Chapter 4 Adam West and The Realm of the Everlasting System

Before I decided on what my first target should be, I decided to just look at the monsters for a while. They were not just standing in place, but they were also not doing things that normal monsters would do. They were walking around and even talking to each other, but it was like they were new to being alive, following some set guidelines but slowly seeming to become more alive.

That observation took me three hours of just watching them. At the start, they were walking around like they were patrolling an area, and when they met each other, they stopped and spoke. Now, three hours later, they sometimes decided to join and walk together while talking, and they also seemed to become more expressive in the way they talked.

Now that I looked at this world, it was basically completely fake. There were no small creatures, and the ambient noise also seemed not completely real. Compared to the world that was beyond the portal, this was truly fake. And that was saying a lot, as even that world felt wrong.

If the quest text hadn’t said that if a point of interest breaks the monsters get free, I think I wouldn’t have noticed this aspect of the monsters. I am guessing that the closer to the breaking point this world becomes, the more real the monsters become.

What an interesting phenomenon. It also seemed, however, that the system didn't want this to happen. Why that would be, I had no clue, and honestly, thinking about this started to make my head hurt.

During this time, I also came up with a strategy I think would work. The first target will be the big one, but I don’t think that I could take him out with the first attack. But I think I can delay him enough to deal with the others.

My stick was in my left hand, fortunately, it was thin enough that I could get the stones from my pocket and hand them to my right hand, which I could use to throw the rock with true strength.

Hopefully, I can incapacitate at least two of the smaller monsters, then pull a knife, finish those two, and hopefully be able to take on the big one. With the plan made, it was time to execute.

I tried to be as stealthy as possible, but the way they were patrolling made it hard not to be noticed. Still, I made my move quickly, getting up and then throwing as fast as I could towards the big monster.

Even before the rock left my hand, one of the monsters sounded the alarm. All of them turned towards me, but the big monster was not able to get its shield in front of its head to block the stone.

He was hit in the head but only went down on one knee. It looks like it will take him a bit to recover, which was good. The next stone went for the closest monster to me, but the bastard dodged.

The next stone I threw towards another monster, this time actually hitting it. There was no time to throw another, so I pulled my knife with my right hand and with a stick in my left hand, readied for melee.

I used the stick to divert its club attack and with a quick strike, quickly buried the knife in its neck. Their bodies were light enough that it was easy to shove the body towards the next monster that was approaching, making him topple down.

Right behind him was the third one, whom I charged. That took him by surprise, and using the stick, I delivered a quick strike to its head. The one who had toppled down was trying to get up, but I was there, putting a knife through the back of its neck.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed that the big one was now running towards me, although he was still having a bit of trouble with balance. That gave me enough time to finish off the last alive monster near me.

Its shield was a shabby one, made from three rotten planks of wood nailed together using a fourth plank to connect them. The shield was still big enough and sturdy enough that my knife or stick would be ineffectual against it.

It had its large club in its right hand, and when it got close enough, it raised it high into the air. I rushed into its guard, and while it tried to block me with its shield, I simply used my fist and the handle of the knife to hook around it and pull it away from its protective position.

I dropped the stick and instead grabbed hold of its right arm, not allowing it to bring the club down. It had plenty of strength but not enough to overpower me. When I was finally able to get the shield behind my shoulder, I had free rein to use my right hand that still had the knife in it.

I went to work, stabbing his stomach as many times as possible. When its strength finally started to leave its body, I was able to safely bring it to the ground and finally finish it by sticking the knife into its throat.

It was a bloody fight, but it still wasn’t over. I quickly rushed towards the last alive monster. It was starting to move again, but the stone throw I made had put it out of commission long enough so that I could finish the fight safely.

With the last enemy dead and the surroundings clear, I finally lay down on my back, breathing heavily. That monster was way stronger than I thought it would be. Could I have done anything better?

System notification:

Quest complete - Fight an elite (7/7)

You have triumphed over an elite monster. It's an admirable feat of strength. You have come a long way in understanding the system and adapting to your new reality. As a reward, you gain a class-specific skill, a weapon to fit your class and a survival kit featuring technology from your homeworld.

Optional: Kill the boss

You can choose to continue the quest and try to defeat the boss of this point of interest. Doing so will give you greater rewards and prepare you even better for what's to come.

Would you like to receive the rewards now?

Yes/No

The rewards would be nice, but if I chose yes, I would not be able to get the better rewards. The others said that I could always accept it later, so I took a chance and chose no.

Now, when I opened up the quest symbol, exactly the same system page opened up, and I was once again able to choose if I wanted to receive the rewards or not. Once again, I closed it, now knowing that even if I fail to defeat the boss, I will still get the rewards for fight an elite quest.

I had also gained enough essence, or perhaps experience. I did not know what they called it here, to be 67% towards the next level. I had actually hoped that I would get a level, but I guess gaining levels would be a slower process than I was expecting. Now, back to going over to the fight.

