Before heading out, Alex made one of the craziest decisions he never thought he would do. He decided to shave his head bald! He grabbed a small blade from his kitchen, and slowly started shaving off his hair.
Once he finished, he inspected his head and was pleasantly surprised. 'This is not nearly as bad as it was before! I don't need to wear stupid hoodies in the summer again.'
Putting on a black long sleeve shirt, Alex headed out of his apartment.
'I should check what my Daily quest is' Alex thought as he pinched his fingers, and rotated the ring clockwise.
—------
–System Message–
Daily Quest (2)
Complete 30 Pushups
Run 35 KM
Complete 100 Squats
—------
'Ooh very nice, although the squats are a pain in the ass, I should be able to complete this quite easily while I test my body' - Alex thought. He was clearly happy with this daily quest
As soon as he stepped outside, he stood there for a few minutes with his hands stretched, enjoying the feeling of the sun on his skin, and letting his eyes and ears adjust to the outside world.
After a few minutes of letting everything soak in, he started walking towards the Verdant Wilds. Since the area he lived in, Old Town, was on the border, it took him about 15 minutes to reach the entrance.
Wrapped around the outpost's edge, a makeshift fence of barbed wire stretched out like a rough embrace. It wasn't much in the way of a sturdy barrier, but it did the trick. More of a stern warning than a real wall, it whispered a clear message to the curious creatures lurking just beyond: "This far and no further."
There is a reason why the fencing around the forest was not high, because no matter how high they tried to build it, the biggest beasts or cat-like beasts can easily hop over the wall. Hence why this border was really more for humans and smaller passive animals to stay clear of. It also helped to funnel in the hunters into one spot, rather than allow for anyone to just easily go into the forest.
This also protected children who played around the area as well, so they don't end up in the forest by accident. Lastly, GreenHaven urban planners did not want to spend so much of their resources to protect the area around OldTown, since it did not have any important families or nobles, they did not want to invest more than they needed, so the townfolks made do with what they have.
Two guards manned the entrance, their presence a mix of laziness and casual vigilance. They were supposed to be gatekeepers, but due to lack of oversight and management became very lazy, sometimes not even showing up for their job.
This made it easy for unranked and black market sellers to venture in and out. When the guards were there, they simply asked one to present your ID and hunter's badge, and as long as you showed them, they would let you pass, no questions asked.
There were rumors that these guards could be easily swayed. A subtle nod, a discreet exchange, and the rules might bend just enough for the uninitiated to slip through. The guards really did not care about anyone's wellbeing.
When Alex showed up, at first he was nervous, he's never gone through to the other side, and was expecting many obstacles in his way such as "you're too young, you're not experienced, blah blah". But to his surprise, he simply showed them the badge, the guards yawned, and lifted the lever to allow him to walk right through.
'That was easier than I thought. Guess not everything is as hard as it seems,' Alex mused to himself.
Clad in a long-sleeve shirt, Alex stepped into the forest for the first time, his heart pounding with excitement at the prospect of testing his new abilities.
'First things first, let's test my speed. I need to be very confident that I can outrun almost anything dangerous. I'm young, but I'm not stupid. I don't know what I'll encounter in here.'
Alex bent down, untied and retied his shoelace, making sure it was super tight. He then did a quick stretch, and once he was a few meters away from the guards' view, started jogging around the perimeter of the forest. He was pretty sure there wouldn't be anything other than trees and passive animals on the perimeter so he did not feel like this was a dangerous idea, but still, he wanted to understand his environment before doing anything too crazy.
His first test was a simple jog while surveying the perimeter. However, as soon as he began, Alex realized that his definition of 'simple' had drastically changed. Each stride propelled him forward at an alarming rate, far faster than any regular jog.
"This is insane," he chuckled to himself, slowing down to find a more manageable pace. It took him several tries to control his speed, to jog at a rate that wouldn't draw unwanted attention.
Once comfortable, he transitioned into a full run. As Alex pushed himself, the wind roared in his ears, causing him to shiver, the wind in his eyes causing them to get watery, a true testament to his supernatural speed.
'I can't believe how fast I am now. This is unbelievable!'
