2025-04-08 18:39:10[System Update Complete.]
[New Feature: Punishment Protocol.]
For every hour that passes without accepting and progressing the first mission, host will suffer internal backlash. First symptom: coughing blood.]
Leo stopped in his tracks.
"Wait—what?! What kind of messed up RPG is this?!" he yelled.
His chest suddenly tightened. His vision blurred. Then—
SPLAT!
A spray of red splashed the forest floor.
Leo stared at his hand, covered in fresh blood from his mouth.
"Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me."
The clock was ticking. The system was serious. And Leo was now racing against time in a world that already seemed determined to chew him up.
He gritted his teeth. "Fine. You want me to complete a mission? Then tell me what it is!"
And the forest remained silent.
Until the system responded with a low hum.
[First Mission: Investigate the Rift in Darkvale Forest.]
Time Remaining: 4 days, 22 hours, 56 minutes.]
Leo groaned. "Darkvale? That doesn't sound ominous at all."
But with no better options—and a literal death countdown hanging over him—Leo took his first step deeper into the unknown.
He trudged through the dense underbrush, each step heavy with exhaustion. Darkvale Forest stretched endlessly before him, its trees towering like ancient sentinels beneath the orange hues of a dying sky. Shadows twisted across the ground, dancing in the mist that rolled low through the brush. It felt like the forest was alive, watching him.
His throat burned, and his limbs ached from walking aimlessly for hours without food or water. He stumbled against a mossy trunk, panting. "Damn, I'm thirsty."
As if summoned by his desperation, the system’s holographic interface flickered to life.
[Inventory Unlocked.]
[Note: Level 1 consumables (Water, Wheat Bread) available. Requirement: Complete sub-mission – Eliminate an F-Class Beast.]
Leo blinked. "You mean I’ve had an inventory all this time, and you didn’t bother to mention it?!"
The system chimed again with its usual mechanical calm.
[Sub-missions are essential for stat progression. Resources can be earned.]
He threw his hands up. "So now I’ve got to fight just to drink water? Fantastic."
As he groaned and leaned back, another window opened.
[Stat Display – Current Level: 1] Agility: 0 Speed: 0 Strength: 0 Stamina: 0 Vitality: 0 Intelligence: 1 Charisma: 0 Luck: -1
[Note: Daily Tasks will be assigned, including: Basic Physical Training, Mental Challenge, and Combat Simulations. Completion increases stat points.]
Leo exhaled deeply. His thoughts drifted back to Liora and her minions, the way they’d stared at him with disdain, calling him “barely existing.”
“Guess it’s time to prove I’m more than that.”
Another interface bloomed in front of him, this one glowing crimson.
[Sub-Mission: Initiate?] Objective: Defeat 1 F-Class Beast Accept: [YES] [NO]
Leo didn’t hesitate. He slapped the [YES] button.
[Target Identified: F-Class Beast – Spiketail Howler]
[Description: A low-tier predator that prowls Darkvale. Roughly the size of a large boar, with porcupine-like spikes on its back and a blood-curdling screech that can momentarily paralyze prey. Aggressive but predictable.]
[Reward: Access to Level 1 Consumables + Basic Skill – "Quick Strike"]
A sudden growl echoed through the trees. Leo’s head snapped up.
Branches rustled to his right. The creature stepped into view.
It was hideous—about three feet tall with dark matted fur, wicked yellow eyes, and jagged spikes protruding along its spine. Its front limbs were thick and clawed, dragging slightly as it walked, and its jaw twisted unnaturally to one side.
Leo’s heart pounded. He grabbed a sturdy branch from the forest floor, his only weapon.
The Spiketail Howler locked eyes with him. Its mouth curled back, revealing rows of sharp, uneven teeth. It screeched—a bone-rattling, guttural sound.
For a split second, Leo froze. His limbs trembled, muscles locking involuntarily from the beast’s screech.
"Shit—paralysis," he muttered.
The creature charged.
With effort, Leo forced his body to move, stumbling sideways just as claws slashed the air where he'd stood.
He swung the branch, striking the Howler’s side. It yelped, then spun and lunged again. Leo dodged, barely. The beast’s claws grazed his shirt, tearing fabric but missing skin.
