Chapter 107: Chapter 106: An Irregular Mission

The Old Dwarf jumped to his feet.

"How come I didn’t see it? I’m a descendant of the Ancient God!"

"Uh... how would I know..."

Jon’s eyes darted around as he laughed along, but he was actually looking at his quest panel.

A quest tab, the same earthy yellow as the Blood of the Earth, was faintly flickering—a testament to its importance!

——

[Earth’s Slumber (Ancient · Hidden Quest)]

[An ancient secret, a distant memory. You are bewildered, yet you yearn to know more.]

[Quest Objective: Find and visit a sage capable of answering your questions and seek more information about the mysterious Ancient God.]

[Basic Reward: 200,000 universal Experience Points, 10 points of Earth Element affinity.]

[Additional Reward: Extra experience and an Earth Element affinity reward multiplier will be granted based on task completion.]

Note: Erudite scholars, reclusive Druids, Priests of ancient races... they may be able to provide you with some assistance.

——

’A special tag, a hidden quest that exceeds the scope of conventional quest levels...’

Jon stared at the notification on the panel and took a sharp breath.

’Just a tiny fragment created a treasure on the level of the Blood of the Earth...’

’And just for knowing a bit of information, I can get a huge amount of experience and 10 points of Earth Element affinity...’

’Just what kind of being is this slumbering, mysterious Ancient God?’

’After all, the requirement for elemental affinity in the Advanced Level class trial is only 20 points...’

’If he were inclined to choose the path of earth, he could complete this quest, and with the Blood of the Earth in hand, reach the Advanced Level in one fell swoop!’

’Not that he would choose that path, of course.’

But the quest itself, and the high likelihood of subsequent quests, was just too alluring!

Jon looked at the Old Dwarf before him, who was fuming and utterly perplexed, and calmly steered the conversation back on track.

"So, how powerful is this Ancient God? More powerful than the Deities of today?"

"Of course they are!"

Sutton shot Jon a glare, as if chiding him for asking such a basic question.

"They are the very bedrock of this world. Without the Ancient Gods, this world wouldn’t even exist! Compared to Them, the Deities of today are mere latecomers!"

Then, he urged impatiently.

"Jon, kid, hurry and tell me! What did the Ancient God you just saw look like?"

"Its appearance... Hmm..."

Jon gathered his thoughts for a moment before roughly describing the magnificent creature he had just seen.

Sutton seemed to drift off in thought after hearing the description.

"So... it’s deep within the earth? No wonder some of the ancient Dwarf Clans are used to living underground. Could they be doing it to be closer to the Ancient God?"

"No... that’s not right. If it were really that easy to make contact with the Ancient God, they would have loudly proclaimed it long ago and united all the Dwarf Clans..."

The Old Dwarf muttered to himself, clearly lost in a storm of thoughts.

Meanwhile, Jon glanced at the earthy-yellow tab on his quest panel.

’Nothing?’

’Sutton just said the Ancient Gods are the bedrock of the world. That should count as part of their secrets, right?’

’Or is it considered "common knowledge" in a sense, and not a "secret"?’

After taking another careful look at the quest description, Jon started to form an idea.

’Completing this quest isn’t going to be so simple, after all.’

He had seen the true forms of Deities before—more than one, in fact.

But the awe they inspired paled in comparison to the mysterious Ancient God he had just witnessed—the one slumbering beneath the earth, boundless and vast, as if it were a symbol of "the earth" itself.

To put it another way—the two weren’t even in the same league!

The Deities of the current era, while certainly powerful and majestic, seemed more like manifestations of a [phenomenon] or a [Rule]. They couldn’t be compared to [nature] itself!

’Of course, it could just be the game’s limited rendering capabilities that gave me this impression that "the present Deities are inferior to the Ancient Gods."’

’Considering the time Reya called upon a miracle, maybe in this real world, the majesty of the current Deities is far greater?’

’It was impossible to say for sure.’

But returning to the [Earth’s Slumber] quest itself, his true goal was to learn the truth of this world through the Ancient Gods.

Ever since he’d been transported to this world, Jon had been subconsciously avoiding a question: why was he here, and was it even possible to go back?

It was a question that grew more painful the more he thought about it, yet it was one he had to face.

And now that he knew of the Ancient Gods’ existence—that they were the very bedrock of this world, beings older than the Deities themselves...

...an unavoidable desire began to grow within him: to find out what this world was truly about, to understand its fundamental logic!

This deeper yearning was clearly something the Old Dwarf couldn’t answer. What Sutton knew was likely only surface-level information, akin to "background lore."

’To find the real answers, I’d probably have to follow the system’s advice and seek out the specific people it mentioned.’

As a veteran gamer, Jon already had a few targets in mind.

But because he already knew who those targets were, he also knew what made this quest so difficult.

’[Long Scroll Guardian] Belon Zakari of the Divine Text Library... [Elder of the Ancient Tree] Atticus Zock of the Earthen Ring Council... [Ancient Dragon Priest] Grune Golden Eye of the Black Scale Dynasty...’

These individuals were all leading figures in the fields of "scholar," "Druid," and "ancient Priest" mentioned in the quest prompt. At the same time, they all held extremely high positions within their respective factions and were top-tier powerhouses themselves.

On the bright side, if even they didn’t know the secrets of the being slumbering deep within the earth, then it was likely that few on the entire Yino Continent did.

’They were the right people to seek out.’

The downside was, without status and power, you couldn’t even get a foot in the door...

’Besides them, there’s the Dwarves’ Rock Hammer Clan. They’re supposed to be the oldest surviving Dwarf Clan, but their Rune Priestess... what was her name again? It seems she’s not that powerful...’

It wasn’t as if might made right in this world, but the Dwarves’ loose clan structure really did make it hard for Jon to immediately recall any of their famous figures.

Fortunately, this wasn’t a particularly urgent quest. He had plenty of time to weigh his options and make a plan.

In the future, Major Events would happen one after another on this continent. The various nations and races would beat each other’s brains out, but he’d never seen a Major Event called [The Earth’s Collapse] or anything like it.

Clearly, this mysterious behemoth wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the Old Dwarf, after a period of deep contemplation, seemed to have come to terms with why "a descendant of the Ancient Gods like himself couldn’t see one." He turned to Jon, his eyes gleaming.

"Never mind all that. Matters of Deities are too distant; it’s pointless to speculate."

"Right now, there’s something else I need to talk to you about."

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