Nine days of relentless agony had passed.
Elias stood in the center of his secret clearing, his chest heaving with every ragged breath. The sweat didn't just drip from his brow; it poured, stinging his eyes and soaking his thin tunic until it clung to his ribs like a second skin. Every muscle in his body felt like it was being pulled apart by hot pincers. His hands were a mess of rough callouses and fresh, weeping blisters, the wooden training sword feeling heavier than a mountain.
"Just... one... more..." he gasped, his voice a broken whisper that barely carried over the rustle of the leaves.
He swung the sword down. It wasn't the clumsy swing of a boy anymore. It was the sharp, precise arc of a man who had seen death on a thousand battlefields.
Ding!
[Daily Quest Completed]
[Reward: 10 System Points earned]
[Total System Points: 100]
Elias collapsed onto the mossy ground, his lungs burning as if he had swallowed embers. A weary, triumphant laugh escaped his throat, sounding more like a wheeze. "Finally," he breathed. "I thought my heart would give out before I hit the mark."
For ten days, he had pushed himself past the point of human exhaustion. He had lived on scraps of sleep and a singular, burning obsession. He didn't even wait to catch his breath before calling out to the void. With a trembling finger, he summoned the blue light of the Shop. He scrolled past the legendary weapons and the enchanted armors that mocked him with their impossible prices. He tapped the icon for the tattered, ancient book.
[Purchasing: Nature's Breath Meditation Technique...]
[Transaction Successful.]
A soft golden glow flickered in the air, illuminating the darkening woods. A physical book, bound in weathered green leather with strange vine-like engravings materialized out of thin air and dropped into his lap. Elias reached out, his fingers brushing the cover. The leather was cold at first but then it began to pulse with a faint rhythmic heat almost like a living heartbeat.
He opened the first page. The text was written in an ancient, elegant script. At first glance, the instructions seemed almost too simple. It spoke of breathing with the wind, matching the rhythm of the pulse with the rustle of the forest and finding the "silence between thoughts."
"I've seen knights do this" Elias muttered, sitting cross-legged. "Close the eyes, slow the heart. I've watched the masters of the blade do this a thousand times. It should be easy."
He tried to follow the rhythm. One minute passed. Five. Ten.
Nothing happened.
He tried again, focusing on the flow of air into his lungs. He tried a third time, then a fourth. By the tenth attempt frustration began to boil in his gut. His body was still just a tired aching vessel of a peasant boy. No matter how much he tried to "breathe with the forest" he felt nothing but the itch of his own sweat and the biting cold of the evening air.
"Why isn't it working?" he growled clutching the book so hard the leather groaned.
He re-read the middle passage, his eyes squinting in the dim light. His eyes landed on a line he had glossed over" The breath is but the wind, the heart is the mountain. The nature of the world can only enter a heart that knows its true worth.
Elias went still. He realized his mistake. He was trying to use the technique as a shortcut to power. He was treating it like a tool to be used, not a part of himself.
He closed his eyes again. This time, he didn't focus on the breath. He visualized the face of his mother, her kind eyes and the way she smiled when he came home. He felt the warmth of the hug he had shared with Emily. He saw his father's calloused, hardworking hands.
I am not doing this for glory, he told himself, his resolve hardening like steel. I am doing this so the fire never touches them. I am doing this to be the shield that doesn't break. If I must become a monster to kill the monsters of the future, then so be it.
He maintained that focus. He held his resolve like a jagged piece of glass in the center of his chest.
Suddenly, the air in the clearing felt thick. It was as if the forest itself had stopped breathing to listen. A faint emerald glow began to emanate from his chest, pulsing with every beat of his heart. It started as a tiny spark and spread through his veins, cooling the fire in his muscles and sharpening his mind until the fog of exhaustion cleared entirely. The light intensified for a brief moment before sinking deep into his skin.
Ding!
[Special Condition Met: Resolve of the Protector.]
[Unlocking Hidden Attribute: Nature's Call.]
Elias snapped his eyes open. He gasped, but the sound was deafening to his own ears. He could hear the fluttering of a moth's wings fifty paces away. He could see the individual veins on a leaf at the very top of a towering oak tree. The world was no longer a flat picture; it was a symphony of sounds and sights he had never noticed before.
"My senses..." he whispered. He felt a surge of satisfaction. This was the edge he needed. He wasn't just a boy anymore; he was becoming something else.
The sun had finally vanished leaving the woods in deep shadow. Elias stood up feeling strangely refreshed despite his long day. He tucked the book away and began his walk back to the village. But as he neared the main forest path, his new ears picked up something that shouldn't be there.
A low murmur. Two voices, muffled by the thick brush coming from a hidden hollow near the road.
Elias froze. He didn't just stop. He melted into the shadows of a large elm tree, his heart slowing instinctively as his soldier's training took over.
"Is the timing confirmed?" a voice asked. It was cold, sharp and sounded like a man used to taking lives.
"Aye" a second voice replied. This one was gravelly and impatient. "The carriage will pass through the village road tomorrow afternoon. The third son of the House of Silverwyn doesn't like crowds. He's taking the scenic route to avoid the main checkpoints."
Elias's blood ran cold. The House of Silverwyn. They were one of the Great Ducal Houses, the pillars of the Duran Kingdom.
"How should we proceed with our plan, Kael?" the gravelly voice asked.
"Just as the Captain instructed, Bram," the first man replied. "We strike at the bend in the road. No survivors."
"A lot of trouble for one boy." Bram grunted.
"He's not just a boy," Kael snapped. "He's a Silverwyn. Our client is paying a huge ransom for his head. Now move, We need to scout the ambush site one last time before dawn."
Elias stayed perfectly still until the sound of their footsteps faded into the distance. He stepped out from behind the tree, his face pale in the moonlight.
Theo Silverwyn. The third son.
In his past life, Elias remembered hearing about a tragedy involving a noble family before the Great War began. It had caused a massive political rift that weakened the Silverwyn.
Ding!
[New Quest Triggered: The Silverwyn Incident]
[Objective: Prevent the assassination of Theo Silverwyn.]
[Reward: Unknown.]
Elias stared at the screen with his mind racing. "Prevent an assassination?" he whispered harshly to himself. "I'm a village boy with a wooden sword! Those men are professional killers."
He was weak. If he jumped out to fight them, he would be dead in seconds. But Elias wasn't just a boy. He was a veteran in a boy's body. If he wasn't strong enough to fight them with steel, he would have to use his mind.
"I don't need to be the hero" Elias muttered, a dark and calculating look entering his eyes. "I just need to be the one who sets the trap. If I can't kill them, I'll find someone who can."
He turned and began to run toward the village, his sharpened eyes cutting through the dark like a wolf's. He had less than twenty-four hours to change history