[The incident has been resolved with no lasting effect on anyone who has been involved. The future is changing.]

I stared at the notification with my breath caught in my throat.

So far, reading the first part, everything appeared to be flowing smoothly.

'The quest... did I fail it, or not?'

I was still waiting for the next notification to pop up. Who knew whether I had failed or not? Until I saw confirmation, I didn't dare hope.

In the meantime, I pulled the main quest window by my side.

[ Main Quest Activated: Tree Of Ebonthorn.]

: Character Progression + 401%

: Game Progression + 13%

Failure

: Calamity 1 + 23%

: Calamity 2 + 17%

: Calamity 3 + 19%

In particular, my eyes fell on the lower end of the quest window.

'I hope I didn't fail.'

While I still wasn't sure exactly what the percentage rise for the failure brought, the percentages were quite high. Whatever it did, it was certainly not good. For that reason, I needed to be extra careful.

"Hoo."

Time seemed to stretch all of a sudden.

I stood frozen while staring at the notification window.

'There's nothing that said I can't align myself with the tree, and since it says that the future has changed, it means that there should be no problem, right?'

Typically, whenever it said the future had changed, then it would say that I had passed.

That was how it usually went.

But I couldn't be sure.

The quests were unreliable, and the criteria were unkown.

The only thing I could do was pray.

Pray that I had passed.

And,

Soon, the notifications that I had been waiting for, arrived.

Game Progression EXP + 13%

Game Progression : [0%-[31%]100%]

Seeing the experience bar fill before my very eyes, I felt every part of my body starting to relax.

It was a sight that I had been eager to see.

Despite not knowing exactly what the game progression bar did, seeing that I had reached 31%, I felt an indescribable emotion.

'Soon, soon...'

Then came the best part.

"Ah."

Character Progression EXP + 401%

Exp : [0%-[20%]100%]

A familiar wave of energy surged through my body, reaching its deepest parts and reinvigorating me. My muscles began to tense, my eyesight sharpened, and my hearing, along with all my other senses, heightened.

It was a euphoric and addicting feeling that I didn't want to stop.

But all good things eventually came to an end.

Sure enough, after a few minutes like this, the feeling stopped and a new notification popped up before my very eyes.

[ Active Main Quest: Prevent the Calamities from awakening or dying.]

Aoife K. Megrail : Slumber

: Progress - 0%

Kiera Mylne : Slumber

: Progress - 9%

Evelyn J. Verlice : Slumber

: Progress - 0%

It was there to remind me of my current mission.

So far, staring at the numbers, I felt relaxed.

They weren't high, and nothing to worry about.

Then again, staring at the quest window again and seeing the high numbers, I knew that there would eventually come a quest that would make it extremely hard for me

"Uh...?"

My thoughts suddenly froze.

All of a sudden, the progress bar for each one of the calamities started to rise.

Evelyn K. Megrail : Slumber

: Progress - 0% > 7%

Kiera Mylne : Slumber

: Progress - 9% > 13%

Evelyn J. Verlice : Slumber

: Progress - 0% > 9%

I stood frozen, staring at the numbers.

'Why...?'

While it was true that the increase wasn't as substantial as it would've been had I failed the mission, I still didn't understand the increase.

Why...? What could possib

"Ah."

That was when something struck me and I turned to look at Owl-Mighty.

"....Is there a way you can return the memories of those that you have entrapped in the illusion?"

"....."

Owl-Mighty didn't answer me and instead looked at me with a peculiar look.

That was when it suddenly hit me.

"Ah..."

It had been in the room the entire time.

....It had seen exactly what had happened to me, and the sudden increase in my strength. I was just about to say something when its gaze fell on the quest notification.

"That's an interesting skill you have, human."

"....!"

Yet again, I was shocked.

It could see it?

How...? I thought that I was the only one that could see the notifications. How could itwait?

A new thought suddenly struck me.

'That's right, it isn't its real body.'

While I wasn't sure how it worked, the current tree was part of me in the form of a bone. The fact that it could see the notification window was logical.

I pursed my lips.

'In that case, there's a chance that it might find most of my secrets.'

I wasn't sure how to feel about this.

It wasn't as though I could hide the notifications from it. Now that it was part of my body, it was only a matter of time before it found out about it.

"Does it come from one of your innate skills, or is it something else entirely?"

