Another morning dawned over Iveleth, and the sound of roosters echoed through every corner. People began to wake up, adventurers started heading out to work, and merchants opened their shops—just another day in this town. But inside one of the rooms of Fiona's tavern, Laos and his wife Maris were still asleep. After a while of tossing and turning, the sun finally slapped them awake with its rays. Maris opened her eyes while Laos turned to the other side to continue sleeping.
"Laos, wake up. The sun is shining in the room," Maris said as she stretched.
"No way, my dear. Close the window... I want to sleep a bit more," Laos mumbled.
"Aren't you going to complete your first quest as a Wood-rank adventurer?" Maris said as she leaned closer and whispered into Laos' ear.
At that moment, he jumped out of bed and stood up with a face that clearly showed he'd just woken up. He raised his hands high and started stretching, then wore an expression of enthusiasm Maris had never seen before. He looked serious, as if he were heading into a battle. Then he put on a stern, determined face and finally said: "I promised myself I'd change and strive for strength!"
"Strive for strength? Didn't you say you wanted to buy a house?" Maris replied.
"Oh, about that... Buying a house is impossible for now. I've changed my goal," Laos answered.
"Why?"
"Promise me you won't tell anyone," Laos whispered.
"What kind of request is that? Of course I won't."
"We weren't the ones who defeated Daemon. Etomi stepped in and saved us."
"What? You were going to die??" Maris shouted in alarm.
Damn it! If I tell her more, she'll worry even more and might become a clingy wife. What do I say now? What a dumb I am. Why did I even tell her this? I should've just kept it to myself like the others did. What a huge mistake! I just stared at her like a dumbass, trying to think of something to say, while she looked at me in shock, waiting for an answer.
"No, no, she just helped us. There's no way we'd die to a goblin. She just thought we were weak and stepped in," I said, trying to calm her down.
"Etomi… Is she that strongest adventurer in the town?"
"Yes, she's Platinum-ranked—and super arrogant too," I replied with a faint smile. Phew, I dodged a bullet!
"So, you changed your goal to becoming stronger. What do you want that strength for? I mean, of course you'll gain strength over time and with more adventures, but making it your main goal right now… Oh, wait, do you want to get strong so you can rank up faster?" Maris asked.
"Exactly!"
"But you'll need to complete a lot of quests. The more the guild sees you're an active adventurer, the faster you'll rank up. Strength isn't everything, but it'll help a lot if you want to be a free adventurer."
A free adventurer? She's right. If I want to achieve my goal of becoming the number one adventurer, I need to reach Platinum rank first. And I can only do that by completing quests. So I should focus on that first, and then aim for strength to surpass Etomi. Getting to Platinum is just reaching her level... Fuck, I feel so lost!
"So what are you going to do now?" Maris asked.
"I'll work hard. I'll complete more than three quests every single day," I said with enthusiasm. I just hope this excitement doesn't fade on my way to the guild.
"What about Ponier and earning money?" Maris asked.
"I'll stay with Ponier, but I won't do money-focused quests anymore. I'll focus only on the quests for my rank, so I can rank up fast... Sorry, Maris."
"No, not at all. You're the man of the house, and you can make your own decisions. Do whatever you want, Laos, and I wish you the best of luck."
"And I hope we keep living a beautiful life," I said.
"Should I go and order breakfast?" Maris murmured.
"No, I'll grab a light breakfast and head out quickly. But when I come back, I want to find an amazing lunch waiting, alright?"
"You got it, my hero!" Maris replied with a sweet, excited smile, clenching her fist.
After that, I put on my armor, hoping this motivation wouldn't fade. Right now, I had an overwhelming desire to complete a thousand quests! I picked up my backup sword and headed to the door. God, I was so pumped. It felt like the first day of my adventuring life. Looks like Etomi's speech really fired me up… Incredible. Who would've thought that fucking speech would motivate me? It didn't just motivate me—it gave me a huge energy boost.
"Good luck," Maris said as she got out of bed while I opened the door to head out.
I stepped out of the room, followed by the creaking of the door I'd just closed behind me. The tavern was quiet that morning. Well, it was usually quiet in the mornings—only to turn into chaos at night. I approached the counter where Fiona stood with her manly expression. She even had muscles. Was she an adventurer once or something?
"A sesame loaf with a hint of honey," I said.
"Where's Maris?" Fiona asked.
"Uh… She decided to sleep in. I've got a bunch of quests to do today, so I'm in a hurry," I replied. She never used to talk to me like this... Oh, looks like I'm becoming famous!
"Alright, take care of yourself. Losing someone dear to you isn't a good feeling, so don't make her worry again. Never let someone who loves you feel anxious... you need to protect them, and protect their feelings," said Fiona as she spread honey on the bread.
Her words were real. I had been thinking about this before. I have to protect Maris—even her feelings. The people who love me are more important than the people I love. That's a hard truth to accept, I know, but what Fiona said is right. And from the way she spoke, it felt like she lost someone close to her too. Once she finished preparing the plate, I took it and went to sit at a table.
