Devouring Quests
"Eat more."
"Qu- quests?"
"Yeah. What should it be..."
Just by hunting monsters or running errands, they get stronger. It was a hero growth method straight out of a game—something I'd never seen before in all my time here.
There were cases where people grew by battling monsters or demons... but that was just experience. They got stronger through life-or-death fights and getting used to handling mana. I'd never seen anyone level up from something as trivial as errands.
"Helping people in distress is a hero's virtue, after all."
"R-right...?"
"I help a lot!"
"Yeah, that's right!"
The heroes started buzzing. The moment I mentioned quests, they erupted in excited murmurs, like they'd been shocked.
If the old hag's mass-produced hero project—which she'd thrown these guys into—included quests as the new growth system, then the heroes probably knew about them too.
So here's the question: How do they work?
The quests I knew rewarded rarer, harder ones with better prizes. Killing ten goblins at the base of the mountain would give way less than taking down that northern monster legion up there.
So naturally, I should hand out tough quests. That way they'd grow fast and smash monsters, demons, legion commanders—whatever.
But that was just common sense from my past life. The old hag's quests might work differently.
"Let's experiment."
"Pardon?"
"You, you, you. Come here."
At my gesture, Haring, Yongba, and Hidni stepped forward. They tilted their heads but obeyed without complaint. I checked their statuses one by one, patted their heads, and said,
"Each of you go kill five goblins down at the base of the mountain. Oh, Haring, make it ten for you."
"Pardon?"
"Just goblins?"
"Why do I get ten?"
"Just because. Go."
I shooed them off with a wave, and the three heroes glanced at the air before heading down the mountain, questions lingering.
While they were gone, I called NyaNya over.
"NyaNya."
"Yes!"
"I'll tell you where the goblin nest is. Wipe 'em all out and come back."
"...Just me?"
"Yep."
"Understood."
NyaNya bowed, glanced at the air, and left.
That left Yugi and Kazen. They asked if I had anything for them, but I said no and told them to keep up their mana circulation training. They looked bummed but got back to it.
"Oh, Yugi, don't do anything."
"Why?"
"Just because."
"...Then can we take one photo together?"
"We've taken tons already."
"I wanna get a close-up one..."
"Want me to just ignore you?"
"No, sir."
＊
"It's different."
The heroes returned in just ten minutes, quests cleared. It was a nothing task, but they had changed.
Yongba and Hidni, who'd killed five goblins each, had tiny boosts in mana and physical stats. So minor that if I hadn't checked from the start, I wouldn't have noticed.
Haring, with her ten, got about 1.1 times more than them.
Next was NyaNya, who'd cleared the whole nest—around three times the gains.
And Kazen, who'd just sat there circulating mana, got about four times.
At first glance, quests seem useless, but this was just goblin hunting. If harder quests mean bigger rewards, then siccing them on tougher monsters should pay off big.
Oh, and Yugi? Nothing, since he did zilch.
"Just one photo..."
"Stay still."
I ran more tests after that. Orc hunts, foraging herbs somewhere on the mountain, nest cleanups—tons of quest types.
The experiments lasted about a week. At first, the heroes were shaking in their boots, but the easy difficulty soon had smiles blooming on their faces.
Of course. Who wouldn't love growing effortlessly?
Mana circulation was even easier—just sit and grow—but it wasn't exactly fun training. Besides, mana practice and quest growth were separate paths.
By day three, they were swarming me begging for quests. Hilarious.
And that's how I figured out some key rules.
First: Difficulty scales with rewards, obviously. Tougher or more special the quest, bigger the payout. Probably the old hag boosting their hero power.
"The more you do, the weirder it gets."
Heroes grew steadily with quests, but past a threshold, gains spiked. I called it tiered growth—like leveling up from my past life. Tiny quests gave small bumps, but hitting a milestone maximized it.
Second: Quest limits.
"Too many..."
"Eat more."
"No, I'm full! I can't take more!"
"Eat more."
You hit a cap where no more quests come. Couldn't pin the exact number, but around fifty triggered it. Clear or abandon some to free slots.
One mystery: Why did "Hunt 30 orcs" and "Find a lost cat" give the same reward...?
"Why's that?"
"No idea."
"'Cause it's cute?"
"Cats are cuter."
"Hm."
Nya~a~a~ong~
I nodded, stroking the cheese cat in my arms while listening to the heroes. Yeah, it is cute.
Toward the experiment's end, the third rule emerged.
"Huff... huff... Got 'em! Scarlet lotus from the Red Canyon!"
"No change~."
"Huh?"
"Bring five more~."
"Uh, that's kinda..."
Once they hit a certain point, minor quests stopped mattering. Growth still happened, but it was like a drop in the ocean—better to focus on mana circulation.
"Haha! 55 at last!"
"Rank 3!"
"Woooooo!!!"
Experiments and growth verified... time for the real deal.
"Shall I hand out proper quests?"
＊
Lea's official disciples got weird quests for about a week. Low-level monster hunts, nest cleanups, herb gathering—basic stuff.
If it'd been some village NPC, they'd shrug it off. But it was a dragon. The supreme race, their mentor for months.
Suddenly spamming never-before-seen quests? They trembled.
"What the heck is Lea doing?"
"Dunno~."
"She called 'em quests, right? Think she figured something out?"
"She's not hostile at least..."
"Hmm..."
"Just do 'em? It's not bad or anything."
They sneaked posts to the gallery, asked around, but got shrugs or nonsense. So they just ground quests—and by day three, results showed.
"At this rate..."
"I'm rank 8 now...?"
"N-number one?!"
Levels skyrocketing. Normal users cleared one quest a day, maybe two or three. Lea's disciples? Nearly twenty daily. Mostly lowbie trash like easy hunts and errands.
Even if rewards were small, quantity crushed it. Plus, becoming official disciples cleared "Flame Dragon Training (2)" for 55k exp, starting them high...
"What level you at?"
"58."
"I'm 57, so you're number one?"
"56. Rank 5."
"...This a bug?"
"Feels like cheating..."
The nest crew swept ranks 1 through 6. Top rankers were weeping blood.
Haring, proudly rank 1 in Prolazia, grinned ear-to-ear.
I wanna brag! Blast the forum with "Kneel, peasants!" and flex the screenshot.
But no.
"If this leaks, it'll be chaos, right?"
"Already half-disaster."
"Ahem..."
A crazy NPC handing out 20 quests a day? Game-changer. Normies, top rankers, big guilds—everyone swarming.
Even a thousand rankers couldn't touch Lea, but still...
"Better keep it quiet."
"Agreed. Our secret."
Not something to share. Especially if it seemed buggy.
So they whispered about sweet quests today—
Lea approached with a smirk.
"Master! Quests for today...?"
"Gotta earn your keep."
"Huh?"
"Go kill the Ogre Boss."