Chapter 28: Level Up... I Won't Slack Off Again

Chapter 28: Level Up... I Won't Slack Off Again

Ruthar took another bottle of water and diligently emptied its contents. After many days, he had finally gotten used to drinking liters of water. He was especially excited because this was the final Exp quest needed to level up.

Fortunately, he had the whole hut to himself, as Vance was out hunting for meat.

'I still wonder if my kill-fifty-monsters quest hasn't disappeared after all these days…'

[...]

[You have successfully extracted a Spade Sword art from Rotexa]

[Multiplied by Five]

Ruthar instantly felt a wave of energy coursing through his body, and the memories of the sword art settled firmly in his mind. 'It took Rotexa so many months to finally master this art.'

The Spade Sword Art was a technique reserved for the main family, lords, and their minors in the Spade clan. It was considered one of their main strengths.

As a slave, Ruthar would probably never have been privileged to learn this in his lifetime. Only slaves deemed worthy could learn even the basics of the arts, and being deemed worthy often meant enduring great hardships and bloodshed for the family.

'The technique I could never get is now drilled into me five times better than my twin sister, without me doing the work to earn it.'

Ruthar grinned in excitement but reminded himself to continue drinking water.

After a few minutes, a chime echoed in his ear, and the notifications he had long awaited appeared before his eyes in synchrony.

[Drink three litres of water quest has been completed]

[Reward: 10 Exp]

[Exp bar: 100/100]

[You have leveled up]

[Would you like to see your status bar?]

'Hell yeah… Who wouldn't!' Ruthar yelled internally, eagerly anticipating his system displaying his stats.

---

**Name:** Ruthar Hellborn

**Title:** None

**Job Class:** None

**Exp:** 1/250

**Level:** 2

**Stats:**

- **Strength: 18

- **Agility: 10

- **Senses: 2

- **Stamina: 23

- **Intelligence: 2/200

- **Fatigue: 1

- **Mana: 316

---

Ruthar placed a hand on his chin and compared his new stats with his previous ones. It seemed that by leveling up, all his stats had increased by one. Additionally, the Exp needed to level up had increased from 100 to 250.

'This means I can no longer wait diligently for ten Exp every day. Otherwise, it will take me twenty-five days or more to level up again, especially if something goes wrong.'

'I expected more, considering how much I gained from extracting Rotexa. It's already added to my stats significantly over the past few days.'

[New Skill Acquired]

'Another notification?' Ruthar quickly thought to activate its contents.

[Fourth Sense]

*Ability to sense impending dangers and react to them.*

*Skill will also need to level up.*

'This is perfect. Just like the MC in the novel I read before I died—the ability to react perfectly without thinking. It's perfect for the fight with Tomaha…'

Ruthar pondered the new skill, 'There must be a limit to how far or how much I can react to, just like mystic insight. Otherwise, I would be more of a Supreme Being than a human.'

[New daily quests have been updated]

[Daily Quests]

1. **Drink three litres of water**

- *Rewards:* 1 Exp

- *Difficulty:* None

- *Time limit:* 1 hour

2. **70 Pushups**

- *Rewards:* 5 Exp

- *Difficulty:* E

- *Time limit:* 2 hours

3. **7 Km run**

- *Rewards:* 5 Exp

- *Difficulty:* E

- *Time limit:* 1 hour

4. **70 Sit-ups**

- *Rewards:* 5 Exp

- *Difficulty:* E

- *Time limit:* 1 hour

*Failure to accomplish all will lead to severe penalty.*

Ruthar held his breath while reading the severe quests in horror.

'The bastard that invented this system should go to hell.'

He cursed the system for several minutes before coming back to his senses and carefully analyzing each quest.

'Sure, the reward for quests has reduced drastically, but I'm still a kid. Can my childlike body bear this? Then why set one hour limits? What sort of hell is this!'

Ruthar lay back on the bed in defiance. "I don't really care anymore. I achieved a lot today already. Any penalty that comes my way comes; the System will surely not try to kill me."

Ruthar thought about his own beliefs, preparing himself for a nap. He knew if Vance came back, he would face relentless training, so slacking off seemed appropriate.

As Ruthar slowly drifted into unconsciousness, a notification appeared with a chime, which he ignored.

[Time limit for Quest: 58:35]

[Time is running out. Please attend to your quests.]

---

[You have failed to complete the given tasks.]

[Penalty Quest shall begin now.]

Ruthar's eyes sprang open, and instead of being in his room, he found himself in a much more treacherous and menacing place.

It was a deserted ruin, a maze of some sort with many destroyed walls and shattered floors, probably damaged by a beast or some being.

The temperature was extremely hot, causing him to sweat instantly and drenching his clothes entirely.

'Is this Egypt? No, it's not…'

Ruthar tried to decipher where he was but couldn't. Thoughts of Vance having killed him in his sleep and this being hell started flooding his mind, but he knew that was unlikely.

Recalling the last notification, he realized, 'Penalty quest? So the system wasn't kidding.'

[Penalty Quest]

[Survive thirty minutes in the penalty world without skills or magic. Only normal stats are allowed.]

[Reward: 50 Exp]

Ruthar almost laughed at the conditions. The penalty quest even offered more benefits than his usual quests.

"Just simply survive thirty minutes in the hot sun, hahaha! I've survived way hotter situations against the orphanage! Junk system…!"

Ruthar's thoughts were cut short as he heard an uncanny chuckle, oozing lust.

His skin began to crawl as a large creature climbed down from a dilapidated wall. It resembled a spider, with eight legs and dark skin that emitted smoke-like energy. Its head resembled the upper half of a human, with a dark, warped face, razor-sharp fingernails, and a mouth filled with many fangs.

"Ruthar!" The monster charged on all eight legs at him with overwhelming speed.

"AHYACCK- KAH!!!" Ruthar panicked, turning around and racing as fast as his legs could carry him. But as the monster's pace increased, closing the gap between them, a more appropriate fear-stricken scream forced itself out:

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-KAHHHHHHKAHHHHH!!!" He screamed, surprisingly matching the monster's speed.

[Time remaining: 28:05]

'Damn! I still have so much time left… I'm going to die!'

---

Ruthar's legs stopped working, sending him staggering before collapsing face-first into the dust.

With the heat and running at top speed, he quickly ran out of stamina, but his fatigue refused to appear. 'I can't move anymore.'

Ruthar's body grew heavier with each passing second, and he immediately realized he was in no shape to keep running.

"There you go, Ruthar, resting as you did on your bed!" The spider-like monster took out its monstrous tongue, licking its fangs as it walked over to Ruthar.

The spider monster grabbed Ruthar roughly by the collar, creating a rasping sound as it lifted him like a simple thing and brought him close to its fangs.

"It's over for you!" It forced its mouth open, and the scary sight Ruthar saw drained the blood from his face.

'Oh God, have mercy on me!'

As the monster bit at him, a notification appeared before Ruthar's eyes. He couldn't read it under such dire circumstances, but he realized what it said as he fell from the monster's grasp and landed on the floor of his room, tattered and half-dead.

'I… I… I'm back.'

Ruthar gasped for air, unable to move a muscle, while he read the notification frighteningly.

[Penalty Quest accomplished]

[Reward: 50 Exp]

"Where the hell did you go, Ruthar?" His eyes caught Vance yelling at him with her usual detestable glare.

[Fatigue: 100]

[Irresistible rest has been imposed.]

'I feel sleepy again…? I am at least lucky to have survived today.'

Ruthar's eyes shut themselves, and he did not resist. As he floated into unconsciousness, he vowed,

'I won't slack off again.'