[Dolores’ Unswerving Stage Special Task]
When Alberke saw the task content, she felt uneasy because of the reward conditions and the third requirement—her own death.
Her reaction was too slow.
The joy of reuniting with Dolores made her reveal the secret that she could see system tasks the moment they met.
By the time she saw Grin and read the task content on him, the arrow was already on the string.
Through the system task on Grin, Alberke learned a lot of information.
That included the fact that she herself was counted as one of the system’s capture targets—she had originally thought she couldn’t possibly be in the system.
Even more surprising, not only herself, but even Viseliane was included.
Alberke couldn’t see the task rewards, but this information was enough to complete her various speculations.
[Saintess Hilberu Affection Task (Trust)]
Task Requirements: Witness Sister Beta’s instructions together with Hilberu, and listen to the voice of the god in the dreamscape together with her.
Note: If this task is completed by Hilberu alone, it will be replaced with new task requirements.
100
100
[Viseliane Affection Task (Trust)]
Task Requirements: Return to Aihexie together with Viseliane and kiss her near the Tree of Healing.
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100
[Alberke Affection Task (Familiarity)]
Task Requirements: Within the Sky City Hemulst area, give Alberke any flower and have it accepted.
[Alberke Affection Task (Trust)]
Task Requirements: Kiss Alberke on the lips and hug her for over 10 seconds.
How to put it.
The appearance of a [Trust] task meant that Alberke’s—her own—affection level with Grin had reached 70. This wasn’t an exceptional number for her; she already had high affection for Grin.
What was surprising was that she was actually one of the capture targets.
Even more surprising, her capture tasks could have both [Familiarity] and [Trust] coexisting.
Alberke had a guess: perhaps the system set a high initial value based on her starting affection, and then Grin completed some task to unlock the previous ones.
It was very likely the main quest he had just completed.
Earlier, Alberke had been scared by Dolores’ special task. If she had suppressed her reaction, she would have quickly realized that the completion requirement for Main Quest (3) was to raise Dolores’ affection to [Unswerving].
The existence of Main Quest (4) meant (3) had already been completed.
In the conversation before Grin arrived, Dolores had explained that she voluntarily allowed Grin to raise her affection to [Unswerving] in order to save Viseliane.
Alberke still clearly remembered the content of Grin’s new main quest:
[Main Quest: The Former Kingdom of Surand]
[Demonstration of Courage (1): Completed]
[Mortals Beneath the Dragon Calamity (2): Completed]
[Curse of the Former Kingdom (3): Completed]
[Song of Death Hidden by the Undead (4): In Progress]
Quest Briefing: The kingdom that perished in the Mythical Era follows forgotten oaths, wandering beneath the earth and the black springs. The song is distant, a clear chant of confusion.
Task Requirements: Ensure Dolores survives for fifteen days, and in the Land Kingdom region, within the Capital Ulgrich underground area, complete the following tasks.
1. Go to the Former Kingdom – Canko Kingdom ruins – Heterodox Church area and retrieve the prayer tool [Scroll Stained with Misfortune] .
2. Go to the Former Kingdom – Suklan Kingdom ruins – Wind Sound Orphanage and purify the vengeful spirit of [Dast Dritikin] .
3. Go to the Former Kingdom – Godsworn Federation ruins – Imitation Sacred Tree area and survive for one hour in the curse domain of the wandering soul [Dovedock] .
4. After completing the above tasks, defeat [The Fifteenth: Prayer Bell] in the Surand region, and defeat [The Ninth: Count Canko] and [The Fourth: Fire Mage – Deddo] .
Note: If the tasks are not completed within fifteen days, the Surand region main quest will be locked, and Main Quest (5) will be unlocked automatically after ten years. Main quests in other regions are not affected by this lock.
These were extremely demanding tasks.
If not for the memory enhancement from studying magic, Alberke wouldn’t have been able to remember such a long task.
These tasks were no longer in Alberke’s memories—meaning the system’s tasks changed along with the situation.
And the difficulty was clearly higher than the previous one, carrying more danger.
“I’m curious why you didn’t find an opportunity to directly ask Grin. He should answer your questions now. We’ve gained his trust, and he’s forgiven and understood you, hasn’t he?”
Alberke put on a curious expression and asked Dolores.
“Wouldn’t that make my purpose too obvious? I’ll tell you quietly—I can actually see part of Grin’s system too, though only my own affection level toward him.”
Dolores’s words successfully piqued Hilberu’s interest, but of course Dolores couldn’t tell Alberke the real reason.
She wanted Grin to still think she was the Dolores from his memories.
The Dolores in the memories could see tasks. She didn’t want to, nor was she willing to, reveal that she couldn’t see them in front of Grin.
What had been a complete dead end now had a new path thanks to Alberke’s appearance.
Because Alberke could see Grin’s system tasks.
“No wonder…” Alberke murmured.
She had originally thought Dolores was using her understanding of the plot combined with reactions to judge that her own feelings were being influenced by the system, leading to her strong reactions.
But she hadn’t expected Dolores could see her own affection level toward Grin.
However, the two weren’t much different—both would hurt Dolores herself.
One was constantly filled with anxiety and doubt about herself; the other was like watching a knife slowly approach, powerless to stop it.
