A HELLISH TIME

The castle created the perfect bedroom for me. The room of my dreams. Everything was like I would've wanted. There is an enormous bed in the center of the room. There are bookshelves with my favorite novels in them. Pictures of my family. It's like the castle read in my mind to find the perfect room for me.

It even has a window with the same view as in my childhood bedroom. A sight I had not seen in 12 years. My hometown. The fields and all.

I couldn't help but feel relaxed in this room. Like it was meant to be. Before I knew it, I felt like I had to go to sleep. I remembered the fact that I haven't slept for 3 months.

If it wasn't for the system, it would have been a catastrophic situation. My intelligence statistics helped me get through it without going insane.

The moment I realized how long it had been since I slept, I collapsed on the bed.

I slept until a bucket of water was dumped on my head.

If you never have been woken up by water all over yourself, I hope it stays that way for you. Because it's the absolute worse way of waking up.

I was sure I was drowning. I was going to die.

- Wake up princess, you've been asleep for a week.

- Really, a week? That's insane.

- No, It's only been 6 hours. I just always dreamt of saying it.

- 6 hours??? Are you insane, I need to recuperate. I haven't slept in 3 months.

- Yes, I'm insane but that's not the question here. You don't need to sleep that much because you've been awakened.

- Awakened? Are you talking about gaining levels with the system?

- I guess, that's what the young people are calling it. Get up, I'll be waiting for you outside.

It's impossible, I can't already have recuperated. But it did feel like it. I felt totally fine. My brain wasn't in its normal morning fog. None of that.

Wow, I love being awakened.

I opened my inventory to put on my equipment. While putting it on, I saw for the first time that there was a slot for statistics boosts on equipment. My equipment had no boost on it.

If I based myself on my video game knowledge, the starting equipment I got probably doesn't have a stats boost. It's only for a look.

That information would mean that if I get stronger equipment, I would become stronger without needing to level up.

That explains why I and Leana could kill the 2 goblins with that sword.

It felt weird thinking back about her, it had been so little time since her death yet at the same time, it felt like an eternity. Time works in magical ways.

I went outside. The first thing that greeted me was the foot of Achilles in my face. He kicked me.

- Rule 1 of life. Always be ready to be kicked in the face. Especially when I'm around, I love kicking people in the face.

He kicked me without using even a percent of his power, I could feel it. But it didn't change the fact that he broke my nose with that weak of a kick. He's a monster.

My nose was dripping so much blood.

- Don't be mad at me. It's nothing, look.

He put his hands to my nose and instantaneously my broken nose stopped dripping blood. I could feel the bone getting put back together.

- Training starts now. What type of way do you fight?

- You mean, my class?

- Yeah, your thing for fighting.

- I'm a mist assassin.

- Let's say assassin. So because you are an assassin, you need to be able to sneak behind your enemies. You need to be able to crawl. To crawl with expertise and strength. Your first training will be to crawl around the forest with me on your back.

The forest looked to be around 10 kilometers in diameter. How could, I crawl all of this with only one arm?

- This is the easiest training. See it has a warmup of some sort. It will get harder from here.

NEW QUEST: CRAWLING MASTERY

YOU NEED TO CRAWL 10 KILOMETERS WITH ACHILLES ON YOUR BACK.

THE QUEST NEEDS TO BE DONE WITHIN A MONTH.

REWARD FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE QUEST:

GAIN OF 5 POINTS IN STRENGTH AND AGILITY.

Why did I put all my points in speed? The one thing I don't need right now. At least, with the reward I'll be able to balance myself better.

Me and Achilles walked to the end of the cave together.

It was hard for me to get the right position, considering I only have one arm.

I had to figure out the best possible position for my right arm to balance all of my body.

I did find a way.

Achilles then proceeded to sit on my back with his legs crossed so that no part of his body touched the ground.

Did he say, that it was going to be hellish? because right now, it doesn't feel hellish at all. He feels light on my body.

- Are you ready to start?

- It hasn't started yet?

- No.

The timer for the month started.

TIME REMAINING FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE QUEST: 29 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES.

Then I felt it. Pressure on my back. He was exerting so much weight on me.

I cracked under that pressure and my stomach touched the ground.

I tried to get back up to a crawling position but every one of my attempts didn't work.

He wasn't wrong. This was hell.

Timed passed yet, I couldn't get up. I could only lay there on the ground trying to get up.

TIME REMAINING FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE QUEST: 28 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES.

Already a day had passed, and I can't get up. I just can't. Maybe if I had time to prepare for it, it would be a task that I could complete.

For me right now, it was something impossible to do. I'm only level 4. How can I achieve something like this? Especially with one arm. Maybe with 2 arms, I could get enough strength to get back up.

- You, focus too much on your arm and not enough on your legs.

He was right, I needed to put more strength in my legs to get up. I started to do it and I saw some improvements. I saw that I was getting more lifting time on my tries.

There it was, I could do it. I just needed to find the best way of moving my body for it. I need to focus all of my energy on finding out the best way on doing it.

I saw a video one time on the internet about how soldiers crawl with all that baggage on their backs.

It came to the front of my mind. The way he did it. I had to use the same technique.

I could only use one arm but if I did take the technique I saw in the video and made my knee go much higher towards my torso, I could alleviate enough of the weight for me to shift my arm.

Skills and statistics and all of that were only one part of the puzzle. You also need to know how to use it. How to see things and use your body. I was confident, it was something I could do.

TIME REMAINING FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE QUEST: 27 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES.

I don't know if I'll be able to do it in a month but I can try.

I started to focus more and more on my technique. I started to make it higher and higher with Achilles on my back. I felt it. I was getting it. I could see my legs move and how it compared to the video on the internet. I just needed a little bit more technique for me to do it correctly. Just a little bit.

TIME REMAINING FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE QUEST: 26 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES.

More and more. I lasted more and more time. But I wasn't able to be stable enough right now for me to carry him around the forest.

- This is the problem with the system and all you artificially awakened. You still don't understand how it works. It is the only hint I'll give you.

Was that a hint?

Maybe it was.

Being awakened. Understanding the root of things. The root of the power in the world. Is that what I need to understand? How things are?

Let me think about it.

TIME REMAINING FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE QUEST: 25 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES.

I closed my eyes and began focusing on the things I felt. Maybe if I understood the power in myself I could understand it on the outside.

Something was flowing through me. My mana. I started to observe the way it flowed in my body.

TIME REMAINING FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE QUEST: 24 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES.

Weirdly, it felt like the mana wasn't flowing naturally. It looked like an outside force was pushing onto my mana. Like someone was dumping mana in me.

This was how he was feeling so heavy.

TIME REMAINING FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE QUEST: 23 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES.

I focused on my mana and how to move it. Then when I felt confident, I made it flow in the same way that the intrusive mana was flowing.

Achilles went from being heavy to feeling like nothing was on my back.

- Good. You have found it.

I went ahead and with all the control I had over the mana in my body, I finally made some progress with my first crawling step.

THE PLAYER HAS UNDERSTOOD THE BASIS OF POWER.

BY UNDERSTANDING IT, HE WILL BE AWARDED A LEVEL.

I can do it!

PROGRESS TOWARDS THE QUEST: 0,001 KM \ 10 KM

TIME REMAINING FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE QUEST: 22 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES.