[Quest: ■■'s Request]
[Type: Personal]
[Description: …]
[Clear Condition: Sacrifice a whole kingdom to ■■.]
[Time: None]
[Reward: According To The Performance]
[Failure: None]
Opening the quest log, Ash moved his gaze directly toward the failure section. Seeing that there was no punishment for failing the quest, he heaved a sigh of relief.
'It feels good seeing that someone valued their words in this day and age. Well, it's not like I can do anything if 'He' doesn't keep them… But it's nice seeing words having their value…'
Thinking to himself, Ash began reading the text of the quest in peace. He was never a fan of puzzle-style games; those cryptic locks always mess with his head, and now he understood why.
[Description: Why must the ■■ crave the final breath? Is a kingdom reduced to ash the true scope of his desire? The weave appears seamless to a blind eye; move close, one trembles at its infinite, suffocating vastness.]
Scratching the back of his head, like a monkey looking at its reflection, he used every brain cell to understand its meaning.
'Why must 'He' crave the final breath… well, it is obvious the god wants sacrifices from the people… that's why… maybe these offerings increased 'Their' powers, and that's why 'They' always seemed eager to encourage their followers to do it.'
Ash understood this part very well.
There was something that didn't make sense to him in the middle part. It was about the scope of the desire, but knowing that the other being was a god, he didn't waste much of his time deciphering 'His' intentions whatsoever.
But he truly got stuck in the last part.
'First of all, what is this weave thingy… is it a string?' After some thought, he found one meaning that could make sense here.
'Connection, maybe? So if we take connection and move forward, the description would mean that a connection appears simple to a blind person, which can be hmm!..'
Something clicked in his mind as he concluded.
'...Maybe ynonymous with narrow-minded people. Moving close… hmm, maybe getting to understand them?'
Little by little, he applied his broken logic to the puzzle, and the result that came from it was something like this:
'A connection is simple for a narrow-minded person, but get to know them, and you will be amazed by the complexity they present… click! click! Is that right?'
Ash asked himself, but there was no one to answer.
The core problem was that even if he assumed that it was the right interpretation—which he thought certainly wasn't—then it didn't fit well in the whole context of the quest.
'Arghhhhh… this is too much… too much, dare I say. Hey god, please make the description simple next time… next time. What am I saying, please… let's not meet from here on out.'
Lifting his head, Ash prayed not to be accommodated with him next time, but deep down, there was something in him that was itching to solve this. But that was for later.
'Let's focus on this later… I've more important things to worry about now...'
Ash thought closely about the prison cell he had been put in. It was dark, unnaturally dark. If it weren't for the flickering light coming from the few candles, Ash believed he wouldn't even be able to see his own hand.
'Either I'm underground or locked behind something so tightly protected that even sunlight is not allowed. Any of this is not good.'
Thinking this, he turned his head around and looked at the prison closely.
There were a total of ten prisoners beside him, their bones visible beneath their thin skin. Shimmer of light revealed the wounds covering their bodies, while dried blood formed dreadful patches of crimson.
Their skin was pale from the lack of sunlight, and none of them spoke. It was unclear whether they were simply too obedient to draw attention to themselves or lacked the strength to speak.
Ash believed it was the latter.
Sighing, he turned his attention back to the giant sleeping beside him and put his hand against his cheeks.
It wasn't a moment of affection; no, he was observing the wounds, which seemed to have healed a bit. Given a week, Ash believed there wouldn't even be a scratch left.
'Is this the power of a Seeker… natural regeneration?'
Ash thought, remembering that he himself had awakened because of that dreadful god.
After carefully ensuring that there was no one paying attention to him, he whispered in a low tone, "...Imp."
The moment these words left his mouth, a creature appeared in front of him. It was the spitting image of the being he had seen in the Reckoning, but younger. Its horns were barely visible, and its tail hadn't grown yet.
Seeing Imp carefree revolving around his head, Ash asked his very first question. "Are you visible to others?"
The creature stopped moving, sat on the face of the giant, and said, [Not unless you want me to.]
Hearing this, Ash took a deep sigh of relief. It would've been a great hassle to go through to access his Nexor if others could see it as well.
Instead of asking to know about his power, he decided to ask something that's bothering his mind ever since his meeting with the god.
"Imp, can you read my mind?"
A single meeting, and he had developed some sort of fear related to having his mind read.
[Partially.]
'Not again…'
Hurriedly, Ash asked, "What do you mean by partially?"
[I can only know the things you think that are related to me and your power. Even then, that was only if you wanted to be read.]
'Ohh! So like this.'
[Exactly.]
Annoyed by the stinking breath of the giant, Imp flew and sat on Ash's shoulder.
'Can you read this…'
This time Ash didn't want Imp to know of the thought; lo and behold, the little guy didn't reply this time.
'Good, good… can we get to the good part now? Show me my Nexor.'
[I thought you wouldn't ask.]
Imp snapped his fingers, and a long panel appeared in front of him.
[Name: Ash]
[Nexus: The Carrier]
[Rank: Primor]
[Nexus Abilities: Telekinesis]
[Defiance: Yet to be awakened]
[Quirk: Yet to be awakened]
[Ember: None]
[Quest: ■■'s Request]