*ding!* [Main Quest - Survival (F): You have survived the first day! Congratulations! However it is far from over. Humans are not the only creatures evolving, as such, you cannot let your guard down for a moment.
- survive for a week (0/7) days
- kill at least 1 monster (0/1)
- reward: (F) item x1 or (F) skill x1
- failure: death
- bonus: kill 20 monsters (0/20)
- bonus reward: the option not chosen for the main quest reward
- Hidden - ]
"What's this Hidden thing at the bottom?" Leon asked as he tried to click on it with nothing happening.
[...]
"Giving me the silent treatment? Alright brat have it your way."
[I'm not a brat! And why should I tell you? Are you gonna call it a cheat again and make me scrub your brain of the information later?]
"I was just asking. If you don't want to answer then don't." Leon replied calmly but the system didn't seem to like that answer.
[Alright then fine! I won't. Hmph.]
Silence permeated the area as Leon sat down on his log and brought out his whittling tools, carving into a clean chunk of wood he had set aside.
[...]
Leon continued in silence, perfectly content, while the system was increasingly getting impatient.
[...]
[...Hidden is what it means, its hidden.]
"I get that," Leon responded, unconcerned that he still ended up milking information out of it, "I'm asking whether its a whole 'nother quest or similar to the bonus, just hidden."
[...You could call it a hidden sub-quest generally but it depends on the difficultly of the quest its attached to.] The system answered again after another bout of silence, [Its like a quest within a quest, and the hidden quest will always be harder than the actual quest.]
"How will I know if I've completed a hidden quest? And will the rewards be given to me before or after the main quest is finished?"
[The hidden quest will reveal itself once you've found out what it is] the system responded quickly this time, seemingly fed up with the long silence, [Rewards are after since it isn't a main quest]
"Thank you." Leon said as he shaped the ears to his little mouse figure.
"..."
[...]
"Was that so hard?"
[Shut it you bastard.]
"You know you don't have to answer. I don't care either way. I just figured that if you're gonna stick around me and not do your job, you should at least do something useful." Leon gave a small smirk for the first time, annoying the system to no end.
[F*ck you! I am doing my job! I hope you get eaten and that its painful!]
*ding!* [You have created a Mini Mouse Wood Totem!]
{Mini Mouse Wood Totem (F) - A mini totem made out of wood in the shape of a mouse. It represents the spirit of the tiny critter, granting you a small amount of its stats once used.}
- +2 speed for 1 hour}
*ding!* [Your proficiency in working with wood has earned you a skill! You have learned Woodworking (F)!]
Leon swatted the messages away as he felt the little 'totem' in his hands. He could feel it radiating with a small amount of power, which he had never felt before. Opening up his system page, he thought of the inventory and out popped several rows of empty boxes except for the first one which had two antlers in it.
He put the mouse totem next to it and it disappeared from his hand, transferring into the system. The inventory was some sort of isolated pocket of space that was only accessible to the 'Player' under normal circumstances. Another tidbit of the knowledge he got and there was still plenty more to try out.
After he was done, he cleaned up the shavings before going back into his tent to retrieve his other 'totems.' He wanted to check, but sure enough, the other little totems he created were also radiating with the same energy despite being made long before the system came to earth.
The little statues he had been making as a hobby for well over 15 years now were actually showing some use other than for decoration. He was curious to try them out, but he didn't want to waste them. Each one took him a few hours to make and he was sure that if he wanted better quality ones, he would need tougher material and more time.
As he gathered up his totems of different animals, he looked at their effects as well. He had bears, wolves, eagles, hawks, mice, bunnies, and many more. The prey animals that he made generally had stats in speed or defense while the predator animals had more health and attack stats increases.
They were very small amounts it seemed, with the highest being +3 but given they were all made of wood, it was a very good item. The difference of one step or one more health could be the difference between life and death.