Nice, I haven't lost my energy yet. So, how many quests should I take today? Three? Four? No, five! And all of them will be goblin quests, because I've realized goblins scare me even more than higher-tier monsters. It's weird—those terrifying faces and the way they move—they feel more like twisted humans than actual monsters. They're genuinely creepy.
◆ ◆ ◆
Under the blazing sun, there stood a beautiful set of ruins. They were massive ruins, perched on elevated green land surrounded by trees. Darkness spread inside, a deep blackness that pulled adventurers inward. Judging by the number of people going in and out of the entrance, it was clear this place was active. Deep within the first floor of these ruins, Laos stood over the corpse of a goblin.
That was goblin number five. And with that, the first quest was done. I took on three quests before arriving at the ruins, and I plan to finish two more in the southern dungeon. I just hope I have enough time. After cutting off the ear of the last goblin, I kept exploring this floor. It was quiet—no more than ten adventurers around. Looks like everyone's heading to the dungeons.
After a bit of searching, I spotted a goblin taking a shit. Gross! It noticed me right away and jumped at me with its bare ass. Man—I stepped back, and honestly, I didn't want to kill it quickly. Suddenly, I felt like I'd look tuff fighting with two swords. So I drew my iron sword and held it in my other hand, standing face to face with the goblin, dual-wielding.
It quickly backed off and grabbed the club it had set aside to do its business. Focus, Laos. Just swing both blades—it should be easy, right? As it got closer, I swung the iron sword, but it clashed with the goblin's club. Then it rushed me with both fists. Damn, quick reflexes! I thought it would retreat after I struck its weapon, but it just dropped it and charged.
Right then, I kicked it hard in the gut, making its eyes pop wide and spit fly from its mouth. It dropped to the ground, but got back up fast, grabbed its club, and charged again. Alright, I want to finish it off with both swords—maybe dual-wielding will boost my aura. I'll look tuff, and I won't use any abilities. Just the blades.
As it rushed in, I raised my Astral sword high and brought it down fast, slicing its arm clean off. Nice! I quickly followed up and stabbed its belly with the iron sword. Perfect! I'm getting good at dual-wielding. I yanked my sword out and let its blood spill across both blades onto the ground.
"Too easy," I said, cutting off its ear. Man, I'm starting to feel like Shez.
I continued through the second floor and finally completed the three quests, taking down a total of nine goblins. Awesome. Now I'll turn in the rewards, grab lunch, then go take two more quests in the southern dungeon. I quickly left the second floor and made my way to the ruins' exit.
"Laos," Thalesa's voice suddenly rang out.
"What is it?"
"You've gained a new ability: Water Ball."
"Oh! Awesome, a water ball!"
I grabbed my Astral sword and pointed it at a nearby slime. Water began to gather at the blade's tip, forming a sphere, and after a moment, it shot out toward the slime at high speed. The moment it hit, the slime burst and vanished on the spot. Oh my god, this is amazing! Another ability? I'm evolving fast—yes, yes, this is exactly what I needed!
"Thalesa, can I shout Mizuria when I cast it? You know, to make it sound like I'm using magic?"
"No way! Absolutely not! Spirit power system are already buried, and you want to bury them even more?" she snapped.
"Oh... I forgot how much you're obsessed with the spirits power system."
"Haah... at this rate, you'll never reach your goal..."
"What? What do you mean?!"
"Laos... you're actually very slow. Remember when I said I got used to how fast you were developing? Well, ever since then, I've become greedy—hungry for more power—but you never meet my needs. I need more strength. A lot more."
"What? But I'm still just getting started! I lack experience... and it's still early!"
"It's been about a month and a half since we first met... Laos, in that same time, Gaziel gained over twenty abilities. If you stay like this, you'll never reach your goal. You'll never become stronger."
"You're comparing me to Gaziel?! I'm an NPC!!"
"There you go again with that NPC talk... Listen, Laos. I don't care about that. What matters is that I tell you: the path you're on is the wrong one. First, you said your goal was to become stronger. Then you said you want to be the number one adventurer. And you don't realize how huge the gap is between those two things."
"..."
"I get it now. I finally understand. Focusing on easy quests isn't going to help me grow."
"Exactly. You're a spirit user. You don't grow your own strength. You grow your source of strength—me."
God, what have I been doing? I've been walking the wrong path this whole time. I can't believe this. What a dumbass. How did I forget something this basic? I'm a spirit user. So, I need to develop Thalesa to her maximum potential. That's how I'll get stronger. The path to becoming the number one adventurer isn't grinding quests and climbing ranks—it's leveling up Thalesa as fast as possible.
From now on, I need to take a new step and stop obsessing over ranking up. I'm not gonna lie—those rank-ups gave me a crazy dopamine hit—but I need to take a step away from that fake high and move in the right direction. A step back to Ponier. So... my life will go back to the way it was, huh? I'll be doing hard quests with Ponier and my personal quests again... huh.
But this time, it's not going to be the same. I'm raising the bar. From now on, I'll target monsters tier 4 and above. I don't care what happens—I'm doing it to develop Thalesa and get stronger. Yes. From here on out, it's all about cranking up the difficulty and going all in. Is that what you want, you hungry spirit?
"Exactly," Thalesa muttered.
"Then it's yours!"