Chapter 25 - Quest Complete
Skysandra swooped down from the heavens, her golden claws flashing with an almost divine light as they raked across the vile worm's hide, tearing deep, unhealable wounds through its flesh.
“You can’t kill me!” Lord of Flesh screamed. “I'm—”
She cut him off by ripping a chunk of flesh from his body with her sharp beak and swallowing it whole.
Lord of Flesh shrieked in pain.
“Damn it, listen to me!”
She didn't.
Diving down again, she coated her wings in magic that increased their sharpness and lethality to a level beyond even legendary blades.
One enormous wing sliced through Lord of Flesh's body, nearly bisecting him in a single strike. The two halves remained connected by strands of writhing flesh.
He wasn't dead yet, though he likely wished he were.
Lord of Flesh possessed an almost perverse vitality. Despite having deep wounds covering nearly every inch of his body, he simply refused to die.
Part of that was due to Skysandra being in no hurry to end the fight.
She hadn't fought to her heart's content in many years, and this battle was proving surprisingly refreshing.
Much like her distant lesser eagle cousins that ruled the desert skies, she seized Lord of Flesh's front half in her talons and flew upward before smashing his head against a massive stone outcropping that jutted from the sands.
Again.
And again.
The damage was purely physical, without a trace of magic behind it. Against his monstrously resilient body, it likely caused little real harm.
The humiliation, however, was another matter entirely.
Lord of Flesh had hidden from her for years. He had forced her to chase him across worlds and even pushed her into signing a contract with the Company just to follow him into this artificial tutorial world to continue her hunt.
Because of him, her child remained trapped within its shell, unable to hatch. All because he refused to become nourishment for her child.
Didn't he know it was an honor to serve as her child's first meal?
The more she thought about it, the harder she smashed his face into the stone. She wanted him to die regretting every decision that had led him here.
“S-stop!” he shouted, blood spraying from his mouth with every impact. “I am a servant of—”
Skysandra didn't wait for him to finish.
She didn't care whose servant he was.
A region lord. A realm dominator. A demon king. Even a god. It didn’t matter.
To her, he was nothing more than nourishment for her child.
Not even a universal force like the Company could stop her from giving her child a proper meal.
Opening her beak, she bit down and swallowed both halves of his body whole.
The desert fell silent.
Satisfied, she reached into thin air and withdrew a small pure-white egg. Delicate and pristine, it was impossibly fragile in comparison to the monstrous creature she had just devoured.
A thread of golden magic flowed from her talon into the egg's shell, leaving behind veins of gold that spread across its surface like marbling.
Each new golden mark caused a thin crack to form on the shell. A soft chirp sounded from within.
The shell trembled, but the egg had not fully hatched yet. Not quite. There was still a little time remaining.
Encasing the egg within a protective layer of golden magic, Skysandra turned her attention toward the distant dunes.
Her eyes immediately locked onto the largest sand dune in the entire desert.
The one where she had left the three people.
With a gentle beat of her wings, she vanished.
A moment later, she appeared above the oasis-capped dune, floating effortlessly in the sky. As she arrived, her massive avian body melted away, shrinking into a much smaller human form.
She remained suspended in the air, gazing down at the group below.
Her appearance had changed slightly since Mei and Adam had last seen her in the burning forest.
Long black hair cascaded down her back, crowned by a wreath of golden feathers arranged like a royal diadem. An elegant black dress embroidered with intricate golden wings draped over her petite frame. Combined with her cold expression and upright posture, she radiated an unmistakably regal aura.
Like a queen surveying her subjects.
More shocking than the change in appearance, however, was the information floating above her head.
Skysandra, Roc Queen (Mythic NPC) - Lv. ???
All three people stared upward in stunned silence.
“Since I'm currently in a summoned state, the system can't restrict my power through its contract,” Skysandra explained casually. “I've come to thank you for helping me slay the troublesome enemy who had been hiding from me. I also wanted to say goodbye.”
A faint smile tugged at her lips.
“Ah, and I have rewards for all of you.”
“Why are you still so small even though you were huge earlier?” Mei asked, genuinely curious.
Skysandra choked.
For the briefest moment, her regal image cracked.
“You've completed the quests I assigned you,” she said, pointedly ignoring the question.
With a snap of her fingers, two quest completion windows materialized before Mei and Adam.
Quest: Goblin Extermination (Completed!)
Objective: Eliminate all goblins in the forest, including the Goblin King.
Reward: A significant amount of XP.
Quest: Protect Skysandra's Egg (Completed!)
Objective: Keep Skysandra's egg safe until it hatches.
Reward: A massive amount of XP.
Level Up!
Player Mei Mori Lv. 19 → 26
Player Adam Colt Lv. 19 → 26
Stat Up!
Player Mei Mori - Strength D → C
Player Adam Colt - Strength E → D
Both of them blinked.
Then they looked at each other's screens.
Then they blinked again.
Seven levels. Just from completing two quests.
The chat exploded.
Vytr26: Quests in the tutorial?! :What:
GodGamerKyle: :AINTNOWAY:
YeahNo: Flat is Justice! 貧乳は正義 (Hinnyū wa seigi)!
NoWeebs: :WEEBSDETECTED:
HardcorePlayer: When I completed the tutorial on Easy difficulty there were no NPCs handing out quests. Is it different because this is Impossible difficulty?
