Soulbound: The System Of Temptation

Chapter Four: Reward

While the system seemed to have a vanilla, almost clinical, way of talking about it, Greg could feel his dick twitch at the thought of carrying out the missions. Of course, Greg wasn't under any illusions that he would be going this far with the healer today. Still, he couldn't help the excitement he felt when he thought of it. Especially given how hot the healer was. Greg had to summon all of his willpower to keep himself from tenting up the blanket he was covered by. Part of Greg was uncertain that any of this was actually happening. I mean, resurrection is enough of an unbelievable feat in and of itself. Now, on top of that, a raunchy system appears out of nowhere prompting him to engage in lewd behavior. What the hell was Greg supposed to make of all that? Another part of Greg, however, was equal parts curious and excited about it all, if he was being completely honest with himself. Between his doubt and curiosity, Greg chose to just go along and see where he'd end up. Also, although it wasn't critical info by any means, Greg couldn't help but notice that there were more than five missions available on this page. The first two pages had left him with an expectation of five missions for every category, but clearly, there was no hard limit on the number of missions that can be available in any category.

In the process of going through the missions, Greg had gotten one of his questions answered and an additional bit of information that he hadn't even considered. Appended at the end of every mission were two bits of information. The first of the two, which Greg hadn't even considered before, was the danger grade of each mission. Unlike what had been the case with the previous page, in this section, the system seemed to be willing to offer explanations as when Greg looked at the words Danger grade, a box appeared explaining what it was all about. The system seemed to strictly define danger as physical harm. Things like humiliation, mental anguish, social consequences, and other parameters of harm that weren't physical weren't at all considered.

None of the missions would harm him. The danger came from the process of trying to execute the mission or the consequences that came after the mission was completed. For example, if Greg kissed the healer, the kiss in and of itself wouldn't cause him harm. However, in the process of trying to talk the healer into the kiss, there is a certain chance that either she or some other party might be displeased enough to harm him for it. Another example would be flashing the healer. The act of exposing himself to the healer in itself wouldn't harm him, the consequences that follow, however, could be serious, whether by the healer's or some other party's hand. In short, the danger could come either before or after the mission was done.

The danger grades according to the system were: None, low, average, high, and suicidal. The none danger grade seemed self-explanatory. Missions with this designation didn't pose any physical danger to Greg, whether before or after it was done. The low danger grade meant that there was a chance of some physical harm. It, however, wouldn't be anything serious that could cause prolonged suffering. This danger grade spanned from being slapped, punched, kicked, and things of the sort. The low danger designation didn't limit the amount of pain that could be suffered, the only rule was that it wouldn't last longer than a few minutes and wouldn't leave any lasting physical harm.

With the average danger grading, blood would spill. In this danger grade, attacks by weapons were covered. Anything from serious wounds, broken bones, to being left bedridden for days to weeks were all categorized under the average danger grading. The only limiting factor was that the harm suffered wouldn't cause him any permanent physical harm or pose a danger to his life. Greg's eyes couldn't help but twitch as he read all this. How the hell did broken bones and being left bedridden rank as average danger? Part of him wasn't even sure he wanted to know what the high danger grade would look like. Still, he pushed forward and read it. With the high danger grade, being left bedridden for more than a month, left with injuries that wouldn't heal for a long time, or even being permanently maimed were all in the cards. There was a note attached to this danger grade stating that there was a certain chance of dying from these missions. The final danger grade was suicidal and the explanation was rather simple. There is at least a ninety percent chance of dying from trying these missions.

Seeing this scale, Greg couldn't help but reevaluate his assessment of the healer crouched right beside his bed. Given the fact that she seemed to struggle every time she used her magic for more than a couple of minutes, Greg had never really thought of her as either powerful or dangerous. This wasn't to say that he looked down on the healer in any way. The woman's efforts to nurse him back to health despite the odds and her struggles with magic had earned a lot of regard for her from Greg. However, Greg couldn't help the cold sweat that broke out all over his body when he noted the fact that ninety percent of the missions associated with this woman were tagged with the suicidal danger grade.

Greg glanced sideways at the woman who was calmly adding herbs to the basin that she'd already magically filled with water. The woman was calmly working on the herbs with practiced ease that spoke of years of experience. Looking at this demure lady, most wouldn't think anything of her. Greg, however, couldn't help but feel like a dangerous beast was crouched right beside him. One stupid move from him and it would all be over. Every single mission associated with this woman had the suicidal danger grading except for those in the basic and intermediate tabs. And even then, among those in these two tabs, there wasn't a single mission that had the none danger grading. According to the system, even just holding this woman's gaze for ten seconds held the average danger grading. Part of Greg wanted to think that the system was exaggerating a little bit. Another part, however, couldn't help the dreadful question, what if it was not?

The cold fear that he suddenly felt sobered Greg up a bit as he realized that blindly carrying out some of these missions could bring about some serious consequences. Heck, even some of the seemingly less risky missions like making a lewd joke, if not carried out correctly, could very easily land him in trouble. Even if he wasn't physically attacked, being labeled as a creep and facing social isolation wouldn't be a good way to go about things. The danger scale came as an apt reminder to Greg that just because the system asked him to do something, didn't mean that it was a good idea to do it. From simple missions to the more dangerous missions, Greg would have to put a lot of thought not only into whether it was worth it but also into how to go about accomplishing the missions he deemed worth the risk.

The second bit of information that Greg got from going over the mission lists was the answer to his afternoon question of how to get lust points. The reward for carrying out each of the missions was listed beside the danger grade of the mission. Something that made it immediately apparent that the more dangerous a mission was, the more rewarding completing it would be. Even when two missions fell under the same category, the missions that had a higher danger grading had a higher reward multiplier.

Missions that had none as the danger grade, offered no reward multiplier. One would simply receive the stated reward. Missions with a low danger grading would get a two-times reward multiplier. Missions with an average danger grading will offer a five times reward multiplier, while missions with a high danger grading will get a ten times reward multiplier. Missions of the suicidal danger grade offered a whopping one hundred times multiplier. As such, if Greg completed a mission that only offered one lust point that had the none danger grade, it would only offer one lust point in the final analysis. If it had the low danger grade, it would offer two lust points. With the average danger grading, it would give five lust points and with the high danger grading the reward would be ten points. If the mission had a suicidal danger grading, then it would have awarded a hundred lust points as a reward for accomplishing the mission.

In a not-so-subtle way, the system seemed to be encouraging him to take on more dangerous missions if he hoped to gain more from the system. This placed Greg in a bit of a bind as it directly clashed with the resolution he'd just made. Based on what he was seeing, playing it safe wouldn't earn him a lot of lust points. On the other hand, seeking to earn a lot of points would mean constantly gambling with the second chance at life that he'd been given!