Absolute Dweller

[Episode 04] Quest Reward (2)

《Party Quest Assignment》

Quest Content: Showcase awakened abilities.

Time Limit: 1 hour 00 minutes 00 seconds.

Reward: Reinforcement of physical strength.

Failure Penalty: Sleep in the corridor.

[Do you want to bestow this quest?]

[Yes / No]

“Hmm?”

As soon as I started the experiment, something unexpected came up.

‘A party quest?’

It was a system that allowed forming a party and performing quests, rather than bestowing quests individually to Moon Byeong-ho and Kang Deok-su.

‘What could this mean?’

Based on my experience so far, there has never been a feature that appeared without any meaning in my abilities.

There must be something better about party quests than regular quests, but I don’t know what those are yet.

‘Let’s proceed like this for now.’

By trying various things, I might eventually learn about the differences between regular quests and party quests.

‘Bestow quest.’

Kang Deok-soo looked at the quest window that appeared in front of him and made a puzzled expression.

“So, what you’re saying, Mr. Jae-hyun, is that I awakened, like Dong-geon?”

“That’s correct.”

“Steel Knight. What kind of ability is that exactly?”

“It’s the ability to summon a suit of steel armor and a halberd.”

“Really?”

That’s when it happened.

Swoosh!

“Huh?!”

Moon Byeong-ho suddenly appeared in the middle of the living room.

He had successfully used his awakened ability, Teleport.

Seeing this with his own eyes, Kang Deok-su froze in astonishment.

Moon Byeong-ho slowly surveyed the surroundings, and soon realized that he had teleported.

At the same time, a pleasant notification sounded.

[Citizen Moon Byeong-ho’s trust has increased.]

[Citizen Moon Byeong-ho’s loyalty has increased.]

He bowed his head towards me, expressing gratitude.

“Thank you, thank you!”

Then, unexpectedly, he approached the living room window.

It was easy to see what he was thinking by such behavior.

Addressing him, who was visibly excited.

“Stop.”

“Yes?”

“It seems like you’re trying to go to Grandma’s house directly, but it’s probably going to be difficult.”

“Why is that?”

“Mr. Moon Byeong-ho’s ability is powered by mental strength. However, the farther you want to move, and the more people you want to move together, the more mental strength it requires.”

“Ah…”

“Even if you can see Grandma’s house from here, there’s a high chance you won’t be able to teleport there all at once. In the worst case, you might end up teleporting into thin air.”

If you teleported into empty space, there was only one outcome.

Falling.

“So, for now, it’s crucial to understand your own abilities. Start by figuring out the maximum distance you can travel and how much mental strength is consumed when using the ability.”

“Got it.”

While I was restraining Moon Byeong-ho’s sudden advance, Kang Deok-su also succeeded in using his ability.

Wooong!

Pure white light emanated from his body and quickly took shape.

Silver armor enveloping his entire body and a halberd poised menacingly.

The Steel Knight appeared there.

“I-Is this for real?”

[Citizen Kang Deok-su’s trust has increased.]

[Citizen Kang Deok-su’s loyalty has increased.]

Simultaneously.

[Citizens Moon Byeong-ho and Kang Deok-su have completed the quest.]

[Quest cost: 212,317 won.]

With the completion of the quest, a little over 200,000 won was deducted.

‘About 100,000 won per strength enhancement, huh.’

It was regrettable, but it was a little comforting to think we had invested in the strength of two people who would be our main force.

In any case, this confirmed that quest rewards could be used to enhance specific attributes.

‘Endurance and stamina seem to be at a similar level. Then, could something like this work?’

This time, I decided to give a quest only to Moon Byeong-ho.

《Quest Assignment》

Quest Content: Use Teleport.

Time Limit: 1 hour 00 minutes 00 seconds

Reward: Teleport Mastery Enhancement.

Failure Penalty: Sleeping in the hallway.

[Do you want to bestow the quest as it is?]

[Yes / No]

‘It seems possible.’

It looked like it was possible to increase proficiency in abilities as well.

Moon Byeong-ho, who received the quest, immediately used his ability and easily cleared the quest.

However.

[Citizen Moon Byeong-ho has completed the quest.]

[Quest Cost: 70,133 won.]

