Chapitre 2: Resolve
"Beast Forge? What the hell is that?"
He thought while walking out of the alley. The streets were almost empty, with only the homeless wandering around, picking up anything valuable that was dropped. He walked over to join them, still thinking he needed to do this to survive. But as he bent down, a black screen appeared in front of him, with white text displayed on it.
[Beast Forge system activated
User successfully registered
Scanning user... done
User has not awakened, cannot use Beast Forge.
Analyzing for possible solutions.... done
Mission: Run 10 km before 00:00
Reward: Force awakening
Failure: Loss of the Beast Forge system
Will you accept this mission: YES/NO]
He stared at the screen in silence, absorbing the information, and then calmly walked over to a nearby building to sit down. He looked at his clean skin once more and at the screen still awaiting his answer.
"I heard people get strange things inside dungeons and towers. Is this one of those reward things? Could this be my chance at a new life?"
The choice was obvious; living on the streets was neither healthy nor sustainable. It would only get worse until eventually, only death awaited him. He clicked the "YES" option, and the countdown officially began, giving him about nine hours to complete the mission.
He got up and began stretching, deciding which way to go.
"Right is the best option. From here to the next town over, it's only 3 km. The system never said anything about only going in a straight line, so I might just go back and forth until I meet the quota. But where's the fun in that? This is my chance to see how much things have progressed. I spent months just sitting and sleeping; I should explore a little."
With that, he took off heading north. For the first time in months, his heart was pounding, the sun stung his skin, and the air refreshed his face. He was hit by a variety of smells that he hadn't experienced in such a long time.
Many people began staring at him after he hit the 3 km mark. He wasn't in a different town, and people wondered why a homeless-looking person was running. He ignored their judgmental stares and continued with his mission, determined to see it through.
After an hour passed, he could feel his legs starting to burn, muscles straining from lack of use. It had been ages since he'd moved like this; he had spent months just lazing around. There was no reason for him to try, but now there was something else driving him. Even if there was only a slight chance this mission was real, he bet on that small chance—a chance for his life to turn around.
He checked the screen as he reached another kilometer.
[Distance: 4 km. Time remaining: 7 hours, 5 minutes.]
He sneered after the 5 km mark as sweat trickled down his face and his breaths came harder. But he was already halfway there, so he might as well see it through. He slowed to a brisk walk for a minute, catching his breath and scanning the area out of habit. Instinct told him to stay low-profile and keep moving before anyone he knew showed up or someone who had heard the rumors recognized him.
A group of teenagers hung out by a broken-down bus stop, laughing and jostling each other. One of them nudged his friend and pointed in his direction. The kid called out, "Yo! Where's the fire, old man?"
"Aren't you too old to be walking around like that?"
"Haha, go back home and drink some milk, old man."
He ignored them and picked up his pace. People always had something to say, but they didn't know him or what he was pushing for; still, being called old annoyed him.
"Tch, old man. Kids these days have no manners. I'm only 21, dammit."
After recovering for a moment, he picked up his pace once more and made his way out of this section of town. Time was not on his side as he glanced sideways, noticing that the sun was setting.
[Distance: 6 km. Time remaining: 5 hours, 12 minutes.]
As he reached a narrow side street, he felt his pace starting to falter. The thought of giving up sank in, and the word "failure" echoed in his mind, reminding him of an unpleasant memory. He stopped for a few minutes, his shirt completely soaked with sweat and his mouth dry from thirst. He was down to his last chocolate bar; these were supposed to last him the whole week, but that was no longer important.
He was almost there—only 4 km left to go. There was no way he would quit now after all that effort. He looked at the reward once more, determination washed over his face, and he told himself that this reward would be worth all the pain and suffering.
"Come on, keep moving," he muttered to himself, his voice barely audible.
By the time he hit 7 km, he could barely feel his legs. The town's lights began to blur, and his mind felt foggy. He leaned against a wall, panting heavily, his vision swimming. His stomach growled; he hadn't eaten anything substantial in days, and this was a major factor—his body was malnourished. He coughed, and blood came up. He wondered if he could keep going and if his body would hold out until the mission ended.
His body screamed at him to stop, but he couldn't turn back now. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. If he missed it, he would go back to his miserable life of begging; chances like this don't come along every day. So he gritted his teeth, pushed off from the wall, and kept going.
Three hours later, his body was on the verge of shutting down. Torn muscles, wounds under his bare feet, blood filling his mouth, and his head spinning—this was a sign for him to stop, rest, or give up. But he continued running despite his condition; he was too close to give up now.
[Distance: 9.9 km. Time remaining: 10 minutes.]
"Finally…..?"
His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto a bridge. His vision was completely blurry now, and blood was flowing from his nose as well.
'Fuck that, I will complete this mission even if it cripples me.'
He forced himself to his feet, his nerves snapping and causing him to stagger, but he refused to fall. With tears of pain in his eyes, he ran, stumbling over and over, but he continued until he fell for the last time with a smile on his face.
'Hahaha, I made it.'
[Congratulations on completing the mission.
I will wait for the user to wake up before giving the reward.
Moving on to stage 2 of activation…..]
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone