In the expansive white void, Kyoma attempted to regain his senses, but it seemed that his human senses were irrelevant in this space. It was akin to being in a vivid dream where time and space were frozen, giving him an eerie sense of isolation. Although time seemed to stand still, there was a surreal feeling that it could also pass by quickly, with one second feeling like an hour, and an hour feeling like a second. It was a perplexing sensation that could only be felt by the soul and not the physical body. In this realm, the concept of time and space existed but also did not exist, creating a paradoxical existence. The sensation was such that if one was unable to perceive anything, then one could perceive everything. Time seemed to be passing, yet it was also standing still. Space appeared to be present, but it was also absent.
"Can you hear me now?" echoed a voice in Kyoma's mind, as if speaking directly to his soul through telepathy.
"Who are you?" Kyoma attempted to shout, but no sound escaped his lips.
"I have yet to be named. But I must inform you that you have 16 hours until the end of your daily quest. Failure to complete the quest will result in a penalty," the voice cautioned.
"What quest?" Kyoma inquired.
"All wearers of this ring must complete their designated quest within the given time frame. Quests are assigned regularly, and it is the responsibility of the wearer to actively retrieve their quest," the voice replied. Not all power comes without a price, and in the case of wielding the power of Loran's ring, one must repay by completing the quests.
"How do I retrieve my quest?" Kyoma asked.
"Focus your soul energy into the ring and you shall find your quest," the voice faded into the distance.
...
Upon opening his eyes, Kyoma was jolted back to reality, feeling a sharp stabbing pain in his chest. "Arghhh," he groaned as the memories of his battle with the mysterious assassin from the dark organisation flooded his mind. Looking around, Kyoma realised he was lying on a bed, with a bandage tightly wrapped around his chest to stem the bleeding. Someone had saved him from what could have been fatal injuries. Kyoma couldn't help but think about the exorbitant medical bills that he would have to pay. It wasn't surprising that someone had come to his rescue, given the extensive damage he had caused to the Green Meadow Inn with his wide-scale AOE ice magic spell, which caused a large mana disturbance in the middle of the night.
As Kyoma sat up, an adorable rabbit jumped onto his lap and locked eyes with him with its cute beady eyes. "Squeak squeak?" it asked. Kyoma smiled and petted the rabbit, assuring it that he was okay. The three goblins who had been standing nearby felt relieved. They had been worried sick about their master, who had nearly died. For a moment, they had feared that his soul had left this world. Fortunately, the mysterious ring that Kyoma wore had sent an invisible surge of soul energy to stabilise him long enough for a healer to save him. As reincarnated monsters, the goblins were able to vaguely sense soul energy and knew the ring's value.
...
"My medical treatment is free?" Kyoma enquired at the front counter registration nurse, as he was planning to be discharged from the local medical clinic as he was feeling better.
"Yes, the group of adventurers who brought you here waive your medical fees... and their healer healed most of your injuries before you arrived, our clinic pretty much contributed to nothing other than providing a room to stay," The front counter nurse informed Kyoma.
"May I know who they are?" Kyoma asked the nurse, as he wanted to personally thank the kind group of adventurers.
"They are the strongest adventuring group in Greenridge Town, Sir Gladius's party!" The front counter nurse's eyes shone with excitement upon introducing their names.
"Gladius's party??" Kyoma was shocked as he repeated what he heard. From what he knew, he had no connection with their party and they had no reason to aid Kyoma, especially giving him free medical treatment and bringing him to this medical clinic.
"It was actually Sir Sinclair's idea, he said something along the lines of lending a helping hand to a promising beast-tamer starter... It was also him that said those goblins here are your familiar and to let them in..." The front counter nurse informed Kyoma.
Sinclair was likely the scout in the party, the one who was amazed by how Kyoma's class as a beast tamer was a rare class when they met in the adventurer guild the previous day. Speaking of the previous day... "May I know what the time is?" Kyoma panicked as he shouted a question to the front counter nurse, badly startling her.
"I-I-It's been an hour past the opening of the gate!" The nurse panicked and replied instantly.
