Chapter 21 - The Unknown Sixth Mission Difficulty
[Please vote and designate your team leader in under a minute.]
Hearing the Voice of The World, Rian, Dante, and Ainsworth thought in their minds:
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'I nominate Ainsworth as the team leader.'
'I nominate Ainsworth.'
'I nominate myself.'
After they nominated the team leader, a screen popped up that only the three of them could see.
-Ding!
[Ainsworth Arthurford has been designated as the team leader!]
-Ding!
[Please choose from the following mission difficulties:
(1) Easy
(2) Normal
(3) Hard
(4) Nightmare
(5) Hell
(6) ???]
Since Ainsworth was designated as the team leader of their group of three, only he could make the decisions from now on.
However, when Ainsworth saw the mission difficulties presented to him, he was quite confused as far as he knew, there were only five mission difficulties.
At least, even SS-rank Awakeners didn't encounter sixth difficulty as Hell Difficulty was the highest difficulty for an otherworld mission. But Ainsworth didn't know if those elusive SSS-rank Awakeners encountered a sixth difficulty.
'Should I ask for Rian and Dante's opinion? After all, the three of us are a team and although I am the designated team leader and I can choose any difficulty I want, we only agreed upon choosing Hell difficulty.'
'Furthermore, it's too risky to choose an unknown mission difficulty. And even if I want to tell Rian and Dante about it, it's even riskier to reveal an unknown mission difficulty, especially in a public place like the Mission Center.'
Although Ainsworth trusted Edenbridge High, he wasn't naive enough to fully trust them.
It might be paranoia, but Ainsworth believed it was better to let few people know about his abilities. Even his class traits weren't fully known by others and even awakeners consider their abilities and class traits as private information.
'If I'm not mistaken, it's due to my SSS-rank Freedom Freelancer class that I managed to access an unknown mission difficulty.'
Ainsworth remembered a certain class trait he had:
[SS = You can bypass or nullify certain minor laws, rules, or restrictions, such as magical seals, minor rule-type abilities, or non-absolute world rules.]
The description of "minor" was quite vague and Ainsworth didn't know to what extent the SS-rank class trait of his Freedom Freelancer class could do.
It was more than enough to speculate that the scope of "minor" included the Otherworld Mission difficulty. Otherwise, it wouldn't have revealed a sixth mission difficulty.
'Now, the only problem left is whether I have the balls to accept to choose the sixth mission difficulty.'
While Ainsworth was in deep thought, he heard a notification sound in his mind.
-Ding!
[Loading choices...]
-Ding!
[(1) Play it safe and choose Nightmare Difficulty.
(Reward: Random compatible E-grade equipment)]
[(2) Keep your agreement with Rian and Dante and choose the Hell Difficulty.
(Reward: 100% Perfect Healing Potion, Random compatible E-grade equipment)]
[(3) Grit your teeth and choose the Unknown Sixth Difficulty, believing that the riskier it is, the more rewards there are.
(Reward: 100% Perfect Healing Potion x3, S-rank Formless Kitchen Knives skill, Random compatible E-grade growth-type equipment)]
[(4) Choose none of the given options and choose your own path.
(Reward: Random compatible F-grade equipment)]
[Special Note: The choices' equipment rewards can bypass the rule of not being able to equip equipment in the first otherworld mission.]
As usual, time had halted and allowed Ainsworth to make his choice in peace.
Faced with these four options, he didn't expect that the choice rewards were no longer equal in surface value.
At least, unlike before, the choice rewards now had a bias in them and seemed to be indirectly guiding him to choose a certain choice.
Even the last option, which wasn't to choose any of the given choices, still yielded a reward compared to before.
After all, accepting the first otherworld mission was inevitable. Even not choosing any of the options given would still cause him to choose mission difficulties lower than nightmares. That alone was still a choice so even if the reward of the last option was trash, it still was a choice that needed to yield a reward.
Of course, these were all Ainsworth's speculations. The God-Level Choice System didn't have any user's manual or even a system spirit so no one explained to him how this worked.
He could only rely on guesswork but from what he speculated, situations like these where the rewards were biased to a certain choice shouldn't be that common.
'With the choice rewards displayed, I dare say that the outcome of those choices, the greater the reward, the more risk there is to my life.'
'Rather than influencing me to choose a certain option, it could also be thought of as a warning on whether the risk was worth it for the reward.'
'With how lucrative the choice reward for option 3 is compared to option 2, it can be speculated that even if Hell difficulty is difficult for me, Dante, and Rian, it isn't to the point that it would greatly endanger our life.'
'However, the fact that option 3 dared to give 3 healing potions that would grant full health was enough to warn me that it was needed if I even wanted to survive alive after choosing option 3. The unknown difficulty should be that dangerous.'
If Ainsworth's life was good and his family wasn't broken in this parallel world, he would not take risks.
However, Ainsworth was well aware that in the vast multiverse, weakness was the greatest sin.
If he dared not take risks and remain cowardly, he would be far inferior to those who lived their lives standing at the edge of a knife.
'Even SS-rank awakeners can't access the sixth difficulty. If I dared to gamble and managed to win, the foundation I can set for myself can guarantee that I can reach SSS-rank or even above it.'
'Let alone surpassing Elyndra and becoming worthy of her, the chances of retrieving my sister's divine eyes from that Eye Organization will be drastically increased!'
With that thought in mind, Ainsworth no longer hesitated and decisively made his choice.