Unknown Island Arc -- Chapter 4
Early the next morning, the sun had risen in the sky and it shone on the beach.
The crystal clear water and the crystal-liketoweringpillars around, sparkled
as thesunshine hits them. It would have been perfect if not for ascreaming
youth, running for his life.
"AHHHHHH!! Hey! I apologized to you, stop chasing me!"
Arren screamed while being chased by a much bigger crab,yes, muchbigger,
well, only double the size of the ones he killed yesterday.
Yesterday, after Arrens one-sided massacre of the groups of crabs from a far
distance, he then decided tocall it a day seeing that he already had enough to
buy the skill. Afterhaving a meal together withhis fishiefriends,he dug on the
soiloutside the forest and borrowed himself deep.
Waking up fully refreshed the next morning, he did some warm-ups and thought
of a regular workout routine toenhance his fitness.
"If I remembered correctly, someone became strong by doing 100 push-ups,
100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and 10 KM running. Yup, I''ll double it, that way I''ll be
2x stronger than that guy, hahahaha."
After having breakfast with the fishies that is now staying at a rocky area where
hemade a small pond-like circle enclosed with the rocks around, Arren went back
tothe shore and bought the skill. Holding the skillbook, his face scrunched
remembering the 1st time he used one.
"Damn, I hope it''s not like the 1st time."
Opening it, he then like the 1st time,felt the forceful invasion of knowledge being
imprinted into his brain. Moments later, Arren opened his eyes and threw the book
away as hard as he could.
"F*ck! Damn, this bro felt so violated. My innocence, my innocence is gone.
I hope this thing won''t turn this bro gay."
Having learned the Spearmanship Beginner Manual, Arren practiced for a few
minutes. After the practice, he decided to test outthe spearmoves imprinted in
his mind on a live target so he went back to where he killed manycrabs before
hoping to find 1 or few wandering around.
As he got to the said location, Arren did not find a single one from before which
were all red carapace, instead,he found one that is with a single darker red stripe
in the middle of its carapace,buried itself in the sands tens of meters away from
him.
Thinking that it was the same one, not bothering to check its name, Arren dashed
at it and with all his might,swungdown as hard as he could aiming for a 1 hit kill.
Bang! A loud boomsounded out and sands flew up in the airwhich quickly went
back down. Having used all his strength behind the attack, his hand went numb
after the spear and the shell clashed.
"F*ck my hand."
Afterthe dust settled, the crab which he hit hard slowlystood up and made an
eye contact with him. Onthe carapace between itsantenna, one could see a
dent being made from the impact.
When he saw the crab which was much bigger from before and that his attack
only made asmall dent after using all his strength,inching slowly back whenthe
crab got up, not bothering again to check its name, Arren said.
"Oh, um, hey neighbor, sorry about that, ahaha. Imistook you for someone else
so, um ahaha. Don''tworry about my hand, it''s not your fault big bro, goodbye."
Arren, turned tail and bolted towards the opposite direction of thecrab. And that is
how hegot inhispresent situation. Although the crab madly chased after him, it did
not lastlong. Seeing the human that attacked it was very fast and was very far from
it already, it raised both its pincers, and snapped it many times while screeching.
After running almost 100 meters away from the crab, Arren sat his butt on the sand
and panted. While panting for air, he did not forget to complain.
"Hey Sys, you sold me a fake skill right?"
[Host, it''s a weaponskill, not an attack skill.]
" What do you mean by attack skill? So the spearmanship does not count?"
[Host, the Spearmanship Beginner Manual teaches the host the proper way to
handle spears, techniques on how to fight using it and the correct stance.
And as for attack skills, host will be able to use one at level 10.]
Hearing Sys, Arren rolled his eyes while he took more deep breaths. Getting
himself some rest,he stood up and walked back to where to crab was.
"Damn, this bros hands are numb. You better hide crabby."
While mumbling to himself, Arren took out the crossbow and kept the spear. He
wanted to test how tough that crab was and at the same time, test out the real
strength of the crossbow.
Getting back at the site where the crab buried itself in the sands, Arren, from the
distance could see that it buried itself again. Arriving at a 5 meter tall boulder,
he climbed up using the other smaller ones around it.Positioning himself at the
top, he kneeled on a good spot,aiming at the crab in the distance.