The wilderness was animal territory, there was no changing that. His two decades of time alone proved to him that he was at a disadvantage even with a human's superior mind. However, these new powers could potentially change that, as long as he stayed on top of things.
"I guess I'll go out hunting then, might as well get the bonus done now." He mumbled to himself.
Now that he had his inventory, Leon was able to store his weapons with ease. He didn't have to worry as much about carrying things but he still kept his hatchet on his tool belt along with a few totems.
He planned to also bring out the quiver of arrows he had, as the inventory had a slight delay in pulling things out. It might not be very noticeable now, but as he grew in strength, it would become a glaring weakness to constantly be reaching for items or weapons in the inventory when your enemy is faster than the subspace delay.
He swiftly moved as he slowly got used to the increased speed thanks to the Cloak of Concealment and practiced the Silent Steps skill to the point that it would become involuntary. As he moved around swiftly in a crouched position, the cold air hit his face and helped wake him up further.
Eventually, he came across some tracks. Wolf tracks.
'1, 2, ... 5 at least.' He thought as he looked at the different tracks.
They were all messy, so it was hard to tell exactly how many but the tracks leading away suggested at least 5, possibly a few more. Leon wasn't sure just how strong these animals could have gotten in the last day, considering their usual hunting patterns kept them from hunting every single day.
"It won't be that easy will it?"
[You are correct.]
The system seemed to have given up trying to argue, as Leon's stubbornness was too frustrating for it and just decided to wait and watch. Why the system itself was watching a lowly human? Who knows...
Leon followed the tracks for a while, keeping his steps light and moving as silently as possible. With the skills he gained, he was able to do this a lot quicker than before and soon reached a small clearing where a pack of wolves were tearing into another deer carcass.
The deer carcass was mostly finished off, as most of the bone was exposed and several wolves were casually laying down with bloody snouts. Leon counted 4 of them, meaning one was missing, and as he looked around to see where it might have gone, he heard a growl very close by.
Slowly turning to his side, the missing wolf, or wolves, to be more specific were only a few yards away. Careful not to make any sudden moves, Leon slowly reached his hands down to his waist to grab hold of his weapons while keeping eye contact with the two wolves.
He must have been too close to the wolves originally, and 5 seconds might not have passed, meaning his camo couldn't activate. The camo on the cloak might have been very handy, but he had to always fight like it would fail. It also didn't help that he forgot to wait earlier and activate it...
As he grabbed hold of his hatchet with one hand, he reached down and grabbed a totem with his other. A prompt popped up not long after and he quickly answered 'yes' to himself to enable its effects.
*ding!* [You have used Mini Wooden Bear Totem (F): +1 health for 1 hour]
He felt the power flow through him for a moment as he felt his body feel warmer, more energetic, as his health increased by 1. He then slowly reached for a knife he held at his waist but by then, the wolves moved.
"They're smarter huh?" Leon said as he lowered his body, ready to fight.
He could tell by the way their eyes moved, that they were looking at his hands. They weren't able to see what his hatchet hand was doing and wouldn't be able to process that a weapon might be back there, but they saw his other hand reach for the totem.
As the totem didn't look dangerous, they didn't move, but once they saw him reach for the knife, the fight began. Not wasting anymore time Leon ripped out his knife from his belt, actually ripping the belt along the way before bringing them in front of him.
The wolf to his left jumped at him first, growling and opening its jaw, aiming for his neck. The wind whistled as Leon swung his knife at the side of the wolf's head. The sound of bone being crushed, echoed between the trees as his knife easily sunk into its skull, almost too easily.
The wolf to his right worked in tandem with its packmate, going for Leon's leg while he was distracted but another violent *swoosh!* from his hatchet arm almost cleaved its head clean off. A bloody mess fell to the snow as the two wolves were quickly dispatched of, yet their deaths didn't seem to deter the rest of the monsters from attacking him.
"Well, I guess I'll get a good work out from this." Leon mumbled as he put his foot on top of the wolf's head to yank out his knife.