***

{Luosa | Lv. 214}

“P-Please, stop…”

Desperation, fear, and stress within her voice. Both arms and feet were chained by daggers piercing the center of her flesh. Looking at a wrinkled face of a middle-aged woman who is tearing her body apart, “M-Miss Replica…" the inside of her stomach, intestines, and organs are moving still, "Please…”

Blood fills the empty pool beneath them. Siola’s torn body healed on its own. Whenever her guts were pulled, her lungs sliced or her heart crushed, her [Immortality] kept healing her rapidly. Her Profile Status - her Health kept jumping from its max to the number of 0 repeatedly. Each time it does, her vision blanked out as she sees an incomprehensible creature. Two hands shaped like a stick with the end shaped like a scythe. Its own body is like a larva, but it’s floating as it flew around. Each time she dies, the creature kept getting closer and closer until it reveals, its ever-changing face in a shape of an ever-changing creature.

Blood came out of her eyes as they turn entirely black. Replica noticed the change as Siola suddenly looked at her without expressing any emotion. With a grin at the edge of her lips, Replica's sinister eyes glow brightly in marigold as she continues messing with Siola's frail body.

***

{April | Lv. 246}

Looking at the [Tome of the Black Old King] as I slurped a lemon juice out of a straw. I can feel another staring at me. Couldn’t keep her curiosity inside as she glanced at me, Kian asked, “Um, what is that you’re reading?”

{Kian | Lv. 58}

“I don’t know. Some gibberish, maybe?”

Pretending to put it in my bag, the book is the only thing I put in my Inventory. Everything else that had come from the system, I entrusted Madam Goolag to take care of them. Not that they are anything valuable anyway.

Glancing at Fang who finished the paperwork of failing that quest. None of us were demoted, fortunately. Though, can’t really say anything is a good thing right now except for the fact that Hill Vines survived.

[Siola]: So?

He sighed.

[Misty Fang]: Many B ranks and lower quests have been taken down until they verified it further. It's possible that Travelers will be involved soon enough.

The whole party excluding me sighed in union.

[Piercer]: Let's worry about that later. Anyway, I thought you were taking a few weeks' breaks, April. Since when did you come back?

[Siola]: Today. There’s something I have to discuss with everyone so…

[Piercer]: Oh?

Fang joined this little table conference of ours. Morale is down, and Six Sense can’t keep her hands still. She can’t fight in this situation. Though, it’s the perfect time to ask them. So, I laid out the details of what the party is going to do for now - what I want them to do.

[Horgan]: Sonata?

[Misty Fang]: True that we need a little time off from adventuring but that place is chockful of travelers. We can’t take risks, especially after the incident with those elves. Tainted by their hands.

[Siola]: It’s up to you guys whether you’ll come or not, I’m just saying that I will be heading there. There’s stuff I gotta do.

[Piercer]: Well, you’ll need us.

[Siola]: I’m sure I can handle things myself.

[Piercer]: April, strength isn't everything. You’d be fine if you were a Traveler, but I’ve heard many terrible things in that place. The Divine Order only acts when the damage has been done. You’ll need connections, people you can trust. We have those.

Right, I forgot to account for the level difference between these guys and them. Sonata Kingdom, is one of the most popular hub areas for Travelers (Players). Within a safe zone, many mischievous acts can be considered a crime, and if it gets to the point of getting out of line, the Holy Divine Order will personally be involved. Being killed is not a problem, but getting your character permanently imprison in god-knows-where, potentially losing those precious hours of progression, forever.

Thievery, non-consensual sex, unregulated duel, and anything related to a Traveler's misconduct are being handled by either the System or the God ruling the Divine Order. If I can choose as a Traveler, I would never want to be involved with the latter.

Misty Fang looked at me and said, “You may have not heard of it, but there is a large group of travelers who are involved in kidnapping, possibly human trafficking.”

True, even back then I’ve heard of the despicable things that Travelers (Players) did to NPCs, rarely do I hear players getting assaulted since people playing normal mode can just leave in any kind of situation.

[Siola]: I’ll be extra careful then.

[Piercer]: How about you tell us what business you have that you need to go there in the first place? We might be able to help.

Scratching my head. There is no way that I can tell that I’m looking for a creature named Solomon but I also can’t just make shit out of my ass. Should be something else I could say, ‘Right, there is that one thing in that place.'

[Siola]: I’m looking for a particular [Guidance] to magic.

[Piercer]: What does that mean?

[Kian]: G-Guidance?! Are you going to abandon your Mage class?

[Horgan, Misty Fang, Six Sense]: !!!

[Piercer]: What?!

The table became rowdy all of a sudden.

Sighing, “Obviously, not. Most of what you heard of guidance is probably that people tend to focus on the new one too much that they abandoned what they do before to the point they can’t muster the same power of the old one as it was then. Not for me, I can handle another one or two, I'm sure.”

From what I’ve read in a book in Prison Realm and my own experience, that is the case. Even when playing in Normal Mode, I may have stacks of guidance back then, but the only ones that I've fully explored and kept are only three. It's hard to keep track of the spell you have when there are hundreds of them in your possession. And here in realism mode, with how things work like proficiency. I'll lose touch with the spell I have, the damage it could do, and how I use it - faster than it ever was.

