Chapter 19: Quest Completed

Leon noticed that his body felt exactly as it had the moment he first awakened in this world—strong, steady, and completely unmarked.

Perfect Body.

Another one of his ten SSS-Rank talents, and perhaps one of the most quietly useful. It restored his physical condition, his internal energy, and even the microscopic damage within his body back to its absolute peak, as though every injury he suffered simply ceased to exist the moment the battle ended.

It wasn’t invincibility.

He could still be injured. He could still bleed. If something hit him hard enough, he could still die on the spot. But recovery—the part that usually cost players days of rest, expensive potions, or valuable healing items—was something Leon simply didn’t have to worry about.

"You look remarkably fresh for a man who fought a two hours ago," Garrick said as he climbed down beside him, studying Leon with open curiosity. His eyes traced over Leon’s torn but bloodless coat before settling on the completely unbruised skin visible above his collar.

"I’m a Support Role, remember," Leon replied. "I have the ability to heal myself and others."

From the outside, there was no visible difference between Leon’s recovery and what a sufficiently powerful healing skill could accomplish. His injuries were simply gone, his body restored without leaving so much as a scar behind.

But Leon knew there was a fundamental difference.

Perfect Body didn’t feel like healing. Conventional healing repaired damage. It closed wounds, restored flesh, and replenished what the body had lost.

Perfect Body felt as though his entire body had been destroyed and reconstructed from the ground up, every part of him rebuilt until it reached a state of absolute peak vitality. It didn’t merely erase his injuries—it restored him to what his body was supposed to be at its very best.

Garrick seemed satisfied with the answer and didn’t press him. Instead, he led the way toward a small administrative building near the center of the checkpoint. The moment they crossed the threshold, a familiar notification appeared before Leon.

Ding!

[Quest Completed: Escort Merchant through the Eastern Road]

[Reward: 10,000 Eternal Coins]

[Reward: 600 EXP]

Leon stared at the numbers for a long moment.

Ten thousand Eternal Coins, on top of everything he had already collected from the golem and the Fang Wolves, was more wealth than he had expected to see in his first week, let alone on his first day.

Truly, he thought, an SS-Rank quest was a charming thing to stumble into on your very first walk outside the village.

Ding!

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 4!]

[You have gained 5 Stat Points and 2 Evolution Points.]

Leon didn’t bother checking the exact numbers this time. Between the golem, the completed quest, and the remaining experience from the Fang Wolves earlier, climbing from Level 2 to Level 4 in a single afternoon felt less like luck and more like the universe actively conspiring to keep him ahead of the curve everyone else would be racing along for the next hundred days.

Garrick watched him process the notifications with a faint, knowing smile.

"I take it the reward was satisfactory."

"Satisfactory," Leon repeated. "That’s one word for it."

They stepped back outside into the late-afternoon light. The checkpoint bustled around them, filled with players, merchants, NPCs, and the constant noise of people coming and going. For a moment, neither of them said anything.

It was Garrick who finally broke the silence, his voice quieter than it had been for most of the journey.

"This is where our roads part, then," he said. "I’ve got business here that’ll keep me a few days before I head back west."

"I imagine you’ll survive without an escort this time."

"Considering the last one nearly gave me a heart attack twice in a single day, I might actually prefer it." Garrick’s mouth twitched, a hint of warmth beneath his usual gruffness. "Take care of yourself out there, Leon. Whatever it is that’s following you around—luck or otherwise—I’d hate to hear that it finally ran out."

"I’ll try to keep it interested a little longer."

Leon extended his hand.

Garrick grasped it firmly.

"Good luck, boy," he said. "I mean that."

They parted ways near the checkpoint gate, Garrick heading toward the merchant quarter with his carriage in tow while Leon turned toward the open road stretching beyond the walls.

Before leaving, Leon glanced at the time displayed quietly in the corner of his interface, a small detail he had almost overlooked amid the chaos of the day.

Roughly three hours had passed since he first stepped out of Novice Village.

One eighth of a single day.

And the hundred-day countdown would only become less forgiving with every passing hour.

Level 30.

That was the wall standing between him and elimination—the threshold separating Initiate from Adept. At Level 4, he still had a long climb ahead of him, and two exceptionally profitable battles weren’t going to carry him there on their own.

Most players were probably still struggling through the single-digit levels by now. Even with the head start he had carved out today, ninety-nine days wasn’t nearly as generous a number as it had sounded when Eternal Heaven first announced the elimination cycle.

Leon thought back to the journey here, remembering the landmarks Garrick had pointed out along the way without ever realizing he was essentially giving Leon a rough map.

The old watchtower.

The dried riverbed that occasionally flooded without warning.

Places like that tended to attract more than travelers. Especially low-lying terrain that collected water during the wet season and left behind exposed ground where creatures could scavenge during the dry months.

If there was wildlife near the checkpoint worth hunting, that riverbed seemed as good a place as any to start.

Leon adjusted his grip on his staff and set off toward the tree line south of the checkpoint, following the general direction Garrick had gestured toward earlier.

The forest here was thinner than the wilder stretches farther east, allowing sunlight to filter easily through gaps in the canopy. The ground gradually sloped downward the farther Leon walked, exactly the kind of low-lying terrain that would naturally collect runoff during the wet season.

It didn’t take long for him to find what he was looking for.

The riverbed opened up ahead, dry and cracked beneath the afternoon sun. Moving across it in a loose, scattered pack were six creatures. They had grey-furred bodies with elongated claws and eyes that glowed faintly red even in daylight.

They moved with the jerky, unnatural energy, snapping at one another over some unseen scrap of carrion.

They hadn’t noticed him yet.

A notification confirmed their identities before Leon had even fully processed what he was seeing.

[Monster Detected: Demonized Rat ×6]

[Level: 4]

Leon’s grip tightened around his staff.

A slow, familiar smile spread across his face.

Six kills, all conveniently gathered in one place.

And if today’s pattern of extraordinary drops continued even a little longer, this riverbed was about to become a very profitable detour.