The beginning of the quest

It took Travis nearly 2 hours to finish the DQ. The run he needed to do was already done (since he’s been running in the Penalty Zone), and the pull-ups were done after he found a suitable place by a blacksmith’s shop. The lunges didn’t pose many difficulties, either. The only tricky part was the ‘Plank’ exercise. No matter how much he pushed himself, he couldn’t get the counter to increment by more than 30 seconds at once, and then he needed to rest for a short while.

However, he finally received a notification.

[You have completely cleared the daily quest ‘To become strong.’]

[6 stat points have been awarded. A consumable spell ‘Complete Stealth’ has been awarded.]

[You fulfilled the optional condition.]

[1 stat point has been awarded.]

‘Feels like a ripoff.’ he thought but shook his head. No point in nagging about that. ‘Status.’ he concentrated his attention on the panel that appeared.

[[Name: Travis Salliv
Class: Apostle of Tricks & Manipulation
Level: 5
HP: 176/200
MP: 18/30
WP: 34/210]

[Strength: 15
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 15
Endurance: 20
Wisdom: 15
Sense: 25
AP: 14]

[Possessed abilities: Suggestion lvl.1]

[Current status: No anomalies.]]

‘14 stat points…’ he realized. He got through Penalty Quest – that got him 4 points, plus 3 for saving Aria as well. And now, for the Daily Quest, he received 4 base points, 2 for extra, and 1 for optional. Yes, it came together nicely.

Now, the question was, how to go about it? Echo of what he had read about all the stats flashed in front of his mind. Weight appeared on his chest. He glanced at the quest from Cecilia. 31 days were left.

‘Getting to Autir alone will probably take about 15 days… unless I can get Agility high.’ he nodded to himself. Getting to his destination quickly would surely give him time to figure out the grounds. The problem was, could he secure his arrival there? ‘I think my Endurance is plenty, same for my Sense. The problem is Strength. Do I need a bit more? Or will I be fine with as much as I have?’ he wasn’t sure. A hand made its way to his chin as he closed his eyes. 'I’ll be getting stat points daily, so making their acquisition easier will be better long-term. Therefore, I shouldn't just overlook Strength.'

…perhaps going in a balanced manner was the way.

‘RALS, increase Strength and Agility by 6 points each, and increase Intelligence by 2.’

A balanced play. Increasing Strength would help him clear future daily quests, Agility was for his current main quest, and Intelligence would help him build up more MP to work with in the future. For now, that would do.

He came back around the traveler's shop. Not wanting to waste any time, Travis simply went over and got a small healing potion, as well as an Essence of Purity. While he was going to the counter, he grabbed a pack of magic matches and a map, and within 10 minutes, he was going away already. He took a look at his clothes. A large shirt of beige color, simple pants reaching to his ankles, and a piece of cloak in the pack on his back. His shoes, while they have survived rough treatment in Penalty Zone, looked like they had been worn for a dozen years without washing them. Having thrown them away, he came by a cobbler's shop and got himself a new pair. The preparations surely could've been better, but it wasn't like he couldn't work with this much.

Within 25 minutes, he had found his way to the eastern gate of Silvana and was quickly moving away.

The side road he took (to avoid surveillance) was rough, somewhat muddy, and full of holes. Those were the reasons why carriages never took this one. Additionally, going with this one would lengthen the journey by at least 2 days in each direction. But Travis knew he had little choice. If soldiers, or gods-forbid – an actual Inspector – met him on the way and had any suspicion toward him, he’d be apprehended again. This road was his only way aside from going into complete wildlife, trying to guess the general direction.

He was marching quickly, just barely breaking into a run. Still, he could feel it. Increasing his Agility really did make his steps faster. It wasn’t by much, as 6 points could only improve his ability so much, but it was still something to be grateful for.

‘If I can get Agility to 50 points, I’ll be able to make up for the lost time.’

-Somewhere around noon-

Travis got up from beneath a tree, feeling his muscles rested. Then, he stretched and started walking forward. After a few minutes, he broke into a run and kept on running for about 3 kilometers, until he finally stopped, out of breath.

‘Distance to Autir is roughly 380 kilometers.’ he reminded himself. ‘To get there in 15 days, I’d need to go nearly 30 daily. But taking this road lengthens the journey by almost 50 kilometers, so it’s 430 in total...’ He thought. ‘Thankfully, in just a day or so I’ll be reaching Icla.’ He nodded to himself as he walked forward. ‘Security will probably not be tight in there, so I’ll be able to resupply easily.’

Going between the trees on the not-maintained road, Travis couldn’t help but feel a bit of… uncertainty.

‘I was sure this road would be loaded with monsters. Then why is there nothing?’ he stole a glance all around. Indeed, the trees between the trees were almost devoid of animals, let alone any monsters. Of course, he was aware that monsters shouldn’t be a frequent sight; Silvana was a city of almost 20k inhabitants, and hunters went into woods regularly to cleanse the nearest terrain, but… this was too empty. Low-level monsters should appear nonetheless, so why weren’t they around now?

