Epic Quest
Too good an item might not be worth using, but that didn't mean I was going to turn down anything that came my way. I accepted the quest without hesitation, and Erwen flashed a proud smile, promising to craft me an amazing sword. She did warn me that she wasn't handing it out for free—if I didn't learn diligently, there'd be no soup for me.
But looking at the quest completion conditions, most were optional with no real restrictions, so it was probably just talk. She'd probably make the sword even if I just went through the motions. Of course, I had no intention of slacking off. I'd felt it down to my bones in that fight with the high elf knight—the power of systematic swordsmanship.
It was on a whole different level from the rough-and-tumble style I'd hacked together against the lizardmen. I was already looking forward to that depth of combat technique.
After getting the quest and item from blacksmith Erwen, I made the rounds of the other shop-type spots. But I only found two I could actually visit: a miscellany shop selling potions and a grocery store.
"Oh my, a human here? What brings you? Got an invitation or something?"
The shopkeeper lady took one look at me buying potions and showed immediate interest, tossing in a mystery pill as a bonus.
◈ A secret elixir passed down among elves. Rumored to be the key to their racial longevity trait, though unverified.
◈ Treated like a household nutritional supplement in elf society.
◈ Grants a permanent +1 to one random stat upon consumption (once only).
I figured it was no big deal since she handed it out like a vitamin shot at the pharmacy, but holy shit—it permanently boosted a stat. A quick search showed it was an item you could get from either dark elf or high elf factions. Follow their questlines and you'd snag at least one guaranteed.
Of course, the high elf side—where selling just spat out trash—didn't hand them out easily.
The grocery store NPCs were a dark elf couple with a tanned, thug-like vibe, and they were pretty friendly to me too.
"Well, damn, a human—been a while... Honey, we got any of those cookies left from last time? Grab those for him."
At this point, I was starting to think dark elves saw humans like stray cats.
"Hey, kid, thirsty? Want some milk?"
Not that I minded. And while I was lingering at the grocery, Elenoir came looking for me.
"Sorry, took longer than expected? I was supposed to find you a good room."
"Doesn't matter."
"Good, then. This way—follow me."
Elenoir led me into a massive tree dwelling. My room was up four flights of stairs. Even in a dark elf village, it wasn't much different from any other inn. She called it a good room, but it didn't look special. Whatever—free lodging was free lodging, no complaints.
"You've got an item box, right? So no real luggage to unpack."
Come to think of it, NPCs seemed to perceive challengers' inventories as some kind of magical "item box."
"Come on, then. I'll show you the communal bath. You could use a wash first."
Elenoir grabbed my arm and tugged. I'd gotten pretty filthy fighting that high elf knight anyway.
"You reek of blood."
Guess that was the real issue. Sixth floor, covered in blood and poison for ages—still haven't washed it all off? I scrubbed hard before the festival...
"Elves have a better sense of smell than humans. Not that it's particularly unpleasant."
Hearing that explained why that high elf prince had freaked out and charged me. A outsider wielding a massive black jagged greatsword, drenched in blood and poison stench. Factor in the border dispute with the kingdom army and high elf great forest, and it'd be weirder not to be on guard. Especially since I'd just cleaved the rune bear he'd been hunting. Must've looked extra dangerous.
Of course, that had nothing to do with those high elf pricks' shattered sense of humanity.
"Anyway, let's head in. This way."
The dark elf bath Elenoir showed me to was huge and luxurious. Influenced by elven naturalism, it had a well-developed hot spring vibe. Maybe it was a real hot spring. But it had one major flaw—which I could guess from Elenoir naturally dragging me along.
"Holy shit, it's mixed bathing."
Yeah. The communal bath had no gender divide.
"Humans don't have this custom? I can leave if it's uncomfortable."
"Nah, no need to go. Just not used to it."
It wasn't a bad thing, so I didn't bother kicking Elenoir out. But it was weird—community never mentioned dark elf mixed bathing culture. Maybe it required a certain affinity level. Or challengers deliberately avoided mentioning it. Open community showed real names, so talking about this level of intimacy openly might've been awkward.
"Might as well search."
Curiosity hit, so I searched the community for "mixed bathing." Not many hits. Mentions of the culture existed, but hardly anyone claimed to have experienced it firsthand. Probably affinity-based or system-blocked for challengers. Maybe a unique event only first-gen hunters saw, or a hidden element I'd pioneered. Or maybe because of this in my quest log.
Dark Elf Chronicles - Invitation
Tower of Trials quests fall into three broad categories: standard quests that vanish after one clear, repeatable quests you can grind, and limited-quantity uniques that first- and second-gen exhausted.
But that's not official system classification—just how challengers lumped them.
"Never heard of an epic quest..."
And naturally, I'd never heard of epic quests existing. Searches turned up zilch. Some challengers who found hidden elements had mentioned them, but almost no one claimed to have actually received one. It floated around as rare word-of-mouth.
A few cross-verifications confirmed they existed, at least.
-Splish.
I soaked in the steaming bath, slowly etching the quest details into my mind like a tattoo.
The description was standard fare—dark elf history and goals. But below, in the objectives and rewards section, an unfamiliar message stood out.
Epic quest rewards and objectives vary based on your challenge record.
Known dark elf faction final reward was an item bestowed by the dark elf queen—pick from a few options, with Queen's Knight Sword being the popular one.
No idea how I triggered this, but clearing the epic route probably meant better rewards.
-Splash.
As I pondered, water parted with a whoosh, and Elenoir pressed right up against me.
Fuck, up close like this, dark elves were no joke. Back when the Tower was still wild, some guys tried nasty shit on NPCs and ended up hostile with the whole village—got killed by guard NPCs.
But NPCs initiating? Apparently fine. Nearly jumped out of my skin.
"What're you staring into space at?"
Did she notice me looking at the quest window? Could NPCs even do that?
"Nothing."
I brushed it off. More importantly, time to push the quest forward.
"Oh, you wanted to talk about something?"
I averted my eyes from her distractingly specific body parts and broached it casually with Elenoir. Some quests needed direct NPC interaction to progress. Elites like her probably required proactive chat.
"Ah, that."
What came out of Elenoir's mouth next was utterly bewildering.
"That prince whose arm you snapped? Yeah, that's my fiancé."
What the fuck?