That costume, the system want made Martin be patience. He sighed deeply; after all, the system didn't provide completely useless items.
Reluctantly, he decided to let it pass this time and headed to bed.
The next morning, as the sun rose, the sound of running footsteps echoed loudly across the area,that more increasingly intense.
Martin sprinted at an incredible speed, maneuvering through the buildings in search of supplies.
Jumping onto a nearby apartment building, Martin quickly kicked the door, broken into pieces inside the room.
He moved through several houses, finding only scattered and ordinary items, nothing of great value, and even a few disappointments.
Quickly entering another apartment, he found similarly ordinary contents, nothing remarkable. Just then, a noise from a room caught his attention.
"Enemy..."
He thought to himself, drawing his dagger and swiftly pushing open the door, then also silent.
It turned out to be nothing more than a rat that he had swiftly dispatched with his blade.
"Congratulations,Martin,you was killed a mutant rat. You receive 10 experience points.Martin, level 4, experience: 55 (+10)/100."
Though fortunate to kill the rat, the system jolted Martin for a moment.
Because it was unusually big.
Despite its size, it was still fragile, almost as thin as his waist,Martin pondered over recent events; these were sensitive times, especially after the recent ambush.
Approaching the rat, he withdrew his dagger and scanned the dusty room, which hinted at a feminine touch with its slightly pink hue. Martin searched around and quickly found an item—a diary.
Though not entirely proper, in these apocalyptic times, who could judge whether he read it or not?
"- May 3rd, XXXX
We made plans to go out together; he seemed delighted. What should I wear?"
"- May 10th, XXXX
Today, we went out together..."
Every page of the diary he flipped through made him chuckle lightly,the owner of this diary was indeed quite charming,he couldn't help but smile a bit.
With a slight delay, he quickly stood up, neatly folded the mattress and blanket into the warehouse, then swiftly checked the house.
Although the search yielded nothing valuable, it was still a slight increase in his inventory.
"Congratulations on unlocking a piece of memory fragment. I hope you can find the remaining pieces on your journey," a voice from the system chimed in as he stepped out of the apartment,soon after, a faint memory flooded into Martin's mind.
A blurry figure gradually gained a bit more color, albeit just a touch, adding a hint of detail. There seemed to be hundreds of such memory paintings, each requiring several new fragments to reveal a little more.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It appeared he needed more than just a few fragments to fully restore them.
Deciding to venture out of the city once again, he barely reached the gate when he quickly set additional points on the map and departed.
After a while, he encountered a herd of wild sheep, each three levels higher than him,fortunately, Martin swiftly climbed a tree to evade them.
Though not exceptionally fast, these sheep were aggressive and fierce enough to kill him in a matter of moments.
Aware of the danger, Martin quickly used his speed to lure the sheep apart, then dealt with them one by one.
Seemingly somewhat intelligent, they regrouped closer together, thwarting his strategy.
Before he could adjust his tactics, he was knocked into a tree trunk, losing half of his health in an instant.
Swiftly, he spent some coins to purchase a rapid recovery potion and quickly drank it.
In the blink of an eye, he was nearly fully healed, with only a few scars remaining, nothing too worrisome.
After a few more attempts, calculating trajectories and waiting for the right moment, he noticed a slight opening and swiftly launched himself forward.
Swoosh.
With just one swift stroke, Martin slit the throats of several wild sheep, killing them instantly.
"Congratulations on killing wild sheep. Received 15 experience points.Martin, level 4, exp: 80 (+15)/100 exp."
"Congratulations on killing wild sheep. Received 15 experience points.Martin, level 4, exp: 95 (+15)/100 exp."
"Congratulations on killing wild sheep. Received 15 experience points.Martin, level 5, exp: 5 (+10)/210 exp."
"Congratulations on receiving level 5 loot, crafting cake x1."
Inspecting the crafted cake, Martin was pleasantly surprised, he quickly checked its properties in the inventory.
"Reduces item crafting time. Not very useful at the moment."
It was an item that reduced crafting time, but Martin wasn't particularly interested as he couldn't use it yet.
As usual, he chopped some wood, gathered materials for a campfire, and completed his task.
By now, it was past noon, so he took advantage of the outdoors to cook some food. Although he still had plenty left, he ate a bit to satisfy his hunger.
He grabbed a few pieces of meat from the system's storage, quickly made a makeshift fire, grilled them briefly, and they were ready to eat.
Just as he finished grilling, a wolf suddenly leaped out from the bushes, aiming to steal his meat.
Instinctively, Martin turned towards the source of the noise, raised his fist, and the wolf's head met his punch, rendering it unconscious.
Seemed like the wolf hadn't expected such a response.
Not wanting to kill unnecessarily, Martin moved it aside and leisurely enjoyed his meal, then left the area.
On his way back, he dug some soil and fashioned a den for the wolf, adding some meat as an apology gift.
Back home, Martin seized the opportunity to craft stone tools, achieving a small achievement within the system.
From crafting tools like swords, cups, and shovels, he earned the achievement "Novice Craftsman."
With more tools at his disposal, he could now create more things. Martin planned to dig a mine tomorrow to mine minerals.
At this moment, he felt compelled to re-enter the city for something the system had hinted at, so he hurried off, his figure gradually fading into the distance.
Where he had passed, a group of monsters suddenly appeared.
Stopping at the center, he received a notification from the system.
"Unlocking periodic monster sweep. Hope you can clear as many monsters as possible before dawn."
So that's what this was all about.
Interrupting his thoughts, several monsters charged at him in succession.
Their levels were slightly higher than the midday wild sheep, but they were tougher and more formidable, likely due to their tougher hides.
Looks like this was going to be quite exhausting.
Martin had one distribution point left. Swiftly, he allocated it to strength, boosting his attack.
However, combining this with his weapons to take down these monsters wasn't going to be easy.
Initially, he managed to defeat three in ten minutes, but as more monsters swarmed in, he grew more fatigued, gradually wearing down each monster's health one by one.
By morning the next day, he was exhausted, no longer concerned with his own ideas of what needed to be done, only wanting to sleep.
"Congratulations on defeating 40 level 9 'Little Spiders' and 50 level 9 'Zombie Thorns.' Received a total of 1150 experience points. Owner Martin, level 7, exp: 195/550 exp."
He had gained three levels overnight. As he blinked awake, Martin opened the system interface, adding one point to attack and two points to stamina.
Now, he could endure a bit more, without worrying about getting too exhausted.
Quickly allocating two points to stamina, Martin regained a bit more energy, no longer feeling sleepy, and promptly headed back towards the western city gate.