Hunter or prey?
After Henderson left, the room sank back into silence. Looking at the empty tray on the broken table, the monster inside Even's stomach seemed to let out a satisfied burp. Whether it was monster meat or not, the food was heavenly. For the first time in this new world, he felt somewhat alive.
He got up from the bed, paced around for a while, and then went back to lie down. Because he had stuffed himself with so much food, his body felt heavy. Combined with the effort of adjusting to the low gravity of this strange world, an extreme exhaustion washed over him.
"Ugh, I'm going to sleep until tomorrow morning!" Even stretched out on the bed. The old, rusty springs groaned, but Even didn't care. He closed his eyes, ready to sink into a deep sleep.
But luck was not on his side.
Just as his eyelids were closing, a loud 'Ding Ding' sound rang near his ear. Even snapped his eyes open. That cursed blue window was floating in front of him again.
[Daily Task not completed, you skinny pig!]
"What a pain!" Even buried his face in the pillow in frustration. "What task now? Let me sleep!"
The system's mechanical voice rang in his ear, but this time it had a strange firmness.
[To become strong, you must complete the Daily Task. You've seen Daily Task before, but they weren't activated then. Now that it is active, complete it.]
[100 Push-ups]
[100 Sit-ups]
[100 Squats]
[10 kilometer Run]
[Time Limit: Before the end of the day.]
[Reward: 100 XP, 10 Coins]
Even almost jumped off the bed. His eyes widened as he looked at the window. "What! Have you gone mad? 100 push-ups? 100 sit-ups? And a 10-kilometer run! Am I some Olympic athlete?"
[!!?]
"Impossible! I can't do this," Even said clearly. He lay back down on the bed. "Do whatever you want, I'm not moving."
The system remained silent for a while. Even thought perhaps it had given up. But he was wrong.
[Are you crazy? If you refuse, I will start forced activation.]
"Forced! What does that mean?" Before Even could understand anything, he felt his body move against his will. His arms and legs straightened as if pulled by invisible strings.
"Hey! What are you doing? Stop!" Even screamed, but his body wouldn't listen. He got off the bed and lay on the floor in a push-up position.
As his body went down for the first push-up, Even felt like his chest bones would snap. "Ah! Stop, please stop!" he groaned in pain.
The system did not answer. Even's body prepared for the second push-up.
Even realized he couldn't win against the system by force. He thought to himself, 'If this continues, I'll die before the training even starts.'
He turned his mind away from the system—not literally, but mentally. He built a wall in his mind. 'I won't do it, I just won't. You can move my body, but not my will.'
This sudden stubbornness annoyed the system. It sensed that this "skinny pig's" mental state was not fit for training. Even if it forced the body to move, it wouldn't get the desired results.
[You really are a headache,] the system said, seemingly giving up. [Huh… I see. If I pile all this on you at once, you'll die. I have to start slowly. It was my mistake; I unfortunately think you seem like your father. Since I have decided, I will change you. I won't give up.]
Even's body suddenly relaxed. He fell flat on the floor. His heart was pounding, and his whole body ached.
[Daily Task Revised: Four times less.]
[25 Push-ups]
[25 Sit-ups]
[25 Squats]
[2.5 kilometer Run]
[Reward: 25 XP, 2 Coins]
Even looked at the window while panting. The task was reduced four times, but he still had no desire to do it. The main reason was that the reward had also decreased, which killed his motivation even more. Plus, he felt lazy, his body was in pain, and most importantly—he wanted to sleep. Even though he just woke up, he wanted to sleep more.
"No," Even said shortly. "Still too much! And you reduced the reward! I'll look at this tomorrow!!"
The system didn't stay quiet this time. [You dog born from a Great Hero's spam!! This is too much!! I will take strict measures...]
"Strict measures!?" Before Even could understand, he felt the air in the room freeze. The scenery around him began to shake.
For a moment, everything went dark.
...
The next moment, Even found himself in a completely different place. The smell of old wood was gone, replaced by a damp, musty odor. It was pitch black, with only a strange blue light coming from far away.
He was lying on a stony ground. When his hand touched it, he felt the ground was wet and slippery.
"Where... where am I?" Even looked around fearfully. His voice echoed off the cave walls.
Just then, the system window lit up.
[Location: A Random Dungeon]
"Dungeon! You brought me to a dungeon?" Even screamed. "I'm not ready!"
He used to read many novels, so he had some experience. In common fantasy, dungeons have levels. Even whispered, "What's the level here?"
[deleted...]
[Save new data, you bastard!!! Don't you remember what I said before...]
"Does that mean the level of the monsters here is...!!?" Even swallowed hard in fear.
[Yes big bro]
[🖕😎🖕]
[If you want to know, fight the monsters.]
