At the entrance to the village, Alice stood ready.
A map appeared in the upper-left corner of her vision, displaying the entire village and the various landmarks scattered throughout it.
A yellow dot appeared on each landmark, while a blue dot appeared at the village entrance.
The blue mark must be me.
Alice was not under any pressure.
No matter how large the village was, it would not take her three hours to complete a lap around all the marked locations.
This was why she was confident that she could easily complete the main quest without the need for further preparations.
Alice relaxed her body, stretched her short legs, and began jogging slowly toward the first marked location—the Village Square.
After running several meters along the pebbled pathway, the little girl quickly arrived at the Village Square.
She jogged lightly into the center of the Village Square before turning around to leave.
At that moment, the map magnified the area of the Village Square.
Several red marks were displayed on the screen.
?
The little girl paused briefly, but her legs continued moving in their jogging rhythm.
Alice perceptively ran toward the nearest red mark, which was located near the entrance of the square, where a small reception desk stood beneath a sloping tiled roof.
This was where the previous Hero Recruitment Hall had been, where she first joined the Hero Rankings and became an Apprentice Hero.
As soon as Alice arrived at the location, the red mark on the map of the Hero Rectruiment Hall turned green, accompanied by a check mark.
So that’s how it was.
Alice looked at the other red marks scattered throughout the Village Square and confirmed her guess with the system, just to be on the safe side.
System, I have to visit every location marked in red to complete each objective, am I right?
The fairy appeared out of thin air.
[Yes, young hero.
Please make sure to visit all sub-locations marked in red to complete the objectives.
If you fail to visit even one sub-location, the corresponding objective will not be completed.]
I knew difficult mode would have a catch.
Most likely, the previous intention was simply to allow her to practice walking, and as long as she could steadily walk around the village landmarks, the main quest quest would be completed.
Most likely, the adults saw how fast she improved and how easy the main quest had become to her current condition, so they added these changes.
Alice did not mind, however.
There were only six red marks in the Village Square.
Alice smoothly jogged to each one before finally leaving the area.
[Ding!]
[Task: Visit the Village Square, marked as complete.]
One done, three remaining.
The next location Alice visited was not the Healing Hut.
Although it was listed as the second objective, the Training Grounds were actually much closer to the Village Square based on the village’s layout.
When Alice arrived at the Training Grounds, she saw a large and spacious courtyard-style training area, the exact place where she trained like a dog.
The running tracks laid on the ground were still there.
Aside from the large courtyard, there was stone building beside it, containing various pieces of training equipment that were currently not in use.
In the Training Grounds, there were far more red marks than in the Village Square, at least eight locations were marked in red.
It took Alice quite a while to visit them all, and by the time she left the Training Grounds, Alice was beginning to pant.
Sweat was starting to soak the back of her shirt, while a thin sheen of sweat covered her forehead and temples.
Despite this, the little girl was still full of energy and soon ran toward the next target with her short legs.
The Training Grounds were on its rightmost side, connected to the square by a pebbled pathway.
Further inside the village was the Healing Hut.
The Healing Hut did not have a large courtyard, but its interior was very spacious.
The building itself looked like a large, two-story wooden house.
Considering that the yard was not very large, Alice guessed that most of the red marks would be located inside the building.
Looking at the map, as expected, she was correct.
Alice immediately ran inside and began visiting the various areas without stopping, only slowing down a little when she felt breathless, and resuming the usual steady speed once she caught her breath.
The large two-story building was like a combination of a dormitory, clinic, and dressing room.
At the very back was also a storage area.
The clinic was probably the largest space in the Healing Hut, especially since it contained the neural medical pod and several symbolic hospital beds for the other nonexistent trainees.
Alice had to run up and down the building, entering various rooms to change the red marks into green checks.
By the time the system finally announced the completion of the visit to the Healing Hut, Alice was beginning to feel tired.
Her entire body was already covered in sweat.
Even so, Alice remained fairly relaxed and carefree.
Everything had been much easier than she expected.
