A nighttime surprise and the beginning of the way back

-2nd day of AC, 02.04.1052-

-About 1:30 at night-

Travis sat up on his bed. It wasn’t the first time on this night, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be the last, either. He looked around the room for a gods-know-which time, trying to make out anything in the dim circumstances. The table, candle on top of it, Leaf covered in sheets – he already saw all of it. The truth was, he simply couldn’t sleep.

At first, when he was just trying to collect his thoughts and control his memory skill, Travis barely paid any mind to his lack of tiredness. But now? He frowned in the darkness.

‘This is really annoying. Is this the aftermath of taking that skill? Or is it excitement from my quest?’ he wondered for a long moment before throwing the thoughts out and lying back down. ‘I should be sleeping. If I don’t get some sleep, I’ll be dying until next night. I have a Daily Quest to do during the day.’

But…

He groaned quietly. ‘It’s impossible.’ he finally gave in, getting up from his position. Quickly, he found his tunic and dressed up. ‘I’ll have to take a stroll myself.’ he quickly donned his boots and sheats for both his regular dagger and Pacifist. After that, he wore a light jacket on top, and let out a quiet sigh. ‘Leaving her like this may not be the best choice… especially since we only have 1 key…’ he was slightly conflicted. He didn’t want to invite the possibility of anything happening. On the other hand, if he stayed in the room all night, he’d lose his mind out of boredom.

He quickly went over to the window to lock it. After putting the handles in opposite rotations, he got a piece of bandage from his pack (a reward for one of his DQs), and quickly tied it in a semi-complicated pattern. ‘This should do.’ he nodded to himself before taking his steps toward the door. Placing his hand on the handle, he looked over to Leaf for a moment before getting out of the room quietly. ‘So long I don’t stray too far from the inn, I won’t have to lock the room.’ he thought, reassuring himself.

The corridor was even darker than the room he was in. No light made its way here from the outside, as there was not even a single window in its length. However, Travis wasn’t going out blindly at all. Quickly, he raised his hand a little and summoned a <Mana Bolt> to his palm. The light it gave off was weak, but still enough for him to make out the nearest surroundings. Slowly, carefully, Travis made his way toward the stairs.

Passing by a door leading to the bar, he opted to go forth and ended up in a room with a door leading outside. He stole a glance to his right, and noticed a counter, currently empty, with a door behind it, presumably locked. Without waiting for a second, Travis went out into the streets.

The chilly air attacked him, not for the first time that night. Light from a nearby street lamp illuminated the semi-wet cobble under his feet, and there seemed to be a glint of slight fog hanging low in the air. Travis took a few steps alongside the street, taking in the atmosphere. He liked this atmosphere.

In the depths of the night, his quiet steps sounded as he looked to the sky, taking in the numerous stars that kept on blinking down. But finally, he shook his head. ‘Open Daily Quest.’

Reading through the contents, Travis quickly realized something. ‘It’s… different from the previous ones.’

[Daily quest: To become strong.

Do any 3 of the following:

150 sit-ups (0/150)

8.5 km run (0/8.5)

Perform a total of 23 critical strikes (0/23)

Successfully evade at least 41 blows in a fight (0/41)

Optional: Successfully use your skills on 7 unique people. (0/7)

Time remaining: 22:16:21

Rewards: 6 stat points

Full completion bonus: 1 small mana stone

Optional reward: 1 ‘Full Restore’

Failure penalty: Penalty Quest. Severity: very high]

‘…this must be another effect of the update.’ Travis nodded to himself. ‘Some variety is definitely interesting to see, but… it’s expecting me to fight just to fill in the base requirement.’ he grimaced a little as he got down to the ground and began the first exercise. It didn’t take him long to finish it, and then he started a little jog near the inn, making sure to always keep an eye on the main door.

-25 minutes later-

Running in circles proved to be quite bothersome as he kept on going. The longer Travis kept on running from one point and back, the more he felt like he still had even more left to do. However, in the end, he glanced at the screen and confirmed that he had completed his full quota for running. As he was starting to feel his breath becoming heavy, he quietly slumped by the nearest wall and then closed the quest window.

