"So you're saying this quest will make me normal again?" Lemonk asked, his face set with quiet resolve.
"Yes," the Progress System replied. "Complete the quest, and your body will return to the condition it was in before your awakening."
And more than that, it thought silently, this is the critical window, the true foundation for any Strengthen talent user. If he endures this now, his growth will skyrocket later…
Lemonk nodded once. "Alright. I accept."
[Ding!]Quest Accepted: "Let's Be Normal Again"Time Limit: 2 Days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 59 Seconds
He exhaled deeply. "Let's get back in shape."
"Alright! Start running!" the system barked in a sharp, enthusiastic tone. "Whistleee~ I'm your new personal trainer!"
And so, it began.
Lemonk started running toward the mine.
He made it ten meters.
Then faceplanted.
Hard.
"Pffft—PUAHAHAHAHA!" his personal trainer laughed. "That was... that was art!"
Lemonk groaned into the dirt. "One day… one day I'll beat the hell out of her…"
"You're welcome to try, IN FIFTY YEARS!""Now stop slacking and GET. BACK. TO. WORK!"
"Argh! She can hear my thoughts…" Lemonk muttered, dragging himself upright.
His body was shaking already. But he pushed forward.
And fell again.
Then again.
And again.
By the time he reached the mine's entrance, he'd fallen more than twenty times.
Thankfully, the area around the mine was empty.
It was the village's Week of Awakening, a traditional holiday when everyone celebrated or recovered from their rituals. The miners were off-duty. The warehouses were locked. The silence was perfect.
Perfect for suffering.
On his first attempt to mine iron, Lemonk fainted.
He struck the rock twice, then collapsed from exhaustion.
Four hours later...
He woke, groggy and aching. His vision swam, his arms numb. But he crawled back to the iron vein and started again.
This time, he managed to chip out a 15kg ore chunk.
Its uneven shape made it awkward to lift. It slipped in his grip, forcing him to overuse his core and leg muscles, which screamed in protest.
Still, he hoisted it.
One step… two…
He made it five meters before collapsing again, scraping his arm on a sharp rock.
This time, he didn't even feel the pain before unconsciousness took him.
[System Notice]
EXP accumulated.• Strength +1• Stamina +2• Skill [Walking] → 12%• Skill [Hand Movement] → 6%
The Progress System continued silently tallying his efforts while Lemonk lay unconscious.
Eight hours passed.
He woke with a groan. His body ached in places he didn't know existed. He had used up 15 of his 72 hours, and he hadn't even completed one rotation of the quest.
"This is insane," Lemonk mumbled. "How does she expect me to finish this in three days?!"
His voice echoed through the cave, swallowed by stone and silence.
But still, he stood.
He lifted the ore again.
He ran.
He fell.
And he rose.
As the hours turned to days, something began to change.
He fell less.
He slept shorter.
He began to breathe through the pain instead of cursing it.
He started pushing his limits, and sometimes… he passed them.
[System Update]
• Strength: 5• Stamina: 19• Agility: 2• Skill [Walking] → 23%• Skill [Mining] → 7% (New)• Skill [Ore Handling] → 5% (New)
By the end of the second day, Lemonk was no longer crawling out of the mine.
He was running.
Unsteady, sweaty, wild-eyed, but running.
And slowly, painfully, the nightmare quest began to look… survivable.