Sitting upon a fallen moss-covered pillar was a striking woman, appearing no older than her mid-twenties.

Her skin was pale, and the majority of her aristocratic features were partially shadowed by a deep crimson hooded cloak.

This vibrant traveling vestment was draped elegantly over her formal maid uniform.

And beneath the heavy wool of the hood, her eyes caught the morning light. They were a vivid, jade in color, and glowing slightly.

She watched King approach with casual curiosity, completely unalarmed by his sudden presence.

This was the Maiden Fuella. Handmaiden to the Grand Magus Ephelia herself.

The quiet rippling of water echoed through the collapsed stone arches of the flooded ruin. King stepped forward, his boots splashing softly into the shallow pool, the water barely reaching up to his ankles.

King stopped a few feet away, waiting.

[NPC Interaction Initialized]

"Ah, a traveler. I wondered when someone would wander these forgotten streams."

She stood up smoothly, the hem of her formal grand magus uniform brushing the surface of the water without getting wet. She offered a polite, practiced bow.

"Greetings. I am Maiden Fuella, personal attendant to the Grand Magus Ephelia herself. I find myself in a rather humiliating predicament."

She sighed, her jade eyes flashing with a look of frustration.

"I was on my way back to the Academy when I was ambushed by a band of rogue mages. I managed to escape with my life, but they robbed me. They took my mistress’s enchanted medallion. Without it, I cannot re-enter the inner sanctum, and failing my mistress is out of the question."

She stepped closer, her sharp features softening into an expression of hopeful appeal.

"Tell me, traveler... are you perhaps heading toward the Academy?"

A message appeared before King’s Vision.

[Dialogue Choice Prompted]

[Yes] "Actually, I am. I can look out for it."

[No] "No, my path takes me elsewhere."

King selected [Yes].

Fuella’s expression instantly brightened, a relieved smile breaking through her aristocratic composure.

"Good. That is wonderful news. If you could retrieve that medallion from those thieves and return it to me, I would be deeply grateful. Do this for me, traveler, and I promise I will owe you a favor. The word of a Grand Magus’s handmaiden carries great weight."

[System Notification]

Quest Offered: Retrieve Ephelias’ Medallion

Objective: Defeat the rogue mages, retrieve the stolen Grand magus medallion, and return it to Maiden Fuella.

Accept Quest?

[Yes][No]

King selected [Yes].

Fuella clapped her hands together in delight.

"Wonderful! The bandits are camped not far from here. Her is the location." She said, gesturing to hand him nothing in particular "Please hurry. My madam will be furious if she discovers I’ve lost it."

King opened his map interface, and a new waypoint appeared.

He offered Fuella a curt nod before turning on his heel. His boots splashed through the shallow pool once more as he departed the flooded ruins, heading northeast.

The path led him through a dense, choking thicket where the air grew increasingly stale.

Less than a mile later, the vegetation gave way to the jagged remnants of a collapsed stone fort. Thick moss covered the cracked granite blocks, but the unmistakable scent of burning wood and roasted meat drifted through the air.

King slowed his pace, sticking to the shadows of a crumbling outer wall. Peering through a gap in the masonry, he spotted them.

Three figures huddled around a makeshift campfire in the center of the ruined courtyard. They wore ragged, mismatched robes, their faces hidden beneath stained hoods. A floating red marker hovered above each of their heads, identifying them to King’s system.

[Rogue Mage Lackey]

[Rogue Mage Lackey]

[Rogue Mage Leader]

Low-tier NPCs. When he usually cleared this quest, he was barely above level 10. But this time, he was significantly stronger.

This would not be a difficult encounter.

He stepped out from the shadows into the open courtyard, his footsteps echoing intentionally against the stone floor.

The three mages snapped their heads toward him instantly. The leader stood up, drawing a splintered wooden staff from his belt. Sparks of unstable blue lightning sputtered at the tip.

"Turn back, traveler!" the leader barked, his voice raspy and hostile. "This ruin belongs to us. Keep walking if you value your life."

King didn’t answer. He simply kept walking forward, his hands loose at his sides, his expression completely straight.

"He asked for it," one of the lackeys hissed. "Kill him!"

The two lackeys raised their hands in unison. Jagged bolts of raw, unrefined arcane energy erupted from their palms, tearing across the courtyard straight toward King’s chest.

King didn’t flinch.

His hands glowed blue , and a translucent, geometric barrier of solidified mana materialized inches from King’s face. The enemy spells slammed into the shield with a dull thud, shattering into harmless, fading ambient light. The shield didn’t even show a fracture.

Before the lackeys could recover their stance to cast again, King neutralized them.