‘Warm-up period is over.’ he came to a realization. ‘So the new requirements must be because of that. Hmm, I wonder if it’ll count up when I ask Leaf for a mock spar. And will the critical counter increase if I do it on something that can’t fight back, like a rabbit?’

Critical hits were tricky in nature. On the surface, they simply meant striking at the enemy’s **** point and resulted in a doubling of damage dealt through the said strike. However, depending on multiple factors, such as the target's age, equipment, health state, and even species, the vital spots had varying sizes and locations. Some classes, like Assassin or Hunter, had skills to pinpoint their targets’ weak spots, but not Travis.

‘If it’s like with other activities, then asking for 23 critical hits is just unreasonable. Performing one is hard enough without a skill. It’s almost like Redion wants me back in Penalty Zone…’ Travis grimaced at the very thought. ‘I’m still not prepared to deal with it.’

He leaned his head on the wall. ‘And this whole ‘Rulebreaker’ just doesn’t want to give me anything good, either.’ Travis thought as he reached into his jacket’s pocket and pulled out… a rock? '‘A piece of heaven' my ass. I’d rather just receive nothing than this mockery.’

[Is it really not to your tastes?]

“Why the hell would it be to my tastes? This thing’s single-use…” Travis answered with a somewhat frustrated tone.

…

“WAIT, WHAT?!!” he raised his voice a little, looking around a little. After confirming that he was still alone, he focused on the notification.

[Hello there. Surprised?]

“…what the hell? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

[This is a new feature in RALS, so I wanted to take it for a spin. Was not expecting you’d be awake this deep in the night, but that works out.]

“…this came with that whole ‘update’ thing?”

[Yup. Chat system. Pretty neat, huh?]

“…”

[You don’t seem half impressed…]

“…If I understand correctly, this ‘chat system’ is much like a communication sphere, right?”

[It’s more like sending letters with instant delivery. You don’t even have to speak to relay your words. You know, RALS is a pretty intricate system, despite its flaws. It’ll recognize the thoughts aimed toward the chat.]

Travis slowly got up from his position. Sighing a little to himself, he looked over the message he just received. ‘Am I impressed? Very, Redion. It’s just that I’m getting used to RALS, is all. Things do surprise, but don’t shock nearly as much as they used to.’

[I see. But I’d like to address the elephant in the room. I’m not Redion.]

‘So… who are you? Are you... Rulebreaker?’

[Ding-dong, 100 points for you. I’m the person known as Rulebreaker, at your service.]

‘Who are you, really? Some kind of a god?’

[Don’t compare me to that bunch. All you have to know is that I’m a referee in this whole event. I’m not like them, won’t be like them, and that’s it.]

‘…they seem a little… mad about that comparison.’ Travis thought, feeling an unknown, eerie feeling crawl on his back for a millisecond before it dissipated. ‘So… how are you affiliated with Redion?’

[I’m a friend of his. That’s all I can say.]

‘…I kind of expected more than that.’ he thought but didn’t relay it further. This one piece of information was still plenty.

[Anyway. I have to tell you something, which is why I contacted you in the first place. I’d have done this some other day, but Redion’s sleeping while you’re awake, which is perfect.]

‘…?’ he raised an eyebrow for a moment.

[Redion doesn’t know about me being able to message you. This chat is completely private from him, and he won’t know a thing. And I want it to stay that way. Can you do that for me?]

‘Why?’

[One, I’d like to not have to listen to anyone’s nagging about it. Two, if Redion notices the changes I made when we were updating RALS, he will have my head on a spear. I prefer to have it on my neck instead. You get what I’m saying, right?]

‘…I suppose.’ he nodded.

[Great! Then I should tell you why I contacted you at all, right?]

‘That’d be nice of you.’

[In essence, what you got yesterday is a gift from me. You’ve already used it twice, so I guess you should be getting a hang of what to expect, am I right?]