Aiming slightly above the its eyes, taking a deep breath to stabilize his aim, Arren,
after a few moments of aiming, pulled the trigger. Twang! The vibratingsound of the
string came accompanied by the whistling sound of the bolt flying at a high-speed.
While the ringing sound of the string wasslowly decreasing and the whistle stopped,
a new sound came after from afar. Being hit, the crab screeched loudly and dug
itself out of it hole.Seeing this scene, Arren was surprised by its defence.
"Damn, its tougher than the ones yesterday.The bolt could only manage to wound
it deep andnot destroy a part of its body or make a big hole on it."
Since it did not go down from a single shot, Arren pulled the lever of the
crossbow to latch its string and then, he loaded another bolt for the nextshot.
After reloading another bolt, he aimed at the crab again.
While Arren was reloading another bolt, the crab that got wounded from an
unknown source, looked around trying to spot where the attack that hurt it cane
from. When it saw Arren at the distance aiming at it, the crab dashed towards
Arren at a fast speed. Seeing this scene, Arrens eyes widened at the speed of
the crab.
"Holy f*ck, it''s fast!"
As the crabs speed was very fast, Arren panicked as he could not get a clear
shot. Although it chased him before, since he did not know how fast he could
run now, he was totally scared seeingthecrab running so fast. In justa few
seconds,the crab was able to reach where he was and jumped up.
"F*ck!"
Seeing itflying towards himafter it jumped andswinging downward its claw at
him, Arren kicked hard to theleft to dodge the incoming attack. While being
airborne, he aimed the crossbow at the crabs body and pulled the trigger not This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
caring if it would hit or not. Letting go of thecrossbow, he turned around tolook
where he was going to fall.
Luckily, there were no rocks on where he would be landing.Using both hands
bracing for impact, Arren was able to cutthe force whenhis face hit the sands.
Face planted on the ground, not minding the little dizzinesshe felt after falling
from such height, Arren quickly stood upand shouted.
"Sys give me the spear."
A spear instantly appeared in front, Arren quickly held it with both hand taking a
fighting stance. Looking back, he could see the flipped over crab squirming that
fell meters away from him, probably hurt from getting hit bythe shot he took.
Seeing this he quickly turned around, shouted againand dashed away.
"Sys store the crossbow."
But before he could get far, a quest window suddenly popped-up in front of him
and at the same time, he heard Sys telling him about it.
<table style="background-color: #438ce6">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Quest</td>
<td colspan="7">1st System Enforced Quest: Kill the Giant Red Crab(Elite) in a melee combat</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Difficulty</td>
<td colspan="7">Average</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reward/s</td>
<td colspan="7">
(Experience Points, Gear Points, Life Points, Skill Points, Item Points) X10
Healing Potion X10, Strength Potion X10, Agility Potion X10
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Penalty</td>
<td colspan="7">1 month denied access to all System functions upon failure.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Closing the quest window while keeping an eye on the crab, after he listened
to Sys notice, Arren could not help but howl.
"What do you mean by failure? Sys, I would be dead! Do you think your so
calledfailure stillhave a meaning?"
Not giving a care about the penalty that he would receive, Arren ran away as
fast as he could. Stopping tens of meters away from where he and the crabfell,
Arren who hid behind a large rock, took out the crossbow from the inventory
intending to finishthe crab.
[Access denied. Only melee weapons are available for the hostto use.]
Hearing Sys, Arrens face turned red and he howled at her again.
"What? Sys, are you trying to kill me?! You do know that it''s stronger than me
right? Forget it! I''ll just leave."
But before he could get far, just like the first time, another quest window suddenly
popped-up in front of himand at the same time, he heard Sys telling him about it.
<table style="background-color: #438ce6">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Quest</td>
<td colspan="7">1st System Enforced Quest: Kill the Giant Red Crab(Elite) in a melee combat</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Difficulty</td>
<td colspan="7">Average</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reward/s</td>
<td colspan="7">
(Experience Points, Gear Points, Life Points, Skill Points, Item Points) X10
Healing Potion X10, Strength Potion X10, Agility Potion X10
Swordsmanship Beginner Manual, Tier 1 - Magic Sword
Archery Beginner Manual, Tier 1 - Magic Bow
randomAttack Manual, randomDefenseManual
random Movement Manual, random Support Manual
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Penalty</td>
<td colspan="7">
1 month denied access to all System functions upon failure.
