As Algeni stepped into the Adventurers’ Guild, he noticed Nen chatting with Diana behind one of the reception counters. Not wanting to interrupt them, he headed toward another receptionist—a young woman of average height with long orange hair that flowed neatly over her shoulders. The moment she noticed him, she looked up, greeted him with a warm, cheerful smile, and welcomed him enthusiastically.
“An adventurer! Good morning! My name is Rachel. I’ll be your receptionist today.”
Algeni returned a polite smile and replied,
“My name is Algeni. It’s nice to meet you.”
Rachel tilted her head curiously as she looked him over.
“That’s a new name. I’ve never heard it around here before.”
“I’m new to this area,” Algeni explained calmly.
Rachel’s eyes lit up with excitement.
“Really? I’ve lived here since I was little, and this village is wonderful.”
Algeni opened his mouth to answer, but Rachel continued talking with so much enthusiasm that she barely gave him a chance to speak.
The system assistant suddenly appeared floating beside him and quietly commented,
“This girl has way too much energy.”
To keep the conversation from drifting even further away, Algeni politely interrupted.
“Hey, I’m glad to hear all that, but I actually came here to accept a quest.”
Rachel blinked several times before scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment.
“I’m sorry. I don’t really have many people to talk to, so… sometimes I end up talking too much.”
“Don’t worry,” Algeni replied with a calm, friendly smile. “I’m not upset. It just caught me off guard.”
Rachel looked genuinely surprised by his response.
“Thank you. Not everyone reacts like that. Some people get angry… some even yell at me, you know.”
“That must be really unpleasant. Personally, I don’t think you’re annoying.”
Those simple words instantly brightened Rachel’s expression.
“You just made my day! Thank you so much, Algeni!”
“You’re welcome. But… can we get back to the quest now?”
“Oh! Right! Sorry, I got off track again.” She laughed awkwardly before extending her hand. “May I have your Adventurer Card, please?”
Algeni handed her the card.
Rachel carefully held it in both hands and examined it closely. For just a brief moment, a faint look of disappointment crossed her face.
Algeni noticed it immediately.
“Is something wrong?”
Rachel lowered her gaze slightly.
“Oh… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. It’s just… well… I have a dream.”
“A dream?” Algeni asked curiously.
Rachel nodded shyly, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.
“I want to marry a strong adventurer who can protect me so we can have a safe and peaceful life. I know it sounds kind of silly…”
Algeni gently shook his head.
“I don’t think it’s silly at all. Everyone should have dreams, and yours doesn’t sound like a bad one.”
Rachel smiled sincerely.
“Thank you for not laughing. A lot of people have… so it makes me happy to know there are still people who understand how important dreams are.”
“You’re welcome. Now… could you tell me what quests are available?”
Rachel eagerly nodded and began searching through several rolled-up parchments.
“For F-Rank adventurers, there are a few options: hunt ten wolves, gather medicinal herbs, find a lost cat, or eliminate three goblins in the forest.”
“I’ll take the one about hunting ten wolves.”
Rachel immediately looked up with concern.
“Are you going with a party?”
“No. I’ll be going alone.”
Rachel’s cheerful smile disappeared.
“Wait… That’s really dangerous to do by yourself. You know you could… y-you could die, right?”
Algeni met her worried gaze and answered calmly.
“I know I could die. But I have a goal, and I have to face whatever dangers stand in my way.”
Rachel lowered her eyes, clearly troubled.
“…Alright. Just… please be careful. I hate seeing good people die.”
“I will.”
He picked up the quest parchment and began walking toward the guild’s exit.
As they left, the assistant quietly commented,
“You know… that girl really seems worried about you.”
Algeni remained silent for several seconds.
Only after stepping outside and feeling the cool morning breeze against his face did he finally reply.
“Yeah… It’s nice to meet kind people in this place. She’s really nice… even if she has a little too much energy.”
He continued along the forest path as the lively sounds of the village slowly faded behind him, replaced by birdsong, rustling leaves, and the gentle whisper of the wind weaving through the towering trees.
He ventured deep into the forest.
To his surprise, however, he couldn’t find a single wolf.
He frowned.
“Are the wolves avoiding me because I killed so many of them… or why can’t I find even one?”
The assistant thought for a moment before replying,
“It could simply be that we’re not in the part of the forest where wolves usually live.”
Algeni let out a long, exhausted sigh.
“You’ve got to be kidding me… Did I come to the wrong area?”
“You could try attracting them.”
“And what exactly would attract a pack of wolves?”
“We could hunt some prey. A rabbit, for example.”
Algeni nodded.
“That might actually work.”