‘…It’s giving out pieces of advice and items, as far as I know.’

[Yup. But I imagine that your first item feels a little underwhelming, no?]

‘…a little’? This thing is basically useless! I throw it once, and I’ll never find it again!’

[Such a shame. I even went out of my way to pick you a nice-looking one.]

Travis looked at the notification, and then to his side. He couldn’t help but feel like Rulebreaker was somewhat mocking him and his attitude.

[Relax, I’m just joking. I called you because I want to explain these things to you a bit. The box you got from me contains a total of 100 items and pieces of advice. That's a lot, mind you. Other Apostles only received one item. This means that to balance things out, I can't just give you whatever. There are criteria I had to meet. I can’t do much about those. But rest assured, all of them have their uses. Even the most useless-looking item.]

Travis sighed a little. ‘So, what usability does this thing have?’ he asked, bringing the rock in his hand a little higher.

It was somewhat oval-shaped, of mostly gray color with a slight blue tint along the edge. Its size was perfect to be thrown, its weight somewhat lighter than what he’d expect for a thing of its size.

[Exactly what it reads in the description.]

‘He grimaced slightly but shook his head after a moment. ‘So--‘

[Sorry to cut this conversation short, but I really have to go. I can’t stay for too long, or it’ll become suspicious. Try not to think about our conversation too much, it’ll attract attention. I’ll contact you again when it’s safe.]

‘???’ Travis looked at the notification with a glint of surprise on his face. ‘Wait! How will I know it’s you?!’

[Trust me, you will.]

Then, the notification disappeared without leaving a single trace behind. Travis stood in one spot, waiting for something, anything really, to happen, but nothing did. It was only him, in the half-dim street, standing in front of the inn, looking into the somewhat semi-chilly air of Autir’s streets. The humidity of the air seemed to be slightly rising by the minute, indicating incoming clouds.

As a few dozen seconds passed, the Apostle finally shook his head a little. Although not getting answers to his questions was a little disappointing, there was no need to fret over it. There would surely be time to ask them again. Until then, he had bigger issues on his mind. Starting with: going to sleep.

-About 12 hours later-

In the end, he didn’t manage to sleep at all. No matter how many push-ups, runs, and burpees he did, no matter how long he tried to endure the hellish ‘Plank’ exercise, the only form of tiredness that appeared was physical fatigue, and his eyelids did not close one bit. Eventually, Travis opted to simply return to their inn room, where Leaf was still fast asleep.

By 6 in the morning, she was waking up, and before 7 the two of them set off from the inn. Proceeding through the gate wasn’t much of an issue, thankfully; all it took was just a wee bit of convincing and a few <Suggestions> from Travis. Though to be frank, he kind of wanted to use the runestone of phase-shift. Was it not for his insufficient WP, he probably would’ve.

The time was now nearing the afternoon hours, and he and Leaf were sitting by a tree near the road to Poiri, relaxing in their break. This time, unlike before, they decided to take a more direct path (although it was much more Leaf’s decision than his, he decided not to oppose her much). If everything went according to plan, they’d be reaching Guill within a week or so.

Slowly munching on a piece of wyvern meat, Travis looked around. The forest life was going about its way, not caring much for either of the two. Some birds were chirping above them, jumping from one tree to another, Bill and Jay following suit. In the distance, a deer was running, fleeing from Berry.

Travis sighed lightly.

‘…I think I should use this opportunity to fill in the quota.’ he nodded to himself a little before getting up. Noticing Leaf’s questioning look, he said, “I’m going to train a little if that’s alright.”

“Oh? Alright. Mind if I join you?”

“…?” he raised an eyebrow. “No, but why all of a sudden?”

“What? Sometimes it’s good if I take a run, too, you know? You’re training every day, and I kind of want to start as well. To stay in shape,” she formed a small smile while standing up and performing a light stretch.

“…alright,” he nodded, taking his backpack and venturing between the trees, straying further from the road.

“So, what will we do first? A run? Some push-ups? Something else?” Leaf asked as she followed suit behind him.

