Quest

Odelia’s Challenge:

Learn all 3 Archery Styles (Close-Combat Style, Magic-Wielding Style, and Long-Range Style) before the end of the current month.

Reward: ??? Failure: Be forced to announce yourself to the city of Ven’Thyl as the Heir to the Elves and rightful King of the Kingdom during the Eve of the Five Heroes Festival. Time Limit: Until the end of the month.

Will you accept:

*Choosing ‘No’ will lead to an automatic Failure.*

[Yes] or [No]

“What the hell is? This can’t be a regular quest, right? It’s so tailored for me.” Then I remembered the message the System gave me in Dayla’s office.

Unexpected outcomes have been detected. Analyzing unexpected outcomes and all previous outcomes… Creating all new alternative outcomes for the future…

“Is this one of those alternative outcomes?” I wondered, reading the Quest again, “But why is it another quest that basically gives me no choice? I mean if I say no, I'll just be forced to expose myself to the city. And why is the Time Limit so vague? How am I supposed to know when the month ends, it could be tomorrow for all I know?” Thinking “This quest feels like it’s so unfairly stacked against me that I might even think the System is trying to force me to be King too.”

“What do you say, Lord Eyes, do accept my challenge?” Odelia eagerly waited for my answer.

“I don’t know, could you tell me when the month ends first? Or how about when it started?” I replied, already knowing I had to accept.

“If you know, you might not accept.” Odelia smirked, mischievously.

“Oh great, that means it’s already close to ending.” I then asked, “Could you at least tell me what I get for completing your challenge?” really wanting to know the Reward for the Quest at least.

Odelia put her finger on her lip and thought about it, “Hmmmm...How about my bow?” and then the Quest Reward changed.

Reward: Odelia’s Pride

“Tempting, but useless until I reach Lv.70, and I doubt I could reach that anytime soon.” I reasoned, rejecting the offer.

“Okay, okay, then how about my sword?” Odelia suggested, changing the Quest Reward again. “It is a lower level than my bow, and I know its creator would be honoured for you to wield it.”

Reward: Twilight Blade

“Looks like I can negotiate the reward before I accept the quest, but I wonder if I can do it after accepting too?” Rejecting the offer once again, I said “From what I remember, it’s around the Lv.60s, and that would make it have the same problem as the bow, so I don't want it either.”

“Then I am out of ideas, Lord Eyes. I do not have much left to offer you that the House will not already be willing to offer you freely.” Odelia looked slightly sad and disappointed that I rejected all her Rewards.

Feeling sorry, I said “Okay, how about this…if I complete your challenge, I want you to find me either a Unicorn Horn, a Dragon Heart, or a Phoenix Feather.”

“Lord Eyes, I know those are the materials Drune asked you to collect for your armour, but those materials are Legendary in rarity and nearly impossible to find.” Odelia tried to reason.

“Well let me ask you this, Odelia." Smiling, I asked "What’s harder to find; an Heir to the Elves, or a Unicorn Horn?” I continued before Odelia could answer, “How about a Dragon Heart or a Phoenix Feather compared to a person who's confident enough to take up your clearly unfair challenge; which would be harder to find?” Odelia stayed silent, “What I’m trying to get at is that none of those materials are as rare as me, now are they? And don't you think doing something impossibly amazing like learning the 3 Archery Styles in under a month be rewarded as such?” Odelia then just stared at me in awe, “What? What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that? Is it too much of a reward to ask for?”

Odelia gave me a gentle smile, and softly said “I truly hope you fail my challenge, Lord Eyes, and I accept your terms.” With that, the Quest Reward changed one last time.

Reward: Odelia’s promise to gift you whichever material she obtains first (Dragon Heart, Phoenix Feather, or Unicorn Horn).

"I don't know what's going on in her head, but I'm glad she accepted." Finally accepting the Quest, I said to Odelia "Hey, I’m sure I only have a week or two at best, so you better not teach me wrong just so that I fail your challenge, alright?"

"Though the idea did cross my mind, I would never hinder your potential to become a Trinity Archer, my Lord.” She assured me, making me believe her words. “And besides, you somehow succeeding in learning the 3 Styles by month's end would not only greatly boast your status and respect around the city, but it may also in sense confirm your legitimacy to the throne." Before I could respond to that, she declared “So you have my word, I promise I will only ever teach you with my absolute best efforts, Lord Eyes.”

Truly believing her, I excitedly said "Then let's get started!”

“If that is your wish my Lord, then let us start. Now, did you decide on Style you wish to learn first?” She asked, curious about what I’d choose.