I have {Fire Wielder} which opens the guidance towards {Pyromancer} Class, but I'm not even sure if I'll keep that now or even grind for its Quests. Fire is a really good element and Pyromancy is compatible with a lot of other classes like Priests and Necromancer.

{Acquisition Aflame / Rank D / Objective: (Completed) Dealt 1.000.000 Fire Damage, (2) Burn 100.000 Enemies, (Completed) Ignition Tier 2 / Reward: Pyromancy Guidance / Additional reward: None (Collected)}

There should be something else I could use, "I'm not necessarily looking for a perfect guidance, and whether it came from a god, human, or else, I don't really care either. But...” just like the power that Avarice showed me in the Hellblade Realm.

Something flashy but has impact, one that can catapult me straight to lord Mordor’s level or even higher. I require a subclass that allows me to stand with the others as their equal.

“I seek the absolute knowledge of arcane.”

! {Requirement has been met}

~ {Unique NPC role has been assigned}

~ {You are now eligible to manage related Quests}

! {Character Quest has been Created}

~ {??? / Rank ??? / Objective: Assist – Luosa – in obtaining the desired guidance of arcane / Reward: ???}

…

“April, don’t forget the ale!” Horgan yelling in the distance.

"Already in it!"

"There's a few cups of glass in there! Don't drop them, you hear me!"

“I won’t!”

Carrying the luggage with my [Telekinesis] skill and unloading them onto a wagon. We took a simple delivery quest from Valysha so we can still have something in our pocket once we reach Sonata, ‘It’s gonna be a journey so I’m most likely going to burn myself again. I’ll have to find a spot where I can unwind and return home when necessary.’ Sitting in the corner, I ponder as I open the system menu for the first time in a while. There is a new option called “Quest Management”.

I still cannot believe that it’s telling me that I can create my own Quest and have Travelers (Players) do it. Although the system is the one that made it for me, I'm the one who needs to finalize it. This is the first time I’ve ever seen this. No news or heard anything about people making Quests, not even top players back then, ‘Though, it’s not as exciting as I thought it was gonna be whenever I discover something new.’

I should embed these 4 things in my head.

When the created Quest began, the system’s services will cease to function. Experience Point Loss will be refunded over time based on the Completion Result. Unique NPC Role Benefits: Able to create multi-chain Quest, NPC Level Protection, Main Exp Reward funded up to the maximum experience points gain at the current level. Quest automatically updates in real-time.

Looking outside, everyone still preparing to depart, it seems.

"Hmm..." the quest, 'What kind of guidance do I want specifically? What kind of power do I really need? The ability to manipulate the environment? To destroy it? A power to save lives?’

'Avarice's power stood out for me, but there are many types out there that may make me even more useful to have around.'

There are a lot of types of magic out there. And I’ve tried many of them. There are no limits to how many sub-class one wants to adopt, but with less frequent use and familiarity, proficiency is part of the reason why the majority of Travelers (Players) only have a few. Why would you have it all but be extremely mediocre at it when you can do a few but do them exceptionally well?

I’m a mage. Pure destruction, bust-to-the-wall type, a glass cannon, or whatever else it is called. I’m lacking in both defense and utility.

There are three options I have in mind.

Probably the most familiar one is a Priest, having it as a sub-class is useful, and guidance can be found at every church in existence. Despite its main function being restoration magic, it comes in handy as a utility. Extremely useful tool at Alchemy, fighting undead enemies, and probably even opening up the possibility of using Hexes, the purest type of dark magic.

Another one is Chronomancer. It has the ability to manipulate time, although, in a very limited way, but its Overdrive Spell can even kill a Demigod. Just, extremely hard to get. Back then, I was forced to kill an important NPC just to start the Quest chain to find the thing. Now, I know where it's located in Sonata but I’m nowhere near powerful enough to actually obtain it, and I can’t rely on the others to do it. If I were to get it, I have to do it myself.

Lastly, is a Necromancer. Talk about defensive capability. I wouldn’t even need to move a spot just to dominate a battle, my summons can all do it for me. Problem is, raising those summons can be extremely painful and time-consuming.

‘Since it’s the first Quest made for me, I should start with something simple."

! {Quest Updated}

~ {??? / Rank A / Objective: Assist – Luosa – in locating the correct guidance of magic / Reward: ???}

'Oh? Okay, the Rank suddenly appeared on its own. Rank A should be possible with the average level of Travelers in Sonata at this moment in time. As for the main reward...'

'... Exp is not a bad way to start, I’m gonna give everything I got even if that puts me in the minus.’ Except, it’s not. The system compensated me so I can set the Exp reward to the max without having to worry about it. All I need to do is change my name and whether or not I want to chain this and give an Additional Reward for the trouble. I should also edit my name. No need to have a multi-quest chain for now, but people are helping so I need to give them appropriate compensation and also something that can entice them to take on the Quest.

‘Heh, there were only a few back in my previous life. And they were all claimed by the top-ranking peeps who got lucky they got in early. This should be, and might be, Heheh, interesting.’

***

The slight hint of curiosity filled with interest and joy, rekindle the light of the emptiness within the nothingness, and yet another crack on the globe of colorless glass appeared.

! {Quest name has been Assigned}

! {Character Quest has been Finalized}

~ {Dormant / Rank A / Objective: Assist – April – in obtaining the desired guidance of arcane / Reward: 255.000 Exp / Additional Reward: April will be available as a Follower}