Chapter 36

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Episode 6 - Recovery [2]

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I was walking down the street in the city, which was full of cadets and vendors.

A girl was holding a boy’s hand, and two girls followed her from a distance, like stalkers.

Clementine and Adel walked hand in hand.

Clementine wore a straw hat and sunglasses to make sure she was as inconspicuous as possible.

"What time is it?"

Adel asked, and Clementine responded as if it were natural.

"It’s already noon, 12 and... 17."

Adel nodded, and they both continued walking, buying something to eat every now and then.

They decided not to go back to the dorms after having dinner at the restaurant, since there were no classes anyway.

Besides training, neither of them had anything else to do.

Adel, for his part, put his sword back in the Inventory and could no longer pick it up from the ground.

So he put it back, and Alice complained about being in the Inventory, saying there was a silent void.

To which Adel simply replied that it was a sword and she’d just have to put up with it.

As Adel walked, it was finally time to see the results of the Main Mission.

’I barely completed the main mission and almost died, but I suppose an Ancient Spirit is worth all those difficulties.’

He thought about the mission, and then a screen appeared in his mind.

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■| Chapter 1, Part 1: Hunting Festival.

Category: Main Story.

Difficulty: ★★★★

Description: The Beast Hunting Festival, which the Holy Academy announces every year to provide cadets with more opportunities to earn points and advance in rank, is open to all. However, the Golden Forest feels strange this time.

∆ Time Limit: 3 days.

∆ Reward: Coordinates of an Ancient Spirit’s body.

∆ Failure: Death of most first-year cadets.

∆ Status: Completed

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A few more notifications popped up.

〖Reward Claimed: Coordinates of an Ancient Spirit’s body "42.7815, -73.9652"〗

〖The first part of Chapter One has been completed; the second part will be revealed in two weeks〗

〖An increase in difficulty has been detected in the Main Quest; as compensation, there will be an extra reward〗

〖Extra Reward: First Fable of Adel〗

Adel looked at the notifications in bewilderment.

He looked at the strange reward with even more confusion.

’A fable... what is this? Some kind of novel?’

He understood that the difficulty had increased more than it should have, but he never expected compensation.

Since that didn’t exist in the game, it was the first time he’d seen something like compensation.

After all, the difficulty of each Main Mission was balanced enough to be overcome somehow.

Of course, for many players that might be the case, but it wasn’t entirely impossible.

’Anyway, let’s see what this ’fable’ is all about.’

He focused his attention on figuring out what this fable was. It didn’t seem to be a physical or imaginary object.

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Name: First Fable of Adel

Category: Existence.

Description: A fable representing the existence of the person named Adel.

Passive Effects.

[Passive]-[Your presence will grow stronger and stronger, and you will not be forgotten in this world.]

[Passive]-[As long as someone writes about you, your fate may change, and your ending will change]

Note: Certain conditions must be met to obtain Adel’s Second Fable.

Additional Note: By obtaining all of Adel’s fables, you will be able to escape the threads of fate and not be forgotten as long as people write about you.

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"..."

Adel stared intently at the screen displaying information about the First Fable of Adel.

Then, a long sigh escaped his lips, and various thoughts swirled through his mind.

’So this is a kind of ticket to avoid being ’erased’ from this world.’

The thought of ceasing to exist made his body tremble with fear.

He didn’t know what it was like to be erased; it was something he didn’t want to experience.

It was probably similar to when a character is discarded and erased from the game.

A character who was completely forgotten by the players.

And that could happen to him.

He thought about it again in detail.

’He says there are certain conditions for obtaining the second fable. However, in the extra note...’

Adel thought about the last words of the extra note and the second passive effect.

There was a phrase that was quite hard to ignore.

’As long as someone writes about me, I will never be forgotten.’

What did that mean?

Adel didn’t know, but somehow he came up with an idea.

’If someone is or will be writing about me, I may be remembered or forgotten by everyone, regardless of what this person or entity writes about me.’

The thought crossed his mind as he let out a long, heavy sigh.

He didn’t know what to say about it, but if there was one thing he knew, it was this.

