Chapter 60. Two

"Two quests at that," Chloe said and shared her quests with me.

[Flower of Acid]

[Kill the flower underwater]

[Reward: Growth weapon token]

[Failure: Loss of quest]

That was the first quest, it was a one-chance quest. If she failed to complete the quest, it would be lost until she gets another one of the same rewards. The old man did say that everyone had a chance to get a personal growth weapon.

But the second quest was worrying.

[Proof of Worthiness]

[The second and last chance to gain a second class.]

[Objective: Finish the quest 'Flower of Acid' alone.]

[Reward: A second class]

[Faliure: Loss of quest]

Chloe was one of those people that had survived the entire trial but had not acquired a second class. No one knew if it was possible to get a second class later, but this quest stated that it was.

It was a great opportunity for her but letting her kill the flower alone was not something I was sure of. There were some hints that the quest gave if you looked properly.

The first quest was called [Flower of Acid], meaning that there was only one flower. I saw many flowers below but the singular suggestion here indicated that there was one main flower.

Another thing was that my final challenge to get into the second class was defeating a hobgoblin. A half ascended or a newly ascended beast.

I didn't see or could feel the aura that this 'flower' gave and I had no idea about its strength but knowing the kind of quests the Record gave, it had to be on a similar level.

High chance of it being stronger too.

"I want to do it, no I have to," Chloe said. "The people from the Syndicate, the ones ruling the Council, all of them are strong. I am weak compared to them.

I cannot just ask you to do everything for me, being trained and taken care of is already a lot. That is something I might not be able to repay even after I accomplish my goals.

I want to kill them, with my own hands for the pain they caused me and my brother. So please let me do this, alone."

She wasn't going to take no for answer, If I used bloodlust and pressured the boss, even a little bit, she would fail the quest. The only thing I could do was watch.

"Ok, as this is something you have to do, I'll allow it. But even if you are going to lose or about to die, I won't help you. This is your decision, your struggle for power. I won't play a role in it."

So I lied. The weapon was guaranteed if the flower died, that would be her biggest asset, similar to how my weapon was for me.

I would not help her in the fight, but if anything unexpected happened and her life would be at risk, I will grab her and run.

This way the flower would still be alive, allowing her to complete both the quests as there was no 'outside help' in defeating the moonflower, probably.

"Thank you," she said while jumping into the lake. I moved back to not attract the attention of the monster she had to fight.

Nothing happened for a few seconds but suddenly, ripples formed over the lake. At first, it was slowly increasing, then it went from a constant rippling to shaking with no pattern whatsoever.

I dived into the water and swam to the lake bed. Every flower symbolized something, and I loved them so much that I had started to study their language. Even my majors were related to them, botany, and some other detailed stuff.

Seeing an underwater lake covered with flowers was like a dream to me, but how ironic that I was ready to destroy it in search of power.

As Ray said, the water started getting hotter as you closed the distance and it felt itchy if you stayed in that warmth for too long. I had to think about how I would force the real 'flower' to make its appearance.

I couldn't think of anything other than damaging the small flowers, so I took the weaker spare swords that I had, and threw them.

I was underwater, which did not allow me to properly apply force and the swords also did not travel much. To fix this I had to swim deeper in the warm currents, my skin started itching severely but I had to hold on.

Luckily, it reacted. At first, the smaller flower started to shake as the water turned cyan, but this was not enough to force the one out. I did not stop and kept on throwing swords.

And it finally came out.

There was a sudden rise in temperature as the water got turbulent around me. I had to swim closer to the surface to breathe and get out as the main guest had made his appearance.

The water exploded just as I came out. As the explosion settled down vines bolted towards me, I swung my sword to cut them down before they took hold of me.

The vines were dense, hard to cut, and moved a little even after they were separated from the main body. This was going to be a tough fight, and I had to fight it alone.

I looked and saw that my skin was red. Ray stood on top of a tree branch and observed me from there.

I had to become stronger.