Grin admitted his tracking skills were somewhat terrible. This simply wasn’t his area of expertise.
An enemy standing before him, a fight that could solve the problem—that was his comfort zone.
After being driven out by Viseliane, Grin tried walking around the area a few times but found no trace of Dolores whatsoever.
He simply slowed his pace, using the time spent walking slowly to formally examine the system’s changes and that string of rewards.
First was the completion of the main quest [The Curse of the Bygone Kingdom (3)]. This had given Grin, in addition to the [Spring of Soul Mending], the following rewards:
Unlocking of Alberke’s Affection Level Task for the [Familiar] stage, Hilberu’s Affection Level increased to the [Familiar] stage, and the growth weapon [Life Covenant].
Simultaneously, because he had saved Viseliane, the additional reward also gave Grin an item called [Special Memory Fragment (1/3)].
The [Life Covenant] was a weapon Dolores from his previous life had used. Its form was a small bracelet made of green crystals.
[Life Covenant]
Quality: Special
Weapon Effect: Increases the effect of healing-type magic as the user’s level rises, automatically restores a small amount of the user’s HP, can designate any target to enter a “One-Way Covenant” state and bear 65% of the target’s damage.
Special Effect: When possessing bloodline or symbol related to [World Oath], and the user is at the [Transcendent] rank, this weapon gains the additional symbol [Caitelaixike’s Eastern Key].
Description: The vow binds Him and His people. Even a sealed door may be knocked upon by a vow of the future.
Grin already knew one of Dolores’s special traits was the “Princess of Caitelaixike” entry. And now, Grin found himself subconsciously wondering if the Dolores from his previous life had already become a Transcendent. Did she know about this weapon’s special effect?
He didn’t know. Originally, he could have been certain that the Dolores from his memories of the previous life had not reached the Transcendent rank.
But after the events that had happened recently… he himself was a little unsure. Still.
He would find an opportunity to give this weapon to Dolores later. No matter what, it was a valuable and useful item for her. He already owed Dolores quite a few favors; it was time to repay some.
As for the Affection Level rewards for Alberke and Hilberu… after experiencing the incident with Dolores, he actually felt somewhat resistant to the Favorability System. He planned to set these tasks aside for now, with no intention of completing them.
The strangest among these rewards was Alberke’s, because Alberke had already had 79 Trust Affection at their first meeting, and the system had never popped up any other related messages.
Yet, in the main quest rewards, it was actually unlocking her [Familiar] stage task. This was something Grin could consider completing by communicating with her.
Grin took a quick look at the Affection Levels for the strategy characters currently displayed by the system:
[Dolores (Surand Region)]
[Affection Level: 100 (Unswerving)]
—
[Hilberu (Surand Region)]
[Affection Level: 70 (Trust)]
[Viseliane (Sueland-Aihejie Region)]
[Affection Level: 70 (Trust)]
[Alberke (Heimurst Region)]
[Affection Level: 79 (Trust)]
And all four characters above now had a series of new tasks. Except for Dolores, who had an [Unswerving – Special Stage] task, the other three currently had [Trust] level Affection tasks.
He continued looking down.
[Dolores Unswvering Stage Special Task]
[The Final Choice]
Task Requirements:
(1): Complete if Felts IV, Viseliane, and Hagel remain alive after 14 days, 22 hours.
(2): Complete if Felts IV, Viseliane, and Hagel are all in a state of death before 14 days, 22 hours.
(3): Complete if Alberke is in a state of death before 14 days, 22 hours.
Complete any one of requirements (1), (2), or (3). Receive corresponding rewards based on the completed condition. Failure to complete will lock Dolores’s Affection Level permanently at [Unswerving]. Dolores’s consciousness will align with the task reward from (2).
Task Rewards:
Completing requirement (1) yields Dolores State Slice: [As Usual].
Completing requirement (2) yields Dolores State Slice: [Unswerving].
Completing requirement (3) yields Dolores State Slice: [Memory].
Note: This task choice cannot be changed or taken back.
Special Reminder: Task reward (3) can allow the consciousness of “the Dolores from the previous life” to be reborn.
Grin abruptly stopped walking. He seemed to not fully understand the meaning of that special reminder… no, his heart might already know the answer.
‘System, what does this special reminder mean?’ Grin asked in his heart.
“This system can help you extract the Dolores from the [Punishment], [Repentance], and [Retrospection] stages and return her to the current Dolores’s body.” The system answered.
‘And the current Dolores?’
“Will die.”
The system’s answer made Grin pause for a moment. Only after a while did new words form in his heart.
‘Then what do the [As Usual] and [Unswerving] slices represent?’
“The former completely removes this system’s influence on Dolores. The latter can continue the current Dolores’s consciousness.”
‘System, are you saying the current Dolores is still in a state influenced by you, is that right?’
The system did not answer Grin’s question again. Even when Grin asked once more, he was met only with the echoing sound of his own thoughts in his mind.
Grin felt his heart seemed somewhat unsettled. Why was it beating so fast?
Was he hoping for some terrible thing?
It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered the possibility of the Dolores from his previous life being reborn in this life, like himself. But he hadn’t expected it to suddenly pop up in a task like this.
Grin subconsciously looked at the three memories he already possessed.
Dolores [Punishment] Nature Memory (2/3) (Cooling Down: 5 hours)
Dolores [Repentance] Nature Memory (1/3) (Usable)
Dolores [Retrospection] Nature Memory (1/3) (Usable)
New Function Added: At the final stage of [Memory], you can choose to enter the memory with the current strategy character, but upon entering, the strategy character in the memory will immediately become aware.
Temporarily ignoring the added new function, Grin began to hesitate about the content of the remaining two parts of the memory… To be precise.
What kind of Dolores would he meet?
Grin prepared to pull his gaze away from this task and the memories. His heart was beating too fast.
Might as well go look at the new tasks added on Alberke’s side. Stop thinking random thoughts.
Just as Grin thought this, he looked up and saw the two little ones—a blonde and a white-haired girl—hiding in the shadows.
Looking around, Grin realized that while he was lost in thought, he had walked into an extremely remote and hidden corner… and in this corner, he had coincidentally found Dolores and Alberke, whom he had wanted to find when he went out.
What kind of luck was this?
However, he had already made eye contact with Alberke, so the option to hide no longer existed.
Grin strode forward, greeting them.
“Long time no see, Alberke.”
Dolores had just come out in front of him, so “long time no see” didn’t apply to her.
“What were you two just talking about? Am I interrupting?”
Dolores, standing behind Alberke with a hand on the latter’s shoulder, answered Grin’s question.
“You’re not interrupting. We’ve finished talking~”
“Isn’t that right, Miss Alberke~”
Alberke also nodded.
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