Endless Leveling Done Right!-Chapter 8: Alex’s Short-Term Goal

After claiming the key to his room, Alex climbed upstairs, intending to finally rest for the night.

If the intense first battle of his life in the world of Arcana taught him anything, it was that he must not treat this world as a game, for one mistake could end in his death.

He had countless things to worry about, especially events he'd face in the future. But for now, he just wished to shower and rest for the night.

He headed straight to the bathroom, washing away the dirt and exhaustion from his body.

Several minutes later, he dried himself off and approached the mirror, his lower body covered only by a towel.

The moment Alex caught his reflection in the mirror, his breath hitched. The face staring back at him wasn't familiar.

Short silver hair, blue eyes, and a face that would make being single extremely hard back on Earth appeared on the mirror's surface.

"This... is me?" Alex muttered as he lightly tapped his cheek to make sure he wasn't just seeing things.

When he first arrived in Arcana, survival was his main goal. He put his all into fighting and defeating the Goblins, leaving no time to take a proper look at his appearance.

Now that he had a moment to breathe, Alex finally took a good look at himself. After countless double-takes, he confirmed that his eyes were actually okay. The face he had now was truly the replica of his character portrait in ELO.

Alex Stratos.

That was the name he had given to his character in-game, whose face he had customized himself.

At that time, the young man spent a long time fiddling with the game's advanced customization feature to create this face.

'I'm lucky I didn't mess around with my character's setting too much, unlike those famous VTubers who made their characters look like zombies and aliens for laughs.' Alex shuddered. 'Imagine being stuck with those ridiculous faces forever.'

The thought of avoiding a fate where he looked like a zombie or some kind of fool made the young man sigh in relief.

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"Dim Dim?" The Dim Sum God couldn't help but wonder about the thoughts running through the young man's head as the latter struck different poses in front of the mirror.

Assuming Alex was doing some kind of play, Dim Dim imitated him a bit and also made different poses while on top of the young man's head.

Seeing the Dim Sum God having fun, a chuckle escaped Alex's lips.

They spent a few more minutes acting like silly kids before finally deciding to rest for the night.

"Goodnight, Dim Dim," Alex said.

"Dim Dim~" the Dim Sum God also bade Alex goodnight before closing its eyes to rest for the night.

The young man thought it would take a while before he fell asleep, but surprisingly he descended into the land of dreams only a minute after his head hit the pillow.

Several hours later, the young man felt something poking his nose, prompting him to open his eyes. He woke up just in time to see Dim Dim reaching for his nose... again. A strange sense of déjà vu washed over him as they locked eyes and started another silent staring contest lasting half a minute.

In the end, Dim Dim pulled back and greeted the young man a good morning.

"Dim Dim~"

"Dim Dim, don't bother acting innocent. I know you were about to poke my nose again."

The Dim Sum God giggled and jumped in place, as if asking Alex to get out of bed so they could start their day.

Although reluctant, Alex rose up from the bed and did some light stretching.

To his surprise, he felt neither stiff nor tired. Instead, his body was brimming with strength and a sense of relaxation.

'That was some good sleep,' Alex thought before glancing at the clock hanging on the wall.

It was six in the morning. After a quick calculation, he learned he had slept for ten hours straight.

Suddenly, a very important thought struck Alex, leading him to ask the Dim Sum God for a favor.

"Dim Dim, do you have anything I can write on?" Alex inquired. "I need to write the things inside my mind before I forget them."

Dim Dim nodded. "Dim."

The Dim Sum God summoned a worn leather journal, perfectly suited to ELO's setting, and handed it to Alex, along with a magic pen that would never run out of ink no matter how much he wrote.

"Thank you, Dim Dim," Alex said as he accepted the leather journal and the magic pen with gratitude.

He then sat at the table and started to write the things he needed to do to complete his Main Quest in Arcana.

*****

[Main Story Quest]

[Enroll at Frieden Academy]

— Frieden Academy is where the most talented teenagers on the continent gather to become exceptional Warriors and Magicians. The majority of the students here are members of the nobility and other powerful families.

— Become a Scholarship Student by passing the Trial of the Academy.

Duration: 3 months.

Rewards: ???

Failure: Death by Snusnu.

*****

Alex had three months until the Trial of Frieden Academy commenced. As long as he passed, he would be granted a scholarship.

When playing ELO's Story Mode, the players would be asked to choose one of the 350 Unique Characters in the game.

Three of those characters were Heroes, and another three were Heroines.

The rest were supporting characters who played important roles in the game.

After finishing the route of the three Main Heroes in the past, Alex had chosen the Unique Character, Charles Lambert, as his fourth.

He had chosen that particular NPC mainly due to its surge in popularity.

And it wasn't because the character was amazing.

Not at all. But why? Players simply wanted to challenge Charles Lambert's Story Quest since it was yet to be cleared.

Not even by Professional Gamers. In fact, they deemed it impossible to clear his Story Quest.

Even Alex played the character for nearly a year before finally clearing the tutorial quest.

It was after he had painstakingly cleared it that he had received the God of Games' invitation to go to the world of Arcana.

This had led to him being kidnapped by Lily and Cupid before being blasted to outer space from a giant cannon.

'If this world is similar to the game, then Charles Lambert must also be real,' Alex thought with a serious expression on his face. 'Then, if nothing changes, Charles will meet a bad end and die in the Dungeon of Beginnings.'

A part of Alex knew he could just ignore Charles and enroll in the academy without too much of an issue.

However, if he did just that, he would forever question himself whether he had done the right thing.

If Alex had never known of Charles' existence, he wouldn't have felt guilty about standing by while someone met their end.

But knowing that the NPC he had played for nearly a year would likely experience a tragic death, he couldn't just sit still and do nothing.

When playing Charles Lambert's character, the player only had two months before the enrollment in the Frieden Academy began.

"Fine," Alex said through gritted teeth. "I'll help you reunite with your sisters and find a cure for Eris' disease. This will also put all the effort of the Eris Brotherhood to rest."

The Eris Brotherhood was the community that actively played Charles' character in the game.

They jointly compiled all the information about Charles' tutorial quest on a wiki page, including the location of the hidden quests and items in Briarwood Village.

Their goal was to reunite the brother and sisters who had been separated from each other due to the whims of fate.

'But I can't help him with how weak I am right now,' Alex thought. 'I need to train properly, so I can help him clear the Dungeon of Beginnings.'

Finally setting a short-term goal for himself, Alex decided to list down the training course he planned to complete within two months before he headed to Briarwood Village to meet up with Charles Lambert.

He hoped that, for a second time, he could prevent a tragedy, one he had experienced again and again for nearly a year of his life.