HottieHunter: I'm finally unbanned! OMG! My husband finally took his shirt off!! :MeNoseBleed:
SeeCuteGirl-iClick: Hopefully he doesn't take his shorts off too, I'd hate to see that :KappaPride:
FitnessWitness: Did I die and go to muscle heaven? :PepeFlushed: 
Neither Adam nor Mei paid much attention to the chat.
The flood of notifications filling their vision was far more distracting.
Before they could even process the rewards they had already received, another set of messages appeared.
Boss Battle Complete - Victory
Goblin King (BOSS) Defeated
Lord of Flesh (Hidden BOSS) Defeated
An enormous amount of XP awarded!
The notifications kept coming.
Level Up!
Player Adam Colt Lv. 26 → 36
Player Mei Mori Lv. 26 → 36
NPC Granessa Lv. 39 → 44
Stat Up!
Player Adam Colt - Constitution E → D
Player Mei Mori - Agility D → C
NPC Granessa - Strength C → B
Adam felt his breath catch.
Ten more levels. Just from the boss fight alone.
Beside him, Mei looked equally stunned.
Between the quests and the battle rewards, they had gained seventeen levels in a matter of seconds.
The impossible tutorial had nearly killed them several times.
For once, however, it felt like the rewards matched the suffering.
Achievements Earned:
(Adam Colt & Mei Mori): Watch the World Burn
Set an entire biome on fire.
Rewards: Fire Resistance & Fire Damage +10%
(Adam Colt & Mei Mori): Taking the First Step
Defeat a main boss for the first time.
Reward: A moderate amount of XP
(Adam Colt & Mei Mori): Debugged
Find and eliminate a hidden boss.
(These creatures do not belong within the tutorial and should be killed on sight.)
Rewards: Loot Box (Legendary) & a massive amount of XP
(Adam Colt & Mei Mori): Punching Above Your Weight
Defeat a much higher-level boss.
Reward: A significant amount of XP
(Adam Colt): Touch Upon the Arcane
You have begun to understand magic at a deeper level.
Reward: Loot Box (Random - Magic-Based)
Level Up!
Player Adam Colt Lv. 36 → 41
Player Mei Mori Lv. 36 → 41
Stat Up!
Player Adam Colt - Luck F → E
Player Mei Mori - Luck C → B
Neither Adam nor Mei could believe what they were seeing.
The notifications finally slowed enough for them to process the numbers. Between the quests, the boss rewards, and now the achievements, they had gained twenty-two levels in what felt like mere seconds.
That amount of progress should have taken weeks. Maybe months.
Even the chat seemed stunned.
The endless stream of chat messages noticeably slowed as viewers struggled to process what had just happened.
Then the floodgates burst open.
Doomscroller: What the ***?! I've never seen someone gain so many levels in the tutorial before!
Vytr26: Touch Upon the Arcane? I think I saw a Hard-difficulty Player earn that achievement inside a high-level magic dungeon somewhere in Europe. It was a non-combat dungeon where you had to pass a magic academy entrance exam, with a linked dungeon that required graduating from the same academy.
SeeMuscleGirl-iClick: How come Granessa didn't earn any achievements?
MedSchoolDropOut: @SeeMuscleGirl-iClick, NPCs can't earn achievements. They're Player-exclusive.
Travis_126: Wait... what are those stats??? A starter C in Luck, now B?! Plus all Cs after only four Stat Ups?! Back when I entered the tutorial I was given all Fs!! Life isn't fair...
A moment later, the exact same message appeared again.
And again.
Spammer: Wait... what are those stats??? A starter C in Luck, now B?! Plus all Cs after only four Stat Ups?! Back when I entered the tutorial I was given all Fs!! Life isn't fair...
GodGamerKyle: Wait... what are those stats??? A starter C in Luck, now B?! Plus all Cs after only four Stat Ups?! Back when I entered the tutorial I was given all Fs!! Life isn't fair...
The chat immediately descended into chaos.
(Bot): xYzXyZ (mod) has activated slow mode.
SweetSarah (mod): Guys, please don't spam the same message.
RandomViewer44: Too late. The salt damage has already been dealt.
HardcorePlayer: Forget the levels. That Luck stat is illegal.
Adam quickly closed the chat before it could consume his entire field of vision.
Beside him, Mei was doing a much worse job of hiding her excitement.
Her eyes were practically glowing.
Even Skysandra seemed amused by their reactions. The Roc Queen studied their stunned expressions for a moment before a rare smile spread across her face.
“If that was surprising,” she said, “wait until you see your other rewards.”
She raised one hand and casually sliced through space with a talon-like fingernail.
Reality split apart like a curtain.
The tear opened into a small pocket dimension filled with glittering treasures. Weapons, armor, boxes, crystals, and other strange items floated within the void beyond.
One by one, she began pulling them out.
The moment Mei saw the pile growing larger, any remaining restraint vanished.
“Loot!” she shouted excitedly.
Adam couldn't even bring himself to disagree. Twenty-two levels were great.
But loot was loot.
Did Skysandra have to choose the Lord of Flesh? Was Lord of Flesh that premium of a baby food entity or was it a sunk cost personal kind of thing? I can only assume it is that valuable for a Roc baby and it may enhance already impressive innate talent.
Praise the loot!!!!