Four razor-sharp blades of pure, condensed magical energy formed in the air around him. With a flick of his wrist, King sent them flying.

The blades whistled through the air, moving faster than the low-tier NPCs could react.

Two blades pierced the first lackey through the chest; the other two cut cleanly through the neck of the second. Both lackeys gasped, their health bars instantly dropping to zero before their bodies dissolved into pixels and faded away.

The leader’s eyes widened in panic. "What kind of monster are..."

Realizing he was outmatched, the leader began backing away, frantically chanting a high-tier spell while weaving his staff in a defensive pattern.

King sent another volley of construct blades directly at him. But the leader was fast enough to notice the trajectory. He threw himself sideways into a desperate roll, evading the first line of attack as the glowing blades embedded themselves deeply into the stone wall behind him.

King didn’t give him a chance to recover.

As the leader scrambled to his feet, trying to raise his hands to unleash his channeled spell, glowing chains of solid mana erupted from the ground beneath him.

The links wrapped tightly around his wrists, snapping his arms wide apart. The sudden, violent tension pinned him flat against a intact section of the fort wall. With his hands forced apart, his magical focus was completely broken, rendering him entirely unable to cast spells.

"Wait! Stop!" the leader begged, thrashing against the unyielding magical restraints.

King walked up to him without a word. He summoned a single, condensed dagger into his right hand. With a swift, motion, he drove the blade straight into the leader’s chest. The leader slumped forward, his health bar emptying instantly as his body dissolved like his men before him.

Where the leader had stood, a velvet pouch fell to the ground.

King picked it up and opened it. Inside was a heavy, silver medallion engraved with an intricate pattern.

[System Notification]

[Quest Item Obtained: Ephelias’ Medallion]

Another option appeared withing his view.

[Keep item: Y/N]

King stared at the notification, as usual the system was baiting him, he’d learnt the hard way. The item looked like a high tier item, but it was mostly cosmetic, and if you kept it, it completely ruins your chances at with the Academy.

Knowing that, he selected [NO]

The interface vanished and turned around, retracing his steps back through the forest.

When he stepped back into the flooded, sunlit ruins, Maiden Fuella was exactly where he left her, pacing anxiously near the moss-covered pillar. She looked up, her jade eyes locking onto him as he approached.

"You’re back!" she exclaimed. "And so quickly. Did you retrieve it?"

King pulled the necklace from his inventory and held it out.

Fuella gasped, taking the necklace gently and cradling it in her hands.

"Oh, thank you," she breathed. "You have no idea how much trouble this would have caused me. My mistress is... demanding."

She looked up at King, her jade eyes bright.

"I would very much like to see you again," Fuella said softly. "Would you accept my invitation?"

A prompt appeared.

[ACCEPT FUELLA’S INVITATION? Y/N]

King selected yes.

Fuella smiled beautifully. She reached into her cloak and pulled out a small seal, made of black wax and stamped with an intricate symbol.

"This is an invitation with Ephelias’ Seal," she said, handing it to King. "Show it to the guards at the academy’s side entrance.

They’ll let you pass without question. It’s a personal mark, and they know better than to refuse it. When you arrive, find me in the cool of the evening, at the eastern gardens."

King took the seal and stored it carefully.

"Thank you."

Fuella whistled sharply, a high-pitched sound that echoed across the water.

A moment later, a creature emerged from behind the shack.

A steed.

But not a horse.

The creature was reptilian, low to the ground with scaled skin that shimmered blue-green in the light. It moved on four powerful legs, and its long tail swayed behind it for balance. The beast’s eyes glowed faintly.

Fuella mounted the steed gracefully, settling into a saddle that seemed to form from the creature’s own scales.

"Until we meet again, traveler," Fuella said, "and I hope we do" her voice carryied a playful tone.

She kicked the steed’s flanks gently, and the creature launched forward. It moved with incredible speed, skimming across the shallow water and disappearing into the horizon within seconds.

King watched her go, then turned toward Ephelias Magi-Academy.

The towering structure loomed in the distance, its spires reaching toward the sky.

Ding!

[Quest: Retrieve Ephelias’ Medallion completed]

[+1000runes]

[Ephelias’ Sealed Invitation. x1]

Then the prompt appeared.

[ACTIVATE GOD’S HAND: 100x REWARD SKILL. Y/N]

[ACTIVATE GOD’S HAND: 100x REWARD SKILL. Y/N]

King selected Yes. And QUANTITY for both rewards.

[ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL]

[YOU HAVE RECEIVED 100,000 RUNES]

[EPHELIAS’ SEALED INVITATION. x100]

After receiving the rewards, King preferred to pass time so the cooldown of his skill was complete before attempting the Academy’s Quest.