[
Hidden quest: horned demonic bear's den
Difficulty: C-
Clear conditions: kill the den's master. You won't be able to leave unless you do.
Time limit: none
Rewards: 7000 coins
Rewards ( attributes exclusive): +10 karma points
Penalty: death
]
"....!"
Kim was a little surprised when he saw the system message as everything happened so suddenly, not to mention that the panel in front of him gave information about a 'quest'. What's more? It wasn't just any quest but a 'hidden quest'.
Kim was an avid reader of webnovels back on earth, so he could easily guess what these quests were without any need of confirmation from rem. But he still sought after it, he had a prudent nature and always sought after information to try and maximize his chances of success when carrying out an endeavour.
'rem...'. He didn't even need to finish his sentence before rem picked up on where he was going.
["Quests are missions granted to an existence by the authority of the
"I see". Said Kim, who was intently looking at the quest panel floating right in front of his face. He had been studying the quest's information while listening to rem, and he had already formulated yet another question.
"Hey rem, I remember you saying that karma points can only be obtained either by purchasing them, or through completing job request from clients. If so, why does the rewards here give karma points?" Kim asked.
["It was phrased that way since they can be obtained by completing quests issued by the system or other authorized existences"].
"Oh, I see. So in this case, the client is the
["Affirmative"]
"Alright, that makes sense". Kim said. He now had all the information that he needed.
From the title and the descriptions given by both rem and Lucas, it was obvious that the creatures in this den would mostly be of the 'horned demon bear' species.
He shuddered a little as he remembered his previous encounter with a horned demon bear' back when he first reached this world, he couldn't help but remember how weak and helpless he was then. He knew that if it wasn't for his luck, he would be dead by now.
But he quickly regained his composure and focused his gaze straight ahead and into the depths of the den that resembled a tunnel, a place where danger was sure to be lying in wait. And what's worse? He couldn't leave until he had completed the quest.
"Alright". He slapped his cheeks and pulled out his sword.
"Let's do this". He started walking forward.
***
*Lucas' POV*
I looked into the darkness which covered the entrance to the den, where my junior apprentice, Kim had disappeared into.
I already knew what dangers were lying in wait for him as it was on the specifications of the sword saint that I brought him to this particular den.
I and the old man had gone into and cleared most of the dens in the forest and their respective quests over the past twenty years. And as such, we knew that dens only give hidden quests to an individual the first time that they challenge and clear it.
The den in front of me, was a relatively hard one to clear, and even with Kim's genius, there was still a seventy, no, eighty percent chance of him not making it out alive. This fact worried me as his senior and more importantly, as his friend.
*Ring*Ring*
A ringing sound was heard in one of the pockets of my trousers, I pulled the source out. It was my phone, someone was calling me, and the caller was none other than the old man.
I swiped the screen and my master's voice could be heard from the other side;
-Uh, hello, can you hear me? Shit, I don't know how to work this thing.
After the appearance of the great system on our world, many new technologies were introduced by more advanced world's who obtained access to ours, and the older people like my master just couldn't keep up and ended up getting left behind by the times. They tried to defend themselves by claiming that they preferred things done the old fashion way, but that was an obvious lie.
"Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear. Seeing as you, being the old dinosaur that you are, is making use of a phone to contact me, it must be urgent. So, what's up?" I said while smirking.
–.... Your lucky that I ain't there with you, otherwise you wouldn't have the guts to say such words. Anyway, how is Kim's progress. Has he entered the den yet?
"He has, his progress is astounding, the kid truly is a one in a thousand year genius. At this rate, he might become strong enough to fairly compete in the tornament in a few months time".
–Thats not going to cut it, the representative from the Golden Phoenix sect was a lot stronger than I predicted. Kim being at the 'level to fairly compete' is not going to work.
"Huh, your talking as if he's going to be entering the tornament.
–......
"Hey, it's going to be me representing the school, right?!"
–......
"Don't ignore me! Answer!!"
I became afraid. There was a rule of only allowing a single participant into the tornament each time and me, being the only student of the heavenly tempest sword school was naturally entered each time. But unfortunately, I never won, not even once and when Kim promised to win the tournament on my behalf, I was genuinely moved and I knew that given some more time, he would definitely replace me as the school's star student. But this was too soon.
I expected him to make an appearance in the tournament, maybe the next time, since he was still green but to think the old man already made plans to replace me?! I was speechless
–...listen, the tournament is just around the corner so we don't have time for all this. I will explain it later, so please bring Kim to THAT place after he finishes clearing the den.
My eyes went wide at the mention of THAT place, but the old man hung up before I could even say another word. I started having mixed feelings about my junior apprentice.
I felt hate, hate towards the old man for shoving me aside so easily.
Envy, towards my junior apprentice for his overwhelming talent.
Self-pity, towards myself for simply not being good enough.
Happiness, towards my apprentice. Taking part in the world's
All of those emotions joined together to form the one single indescribable emotion I felt at the time. I suddenly became weaker and fell to the floor on my ass, and I looked at the entrance of the den again.
The apprentice side of me wanted nothing more than for Kim to just die in the den, but the friend side of was against that. I couldn't decide which feeling was stronger, and I decided to sit back and let fate run its course. But I couldn't help but recall one of the words that I was constantly told when I was a kid and a fledgling martial artist.
"I guess it true...... Talent always trump's hardwork. And I, am simply not talented". I said in a depressed tone.
"Maybe, I should have followed my dad's advice and become a doctor instead. If I did, I wonder the kind of live I'd be living by now".
.
.
.
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