With heaviness clouding his mind, Cassian opened his eyes to find himself sprawled on a bed, not the Goddess's bed, but an uncomfortable, stray mattress on the floor.
He limped upright, sweat-soaked clothes clinging to his skin, and took in his surroundings. The air was thick with the foul stench of his own sweat.
He was inside a small, rickety wooden barn.
It took only a few sluggish steps to reach the door.
'How long was I asleep?'
With a weak push, Cassian opened the door.
Sunlight stabbed at his eyes, making him wince and fall to his knees. His stomach twisted, and he retched, but nothing came out except a dry gasp onto the sandy ground.
Flat on his back, energy spent, he muttered,
"This must be hell realm, huh!"
"Nope!"
A sudden voice rang out from the barn roof.
Cassian managed to tilt his head, squinting up at the source.
A young boy, maybe ten, lounged on the roof in a red shirt and brown pants, bare feet drumming a playful rhythm against the wood. He grinned,
"Glad you came in one piece!"
Cassian rolled over and forced himself to stand, noticing the boy's brown hair, black eyes, and a strange black branding circling his neck, two lines protruding near his ears like fangs.
The kid hopped down, landing lightly in the sand.
He gave a theatrical bow,
"Before your humble presence, this Barn, The Kid welcomes you to Mortal Realm, Eldros. Whenever you need me, I won't appear. Whenever you want, I won't appear… Whenever you are dying, I will appear."
"Dying?"
Cassian blinked, thrown by the odd words.
"Did I die?"
"Yes, Mr. Cassian Johnathan. You died by the hands of your fan."
Cassian paused, piecing it together.
The kid was talking about Idol Cassian Johnathan, not him, just like the Goddess had.
So, Cassian decided to play along.
"Now what?"
The kid shrugged,
"Well, that's it. My job is making sure you arrived after meeting your goddess. Now, it's time for me to go."
Suddenly, the barn began to sink into the sand.
The kid leapt onto the roof, while Cassian, bewildered, called out,
"What! You didn't tell me anything about this place!"
"That's part of being an adventurer. Kill things and find out yourself."
With a wink, the kid vanished beneath the sand, leaving Cassian alone in a sea of dunes, as if he were just another grain in the desert.
Cassian let out a long sigh,
"At least there's no one to bug me anymore."
Even standing in the endless desert, he didn't feel thirsty, hungry, or tired like before. His body was stiff, but strong enough to climb the sand mountains blocking his view.
He scrambled up the slope, running diagonally, and reached the top.
All he saw was sand, an ocean of gold beneath a blazing sun, blue sky above, clouds drifting lazily.
"What is that?"
Far off, a massive shape moved across the horizon, heading south.
Cassian squinted west, straining to make it out.
"Before I go after that thing, I need to check out System Progress and gear up!"
He tried every phrase he could think of:
"System."
"Open System."
"Come out, System."
…
…
…
"System, are you there!"
Nothing.
The system wouldn't respond.
Frustrated, he decided to shelve the problem for now. The moving object was getting farther away, he needed to catch up.
It was no small thing, that much was clear.
Maybe one of the Infinites, ready to hunt him if it saw him. But the kid's words echoed in his mind:
"Kill things and find out yourself."
'If that thing is a test, I need to know what I'm up against first!'
Determined, Cassian slid down the sand and set off toward the moving shape.
"Kill me already!"
He screamed, collapsing to his knees after hours of trudging through the dunes, energy sapped.
The object was still as far away as when he started.
"Is the creature walking away from me, not to my left?"
Sweat dripped down his face as he took a shaky breath, watching the creature, then paused for a break.
After a few moments, his fatigue vanished, stiffness gone. He even felt a bit stronger, maybe it was just in his head, but it helped.
"Did my status or body refill again?"
With renewed vigor, Cassian pressed on. Hours passed. The sun dipped, painting the sky red.
Finally, he saw the creature's full form.
It was a colossal porcupine, stout, round, an armored ball of quills, more than 30,000 of them, with a surprisingly soft, flat underbelly.
It looked even larger and more circular up close, quills over 20 feet long jutting from its thick black body, a small rounded head with a blunt muzzle.
Its eyes and ears were tiny compared to the rest, but its short, sturdy legs ended in broad, flat feet with long, curved claws.
"I can't fight that monster."
Cassian's common sense won out. No weapons, no system, he was running toward certain death.
The porcupine could crush him and never notice.
He stared, despairing,
'Did I really think I could kill that thing before I even saw it was a porcupine? Why did I walk toward it? This is so depressing, man!'
Annoyed, he grabbed a small rock poking his backside and flung it away, muttering,
'I should have never killed myself in the first place!'
Suddenly, a fierce windstorm shoved him back, sand blasting his eyes, a roar splitting the air.
"What is happening?"
Cassian rubbed the grit from his eyes and stared in shock.
The porcupine shrieked as a massive, razor-sharp tail shot up from the ground, impaling its body.
A gaping hole opened beneath it, and another creature writhed in the dust, emerging fully.
Cassian froze.
A gigantic serpent, brown scales glinting, slithered up from beneath the dune.
The serpent hissed, mouth gaping to reveal rows of conical, razor-sharp teeth and a tongue as thick as the porcupine's quills, ready to devour.
It licked its own tail, tasting porcupine blood with glowing orange eyes, sending the porcupine into a frenzy.
It screamed, leaping and thrashing to break free.
The ground trembled as Cassian tumbled down the sand, the creatures' battle echoing in his ears.
Suddenly, the serpent's screech ripped through the air, forcing Cassian to clamp his hands over his ears and cry out.
The serpent tried to coil around the porcupine, but hidden quills shot out, piercing the serpent's body, blood spraying.
Still, the serpent wrapped tighter, crushing the porcupine.
Blood from both poured onto the sand, a river of green and red flowing like a gruesome waterfall.
The dune soaked up the blood, turning dry sand into a swamp.
With the red sky watching, the monsters fought to the death.
Driven by pure instinct, Cassian sprinted toward them, sand trembling beneath his feet as a single thought echoed in his mind:
'You triggered a quest. EXP, rewards, and EXP. Run, idiot, run!'
He tore through the dust, stumbling and scrambling back to his feet to run toward them, but a sudden sandstorm struck and hurled him backward.
Silence.
'Fuck, am I too late?'
He clawed his way out of the sand and looked ahead.
The porcupine stood still as the serpent's grip slackened.
The serpent's body collapsed in two pieces on either side of the porcupine—one half its head, the other its tail still stuck in the porcupine's body and twitching, its yellow eyes lifeless.
'I still have a chance!'
Cassian saw the porcupine sprawled on its belly, breathing raggedly, blood everywhere, many quills broken.
He approached with an eerie calm that hid the storm raging in his mind.
Step by step, he moved closer, climbing near its head where the serpent's fang was lodged.
He met the porcupine's tiny eyes, blood trickling down like tears. Cassian whispered,
"You won. You lasted longer than your predator. Time to rest."
His hands shaking, fear mixed with excitement, he gripped a sharp rock tightly and, with all his might, hammered it through the fang and into the skull.
The porcupine shuddered, then stilled.
[Congratulations]
[You are the First Adventurer to kill Illyria Desert's walker, Acuna]
[Reward: 10 Exp]
"What!"
Cassian gaped at the window floating before him, showing 10 Exp for killing the massive beast.
'Maybe rewards are split based on the damage you do! That sucks, if it's true!'
[Ding!]
[Goddess Seraphyra's Blessing Activated]
[Double Exp granted: 20 Exp]
[Goddess Seraphyra is watching you proudly]