A Quest at Last

This time, with a fresh supreme-grade spirit stone and Cheon Nan-cho working herself to the bone under my careful supervision, she managed to form spirit veins for the very first time — and not one but two upper-grade spirit veins burst into existence.

"Damn."

Should I just convert these into mid-grade ordinary spirit veins and eat them? The vegetation-attribute vein was obviously Cheon Nan-cho's influence, and the slaughter-energy one had to be from my own slaughter energy rubbing off on the process.

"Why is mine slaughter energy and not slaughter force?!"

"Because slaughter force is the higher-tier attribute to begin with?"

"Ah."

So if it had been a slaughter-force spirit vein, a higher-grade one would have popped out. The only slaughter-attribute skill I even used was Heavenly Slaughter Art, after all.

Granted, every basic skill had fused into one and evolved twice, so being able to grind Heavenly Slaughter Art proficiency twice as fast was a genuine upside — but it still left me feeling cheated.

Especially since I only had two supreme-grade spirit stones left from the Abyss haul.

"Cheon Nan-cho, want to go exploring now?"

"Don't you dare. I nearly died making two of these in one go. I'm so wiped I couldn't even tag along with you for a while."

Cooldown, then. Nothing I could do about that.

"Skill window."

Heavenly Slaughter Art still stuck at a measly level 17 kept catching my eye. Why the hell did I pick "cannot gain skill proficiency through combat"? If I hadn't, I could've just mindlessly looped Auto-Battle and the skill levels would've climbed on their own.

Obviously, combat was the fastest way to stack skill proficiency — way faster than regular use or grinding in the Training Ground.

Hmm? The Training Ground? That place was just infinite skill-cast spam for proficiency grinding.

"Alrighty, I'm heading out."

"Yeah. Have fun."

Leaving the base for the open map was, of course, for infinite Auto-Battle farming — stacking slaughter force, experience, and loot.

Level 300 gear was obviously way stronger than level 290 stuff, so aside from my unique belt, I needed to swap out every other piece. Weapons excluded, naturally.

Even a weapon with the "Sturdy" prefix that boosted durability still got obliterated in a single Spoon cast. Same difference.

"Auto-Battle."

Even same-level elite mobs got the "Overwhelming" result on Auto-Battle unless they were packing a Tier-1 prefix, so Spoon only came out for bosses.

"...Huh. Green?"

I'd cleared maybe five or six maps when I spotted a green dot tucked in a corner of the minimap.

An NPC my innate ability flagged as an ally, and that the mod stamped with a big fat safety sticker — no misfortune events attached.

So why was an NPC like that wandering around a place crawling with mobs? Mild curiosity got the better of me. I spun up the Wheel and flew over — only to find a neutral NPC dumping dozens of background-extra mortals into a cauldron whole, apparently planning to cook them for body recovery.

Ah.

"You're gonna eat those yourself, but you're just tossing them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in whole without washing them or even stripping their clothes? Isn't that a little gross?"

"Who the hell are you?!"

"Ah?"

Heavenly Slaughter Art activated, and the slaughter energy it unleashed rode the Wheel straight at the neutral NPC, pinning them flat.

I'd held back on purpose — if I'd blasted slaughter force, the surrounding background extras would've gotten swept up, and the green-dot quest NPC might've died with them.

"Hey. I'm talking to you instead of killing you. You getting that?"

"Ghk... haah...!"

With every word, the Wheel rotated left and right in tiny increments, dialing the slaughter energy up and down, grinding the nameless neutral NPC into the dirt. Bones snapped. They threw up some kind of spirit-energy barrier or technique, but the sheer volume of slaughter energy sealed off every defense and escape route, smashed through them all, and reduced the neutral NPC to something resembling half-crushed red potato mash.

Cultivators really were disgustingly tenacious — still alive after I'd pulped them with slaughter energy like this. That was where slaughter force shone. Unlike plain slaughter energy, slaughter force was spiteful: it punched through regeneration and resistance and kept digging until it killed you somehow.

"Not answering?"

"What... what in the world is this outrage... Senior...?"

