Airen watched as the sun's rays appeared over the trees and spread across the entire forest.

Then he slowly lowered his eyes to the message that had appeared.

[You have attracted the attention of the lord of the "Safe Zone".]

[Your attention level is currently 9.]

[You need to leave this zone as soon as possible.]

[If the attention level reaches 10, you may be eliminated.]

"That was faster than I thought," Airen sighed.

"Ace, I think it's time," said Airen.

[Yes, it's time to leave the forest.]

[Head east; in that direction, you should encounter human civilization.]

Ace spoke in a dry voice, indicating the direction to go, and immediately after, a new message appeared.

[New Quest

Objective: Leave the forest

Reward: 5 levels.

Time: Two months.

Penalty for failure: Death

Accept

Yes/No?]

[The quest is mandatory, so acceptance is automatic.]

"They even gave me a quest," Airen began reading the description.

"Death?" Airen was taken aback as he paused on the line about the penalty. The prospect of death didn't really please Airen, although the reward was very good, it didn't lift his spirits.

"Damn, better not waste time," Airen headed east. Airen didn't need to prepare supplies, as he had already done so earlier out of fear that he would need to leave the forest quickly. Although he did it earlier than planned, he set off immediately. As he departed, Airen took on a daily quest to cover 50 kilometers. The difficulty level increased with each new quest, but there was a positive side to it: he could find out how many kilometers he had covered.

When the sun was at its zenith, Airen reached a clearing where strange plants of a light purple color were growing.

"What is this place?" Airen decided to explore the clearing a bit.

After a while, Airen came across a single tree in the center of the valley with strange golden leaves.

"This must be something interesting," as soon as Airen noticed the tree, he decided to approach it.

But when he was a few hundred meters away, Airen noticed someone lying behind the tree. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a wolf with strange markings on its neck that looked like gills.

"This might be a good catch," Airen examined the wolf, and it didn't seem strong.

So, he began to slowly approach the tree, trying not to reveal himself. Halfway to the tree, Airen noticed the wolf started to move, raising its head and looking in his direction.

"Damn," as soon as Airen saw this, he realized he shouldn't have come here.

The moment Airen locked eyes with the wolf, it immediately roared with all its might.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Roarrr….

Airen saw waves of air emanating from the wolf, and in a moment, they reached him. He wanted to flee, but all he managed to do was slightly turn his body. As soon as the air waves hit him, he felt his internal organs begin to vibrate, and within a moment, blood burst from his mouth.

Airen fell to the ground, and blood started flowing from his eyes and ears. Despite the severe injury, Airen quickly regained consciousness and immediately ran away from the tree with the wolf as fast as he could.

He ran so hard that he didn't notice when he reached the edge of the valley.

"Damn," Airen sat down by a tree. Catching his breath, Airen looked back at the valley where the tree was.

The wolf didn't pursue him; it waited until Airen was far enough away and then lay down to sleep again. As soon as Airen managed to regain some strength, he immediately walked away from the valley, further east. Although he had thoughts of trying to obtain something valuable if he stumbled upon it, after what had happened, his desire had significantly diminished.

Continuing his journey, Airen realized within a few days that what Ace had told him was by no means an exaggeration. During these days, Airen encountered such beasts that even the wolf from the valley seemed not so dangerous.

Hiding in the bushes, Airen watched a creature resembling a bear the size of a small mountain passing nearby. Holding his breath, Airen tried not to move a single muscle.

"Phew," Airen exhaled when the bear passed.

"I've only been traveling for a few days, and already this," Airen thought.

"I haven't been able to complete a single daily quest," Airen was frustrated.

During these days, he tried to move through the forest only during the day. He had already made the mistake of attempting to continue his journey at night. As soon as the sun set below the horizon, the entire forest fell silent. At first, Airen didn't pay much attention to this, but after a while, he heard sounds resembling thousands of animals rustling in the underbrush and approaching him. Therefore, he immediately returned to his world to avoid taking risks.

"Unlucky that bear went in the same direction I need to go," Airen looked after the bear.

"Ah, I'm not going to wait," Airen decided to slightly change his route.

Heading in another direction, Airen decided to take a curved path to avoid running into the bear and to save time. The bear moved further away.

After an hour, when Airen had already forgotten about the bear, he heard the sounds of a battle a few kilometers away.

Although he would have ignored it earlier and moved on, he was tired of hiding all the time and decided to take a chance.

Approaching a safe distance, Airen was surprised to see the same bear fighting a huge snake.

Although it was several times smaller than the bear, compared to Airen, who would look like a tiny mouse next to a python.

"Damn, I probably shouldn't have come here," Airen saw nothing of value and was about to leave, but another snake descended from a tree and hurried to assist its partner.

"What the...?" Airen found it strange that the snakes continued to fight against a stronger opponent instead of fleeing.

"What is that tree?" Airen took a closer look at the tree from which the snake had descended.

The tree looked ordinary and didn't stand out from the others, but if you looked closely, you could see dark green fruits among the leaves.

There weren't many, just about twenty. Airen didn't rush to grab the fruits right away. Instead, he analyzed the best option to profit while staying safe.

"Better not be greedy; a few fruits will suffice," Airen began to circle around the fight.

As he approached the tree, he noticed more snakes around it, but they were the size of ordinary pythons.

They were watching the battle as if everything depended on it.

The presence of more snakes alarmed Airen, but he still approached the tree.

He had already picked out the fruits he would take, so when he was only a few dozen meters away, he ran as fast as he could.

The snakes noticed him when he was just a few meters from the tree, hissing in unison and lunging toward him.

Airen grabbed two fruits from a single branch and immediately started to run away. After running a few hundred meters, Airen noticed the snakes didn't continue to chase him but instead returned. This made him very happy that everything had gone smoothly.

"So, what do we have here?" Airen decided to examine the fruits.

[Name: Nutrient Tree Fruit

Type: Plant

Attributes: Increases the " Stature " attribute by 1, can be used in alchemical tablet preparation, does not increase the "Stature" attribute after one raw use.]

"Damn, this is a jackpot," Airen was incredibly happy.

He immediately began to eat the fruit. Although it tasted unpleasant, like an unripe sour apple, it didn't matter to Airen because of the result he would gain.

[1 point in the special attribute " Stature " obtained.]

As soon as Airen finished eating the fruit, a message appeared before him, and a warm sensation spread through his body.

When the warmth faded, Airen decided to test his strength.

"This should work," Airen approached a rock and punched it.

Thud...

The moment Airen's fist struck the rock, it split in two within a second.

"Hahaha, I've become at least twice as strong," Airen was over the moon with happiness.

With such a sudden increase in strength, he was confident that his journey would now be safer. Although he was sure he couldn't handle opponents like the bear or the snakes, at least he could try to escape.