“Uh, yeah…” Travis answered, a slight yawn escaping his mouth. ‘Why am I feeling tired now, for the love of…’ he groaned quietly, but the elf woman didn’t hear him. “I actually wanted to do something more… combat-ready, today.”

“Combat-ready?”

“I wanted to train my ability to dodge attacks.”

“Any type in particular?” her eyebrow raised.

“No preference. Every increase in my fighting ability is good. I’m just thinking about fighting some monsters. That’ll be a good start, I guess.”

“…”

Hearing no response from Leaf, Travis sped up his steps a little. The two of them went on for about 2 more minutes before they came across an opening in the forest. It didn’t seem to be large, just about 10 meters in diameter, but for him, it was more than enough. He glanced at his companion before dropping his backpack by the nearest tree.

Immediately, he scanned the nearby groves, looking for a suitable target for his training. His brown eyes were laid upon a few mole rats going about their business, but he decided not to pick them for now. First things first, he wanted to check how if the dodge would count for an opponent significantly slower than himself.

‘I wonder how this increase will work... got you.’ he thought, having finally found a rather small, green-blue slime on the side of a tree slightly further back. Without much thinking, he charged and fired a single <Mana Bolt>. With surprise, he noted how easily he was able to aim with accuracy that far exceeded what he’d been able to do before.

He immediately fired again and also hit.

‘…is this some hidden effect of <Possessor of Knowledge>?' a ponder entered his mind. 'For some reason, I feel like I’ve done this a million times over. My hand did not shake, and my aim drastically improved. Maybe it’s all my previous experience coming together to my muscles, but even then, I’ve barely ever fired a magic projectile. Oh well, it’s not a bad effect, so it's nothing to worry about, I suppose. Now, it’s time for testing the dodges.’

In the time when he was pondering, the slime he’d picked had already reached the clearing, visibly upset. Travis glanced toward Leaf, whose gaze alternated between him and the monster. A smirk entered his face.

“Time to begin, I guess,” then, he took a few steps forth. Without bringing forth any weapon, he shook his head a little, trying to get the sleepy haze off of his eyes before he ran and circled the small monster, waiting for it to attack.

Slimes were some of the more common monsters, and their classification was most often the lowest rank of monsters. They had little intellect, rarely any magic abilities, and their attacks were mostly lacking. The two factors they had above other low-ranking beasts were their large HP pool for their size, and their ability to mix up together into far larger forms, which at certain sizes could even become medium-ranking, and pose a threat even to trained hunters (although such occurrences were rare, especially near cities).

The most common type of slime, the green one, sacrificed some of its HP pool to develop a rather unique ability: powerful acid. At small sizes, it couldn’t spit said fluid. However, its cytoplasm was mixed with it, which meant that any weapon that struck it directly would become corroded, reducing its durability greatly. Most of the time, magic attacks or throwaway weapons were recommended.

One of the signature abilities of these monsters was called <Needle Burst>. It was a simple yet fast attack that took advantage of the slime’s formless body and caused it to rapidly shoot forward at a target, attempting to pierce its defenses.

Travis came to a halt, and so did the slime. Some gurgling noises escaped from within the small monster as it was visibly constricting, preparing its attack. Within a short second, it shot outward, aiming straight at Travis’s stomach. However, the man easily dodged the strike and looked a little to his side. Immediately, his smirk returned.

‘It does count.’ with a glint of glee, he noticed the counter increase. ‘So this won’t be so hard, so long I can find something that I can reliably dodge.’

Then, he dodged a second blow and looked at the display in surprise. ‘…it didn’t count this time? Wait, maybe I did something wrong?’ he came to a halt mid-step and looked at the monster.

The slime compressed itself again before performing a strike at him. Fluidly, he dodged again and frowned a little as he noticed the stagnancy that the panel showed him. ‘It seems that it only counts once per target.’ Travis came to a conclusion after a few more strikes. Eventually, he killed the slime with two more <Mana Bolts> and looked around.