The dodge came as a surprise to me, but it didn’t affect the overall fight too much. The fight with the big guy, now that I could improve upon. When I caught his arm, I shouldn’t have continued to try to struggle with him and fight to get the shield behind my shoulder. Instead, I should have moved more towards the right, hooked my leg around his leg, and pushed him down.

That should have given me a good opportunity to finish the fight a lot faster and without so much struggle. I also would have been in a lot more trouble if he had actually let go of the shield.

He would have been able to grab my right hand, and it would have been an actual contest of strength. Fortunately, I was still confident in winning, but if the monster had been stronger, it might have been my end.

That actually brought up an interesting question. I had been alive for a long time and I had never died. There were now, however, three crystals in my arm that would allow me to come back to life. That being said, it would only be for a few moments and would basically not be me actually dying, so it would be better to try to avoid it, I think.

The monsters' bodies disappeared, and so did all the blood, leaving my skin and clothes without the red marks. There was also no loot, which was sad. After resting for a little bit, I got on top of the next hill and got a better overview of the rest of the dungeon. Perhaps ‘dungeon’ was the wrong word, but it sort of fit quite well.

In the center of this area was a large tree. It was the only tree in this place, so that and its central location made me think that the boss was probably there. I should do some scouting.

Slowly, I headed towards the center until I made it to a hill that allowed me to look under the tree. There sat a huge version of the monsters of this dungeon. It was a bit difficult to tell, but it was definitely a lot taller than me if it stood up, and its arms and legs were way thicker than even the largest bodybuilders.

It also had a large club that was my length, and the head was at least as large as my head. It was a beast of a weapon and from the look of it a proper boss monster for this dungeon.

While making sure I wasn’t seen, I started to circle around the tree to find more elite groups. Those I didn’t engage, but I did kill the few solo monsters I found. When I made it back to where I started, I counted 7 elite groups and 12 singular monsters that were now dead.

All of this allowed me to gain another level. So, I was now a Level 3 warrior with 7% towards the next level. Once again, I was looking at the boss, but I was a little bit hesitant to attack it, not too much because of its size and strength but because of the other elites around.

Everyone was close enough that if the boss monster called, they would be able to make it here in a minute or two. And that would definitely kill me.

So, just in case, I decided I should kill all the elites before trying to kill the boss. Having made up my mind, I proceeded to do just that.

The plan was still the same, and this time none of the smaller monsters dodged my throwing attack. When it came time to fight the big monster, I once again rushed in, grabbed its club hand, but this time, I stepped even further right, hooked my right leg behind it, and pushed it down.

With my body mass and momentum, I was easily able to drive the knife through its neck. While it struggled for a few moments, it still died without being able to do anything to me.

After the next fight, however, I did get a surprise. The big monster actually dropped a weapon after it disappeared—actual loot, what a surprise.

It had an item page and everything, giving +5 strength and 1% efficiency. It wasn't, however, a weapon for me; it was too bulky, too slow. I also wasn’t going to carry it around, so I had to leave it behind. In the next fight, I was able to gain another level, but nothing dropped this time.

When the sun was about to set, I had just finished the last elite fight. This time, I had gained another level and made it to 57% towards the next. I also got another drop, a shield, but it was the crappy kind, so I didn’t really want to use it, and against the boss monster, it would be useless.

Just in case, I walked further away from the boss and then just laid down on the hilltop to enjoy the fake but still lovely, star-filled sky.

I was woken up by the sunrise. It was truly a lovely sleep. Now, however, it was time to finish the boss. It was still underneath the tree; I needed to get him away from it. So I sneaked towards it, but from its side, so it wouldn’t see me before I got close enough. Fortunately, it seemed quite satisfied just staring into the nothingness and not looking around.

It was truly unfortunate that my quick strike skill didn't work while throwing things. The stone hit its head and bounced off without any visible damage. The monster, however, immediately turned towards me, screamed in rage, got up, and started to run towards me, dragging its club behind him.

It moved faster than I expected, but it was still slow enough. I started to back off, slow enough that it could catch up.

When it had caught up, I started to run in circles around the tree, and when it was now properly behind me, I had a clear shot and sprinted towards the tree. Using my momentum, I was able to take two steps running up the tree, which was enough so I could catch while reaching one of the lower branches. Quickly, I pulled myself up and readied myself for when the boss would get here.

For this strategy, I had left the stick and my side bag behind as they would have slowed me down and possibly hindered my climb atop the tree. When the boss monster reached the tree, it screamed in rage and tried to jump to catch me.

It was not able to do so as even its height was too low. It did try to hit the branch with its club, but I just grabbed hold of a branch higher up and pulled my feet up so it couldn’t do anything to me.

It was able to destroy the branch beneath me, but holding myself up was easy enough, and if I needed a break, I could just pull myself up.

