A long night and a new day

Rosa nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard the first scream during the night. It was a cry for help that was quickly silenced.

'The monsters are hunting now.' Rosa felt her stomach sink as she huddled in the cold darkness. She didn't dare move.

The snarling of predators as they fought over their kill were close enough that it had Rosa tearing up.

Iris had been a regular human in a safe world with little to no danger. Rosa, in her short life, had never encountered this level of hardship before.

She was frightened.

It wasn't the last cry in the night either.

Many other people had opted to hide in their homes when the monsters attacked. The raid happening so suddenly that many couldn't evacuate.

Rosa checked her skills; her presence now a nine due to quiet breathing and hiding. She was unsure if it would be enough.

Rosa was also a seven year old girl, it was late. She was getting tired. If it wasn't for her terror, she would have succumbed to sleep a long time ago.

Three times she counted someone screaming on her street as they tried to flee monsters. They never got far.

The closest one had just happened. It was close enough that she could hear the crunching of bones as the predator ate. The window below bringing in the sounds from outside like they were right beside her.

'It has to be in front of the courtyard. Maybe even in it.' Rosa estimated that it was around four in the morning now.

The beast outside snorted. Humans and monsters both turned into spectral shards after they died. On average, it took one minute for the bodies to fade.

That meant that both monsters and humans had one minute to gather resources before their prey faded into nothing.

Rosa held her breath as she heard something scratching against the iron fence outside.

'Please be leaving, please be leaving.' Rosa prayed. Listening intently, she heard faint steps of cloven hoofs leading down the street away from her. She couldn't be sure if she was safe yet.

Faint sounds in the distance seemed to creep into the window below as time passed. It was nearing sunrise when Rosa finally fell into an exhausted doze.

"Ding! You have survived the night. Mission completed. Please collect your rewards."

Rosa was startled awake. Her exhausted mind confused for a moment. The chime from the system woke her up.

'I made it to morning.' There were small cracks of light creeping through the slits in the door now. Rosa quickly read through the system message.

The quests tab had the system mission marked as complete. Collecting the rewards yielded sacks in the inventory tab. Opening them revealed the following.

"1 wooden mallet. One star weapon. Plus six damage. Needs two strength to equip. "

"x2 health potions. One star rating. Plus 30 Hp."

"Plus one to agility. Plus one to wisdom."

"Skill book Identify obtained."

.....All useless junk except the potions.

Rosa looked at her measly ten health points and inwardly groaned. These were low grade health potions. In games, chugging these normally only restored a fraction of health.

'One hit and I'm dead.' Rosa realized grimly.

Identify was a low level skill used by merchants on items with ??? for a description.

The agility boost with run wouldn't help her get away from most monsters.

The mallet she couldn't even equip.

'Thanks for nothing you stupid system!' Rosa cursed in her mind. The rewards did absolutely nothing for her situation. As if in retaliation for her thoughts a new quest appeared.

"Ding! New quest available. Rank SS. Get to safety. Task: Get inside the second wall of Aurora City. Rewards: One random peice of Armor, one random artifact, one magical foci and four attribute points."

'This system is trying to save me or kill me. I can't tell which.' Rosa thought as she pressed the accept button. It was what she was going to do today after all.

She couldn't keep hiding forever. If she waited longer, she wouldn't have the strength due to lack of food and water.

The first thing to do was to get the lay of the land and make a plan.

Slowly, Rosa opened the door to the belfry. Trying to stay quiet she moved inside. The lone bell looked old and weathered. The walls were low giving a panoramic view of the surrounding areas. She crouched down and made her way over to the direction facing the inner wall.

Rosa, under the influence of Iris's adult memories, cursed a blue streak in her head.

There were multiple fires in the lower city. The smoke billowing from the direction of the second gate. That meant there was new fighting at the other gate.

'That means the monster raid is still on. The gate nearby is my only option.' There was one problem with that, it was closed and locked. There were no guards that she could see either.

Taking survey of the situation, there weren't any monsters out in the open again. The wall was high and impossible for a little girl to climb up. Leaving one option.

'Perhaps there's a hole in the wall?' Rosa scanned the wall looking for imperfections. She would take a tree, a too close house a sewer grate. Anything.

There was nothing like that in sight.

'SS rank indeed.' Rosa grimly mused. 'There's no obvious way over the wall. That means I'm going to have to make my own.'

Rosa eyed the rope tied to the bell.

Iris had the memory of going to an amusement park. There had been a game that you had to climb a rope ladder that she tried. She had fallen off and had been furious to learn that there was a trick to it.

A rope ladder might be more her speed.

Rosa looked to the gate. Some wall defenses had holes above the gate so they could pour boiling oil down on invaders. She couldn't see anything like that from her vantage point.

'Is there anything I can reach?' Rosa was getting frustrated. Even if she managed to make a rope ladder it would be useless if she couldn't attach it. That's if she could somehow overcome her seven year old body and throw that high. That's also if she could remain undetected from monsters while doing so.

There were a lot of if's in this plan. Rosa was worried.

'First things first.' Rosa grabbed the rope on the bell but didn't pull. That would be sucide at this point. 'Inventory' A blue system window emerged.

"Do you wish to collect item?"

Rosa hit the yes button.

"Ding! You have collected Rope. Crafting material. Condition 1 star. Unlocking crafting system, please wait." Rosa looked at the words irritated

'This system is broken.'