[NR] The Challenge - Chapter 540

The time it takes for Jason to finish this reasonably sized building is measured in days, during which Rosha and Courtney are scouting out the area. Of course, anything they find only has a coin flips chance of still being there in a month. Though for the moment, knowing what dangers there are is quite important.

Biggest of those dangers is a bear’s cave. Oh, and it isn’t a normal bear. Bigger than most, though still not giant in size, the bear has bone plates on all the major joints. Oh, and the bear’s head is completely without any flesh.

This isn’t an injury or anything. The neck area tapers down to a natural point of fur without any signs of scarring that connects to the mouth. So the bear just naturally has all the flesh, barring likely a few tendons to hold everything together, removed from the head. There isn’t even a brain in there.

So yeah, the skull bear is quite odd and quite high level. Rosha didn’t have a way to get a straight answer out of the System, but if she had to guess, the bear was post level 100. Maybe even higher. Now, Jason had punched above his rank more than a few times, but the skull bear wasn’t going to be one of those times.

Good thing the skull bear isn’t out to power level, rather just living its life as a bear. Sure, it hunted for food, but going by the bones Rosha found around its lair, there must be an elk population hanging around somewhere. A humanoid critter with some levels behind it? Too much effort for the bear to go out of its way and hunt them down.

Still, they need to be careful. A meeting with the beast while it’s out on the hunt would be the end of them. Worse, if it found the camp, it would likely force them to abandon the clearing or else they would end up being spawn camped. Suffice it to say, when Rosha and Courtney were out, they made extra sure to obscure their tracks and scent when coming or going from the clearing.

That wouldn’t stop the local wildlife from discovering them. Though with a bit of luck, it should prevent tall, dark, and skully from finding them. Not that the skull bear is going to be the only major threat out here. Everyone expects to die at least a few times in the coming months. When out in the Deep Wilds, you literally can’t know what is out there.

Not that any of that matters in the short term. A bit after the duo found that skull bear, Jason finished up their short-term home. This led to “the challenge”. Because while the Deep Wilds is infinite in size, and so doesn’t mind when some land is taken, you don’t get it for free.

Now, technically, the price can be anything, but it is called the challenge for a reason and while each of the three are special in their own ways, their desire for land isn’t. So, with the finishing touches on the building complete, each of them receive a feeling. Not a blue screen, but an actual gut feeling, that starting midday tomorrow, they would face foes to finalize their claim on the clearing.

Courtney, in particular, is relieved when the System does eventually pop up a prompt.

{Deep Wilds land claim Combat Challenge

• 4 days

• At 12pm for 3 waves

• Survive and don’t let your building be completely demolished

• Mainly beasts with smattering of tribal monsters}

The pop up doesn’t quite match how they’re used to seeing such things. In a normal situation, the System would turn this into a quest. However, the Deep Wilds don’t let it. Back to Courtney, though.

What she is happy about, above all else, is the wave count. See, challenges like this? They can be anything. As stated earlier, the price to claim land in the Deep Wilds has no set amount or challenge. So, the fact this will be split into waves? Some of the best news they could have gotten.

After all, it could have been four days of nonstop monster attacks. Even just a single day of that would likely be enough to drag them to the edge. Courtney had been anxious about this matter, if only because the group was a little too competent. They’re months ahead of others in their age group and if the System had the chance, it would throw quite the challenge at them. Good thing it isn’t.

What the Deep Wilds see in the trio, seeing as it isn’t really a thing in the first place despite being able to set challenges, nobody can know. So, instead of enhanced difficulty, the team is facing a fair fight for what they claim. Maybe a little more to account for their strength, but nothing extra for their age. To a place this old, one year old or one hundred matters not.

On the other side of things, Jason is worried. While Courtney focused on the fact, they wouldn’t be fighting nonstop, he had turned his attention to what they would be fighting. Beasts are simple enough, but tribal monsters? That could mean anything.

Is the System talking about the non-sapient goblins? Did it mean highly intelligent wolves? Was this actually referring to literal “tribals”? There was no way to know and all he could do was hope that the System meant “monster” in the literal sense and not as in some cannibals.

Jason doubted how well they would be able to handle too intelligent of a foe. Besides, these creatures had to come from somewhere. Would the monsters be able to track down their clearing?

The only way, to be sure, was to let no one escape and take no prisoners. An easy enough thing if the Deep Wilds or the System forces them to fight to the death. They don’t have to though. For all Jason knows, many of their enemies might end up retreating.