AFK System: Level Up By Doing Nothing!

Chapter 4: Sleeping Through the Danger

Sarah squeezed her eyes shut. She had surrendered to her fate. Behind her closed eyelids, she could imagine those sharp fangs of the Mist Wolves tearing through skin and flesh with brutal force. The sound of their nearing growls made her skin crawl, and the sensation of hot air from the monsters' breath felt as though it had already brushed against her skin.

However, as seconds ticked by, the pain she anticipated never arrived. There were no fangs piercing her, no claws rending her uniform, not even the slightest sting. There was only an eerie silence, a stillness that seemed to press heavily against her eardrums.

With trembling hands, Sarah mustered the courage to open her eyes, just a crack.

What she saw made her heart nearly stop dead in its tracks.

The four Mist Wolves that had lunged toward Austin, the ones that should have been closest to his neck and body, appeared to be frozen in mid-air. They weren't falling; they weren't mauling their target. Instead, they looked as if they had collided with an invisible, impenetrable barrier, their muzzles stopped just inches from the blanket covering the sleeping Austin.

And Austin himself? He was still snoring softly. "Hrrr... hrrr..." His breathing remained unchanged, as if he were lying in the most comfortable bed in the world, rather than in the heart of the Mist Forest surrounded by predatory monsters.

"What... what just happened?" whispered Budi, who was still slumped on the ground, his eyes bulging until they felt like they might pop out of their sockets. He clutched the soil with his fingers, unable to believe what he had just witnessed.

The other wolves in the pack, lurking behind the first group, seemed equally bewildered. They stopped in their tracks, emitting low, fearful growls. They circled the area around Austin cautiously, as if sensing something incredibly dangerous that their physical eyes could not see.

Deep within Austin's subconscious, where his consciousness was currently enjoying high-tier comfort inside the 'Mirror Dimension', a red notification light suddenly flared to life, blinking with a rapid, sharp rhythm.

[Warning: Unauthorized intrusion detected.]

[Analyzing target: Mist Wolf (Floor 1 Monster).]

[Warning: Host threatened during Sleep Mode.]

In the real world, under the lush oak tree, the temperature around Austin plummeted drastically. The grey mist surrounding the tree seemed to be sucked toward Austin's body, swirling into a tiny, invisible vortex.

"Sarah! Look! What's happening to the mist?" Budi pointed at Austin with a trembling finger.

Sarah didn't answer. She was too shocked to make a sound. She saw with her own eyes that every wisp of mist touching the one-meter radius around Austin simply vanished, converted into pure energy that was absorbed into the young man's skin.

The four wolves frozen in mid-air suddenly shrieked. It wasn't an ordinary howl, but a high-pitched scream filled with immense, unimaginable agony. Their fur-covered bodies began to shake violently, and the bones beneath their skin audibly cracked, a sickening 'crunch-crunch' sound filling the air.

"Austin... he..." Sarah muttered, her voice choked.

She had thought Austin had fainted from fear. She had thought he was "trash" just waiting for his demise at the hands of monsters. But the sight unfolding before her eyes shattered every bit of logic she had ever held.

The system inside Austin’s head chimed again, this time with much higher urgency.

[Passive Defense Protocol engaged.]

[Activating Passive Skill: Repulsion Aura!]

BOOM!

A burst of energy, invisible yet incredibly dense and oppressive, exploded from Austin’s sleeping body. There was no fire, no colorful magic, just a pure, transparent shockwave.

The wave struck the four wolves frozen in the air. In the blink of an eye, the sturdy bodies of those dangerous monsters were pulverized. They didn't just get knocked back; they were literally blown apart, exploding into a rain of flesh, bone, and blood that splattered across the oak tree behind Austin.

Silence returned to the area. The blood splattered the grass around Austin, but not a single drop touched his clothes or skin. He continued to sleep peacefully, his hand even moving slightly to adjust his position, as if he were uncomfortable from the disturbance.

Sarah and Budi remained frozen stiff. They couldn't breathe. The remaining wolves in the pack completely lost their nerve. They no longer howled, nor did they growl. With their tails tucked between their legs, they turned and bolted back into the mist, fleeing from the "human" sleeping under the tree as if they had just witnessed the most terrifying grim reaper imaginable.

"The wolves... they ran?" Budi finally managed to find his voice, though it sounded like a squeak. "Where did they go?"

Sarah didn't answer. Her legs felt weak, and she slumped onto the grass, now stained with the pungent scent of blood. She stared at Austin, the boy labeled as academy trash, a Mana Deficiency patient with no future, with a gaze entirely different from before.

"Budi, do you think... we just saw something we weren't supposed to see?" Sarah asked, her voice trembling.

Budi could only nod slowly, tears of fear still pooling in the corners of his eyes. "He... he didn't even wake up. How is that possible?"

Austin, on the other hand, was still deep within his dream. Inside the 'Mirror Dimension', notifications kept popping up, informing him that his automatic hunt had just set a new record for efficiency today.

[Ding! Multiple monsters defeated. Experience points accumulated.]

[Passive Skill 'Repulsion Aura' successfully tested. Proficiency: Level 1.]

[Host’s physical fatigue: 0%. Current status: Optimal.]

Under the shade of that oak tree, Austin Carter continued to snore lightly. He had no idea that the energy burst he had just unleashed not only destroyed a pack of wolves but had also created a massive energy ripple, a signal that might attract entities far more powerful lurking in the depths of the higher tower floors.

To Austin, this was just a regular afternoon nap. But to the world, this was the beginning of an unavoidable chaos.

"Hrrr... hrrr..." Austin turned over, seeking a more comfortable position.

Sarah stood up with great difficulty, approaching Austin with caution. She hesitated to touch him. She was afraid that if she woke this youth, she would see something even more horrifying than the explosion just now.

"Austin?" Sarah called out softly, her voice barely audible.

There was no answer. Austin was truly out cold.

Sarah stared at the blood staining the tree trunk around Austin. She stared at the broom now lying near the young man’s head. Everything felt so nonsensical. How could someone who seemed so weak on the selection stage earlier possess such destructive power capable of obliterating monsters as if they were mere specks of dust?

"What are you actually hiding, Austin Carter?" Sarah whispered to herself, while Budi slowly pulled himself up from the ground, his eyes still fixed on Austin as if he were looking at a ghost.

In the distance, the mist in the Mist Forest seemed to quiver. Something deep within the forest had sensed that energy burst. Something massive, something that had been asleep for hundreds of years, was now slowly beginning to open its eyes. This Floor 1 trial, which should have been a routine elimination test, had just turned into something far more dangerous.