Thump!
After a powerful sensation of weightlessness, Caleb successfully fell into the pool, a series of "gurgling" water sounds echoing in his ears.
He paddled with both hands and feet, fighting against the powerful rapids created by the waterfall's impact, and struggled to keep his head above the swirling water. The current carried him downstream, and even from a distance, he could hear the furious roar of the large, dark figure standing on the cliff above.
After drifting for a while, the current slowed, allowing Caleb to grab onto a tree trunk floating on the water. Climbing along the trunk, he managed to pull himself onto the muddy riverbank just before his last ounce of stamina was completely depleted.
Recalling the hidden side quest he was forced to accept after killing the fierce dog, Caleb took advantage of the rest to check the quest details.
[The House Owner's Pursuit].
[Quest Description: "You killed the House Owner's pet. He will never let you go. While you still have some strength, run for your life!"]
[Quest Objective: Escape the 'House Owner's' pursuit before Pale Dawn.]
...
Splayed out on the muddy riverbank, his white stamina bar slowly began to recover, but at an extremely sluggish pace. After resting for about ten minutes, it had only recovered by one-third. Moreover, once the stamina bar reached the one-third mark, it inexplicably stopped increasing.
Immediately following this, a realistic sensation of hunger struck, and a stomach icon appeared next to the stamina bar, indicating a debuff.
[Hunger: An empty stomach prevents your stamina from continuing to recover.]
'Looks like I need to find food to fill my stomach immediately.'
But where could he find sustenance in this dark, tropical jungle at night?
Helpless, Caleb had no choice but to get up from the riverbank and drag his heavy legs deeper into the jungle.
The dark clouds in the sky had dispersed somewhat, revealing a deep blue night sky. The forest was shrouded in darkness, the black shadows of the branches looking like menacing claws. The stifling heat, the humidity, the persistent buzzing of mosquitoes—the immersive sensory experience of the holographic game was clearly indicating that this was a low-latitude tropical rainforest region.
From this point on, because the game progression had exceeded the scope of the novice tutorial, no more Prompt text or green directional arrows appeared in his vision.
To gain a wider field of view, Caleb switched to Cautious Stance.
But to his misfortune, he hadn't gone far when a strange shriek suddenly echoed from not too far ahead. Accompanied by a flurry of hurried footsteps, it seemed some nocturnal creature was rapidly approaching him.
'Damn it, I seem to have accidentally trespassed into some beast's territory.'
Caleb had no choice but to switch back to Active Stance, tensing his nerves and preparing to face a challenge.
But just then, the sound of footsteps treading on branches also echoed behind him, along with that familiar cursing. Caleb looked back and saw the light of a torch rapidly approaching. The 'House Owner' had, inconveniently, caught up.
'Damn it.'
With 'beasts' ahead and pursuers behind, Caleb's situation once again became awkward and difficult.
However, as the 'House Owner' behind him drew closer, the 'beast' rapidly approaching from the front showed apprehension. It stopped first, hiding in the shadows and not daring to show its head.
This gave Caleb a critical chance to escape. He immediately mustered all his remaining strength and stumbled away in a direction that avoided confronting the 'beast'.
But while he escaped the beast ahead, he couldn't escape the relentless pursuer behind. As the 'House Owner' made more and more noise, the torchlight cast Caleb's distorted shadow. The unintelligible curses were now almost upon him, and tension descended once more.
His heart was pounding... — Ding! Unknown factor importing... Data error... Super state appeared.
'My heart rate slowing symptom really can affect the game!'
The boost in his condition gave Caleb the strength to run. He practically scrambled forward, using both hands and feet, barely managing to widen the distance between them a little.
However, his remaining one-third stamina was rapidly depleting, on the verge of exhaustion.
In this critical moment, a faint green light suddenly appeared ahead, flashing at intervals. Against the dark and monotonous background, this phenomenon was immediately captured by Caleb's eyes.
'What is that?'
'Could it be an event related to the quest?'
Pale Dawn was not a game of randomly spawning monsters and leveling up. Any strange phenomena encountered in the scene would only be related to game quests.
Caleb quickly fled in that direction. After running a few steps, he noticed that the 'House Owner's' voice behind him was gradually fading, and the torchlight that had illuminated his figure also slowly disappeared.
'Not chasing anymore?'
'Is it because of this green light?'