As he was enjoying himself, running faster and faster while constantly using his sleeves to wipe the tears from his eyes and face, he ran directly into a humongous tree!
At full speed, Alex reached speeds of 40 miles per hour (about 65 kilometers per hour).
As soon as he hit the tree, the impact was so powerful that it sent a shockwave of energy rippling through the air. The sound, a thunderous crack, echoed through the surroundings due to the sheer force.
Alex's body was pretty strong at this point since he leveled up. His thighs were much thicker than before, he was still a little bit "unbalanced," but a simple look could tell that he had a strong body.
Alex's body absorbed the brunt of the collision. His muscles and bones withstood a blow that would have disfigured any ordinary man.
The tree, a giant of the forest, shuddered under the force, its bark fracturing in a spiderweb pattern at the point of impact, its leaves falling like rain.
While Alex absorbed the blow, his body was full of bruises, and he felt like he might have cracked a rib. He felt that there was an internal injury in his body. But he remained conscious as he fell backward due to the force.
"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction," Alex felt the truthfulness of this statement right here and now.
'I should have been more careful. This is not a game,' he thought, berating himself for his recklessness.
—------
–System Message–
Daily Quest (2)
Complete 30 Pushups
Run 35 KM (Complete)
Complete 100 Squats
—------
As Alex stood up, first he felt his knees buckle, and as soon as he could stand, he saw the message, and then he vomited out blood.
'Shit… I definitely broke something internally. Stupid Alex, the hell were you thinking. Now what do I do?' Alex thought; he was panicking at this point, and completely ignored the system message.
'What if something or someone heard the commotion and came over? If it was a human, that would be good as I can ask them to take me to a nearby doctor, even though I have no money they would still treat a kid right suffering from internal bleeding right? Probably not actually. No one is kind to orphans, especially ones with no money…'
Thinking of the worst-case scenario, 'what if it's a hungry beast, and I'm sure they can smell the blood and my injury, they will think I'm easy prey… shit Alex, I think it's time to head back to the apartment…'
Alex's ears picked up some sound coming through some thick bushes, and his worrisome thoughts came true. Two hungry-looking hyenas came to check out the smell, and to their delight, saw a weakened little boy. Hyenas were known to travel in pairs, and while cowardly, they would not hesitate to jump on weak prey so they can feast.
The hungry hyenas, gaunt and with ribs visible, prowl with desperate intensity. Their fur matted and dull, blending into the dark surroundings. Their eyes, cold and focused. Their mouths open, with dripping saliva. They were hungry, and they were finally about to have their first meal in a long time.
As soon as Alex's eyes landed on theirs, Alex started to slowly try and walk backward, but his legs were giving in. Every backward step required a lot of energy from Alex, he was really in pain.
'F**k!! What do I do, I can't turn around and try to run, all I can do is fight, but how?' His mind quickly racing. He tried to put his hands up, something akin to a boxing pose, but he felt intense pain coming from his rib area.
Alex's mind went into overload, it started going through all scenarios until it landed on his best chance of survival. 'I need to first cover my back, I need to grab a branch or anything, and if i'm lucky, i should have broken a few from the impact with the tree. Use it to defend myself. Even if I can't properly move my arms, I can still hold it still while using the tree to place the bottom of the branch to withstand the impact. If I get lucky, I can impale one, and the other would flee seeing I'm not going to go down easy. Yes, this could work, no this must work.'
As soon as Alex felt the tree on his back, he looked down, and saw a big branch. He bent down very slowly, trying not to alert the beasts, but unfortunately, the beasts noticed what he's trying to do and they would not allow it. They hastened their pace, at this point both of them rushing towards him.
'Shit, I need to act fast! there's no time to waste. I need to bear through the pain!' Alex tried to prepare himself for what's about to come.
Alex rushed to grab the branch, but he underestimated how heavy it was, and how badly his body was injured. If he had time, he would stomp on the branch to make it smaller, but he did not have the luxury of time. But the pain was too much, and he did not have the time nor the strength to stomp on the branch.
'This is bad, really bad,' he thought, as the first hyena was now right in front of him, going in for the kill.