It did seem to have a plan now and readied itself to strike the base of the tree. It was what I was waiting for, but what I hadn’t expected was a slight glow to envelop its club. It was using a skill, unfortunately for it, it was too late.

It was directly beneath me, and when it started to swing, I dropped. Pulling the knife from its thigh holster, I positioned it so it would strike at the side of its neck. Aiming for its head would have been too risky. Who knows if the iron knife would have been able to penetrate it.

The knife did penetrated the side of the neck, but even then, it was only able to do that because I fell onto the knife handle with my entire body weight.

I didn’t, however, let go of the knife, and with me pulling it out, a huge spray of blood followed. It cancelled its attack to scream in pain, and that gave me another chance, so I attacked its achilles heel. After that, however, I ran away. It was a close thing because I would have been hit by its legs, and I was certain the club would have followed.

It was trying to chase me down, but it was having a bad time. Halfway down the hill, it slipped and rolled down. I still waited while it struggled to get back up, but eventually, it was too weak, and I was able to get close enough and safely finish it off. As soon as it died, I gained another level.

When it died, this world, however, vibrated for a moment. Then, what looked like wind rushed towards the boss monster as it started to disappear. I think it was actually essence, but I couldn’t be sure.

When the boss monster completely disappeared, two items appeared where its body had been: a round shield similar to the ones Vikings used, and what looked like a golden ticket. Before I could take a step towards them, a screen popped up.

System notification:

Quest completed – Optional: Kill the boss.

You have demonstrated qualities above the rest. Perhaps one day, you will also be referred to as an ascended one. It will, however, be a long journey, but to help you along the way, here are some rewards you have earned. You receive a rare quality skill suitable to your class, a stronger weapon suitable for your class, and a survival kit comprising the best items your civilization had to offer.

In front of me appeared a scabbard that held a sword and a large backpack that looked quite big but also incredibly sturdy, and from the looks of it, it truly was the best of the best. In my skill interface, however, I saw a new skill appear.

The first thing that jumped out at me was that the text was blue, probably meaning that it was of rare quality. Immediately, I slotted it into the class slot and tried it with my knife.

It almost looked like when I was swinging my knife, two identical copies of the blade were following it. The moderate cost of using it seemed to me that it took about triple the amount of essence my quick strike used.

This looked incredibly useful, but I needed a bit more testing to figure out how good it actually was. Next, I checked out the sword to find it a double-edged steel sword, which surprised me. I was expecting iron, but I guess defeating the boss upgraded this reward as well.

Looking at the stats, it came with +6 to strength and +2 efficiency. It wasn't anything special, but still better than what I currently had available, and overall, this weapon was a lot better in durability and sharpness.

Next, I went to the shield. It truly was an incredibly well-built Viking round shield, although it was a bit on the smaller size than what was normal for these types of shields. When I looked at its stat page, I was pleased. It gave +6 to constitution and +2 to its effectiveness, which was nice, but this shield also had an effect.

The fact that it would lessen blunt damage transferred trough the shield was incredible. This would make the shield a lot more viable. Now, I can block stronger strikes without having to worry about them destroying my hand.

The golden ticket, however, didn’t have any stat page. It did have text on it, and honestly, it was all the information I needed, even if it didn’t point me to where I could turn this in. Invitation to join the hunters' association. That was the only thing written on it and was definitely something I should probably keep hidden.

The last thing was the big backpack full of survival gear. Opening it up, I found there were even better clothes here than what I was currently wearing. There were so many useful things here like a first aid kit, there was even a steel knife and a small axe.

Continuing to go through it, I found a sleeping bag, tarp, and a decent-sized tent that was good for even below zero camping. When everything was taken out, I was surprised at how much was inside of this bag, but unfortunately, it wasn't something crazy like it was bigger on the inside.

Here was enough stuff that anyone could survive for at least six months. I could probably live with these tools for at least 10 years, if not longer. It would all depend on food in the end. To help with that, there was even a foldable hunting bow.

This thing truly was filled with everything. Unfortunately, this didn’t give stat points, but that didn’t matter as I still added it just in case into my chest and shoulder slot.

Everything else I packed up, which took two tries because the first time everything didn't fit. When everything was packed up, I figured out how to carry the rest of the stuff with me.

Fortunately, the sword came with a belt, so it went on by waist. It was nice that on the outside of the backpack, there were plenty of places to attach the shield. Then, this entire place once again vibrated.

System notification:

This portal realm will collapse in 3h 7m 54s.

That was some really unpleasant news. That meant that I needed to go out there and see what was happening. The notification symbol was also blinking, so I opened it to see a countdown.

The beginner tutorial will end in 2d 1h 15m 42s.

That was unfortunate, but I already knew about that. I kinda felt better at facing whatever was out there now that I was better equipped.

There was just one more thing to do, and that was to collect the side bag and hardwood stick, then head back towards the portal to wait for the end of the timer before jumping out.