’I suppose I’ll have to find the other fables.’

He didn’t know how many there were or how to get them.

But he made sure to at least try to obtain the other fables.

Even if he died because of his dark destiny, even if he became the strongest.

Then these fables would be his only salvation.

’Because I feel that my future is becoming more and more uncertain.’

Adel forced himself to snap out of his thoughts and tried to enjoy the rest of the day.

***

"Finally in my room."

I let out a long sigh as I lay down on my bed.

After spending most of the day with Clementine, it felt strange.

’The Immunity to Pain trait can’t be removed, nor can the True Sight trait, so both traits are still active.’

The rest of the traits seemed to be sealed for the moment.

I’ll probably get them back after the seal of the Eyes of the End wears off.

’I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.’

Anyway, it was kind of nice to spend the day with someone.

It was also strange, though, since Clementine’s personality was too weird, as it normally is. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

’Did something happen to her? I doubt it’s my fault, right?’

Maybe I teased her yesterday, and she must have been meaner to me.

But it was the opposite; she didn’t complain once all day and did everything I said.

’Even I get chills from her new personality.’

Setting that aside, I remembered the coordinates of the Spirit Ancient’s body.

’Getting to that place would take a whole day, and finding the exact location of the Spirit Ancient’s body would take another day. Returning would take a day as well.’

In total, it may take three days or more to find the body of the Ancient Spirit.

’Today is Thursday, tomorrow is Friday.’

I have exactly three days to go and find the body of the Ancient Spirit.

Once I regain my size and features, I will go directly.

Fortunately, there won’t be classes until next week.

’The second part of Chapter One will be in about two weeks.’

Then the third part will conclude the first Chapter.

I soon took my sword out of my inventory, and my teacher’s voice resonated strongly in my head.

〖It’s about time, you little bastard. Don’t ever take me back to that strange place again. I felt completely empty; not a single thought crossed my mind, and I couldn’t even speak.〗

She continued to complain for the next few minutes. I apologized to her, and she finally accepted my apology.

"Yeah, well, I’m sorry. Anyway, I’ll be fully recovered by tomorrow."

I explained to my teacher that I was going to look for the body of an Ancient Spirit.

I told her that I had obtained the coordinates by chance a while ago when I was a mercenary.

She remained silent for a few minutes and finally said:

〖Disciple, can you give me the body of the Ancient Spirit?〗

I was taken aback by his words.

"What does that mean? A sword is useless without the body of an Ancient Spirit."

As if she had anticipated my response, my teacher explained,

〖It’s simple. If you give me the body of that spirit, I can transfer myself and leave this sword. I would also become an Ancient Spirit and be of great help to you.〗

Hearing her words, I was so surprised that I asked her several times.

"That’s possible. You’ll be able to use the power of the Ancient Spirit. But what if the attribute is incompatible? How do you know the body won’t reject you?"

My teacher answered all my questions slowly.

〖Yes, I can transfer into the spirit’s body, and the attribute doesn’t matter since, in theory, I don’t have an attribute right now, so that’s irrelevant. However, transferring into the Ancient Spirit’s body might take a long time.〗

"Exactly how long?"

My teacher thought for a few seconds and replied; her answer naturally surprised me.

〖Maybe a year or a few months, at least six months or so, so I’m not sure; it could even be years〗

When I heard her answer, an idea occurred to me, and I said,

"Is there any way to speed it up?"

She shook her head.

〖Not that I know of. I only know in theory that I can transfer myself from the sword to the Ancient Spirit’s body.〗

I nodded at her words. In fact, I didn’t even know it was possible.

Still, if she manages to obtain the body of the Ancient Spirit.

That doesn’t mean I’ll have an Ancient Spirit in my hands.

I could use its power, which would be of great help in future Chapters.

"Well, that would be very helpful."

〖You’re welcome. You almost wasted the body of an Ancient Spirit, so you might as well give it to me.〗

I sighed as I took the bandage out of my inventory.

"I tried putting it on before, but it had no effect."

It looks like I’ll have to wait for the system to remove the seal from my eyes before I can put the bandage on.