Owl-Mighty curious asked as its gaze fell on me and I swallowed my saliva.

I didn't know how to answer that. How could I when I myself didn't know...?

In the end, taking a deep breath, I sat down on the chair.

"I'd also like to know."

This was true.

.....I didn't know the reason why I had the notification window.

"Game Progression? Character Progression? Quest...?"

It started to read the window, and its gaze turned even weirder.

"Why is my name being mentioned? Hmm, things are starting to make more sense now. The reason why you were so keen on finding out more about it. I finally know the reason."

Owl-Mighty's gaze turned even more peculiar.

It seemed like it wanted to ask more, but I was quick to cut it off.

"We can talk about it later. For now, I'd like to ask you about the memories. Is it possible to return them back?"

"Yes, there is."

"There is?!"

".....Yes, just tell me who, and I can restore their memories."

"Hoo, okay."

There was one possibility that I had not taken into account when the quest was done.

While it was true that I had completed it all, and the future had changed, from what I could tell, the change needed to be a positive one.

Yes, I had been able to prevent a disaster from happening, but what about the character's growth?

With everything wiped out from their memories, whatever they learned, or whatever improvement in their relationships was gone.

If that was the case, then this entire event had been useless for them.

In that regard, I think I was starting to get a better understanding of the quests.

'I have to prevent them from suffering the trauma that they experienced in the game, while at the same time ensuring that they progress for the future.'

"Fuck."

I swore at the thought.

It was certainly an annoying situation, but at the same time, I felt like I was starting to get a clearer picture of the path that I needed to take in the future.

I rubbed my forehead.

'I hope that the sudden increase in percentage didn't do a lot of damage.'

Considering that Kiera looked completely unbothered after she rose to 9%, I didn't feel that worried.

"Hoo."

Taking a deep breath to calm my mind down, I looked outside the window.

It was dark now, and the previous excitement that I felt when reaching the next rank cooled down.

Level : 32 [Tier 3 Magician]

Exp : [0%[19%]100%]

Staring at the notification in front of me, I waved my hand and scattered it away.

I no longer felt that excited about reaching Tier 3.

"There is still... a lot of work to do."

To Tok

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

I hastily turned my head to look at Owl-Mighty who flapped its wings and directly entered my body. I knew that I was still curious about my situation, but our relationship was one of mutual exchange.

I didn't plan on revealing any of my secrets to it.

I couldn't afford to do so.

"Cadet? Are you sleeping?"

A rough voice echoed from the other side of the door.

Fixing my clothes, and wiping my sweat, I headed for the door where a large man donning a uniform greeted me.

"Yes...?"

Frowning, I looked at him up and down.

He was well-built, and his eyebrows were rather thick. Hiding his hair was a small cap, but taking a closer look, it didn't seem like he had much hair to begin with.

"I apologize for suddenly disturbing you."

He started off with an apology and I relaxed. It didn't seem like he was here to start any trouble.

"There's no problem."

"That's good. I do apologize for calling you so late into the night, but I need you to follow me for now."

I blinked my eyes.

I needed to follow him?

For what?

"Is this an order?"

The man deeply looked at me.

I stood on the spot while staring back into his hazel eyes. Eventually, he broke off the stare and cleared his throat.

"No, this is not an order. We would just like to interrogate you with regard to what happened. You must understand that this is all because we're trying to investigate what happened. You don't have to come, but it might get troublesome for you if you don't come."

At first, I thought he was threatening me.

However, when I thought about it, he was right.

Were I to reject this offer, then I would start to look suspicious to them. Perhaps not by much since there were probably others who planned on rejecting the request, but I didn't doubt for one second that it was going to become troublesome further down the line.

It was for that reason that I nodded.

"Okay, I can do that."

Either way, there was no way for them to pin-point Owl-Mighty who was inside of my body.

Not only that but from what he told me, everyone's memories had been wiped.

All I had to do was act like I had also lost my memories.

The only thing I would lose from this would be time. However, when considering that it would probably lead to me losing more time in the future, I gladly accepted the offer.

"Please lead the way, I'll follow you from behind."

"Thank you. Please follow me."

And thus, I followed the officer into the interrogation room.

'It's a bit of a pity that everyone's memories have been wiped.'

I'd have been able to milk something from the Guild executives had that been the case.

Truly, a pity.