144 - Rewards

“He should be fine, I think he’s just exhausted.”

“Thank fuck, I thought they fought to a draw for a second there.”

“It certainly is a relief.”

“Can’t blame the guy, eh? After a fight like that, I’d want to take a nap too.”

I awoke to a discussion taking place around me; they were talking in the Asphon language, and I barely managed to make out what they were saying. My void feelers informed me that I was surrounded by five asphons before I extended my eyes. Even without recognizing the voices, my void sense had become so detailed that I could clearly recognize the members of Nimma’s team, plus one guy that I wasn’t familiar with. They seemed to be worried about me, and while it was interesting to listen to them talk about me, I didn’t want to drag things out for them and extended my eyes.

“Oh, there he is,” Orbos pointed at me. “Welcome back to the world of the living, you crazy slug.”

“Crazy seems like a good descriptor,” Nimma scoffed, her swishing tail conveying her annoyance. “Andrius tells us that you were practically foaming at the mouth when thinking that you would get to fight a tier twelve monster. What is wrong with you?”

“To be fair, we failed to locate the cultist ravens,” Andrius interjected. “And we all know how much Gary likes to fight.”

“Not his fault,” Redax added curtly.

“I’m not blaming him; we all agreed that we’d let him generate the quest, knowing what might happen,” Nimma defended herself, crossing her arms. “I’m just saying that it’s insane to think fighting such a strong monster could be fun.”

“I guess we’ll just have to disagree then,” I finally interjected. “I’ve never felt more alive.”

System messages were trying to grab my attention, once again confirming that I had, in fact, completed the quest. I still felt exhausted, but just knowing that I had actually managed to challenge a tier twelve monster and come out on top put a smile on my face once again. Sure, it had been difficult, and the matchup had been just enough in my favor that I managed to pull it off. No doubt there were a plethora of monsters that could have been summoned that would have easily wiped the floor with me, but that didn’t change the fact that I’d won.

I was lucky, after all.

“Good for you,” Nimma scoffed. “Still, you shouldn’t throw yourself into dangerous situations like this with such enthusiasm. Try valuing your own life a little more.”

“It’s not like I’m trying to kill myself at the first opportunity,” I replied while giving her some side-eye. “The risk was… mostly calculated.”

“No use crying over what already happened,” Andrius interjected before Nimma could jab back. “Gary did it, the quest’s over, and I’m sure he’s tired. Why don’t we go home for now, and you can scold him some more after he’s had a chance to rest and process. Sound good?”

“Alright, alright,” Nimma held her hands up in mock surrender. “I’m sure Lophan will want to talk to you as well, Gary. I’m sure you completing this quest has given us some more benefits, that he’ll be over the moon about.”

“Sure, I’ll swing by…” I paused, suddenly realizing that I’d done everything I needed to do on this layer. “And then… I guess I’ll move on?”

Saying it felt weird, and it had an odd effect on Nimma’s team as well. We had originally stayed together out of professional necessity, but I’d grown rather close with all of them. There was no doubt about it, I needed to descend and finish the main quest, but at the same time, I felt sad about having to leave them behind. Sure, I could most likely find a way to visit in the future, either by ranking up my teleport ability or through some void travel shenanigans, but I was still going somewhere where they couldn’t follow. 

“Right,” Andrius clapped his hands, dispelling the awkward atmosphere. “Let’s head back for now, shall we?”

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I sighed as I settled into my bed. Due to my increased size, I had to curl in on myself to fit. The dragon had left a frozen wasteland behind, and the others weren’t sure how long it would take to thaw, if it ever would. The system tended to repair things around here, but the blizzard was still raging on when we left. I had tried looking for some sort of body that I could devour, but the tiny organisms making up the dragon had scattered like snow, indistinguishable from the regular ice and snow. The core had been destroyed anyway, so I’d given up on that endeavor pretty quickly. 

The way back felt a bit stiffer than it usually was, the fact that I was leaving soon hanging over everyone's head like a dark cloud. I felt compelled to move on as fast as possible, but would it really be that bad to stick around for a few more days, or even a week or two, just to relax for a bit?

I shoved away the depressing thoughts, instead focusing on the system messages that had been trying to get my attention this entire time. I had completed a country-tier quest. On hard mode. The rewards were bound to be amazing, and I giddily slapped my eyes on the system window.

