Extra And MC-Chapter 88 - 84 - A Strange Quest

A strange quest.

That’s what it was referred to as in the novel.

In all honesty though, it truly was a strange quest to say the least.

In the crystal caverns district of Sector 3 where ores were requested for to be mined on a constant basis, an antique shop keeper by the name of Novier, requested for an investigation into a deeper part of the cavern for a particular ore that was exceedingly very hard to find.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the more one went down the confusing windy yet levelled structures of the crystal caverns, the more Kraugrs showed up.

These naturally existing monsters showed up in the caverns as a result of a previous fissure break occurring in it, greatly modifying the environment around it to make it habitable for them.

That was how the Crystal Caverns of Sector 3 along with the monsters present in it came to be.

These monsters greatly resembled the undead but instead of bones and pieces of dead flesh making up its composition, the Kraugrs instead, had bodies made up of pale blue frosty crystals along with a faceless visage that substituted for its head.

They were D-ranked fissure monsters which usually posed next to no threat for the average cadet but when they attacked in numbers, could prove to be very annoying and dangerous to deal with.

"Fuuu…"

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

Letting out a turbid breath of air, Aiden slowly opened his emerald green eyes.

Although he should not have been splitting his concentration while training his mana core by thinking about other things, he had maintained a steady balance between both and was able to still train his core without issues.

Getting up from the ground, the youth immediately took of his sweat drenched clothes, went to take a bath, freshened up and then left his dorm room, all in a matter of fifteen minutes.

Upon stepping out of the corridor, Aiden felt his smartwatch begin to ring.

-Trriinngg!

Without waiting a second more, he picked up the call and instantly, a small holographic screen popped up, showing the features of a young girl with big purple eyes, already beaming at him.

"Hello Briar" Aiden greeted with a warm smile.

"Hello Brother Aiden!" she responded with a wave of her hands, her smile getting brighter by the second.

"Wow, is that some muscle I spot on your arms?" Aiden asked teasingly.

"I’m getting bigger!" Briar replied enthusiastically, flexing the biceps of her small arm with a proud expression.

"Sure you are. Eat tons okay!" he advised with a brotherly tone.

"I will!" the young lady responded again after which she then began to explain.

"So I’ve already spoken to Brother Ivar, Sister Ivelia and Brother Flynn this morning…"

"You were the only one left so I also wante-… Ah! Mama said she would also like to talk to you too" Briar suddenly exclaimed and following this, the holographic projection soon showed Anna in its frame along with Briar, both of them sitting down on a sofa.

"Hello sweetie! How’ve you been? How’s the academy been treating you? You find any lady you’re interested in yet?!" she quickly asked a multitude of questions eagerly.

"Woah there mum! Slow, down!" Aiden replied with genuinely happy chuckle.

"Oh… Is that Caroline I spot behind you?" Anna suddenly asked and Aiden turned his head around to see the lady in question coming out of her room.

She was dressed in a white long-sleeved off-shoulder knitted sweater that slightly revealed her navel along with dark blue jeans and black slip-on sneakers.

Her shoulder length silky-black hair was also tied into a high messy bun with multiple strands framing her face and she genuinely looked very stunning to say the least.

It was a weekend after all so cadets were free to dress however they pleased, as long as they were in their dorms.

"Princess Caroline!" Briar called out happily, catching the attention of the lady who was very surprised to hear Briar’s cheery voice out of the blue.

Upon finally walking over to Aiden, the lady also politely responded to Briar’s greetings while also giving Anna a respectful greeting of her own.

Now, as both Aiden and Caroline walked side-by-side, their mum suddenly threw a coy question towards the young lady, her eyes solely on her.

"Slowly making progress hmm?" she asked slyly.

Caroline upon realizing what Anna was referring to, had her cheeks go red for a few seconds, took a quick glance at Aiden and then, finally settled her gaze back on the Duchess while responding.

"I’m doing what I can…"

"It’s fine Caroline. Just take it slow. You have my seal of approval" Anna responded with a gentle smile.

Caroline whose ears and cheeks were now reddened, meekly nodded her head at this, a gesture that seemed very out of place for her but it was really all she could manage to do in response to Anna’s remark.

