way for them to not see us as monsters..."

The party all agreed.

They continued walking across the swamp for a long time, until the swamp started changing into a dryer forest.

The sun was setting, and the party was getting tired.

They were also still hungry from previously.

Rumble... Rumble...

Even Ashley's stomach was rumbling now, and she needed less food than the rest.

"Sigh... I suppose we should try to eat something, but where could we get any food from? Any ideas?", Garett asked.

"Hm... we could try to pick some berries or fruits from these trees and bushes, however that brings the danger of potential poison..." Trevor suggested.

"What other options are there?"

"We could try to catch some sort of small animal, but if we did that eating the raw meat could bring the possibility of a sick stomach... which wouldn't bode well in this situation. We're in the wild, with no toilets anywhere nearby, and we are all stuck in this 3 meter radius."

"What the hell are we going to do when we do need to use the bathroom!?" Samantha screamed, flustered.

Good question. If there was a bathroom, the other 3 would be able to stand outside the door while remaining within the 3 meter radius, but what if in this world no such thing existed? As monsters, the party was clearly not accepted by humans. Would they really have to reduce their own dignity to that of animals in order to live in this world?

"I suppose we could try to build a small outhouse... I am a craftsman after all... I don't have any tools or materials to do so right now though."

[Would you like to create a blueprint for outhouse?]

A message popped up for Garett.

Eh, why not?

[Yes]

[Produce Blueprint] successful. [Player Garett MP: 10/20]

A blueprint formed from blue mana particles that exited from Garret's body. The blueprint began to take shape, and then the pen floated out of Garett's pocket and began to write on its own.

[Design blueprint] successful

The pen had drawn a perfect blueprint for an outhouse, large enough to fit a person and with the exact specifications to minimize the use of materials, and to maximize the efficiency of the product. It wasn't exactly pretty, but they were working with what they had.

In the bottom right corner of the blueprint, it said the following.

[Production cost: 5 MP, 3 [m^3} wood]

[Would you like to craft this item]

"But I don't have any tools to do so..."

[Do you wanna craft it or not?]

"Oi oi... no need to get sassy on me computer program. Jeez. I'll craft it. Yes"

[Player Garett: MP: 5/20]

A saw blade formed in Garett's hands from mana that exited his body once more. Garett's mind was filled with the practical knowledge of how to construct the object in the blueprint, and he quickly got to work.

[New skill unlocked: Toolbox]

He used the saw to swiftly chop down a tree, and began slicing it into planks of the appropriate sizes, as specified by the blueprint. As the party members watched Garett work, they were astonished at his ability to use his hands so skillfully, and were curious as to how he could work so quickly.

Instead of using nails to connect the boards, he instead created notches inside each of the boards so that they would fit to each other like a puzzle. With this, all he needed was his saw and the wood to create the outhouse.

After just a few minutes, Garett had completed the construction, and all of the team members were staring at him, amazed.

"Unbelievable! To think the craftsman class would give our party such a useful ability... we will certainly have to make use of this in the future.", Trevor speculated.

Ashley hovered behind Garett.

"As expected of you. You may be somewhat useless in combat but you have other uses." , she stated coldly.

"Cut me some slack, will ya?"

"That's amazing! I'm sorry for doubting your abilities! I won't doubt you as a leader again!", Samantha stated.

Well, it was only natural that Samantha would have doubted him after he told Ashley to shoot that fireball at her. Garett wasn't offended.

With that, the outhouse was created. There was even a toilet made of wood which led to a small hole in the dirt which Garett had dug up using his own claws.

The four were able to at least get some relief before dark came, but the problem of food was still there.

Rumble... Rumble....

"UGH!!! IM STARVING!!!!"

"UGH!!! ME TOO!!!!"

"Be quiet, useless women. If you're so hungry why don't you go and cook something like you should be doing." , Trevor reprimanded the complaining pair.

"Why you chauvinist pig!"

Garett was lost in thought as to what to do to solve the problem, and Ashley continued complaining., while Samantha and Trevor bickered with each other.

"If its come to this then we should probably take a look around at least. If we find anything we can worry about deciding whether to eat it or not later"

Garett needed to rally the party together. If they became dysfunctional every time an issue came up and argued with each other, then there was no chance of survival in this world. Especially so because it didn't look like they had many- if any- allies. The monsters tried to kill them, and the humans viewed them as abominations. There was no ally in this world aside from each other.

