Alchemist In The Apocalypse: Rise Of A Legend!

Completed?

[Ace POV]

[Instant Hidden Dungeon: Cemetery Assault],

[Type: Quest],

[Quest: The village has been experiencing some strange events in recent days, as some villagers appear to have started disappearing without a trace, causing hidden fear in the hearts of everyone in the village.

Help in resolving this issue to clear the dungeon],

[Status: Completed],

[You have solved the village's current hidden problem by killing the last oil puppet in the village who was abducting the villagers, and you are  eligible to confirm your submission for the quest to clear the dungeon.],

...….

'Wait, the dungeon has already been completed?' I wondered as I read the summary of how we cleared the dungeon, and all I can say is that it was unexpected news.

We appear to be able to leave the dungeon now.

'I wonder how the rewards of completion would be,' I wondered as I remembered I still hadn't chosen to complete my other quest from the challenge trial.

'Hmmm, I'll do that after I get out of the dungeon,' I thought as I took another sip from my cup of tea and read the texts on the panel in front of me again, starting to feel like I was missing something.

I was reading the texts on the panel again when I heard Emma call my name. I turned to look at her, briefly taking my gaze away from the panel in front of me.

"I guess we've cleared the dungeon," she said in English to me.

Perhaps it was because she was wary of the ear on the walls.

After hearing what Emma had to say, I also responded in English.

"I don't think so," I replied as Emma immediately questioned me after hearing what I said.

"Why?" She inquired.

Hearing this, I did not immediately respond to Emma's question and asked a question of my own.

"Do you remember when we were at the guardians' location and I told you about the type of quest the primordial chronicle gave us for the challenge trial?" I asked, and Emma responded immediately.

"The one about having to submit the method to clear the quest yourself because there are multiple ways to clear the quest and you have to choose one?" Emma asked as I was about to respond, but she cut me off as she slammed her palms together, a look of realization on her face as she spoke.

"No wonder the quest still required us to offer our will to complete it rather than doing so automatically. It's nothing like how video games operate ", she remarked as I ignored the last bit of what she said as I spoke.

"The fact that we had to submit our will to complete the quest demonstrates that the quest is similar to the one we received in the challenge trial in that there are multiple ways to complete it. Aside from that, examine your quest panel and read the section of the primordial chronicle that says 'current hidden problem.' ", I said as Emma stared blankly into the thin air when she heard this without responding.

When I saw this, I knew she was staring at her primordial chronicle.

We both kept our voices low during our conversation that an ordinary person could not hear us, and we frequently checked our surroundings in case someone was listening in.

I didn't know if there were any repercussions for anyone in this place knowing our identity, and I had no intention of finding out.

As I was thinking about these things, I heard Emma call my name and pull me out of my thoughts.

"This text is quite contradictory," Emma said, referring to what I said.

"It's not really," I said, recalling the primordial chronicle's habit of showing us vague words with vague meanings.

The primordial chronicle stated that we had resolved the village's current hidden problem, which made us edible to submit our will to complete the quest for us to clear the dungeon, but it was also this text that made me realize something, and that was because of two terms that stood out to me in the text.

'Current' and 'Submit'.

For one thing, the primordial chronicle stated that we had solved the village's current hidden problem, but it did not state that we had completely solved the village problem because we had only solved the current one.

Aside from that, we must submit our will to the primordial chronicle in order to complete the quest, and the only time this happened to me was during the challenge trial quest.

According to the Gateway Guardian, a submit-type quest appears only because there are several ways for the people involved with the quest to complete it, and it is up to the people to choose which method they prefer to use to complete the quest.

At the time, my initial thought was why would someone go to the trouble of finding other methods to complete the quest when he could just go with one because, at the end of the day, all methods chosen to complete the quest are just that, and that is to complete the quest.

However, my conversation with the guardian taught me that even if all methods of completing the quest serve the same purpose, the reward one receives from the quest ultimately depends on how the person involved with the quest completed it.

In the case of the challenge trial quest, there were two methods for completing the quest: cross the bridge or defeat the gateway guardian. However, the guardian stated that while crossing the bridge successfully completed the quest and the person could receive his reward, defeating the guardian produced a better reward.

It is similar to how the primordial chronicle rated Anna and me, as Anna received a B+ rating while I received an S rating and the free item tickets it provided demonstrated how this submit-type quest should work.

What matters now is our decision.

Do we finish the quest and clear the dungeon now, or do we wait to see what happens next as we find another way to completely solve the village's problems and maximize our reward?

As I was thinking about these things, I heard Emma's voice calling me out of my thoughts.

"So, should we finish the quest this way?" she inquired.

Hearing this, I did not immediately respond to her question.

"Do you want to finish it this way?" I inquired, and Emma opened her mouth to respond.

"If it had been before I realized this, I would have," she added, pausing before continuing.

"But the thing is, even if we are aware that there are other ways to complete the quest, we don't know of any, and I believe we've already tried our best:," she said as she looked at me, waiting for my response.

Seeing this, I spoke up.

"Do you really believe we don't have any other options for completing the quest?" I inquired as Emma let out a low 'oh' and her eyes glowed with interest as she looked deeply at me without speaking as she waited for me to do so.

Seeing that I had her attention, I opened my mouth to speak as I revealed the key to completing the quest that had always been right in front of our eyes and to which we had been oblivious to it.

....

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