With an agile leap, he climbed onto the branch of a tall tree to get a better view of the surrounding forest. Sunlight filtered through the thick canopy, painting shifting patterns of gold across the forest floor as he carefully scanned the area.
Unfortunately…
He found nothing.
“I don’t see anything at all… I’ll have to go even deeper.”
He climbed back down and continued moving through the dense vegetation.
Several minutes later, he finally spotted a very strange-looking rabbit.
Its oversized, razor-sharp teeth immediately caught his attention.
Algeni activated the HUD.
A transparent system window appeared before his eyes.
Fang Rabbit
Statistics
Strength: 12
Defense: 9
Speed: 22
Mana: 0
“No wonder it looked so strange…”
He summoned his sword from the inventory and rushed forward.
The rabbit barely had time to react.
With a single clean slash, his blade cut straight through its body, killing it instantly.
Algeni picked up the corpse.
“This thing has incredible speed. If I ever ran into several of them at once, they could actually be dangerous.”
Using his sword with careful precision, he began skinning the animal, slowly separating the hide from the meat.
After several minutes of steady work, he finally finished.
The forest had returned to its usual calm after the battle. Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting shifting golden patches across the forest floor as a cool breeze carried the scent of pine and damp earth. Algeni looked at the completely skinned rabbit and let out a resigned laugh.
“Well… that was a lot harder than I thought. I always watched people skin animals, and it looked easy. But now I know everything seems simple until you try doing it yourself.”
The system assistant examined the result before replying thoughtfully.
“It’s not that bad. At least you managed to separate the hide from the meat in a fairly decent way.”
Algeni glanced at the torn meat and the hide covered in uneven cuts.
With a completely serious expression, he answered sarcastically,
“Yeah… sure… ‘decent.'”
Deciding to stop dwelling on his lack of experience, he began gathering dry branches, leaves, and small sticks to build a campfire.
However, ten long minutes passed, and he still hadn’t managed to create even a single spark.
Frustration slowly began to build.
“Why the hell did I end up without any survival skills!? In every novel, the protagonists somehow know how to survive in the wilderness, while I’m completely useless.”
The assistant tried to calm him.
“Please, user, calm down. It is perfectly normal not to succeed on your first attempt. Everything takes practice. You learn by making mistakes and trying again.”
Still irritated, Algeni failed to notice that two wolves had silently appeared behind him.
Drool dripped from their fangs as they crouched low, preparing to attack.
But the moment they looked into Algeni’s face…
They froze.
The intense fury reflected in his eyes, mixed with unmistakable killing intent, made both beasts instinctively retreat.
They turned to flee.
They never had the chance.
In the blink of an eye, two flashes of steel sliced through the air.
The wolves collapsed heavily onto the grass.
Algeni remained standing over their bodies for several silent seconds, breathing deeply as the forest gradually fell quiet once again.
Finally, he exhaled and muttered calmly,
“That… was surprisingly relaxing.”
The wind gently stirred the treetops while the scent of fresh blood slowly spread through the forest.
After finishing off the two wolves, Algeni sheathed his sword and turned toward the system assistant, who floated quietly beside him.
“Hey, why don’t notifications appear every time I kill a monster? I’ve been ignoring it, but it feels strange that nothing popped up after defeating so many monsters.”
The assistant answered naturally.
“Oh, that. The system changed the notification settings. It now only notifies you when you level up, combining all the monsters you’ve defeated since your previous level.”
Algeni folded his arms and thought for a moment.
“Well, that’s actually pretty nice. Honestly, it was annoying getting notifications every time I killed something before leveling up. But I also liked knowing what level each monster was, especially if I didn’t have enough time to check its stats.”
The assistant tilted his head slightly.
“So… would you like to change the notification settings?”
Algeni raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“I can actually do that?”
The assistant nodded.
“Yes.”
“Alright. I want the system to notify me whenever I defeat a monster that’s my level or higher. I also want notifications whenever I defeat a new type of monster, even if it’s below my level. Leave everything else the way it is.”
“Understood. Please give me a few seconds.”
The assistant vanished in a flash of blue light.
Meanwhile, Algeni knelt beside the wolves and patiently began skinning them. His movements were still clumsy, but he figured the hides might be useful someday, even if his work wasn’t perfect.
The sound of his blade cutting through flesh echoed softly through the otherwise peaceful forest.
A few moments later, the assistant reappeared behind him.
“The changes were successful. Your notification preferences have been updated.”
Algeni smiled in satisfaction.
“Good. Then let’s get back to trying to make that campfire.”
Once again, he gathered dry branches, leaves, stones, and tinder.
For over an hour, he tried again and again to create the tiniest spark.
Sweat rolled down his forehead.
His hands had begun to ache.
Finally…
A tiny flame flickered to life among the dry twigs.
Algeni’s eyes lit up.
“Finally! I think I spent at least an hour just trying to make a little fire.”
The assistant immediately began clapping enthusiastically.
“Congratulations, user!”
Algeni grinned proudly and sat in front of the small campfire, watching the orange flames dance gently in the afternoon breeze.
“Well… time to cook some meat.”
He picked up a piece of wolf meat and placed it on a few sturdy branches near the fire.
Calling it “cooking” was a generous description.
He simply hoped the meat would roast enough that he could eat it without getting sick.
Soon, the aroma drifted through the surrounding woods.
Several minutes later, the meat looked done.
Algeni took a bite.
His expression instantly changed.
“This has no flavor.” Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
Even so, he forced himself to finish every bite, though each mouthful was just as bland as the last.
When he finished eating, he carefully extinguished the campfire that had taken him so much effort to light.
As the last glowing embers faded away, he sighed.
“It hurts my soul to put it out after everything I went through just to make it.”
Without wasting any more time, he ventured deeper into the forest.
Leaping from branch to branch, he soon spotted a wolf stalking a Fang Rabbit.
Without giving it any chance to react, he dropped from above.
A single slash was enough to kill it.
As he began skinning the wolf, the assistant asked curiously,
“I know this might be a silly question, but… what are you planning to do with all that meat and all those hides?”
Algeni looked up.
“Well, I was thinking about selling the hides. Though, considering how badly I butchered them, I doubt I’ll even get two coins for them.”
The assistant considered that for a moment.
“Then the meat must also be for selling, right?”
Algeni slowly shook his head.
“No. The meat is for cooking myself. After getting charged forty gold coins for one basic meal, I don’t want to eat anywhere else.”
The assistant let out a quiet sigh.
“Well… you’re the one in charge. So, carry on.”
Algeni stored both the meat and the hides inside the system inventory.
“Let’s keep going. I still need seven more wolves.”
The hunt took far longer than expected.
Unlike before, the wolves were scattered throughout the forest, forcing him to search through a large area.
Still…
One after another…
Every single one of them eventually fell beneath his sword.
After defeating the last wolf, the assistant commented,
“Well, that was the last one. Who would’ve thought wolves don’t always travel in packs?”
As Algeni wiped the blood from his blade with a piece of cloth, he answered tiredly,
“That’s why it took us so much longer. They’re much harder to find when they’re spread out.”
“Well, at least you completed the mission without running into any more trouble.”
The instant those words left the assistant’s mouth—
Fwoosh!
An arrow shot out from deep within the forest.
Algeni reacted on pure instinct, knocking it aside with a swift movement of his sword.
Bright sparks burst into the air as steel struck steel.
“You just had to say it too soon…”
He raised his gaze toward the direction the arrow had come from.
Another arrow sliced through the air.
“Please… don’t tell me they’re…”
He immediately activated the HUD.
The system displayed the information.
Goblin
Level: 7
Goblin
Level: 7
Goblin
Level: 7
Goblin
Level: 7
Algeni let out another sigh.
“Well… I thought it would be a long time before I saw one of these again.”
Without wasting another second, he burst forward through the trees, following the arrows’ trajectory.
As he sprinted at full speed, a thought crossed his mind.
“So the HUD can display the stats of enemies I can’t even see yet… That’s actually incredibly useful.”
He leaped effortlessly from branch to branch until he spotted the goblin archer.
Another goblin fired a fresh arrow.
Algeni deflected it with his sword before it could reach him.
Taking advantage of the opening, he accelerated even faster.
An instant later, he was standing directly in front of the monster.
His sword traced a brilliant arc through the air.
The goblin collapsed before it even understood what had happened.
The remaining three goblins stared in horror at the corpse of their companion.
When they looked toward the tree where Algeni had been…
He was already gone.
A chill ran down their spines.
Before they could react, Algeni appeared behind them.
A single sweeping strike pierced all three at once.
Their bodies crashed heavily onto the grass.
The forest fell silent once more.
Algeni looked down at the corpses and asked,
“Are goblin bodies useful for anything?”
The assistant answered,
“No. However, the weapons they’re carrying may have belonged to adventurers they killed before.”
Algeni picked up the daggers and the bow the goblins had left behind.
Then he carefully stored them inside his system inventory.
Finally, he stretched both arms above his head and let out a long yawn.
“Well… I think that’s enough forest for today.”
With the sun slowly sinking beyond the treetops and the steady whisper of the wind accompanying every step, Algeni began the journey back toward the village, unaware of what awaited him next.