‘Huh?’

This time, too, I expected to spend around 100,000 won, but the actual cost was only about 70,000 won.

It was 30% cheaper than anticipated.

‘No way?’

I instinctively realized something.

There was a correlation between the quest content and the cost.

‘I can adjust the cost based on the quest content!’

I wanted to immediately experiment with my newly discovered knowledge.

“Byeong-ho.”

“Yes?”

“How’s your condition?”

“Good.”

“Is that so?”

I pointed to the apartment across the living room window and asked, “Do you think you can teleport over there?”

Moon Byeong-ho carefully assessed the distance and nodded.

“It seems possible.”

“Alright.”

This time, I raised the overall difficulty of the quest.

《Quest Assignment》

Quest Content: Use teleportation to move to the rooftop of Apartment Building 113.

Time Limit: 3 minutes 00 seconds

Reward: Increase teleportation proficiency.

Failure Penalty: Sleeping outside.

The rooftop of the apartment, a short time of 3 minutes, and even the penalty of outdoor sleeping, all raised the difficulty of the quest.

Despite reducing the numbers through a focused hunt, goblins still roamed outside.

Sleeping outside was practically like saying not to sleep.

“This…”

Suddenly realizing the increased difficulty, Moon Byeong-ho appeared visibly flustered.

I spoke sincerely to Moon Byeong-ho.

“You must succeed.”

“…Yes.”

Moon Byeong-ho began to gaze at the rooftop of the apartment across with a tense expression.

‘Absolute Dweller’s Eye.’

In the meantime, I prepared for any unforeseen circumstances.

It was in case Moon Byeong-ho’s mental strength was lacking, and he ended up appearing in mid-air.

If anything happened, I planned on using vassal summoning to bring him back immediately.

‘Please succeed.’

About a minute later.

Whoosh!

Moon Byeong-ho disappeared from our house and appeared on the rooftop railing of the apartment across.

Right after that.

[Citizen Moon Byeong-ho has completed the quest.]

“Phew.”

Fortunately, the quest was successful, and the outcome was much better than expected.

‘No costs incurred.’

Perhaps due to the increased quest difficulty, there were no costs involved in enhancing teleportation proficiency as a reward.

‘I see. Is this the way it works?’

Just as I relaxed.

“!!!”

Moon Byeong-ho, who was standing on the rooftop railing, staggered.

‘Vassal Summon, Moon Byeong-ho!’

Surprised, I immediately used the skill and summoned Moon Byeong-ho, who was about to fall from the rooftop.

Whoosh― Thud!

‘…That was close.’

Luckily, I had been prepared; otherwise, it could have been dangerous if I had been just a little late.

‘He seems to have lost consciousness.’

Due to the sudden long-distance teleportation, Moon Byeong-ho had exhausted too much mental energy and was now unconscious.

It was evident that he had pushed himself to his limits. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝔀𝓮𝘣𝘯𝘰𝘷𝑒𝓵.𝒸𝑜𝘮

I whispered softly in his ear.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Thanks to that, I could confirm that with careful adjustment of the quest details, rewards could be given without incurring any costs.

Turning towards Kang Deok-su, who was watching blankly while clad in silver armor, I spoke.

“Would you mind moving Moon Byeong-ho to the sofa?”

“Yes.”

I asked Kang Deok-su, who was gently placing the unconscious Moon Byeong-ho on the sofa.

“Deok-su, are you good at sports?”

“What?”

Kang Deok-su tilted his head for a moment, then nodded.

“A bit, yes.”

I couldn’t see his face because he was wearing full body armor, but I wondered if he might be feeling uneasy.

With a soft smile directed at him, I said.

“Great. Please do 100 push-ups and 100 squats. Of course, while wearing the armor.”

“…”

《Quest Assigned》

Quest Content: Exercise while wearing armor.

– Push-ups (0/100)

– Squats (0/100)

Time Limit: 10 minutes 00 seconds

Reward: Strength enhancement.

Failure Penalty: Sleeping outside.

I kindly explained to him, who was staring blankly at me.

“We don’t have much time. There will be goblins running around outside, do you think you can sleep well?”

“…Huh?”

Only then did Kang Deok-su realize the seriousness of the situation and began moving.

