Daniel woke up to another screen filling his vision.

  That’s going to get old, isn’t it?

  Good morning, Daniel. Due to your actions during the previous day, you have been awarded the following stats: Constitution +1, Intelligence +1, Willpower +1, Perception +1.

  Daniel stood from where he was lying, not feeling any of the aches and pains one should get from sleeping on a random patch of forest floor.

  That Good Night’s Sleep must’ve been putting in a lot of work.

  He surveyed his environment, scanning the forest, before turning back to the screen.

  Actions during the previous day, huh? Does it mean with the wolves?

  That seemed plausible, given that he’d received rewards for it, but he still felt uncertain. Where had the willpower come from? Maybe it was for resisting the urge to run screaming through the trees. As for the constitution—he had no idea.

  He put that aside for now—if this morning was any indication, tomorrow morning should have some answers for him. For now, he needed to focus on the present and figure out his next steps.

  Thinking for a bit, Daniel opened his System Screen and looked at his Abilities.

  He took a second to look through his Quest Log, noting the crossed-out completed quests and the still active What’s going on? quest. After, he focused his attention on the true reason he had opened the screen in the first place: Quest Insight.

  The ability said that it would give him quests based on his current situation or actions. Find yourself with no food or water, and no place to sleep—find one of those things. Wolves show up wanting to tear you apart—escape the wolves. Cause and effect, through no action of his own.

  Except for one thing.

  He hadn’t received the quest that helped him sleep until after he had decided to deal with his emotions. If it was just the feelings, it should’ve happened while he was walking through the forest.

  He may have been ignoring them, but they were there.

  Could he cause a quest to appear just by thinking about it? Maybe if he focused enough, one would appear. Daniel figured he’d give it a go!

  …

  …

  …he was drawing a blank. Daniel frowned—he could not, for the life of him, come up with anything. The harder he focused, the more his ideas slipped away.

  Frustrated, he muttered under his breath, “Come on, there has to be something.”

  Ding!

  Quest Gained: Quest Creation

  You’re exploring your abilities and attempting to figure out how they work. Unfortunately, it seems you can’t think of a single thing to do in this mysterious forest! Find something to do.

  Daniel stared at the screen, embarrassment flushing his cheeks. Great, now his own System was mocking him. Still, it helped him focus enough to come up with an idea.

  I guess I could explore the forest and find out what’s out there—

  Ding! Ding!

  Quest Gained: Exploration

  Now that you’ve had yourself a little nap, it’s time to explore the forest! Find anything interesting.

  Quest Complete: Quest Creation

  You’ve purposefully created a new quest! ! For managing to think of a worthwhile goal, you receive +1 intelligence.

  Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Did I just get smarter by... thinking of something obvious?” He chuckled, shaking his head. “I guess I’ll take it.”

  With the new Exploration quest nudging him onward, Daniel started his journey deeper into the forest, brushing past low-hanging branches and stepping carefully over tangled roots.

  The morning mist clung to the undergrowth, giving the forest an otherworldly, muted feel.

  After a few minutes of walking, Daniel spotted a patch of oddly colored mushrooms sprouting along the base of a tree. Curious, he crouched down to examine them.

  Ding!

  Quest Complete: Exploration

  You’ve found something interesting! For finding something interesting, you receive an Edible Mushroom.

  A mushroom appeared in Daniel’s hand as he tilted his head, unimpressed. “This counts as interesting? I’ve seen weirder in my fridge.”

  Almost as soon as he stood up, another screen popped into view.

  Ding!

  Quest Gained: Exploration

  Keep exploring the forest. There’s bound to be something even more interesting!

  Daniel glanced from the screen to the mushroom in his hand, eyebrows raised.

  “Is this just going to keep repeating?” he said. “I’ll run out of space if it keeps handing me random stuff.”

  With a shrug, he decided to eat the mushroom. After all, the System hadn’t hurt him so far—and he was pretty sure it wouldn’t give him poisonous food, right?

  He took a tentative bite, half-expecting a bitter taste, but to his surprise, it was actually quite good. Slightly sweet, with a nutty flavor that left him wanting more. He quickly finished it, savoring the unexpected treat.

  As he chewed, Daniel waited for something to happen.

  Maybe some kind of boost, a burst of energy, or some hidden magic—after all, this was a magical System.

  He braced himself, eyes scanning for any notifications or effects.

  A minute passed.

  Then two.

  Nothing.

  He blinked, sitting down on a nearby log. “Really? No buff? No boost? Just... a tasty mushroom?”

  The silence of the forest around him felt almost mocking.

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  Well that’s disappointing.