Closing her eyes, Alberke recalled the moment Dolores grabbed her for help, her gaze and trembling words.
She had once thought Dolores back then was a “game character” with some past life memories, and her help had stemmed from sympathy and reluctance.
But she never expected that Dolores was her best friend who had crossed over before her.
And perhaps Dolores in the first loop had been her too.
“Alright, then I’ll answer your question.”
Hilberu spoke, telling Dolores the conditions for Affection Task (1)—the requirement that Felts IV, Viseliane, and Hagel all survive.
Then she concealed Conditions (2) and (3).
In addition, she told Dolores about Main Quest (4); there was no need to hide that.
Dolores’s understanding of it would benefit her, Grin, and Alberke.
And Grin might tell Dolores this task himself.
But the special Unswerving task should not be told to Dolores.
After speaking, both fell into a silent moment of thought. After a while, Dolores spoke first:
“Dolores, how do you view this world and Grin?”
Alberke and Dolores had unknowingly arrived at a quiet flower garden. Alberke’s words made Dolores narrow her eyes, then she slowly parted her lips:
“In the past, I didn’t pay much attention to the world part of the game, unlike you who had to patch things up for consistency. Because you had to write, you had to understand. I focused more on cute characters, beautiful scenes, atmosphere, and imagery.”
“So, from the time I arrived in this world until now, after experiencing so many events… I still feel it’s somewhat dreamlike. Although part of it is the magnificent magic and fantasy creatures like dragons, that’s not the main reason.”
“What feels dreamlike to me is seeing so many dead, wounded—lightly or severely—and the wailing… Alberke, we once lived in a peaceful world.”
The “dreamlike” in Dolores’s mouth wasn’t the kind of gorgeous, fairy-tale dreaminess, but rather a feeling of having one’s past perceptions upended, leaving one unmoored and floating.
Then Dolores continued:
“The only dead person I’d seen was at my father’s funeral; the worst injury I’d seen was a brief glimpse of a hospital bed covered in white cloth. That part took me the longest to accept, to realize that this world is unfamiliar.”
So back then, the bloody scene after the dragon attack had affected Dolores so deeply, and even now she still felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Alberke nodded. She had crossed over earlier than Dolores and had already experienced these feelings herself, so she understood deeply.
The place where Alberke first crossed over wasn’t a good one. When she first saw dead bodies and the bloody scenes caused by battle, it took her even longer to recover than Dolores.
But now she had overcome most of it.
Dolores rubbed her temples and continued:
“As for Grin, it’s hard for me to tell you how I see him. You know our identities give us a natural filter for him.”
“Do you like him?” Alberke asked.
“The kind of like one has for their own work.” Dolores replied.
“Not the romantic kind?” Alberke was still suspicious.
“If this weren’t a second playthrough, and if there were no system, maybe right now I would have that kind of romantic affection for him.”
“Oh…”
Alberke said nothing more. Those words were indeed hard to fault.
“You’re still worried that I’m being influenced by the system, aren’t you?”
Alberke nodded. The two stopped in front of a patch of blooming white flowers.
“Don’t worry about me. I know clearly what I’m doing, what I’m thinking, and I remember everything.”
“If you compare the soul to a painting, the base color can fade, time can bleach the colors, new paint can cover the old, but the paper that carries those colors will still be the same sheet.”
Dolores reached out, her hand touching the blooming white flower.
“The soil remains the same soil. No matter what color of flower blooms upon it, in the end, all flowers are rooted in the soil.”
“Like my poetic and chuuni side? That kind of cringey feeling is nostalgic, isn’t it, Xiao Huayu.”
Dolores smiled faintly.
“I didn’t expect to feel this familiarity in a different world.” Alberke sighed, then asked seemingly casually:
“So, you won’t lie to me, right?”
Dolores was silent for a moment, then shook her head: “I lied to you before. I might need to apologize for that.”
“?” Alberke tilted her head.
“I used to say I didn’t like drawing loli-type characters and preferred drawing older women, but actually, when I drew loli characters like Dolores and Hilberu, I was pretty happy and motivated inside.”
Alberke’s mouth twitched. She took a careful look at Dolores’s current figure.
“I never restricted the height or figure of those characters, but the final drafts you handed me were always petite women. If there was an exception, it was probably only for supporting characters?”
“Even though I said I like cute, petite girls, I never asked you to draw them all as cute types!”
“Hmm…” Alberke thought for a moment, then gave an example: “The non-loli supporting characters, like Viseliane—you’d draw her as a young woman.”
Dolores replied: “Then maybe it’s because you kept talking about your preferences and influenced me. You should be the one to blame for that!”
“I can’t control your thoughts or your brush, so how could it be my fault?” Alberke pouted in rebuttal.
Suddenly, both of them had smiles on their faces, laughing joyfully.
After laughing, Alberke stared at the starry sky for a while.
So, Dolores had still evaded her question.
Although chatting about the little things before the crossing brought warmth and nostalgia,
she still wanted to see her best friend who was unaffected by anything.
“Dolores.” Alberke called her name softly.
“I’m here.” Came the quick reply.
“In this unfamiliar world, to meet the best friend from the past and chat together… it feels really nice.”
Dolores withdrew her hand that had been stroking the petals, and agreed:
“Yeah… I think so too.”
A petal drifted gently, softly landing on the soil.