Osric woke with his body still sore from the day before.
Not enough to stop him from moving—but enough that every shift on the thin blanket reminded him where the feral dogs had landed their blows. His hip ached dully. His leg felt stiff. He lay still for a moment, breathing through it, letting the pain settle into something manageable.
Rest would help.
But the System didn't care.
Pressure descended without sound.
[Time-Limited Challenge Activated]
Osric opened his eyes fully.
Objective:
Take and complete the E-Rank mission
"Forest Creeper Nest Eradication."
His gaze sharpened.
Time Limit:
12 hours.
Failure Condition:
Challenge expires.
That was all.
Osric waited, already knowing there would be more.
A moment later, new lines appeared.
Reward:
+1 Vitality
New Skill
No description. No hints.
Osric closed the System immediately.
Silence returned to the hut.
Forest Creeper.
He knew the name—but not from experience. Which meant this wouldn't be simple muscle and iron. The System wasn't pushing him forward blindly. It was compensating for something he lacked.
Vitality.
And something else.
Osric sat up slowly, testing his injured leg. It protested—but held. His breathing stayed even. No dizziness. No weakness.
Twelve hours meant no delay.
He dressed carefully, secured his sharpened sword, checked the dagger at his side, and stepped out into the cold morning air.
The Ashbrook Forest waited as it always did—quiet, dense, and indifferent.
Whatever a Forest Creeper truly was, Osric would learn soon enough.
Not from a screen.
But face to face.
On his way to the guild to pick up the mission parchment he started wondering about the system.
He hadn't thought too deeply about it before since he was preoccupied with other things, but now he couldn't help it.
'How does the system know all these things? It acts like it is all knowing like some kind of god.'
Osric wasn't religious just like most people in the Aldreth Kingdom. They were pretty closed off from outside influence.
'This system doesn't sound like it has any human emotions. It is very strange.'
'Could it truly be some sort of otherworldly being?'
Before Osric could get lost even deeper in thought, he arrived at the adventurers' guild.
Osric walked to the mission board and only took seconds to recognise the mission mentioned in the system challenge and took it.
He left the building without delay and remembered something.
'Forest Creepers have small bodies. Maybe as large as a normal cat.'
He then walked to the market to buy something.
'I need a big enough bag to store corpses in without it getting in my way when fighting.'
Osric couldn't sell monster corpses before because he was too injured or they were too big.
That's why solo adventurers rarely make a lot of money from monster corpses like parties or people who hire others to help transport corpses.
Osric was doing fine with just the mission completion rewards plus he would soon get the monthly stipend, but most adventurer parties made real money by selling monster corpses to merchants and shops that deal in monster materials.
Osric wasn't very knowledgeable in this subject but he knew which monster corpses made more money than others.
And Forest Creepers were very popular among low ranked adventurers due to them having valuable materials as well as being easy to transport. Plus they were just F-Rank monsters.
Finding a bag didn't take long.
Osric paid 15 copper for one that he was sure could carry at least two Forest Creepers.
On his way to the forest he read the scouting report.
It was a small nest of 6-8 suspected Forest Creepers not too deep inside the forest.
Osric was a little worried since this would be his first time facing a venomous monster.
Although they were weak, they were quick and a bite from one in the wrong spot could be fatal. Not because the venom itself was life threatening but because it numbed the body in the are it was but and that could easily cost someone their life if they couldn't react fast enough after that.
'I just need to be cautious and not get caught by the whole nest.'
Osric didn't have his coat so he was cold which made his body a little stiff.
He soon arrived inside the forest.
The forest swallowed the sounds of the road behind him, and Osric felt the quiet change—no longer empty, but watchful.