  He looked at the mushroom patch that had originally completed the quest. They looked different than the one he had just eaten—smaller, with a darker cap and a faint, almost iridescent shimmer to them.

  Not being a mushroom expert, Daniel had no idea if they were safe. He stared at them for a moment, as if expecting them to do something magical. But the patch just sat there, unmoving.

  A slight hesitation passed over him.

  “Yeah, I’m not taking any chances,” Daniel shook his head, giving the patch one last suspicious glance before stepping away.

  He didn’t need any surprise side effects—especially not with what was already going on.

  With a sigh, Daniel pressed onward. The sooner he figured out what was going on with this place, the sooner he could get a grip on it. Maybe the forest had something else to offer.

  A few minutes later, he stumbled across a tiny stream winding through the trees.

  Ding!

  Quest Complete: Exploration

  You’ve found something interesting! For finding something interesting, your canteen has been refilled.

  Daniel squinted at the screen. “So... every random thing I come across counts as ‘interesting’?”

  The System chimed back with yet another Exploration quest, almost as if it was eagerly prompting him to continue.

  Following the stream, Daniel paused as his eyes caught a glimmer of something partially buried in the dirt. Curiosity piqued, he knelt down, brushing away the leaves and twigs that had settled around it.

  A stick.

  But not just any stick. It was long and straight—the color a deep, rich brown with streaks of gold running along its length.

  He took the stick in his hands, giving it a spin. It felt... well, it felt kind of cool. But Daniel was not some kid getting excited about a random piece of wood—he was an adult.

  He stood up, tossing the stick from one hand to the other as he examined it more closely.

  The texture was almost perfect. Not too rough, not too smooth. It was almost like the universe had just handed him the perfect walking stick.

  He started walking again, the stick lightly tapping against the ground with each step. As he walked, Daniel glanced at the stick again.

  You know, it is a nice stick...

  Ding!

  Quest Complete: Exploration

  You’ve found something interesting! For finding something interesting, you receive +1 Strength, and your Cool Stick is upgraded into an Even Cooler Stick.

  Suddenly, the stick shimmered in his hands. The grain of the wood shifted, its color deepening, and it seemed to become just... better.

  More refined.

  Stronger.

  Daniel blinked, staring at the now transformed stick. At the same time, a subtle warmth spread through his body.

  Going from one Strength to two wasn’t a massive leap, but it was more noticeable than any of his previous stat increases, likely because it was a physical stat. Maybe each boost in his stats added a small base increase, or perhaps it was exponential.

  He couldn’t tell for sure—he hadn’t been keeping track.

  Either way, the stick now felt lighter, as though the extra strength had somehow balanced its weight.

  The texture of the stick had changed to something impossibly smooth, and the gold streaks had turned into intricate patterns, almost like runes embedded in the wood. It was longer now, a little heavier, but the balance was perfect.

  This wasn’t just a stick anymore—it was the stick.

  Daniel's mouth went dry as he twirled the stick in his hand, fully aware of just how absurd this situation was.

  “I am an adult,” he stated to himself.

  But then he gave a small grin and looked at the stick again. “I am an adult... with the coolest stick.”

  He couldn’t help but feel a little giddy. Of all the strange things happening around him, this might just be the most ridiculous, but also... the most satisfying.

  As Daniel continued walking through the forest, now wielding his Even Cooler Stick, his mind drifted to a nagging thought that had popped up after the stick’s transformation.

  He’d been so focused on the immediate reward that it hadn’t occurred to him until now: Why hadn’t the quest completed until after he stopped trying to downplay the stick in his head?

  It wasn’t as though he’d suddenly became super excited about it.

  Sure, he’d accepted it was cool, but the stick’s sudden transformation had caught him off guard. So, why had the System chosen that moment to reward him with the “cooler” version of the stick?

  He paused, leaning on the transformed walking stick, and stared at the forest floor, mulling over the question.

  Maybe the System was more in tune with his subconscious than he realized. That would explain how his thoughts seemed to dictate the quests and their completion.

  It also made him cringe to think that finding a stream “interesting” had triggered a quest reward. What that said about him, he did not know.

  But then his mind drifted to past quests.

  Take the wolves, for example. The memory replayed in his mind: the clearing, the growls, the tension in the air, and the way the wolves had finally turned and retreated into the trees.

  It had all felt so clear at the time—he’d been in danger, he’d backed away, and then they’d just... left.

  But now that he thought about it more, a seed of doubt started to sprout in his mind. How had he known they’d left? He hadn’t heard them moving, hadn’t seen them slip away behind the trees. All he remembered was the final, lingering glare they had given him before they disappeared.

