Wizard + System

Even in summer, the nights in the Dur Valley are always so cold.

The walls of the small house where Helag lived had several holes, and the cold wind kept drilling in through them, making it impossible for him to sleep.

He got up in the dark, pulled some straw from the bed, and stuffed it into the holes. The wind finally lessened a bit.

After finishing, Helag lay back on the bed, but he couldn't fall asleep.

His stomach growled with hunger.

"Why did I end up in this godforsaken place?" He sighed helplessly, touching his stomach.

At times like this, he missed the days with water, electricity, and the internet.

When he was hungry, he only needed to open his phone and order takeout, and delicious food would be delivered to his door in a short while.

Here, there was only one meal a day, a piece of black bread and a bowl of potato soup at noon.

The black bread was very hard, like chewing on a stone.

Only white bread was soft and glutinous, but only the noble lords could enjoy it.

The servants in the castle could only eat black bread.

Old Henry, who was in charge of tending the flowers, told Helag that soaking the black bread in potato soup would make it taste better.

After learning this trick, the black bread was finally not so hard to chew.

But at thirteen, his body was in a rapid growth phase, and one black bread and one bowl of potato soup a day were obviously not enough.

It was neither filling nor nutritious.

But these conditions were already better than many people. He lived in the castle of the noble Baron Buck, responsible for tending the horses.

One meal a day kept him from starving. Outside the castle, many people wandered on the edge of life and death, homeless.

The castle was safe, with a stable food supply. As long as he didn't anger the noble lords and ladies, his life was not in danger.

However, Helag had received modern higher education on Earth and would not be content to be a stable boy for life.

[Deep Blue chip self-repair completed.]

When Helag heard this familiar voice, he was stunned, wondering if he was hallucinating.

Deep Blue was the name of his gene chip. In his previous life, everyone had a gene chip, responsible for data analysis, processing, and storage, greatly assisting daily life and work.

[Environment anomaly detected, initiating localization compatibility.]

[Localization compatibility completed, Deep Blue operating normally.]

Two consecutive chip prompts sounded in his mind, confirming he was not hallucinating.

"Deep Blue, query current body status."

[

Helag Merlin:

Strength 0.4

Agility 0.5

Constitution 0.4

Spirit 1.2

]

Helag looked at his body data, speechless.

This was definitely malnutrition.

Now with the gene chip, he had a rough plan in mind.

***

The next morning, Helag woke up early. 

Before dawn, he carried a lantern to the stable and placed the horse feed in the troughs.

The horses in the stable were already awake, looking expectantly at Helag, snorting hot air.

The horse feed was a mixture of hay and some beans, better than what the servants ate.

Helag honestly did not steal the horse feed, remembering that his predecessor was executed for stealing it.

After finishing his chores, he went to the back garden, where Old Henry should be watering the flowers.

The back garden had many kinds of flowers, mostly species not seen in his previous life.

"Deep Blue, start recording all unfamiliar plant and animal information from now on."

[Received, task archived, starting execution.]

Helag knew the importance of data, which would be useful eventually. 

***

Old Henry was an old man in the castle, tending flowers all his life.

As usual, he was watering the flowers with a bucket, carefully cleaning the fallen leaves and other debris from the flower beds.

"Boy, what are you doing here so early? Got something to say?" Old Henry noticed Helag, glancing at him sideways.

"Just came to chat with you, old man," Helag said with a cheeky smile.

Old Henry scoffed, "If you have something to say, just say it. I won't be able to help you much longer, soon I'll be meeting the gods."

Old Henry had a low presence in the castle, with no children, only Helag often came to chat with him.

To Old Henry, Helag was like a grandson.

He knew Helag too well; coming so early definitely meant he needed help.

Helag laughed, "Old Henry, do you still have that bow? Let me borrow it for hunting. If I catch something, I'll treat you to some meat."

"Bow?"

Old Henry glanced disdainfully at Helag's thin body, questioning, "Can you even draw a bow? Have you learned archery? Don't waste my arrows."

"Just let me borrow it. I promise, when you meet the gods, I'll find a good place for you on the back hill and erect a monument." Helag vowed.

The castle servants were usually buried casually, with no tombstones.

Old Henry hesitated, somewhat tempted, finally sighing, "The bow is hanging on the wall inside, go get it yourself, and don't break it."

"Thank you, Old Henry!" Helag ran into the house, afraid Old Henry would change his mind.

Helag took the longbow from the wall, the bow was spotless, and well-maintained by Old Henry.

He had heard that Old Henry was a great archer, but now that he was old, he hadn't seen him draw the bow again.

Helag's thin body carrying the bow looked somewhat incongruous.

The quiver had only seven arrows, enough for Helag.

"Helag, where are you going?" the guard at the castle gate asked.

"Hunting!" Helag said with determination.

The guard couldn't help but laugh, "Haha, you're not even as tall as the bow, don't shoot yourself."

Another guard laughed, "Bring me a red-spotted finch, it's delicious roasted. I'll give you ten copper coins for one."

"You said it, get the coins ready," Helag said seriously.

"Hahaha!" The two guards found his serious expression amusing.

Helag carried Old Henry's bow out of the castle. The castle gate led to a long slope, with the winding Green River below. A suspension bridge had been lowered, and a carriage was crossing.

From a distance, he recognized it as Baron Buck's carriage, destination unknown.

Opposite the castle was a dense forest, Helag's target.

The forest was said to have beasts, even powerful knights found it hard to handle.

Helag only dared to wander the forest edge, not daring to go deep. He was too weak now.

"Deep Blue, activate detection, keep an eye on the surroundings, and prevent potential dangers."

[Environment detection activated.]

After a green light flashed in Helag's vision, the forest changed significantly.

All plants glowed green, and animals had a faint red glow, making it easy to identify lurking animals.

A circular mini-map appeared in the upper right corner of his vision, showing red and green dots of various sizes.

"Begin the hunt!"