She arrived after dusk. Else was just coming out of her cottage. “So you’ve got the book?”
“Yep. It’s fantastic!”
“I know,” Else said without all the cheer. “Next step of training: go kill all those animals around here. They respawn so fast you’ll never run out of punching bags.”
She got the Quest update and read it. It included punching farm animals to death. “So, let me guess. I need to upgrade my punching skill until I can take down anyone with one hit?”
“Yeah, but no. That’s highly unlikely, unless they’re like level 10. But you do need to get a good grip on unarmed combat. Punching, jabbing, and all that, only gets stronger after practice.” Else put on her drill sergeant face again, “So get punching! Those farm animals won’t kill themselves. No matter how pathetic you look!”
She was thinking about asking Else if she had just said she didn’t look scary… But she found out yesterday that asking stupid questions doesn’t ease the training. Instead, she got her own prompt telling her that she was tired and needs to go to sleep.
So instead of asking a stupid question, she said something stupid. “Uh-oh. I just got a prompt that said I need to sleep. Is there somewhere…”
“Oh good! More endurance training. Now get to punching!”
KillPrinsX reluctantly, and through the beginnings of a sleepy fog, went to the nearest chicken to punch it where it hurt the most.
She got to about five chickens, three pigs, and a dog, when the mental haze really started kicking in. She would go to throw a punch, lag, miss terribly and nearly topple over.
“What I really need is… some… coffee,” she said out loud, slowly dragging out the syllables as her eyes started to close. If only her trusty spider sidekick is around to bring her a cup.
She could only imagine herself standing there, looking like a dazed fighter with his eyes closed, stars circling around his head and wobbling back and forth.
“Charlotte? Coffee… please…”
Else came up and pushed her lightly. KillPrinsX fell to the dirt and barely opened her eyes. Else lightly kicked her once, twice. And then she had it. She fired a spell that made KillPrinsX roll through the dirt like a rag doll.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
She had finally woken up. Her stamina was flashing red, at zero, and a timer had started counting down for a minute, telling her that she would fall asleep again very soon.
You are exhausted! Running on pure adrenaline, you will be able to move, for now, with severe consequences in the future.
“Coffee? Do you have any coffee?”
“No. No coffee. Go find some of those Crimson Taurus Berries,” she ordered.
KillPrinsX ran off and picked a few, taking ten in one bite. The sleep counter had picked up to five minutes, but the haze was still there, less, but coming back quickly.
If there was one thing she had learned from the sprinting drill was that she had to keep pushing. The only way to make it is by eating berries, and keep pushing.
She was ready.
More punching.
Another few chickens, a few more pigs, a horse, and she need more berries.
She was cutting it close on her sleep timer. Making it back to the bush as it hit zero. The black haze came like a tidal wave, and she only wanted to pick a berry. She’s nearly there! She pushed, willed her arm to rise. The blackness was overpowering her, she couldn’t tell if she had reached it or not. She just kept willing… More power! More energy! Pick that berry! SHOVE IT IN YOUR MOUTH!
Apparently she had done it, getting a timer that was hardly fifteen seconds this time. More berries!
But she had also gotten a prompt.
Achievement unlocked!
Keeping moving while exhausted status past maximum. “What’s the difference between me and a Zombie?… Nothing!”
You have taken control while you had no control. Such an instance is rewarded.
+5 Endurance: Recovery: Stamina
+5 Dexterity: Non-combat: Manual
+5 Intelligence: Focus: Manual
Wow! A full one and a half attribute points rewarded! Else wasn’t joking when she meant Endurance training.
She didn’t really want to try it again. But really, what’s the harm? She’ll only fall over and Else will come and kick her ass.
She picked some more berries and ate them, keeping more for later. She might do well trying to time it correctly and get another achievement like that.
She ended the night looking at her kills so far:
1758 Kills:
1048 Chickens
597 Pigs
83 Dogs
18 Horses
12 Cows
2925 unarmed hits
10 hours 25 minutes of sleep deprivation
Achievements unlocked! Staying awake for more than 10 hours. “Sleep is for the weak.”
+10 Endurance: Recovery: Stamina
Achievements unlocked! Killing over 1500 farm animals in one day. “You call me a butcher? No. I just call it having fun.”
+5 Intelligence: Focus: Physical
She knew now that her sleep timer was coming down to zero fast enough. Somehow, and without too much mental effort, she had made Else give her a room and she laid down. Now that the counter was at zero, even looking at her stats for the day was over.