Chapter 16

After taking the pocket watch from the drawer, I finally head out of the one-room apartment where I used to stay for more than two years. I looked back and remembered all those memories I have ever since I stayed there.

"Life sure is hard to live…", haaa… I didn't know that I would be this emotional.

Two years ago, I was just a weak thirteen-year-old kid who didn't know much about the world but now, I looked like a veteran soldier coming back from war. All the memories and experiences I have gained over the past five days made this version of me right now.

"I didn't really think that it would change me… well, try to remember your past life and see if your view about the world would still be the same after that happened.", seriously! This isn't easy you know.

Knowing that all of these were just part of a novel I wrote, it made me feel responsible but at the same time, I really want to just ditch everything off and disappear from this world. But I also felt reluctant to do that since this was the precious second life that was given to me.

I know that I didn't have that much faith and devotion but I do believe in one thing though when there's an opportunity in front of you, grabbed it! That's how I've always been in the past and even until now.

Then a familiar ring rang through…

'Ding!'

It's about time…

[The User's "Getting Stronger" growth plan will now commence.]

Then everything around me changes in an instant.

"Another illusion, huh?", I finally realized that all those places that I transported to were all illusions. I don't know who made those but they were really great at it.

[Quest: Hunt down 20 monsters in the forest]

[Time Required: 23:58:45]

[Quest Rewards]

+5 points in all stats

One bottle of healing potion

"So, it's the forest this time… huh?", I was so shocked when I saw that the rewards for the quest were dropped to two instead of it being three.

The free store ticket was gone… what's the meaning of this? Did the system take it away?

'Ding!'

[The 5-day privilege of having a "Free Ticket" was over.]

"Five… five days?!", I couldn't believe it, the free store ticket was only limited to five days? And in those five days… I only completed two days of quest which means that I actually lost the three days' worth of getting free store tickets.

"Haaa… hahahaha… this is driving me nuts"

'Ding!'

[Each monster the User hunts will be equivalent to 10 gold coins]

Hahahaha… what's this? A reward for the pitiful?!

If that's how it is… then, I'll gladly ACCEPT!!!

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In the Imperial Palace…

"Hey! Have you heard the rumors?", asked the knight that was guarding the gate to his colleague.

"What rumors?", he asked back.

"Uhm… that person, the one raised by Duke Helsing… they said he's fifteen and will be entering Pentagon", he said in a barely audible voice enough to be heard by his colleague.

"Ahh… yeah, I also heard that from the other knights in the palace during lunch yesterday…", those knights were pretty lax since they can even discuss rumors going on in the empire.

"But… isn't it too much publicity? Even if he had the same bloodline as those people, isn't it right to protect his privacy first?", the emperor should know how dangerous this would be if the demons find out about this.

"Yeah right… I thought so too, but… you know, he belongs to that bloodline and those people have always been strong even if they were young.", if he truly is part of that household then there's no problem since they can counter low-ranked demons even at the tender age of fifteen.

"But… what if he can't…", before the knight could even finish what he was about to say, Duke Helsing who notice their conversation made eye contact with the knights that were guarding the palace gate.

As if there were in front of a predator, the two knights sweated a lot of cold sweat. Feeling it drips from their back, they began to feel cold and shivered from the pressure the duke gave off.

The duke's cold eyes fell on both of them which contains anger and disappointment.

"Tsk!", after that, Duke Helsing left.

Feeling relieved from being released from the intense pressure the knights finally had time to breathe.

"Ahhh… talk about a close call…", said the knight who almost pissed on his pants just by looking at the cold-hearted gaze of the duke.

"You deserved that moron!", feeling annoyed at his tactless colleague, the other knight went off without another word spared.

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"Huff… huff… huff…", this goddamn forest is too dense and very hard to navigate.

I've been here for about three hours already yet I'm only going in circles. I've already left marks on the trees that I passed by but I would still end up going back from where I've started.

"Haaaa… just what's wrong here?", I couldn't fathom what sort of magic or illusion was cast in this forest but I'm pretty sure that it wanted me to get lost.

By the way, what kind of monsters will appear here? Based on what I've seen so far, the forest was too dense and the trees were humongous to the point that it's almost covering the sunlight that seeps into this area.

'Ssssshhhhh…'

All of a sudden, a gust of wind passes through me, "Huh? What was that?! A wind?", then why do I feel like someone's watching me from afar?

I looked back just in case someone or something was there but all I could see were trees.

Feeling relieved, I began to head forward but just after a few seconds, I felt another movement coming from behind me.

'Haaaa… just what's going on here? This is much scarier than that abandoned city I've been to before. Seriously, I know that I'm the only human here so the possibility of it being one was far from reality…', I wanted to finish this quest quickly since the more time I stayed here could make me go insane from fear!!!

'Sssshhhhh'

"Damn! What… huh?!", I looked back to see what was behind me.

'This… this… is… ha… ha… ha…', I couldn't utter any word out of my mouth as fear crept unto me slowly. This feeling… the feeling of being in front of a predator. In an instant, I who was tasked to hunt monsters in this dense forest became prey to be hunted by the monster that I should kill.

"Damn it!!!!!!", I shouted while sprinting away from the basilisk.

Yes, the monster inside this dense forest was a giant basilisk.

"What the hell was it doing here?", I couldn't believe what I just saw when I look back… haaaa… a giant basilisk of all damned monsters? Couldn't I be more unlucky?!

Then, a system message prompts up.

'Ding!'

[Due to the abnormality of the environment inside the forest, the quest completion condition had been revised.]

[Quest Completion Condition]

[Kill the Giant Basilisk]

[Rewards]

[Upon completing the mission, the User will receive the following as Rewards]

[1. 2000 gold coins]

[2. +10 to all stats]

[3. 2 bottles of healing potion]

"Huh?", the quest changed, and the rewards too.

So in the end… it wanted me to kill the damned giant snake rampaging in the forest but how can I kill that? My stats were reduced due to the penalties given to me and most of the skills that I acquired were all locked.

Even though they were overpowered and at maximum level, a locked skill is still good as not having one at all. So, in other words, I could only use the skill that I've been using all this time.

"Haaaa… talked about getting fuck-up again!!! I really hate this reincarnation!!!", I shouted because of the frustration and anger that had to build up over time.

But in this instance, I forgot a most crucial thing and that was the characteristics of a basilisk. Basically, a basilisk is a snake-type monster, it can't see its prey since its eyes were not able to see the image instead it can detect infrared or any heat type signatures.

For example, if a prey was in front of a basilisk they were able to know them since most prey was hot-blooded and was releasing a heat signature but if the prey in front of them were undead, then they won't be able to know about them ever existing.

Another was that, once they found their target they won't be able to forget their rhythm – specifically their breathing and pace.

They also had something like a tracker system that allowed them to track their prey even if they were kilometers away from them but the most annoying thing about basilisks was their speed and reaction to any situation that's why it's hard to hunt down these damned snakes alone.