The scent of old wood, faint ale, and roasted meat greeted Sels as he entered the modest inn near the guild. A simple sign swung overhead—The Copper Cask. It wasn’t rge or fancy, but it was clean, and the soft hum of conversation from the common room gave it a comforting atmosphere.
He walked up to the counter, where a balding man with a friendly but calcuting expression gave him a once-over.
“Room?” the innkeeper asked.
“Cheapest one,” Sels replied, reaching for his pouch. “But a single room.”
The innkeeper nodded and took two copper coins for that. “Room’s up the stairs, second door on the left. Supper’s stew and bread if you want it.”
Sels thanked him and headed to the room first, dropping off his pack and letting himself sink onto the straw-filled mattress. It wasn’t comfortable by any modern standards, but to Sels, who had spent the past day rattling in a wagon and killing a man for the first time, it felt like a blessing.
After a simple meal, he returned to his room and pulled out the small book he’d received at the guild—the Adventurer’s Handbook. The binding was worn, the ink faded, but it was readable. He opened it beneath the flicker of a candle.
[Adventurer’s Rule Book detected. Do you wish to download the data?]
“What?” Sels blinked in surprise.
“Why didn’t this show up when I took the book from the clerk?” he muttered, confused.
Is it because I hadn’t opened the book at that time? Let’s test it.
He closed the book, and the system notification vanished. When he opened it again, the same prompt reappeared.
“So, just opening the book allows the system to download its data. That’s a pretty handy feature,” he mused. “Looks like there are still plenty of hidden functions in this system I haven’t discovered yet.”
“Confirm.”
Just as he confirmed, a cooling sensation entered his mind, filling his mind with knowledge. The information contained in the book had been successfully copied and transferred to his mind.
“Amazing”, he excimed.
I wish I’d had this ability back on Earth—I could’ve become a genius, outshining everyone with pure knowledge,” he said with a wry chuckle. He shook his head and went through the information. He summarized it into few important points.
Confirm your kills.Don’t take quests above your rank.Never accept a quest without the guild seal.Stay alert in forested terrain—ambushes are common.Avoid lone wolves; they’re usually smarter and more dangerous.It read less like a rulebook and more like a survival manual passed down by those who’d learned the hard way. Sels appreciated the honesty.
After a while, he leaned back and called for his system.
“System, open status.”
A familiar soft chime followed, and the translucent window appeared in front of him.
---
[User: Sels Thorrin]
[Host Level: 1]
[EXP: 60%]
[Mana Capacity: 120 MP]
[Mana Regeneration: 2 MP/min]
[Runic Compatibility: High]
---
“Almost there,” he murmured, eyes fixed on the 60% experience mark. “I think, I’ll need a few more kills and I’ll level up. Then I’ll see what else system has in store for me.”
“Back in the games I used to py, the status panel was entirely different than this one. It should have Strength, Speed and something like that, but this one is entirely different from that one,” he dismissed the panel and went to sleep.
His dreams were uneasy- visions of blood, sshing steel, and glowing runes danced behind his eyes.
---
The next morning dawned cool and misty. He left the inn after a quick breakfast and made his way back to the Adventurer’s Guild. The same bored clerk was behind the desk, and the quest board was even more cluttered than before. Dozens of parchments were pinned to it—some new, others curling at the edges.
Sels scanned the board, ignoring anything reted to killing and focused on herbs. He scanned until his eyes nded on two posters, with green ink and pressed leaves.
---
Quest: Herb Gathering – Redleaf OutskirtsRank: EReward: 5 Copper per bundleDetails: Collect 5 bundles of Whisperstem flowers from the northern woods near Redleaf Outskirts. Deliver fresh and intact.
---
Quest: Herb Gathering – Redleaf OutskirtsRank: EReward: 5 Copper per bundleDetails: Collect 3 Veilpetal flowers from the northern woods near Redleaf Outskirts. Deliver fresh and intact.
---
Gathering herbs. Though it was boring, it was safe.
He had taken on the quest mainly to explore for the first time before beginning his main objective: Runes. He could have gone straight to it, but waiting one more day wouldn't hurt. That was why he had postponed the crafting operation and decided to do the quest instead.
After selecting the quest, he registered with the clerk and received two samples of fake flowers as reference items for both objectives. He also paid a few bronze coins for a map of the area surrounding the town.
With that small process complete, he headed toward the town gate. Numerous adventurers and mercenaries were already moving out, likely on their own quests.
Sels joined the flow of people and soon exited through the gate, heading in the direction of the Redleaf outskirts, which y near the Northwestern Forest. This forest was known for its tall, densely packed trees with vivid crimson leaves. It was also rich in herbs such as Whisperstem and Veilpetal.
The area was considered retively safe, though lesser Fang Wolves were known to lurk within.
The Redleaf Outskirts lived up to their name. Tall trees with crimson-hued leaves stretched skyward, filtering the sunlight into warm, coppery shafts. Sels moved carefully, matching the Whisperstem’s wide, silver-veined leaves to the samples. The first bundle was easy enough—he found a patch growing in the shade of a boulder and knelt to gather it.
Halfway through collecting the second bundle, a branch snapped behind him.
He froze.
A low growl rumbled from the underbrush.
Sels turned slowly, dagger already in hand.
A fangwolf crouched low a few paces away, its yellowed fangs bared, muscles tense beneath its dark fur. It wasn’t huge—barely the size of a rge dog—but its red eyes locked onto him with unsettling intelligence.
He didn’t think. He reacted.
Mana surged through his palm into the dagger, and the etched rune ignited with a faint blue pulse.
The wolf lunged.
Sels sidestepped, but not fast enough. Cws scraped across his forearm, and pain fred hot and sharp. He hissed and sshed across the wolf’s side as it passed. It yelped but circled back immediately.
“Come on,” Sels muttered, blood dripping from his hand.
The wolf leapt again. This time, he ducked low and thrust the dagger up, catching it beneath the ribs. The impact knocked him ft, the beast tumbling with him.
They nded in a heap.
He scrambled out from beneath it as the wolf writhed, then went still.
[You have sin a Lesser Fangwolf]
[Exp +10]
Sels sat back against a tree, breathing hard. His hands were shaking—adrenaline and blood loss. The gash on his arm burned, and another scratch on his palm bled freely. His tunic was damp with sweat and dirt.
He didn’t feel like a hero. He felt lucky.
“Should’ve just picked mushrooms,” he muttered.
After a few minutes, he noticed something odd. The pain dulled. The bleeding slowed—then stopped entirely. He peeled back his sleeve to examine the wound. It was still red, still raw… but closing. Rapidly.
“System,” he said. “What just happened?”
A soft pulse responded.
[New Skill Unlocked: Passive Regeneration]
[Minor wounds regenerate over time. Rate increases slightly with level]
Sels blinked. “Regeneration? That’s… new.”
He flexed his fingers. The scratch across his palm was already sealed into a thin scab.
It took another hour to gather all the herbs. The Whisperstem was easier to find in shaded areas; the Veilpetals grew near a small stream, their pale blue blossoms catching the light. He kept an eye out for more wolves, but the forest stayed quiet.
By midday, he was back at the guild.
The clerk gnced at the herb pouch and sniffed. “Fresh. Not crushed. You’ve done this before?”
“Nope,” Sels said, handing it over. “First time.”
She arched a brow but counted out coins all the same—forty coppers in total.
He left the guild with his wounds nearly healed, the faint hum of his system still warm beneath his skin, and the knowledge that this world was far more dangerous—and far more promising—than he had first imagined.
He hadn’t meant to hunt today.
But maybe the forest didn’t care what he meant.