Aiden however, narrowed his eyes into thin questioning slits at his mum for a few seconds and then, moved his gaze over to Caroline who was beside him, the same expression on his face.

"Is this some kind lady-talk I don’t get?" he asked.

"If it is then I probably should leave you guys to it" he added respectfully.

-Sigh…

"That’s not it you dummy!" Caroline sighed and replied with a small chuckle, which was also accompanied by similar chuckles from both Anna and Briar.

Aiden just watched on at the actions of all the ladies around him and eventually, gave up on trying to understand why they were all sharing a similar chuckle.

Following this, a few more conversations were exchanged between all four of them and eventually, the call ended.

Upon reaching the living room of their dorm, Aiden saw Ivelia showing Flynn who was seated on a sofa, what seemed to be details written on an old parchment of paper, her chin resting on his head as she did with her arms extending the paper in their field of view.

Adrian and Bryan on the other hand were playing a game of chess and so were Beatrice and Amelia.

One could also spot the brown-haired lady, taking peeks at Flynn and Ivelia every few seconds too, her concentration wavering, as opposed to Beatrice who was totally focused on the chess board.

Lucas and Ben on the other hand, were training together behind the dorm, their weapons constantly ringing and creating clashing metallic noises.

Noticing that his brother was now finally around, Flynn stood up from the sofa while motioning to him and asking him if he was ready.

With a nod of his head, Aiden responded and very promptly, they left their dorm for Sector 3.

The strange quest which they were planning to do, was something that seemingly had no time limit and it had been on the quest board for years now.

The main reason why people never even bothered trying to do the quest was as a result of the fact that compared to other quests, this particular quest had no credits assigned to it.

Quests with usually no credits assigned to it meant that the person who put it up, had no credits to pay for the cadet that was willing to volunteer and as such, made it hard for people to actually do said quest.

But even then, it was still odd that not a single cadet had bothered taking the quest even after all these years.

This was because the quest itself, for the trouble one would have to go through, specifically venturing into the deepest depths of the crystal cavern, was honestly not worth it if one wasn’t going to get anything out of it.

Adding to that, the ore which the issuer of the quest that went by the name of Novier was requesting for, was extremely hard to find even in the deepest depths of the crystal cavern.

This was why, after many years, none was yet to take the quest.

It was just too odd, too inefficient and clearly, wasn’t worth the risk at all.

Hence, it had become known to the entirety of Arcana Academy as ’The Strange Quest’.

However, to Flynn and Aiden, this ’strange quest’ was an absolute goldmine if they could find the ore he was requesting for.

According to the details and lore present in the novel, the only reason why Novier never added a credit amount in the quest, as opposed to not actually having the funds to pay for it, was because he didn’t know if he could put a price on such magnificent and rare ore.

As a result, he had decided that whoever eventually decided to do the quest and got the ore for him, would actually be able to name their price and he would pay for it on the spot.

The big mistake he did however, was that somehow, he forgot to include that particular condition in the quest itself before posting it on the quest board.

Now once a quest was issued on the quest board, it could not be taken down or asked for changes to be made until it was accepted by a cadet.

That is how the quest board had been purposely structured, and it was done in an effort to ensure that quest issuers thought twice before just randomly dropping quests as they saw fit on the board.

If by chance the quest was still accepted by a cadet despite the flaws in it, the issuer would then discuss the new terms with them and the cadet would settle once again on whether they wanted to do it or not based off of the new conditions or terms.

But considering that no one even accepted the quest after all these years, Novier was unable to even explain and negotiate with whoever decide to accept his quest.

Now, as Aiden and Flynn finally reached the front of Novier’s antique store, which was a quaint, weathered building adorned with vintage signage and dusty window displays in the bazaar district, they both stood there for a while, seemingly contemplating if things would be similar to the novel’s content.

After a few more seconds had passed, Flynn took a deep breath, turned open the door knob and stepped into the store.

What they were met with however, was something quite comical it almost seemed horrific.

A man’s hand was sticking out and emerging like the mythical Excalibur, out of a treasure trove of cluttered antique goods while the fingers which were adorned with various trinkets were wiggling, almost as if requesting for aid to get out of the weird situation he was presently in.