Morning broke over Brightvale like a gentle song, soft and unhurried. Golden light spilled across the cobblestone streets, bathing the rooftops in hues of amber and rose. Mist clung to the lower alleys, curling around signposts and wagons like sleepy spirits reluctant to leave the night behind. The chimneys of early risers puffed with lazy tendrils of smoke, scenting the air with hints of bread, burning wood, and lavender soap from washing lines.
Inside the modest second-floor room of a quiet inn tucked at the edge of the town's western quarter, Ikarion stirred beneath a rough woolen blanket. The mattress creaked faintly as he shifted, eyes fluttering open slowly to the dusty beams above. For a moment, there was stillness. The chirping of birds filtered through the open window, melodic and unfamiliar — not the pigeons or sirens of the world he once knew, but wild harmonies that seemed almost orchestral in their rhythm.
He blinked, letting the moment stretch, as if unsure whether to trust the peace. There were no distant car horns, no hum of electricity, no vibration of a phone under his pillow. Just the faint gurgle of water in the wooden basin across the room and the muffled sounds of hooves and voices far below.
Ikarion sat up slowly. His silver-white hair — disheveled from sleep — fell into his eyes. The light illuminated the slight sheen of sweat on his brow, and for a moment, he felt wholly present in this new world. Not just a visitor. Not just a system host. But a part of it.
A soft chime echoed in his ears, and the familiar pale blue interface appeared before him.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[Main Field Quest ]
Hunt 20 Wild Creatures in Forest Beyond West Gate
Rewards: 200 Soul Points
Mystery Chest
Time Limit: 12 Hours
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He sighed, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "So a another quest, now I can see and use my strength"
His gaze drifted to the nightstand — a small loaf of bread Rikka had left him, half a flask of water, and a worn cloth pouch containing a few coins. There was something strangely comforting in the simplicity of it all. He splashed cold water on his face, gritting his teeth at the chill, then quickly donned his travel-worn cloak and secured the rusted dagger at his side.
He lingered near the window, watching the town come to life. Two children raced down the narrow alley below, one with a wooden sword and the other pretending to cast spells with a stick. A merchant rolled a barrel down the path, shouting greetings to a neighbor. An elderly woman tended to her hanging plants, humming a song too old to name.
And beyond them all, beyond the quiet charm and cobbled lanes, rose the silhouette of the western forest — looming, mysterious, and dark.
He hadn't realized how long he had been staring until a knock came at the door. A boy, no older than ten, stood there, wide-eyed.
"You're the silver-haired guy, right? The one who helped the fruit vendor and beat those thugs?"
Ikarion blinked. "yeahh...what happened?"
The boy grinned. "Mom says you've are good guy. Said to give you this."
He handed over a small cloth pouch — inside were dried meat slices, a boiled egg, and a note written in a rushed but warm hand: 'For strength. From someone who noticed.'
He nodded, quietly touched, and the boy ran off before he could say thank you.
He fastened the pouch to his belt. Strength would be needed today.
---
The forest beyond Brightvale's edge was vast — a sea of green broken only by shafts of light that pierced through the canopy above. The air was thicker here, heavy with the scent of moss and wildflowers. Leaves crunched beneath his boots, and every step seemed to disturb some hidden creature.
Birds scattered from trees as he passed. A small fox darted across his path. There was life everywhere — yet all of it watched him with wary eyes.
Deeper still, the sunlight faded, replaced by a greenish hue that filtered through layered branches. A faint breeze stirred the leaves overhead, but even the wind seemed cautious. This was no peaceful grove.
It was a place of trials.
The first threat came quickly. A forest wolf — ribs showing, eyes wild — lunged from a bush. Ikarion's training was nonexistent, but adrenaline and instinct guided him. He sidestepped, stumbled, and stabbed. The dagger pierced shallow, but it was enough. The creature yelped and fell back.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[Wild Creature Defeated: 1/20]
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His hands trembled. That hadn't been graceful. Or clean. But it was survival.
As the hours passed, the encounters grew more varied. A horned lizard ambushed him from a rock, its tongue snapping. He pinned it with a branch. A swooping avian beast nearly gouged his eyes before he countered with a lucky throw of his blade.
He used traps where he could — setting crude snares from vines, baiting creatures with scraps of dried meat. Once, he climbed a tree and leapt onto a massive deer-wolf hybrid, riding it to the ground and wrestling it into submission before ending its life.
Every fight left him more exhausted. He took cuts to his arms, scrapes on his legs, and more bruises than he could count.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[Wild Creatures Defeated: 17/20]
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But the deeper he went, the more his surroundings began to shift. The ground softened with a strange moss that dulled his steps. The trees here leaned inward unnaturally, their trunks gnarled with dark veins. Birdsong ceased entirely. A silence took root that wasn't natural — it was the kind of silence that waited.
It was here, in this deeper part of the forest, that he faced the most dangerous of his twenty targets.
A creature twice the size of a bear emerged from the foliage — its hide armored with bark-like plating, its eyes glowing faint yellow. It wasn't fast, but each of its steps made the ground tremble. Ikarion tried to dodge, striking at joints, but his blade barely scratched its shell. It swung a limb and sent him flying into a bush.
He lay there dazed, ribs aching. The beast lumbered forward, and he knew running wasn't an option. So he ran toward it. He waited for it to lift a claw, then slid beneath, stabbing upward into the underbelly where soft flesh gave way. The beast roared, throwing him off again.
He landed hard, gasping. His dagger was gone. But the monster was bleeding.
He grabbed a sharpened branch, sprinted forward, leapt onto the creature's back — and drove the branch deep into its eye. It thrashed violently, nearly throwing him off, but he held on until the creature collapsed.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[Wild Creature Defeated: 20/20]
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He fell to his knees, too exhausted to celebrate.
Then came the hum.
He started walking and saw some voices like low growling.
It was a ruin.
---
The ruin was nestled between two enormous trees, hidden beneath vines and moss. The ground near it was stone, unnatural among the roots and dirt. Glyphs glowed faintly across the entrance — letters he couldn't read but somehow understood meant danger.
The system blinked to life.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[ZONE DISCOVERED: RUIN OF ANTHERAK]
Difficulty Tier: High
Warning: Unstable Entities Detected
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He pushed open the stone doors. They groaned, dust rising in the dim light. The air was damp and cold.
Murals decorated the inner walls — images of armored figures wielding blades of light battling creatures of darkness. Some of the art seemed to shimmer faintly, like it was alive.
Then the silence broke.
A shriek. Then another.
Goblins.
Three of them rushed from the corridor, small but vicious. Ikarion barely had time to react. He parried one strike, caught another in the shoulder, spun, and elbowed a third into the wall. They snarled and bit. One slashed his leg. He screamed and drove his blade through its skull.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[Goblin Defeated: 1]
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System screen appears.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[Urgent quest arrived]
Clear all the creatures inside the ruin.
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The others followed. More than a dozen. Some with jagged spears, others with twisted clubs. He ducked, rolled, grabbed a broken torch, and swung.
Then came the shadows.
They rose from the ground — figures with no eyes, just glowing mouths and long, smoky arms that twisted and warped. One struck his back. Another reached into his chest, causing pain like his soul was burning.
He screamed. He stabbed wildly. A goblin fell. A shadow hissed and recoiled.
He set part of the corridor on fire with spilled oil and a spark from his dagger against the wall. The flames kept the shadows at bay. He fought with everything he had — picking up goblin weapons, shoving them into traps, screaming as he broke bones and dodged claws.
He fell three times. His blood coated the floor. But he rose again, teeth gritted.
The final creature — a towering goblin captain with armor made of bone — roared and swung a crude axe. Ikarion barely avoided it, sliding beneath the strike and stabbing upward into its chin. The creature fell with a crash.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[Ruin Cleared – 100%]
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The screen interface changed.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[Health: 12% – Critical]
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He collapsed.
System responded.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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You can buy potions from system market
You can exchange items with gold
Credit - [24000 gold]
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He buys one minor potion for 60 gold.it was blue and glowing.he drinks it and in blink of his eye, his strength recovered, wounds gone and stamina was fully recovered.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[Health - 100%]
[Fatigue - 100%]
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Then the system whispered.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[CLASS UNLOCKED]
NEW CLASS: Soulblade Initiate
Abilities Unlocked:
• Focus Strike – Soul-infused precise slash
• Blade Dash – Quick dash to reposition
• Soul Read (Passive) – Reveal one enemy weak point per day
Reward: +200 Soul Points, +30 Gold Coins
Mystery Box Acquired
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He opened it with trembling hands.
Inside: a pendant. Silver. Glowing blue at its center. A pulse. A heartbeat.
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[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
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[ITEM ACQUIRED: ???]
Name: Unknown Pendant
Type: Relic (Soul-Bound)
Activation: Requires Class Tier II
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It shimmered faintly in his palm.
He placed it in his inventory.
He limped out of the ruin.
---
The walk back to Brightvale was long. The forest was dark now, cold, and quiet. Even the creatures seemed to sense what he had endured.
His steps were slow. He was in deep thought thinking about the pendant and move forward to reach the time before the night.
The gates of Brightvale appeared in the distance — lit by lanterns and guarded by bored soldiers. One waved at him lazily, not recognizing the blood-stained cloak or torn tunic.
He returned to the town without a word. There, he opened his inventory and stared at the pendant again.
"Unlocks when I reach class tier II"ikarion mumbled
He held it, wondering what secrets it carried.
Then, gently, he placed it back into his inventory.
Evening cloaked Brightvale in amber and crimson as Ikarion returned. Tired. Hungry. Changed.
He made his way toward Rikka's food stall. The scent of grilled bread and stew made his stomach growl.
She saw him and smiled. "Back from another round of mysterious heroics?"
"Something like that," he mumbled.
He sat down.
Before he could speak, someone else did.
A cloaked figure seated quietly at the corner table. He rose, dropped a coin on the counter — and walked away.
Clink.
Rikka froze.
Ikarion frowned. "What?"
She picked up the coin. "This is… gold."
"So?"
She stared at him. "Normal people don't have gold coins. Only high-ranking adventurers, guild members, or kingdom officials carry these. Most people use bronze or silver."
I forgot to ask you how you got the gold coins when you come here for the first time.
Ikarion was thinking that what should he tell her about the gold.
"Ohh that' gold coin, I got that gold coins by helping a kingdom noble his goods were lost and I found it and return to him, he was happy and gave me lot of gold coins"ikarion replied.
And that time.
Ikarion turned slowly.
The cloaked man was gone.
His heart pounded.
"Who was that…?"
He didn't know.
But he had a feeling — a dangerous one — that someone was watching.
Someone powerful.
And maybe, just maybe…
This was only the beginning.