He scrambled backward, panting, keeping the branch raised.
"Come on, come on... Think!"
The system interface blinked in again.
[Combat Tip: Aim for the soft belly. Avoid direct contact with the spikes. Use Quick Strike when prompted.]
"I don’t even have Quick Strike!"
[Quick Strike unlocked for emergency use – 1 time only. Trigger: Mental Command.]
The Howler lunged again.
Leo tightened his grip. “NOW!”
His body moved with unnatural speed. The branch whipped forward in a blur, striking the Howler’s midsection. The beast shrieked, stumbling back.
He didn’t let up. He rushed forward, swinging again and again, each hit faster, more precise. The creature tried to retaliate, but Leo ducked low, slamming the branch into its skull.
With one final blow to its neck, the Spiketail Howler collapsed.
Silence.
Leo stood, panting hard, sweat dripping from his brow. His arms trembled, and the branch was now splintered and bloody.
Then came the chime.
[Mission Complete.]
[Reward Unlocked: Level 1 Consumables Accessed. Weapons: Snarltwist dagger. Skill Obtained: Quick Strike (Cooldown: 4 hours).]
[Stat Update – Strength: +1, Stamina: +1.]
A new panel opened, showing a modest loaf of wheat bread and a clear bottle of water.
He didn’t hesitate—he downed the water in one go, gasping as the cool liquid soothed his parched throat. The bread was dry but edible.
[New Sub-Mission Available: Investigate the Echoing Shrine]
[Objective: Locate and activate the shrine’s core.] [Reward: +1 Intelligence, +1 Luck. Skill Unlock Opportunity: “Spirit Link” (Passive).]
Leo squinted at the map. A glowing pulse now blinked faintly on the interface, showing the shrine’s location just a kilometer north.
As he began the trek, something shifted in the air—like static before a lightning strike.
He emerged into a clearing. At its center stood a crumbling, moss-covered monument etched with glowing symbols. The shrine.
As Leo approached, whispers filled the air, curling like smoke into his ears.
“Who dares disturb the Echo?”
His pulse spiked. “The hell?!”
[Alert: Spirit Guardian Detected – “Mourning Wisp”]
[Warning: Mental Resistance check in progress...]
Leo’s vision flickered. The shrine erupted in ghostly blue light as a translucent figure took shape above it—skeletal, robed in vapor, hollow-eyed.
The wisp raised a clawed hand. Leo staggered as pressure mounted in his skull.
“Not... worthy...” it hissed.
“I’ll show you worthy!” Leo shouted, gripping his new dagger.
Previous Chapter
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Chapter 45: Dressed in comedy
Chapter 45: Dressed for DisasterBack in the city—The room was cloaked in luxury, the kind that carried danger in its perfume. The long glass windows reflected the city skyline, and at the head of the oval table sat a woman in crimson heels and a tailored black suit. Her manicured nails drummed rhythmically against the surface as her voice—low, smooth, and lethal—cut through the silence.“So,” she began, her words dripping like venom, “the person who dares to stress my dearest nephew… was an E-class hunter? Not even a C-class?”Kael swallowed hard, his back straight but his spine cold. “Y-yes, Aunt.”The woman—Therese Valtoria, one of the most feared guild executives in the continent—slowly rose from her chair. Her movements were deliberate, feline. “Well, well, well…” she murmured. “Should I be disappointed… or enraged?”Kael’s heart raced. He wasn’t sure which answer would spare him, so he did what he did best—he improvised. “Aunt, he isn’t a normal E-class hunter!”Therese raised
Chapter 44: Tea party of doom
The moment they stepped into the tower, silence swallowed them whole.The air inside was heavy — thick with dust, heat, and the metallic tang of blood. The first floor stretched before them like a battlefield long abandoned. The flickering red runes on the walls cast distorted shadows across the piles of corpses — the slain maws of the tower.Their bulbous bodies lay scattered like deflated carcasses, their mouths gaping wide even in death, fangs frozen mid-snarl. Steam still rose faintly from a few of them.Tessa stopped short. “By the Ancients…” she whispered. “Did he… do all this?”Dean’s boots crunched lightly over a trail of dried ichor. His expression didn’t change, but his eyes took everything in — the placement of each corpse, the clean slices, the patterns of impact across the stones.Rurik whistled low. “Well, the kid’s got guts — and apparently, skill to back it up.” He kicked one of the corpses lightly, its gelatinous body collapsing inward with a sickening squelch. “Damn.