"One hour!!! Sorry but I have to go! I will be back to settle the administrative parts of my discharge, sorry!" Kyoma apologised and rushed out of the medical clinic, heading straight to the southern gate where he promised to meet Rina for the goblin expedition quest. Before rushing straight to the Southern gate, Kyoma made a pitstop at the Green Meadow Inn to pick up his belongings and apologise for the damages he caused. Although Kyoma was a victim who was assaulted last night, he also contributed to most of the damages caused in the inn, such as smashing through the floor of the second floor, summoning a blizzard storm which pretty much destroyed all the furnishings in the main hall and caused unrest to the residents. If Kyoma did not want to be blacklisted in the inns around Greenridge town for being a potential bringer of disasters, he would need to pay for the property damages. After all, no inn would welcome Kyoma to stay at their inn if they know he is going to be attacked every night.
After a brief discussion, the inn manager also took responsibility for the lapse in security and agreed to split the repair costs with Kyoma. In the end, Kyoma was charged a staggering 1 gold coin for the repairs, with the inn covering the remaining 3 gold coins. Although Kyoma was relieved that he did not have to pay the entire amount, 1 gold coin was still a considerable fee that he could not afford with his meagre 5 bronze coins. Kyoma decided to use his adventurer identity to pay in instalments, but as anyone could register with the adventurer's guild and become a G-rank adventurer, his identity was not credible. Therefore, Kyoma used the Meji Merchant's token as a deposit and promised to return to repay the 1 gold coin debt. The inn manager accepted this arrangement.
Upon retrieving all of his equipment, Kyoma hurried towards the southern gate. As he neared it, he felt an overwhelming presence that was akin to a boss monster, one that was ten times stronger than the mutated hobgoblin he had faced earlier. This terrifying aura emanated from a solitary woman who wore a long black robe, a pointed magician's hat, and held a 1.5m long staff topped with a red ruby crystal that seemed like a harbinger of death.
"I'm so sorry for making you wait!" Kyoma exclaimed, feeling guilty for causing Rina to wait for almost two hours. He knew how frustrating it was to be left waiting, especially when one had other things to do. It was amazing that Rina, whom he had just met, had been so patient. If it had been someone else, they would have probably given up on waiting for him and gone on the quest alone.
Rina, who was on the brink of losing her temper, pouted and crossed her arms, saying, "Hmph, you better make it up to me. I don't forgive easily, you know." Despite her anger, Rina's cute appearance reminded Kyoma of a little girl throwing a tantrum over a piece of candy.
After making Rina wait for nearly 2 hours, he quickly promised to make it up to her, bowing perpendicularly in a desperate attempt to appease her anger. And who can blame her? If it weren't for her lack of plans that day, she would have already erased Kyoma from her memory for being so late. But all is well now, and even the demonic presence at the Southern gate seems to have subsided. Even the guards manning the gates breathed a collective sigh of relief, as if they had narrowly avoided a potential storm of wrath from the scary lady had Kyoma not arrived just in time. Miraculously, Rina's face softened at his plea, transforming from a raging bull to a harmless kitten. Crisis averted! It was a close call, but they were finally on their way to investigate the goblin anomaly.
As they made their way towards the Southern forest to investigate the goblin's settlement, Kyoma's loyal undeads followed closely behind. And of course, the strongest of the bunch, the hobgoblin, was tasked with lugging around all the heavy gear. Kyoma and Rina had everything they needed for their adventure, including a whole bunch of tools fit for outdoor exploration.
As they walked, Kyoma threw a random question at Rina, "Umm Rina, do you happen to know anything about manipulating soul energy?" Kyoma needed to learn the basics of soul energy manipulation in order to complete the quest that awaited him in Loran's ring. What worried him the most was the penalty he would face if he failed his mission - he only had 14 hours left to complete it, and it had already been 10 hours since he first put on the ring. Kyoma couldn't help but feel a bit anxious about the curse that came with the ring. "The penalty isn't getting cursed, right?" he nervously wondered.