‘This smells… suspicious.’ he mused, readying his hand. He couldn’t sense anything out of order as he kept on going forward, but… he had a hunch. An intuition, per se. Something would happen. Something was bound to happen.

He looked around. Nothing. He kept on going forward but peeled his eyes and ears. Taking his steps as silently as he could, he also noticed another thing.

‘I haven’t seen a soul for the last 4 hours…’

Ever since he left Silvana’s gates, not a single person crossed his vision. This route was less attended, yes, but it didn't make sense for absolutely nothing to appear. Not human, not elf (or dark elf for that matter), dwarf, undine, orc, or a beastkin. Of course, the latter two were extremely rare to meet anywhere in Forna, and Travis only ever heard of them, but still, even they were more likely to appear than… absolutely nothing.

‘Have I been whisked away to Spectral Forest?’ a thought rang in his head, and immediately he felt his heart in his throat. Spectral Forest was a myth. A place where evil people were sent after ****, not able to reach anywhere for eternity, tortured by their sins. But… ‘No. That place is just a myth. Besides, RALS would tell me that something was happening--' suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, noticing a strange blob, black in color, appear in his field of vision. After a few seconds, he felt his heart skip a beat. It was approaching. He took in its details.

It was a bear, about 30 meters away from him. Even from the distance, he could see that it was large, nearly 2 m tall while on all fours. Its fur was of black shade, and its eyes were of dark blue color. Its large paws, however, made no sound as it was slowly stepping toward him. In addition, the beast was completely silent though its jaw was agape. This was… abnormal, for sure. Travis couldn't help but feel as though he was going to be **** into a fight against this thing.

‘What kind of monster is this?’ he frowned while carefully taking steps back. The beast, however, was following in his steps, taking its time to reach him. Why was that? Was it perhaps tired? Or did it revel in the feeling of being a predator?

While stepping backward, he instinctively sent a <Suggestion>.

<Bad. Human bad. Need to stay away.>

…but much to his surprise, there was some kind of an invisible, impenetrable wall around the bear’s mind. His spell bounced on it rapidly, disappearing in the blink of an eye. A notification came up.

[Summoned creatures are immune to mind control spells unless their summoner is affected.]

‘SUMMONED?!’ his eyes went wide as he realized what it meant. This bear was a summoned creature. But why was it here? How long has it been here? Where was its summoner? Why the hell did this summon's owner let it approach a stranger with clear killing intent? Or... was it their intent?!

As if reacting to his attempt at <Suggestion>, the bear let out a low growl, the very first sound it made since it appeared. It bared its fangs at Travis, but it seemed to be done in a defensive manner rather than to prepare to attack. Was it trying to scare him off? Well, good for it, he needed no further incentive.

Travis took a few more steps back before trying to hasten his movements. Seeing the bear not accelerate, he built up a bit more speed and then broke into a full run. However…

In a few seconds, he noticed the bear appear in front of him out of thin air. Actually, didn’t it appear to have emerged from the ground? Did it even matter?

Travis just barely managed to dodge the monster’s paw that went clearly for his head, trying to behead him on the spot. Quickly backpedaling a bit, the man took his dagger from its small sheath by his waist, preparing himself. Strangely enough, the bear didn’t charge, only glaring at him. Soon, it started to step toward him again. What did it mean to do? Or was it its summoner’s will? Did they want to toy around with him?

Travis gritted his teeth. ‘Another day, another struggle.’ he couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the thought. Not too long ago, he was running for his life in hell, and now this. ‘Can’t a man catch a break?’ he formed a smirk of defeat but held his weapon up.

The bear flinched. Its dark blue eyes were locked with Travis's, but the man couldn’t help but feel some kind of presence emanate from them. What did it mean?

“Haaa!” he heard someone shout from behind the bear.

Both of them looked toward the source of the voice, but it was already too late. Before either he or the beast could see it, a sound rang in the air. It was a clear, defined sound of metal vibrating. Then, there was the sound of landing.

A tall person wearing plate armor from head to toe appeared between Travis and the monster. The huge greatsword they were swinging finished its arc, and the beast whined loudly in pain, a clear white line showing itself in its dark fur. It took a step back but started growling with anger, preparing to charge.

“You. Back,” two simple words, and Travis immediately knew they were aimed toward him. Without a word of encouragement, he stepped back. “You. Mine,” the man added toward the monster, suddenly charging forward.

‘Who’s that?!’ wondered Travis, seeing how the knight in full armor swung his sword again and made a deep cut in the bear’s flesh. The beast growled again and swiped its paw. However, the person who saved Travis didn’t dodge. In fact, he seemed to almost welcome the strike and laughed loudly as the paws almost bounced off, only scratching their armor.

“Weak!" an almost cheerful sound left the inside of the man's helmet.

Their dogfight kept on going on for nearly a minute more. The knight kept on striking with the huge greatsword while the bear desperately tried to kill him. It only managed to make slight dents in the mithril armor while accumulating immense amounts of damage itself. It staggered after having one of its paws completely cut off. The fight was already decided. Seemingly as a last-ditch effort, the bear bashed the knight, pushing him back a couple of meters, and then started to run. However, the man was having none of it.