Chapter 43: Alive
The tower loomed against the bleeding dusk like a dagger stabbed into the world with its black stone gleaming faintly under the crimson sky. Mist swirled around its base, alive with whispering echoes. Every few minutes, a strange pulse shivered through the air as if the tower itself was breathing.Tessa paced near the ridge, her cloak whipping behind her as she muttered under her breath. “He’s been gone too long,” she said for the tenth time, her eyes darting between the trembling horizon and the tower’s glowing entrance. “It’s been hours. What if something happened to him?”Rurik, leaning lazily against a half-fallen pillar, grunted. “You’re talking about that guy again? The one who just walked in without backup?” He snorted. “Then yeah, something probably did happen to him. Like, oh, I don’t know, maybe death by stupidity.”“Rurik!” Tessa snapped, glaring at him. “He went in alone. You saw what we all experienced the last time we tried that!”Rurik shrugged. “Yeah. And I saw how w
Chapter 42: Next level
The air was thick with blood.It wasn’t just the smell, it was in the walls, the floor, the sound. The entire chamber pulsed like a living wound.Leo swung his blade, teeth gritted, as the Corruption Warden lunged again. The thing looked like it had once been human—a hulking knight now fused with black armor that oozed like tar. Its sword was jagged bone, dripping with crimson energy that hissed whenever it hit the air.“Stay down, damn it!” Leo snarled, parrying the monster’s downward strike. Sparks spat as metal screamed against bone. The impact forced him back, his boots scraping over slick stone.Mira darted around his shoulder, glowing with frantic blue light. “You call that staying down? That thing’s regenerating faster than your brain cells!”“Not helping, Mira!”The Warden’s helmet twitched, letting out a growl that sounded more like a dying cathedral’s bell than a voice. It swung again. Leo ducked, rolled, and barely avoided the blade as it sliced a stone pillar in half like p
Chapter 41: Crimson sand
The light consumed them, dragging them upward as the world faded once more.When the glow dimmed, Leo blinked and immediately regretted it.The floor beneath him was slick and crimson, not with carpet or stone—but with dried, flaking blood. The air reeked of rust and something sweeter like decay masked by perfume. The walls stretched high, forming a massive circular coliseum. Cracked pillars jutted from the ground, and faint silhouettes—like afterimages of long-dead warriors—stood frozen mid-battle, half-formed and fading with each breath of the wind.Mira floated out of the ring, looking around. “Okay. Creepy points: ten out of ten. Smells like someone murdered a perfume shop.”Leo wrinkled his nose. “You’re not wrong. Smells like death… and regret.”The system chimed:[Welcome to Floor 3 – The Crimson Arena][Objective: Cleanse the Arena of Remaining Corruption][Bonus Reward: ???]“‘Remaining corruption,’” Leo muttered. “So… clean-up duty. Great.”The echo of his voice bounced back,
Chapter 40: The tower’s bad sense of humor
Leo flopped onto the cold stone floor, panting like he’d just wrestled a mountain. The boss’s carcass—a grotesque mashup of centipede legs, knight armor, and bad life choices—was already dissolving into black dust. His sword hand trembled as he raised it in mock victory.“Finally,” he wheezed, raising both arms dramatically. “I’m alive. I’m actually—”Mira’s disembodied voice cut through his celebration like an overcritical gym trainer. “I don’t think you should rest though. You’re short on time, you’ve got four NPCs to heal, and—oh yeah—you need to survive a night in whatever horror zone that place was.”Leo groaned and let his arms flop down. “You know, Mira, for someone who technically lives rent-free in my jewelry, you’re awfully demanding.”“I call it moral support,” she said sweetly. “You should try it sometime.”Leo sat up, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Moral support doesn’t usually come with emotional damage.”Before Mira could respond, a low rumble vibrated beneath him. Th
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