“I was thinking Magic, but seeing how I’m almost done with Range, maybe I should just finish it first? What do you think?” Asking for her opinion.

“If you wish to try the 500m shot, we will have to leave for an area outside of the city, my Lord.” Informing me “It is a place where traditionally most people practice the shot, as there is a cleared out section of trees there, and shooting inside the city has caused people to be arrested for some...unfortunate accidents.”

“It does sound pretty dangerous to shoot an arrow that far away, but I’ve been wondering if I could use a Skill to help me with it?”

“You may, however if you do not accomplish the feat with your own ability, you may never be able to learn such a valuable Skill as Sniper Shot.”

“Interesting…” And a thought popped up in my head, “I thought it was weird that haven’t learned any new Skills since I turned Lv.20, but maybe I just have to learn them on my own from now on?” noting to myself, “I'll remember to ask the Party if they learned any new Skills when they leveled past 20, it could just me that hasn’t.”

“So, do you intend to leave the city to try the shot, Lord Eyes?” Odelia asked; mentioning “We should still have two to three hours of daylight left if you want to go right now?”

“Nah, if that’s all I need to do, I can save that for last.” I decided, wanting to minimize the risk of encountering any assassins. “Oh, and I just remembered I still have one more Skill to show you.”

“You have more to show?” Odelia looked surprised.

Drawing my bow again, I casted Charged Arrow and only put 50 Mana into it—not wanting to damage the training room. Once the arrow fully charged, I shot it straight through an already damaged target dummy; but when it made impact with the walls of the chamber, it looked like the mana around the arrow was completely absorbed by the wall’s runes, and causing the ordinary arrow to ricochet onto the ground. “What was that?” I asked out loud, wondering what kind of runes those were.

“I should be the one asking that, my Lord.” Odelia had a look of disbelief on her face, telling me “Only High Elves should be capable of manipulating their mana at such a young age to learn the Wield Mana Skill, yet how is it possible for you to have done so and even already learned Charged Arrow too?”

“Is that what the Skill to make arrows is called, Wield Mana?” I inquired, noting how useful that would be to learn.

“That is correct; having the control to wield your mana to your own will, as if it were a bow you held, or an arrow shot.” Explaining, “It is one of the most difficult and advanced—yet fundamental Skills of the Magic Style. As well as the cause of many to fail ever fully mastering the Style, but with it, anything you imagine can become real." Odelia then questioned, "Did your uncle somehow teach you that too? You even seemed to precisely control the mana infused into your Charged Arrow, which of course needs years of experience to properly control as you did.”

“My uncle didn't teach me any of that, I just leveled up and learned the Charge Arrow Skill." I told her honestly, "I didn't even know you're supposed to learn Wield Mana Skill first. Is it weird that I still don't know it?”

“What?! That is even less possible!" Odelia exclaimed, "One should learn Wield Mana before using a Skill that uses it, should they not?” I shrugged at her question, not knowing what to tell her. “Well I am not even quite sure what I should be teaching you now, you truly keep breaking all of my expectations.”

“Thanks, I think? But why don't we start with the Wield Mana Skill then? You told me it was too advanced before, but how about now?”

“Lord Eyes, with your seemingly insurmountable talent and potential, I doubt there is anything I could not proudly teach you.” With a bright smile, Odelia began to teach me the Wield Mana Skill.

Spending the next two hours training, I first listened to Odelia explain the visual image I should have of my mana flowing inside of me; but after not being able to imagine it after a few minutes, I decided to cover my eye and secretly use the Eye Of An Elder Cyclops. When I did so, there was no longer a need to imagine, as I could now clearly see the general flow of the mana—and not just inside me or Odelia, but also the entire chamber.

Telling Odelia I already got the visual image down, she then moved on to demonstrating how to control the mana to your will, and I kept a keen eye on her mana and how it flowed through her body. Though when I tried to imitate what she did and what I saw, I failed, and failed, and failed again. With all my efforts, my mana would just not budge—unmoving and resisting my will. I wasted another half an hour failing to do anything, but Odelia continued to happily encourage me, so I continued to try and continued to fail.

Then suddenly after taking a short break, I got the brilliant idea of watching my mana while I casted Charged Arrow, and it was just what I needed. Seeing and feeling how exactly the mana should move within me gave me such a clarity on how to accomplish it. In a sense, mana was very much like the flow of blood; it pumped and traveled throughout the entire body, and I simply needed to find a way to raise the amount it pumped—like when using Charged Arrow—and draw it out of my hands. I tried a few different methods, but ultimately I figured out raising my heart rate worked the absolute best, causing the mana to rapidly flow throughout my body. I was about to attempt drawing it out, but a message suddenly appeared in my face.