  What if they hadn’t really left at all?

  What if they’d just… gone out of sight?

  He’d been so focused on the quest completing, the ding of the notification that had rung in his ears, but how did he know?

  The doubt gnawed at him, making his grip tighten around the stick.

  It wasn’t that he was worried about the wolves returning—not right now anyway—but the idea that they could have stayed just out of sight, watching him, made him uneasy.

  A sudden idea jolted him out of his worries. If the System was responding to his thoughts, could he use that to his advantage? What if he could manipulate it to give him rewards on command? He'd already triggered a reward by just thinking the stick was cool, but could he do it again?

  Daniel glanced back down at the stick in his hand, now a perfect blend of gold and wood.

  It really is kind of cool...

  He cringed at the thought. "Oh God, I’m getting attached to a stick."

  He looked up at the sky, squinting through the canopy of trees. The sunlight that filtered through the leaves gave the whole forest an ethereal glow.

  “Ah, the sky…” he sighed, looking up in wonder.

  He waited.

  A frown tugged at his lips. So much for that. Apparently, you couldn't just point at something and expect the System to reward it. He hadn’t felt anything about the sky—he’d just said it.

  With a sigh, Daniel resumed walking, his footsteps muffled by the forest floor. The stick tapped rhythmically against the ground with each step. He could feel its weight in his hand. It was a solid,

  He looked around, genuinely curious now. What else would the System—or him, rather—consider “interesting”?

  As it turned out, the answer was... quite a lot.

  As he wandered around, Daniel soon stumbled upon a patch of wildflowers blooming in a breathtaking display of color. Shades of purple, yellow, and blue were scattered across the forest floor, their delicate petals swaying gently in the breeze.

  He bent down, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he took in the vibrant scene.

  Ding! Reward: A Medicinal Flower.

  Later, as he paused to rest against a sturdy oak, he tilted his head back, letting his gaze drift upward—and caught sight of an owl, quietly perched among the branches, watching him with wide, golden eyes. It sat still, regal and unbothered, resting in the tree.

  Ding! Reward: +1 Intelligence and +1 Perception.

  Further on, he spotted a gnarled tree that, in the right light, seemed to have a face—knobby bark forming something like eyes and a mouth, frozen mid-laugh or mid-scream.

  It was hidden within a ring of other trees, and he had only noticed it because of the almost perfect symmetry of the surrounding circle.

  Ding! Reward: +2 Perception.

  His pouch, though larger on the inside, was now stuffed with an assortment of treasures by the time he was almost done with his trek through the forest. The sun, no longer as bright, cast a softened light through the canopy, shadows beginning to stretch out around him.

  There was still daylight, but dusk would soon settle in, and the forest held an unsettling quiet as the afternoon wore on.

  Daniel continued walking, tapping his stick along the ground, when he noticed something odd—a faint shimmer in the distance—a fleeting flicker just beyond the trees. He blinked, shrugging it off as a trick of the light, maybe a glint of setting sun through the leaves.

  Nothing there.

  But something in the back of his head nagged at him, whispering otherwise. He squinted back at the spot, and just barely, a shimmer hovered again, almost like… no, surely it was his imagination.

  He took a step forward, trying to get a clearer look, and for a moment the shimmer flickered again—there, and then, as if brushing it aside, gone.

  “Must just be my mind playing tricks on me,” he muttered, feeling an urge to keep moving, to look away. He half-turned back to the path but hesitated.

  A thought crept up: What if it's not?

  He frowned, focusing harder, feeling a subtle push against his thoughts—something nudging him to dismiss it. But there it was, persistent, just at the edge of his vision: a hazy, dark shape hidden behind the trees.

  Something pressed against him again, trying to turn him away, but this time he held firm, slowly pushing back against the pressure in his mind.

  A chill skated down his spine. That shimmer wasn’t just his imagination.

  And then, like breaking through the surface of water, he felt the mental effect fade.

  The shimmer sharpened into a structure in the distance—a dark, towering shape just barely illuminated against the shadowed trees.

  Ding!

  Quest Complete: Exploration

  You’ve found something interesting! For persisting against a magical effect meant to turn you away, you receive +3 Willpower and +2 Perception.

  Daniel’s eyes widened as the image solidified. Before him stood a massive, crumbling fortress, its walls thick and ancient where they hadn’t succumbed to decay. Shadows pooled beneath its twisted battlements, and the air seemed to grow colder, heavier.

  As he stared at the fortress, an inexplicable dread took root. It was as though something within its walls was stirring, aware of his presence.