A couple of hours later, the sun began to set on the horizon and I was already back at the restaurant where I got the quest. My clothes were dirty with sweat and dust, so I wondered if that lady would still accept them.

“Oh, you are back… I gave you enough time to make you fail, but I guess you aren’t half bad.”

Well, that was quite annoying… it seemed that she didn’t like the people that were arriving, maybe they caused some trouble for her already. In any case, at least she accepted the apples that I had brought.

You completed a quest: Collect 150 Apples.

Rewards: 75 Origin coins + 20 EXP and Chef Elaine’s appreciation.

“Thanks for the help. If you obtain more of those, you can bring them here earlier in the morning and I will buy them from you.”

So, it was a repeatable quest that I could complete every morning and I didn’t have to come and accept every single time… maybe it was because Elaine was that impatient and not welcoming to people like me.

“... All right.

Name: Ryan Winters

Class: Apprentice Lv 03 (22/200)

Job: (00/000)

HP: 70/70

MP: 70/70

SP: 25/70

Strength: 08

Magic: 07

Dexterity: 07

Vitality: 07

Wisdom: 07

Endurance: 07

Toughness: 07

Spirit: 07

Adaptability: 07

Free Points: 01

Origin Coins: 312

Skills:

Job Skills:

I checked my parameters… I decided to return after getting another level, so it took a while, even though the dire rats smelled the apples in the air and then decided to take them from me. That made it a bit easier to hunt them. Perhaps I could set some traps near their holes and kill them that way.

Speaking of which, the skills I got from the Apprentice class didn’t show up in my skill list… it was more like they weren’t skills, but functions of the system. I can finally create a party, but few people were leaving the town, and those who left returned after a couple of minutes after suffering some scratches.

‘I guess modern life weakened us quite a bit…’

Party (Basic) (Apprentice Lv 03)

You gain the ability to create and manage a party of up to 3 members, allowing you to share experience and coin gains. With this skill, you can invite others to join your party, making it easier to work together on objectives. This skill also allows the group to share progress on quests, so everyone stays updated on their collective goals.

‘The next skills will be Chat, Friend List, and Trade. They will be useless for a while since few people are going outside. I was expecting that some crazy people or some athletes would come to fight, but it looked like everyone was waiting for the situation to solve themselves somehow.’

That was simply insane… denial is one of the worst things that a person can do when it comes to these kinds of situations. Adaptability was the key and that could decide their survival.

‘I should try to reach level seven tomorrow and get access to the map and then get my first real class on the day after tomorrow. This shouldn’t be that hard.’

The fights were easier and my body was adapting fast, so it was feasible… the only problem was the other guy who had gone AWOL. He never did that before, so I could tell that he was plotting something problematic.

‘I am too tired to care… I need to rest. Where was the closest inn, anyway?’

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Even now, more people were showing up in the town, so I wondered if there was enough room for people to rent or even sleep. The closest inn was only two blocks away, so I had the chance to see people on the ground, it looked like they collapsed for some reason… We have been here for over eight hours and while the conditions were good, it was still possible for people to get heat stroke thanks to the help of anxiety.

I could see some kids around and that made me feel bad for them… I was enjoying the situation, but the situation itself was unfair for them.

‘I didn’t stop to think about this, but what caused this or what brought us here?’

Sooner or later, people would have to be forced to come out of the town and fight… the ones who would have the hardest time would be the kids. Perhaps I should help them… there weren’t many of them, after all. Still, could I be half-assed to them, like buying a shield or two for them to fight the monsters?

If I decide to help them level up, they would need to at least reach level five to endure the attacks of the dire rats without suffering that much damage. This would be quite time-consuming…

‘This situation is quite messed up for them…’

I didn’t know what I should do… only that I needed to rest right now. I had some apples with me, so I didn’t have to buy dinner. I just needed a room with a bed to rest.

“Hello, are you looking for a room to spend the night?”

The innkeeper was a man in his twenties with short, dark hair and light brown eyes. He seemed a bit more welcoming than Elaine, but at this point in time, I didn’t care. They weren’t running a charity here, so they had to make a profit somehow. No one in the city was.

“Yes, how much is it?”

“Ten Origin coins.”

You used Ten Origin coins.

“Here are the keys. Your room is the first on the right side of the first floor.”