"Outrage...?"

The dialogue state of a gray-dot neutral NPC who'd been trying to kill a green-dot? Was that even right? Reality-patched or not, a random neutral NPC trying to murder a quest NPC?

"Ah, shit."

In that flash of irritation, slaughter force instead of slaughter energy rode the Wheel and crushed the Core Formation–looking neutral NPC flat. Naturally, the gray dot converted into a handful of slaughter force.

A mid-200s-level neutral NPC, and yet it dumped more slaughter force and experience than a dungeon boss over level 300. I nodded, feeling oddly pleased, and reeled the slaughter force and energy back in.

"Stripped bare, huh. No loot either... Hey there. Uh, Grandma?"

"...Thank... thank you..."

"No, wait, Grandma — don't copy the background extras and start bowing. Just stand up, okay?"

What was she even doing?

More importantly — maybe because she was a green-dot quest NPC — her spiritual energy level was way higher than the background extras who didn't even show on the minimap. If she'd become a cultivator, she was destined for greatness.

"Grandma, anything you want ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to ask of me?"

"...Well..."

"It's fine. Even a trivial errand — I won't get mad. Want me to fetch materials or items? That's fine too. Come on, Grandma. This is an absurd opportunity where I'll grant pretty much any wish. What do you want?"

So hurry up and hand over the quest already!

Why was I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so obsessed with quests?

The rewards, obviously.

Early on I'd been too busy surviving events to spare a single thought for quests. But quests in the xianxia mod, like cultivation experience, handed out a base percentage of experience as a reward — and on top of that, they guaranteed one lucky event.

I'd only run into a quest NPC four or five times while leveling to 300, and since I'd killed every other neutral NPC besides the quest ones, my favorability was probably in the gutter. I'd never properly received a quest.

Which made this my first real shot at one.

"Well? What do you want, Grandma?"

Players resolve quests.

That was a fundamental principle of games — a clear, ironclad rule.

The old woman trembled slightly with fear. Granted, if you subtracted the accelerated time from the speed-mod, I was probably older than her in actual lived years. But if she was banking on her appearance alone to earn my sympathy, she'd already passed.

I completely erased my slaughter energy, tucked the Wheel back into my body, and — with all the grace of a bull in a china shop — hauled up my clumsy spiritual energy to wrap around her as a gesture of consideration. Only then did the quest NPC slowly open her mouth.

"...What is it that you can do for me?"

"Hmm... I really can do pretty much anything, okay?"

As long as the system didn't block it! Resurrection of an NPC, rewinding time, anything resembling human transmutation — those were out. Though that last one might work with a mod?

"Ah, can you keep it short?"

She was mumbling, trying to get the words out properly, but I had no need to sit through a long quest script. Clean skip.

"I want... revenge for my grandchildren."

"Ah. That I can do."

Disgustingly easy quest! Revenge? Simple. Just kill everyone involved!

"Eat this first, Grandma."

I fed her a low-level consumable to forcibly extend her lifespan, layered on a protective barrier of spiritual energy, topped it off with a heal, then immediately spun up the Wheel and rose into the air.

"Oh, right."

Thanks to this goddamn Reality Patch, neutral NPCs could kill quest NPCs. If I left to do the quest and came back to a dead quest NPC, that would be a problem.

Let's see.

How to protect a green-dot quest NPC?

I pulled out my max-level skill, Chopsticks. Then I took some slaughter stone that Cheon Nan-cho had diligently mined and stockpiled in the warehouse — which I'd quietly pocketed — infused it with slaughter force, and fused it with the Chopsticks.

And just like that — ta-da! A solid stone chopstick with actual physical form, not pure slaughter force. Even a mortal could hold it.

"Here. Keep this on you. If anyone tries to kill you, Grandma, it'll kill them for you."

Slaughter force wanted to kill every living thing by default, but once it was under the control of the Chopsticks skill, adding extra will to it was easy.

An auto-tracking blackboard eraser that reacted to slaughter energy and murdered every living thing except the green-dot quest NPC... no, wait. Chopsticks. It was chopsticks.