Chapter 114

An unofficial world quest.

After a few moments of staring at the message, Seojin understood perfectly what it meant.

'I can give quests out like NPCs. I can also set the conditions and requirements… even the rewards and the number of participants as I want.'

For example, Seojin was given options when he selected Public Scope. 1. Continent: Salevania. 2. Country: Valaran. 3. Country: Maison. 4. ...

Continents, countries, and even cities within them.

Seojin even could pick players that he wanted like he was organizing a raid group.

'What if I select the entire continent?'

Quite literally tens of thousands of players from all around the continent would swarm in to do the quest. On top of that…

Upon completion of the quest, the discoverer of the quest will receive a first-place contribution reward.

Rewards can be set for up to 100 players.

Contribution points will be scaled based on the number of participants.

Reward content has not been set.

No matter how many players there were, Seojin's reward was already set. There was even a message saying that everyone except Seojin would be competing for the top spot. But…

'Yeah… no.'

As soon as he saw the message, Seojin knew.

It was a blatant trap.

'The more players there are, the stronger Legia gets…'

The moment he changed the settings to continent-wide, the quest would be failed. Even the top contribution award required them to succeed first.

"Looks like he's back. He's gonna talk to you now. Watch."

Seojin did exactly as Flappy predicted.

"Maya, can you come and interpret these records?"

"Interpret? Uh… like I did earlier?"

"Yes. In detail, so that even humans can understand them. Jin should probably help as well. Call any of the elves who've lived longer if you see something you're unfamiliar with."

Friend List.

Seojin began selecting companions to share the quest rewards with.

* * *

Merhen, the Level 172 paladin, tilted his head in disbelief.

"Me? I'm not busy right now. I've got a raid in three days though."

"Can you delay it?"

"If there's a good enough reason. Why? What's up?"

"Come to Shahav."

"Shahav?"

Shahav was a small town at the eastern edge of Valaran, where Seojin had been squatting for around a month now.

"…Is this some kind of SOS?"

"No, I wanna do a quest with you."

"Shahav is a low-level town… I don't think we can share quests, right?"

"Only if it's within Shahav."

"…?"

Merhen felt like something was strange. The tip of his nose was itchy, and he wanted to burst out into laughter for no apparent reason. He knew what that strange sensation meant.

'This is how I felt when we played Asgard… whenever he brought something big…'

Just as he realized that he was in for a surprise…

"We're going to the Sleeping Desert."

"I knew it."

Merhen couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

A sudden message from Seojin caught Kiri, the red-haired wizard and guild master of Red Tower, totally off guard.

"An achievement? For me?"

"Yeah, you need them, right?"

"Of course I do…"

It was a no-brainer question. As players leveled up, the amount of experience needed increased, while the chances of getting an achievement decreased significantly. Grinding hard to level up eventually became easier than getting a new achievement at such a level.

Sometimes, Kiri even wished to travel back in time to when she was a newbie and hunt hidden achievements instead of grinding blindly.

"What's the catch?"

Kiri finally snapped back to reality. Seojin had offered her a reward. A big one, at that. It was obvious that he would need something in return.

"A signature.

"What. . ? A signa… oh."

Party Invite: Seojin – Lv. 77.

Invitation accepted.

As soon as she accepted the invite, system messages flooded in.

The Book of Truth has been applied, it will take effect from the moment you agree, you may refuse if you so wish.

Confidentiality / Significantly increased party leader powers / Penalties apply for violations…

Kiri's eyes shone.

She was a leader of a guild, one that was pretty big in Valaran, only overshadowed by Ironblood.

"This… has some ambiguous clauses. I don't think that's your work, but it could be a bit burdensome to…"

"I sent the same message to Resistance as well. First come, first served. No spot for second place."

"Hey, if you give me a few minu…"

"I'm going to block whoever comes last."

Terms and Conditions accepted.

"Me! I was first, right? I'll go with you!"

There was no choice. She couldn't let Resistance win or be blocked by Seojin again, even if Resistance and Red Tower were in a gentleman's agreement. However, as to the reason she could decide with confidence…

'Because he's crazy about the game!'

She was sure that he was a madman. Kiri believed that Seojin wouldn't try anything with a guild like the Red Tower. He'd have cooperated with Ironblood if he was that type of guy.

"Come to Shahav. Make sure to disguise yourself."

"Right now?"

"Well, ASAP. I'm telling you because you signed the contract, it's related to a world quest."

"World Quest?"

Kiri was sure that it had already been cleared this month.

"It's an unofficial one."

"…I'll be right there!"

There was nothing more to think about. Without even saying a word to her closest aide, Kiri immediately packed up and left her guild.

A similar situation was taking place back at Resistance as well.