Even froze like a stone. This meant he was facing an unknown danger with zero information.
Just then, a strange sound came from the darkness. Scritch, scratch... the sound of many feet.
Even looked that way in fear. In the blue light, he saw many glowing eyes staring at him.
"What are those?"
The eyes slowly moved forward. Their shapes became clear in the light.
They were foxes. But not ordinary foxes. They were larger than dogs, their fur was pitch black, and their eyes burned like red fire.
One, two, three... ten! Ten foxes surrounded him.
Saliva dripped from their mouths, and their sharp teeth sparkled in the blue light. They let out a strange growl at Even.
"System! Save me!" Even cried out. "Get me out of here!"
[System Alert: Battle has started!]
"Battle! I don't want to fight! Teleport me!" Even screamed.
[Teleportation is currently in Reset mode.]
[Time remaining to reset: 4 hours.]
"4 hours! Am I going to fight these foxes for 4 hours?" Even couldn't believe it.
[You can hide. Or you can run, or you can fight. Any of these three ways will increase your skills. And you will get experience.]
[Since you've already eaten your fill, you probably won't feel hungry for four hours.]
"Who's thinking about food! I'm going to die right now!" Even started running.
The foxes chased after him. A life-and-death race began inside the cave.
Even realized that low gravity was a blessing here. With each jump, he could travel much further than a normal human. But the foxes were also used to this environment. They climbed the cave walls and jumped from rock to rock, never leaving Even's tail.
"Huff... puff..." Even's chest felt like it would burst.
Suddenly, a fox jumped in front of him. Even was forced to stop. The other foxes surrounded him from all sides.
"Okay, calm down, calm down..." Even raised his hands, trying to soothe the foxes. "I don't taste very good, believe me."
The foxes didn't understand him. The translation ability was useless here. Since they didn't have a language, there was nothing to translate.
The foxes pounced on him all at once.
Even closed his eyes and remembered the memories of being Vasco's punching bag. 'Endure the pain, Even. Just endure the pain.'
The first fox bit his leg. Sharp teeth tore through skin and reached the bone.
"Ah!" Even screamed in agony. But he didn't fall. Vasco's punches were much more painful than this.
He kicked the fox hard in the face with his other leg. Because of the low gravity, the kick was extremely powerful. The fox shrieked and flew off, hitting the cave wall.
[Ding! 10 XP earned.]
"XP? I'm getting XP?" Even looked at the window in surprise.
[New info found... The level of these fox monsters is 5.]
But Even didn't care about that. Whether it was level five or level one! There were just too many of them.
The rest of the foxes paused for a moment seeing their companion's state. But their hunger was intense. They attacked again.
Even didn't stand still anymore. He decided to fight while running. He hid behind a large rock.
A fox jumped over the rock. Even was ready. He grabbed the fox's neck and slammed it hard against the rock. The fox fell limp.
[Ding! 10 XP earned.]
"Hah! Come on, bring it on!" A strange excitement started working inside Even. He realized he could beat these foxes.
He started using boxing moves. Dodging, punching, kicking—he was keeping up with the foxes.
One by one, he took down three more foxes.
[Ding! 10 XP...]
[Ding! 10 XP...]
[Ding! 10 XP...]
Even was very close to being promoted from Level 3 to Level 4.
But the danger wasn't over. The remaining five foxes realized this prey was not ordinary. They changed their strategy. Instead of attacking all at once, they started attacking one by one to tire Even out.
Even's body was breaking down from exhaustion. Blood was dripping from the wound on his leg. He realized he couldn't fight much longer.
"System! How much longer?"
[Time remaining for Teleportation reset: 3 hours 30 minutes.]
"Only 30 minutes have passed!" Even felt hopeless. "I can't do this anymore."
He ran deeper into the cave. The foxes followed behind him.
Suddenly, the cave opened up into a massive hall. In the middle of the hall was a strange blue pit, emitting light.
Even stopped in the middle of the hall. A pit in front, foxes behind. He was trapped.
"Okay, one last fight," Even turned around.
The foxes slowly moved forward. There was cruel joy in their eyes.
Just then...
A loud roar shook the cave walls. The foxes froze in fear. They started backing away.
Even looked around in surprise. Where did the roar come from?
A massive shadow emerged from the blue pit.
Seeing it, Even's soul withered.
It was a fox, but at least ten times larger than the previous ones. It was the size of an elephant! Its skin was hard as stone, and blue fire came out of its eyes.
This was the Boss Monster of this dungeon!
[System Alert: DANGER! DANGER!]
Even froze like a statue. Against this monster, his boxing or low gravity meant nothing.
The monster fox looked at Even. Its red eyes were a mix of hunger and rage. It let out a roar loud enough to burst Even's eardrums.
"I... I fuckdup," Even whispered.