I nodded and then moved to the first floor of the inn. Now that I paid some attention to the place, it wasn’t as old or run down as I had imagined… Everything was spotless and brand new. Which was weird given what the clerk of the weapon shop said. Some people should have been here before us.

The room was also pretty nice and cozy. There wasn’t much inside aside from a bed, a chair, table, a small closet and the window, but it felt pretty relaxing. When I sat on the bed, I felt my body relaxing quite fast… sleeping here would be fine, but I put the chair to block the door just in case and closed the curtain of the window.

‘I don’t think that anyone will do something stupid so soon, but it’s only a matter of time.’

All my things were in my inventory, but I imagined that all of that would become drops once I am killed. I didn’t think that anyone had confirmed that yet, but it was better if I slept with one eye open… quite impossible, but I needed that much to keep my guard raised.

After eating some apples, I began to feel really sleepy… the day had been pretty long and tiring, but it felt really exciting. I couldn’t recall the last time I had this much fun… I barely could contain my eagerness to return to the hunt and then unlock my new class as soon as possible. Before long, I closed my eyes and then began to sleep. My body soon began to move, but I didn’t notice it…

‘Finally, freedom!’

… …

I woke up the next day with someone knocking on my door… I slowly got up, feeling really exhausted. The room was completely lit, so it shouldn’t be early in the morning anymore.

‘That was one hell of a dream…’

Eventually, all the good dreams end and then the cold and uncaring reality comes to knock at your door… just like someone was doing at mine right now.

“The time of the rest is over. Would you like to rent your room for another day?”

I blinked a few times in confusion, since I saw the innkeeper of the dream I had in front of me. I rubbed my eyes, but it looked like I wasn’t waking up properly. Then I saw the status screen in the corner of my vision… it looked like that hadn’t been a dream.

“Isn’t it a bit too early for my time to run out?”

“It is already noon.”

“Noon?! What? Ouch, ouch… my body is hurting all over…”

“Are you going to rent the room for another day and night?”

“... Yes.”

You used Ten Origin coins.

“Thank you very much. Have a nice stay.”

I tried to stretch my body. It looked to be very sore since I worked so hard yesterday… Still, that much was fine. I didn’t think that I was that tired, but the excitement probably made me not realize my limits.

The soreness began to leave my body, only leaving a throbbing pain in some parts… when I checked those parts, I found teeth marks on my arms and legs.

“What the hell?”

‘Last night was fun… it was very fulfilling.’

‘What did you do?’

‘While you were sleeping, I took over your body and went to fight for a bit. You can see the results of my hunt. This also shows how much incompetent you are.’

I checked my status screen more properly and confirmed that I reached level seven… I opened my eyes widely. No wonder it was already noon, and I still felt a bit tired… This guy didn’t let my body rest properly.

More important than that, he was never able to take over my body at night… When he had the chance to move it, it was because I gave him permission and I could take it back whenever I wanted.

‘Relax, I just went out to hunt. I didn’t fool around. I wanted to, but I wasn’t in condition. The dire rats are more violent at night, so they came at me, really looking forward to some pieces of me, but at least that made things easier to find them. Aside from a few bites that barely caused any damage, I made a lot of progress for the both of us.’

‘You son of a bitch… this body is mine, it isn’t yours!’

‘If that were true, I wouldn’t be able to control it even better than you. I would assume that the presence of mana in our body made my existence more obvious and more influential. Now I no longer have lapses of memory and only appear now and then. This will be very fun.’

This was the worst… things were more fun now, but this asshole had more influence over my body now. It was impossible to tell what kinds of troublesome situations he would put me in. That was why he went quiet before… he decided to save his energy to control my body when I was exhausted.

‘Well, then… are you going to accept my help, or are you going to make things difficult for both of us?’

‘You think that can threaten me like this?’

‘It isn’t a threat, it is a business proposal. I swear that I won’t do something like this again, but you will have to cooperate with me. I am not going to let my instincts run wild and bother you all the time. I can also think about the future, after all.’

I began to massage my eyebrows… I couldn’t make this decision like this while my head was a mess. It was already a mess from the very beginning thanks to my alter ego, but now it got much worse.

Still, he had a point… while he was most likely my mad side, he could be useful, gaining this many levels in a few hours showed that. In order to thrive in this crazy situation, I had to use all the cards available to me.

‘Very well… but if we are going to work together, it will be under my terms.’