Nevertheless, even with his background in exercise, Kang Deok-su, who quickly finished the tasks, knelt in the living room, panting heavily.

No matter how much he had leveled up, and his strength and stamina had increased, exercising while wearing heavy armor was not easy.

[Citizen Kang Deok-su has completed the quest.]

[Quest cost: 56,149 won.]

‘It’s much cheaper.’

It was almost half the price.

‘Still, it seems difficult to completely eliminate the cost.’

As much as I wanted to increase the number of repetitions and intensity, it seemed that doing so would only lead to Kang Deok-su failing the quest.

I spoke to Kang Deok-su, who was panting heavily.

“Let’s go for one more set.”

Kang Deok-su, receiving the same quest as before, protested with a tearful expression.

“Do I really have to go outside and sleep?”

“That does seem a bit excessive, doesn’t it? I’ll make a modification.”

Failure Penalty: 1000 push-ups.

Seeing the newly updated failure penalty, Kang Deok-su started exercising without a word.

Trembling, he steadily filled the required repetitions.

[Citizen Kang Deok-su’s loyalty has increased.]

‘Huh? Why is this going up?’

Loyalty was increasing.

Is this why they push people to their limits in the military?

[Citizen Kang Deok-su has completed the quest.]

[Quest cost: 39,783 won.]

Changing the failure penalty proved effective and the quest cost was further reduced.

“Let’s go for one more time.”

“Ah!”

Kang Deok-su persevered through the quest with sheer determination.

[Citizen Kang Deok-su has completed the quest.]

[Quest cost: 35,249 won.]

“It decreased again.”

This time, even though the conditions were exactly the same as before, the cost decreased further.

‘Wait.’

There was something different.

‘Kang Deok-su’s condition was different.’

After the previous two quests, his body was already exhausted.

Attempting the quest in such a fatigued state inevitably raised the relative difficulty.

‘I roughly understand how this works.’

Ultimately, the higher the level of difficulty perceived by the person performing the quest, the more efficient the system becomes.

When Kang Deok-su finished all three sets, a new notification appeared.

[Citizen Kang Deok-su has used up all available quest attempts for today.]

‘Except for party quests, three times is the maximum, then.’

This made sense, and I could now understand why there were separate party quests.

‘It was a system for additional quests.’

It seemed that when you used up all daily quest limits, party quests could be assigned for additional quest opportunities.

As I was organizing my thoughts, another notification appeared.

[Citizen Kang Deok-su’s completed quests are being evaluated.]

‘Huh?’

[······ Evaluation in progress ······]

‘What’s this again?’

It seemed like a task that took a little time.

While the evaluation was underway, I spoke to Kang Deok-su.

“You’ve worked hard. You can go get some rest now.”

Kang Deok-su, with his shining full-body armor and halberd, spoke with a tired voice.

“Thank you…”

Checking the time, it was already past 1 AM.

Considering they had entered the house just past midnight, it had been almost an hour of repeating quests and clears.

When Kang Deok-su removed his armor, the strong scent of sweat reached even here.

He said, “I’m sorry, but can I take a shower?”

“Of course. You can use the bathroom over there.”

“Thank you.”

The results of the various experiments were satisfying.

‘I gained more than I expected.’

First of all, Moon Byeong-ho and Kang Deok-su became more aware of their awakening abilities and could use them effectively.

This significantly increased our overall power.

Especially notable was Kang Deok-su’s newfound abilities.

‘Just tanking in front while wearing armor will make our operations much more stable.’

It was positive in many ways.

The fact that the party was getting stronger meant they could do more.

‘There’s hope.’

Perhaps soon, I would be able to send them and save my family.

‘I can do it.’

That’s when it happened.

[Evaluation complete.]

It seemed like the evaluation for Kang Deok-su’s performed quests had finally concluded.

[Strength slightly increased.]

‘Huh?’

Suddenly, there was a feeling of lightness in my body.

‘This is…’

It was clear.

My strength had increased.

This probably happened because all three of Kang Deok-su’s daily quests were focused on increasing strength.

‘With this, the story changes a bit.’

Now there was a justification for mobilizing the citizens.

Still sick this week so going to keep releases at 3/week this and next week (next week to catch up on chapters).