Jake stood on the edge of the pond at this cabin, staring out onto the water. His body was fully healed, but the same couldn’t be said about his equipment as it was still in tatters, and he stood with only a single boot on his feet.

He heard sounds behind him as Miranda entered the valley, him not even reacting as he was lost in thought.

“I came here as soon as possible. What happened towards the end? I heard some from Neil, but-“

She stopped as she spotted something lying to his side. Jake also followed her gaze as he looked to the side as he saw the two pieces of wood lying next to him with only a loose string connecting them – a clean cut severing it apart.

Jake raised his hand as he touched his neck, where a small scar was still visible as the feeling of the blade digging into it was still there.

“… I think I lost?”

The Noboru clan’s Patriarch’s courtyard was silent as Reika rushed towards it hurriedly, ignoring all the clamoring from the other clan members on the way. With worry, she didn’t even knock as she entered it swiftly.

Inside, she saw a single chair in front of a few paintings with the Patriarch sitting there, his back turned. He didn’t acknowledge her right away, as she took in his weak form. His skin was bare, and he looked weaker than usual.

“Great-grandfather?” she asked, more worried than before, only calmed down a little as he finally spoke.

“Could you help me stand?” he said weakly, turning his head as he smiled.

Reika was confused as she hurried over to him, lending him her arm as he stood. She failed to hold back her curiosity as she asked:

“What happened?”

Her great-grandfather smiled as he touched a small scar on the side of his skull. “I wonder?”

She was only more confused, especially as she felt him lean on her, his steps unsteady. She frowned as she asked once more. “Are… are you okay?”

He gave her a comforting smile as he looked up at the sky, a few sparse clouds hanging above. “After the growth of spring and the life of summer, fall follows where everything wanes before we settle into a restful winter. So to ask if I am okay… right now, no, but eventually, I will be.”

“How long?” Reika asked, having understood somewhat.

The Patriarch shook his head. “You cannot hurry a season to pass like that. Once winter comes, I will return to normal and will have to rebuild myself to prepare for spring once more.”

“Rebuild?” she followed up.

He chuckled a bit, shaking his head again. “According to my level, I am only at 112, with a 135 in parenthesis… I believe I will have to regain those levels before I can call upon another Springtime Advent.”

“That is… what did you do?” Reika asked with distraught. She knew he had powered up beyond what should be possible, but she hadn’t expected the cost to be that high.

“That is something I am still uncertain of even now… but the system calls it a transcendence.”

He didn’t elaborate but simply asked for her to help him into his bed-chamber as he felt tired. For a D-grade, to truly feel tired was something Reika had very rarely seen, and it made her worried as she felt how he was barely stronger than a regular old man before the system. Nevertheless, she helped him as he got into the bed, not even bothering to remove any of his tattered clothes.

Reika staying at his side till he woke up again, which wouldn’t

Miranda to leave as he needed a few moments to himself to gather his thoughts. He had even told Villy to wait, his godly pal understanding and waiting for him to reach out to talk. He sounded curious to know what had happened, but countless years of being

looked at the broken bow he had placed on the table beside him, the wood cleanly cut through. He remembered the final moment where he released the string, but the sword came up a fraction of a

I lost…

wasn’t his first time losing a fight. He had lost to the damn blue mushroom more than once, technically lost to a bunch of random Cloud Elementals when he couldn’t beat them alone, and some could also argue he lost

hadn’t lost to someone it was expected of him to lose to. Instead, he had lost to another human who had been in

poison flowing through his body at the end, and with his power-up ending, he would for sure have died – likely even without factoring in the poison. So both of them had been saved by the system at the end with

death as they both refused to give up. But he didn’t blame the Sword Saint at all, and he had a feeling the old man

the old man had done to get so powerful, but he would later ask Villy for some insight. For now, he chose to focus on something else

Rewards.

had seen the system messages right as he returned and

Hunt

the winners become clear as the truly talented Treasure Hunters are separated from the others. Due to your performance against the Cursed Monarch and subsequent triggering and victory over

have earned the title: [Premier Treasure

be retrieved within the next 24 hours before the Insignia disappears. Any

he had even gotten first place in the entire Treasure Hunt? It was possible, and it did help him feel better to know that he had at least maybe won that one over the Sword Saint as it seemed to put a lot of emphasis

out. That would honestly be funny to just see someone walk in the street a day

to cheer himself up with happy thoughts, he moved on. Next up, he naturally checked out the title, going in with pretty low expectations but finding himself pleasantly

not only a true talent when it comes to retrieving what was once lost, but also in defeating any who dare stand between you and your rightful bounty. +10% Perception,

like the title from a dungeon or something like that, not a percentage amplifier. He also noted that it was in his three highest stats, making him assume that was no coincidence. That did help him feel

to the thing the note mentioned as he summoned items from his Hunter Insignia, seeing it still work. Out of curiosity, he tried to redeposit something but found he couldn’t. So, only

spent the next few minutes just taking all of the stuff out of the Insignia and into his storage necklace. At least he tried to, until he got to a few massive gates of black metal that just fell

he was so adamant about getting those again but swiftly just moved on cleaning up the Insignia. To his surprise, he even found his own scimitar in there, the system having been nice enough to give it back after the collapsing world of

down once more, looking at the crater in the ground formed by the metal gates with a small snicker. He got an

stretched on the chair as he opened his status menu to get a feel for his progress over the

Status

Name: Jake Thayne

[Human (D) –

Hunter –

Alchemist of the Malefic Viper – lvl

Health Points (HP): 30620/30620

Mana Points (MP): 48025/48025

Stamina: 27640/27640

Stats

Strength: 2243

Agility: 4202

Endurance: 2764

Vitality: 3062

Toughness: 2302

Wisdom: 3842

Intelligence: 3083

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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