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You have successfully completed the country-tier quest!

Find and eliminate the Cultist Ravens before they can complete their ritual.

Failed!

Defeat the creature that has been summoned.

Completed!

Rewards:

10 Level-ups.

5 Skill points.

Upgrade Mutation: Crystal Symbiote (T6) to Mana Crystal Symbiote (T10)

Passive Skill Upgrade Token: S-Tier

You have unlocked an achievement!

Hidden Master (SSS)

Kill a monster at least four tiers higher than yourself.

Prerequisites: 

- Achievement: The bigger they are, the harder they fall. (SS)

- Below T10

Rewards:

Upgrade Spell: Giant Spike (SS) to Giant Impaler (SSS)

Giant Impaler (SSS)

Conjure a massive spear to impale your target. Inflicts the bleeding, maimed, and pinned status effects.

Cost: 500’000 MP

Passive Skill: Giant Aura (SS)

Existing Aura skill detected, changing reward to be more fitting…

Upgrade Passive Skill: Emperor Void Aura (SS) to Ancient Void Aura (SSS)

Ancient Void Aura (SSS)

The aura of an ancient voidling undergoes a qualitative change, making their aura even more oppressive. Other voidlings can feel your status and will act accordingly.

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Hell Yeah!

Looking at the rewards, it felt a bit lackluster at first glance. But what the rewards lacked in quantity, they more than made up for with quality. Having the Crystal Symbiote upgraded this much saved me a ton of mutation points. Getting some extra skill points was appreciated as well, since they were notoriously hard to get, and I still had tons of stuff to get from the magical singularity tree. Combined with the levels, I had gained fifteen skill points, which I would definitely spend right after this. Though the upgrade token was definitely the best quest reward. Upgrading any skill beyond S-tier was incredibly valuable.

Which made the rewards from the achievement all the more insane. Not just one, but two skills got upgraded to SSS-Tier. I was still unsure how much the aura skill would help me in the void, but the upgrade was definitely appreciated. I’d have to test the effects on regular people as well, hoping that it would finally do more than mildly inconvenience them. 

Giant Impaler, though, took the cake. My very first SSS-tier spell, and what a spell it was. The MP cost to cast the damn thing almost made me fall out of bed. Sure, I had some cost reduction thanks to the magical singularity, with more to come thanks to the skill tree, but it was still a crazy amount to use on a single spell. In fact, if my attributes weren’t boosted by giant hunter, casting this thing once would cost me most of my MP in one go. Noticing the odd wording of the reward, I quickly checked my spell-list, and sure enough, giant spike had disappeared.

Judging by the harsh unlock requirements of the achievement and the fact that the size restriction of the previous spell was gone, I couldn’t help but think that I had gotten something crazy. This spell was bound to become my trump card in the future, but due to the hefty mana cost, I’d need to continue investing into my wisdom attribute. Well, that had been the plan all along, but now I had a good reason to continue down that road. 

Not hesitating, I spent fifteen skill points on a skill tree unlock, which would provide me with a further twenty percent MP cost reduction. I had felt like I had functionally infinite mana sometimes, but some of my recent fights showed me that I was delusional. There was no such thing as too much mana, and making my spells cheaper to cast would help tremendously in the future. Especially if I eventually got some more spells like giant impaler.

Maybe the day would come when I could spam that spell.

Happy with what I’d gotten, I turned my attention to the passive skill upgrade token. A quick scan of the viable skills made me chuckle, and I used the token on the same skill I’d upgraded last time. Sure, there were some nice potential upgrades to be had, but there was a clear winner among the options.

_________________________________________________________________________

Upgrade token: S-tier, used on: Elevated Evolution Potential (S)

Elevated Evolution Potential (S) → Ascended Evolution Potential (SS)

Evolution potential will be further increased in all evolutions going forward.

_________________________________________________________________________

I had barely qualified for my current evolution, and there was no reason for me to believe that there would be even crazier options in the future. This choice may not provide an immediate upgrade, but in the future, it would no doubt prove to be a worthwhile investment.

I rolled around happily in my bed. Today had been a fantastic day. Not only had I gotten to go all out in a crazy fight, but I’d managed to win and was rewarded handsomely for my efforts. Putting off the demands for sleep of my tired mind, I mentally replayed the fight over and over again, trying to figure out if I could have done better.