At this rate, she would definitely have the energy to meet up with Azure later and finally resolve her questions.
The final area Alice had to visit was the Village Market.
The Village Market was where all kinds of equipment, snacks, training tools, and other items that could be exchanged for copper coins were sold.
If the rehabilitation plan went as previously planned, the patient was expected to spend at least a week in the AR simulation as an Apprentice Hero who was practicing walking.
The medical staff watching on the sides wiped their tears.
Their initial intention for this Village Market’s existence was to encourage the patient to casually walk with her crutches on while buying some snacks and other customized clothes, equipment, accessories, etc.
They thought that it would encourage the little girl to earn more copper coins by completing the daily quests.
But the changes turned everything upside down!
Well, the fact that the patient’s recovery was beyond the expected range was one of the reasons, too…
Alice had not had any business with the Village Market before.
In fact, this was her first time entering the area.
Despite her burning muscles and panting breath, Alice became excited as she surveyed the market with interest.
Her attention was especially drawn to the food stalls lining both sides of the pebbled pathway.
Now that I can walk normally, I naturally have to spend all the copper coins I have on the snacks here.
With that thought, Alice continued jogging through the market, visiting every location marked in red.
Not long after, the little girl was finally back at the village entrance, her face flushed red, soaking in sweat, panting hard, and her muscles burning.
But Alice still had a lot of energy in her.
At almost the same time, the system’s familiar voice sounded.
[Congratulations!
You have completed the Main Quest: “Fast as the Wind.”]
[Rank promoted to Novice Hero.]
[You have leveled up.]
[As a Novice Hero, you can now perform basic training and complete the obstacle courses.]
[New Features Unlocked: Etiquette Lessons, Armory, Village Library, Spiritual Pool, Obstacle Course]
[Reward: Novice Hero Badge, Personal Butler, Villa Residence Upgrade, Free Access to Library, Snack Coupons x 10, Wealthy Merchant’s Wardrobe, Silver Coins x 10]
[All your physical attributes had been maxed out.] This story is hosted at g.com.
My physical stats!
Alice’s eyes shone.
She immediately called out the status window.
The familiar blue window appeared.
[Rank: Novice Hero]
[Level: 3]
[Health: 100 / 100]
[Initial Hero Attributes]
[Vitality: 10 “How healthy your body is”]
[Mobility: 10 “How well you can travel”]
[Balance: 10 “How well you can stay on your feet”]
[Endurance: 10 “How long you can keep going”]
[Coordination: 10 “How smoothly you move”]
Ah, how beautiful.
While she was happily appreciating the maxed out values, the status window disappeared and a small pop-up replaced it suddenly.
[The required initial hero attributes have been achieved.
The status window is currently being updated…]
Alice only looked at it curiously for a brief moment, before turning her gaze back at the window that showed the completion of the main quest.
Alice read the contents of the window and was surprised at the rewards and newly unlocked features.
Etiquette lesson?
What was that for?
Spiritual Pool?
It must be that large boulder with a small spring at the end of the village.
Personal Butler…
Was it the AI Azure?
The little girl looked curiously at the these three things that made her curious the most for e brief moment.
The next moment, the world shattered into countless golden stardusts again, ending the AR simulation, and returning Alice to the same familiar cold underground gym.
Clap, clap, clap!
A loud sound of applause filled the air as everyone began clapping their hands together in jubilation.
“Congratulations, Alice, you are now officially declared as a fully recovered patient,” Dr.
Mark cheerfully said while clapping together with the other adults.
“Test Subject C3’s recovery is so fast and impressive, you deserve to be rewarded!”
“You worked hard, C3, thank you for your hard work.”
“You’re really great, the best test subject we ever met!”
What kind of praise is that, is that even supposed to be a praise?
Facing everyone’s sincere congratulations and praise, Alice felt a little embarrassed and scratched the tip of her nose.
As if a load had been lifted off her shoulders, Alice felt ready to face her next target.
It means so much to me.
Thank you, mwah!