“No,” there was a clearly frustrated tone in what they were saying, but there appeared to be a glint of an underlying... anticipation, almost. Like he had been waiting for this exact moment.

The knight got a good hold of the greatsword and took a wide swing behind himself. Then, he made a quick turn around and threw the weapon far up and above the monster.

Wait, WHAT?!

Travis couldn’t help but feel a mix of awe and stupefaction as he watched the weapon quickly fly through the air, soon reaching above the monster’s position. The knight, however, was calm. He reached up with his hand.

“<Cado ferrum>!”

And then, he brought the hand down, and the sword shifted its momentum downward. It stopped spinning and instead pointed straight down, and within a short moment, it pierced through the bear’s chest, bringing it down.

The beast only moved for a second or so more before it stopped and dissolved into gray ash, scattering into the world. Meanwhile, the knight lifted his visor and turned to Travis.

“You. Alright?” the young man asked, and Travis could only nod quickly.

The man's height appeared to be hitting the 2-meter mark. Even though he wore armor, his muscles seemed to be bulging underneath the plates, trying to break free from beneath the dents. His face had distinct features, most notably its dark skin and wide, almost square chin. His nose was large and so were his lips, dark eyes looking at Travis.

‘…a man from Chis Empire?’ he thought, recognizing the typical features of the Forna’s western neighbor. Yes, it seemed like this was also an explanation as to why he wasn’t speaking fluent Palli (or, at least, didn’t appear to).

“T-Thank you,” he bowed his head, both in awe and fear. “I’m alright…”

“Good,” The man seemed to emanate cheer at his words. “You. Please go away. Quickly. This place... weird.”

“Weird?”

“Yes. Monster. Not normal,” He pointed toward the place where his greatsword was sticking out. The bear was already gone, with not even a trace of ash left of its body.

Travis rubbed his eyes. No, this shouldn’t be happening. Why was the bear gone? ‘Monsters don’t disappear into thin air after they die… is it connected to it being summoned?’ a rampant thought reverberated in his head.

“I need to get to Icla,” he retorted.

“Not here. Dangerous,” the man shook his head and then went to grab his weapon. "Other way."

‘What do I do?’ He pondered for a moment. “What caused this monster to appear?”

The knight shook his head whilst shrugging lightly. He appeared as oblivious to the monster's origin as the Apostle in front of him. Travis sighed deeply. 'Going against his words is probably a ticket to get myself apprehended again. But, even if I have to go back, I'll at least ask some things.'

“Why are you here? Aren’t you from Chis Empire?”

“True,” he nodded. “Request from Forna. The supreme priest asks. We come."

“You came here because the supreme priest asked you to?” 'So... he's not an ordinary Knight, probably.'

“Yes. But problems. Teleport break and walk long. This place weird monsters appear,” the knight said. “Now I separate,” He showed a circle. “Ambush. Monsters.”

“You were ambushed?”

“Yes. Please go, stranger,” the dark-skinned nodded to him. “Dangerous here.”

“And what about you?”

“I find my group. Stranger return city,” the man nodded with what looked like sincere concern. “Now, please.”

Travis wanted to oppose the knight’s order, but… in all honesty, he felt that it was not a wise option. That bear was a summoned creature, and it seemed to have been roaming this place for some time already, judging by the lack of monsters all around. This meant that, at least temporarily, its owner was staying in the vicinity. Better not to delve into an unknown, hostile environment. Besides, there was one more reason.

‘Without any monsters, I can’t level up. If I can’t level up, I can’t learn new skills.’ hunting monsters was vital, not just for his personal quests or even for the upcoming Competition, but for survival in general. If he wanted to live to see another day, he would need to get stronger. And for that, he needed monsters to hunt.

‘Main road… Until I reach Icla, I will be able to keep a low profile… I hope. Though, it’s a waste of time, to be going back…’ he gritted his teeth, but… no, he shouldn’t think like this. This encounter could've gone so much worse, had the knight not appeared.

As he parted his ways with the Chis Empire’s knight, he received a sudden notification.

[Quest: Mysterious Forest]

[There is something amiss in the forest separating Silvana and Icla in Forna Kingdom. In the last few days, the wildlife has died at the hands of unusual monsters, and there seems to be no end in sight.

Objective: Find out who is behind the summoning of the monsters.

Optional: Kill or subdue the summoner.

Reward: 10 stat points

Optional reward: 1 skill point.

Failure penalty: Penalty issued by the System. Severity: low.]

Instantly, he felt like his eyes were about to bulge out. First of all, why did this quest appear at all? Secondly, why were the rewards this good?

‘Even the Penalty Quest gave me only 7 points in total for finishing it… and this one can give me a skill point?! Just how difficult is this quest?’ he pondered whilst walking back toward Silvana. No matter how he looked at it, this quest's difficulty must've been much higher than the Penalty Quest's. This meant only one thing for him.

'Nope. I'm not even going to attempt it right now.' he nodded at his thought. He wouldn't be rejecting it, for now at least, but until he became more capable, this quest was out of reach for him. With this in mind, Travis's steps gained a bit more grit to them.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, two small crows were sitting on nearby trees, silently flying from one to another, constantly watching his moves.