3 (III) Escape

Isaac ran through the forest frantically, his heart felt like it was going to jump up his throat it was beating so hard. The further he ran away from the village the more the storm subsided and visibility from the moon shone through the thick cluster of clouds above.

Due to his journey through the forest, his suit was tattered and caked with gunks of mud. Ahead, he saw a break in the trees; visibility was clear and filled with moonlight. He skid to a halt 5 cm away from a gigantic cliffside. Isaac flung his arms out and began waving them in circles as he tried to quickly stop.

He stumbled back before leaning forward, resting against his knees, taking giant breaths. His black hair stuck to his sweaty head as he brushed the back of his forearm across his forehead.

His glasses had a large crack going through one of the lenses. He stood up and took a step forward gasping as he overlooked the valley. Down below was a massive lake surrounded on all edges as far as the eye could see.

He turned and looked through the trees behind him and looked along the cliffside for a safe trail to descend safely into the valley. He didn't see anything immediately and began to walk along the edge to look for a way down.

Having time to breathe and not in immediately any danger, Isaac began to try and recall the system but nothing happened.

"It must still be updating or something..." He muttered to himself. His bag was missing and everything in his pockets was gone as well. The man sighed when he couldn't find his phone, his watch, the only keepsake his father gave him, was lost.

After walking for an indiscernible amount of time, Isaac found a small trail leading down the cliffside that looked relatively safe. As he descended into the valley, the window finally reappeared in front of him.

『System Update Completed!』

『System Re-Booting...』

The soft blue semitransparent windows appeared in front of him floating in the air and soon a large bar appeared below it and slowly began to fill up.

Red...

Orange...

Yellow...

Light Green...

As the bar filled it changed colors before settling on a vibrant green before it disappeared from view. Isaac had stopped his trek and stood frozen waiting for it to reappear.

『System Update Completed!』

『Notifications were received while the system was unavailable. Would you like to receive them now?』

『[Yes]/[No]』

The window floated in front of Isaac as he absentmindedly chewed on his lower lip. Hesitantly he raised his right arm and tapped the [Yes] with his finger.

Suddenly an influx of messages appeared and rang inside his head.

『Primary Objective Updated!』

『Primary Objective: [Escape the rubble on top of you] (Completed), [Escape the destroyed village]』

『Primary Objective Updated!』

『Primary Objective: [Escape the rubble on top of you] (Completed), [Escape the destroyed village] (Completed)』

『Temporary Quest Completed!』

『Secondary Objective: [Investigate the attackers] (Failed), [Identify the attackers] (Failed)』

『Reward: ₽5,000』

『Error!』

『Unable to provide Reward: ₽5,000. Payout will be suspended until a suitable time.』

"What the f..." Isaac groaned as he squinted his eyes, staring at the error, "What a useless piece of junk! It can't even reward me properly!" He didn't know what currency it was but it looked oddly familiar, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

///Author's Note: It is not the Russian ruble that I am using, it just looks the closest to the Pokémon Dollar symbol.///

The young man continued to walk down the trail, dismissing the system's windows. Once he had reached the bottom of the valley, he turned and looked up at how far he had traveled.

Smiling in satisfaction, he turned to travel further when another screen appeared.

『Character Screen is Available!』

'Character Screen..?' Isaac thought, which prompted the system to open information about himself.

『Name: Isaac Firenze』

『Age: 19』

『Profession: None』

『Perception: 15』

『Intelligence: 20』

『Strength: 5』

『Speed: 7』

『Stamina: 8』

『Insight: 20』

Isaac couldn't make heads or tails what everything meant but he felt that it was an accurate representation of who he was. His physical conditioning was terrible but he was smart. What the baseline was and where he was actually excelling couldn't be determined with only his information.

Isaac's stomach growled as he continued through the seemingly abandoned woods when suddenly a notification appeared before him once more.

『New Quest Received!』

『You have successfully survived a near-death experience, however, you are not out of the woods yet! Locate food and shelter to survive your first night!』

『Primary Objective: [Locate Food], [Locate Shelter]』

『Failure: ???』

『Time Limit: 1 Hour』

『Reward: ???, ???』

『Penalty: [Death]』

Isaac remained composed as he read the window. 'Always with the death...' He thought to himself as he rubbed his still grumbling stomach. One hour wasn't a lot of time for someone to find both shelter and food and he quickly began rushing through the forest looking for something edible.

The man frantically threw plants in his mouth without abandon hoping to find something the system would accept as food. He crunched on things that resembled pine cones, branches, leaves, anything he could pick up and bite.

Unfortunately, nothing was accepted and he spat out the mush of half-eaten plant material. He turned around and realized he had lost his way and didn't know where he was.

He turned around a dozen times trying to find where he had come from but couldn't recognize anything. He pulled up the system and checked how much time remained.

『Time Remaining: 0:51:23』

'I've only wasted like eight and a half minutes!' He thought and quickly chose a direction and began running where he thought he would find the cliffside. Darting through the trees he finally saw the rocky mountain ahead and smiled thinking he had returned the correct way.

The elated feeling left as quickly as it arrived as Isaac did not recognize this section of the cliffside. He turned left and right trying to determine which way was the correct choice.

He looked in both directions once more before running to his left. He kept the mountains to his right and the forest to his left as he struggled to keep up his pace.

『Time Remaining: 0:31:48』

He checked the time again as he had slowed down to a slow powerwalk. As if a sign from God himself, up ahead was an outcropping and Isaac came to a shallow cave. He looked inside and confirmed that the back of the cave was visible. A familiar chime rang inside his ears, bringing a visible smile to the young man's face.

『Primary Objective Updated!』

『Primary Objective: [Locate Food], [Locate Shelter] (Completed)』

Isaac whooped as loud as he could at the discovery, throwing his arms into the air. His stomach rumbled louder than before, causing him to double over and grab his abdomen in pain.

"Ugh..." He groaned in pain, "I need to find food fast!" He mumbled, picking himself off the ground and dusting his destroyed clothing with his palms.

He looked around the forest and walked in a straight line away from the tiny cave. He didn't want to lose it and began breaking branches, creating his own trail.

『Time Remaining: 0:11:02』

Isaac checked the time again and his heart started racing again, dread loomed overhead as he continued walking. Time felt like it was accelerating as he searched bushes and trees for fruit.

He pushed through the underbrush and stumbled out of the forest next to the lake he had seen previously and scattered around the edge of the water were dozens of fruit-bearing bushes.

The man grinned from ear to ear and rushed towards the closest bush, falling to his knees next to it and scuffing his legs as he greedily plucked berry after berry into his mouth.

The fruit exploded as the juices inside burst forth and flooded his mouth. The disheveled man groaned in ecstasy as the sweetness tickled his taste-buds. He ate his fill and took his jacket off and began filling a small pile in the center and folded it together and carried the bundle back to the cave.

Upon returning to his makeshift home, the final set of notifications rang inside his head:

『Primary Objective Updated!』

『Primary Objective: [Locate Food] (Completed), [Locate Shelter] (Completed)』

『Quest Completed!』

『Reward: Starter Kit, Starter Roulette Token』

Isaac grinned as he stared at the rewards, as he did, two bright lights appeared in front of him and landed on the ground. He covered his eyes with the back of his hand. After they dimmed, he stared at the large crate in front of him and the small yellow piece of paper on top of it.

———

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