Immediately, what came to his view was Leaf tying the bowstring on her bow, sitting by a nearby tree, her fingers moving in a quick, continuous motion as she finished. Noticing his stare, she raised an eyebrow momentarily before getting up, the quiver on her back as she took a step closer.

“Bored already?” she asked with a small smile. Although her question was neutral, Travis couldn't help but feel a sliver of laughter from behind her words.

“Not really. Just need to find something faster, is all,” he replied.

“Alright. I’ll be shooting in that part,” she pointed to her left. “You have fun in there,” her hand ventured right. “Seems fair?”

“Sounds good. Ready?”

“Sure,” she pulled the bowstring, taking aim at her first target of many.

-About 25 minutes later-

The process itself was rather easy. Despite what it looked like at first glance, the forest around was filled with all sorts of monsters. Slimes were hidden in the depths of mire or high in the trees. Large rats hid under the tree’s roots, not daring to step out unless explicitly provoked. Once or twice, Travis even managed to find a snake. In no time at all, he had managed to perform all the necessary dodges. In the meantime, he also tried to score at least a single critical hit. He had used his regular dagger and tried with Pacifist, but didn’t manage a single one. A few times, he even tried using the thing he had received from Rulebreaker’s Piece, but it didn’t do much.

He picked up the stone once again. ‘It’s far better in smashing things to smithereens than it could ever be in striking critical hits.’ he thought with a small sigh. Without much thinking, he brought up its information panel.

[Godly pebble

Rating: Legendary

Attack power: 1

Durability: Infinite

*For every type of stat that the target has higher than you, the damage is increased by 1 point.

*Damage increased by 6 points against targets with a higher level than you.

**If both above conditions are met completely, the damage is increased by 14 points instead.

*Damage multiplied by 5 times against humanoid targets, or 10 against other types.

*Damage scales with velocity. Maximum coefficient is 6 times.

*Bypasses defense.

Weight: 25 g

It is made of an unknown material. Its **** resilience cannot be broken through conventional means.]

It was not a bad weapon, at least in terms of damage. The base value was pitiful, but its extra options made up for that. On top of that, its ability to bypass defense made it an excellent weapon to strike at heavily armored opponents. Its indestructibility meant it could be used over and over without any worries.

There was, however, a big issue: its recoverability. At the end of the day, despite having a blue tint along its edge, it was just a rock. The moment he threw it too far and lost sight of it, chances were, he’d lose it for good.

This was the reason he didn’t think of it as a useful item at all. What was the point of a weapon like this if he could only use it once?

‘Still, so long I can reliably get it back, it’s not a bad idea to use it, at least a little bit.’ he thought, hiding the rock in a pocket. Looking around, he noticed that he had gone a small distance from where he agreed to split the hunting ground with Leaf.

‘No level-up today, huh.’ he thought with a glint of dismay. However, he did not fret. It took him nearly half a day of hunting monsters of levels about 8-10 to rise from 25 to 26. The monsters he hunted right now didn’t seem to reach even 8 in terms of levels.

‘After I return to Silvana, I guess I’ll go and find a dungeon where they don’t check MIDs or another place with easy accessibility. Monsters tend to get stronger at a higher elevation. Maybe I could go to a more mountainous region? Which one would be closest…? I think Quear mountain range? About 100 km south of Silvana, I think? A few years ago, the monster level was reported to be roughly 35 to 40 on average. By the time I’d reach it, I’d probably be around level 30 to 35 myself. It seems like a decent candidate for now.’ he nodded to himself. Once again, he felt thankful for taking <Possessor of Knowledge>. Without it, recalling such information would be troublesome.

He stretched a little before another yawn escaped his mouth. ‘It’s a shame I can’t reliably deal critical hits, but it’s good that I can get through the Daily Quest at all.’ a thought rang in his head as he distributed his stat points, 5 into Intelligence and 1 into Wisdom. ‘Tomorrow, I’ll increase Sense a little as well. I can’t neglect any stat if I want to grow to my fullest ability.’

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