Zebeyeyl Fre’Nddare has Requested permission to be a Guest at your ‘House Ven’Thyl’ Estate: [Accept] or [Decline]

I turned to Odelia who was attentively observing me, and said “I think we should stop for now, Zebeyeyl is here.”

“He is? He must be waiting at the door then.” Odelia made her way to the door on this floor and headed into a small corridor.

I followed her through and raised my hood again to hide the crown, thinking to myself “At least I made progress. Now all I need is a few more hours and I think I can learn it.” We then arrived at a much nicer door than the one before—one with many locks and magic runes like the doors on the 4th floor entrance, but this had a single round window to see outside.

Seeing a hooded Zebeyeyl standing outside the window, Odelia spoke the elven phrase she said the last time, “To fulfill a promise to a friend after his departure on their odyssey, in search to inform his eccentric and elusive loves.” The door then magically unlocked and opened itself. “Good thing you came to this door, Zebey, I saw a lot of guards watching the Tops entrance.”

“I know, I saw them too, that’s why I headed for this one.” Zebeyeyl replied, “Now can you get the one who controls the barrier? I still need permission to come in.”

“No need, he’s already here.” Odelia gestured to me.

Zebeyeyl looked confused and stared at me, “Are you saying Eyes controls this barrier? Why?”

I answered for her and said, “I do control it, but why don’t you come inside first.” I accepted Zebeyeyl as a Guest and he walked straight in. Odelia quickly closed the door behind him and it magically locked itself again, she then led us back through the way we came but Zebeyeyl kept staring at me in confusion.

Stopping in the center of the chamber, Odelia said “It’s best we speak here, I don’t want the others to know that I asked you here.”

“Wait, I thought you asked me here so I could speak with the new Head of House Ven’Thyl? Why would we not go up?” Zebeyeyl questioned.

“I did ask you here for that reason.” Odelia smiled and gestured to present me, “Here he is, the recently appointed Head of House Ven’Thyl, the presumably named Eyes Ven'Thyl.”

“Presumably?” Zebeyeyl shook his head in disbelief and looked even more confused, “Is this some strange new ruse or joke, Odelia? Why’d you really bring me here?” He questioned, not believing her at all.

“This is no ruse or joke, Zebey. Lord Eyes is the new Head of House Ven’Thyl.” Relaying to him “Even Verana herself chose to loyally kneel and personally appoint him as her rightful successor.”

Zebeyeyl read Odelia’s dead-serious face, but he still couldn’t comprehend the idea, saying “None of that makes any sense. Why would someone as great as Lady Verana choose someone who hasn’t even been to the city before? Surely you or Captain Aelthar would be better suited—even Shurtyrr would better, would he not?”

Odelia hesitated to speak, but said “First I need you to swear that whatever you hear today will not leave this chamber.”

“What? Sure, I swear I won’t speak of what is spoken.” Zebeyeyl promised, holding his right hand across his heart.

“No, Zel, I want you to swear on the Dreadful Oblivion.” Odelia told him.

Zebeyeyl stared at her shocked, “Lia, are you being serious right now? There's no way this is something to swear on Father’s bow for, is it?”

“Trust me, Zel, it is.” Odelia seriously expressed.

Knowingly trusting her, Zebeyeyl nodded and said “Fine. I swear on Father’s Dreadful Oblivion bow that I will not speak of what is spoken here.” he then demanded “Now tell me.”

Before she did, Odelia turned to me and asked “Will you allow me to tell him, Eyes?”

Having already thought about it, I said “For all I know, the disappearances of the other descendants could be very much related to the Noble Houses. Are you really sure we can trust the Head of one with my secret, Odelia?”

“Truthfully my Lord, our House has always been suspicious of the Noble Houses with the disappearance, but we have never found any evidence alluding to such.

“Lord?” Zebeyeyl repeated, wondering to himself.

Odelia continued speaking, “And though I do not trust the entirety of House Fre’Nddare—or any of the other Noble Houses for that matter; I can say that I have complete trust in Zebeyeyl, maybe even more than some members of our own House.” sounding genuinely honest.

Shrugging at the idea, I put my trust in Odelia‘s decision, and said “Go right ahead then, you have permission. Just keep it down while I’m focusing, will you?” She nodded and I left to the opposite side of the chamber to continue training.