Though puzzled, Caleb didn't dare to look back, stumbling onward towards the green light.
A few minutes later, just as his stamina was about to run out, Caleb, panting like an ox and no longer able to run, finally arrived near the green light.
He immediately discovered that the flickering, eerie green light originated from the eyes of a stone statue covered in vines. It was a strange-looking statue, resembling a toad squatting on the ground, with a square head, a ferocious expression, and eerie green flames occasionally leaping from its round, hollow eye sockets. The statue's right hand clutched a strangely shaped short scimitar.
He touched the stone statue; it felt cold and damp, but he received no information prompts. After examining the statue to no avail, Caleb circled around to its back to investigate.
'Hmm?'
He noticed a subtle raised mound behind the statue, and beneath the mound was a dark, half-man-high cave entrance.
Just as he was about to stoop down and enter the cave, Caleb's feet kicked a pile of hard objects. He looked down and found a military-green canvas backpack, bulging as if it contained many items.
Caleb's eyes lit up, and he bent down to inspect it.
— Item discovered...— You obtained [Rick Jones's Backpack].
[Rick Jones's Backpack]
[Category: Extremely rare quest-related item, satchel]
[Effect: Load +100]
[Load: 30]
[Can be taken out of scene: No]
[Remarks: This is the backpack carried by the famous Explorer, Rick Jones. For some unknown reason, it was abandoned here. It seems to be full of things.]
— You searched the backpack, and you obtained several items.
The long-awaited game prompt finally reappeared. The so-called 'several items' were: 1 forest map, 1 compass, 1 water bottle, 2 pieces of dried naan bread, 1 notebook, and 1 set of flint and steel.
...
Caleb stopped advancing for now. He sat down with his back against the strange stone statue, took out the dried naan bread, and began to eat and drink. During the meal, his stamina recovery rate was significantly faster than just resting, and the 'Hunger' status also disappeared. In about ten minutes, Caleb's stamina had recovered to 80%.
During this time, he also took the opportunity to check the other items in the backpack. His luck was terrible; the system kept popping up 'discovery failed' messages. So, on that forest map, he could only see the general mountainous terrain, without even basic location or route markers. Caleb spent a long time trying to figure out his current position, and attempting to switch between Cautious and Concentration Stance showed no change.
The compass's casing looked like it was made of copper, with signs of wear on the edges, but it didn't seem particularly special. It might need to be used with the forest map.
Finally, only the notebook remained.
— Item discovered...— You obtained [Rick Jones's Explorer's Log].
His luck was finally turning.
[Rick Jones's Explorer's Log]
[Category: Very rare quest-related item]
[Effect: Read it.]
[Load: 5]
[Can be taken out of scene: No]
[Remarks: This is the notebook carried by the famous Explorer, Rick Jones, used to record his exploration experiences. Reading it will allow you to understand the glorious deeds of this great Explorer.]
'Quest-related, huh...'
Caleb opened the notebook. Under the faint light, he found that the writing inside was messy and blurry, with traces that looked like they had been accidentally smudged by a hand before the ink dried.
The pages automatically flipped down with a rustle, and when the flipping stopped, 'narration'-like prompt text began to appear before his eyes.
'In the southernmost tip of the Southeast Asian peninsula, there once was a small kingdom ruled by Gnomes. They were besieged and annihilated by surrounding nations because they worshipped evil flaying and sacrificial rituals.'
'The Gnome King foresaw the coming of his demise and had a tomb built for himself deep within the perilous tropical rainforest, hiding countless treasures within it as burial goods.'
'Centuries passed, and countless adventurers, eager for wealth, ventured into that tropical rainforest, only to all end in failure.'
..."We spent years searching for the Gnome King's tomb, and finally found a clue in an ancient text..."
"July 3rd, it has been half a year since we arrived in this tropical rainforest. We've searched every corner of this forest and still found nothing. Perhaps... we simply have no chance of finding the treasure left by the Gnome King. Before long, we too will become one of the failures and return home... Damn it, this will definitely be an indelible stain on my path of exploration."
"September 11th, I am so excited! Allow me to record this historic moment before entering the tomb! Yes, our efforts have paid off. We are now standing at the entrance of the Gnome King's tomb — it has actually been right under our noses all along. My heart is filled with anticipation; I feel as if I see countless treasures beckoning to me ahead..."