New quest from the God of Deception
You are alone in the forest with nowhere to go
Objective: survive alone in the wild for 24 hours
Reward: map of Otimra
Time left: 24 h
Astrid stared at the quest, no longer sure what to think about the situation she found herself in. What would the God of Deception achieve by giving her these quests? Was it a test? Was he trying to get her killed?
The timer wasn’t counting down, which gave her a suspicion. When the quest told her to survive in the wild, it meant outside the protective barrier. To test her theory, she took a step outside the barrier, and as she had expected, the timer began counting backwards. Stepping back inside immediately reset it.
By the look of the sky, it was early afternoon. Leaving now would be as good a time as any. There was nothing she could do to prepare. She also had a feeling that Sham was done providing her free meals, so the longer she stayed here, the worse her situation would get.
Without further delay, she made herself invisible and left with no idea where she was heading. However, finding water was her first priority. Her thirst was beginning to make itself known, and the dried blood itched. She would like to wash it off as soon as possible.
Each step through the underbrush was taken with great care to ensure she didn’t alert anything to her presence. Even though she had the skills to slay monsters, fights always came with great risks, so they were best avoided as much as possible.
Eventually a river appeared before her, and with renewed energy, she rushed to its bank, where she sank to her knees, cupped her hands, and shoveled water into her mouth. The cool liquid soothed her dry throat and filled her stomach. Then she cleaned the blood from her hands and face. However, her attempt to remove the bloodstains from the dress was a lost cause. Scrubbing only exacerbated the tears in the fabric, leaving the reddish-brown blots unaffected. She’d never get it into a wearable state again.
Giving up on the dress, she went to examine the cloak. It looked like it did when she received it. No holes and no dirt. It apparently had some cleansing and self-repair ability, and it made her wonder if it was possible to get dresses that could do the same. It would be awesome not to have to wash and mend clothes anymore.
Checking the quest told her there were still twenty-three hours left. Maybe it would be a good idea to find a safe place to spend the night. However, she was hungry and still had no clue what would happen after the quest, so finding something to eat might be the best action.
She set out to look for food, but despite her ability to identify plants, that came with the plant-care skill, she only found a few berries, which did little to satiate her hunger. As the sun set, she gave up and resigned herself to going hungry.
Back at the river, she refilled her stomach with water and then found a place to lie down. Sleep was hard to come by, and multiple times during the night, sounds startled her awake. Even as the sun rose, she made no attempt to leave her hiding place. The quest had only told her to survive, not thrive. As long as she lived through the next eight hours, she would complete the task the god of Deception had given her.
Several more hours passed as she huddled up in the shelter, drifting in and out of sleep, but around midday, her thirst and hunger became too much to ignore.
Before leaving the shelter, she scanned her surroundings to ensure the coast was clear. Then she went to the river to drink. She still had no food, but that was fine. There were only a few hours left of the quest. Once she completed it, she would. . .
Well, she would still be stuck in the middle of the forest with nothing to eat. The realization was discouraging. After everything she had been through, her situation was still precarious. How much longer could she last on her own out here? What if she never got out of the forest? Astrid shook her head, well aware of what happened to her spirit whenever she allowed her thoughts to spiral out of control.
She had to put more effort into finding something other than water to fill her stomach. Maybe she could catch a fish in the river and then roast it over a fire. However, she had nothing to fish with and no way to start a fire.
She let out a scream of frustration before sitting down, trying to fight back the tears. Crying would be useless, and so would sitting here doing nothing. Why did everything have to be so hard? She didn’t want to be alone out here anymore. It had been so long since she had seen another person—Sham did not count—that she was starting to feel like she was the only one left in the world. She wanted to sleep in a bed, eat real food, and wear clean clothes. Most of all, she wanted to go home.
Stolen story; please report.
That’s not an option, so stop thinking about it. She mentally berated herself for the thousand time. Now pull yourself together and do what you have to.
She forced herself to get back up and walk toward the forest. If she kept going, eventually she was bound to find something to eat.
Astrid had only taken a few steps when she noticed that something felt off. She strained her senses, trying to figure out why she suddenly got this unsettled. No sounds could be heard. That was the problem. Normally, the forest was full of noises, from the birds singing to the insects buzzing. It only got this silent when danger lurked nearby.