"I'll be right there! I can't let those petty wizards outdo us!"

Bigfoot, the stout guild master of Resistance, almost throw his guild seal to his deputy before double-checking his gear.

"Uh, Guild master, where are you going?"

"I'm going out."

"…Where? There's tons of work to do, you can't just leave like this!"

Bigfoot's deputy was almost crying, but all he got in return was a fierce glare.

"That's quite literally your job. Don't you know the meaning of the seal I just gave you?"

"I'm not saying it's difficult to sign things off. It's more about you, I can't reach you whenever you leave, and…"

"Why would you need to contact me?"

Bigfoot closed his large briefcase, which was more like some kind of subspace pocket. His personal inventory wasn't enough to horde all of the tools that an engineer needed.

"What do you mean by that? I have to get your approval."

"You judge, you execute. You're supposed to take over my role when I'm absent."

"Are you saying that I can do whatever I want? Whatever?"

"That's what Resistance is all about. From the moment I open this door and head out, you're free to do whatever you want."

Bigfoot grinned, showing his teeth.

"I'm going to do what I want to do now, too."

* * *

'Two guild masters and Merhen. I don't think I'll need anyone else.'

Seojin closed the friend tab, knowing their combat power would already be enough. The elves were the ones who had to hunt the monsters… and how about the adventurers? To support the elves so they can fight with peace of mind.

Seojin picked up the notes that Maya had left on his desk, the result of the hard translation that the two elves had pulled off while he was scrolling through his friend list.

'They couldn't even capture the being with all this power…?'

The note detailed the elves' powers. Powers like Maya's insight and Jin's foresight. Add to that their Level 200 combat strength, and they should have been able to beat the crap out of any opponent.

'That means it's been building up. In a bad way. They've already learned to be helpless.'

Seojin paused as his eyes locked on a single line of the note.

"… Hmm?"

Aisha.

That was definitely the name of the elf they'd saved near the oasis. There was nothing wrong with that, but…

'I think I saw that name somewhere before…'

Seojin rifled through the records Maya had interpreted for him, flipping through the tattered pages.

"Yes, this one. It was here."

Seojin found the blurry, almost unreadable sentence he had been looking for.

"These pages… Maya said they're hundreds of years old… maybe even before what happened in Salevania…"

They were so old that Maya had called Berg over to interpret them, but even he, the oldest of elves here, said that it was all a bit blurry.

Legia and Aisha…

As soon as Seojin saw the introduction, he knew. That was it. That was an important clue.

'I didn't recognize the name when I first saw the record. I thought she was probably dead anyway.'

…But Aisha was now lying in Berg's house with both eyes open… or not.

As he read a few more lines, Seojin grinned, thrilled with what he'd found out.

'I never thought that an elf related to Legia would still be alive!'

She was a living fossil, indeed. The only elf in the world with a perfect memory of what Legia was like before her fall.

As if to prove the thought, a system message followed.

Critical Clue Discovered!

* Legia and Aisha were very close.

* Legia put Aisha to sleep.

"This is it!" Seojin shouted, making Flappy sigh.

"What is it this time?"

"I found a good clue. Hold on a second, I need to find information related to Belial…"

He flipped the old pages again before finding what he wanted.

'I thought Legia had some kind of pet. Don't know what that was, though.'

Seojin had simply guessed that Belial was the pet, but the records about Aisha held that exact information!

"It was an elemental spirit! Yes, this is it!"

Critical Clue Discovered!

* Belial was a spirit.

"Is yer head okay? Do you need to go to the temple?"

"I'm okay, I'm okay. So, Aisha is the key. I'm sure I'd have failed no matter what without her."

"… Aisha?"

"The elf we saved. Oh, and…"

Seojin turned around to face Flappy.

"Belial is a spirit."

"A spirit? Like me? Well, what a surprise."

"Am I sensing some sarcasm from you?"

"Not all spirits are like me. Simply living for a long time doesn't make you a higher class."

"Okay… well, can you find it?"

"It'll be easy if the target's a spirit, and is in my range"

Flappy was confident, her face smug.

"But isn't it dangerous?"

"Dangerous? For whom? You or me?"

"Err, you."

"Lemme just say that was disrespectful of you to say that. Watch out."

"That's my superior spirit. So trustworthy."

Seojin stood up. Maya and Jin were away, having gone off somewhere to meet with the lord.

"Shall we start now?"

"You want me to search right now?"

"If possible."

"Yeah, well, I'll tell you if I find'em."

Flappy flew into the air and disappeared at tremendous speed.

'I hope she can do it.'

The key to this quest was finding Belial and Legia. The quest mentioned destroying them, but what mattered more was pinpointing their locations.

"I should go as well."

Seojin had to meet Aisha, a key figure in this quest.