Finn walked beneath the swaying branches, the golden panels now gone, leaving only the rustle of leaves and distant chirping of birds.
The sky above had shifted into a softer blue, mid-morning light filtering through the trees.
He had briefly checked the last panel, the Shop Panel, expecting something exciting to wrap up the tutorial.
What he got instead… was a whole lot of nothing.
The interface was clean, glowing like the others, but completely empty except for one frustrating message.
[Items will be available once you reach Level 5.]
Finn narrowed his eyes and sighed.
'Then why include it in the mission now?'
Still, a new notification popped up the moment he exited the panel.
=====
[Mission: The Tutorial Complete]
Rewards Gained:
+10 Hero Points
+10 Builder Points
+10 Free Attribute Points
+100 EXP
=====
He stared at the glowing message and let it sink in. His lips curved into a slow, bright smile.
'Finally… some progress.'
His hand instinctively curled into a fist, not from anger, but determination.
He didn't waste time allocating the rewards just yet. Right now, he was already planning the first step. His mind raced as he walked, eyes scanning the edges of the village that had begun to peek through the treeline.
'The walls. I can build them now.'
He had spent the last stretch of the walk calculating everything. From what he remembered, Riverwood was roughly a square, about four hundred meters on each side. To fully surround it, he'd need at least 1,600 meters of wall.
Since the cost was 1 Builder Point per 200 meters, he'd need exactly 8 Builder Points for the walls alone.
And then there were the gates.
'Two gates. One for the northern path, and one for the east.'
The north gate connected to the old trail that snaked up toward Graypeak Mountain. Bandits had been sighted there before.
The eastern side bordered the Whispering Forest, where wild beasts were sometimes heard howling at night.
Both directions posed the greatest danger.
'Two Stone Gates. One point each. That's 10 points in total.'
And that's exactly what he had now.
Finn looked ahead toward Riverwood, a soft breeze brushing past him. The village didn't know it yet, but today, its walls would begin to rise.
And no one had to know how.
Not yet.
'Let the miracles speak for themselves,' he thought again, smile still lingering on his face.
Today, the real building would begin.
But just as he was about to step into the village boundary, another thought hit him.
'The Daily Mission...'
He stopped in his tracks.
His shoulders slumped a little as he recalled the requirements flashing in golden letters earlier.
100 Push-ups. 100 Sit-ups. 100 Squats. 10 km Run.
All within 14 hours. That was the time left now.
Finn groaned lightly, rubbing the back of his neck.
'I should get this done first. No point building walls if I need to rush to complete this later on.'
He turned and veered off the main path, heading toward a quieter area near the edge of the forest.
A hundred meters east of the village's entrance, where the weak fences gave way to the open outskirt of the Whispering Forest, he found a grassy clearing, a familiar spot he had trained in once or twice before.
Just beyond, he could see Xabi leaning lazily against a wooden post at the East Gate, chatting with another guard. They hadn't noticed him.
'Good. Let's keep it that way.'
The ground was soft, the morning air crisp. Without wasting time, Finn dropped down and started with push-ups.
"One. Two. Three..."
His arms trembled slightly after the first thirty. By the time he reached sixty, sweat trickled down his brow and soaked the earth beneath him.
'Just keep going. No one's going to do this for you.'
He gritted his teeth and kept moving. At ninety, his muscles burned. At a hundred, he collapsed flat, panting hard with a grin.
"That's one down."
Next came sit-ups.
He locked his fingers behind his head and pushed through the motions. Each crunch felt sharper, his breath tighter. The village didn't have anything like proper training facilities. Just dirt, grass, and willpower.
It was enough.
By the time he finished the sit-ups and squats, his legs were like jelly and his shirt clung to him. His arms ached, and his lungs pulled in every breath like it was gold.
He gave himself a minute.
Then he stood up and stretched his legs. His eyes glanced toward the faded wooden fences that ran along the east side.
From what he believed, the full perimeter of the village was roughly 400 meters per side. He could use the east fence as his visual marker.
'Ten kilometers. That's twenty-five laps around the full boundary... but if I just loop the eastern stretch, I can manage it in shorter bursts.'
Finn mapped the route in his mind. A 400-meter straight track, easy to measure, and easy to keep pace with.
He adjusted the strap of his satchel to tighten against his back and started to run.
One lap. Then two. Then five.
His legs burned with each step, but his breathing found rhythm. The morning wind swept through his hair, carrying the scent of dew and forest bark.
Every time he passed the fence, he mentally counted. Every corner, every uneven patch of dirt, every glance toward the trees beyond the Whispering Forest, it all became part of the rhythm.
Xabi eventually noticed him on the seventh lap and raised a brow.
"You alright there, Finn?" he shouted.
"Yeah!" Finn shouted back between breaths. "Just... training!"
Xabi chuckled. "Right. Don't collapse."
But Finn didn't stop.
He ran. And ran.
By the time he finished the 25th lap, his legs were screaming, his lungs were on fire, and his face was drenched in sweat.
But he smiled.
Because he had done it.
The moment he stopped, a soft golden light flickered into view.
=====
[Daily Mission Complete]
Rewards Gained:
+50 EXP
+1 Hero Point
+10 Builder Points
+5 Free Attribute Points
=====
He leaned forward, hands on his knees, catching his breath as the panel dissolved before him.
'Now… time to build something real.'