She turned around just as a shadow emerged from a bush, headed right at her. While dodging out of the way, she unsheathed her dagger in time to counter the shadow's next attack. She slashed at it with her knife, but it evaded her and flew into her stomach, knocking her to the ground.
The monster hovered in the air above her. It was just a dark, formless blob with no discernible features, so it was difficult for Astrid to gauge its intentions. Her ability to appraise monsters told her it was a level-one lighting sphere, but offered no more details about what that meant.
Suddenly, the lightning sphere rushed towards her, and she rolled to the side, avoiding the hit. Her next slash finally struck the monster. It let out a screech, but otherwise, the attack only served to aggravate the creature further. Fast as lightning, it moved in and bit her hand with hundreds of needle-like teeth.
Astrid dropped the dagger with a yelp and swung her hand around, trying to dislodge the creature. It flew off and hit a tree, but that didn’t stop it either. It opened its mouth and shot an energy beam at her.
Magic, she thought as she dropped flat on the ground, narrowly avoiding the beam as it flew over her head.
She had never fought a magical monster before, but she had been told that they were rare at level one and often had very dangerous powers. Where other monsters would claw and bite, those with magic could deal damage from a distance. With no ranged attacks of her own, Astrid had to get in close and finish it fast.
She rolled over out of reach of another blast, grabbed her dagger on the ground, and sprung to her feet. Taking advantage of her level two running skills, she zigzagged towards the monster, dodging the magic beams it sent her way. Then she stabbed it. The blade went all the way through its body, pinning it to the tree behind it. It stilled, the beam it had been about to release dying in its mouth.
How could such a small creature cause her so much trouble? How had it even seen her? She had thought she was invisible. Had she somehow given her position away? She had no recollection of when the clock had lost its effect, but it must have happened. She had to be more careful. Before anything else could attack her, she reapplied the invisibility and then sheathed the dagger again.
Half of her health had been expended in the fight, so she decided to hide until she could recover. Back in the shelter, she fell asleep and only woke up when she received a new message.
Quest from the God of Deception completed
You are alone in the forest with nowhere to go
Objective: survive alone in the wild for 24 hours
Reward: map of Otimra
Time left: 0 h
She found the map in the inventory and examined it.
Map Of Otimra
Received as a quest reward
The map can help the holder navigate over land
It was a scroll of parchment, yellowed with age. She unrolled the map and studied it for a moment. Maps were expensive, so she had never seen one depicting the entire kingdom before. It was fascinating, and she could have looked at it for hours if another message hadn’t arrived at that moment.
New quest from the God of Deception
You are alone in the forest
Objective: get to Largon
Reward: book
She sighed as she finished reading through the quest. Something about this didn’t sit well with her. It wasn’t the quest objective that bothered her. She had wanted to get out of this forest before she received it. And a book reward sounded intriguing too, especially if it was a skill book.
What bothered her was the fact that the god of Deception kept sending her quests. For how long would he dictate her every action? What were his plans for her? Based on the limited knowledge she had about the god of Deception, it couldn’t be anything good.
She set off towards the city of Largon. She had never been there, so she didn’t know anything about the city, but the map told her to head further east towards the ocean.
Hopefully, she would arrive before dark. The dread of spending another night in the forest with no food encouraged her to walk faster. She stayed invisible the whole way, not wanting monsters to slow her down.
It was early in the evening when the forest abruptly turned to farmland. Fields stretched out ahead of her, and small cottages dotted the landscape. She felt a sting in her chest at the reminder of the life she had lost, but immediately pushed the thought away. She didn’t want to deal with the pain. She had to focus on getting to the city. Largon should be close by. Maybe on the other side of the hill.
A path snaked between the fields, wide enough for two wagons to pass each other. She followed it, and as she had expected, the city came into view at the top of the hill. The cluster of buildings was surrounded by a wall of wooden poles, likely a safety measure to keep monsters out. A gate, guarded by a couple of men, had to be the entrance. A few people stood in line, waiting to enter. She got in line as well, and soon she was inside the city. She had arrived at Largon.