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make."

Everyone looked at Garett, somewhat irritated that he interrupted their arguing and complaining. Their faces looked as if to say "What do you want us to do? Go and take a risk and potentially trigger more unfortunate events or attract more enemies?"

"We need to work together here. We cannot allow ourselves to fight among ourselves, or we will surely be killed, whether it is by monsters or humans or nature itself. If you all understand that then lets get going and try to find some food."

Their faces softened somewhat after being lectured by Garett. The party knew he was right, and that they couldn't afford to be held up here.

Even if it was dangerous to make a move, doing nothing was equivalent to giving up.

"I hear you loud and clear. But we need to be careful if we move out. Even a single misstep could cause death.", Trevor stated.

"Then why are you wasting time bickering if you understand that?", Samantha asked.

"You were the one who started the bickering, not me."

"Only because you said something rude to me!"

Ashley seemed to be laughing quietly to herself at seeing these two like this.

She seemed to be having fun while others were in pain.

"This is why you aren't the leader, Tre-"

Trevor grabbed Samantha's mouth before she could utter his name.

"Remember what we decided earlier? We shouldn't speak each others names. You never know who could be listening in on our conversation, and a person's name seems to hold some sort of power in this world."

Samantha nodded, Trevor's hand over her mouth.

She took his hand off and inhaled, before quietly speaking.

"I'm sorry. I got overexcited. It won't happen again."

Trevor seemed to be a bit shocked by Samantha's sudden burst of humility, but Garett smiled within his heart.

Even if they weren't a compatible team, through pain and suffering they were slowly growing to work together.

Trevor spoke a bit quieter and responded to her apology.

"Its.. its fine. Just be careful from now on. And, I may not be a good leader, but I don't need to have good leadership. All I have to do is flex on others until they catch up to me."

He spoke arrogant words, but his tone was much more humble than before. Samantha apologizing to him surely worked on his heart.

With those things said, Ashley seemed to have become bored and even a little irritated.

"Boring...", she whispered to herself.

With that, the four headed out.

----

After a few minutes of walking through the forest, and not finding any berries or fruits on any of the trees, a message began to playback to the members of the party. They were making their way through the brush, and about to push a thick bush aside to a small path in the forest clearing.

[The party sets off in search of food]

[Generating scenario]

[While scavenging in the forest, you encounter a weird man who seems to be made of gel. He seems to be interested in the dirt, and is too focused on what he is doing to notice you. What do you do?]

[A. Approach the man in a friendly manner, and see how he reacts]

[B. Intimidate the man and force him to give you everything he has]

[C. Intimidate the man and force him to bring you to where he lives, in order to rob him of his goods]

[D. Kill the man here and now to avoid any chance of being exposed]

[E. Don't approach the man and stay hidden to see what he does]

[F. Don't approach the man and leave here, unnoticed]

These options all presented themselves before the party members.

When they opened the brush, there was indeed a man there.

He seemed to be looking at an ant pile, and he was bent over. The man looked like he was of the same form as the Algorithanus, who they had fought earlier, however he was made up of a green gel instead of blue. He was middle aged, but looked like he was on the decline in age. He had a long beard, which was also made out of gel, and he wasn't extremely tall, just half a foot taller than Garett, who was extremely short compared to his previous height.

"Ah.... how is it that the grains that make up the ant hills are so distinct from the other grains of soil around? Is it that they collect only the finest grains for the building of their homes? Or perhaps it is because the grains are mixed with their own feces..."

"Only one way to find out"

The man took his finger, stuck it into the ant pile, and rubbed some dirt all over it. A few ants crawled onto his finger as well, leaving some bites- and some green fluid flowed out at the locations he was bit.

The man took his finger, and stuck it into his mouth. He chewed up the ants, and swallowed them, and they dissolved in his see through mouth. He swished the dirt around, and then proceeded to spit it out onto the ant pile.

"Indeed it is the case! They seem to mix their feces with the soil in order to give it some properties different from those of the surrounding soil. Interesting! I wonder if this could be used to increase crop profit.... but would they eat up the crops as well?"

Trevor turned to Garett. "I believe we should select option E, to watch and see what he does. This man seems somewhat different from the previous slime we fought, who seemed to only want to kill and rampage."