Abandoning the quest will result to System removal from the host.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Hearing that he would lose the System if he abandoned the quest, Arrens entire
body shook from anger. He gritted his teeth, held the spear tightly and just stood
there in place.
"If I lose the system I''m good as dead here in who knows where island. If I go back
and fight that thing, although itgot hurt badly, my chance is still slim and I''m still good
as dead. F*ck! Huuuu.."
Exhaling deeply, Arren closed his eyes, inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times.
Opening his eyes again, coming to a decision, Arren mumbled while walking back
to the crab.
"You better not have a physical body or something like that Sys, or else I''m gonna
do crazy things on you. Eheheh, ehe, hehehe."
Since Sys have a female voice, he thought that Sys would have a female body as
well, if ever one existed. Going to a life and death fight where it was not certain if he
would survive, it made him went nuts andthought of weird things. He evenignored
that he had more rewards now than the first time the quest was given to him.
After he made his way around the rocks, the crab which was screeching loudlyand
turning left then right trying to find him, after spotting him squealed even louder and
rushed towards him as fast as it could while raising its claws ready to attack.
Seeing this, Arren stood his ground and roared back at it.
"Come on, it''s either you or me! Lets see who lives!"
After his roar, both he and the crab clashed. While Arren wasin a life anddeath
battle, inside a house carved from a gigantic tree near a lake deep within the
valley,surrounded by thousands of meters high mountains, a spectral old man
and a middle-aged man could be seen drinking tea.
This specter of an old man is a spiritual projectionof someonepowerful. Using a
wisp of his soul, he embedded it inside a small statue that looked likesomebuffed
person making a posestanding in one corner of thehouse. Small as in its only
human height and nottall as amountain.
With this, he would be able to communicate with others from any corner of the
world or, when he dies, hecould transfer information into it so that he could
leave his legacy to someonefated. Don''t worry, he''s still alive.AlthoughI said
that he''s old, technically speaking, he''s the one that goes "this oldman" this
and "this old man" that.
Having the looks that of amiddle-aged man, a buffed, sixpacked middle-aged man
with long white ponytail hair and a goatee to go with it, he still had theair of a
wise and powerful person around him. Wearing only pants,his well-built body that
looked like a beast was fully revealed.Sitting on one sideof the table,hesipped
onhis tea with a relaxed look.
Sitting opposite to him isa middle-aged man and just like theold guy, still looked
veryyoung. Well-built body, longcopper brown hair, ponytail as well, blue eyes,
a facethat looks the sameas Arren, Arren has green eyes by the way, his
eyebrows twitched.
"Master could you please wear something."
Said the middle-aged man that looked like Arren,respectfully to the old man.
Naturally, this guy is Arrensfather, Rynard Cyne. Hearing him, the old man or
rather the bearjudging from how he looks, took another sip, glanced at him
then said.
"Ohoho, are you the master or am I?"
Rynards left eye twitched after hearing his master, he then said respectfully to
the old man.
"Master it''s not like that, I''m only worried that someone might see you likethat
and it might ruin your image to others."
"Relax a little kid, no one else is here.Look atyou, you already looked older
than me. As for my reputation, you already knowhow it is, hahaha."
While the old man was heartily laughing, opposite to him,Rynard who hada
stiff smilecould not help his whole face to twitch.
"Master, why not change a little so that.."
But before he could finish what he wanted to say, the old man cut him off.
"We''vebeen master-disciple for a few years now and yet you''re stillso stiff.
Well, I know you didn''t call me just to talk about my reputation so tell me, what
do you want?"
Seeing that his master wanted to go straight to the matter, Rynard took out a
paper crane and placed it on the table in front of his master. After that, he took
out a life crystal which had no light glowing inside it and placed it on the table
as well.
"Master, a few days ago, my son went missing and on this paper crane, the
information about what had transpired are all recorded by a trusted subordinate
of mine. I hope master could look at it and shed a light to what truly had
happened."
"That''s it? And here I thought you were in trouble. Well, I guess this counts as
beingin trouble. Alright, let me see."
"Thank you master."
Rynard then bowed his head and thanked his master, while his master waved
his hand at him telling him it''s not that big of a deal. After taking another sip of
the tea, the old man stretched his left hand and held the both paper crane and
thelife crystal together.
