Since Emilia also held all the required items for the quest and had personally received the system panel confirming it, the system itself judged that she had completed the quest as well.
It was a neat loophole. One that very few players knew about.
As long as all required materials were present in a player’s possession at the mont of turn-in, and the quest panel acknowledged it, the system counted it as valid.
It didn’t matter who had gathered what, or how the materials were split beforehand.
Most people never discovered this simply because secret quests were rare, and even fewer involved shared materials. But Leon knew.
After several minutes of careful work behind the counter, rek finally returned.
In his clawed hands were not one, but two stones, both faintly glowing with a soft, golden light.
He placed them down gently, one after the other, his grin wide and satisfied.
"Not many manage to complete my quest," rek said, nodding slowly. "So here you go. Appreciate it."
Ding!
[Your reputation with rek has improved.]
Leon wasn’t surprised.
Every native of [Eternal Ascension], what players casually called NPCs, had a reputation value tied to each individual player.
Improving it could open doors: better prices, exclusive interactions, rare crafting options, and sotis even access to hidden quests or locations.
Of course, reputation wasn’t always sothing to blindly increase.
So natives sided with the gods. Others answered directly to higher beings. And so were simply dangerous.
Leon would never aim to stay on good terms with everyone. That was a good way to die.
Still, rek was a valuable ally.
Leon picked up one of the stones from the counter and casually tossed the other toward Emilia.
She barely caught it, instinctively gripping it with both hands.
[Resurrection Stone (Legendary): Will revive soone at the nearest "safe point" upon death. Automatically consud if the user dies.]
"Oh my god..." Emilia whispered, staring at it. "This is... insane."
"Yeah," Leon nodded calmly. "I don’t plan on dying anyti soon, though. This is just insurance. Don’t let it make you careless."
"I won’t," Emilia said imdiately, shaking her head.
Leon had seen it happen too many tis.
Players who obtained resurrection items often started taking unnecessary risks, thinking death no longer mattered.
But those stones were rare. Extrely rare. Wasting one was equivalent to throwing away a miracle.
Leon would only rely on it if escape was truly impossible.
"If you have more materials, I can craft more things," rek said casually. "Or buy them."
"Perfect," Leon replied.
He opened his [Storage Space] and pulled out everything he currently had that wasn’t imdiately useful.
[Darkened Star Grass (Special Material)]
[Dark Tree Branch x5 (Uncommon)]
[Howled Wolf Claw x3 (Rare)]
[Elental Stone x4]
He placed them all on the counter. rek examined them carefully, his expression thoughtful.
"Hm. The branches, claws, and stones are for a blacksmith," he said. "Not an alchemist. But I can take the grass."
"That’s fine," Leon nodded.
"I’ll give you 500 Eternal Coins for it."
Leon didn’t hesitate. Special materials were rare, but he needed liquidity more than anything right now.
The transaction completed instantly. After that, they exchanged brief farewells and left the shop.
As they walked through the empty, broken streets of [Hub City], Emilia glanced back once.
"Are we going to see him again?"
"Yeah," Leon answered without hesitation. "He’s going to beco a major alchemist."
Emilia blinked. "How do you even know that?"
"Feeling," Leon grinned.
The streets around them remained quiet, abandoned, and partially destroyed. Most players didn’t venture this far from the main square unless they had a specific reason.
But just as they were about to re-enter the central area—
Ding!
[30 minutes until the event of "Hub City" starts.]
A global announcent echoed through the city, reaching every eligible player between levels 10 and 15.
Leon’s eyes sharpened. Finally. He had been waiting for this.
Even in his past life, events were unpredictable. So were rembered. Others were forgotten. And so... changed everything.
This one was new to him. Which made it even more interesting.
Leon and Emilia moved quickly, returning to the main square. Compared to earlier, the difference was night and day.
Players flooded the area from every direction.
"Finally, I’ve been waiting forever."
"I wonder what kind of event it is..."
The air buzzed with excitent and tension.
Most events involved rankings. Performance-based competitions where the best players earned the best rewards.
And sotis, those rewards were powerful enough to define a player’s future.
Leon wasn’t interested in anything except first place. To him, anything below that barely mattered.
And thankfully, his current combat power gave him a real chance.
Still, events had one unfair aspect: level 15 players were allowed to participate.
That ant soone from a high-level world, blessed with an absurd talent, could appear and dominate everything.
Even so, Leon remained confident.
"Well," he said calmly, "we wait."
Minutes passed.
More and more players arrived. So rushed in from nearby dungeons. Others sprinted across the wilds the mont they heard the announcent.
Even players from the [Undead Temple] hurried back, abandoning their runs to avoid missing the event.
The crowd kept growing.
Then—
Ding!
[5 minutes left before the event.]
By now, tens of thousands of players filled the square and surrounding streets.
"This feels strange," Emilia muttered, looking around. "There are so many people. So of them are from interdiate and high-level worlds."
Leon scanned the panels of nearby players.
[World: Anglora (Interdiate-Level)]
[World: Berid (High-Level)]
Different races. Different worlds. Different backgrounds. Universal Ascension didn’t discriminate.
Even Emilia looked surprised when she noticed elves that clearly weren’t from her world, Verdia.
"I guess it does make you feel small," she said quietly, "knowing how many worlds are involved."
"That’s the power of [Universal Ascension]," Leon replied. "But we’ll rise above them."
She smiled. "Fair."
Then—
Ding!
[Special Event: "Shadow Horde" will now start.]
[Difficulty: Nightmare.]
"...WHAT?"
"Nightmare difficulty?! Are you kidding ?"
"Hell no, I’m out."
A wave of panic spread through the crowd. And it made sense.
Events, like dungeons, had difficulty tiers: Normal, Hard, Hell, Nightmare, Abyss, Eternal.
Nightmare was the fourth tier. For an event limited to level 10–15 players, that was insane.
Ding!
[Objective: Defend "Hub City" from the advancing Shadow Horde.]
[Each monster defeated will grant points based on strength.]
[Players ranked highest on the leaderboard will receive the greatest rewards.]
[Rank 1 Reward: Mythical Treasure Chest.]
[Event Duration: 2 hours.]
[Good luck.]
Leon’s expression hardened. This was it. A Mythical Treasure Chest.
Sothing that could redefine his build entirely. There was no hesitation.
Leon took a slow breath, his grip tightening around his weapon.
No matter what appeared, no matter who stood in his way—
He was taking first place.
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