[You have selected to stay hidden. Note: As a result of nightmare mode being enabled, and because the stoppage of time for decision making to occur is no longer occurring, non leader members can make party wide decisions with their actions]

Garett's heart somewhat drooped after seeing this. He no longer had the power to order the people of the party around when needed. Still, this wasn't all too bad. So long as nobody does anything stupid.

[Dexterity roll for Trevor: 8% chance of success. Roll: 59. Failure]

Samantha pushed Trevor out of the way to take a good look at the man, causing the four to all fall out of the bushes.

"Oof!"

"Ugh"

"Why did you do that!?"

"Where are you touching!? Get your hands off me!"

"Are you ok?" Garett was addressing Ashley, but she had floated above the others so as to not be caught up in the rumble.

"No problem here"

"Um! Hello! We were wondering if you had any food for us? If you don't mind, it would be very much appreciated if you had anything.", Samantha asked from the bottom of the dog pile to the slime man who was visibly shaken.

[Player Samantha has selected option A. Rolling for charisma. Chance of success: 12% Roll: 74. Failure]

The man looked back and forth between the party and the forest behind him. He seemed to be scared shitless. He was debating whether to run or whether it would be useless.

"Please don't eat me, Higher demons and greater spirit! I will provide you some food! Please don't eat me on the spot!"

Garett smiled at this reaction.

He had been waiting for a chance like this. A chance to blow off some steam on someone who he didn't care about.

He grinned.

His face turned evil.

Ashley, noticing the situation, also started to grin, and Trevor began to laugh quietly.

"I see... heh heh.. so this is what happens when we fail at what we try to do.... looks like we have no choice then...", Trevor whispered.

"Wait, you've got us all wrong! We aren't going to eat y-"

"If you don't take us to where you live, and give us something to eat and drink, we will murder you here and now, and finish off the rest of your village when we find it."

[You have selected option C, which will decrease your standing with the slime people. As a result of this, the inverse of the charisma value is to be used]

[Player Garett: Charisma roll. Chance of success: 99%. Roll: 64. Success]

The slime man looked at the party with terror in his eyes.

He shivered like a baby, and slowly moved his finger towards the direction behind him.

"I... I will t- take you all to m- my village. Please do not harm anyone.... please just take what you need..."

Garett wickedly smiled towards his party members. Samantha was the only one who looked horrified.

"Why would you say something like that!? How are we supposed to gain any allies like this!?"

"It looks like you haven't realized... In this world, we have no allies. Everyone but us is an enemy. Is there any wrong in invoking fear into an enemy who is already scared of us? I learned something today. In this world, its a lot easier to take the path that seems to be evil at first than it is to be held back by morals and sentiments. If we are held back by emotions, these slime people would likely turn their backs on us if they got the chance, no? After all, to them, we are nothing more than monsters. Am I wrong?"

Trevor pushed up his glasses. "Indeed. We must put fear into others to prevent them from going against us secretly. Even if it is a bluff, it is the only way."

For some reason, the slime was terrified of the group. Even though their level was not high, he seemed to be shocked at their appearances.

Garett had merely taken advantage of the situation to obtain them supplies and food, as well as potential information.

"Isn't this reckless!? Shouldn't we at least try to make good relations with them?"

"You saw the percentages, didn't you? There was next to zero chance of us being able to be friendly with them. This is likely the only way."

With this, the three stepped forward, with the looks of murderers on their faces.

The slime man trembled and slowly walked ahead of the party, leading them to his village.

"However...."

Ashley made another remark, as she hovered behind the slime man and whispered into his ear.

"Your statement of telling us not to murder anyone... and to only take what we need.... that was pretty insolent, wasn't it? Who do you think you are to tell us to do what you want? Or perhaps there is something you wish to say to us? Hm? You still have the chance to go against us instead of giving in like this. Would you be able to live with the guilt of being the one who led us to your village for people to be slaughtered? Well, that's your decision. If you want to save yourself, I have no qualms against it."

Blobs of gel- sweat went down the face of the slime man, who was frozen in place as Ashley whispered these things into his ears.

He considered turning back for just a second, to go against them, but decided not to.

Samantha yanked Ashley back, from the collar of her nightgown that she wore.

"What are you doing!? Are you trying to get them to hate us?"

"I was simply breaking his spirit to fight back. These slime people are likely stronger than us, and we wouldn't be able to fight back if they all attacked us together."

Garett and Trevor seemed to understand this, as they both smiled and chuckled in an evil way.

"Heh heh heh."

"Ahahaha"