He then sent a wisp of his soul to directlyabsorb the contentin the letter while
probing the life crystal for any changes.Closing his eyes to digest all of the
information, after a few seconds later, theold man opened bothhis eyes and
lookeddeeply at his disciple.
"You father and son truly have dogsh*t luck you know that."
Seeing that his disciple looked confused, heturned away and continued to
enjoy the tea that he was drinking. Rynards,who was waiting for an answer
could not help his face from twitchinguncontrollably. After a few minutes,
Rynardwho could not wait anymore, respectfully asked.
"Master, may I know what you meant about both of us, father and son having
dogsh*t luck."
"Dogsh*t luck is dogsh*t luck, what else is there?"
"Master, could you please clearly explainwhat you meant."
Giving a side glance at his disciple, the old man took another sip of the tea and
asked.
"You really want to know?"
"Yes master, please."
Rynard stood up and walked in front of his master to bow down his head. But
before he could do it, he almost stumbled hearing what the old man said.
"Not telling."
Rynard who was standing, felt his face burning hot fromhaving to deal with too
much bullfrom the old man. If you look at him, his face isalready deep red. The
old man sitting took a peek at him. Seeing him shaking and his face turning red,
he said to Rynard teasingly.
"Ohoho, angry now are we? Wanna attack this old man? Go ahead, its only a
spiritual projection anyway, hahaha."
Rynard on the side who was at his limits already, when he heard what the old
man said, took out a sword and swung it down as hard as he could. Seeing
Rynardtaking out a sword, the old man gotshockedthen he shouted.
"F*cking hell kid! Are you crazy?! Stop, stop it already, you''ll damage the house!
Alright, alright I get it, I''ll say it!"
Looking behind him, the old man saw a big hole from that attack and everything
was a mess. Turning around the old man wanted to scold his disciple but upon
seeing Rynards eyes, all red looking at him waiting, the old man sighed and did
not bother anymore.
"Iknow that you''re worried about your son but, hah, well I''ll just tell you. Like you,
your son must have found someone elses inheritance or rather, from what had
happened, he was taken by someone or something to inheritthat persons legacy.
Right now, he shouldbeinsidea small world owned by that person, so there."
Rynard who had returned to normal, looked surprised then he frowned as he
asked.
"Small world? Master, is that the same as this place where I am at right now?"
"Not even close. The space you are in now is still connected to our world. It still
depends on the world to keep itself stable. If we find the source of energy the
space gathers from, we would be able to destroy it and if you have enemies
inside, none of them will survive.
On the other hand, where your son is now isan independent small world where
it could sustain itself. Not only that, bothbeasts and humansshould have a faster
growth inside one, which is why you should startthinking more of yourself and less
of others.A few years from now, your son shouldsurpass you."
Again Rynard was surprised. He thought that he was lucky but his son was even
luckier than him. But after hearing his masters last lines, he frowned again and
asked.
"But master, my son could not cultivate that''s why he got kicked out of the clan
to test him and see from his actions outside the clan if he would be given another
chance to return. Why would someonewant my son who can''t cultivate?"
The old man who was sitting, poured another cup of tea and sipped on it before
he said.
"Still too stiff. Kid, although this master of yours could not changeyour sons
inability to cultivate, did you really think that others could not? The world is bigger
than you think, kid. I might be called a powerhouse from where I am now but to
those other places, I am but a mere ant in the eyes of those people. You want
this master to change and yet, you''re the one that needs it.
Alright, this old man has told you what you want to know so lets end it here.
Remember, your son will surpass you a few years from now, better get busy
kid or you might get you ass kicked by your own son, hahaha."
After laughing heartily, the old man vanished without a trace leaving the standing
Rynard alone. Some time later, Rynard shookthen laughed heartily while wiping
the tears from his eyes.
"Hahaha, that punk could now cultivate, perfect. Hmph, master says you''d be
surpassing me after a few year? Lets see who beats up whom."
Looking around, Rynard scratched his head as the entire place was a total
mess.
"Right, before I start training,I should clean this place first."
Looking at the cleaning Rynard, you could see a wide smile on his lips indicating
that hewas very happy after what his master told him. Instead of worrying about
his son, his fighting spirit burned wanting to compete with the kid whom he knew
that will be stronger after a few years.