It was dark.

Thankfully, I could control a spark of lightning to fly around and illuminate the whole place.

But so far, there had been nothing but an endless staircase.

Yet as I was about to continue moving down, Clementine suddenly grabbed me.

"Here."

Where?

"The wall?"

"Yep. Look..."

She approached the wall and tapped it.

To my surprise, her hand went through.

Without saying another word, she stepped inside, and I followed her.

We entered a long, dark tunnel filled to the brim with coffins and spiderwebs.

It was nothing short of creepy.

"Can't say I've ever seen this place before," I remarked.

It's always just been straight down the staircase in the game.

Clementine walked ahead.

"I don't know if those Reapers came here, but since the entrance was hidden, I'd assume they did it."

"Maybe..."

We continued walking side by side.

Since I knew this place had some traps, at least at the bottom, I levitated us a few inches off the ground.

Eventually, we saw some bones.

Crumbled bones, as though someone had stepped on them.

The two of us exchanged a nod and picked up the pace.

But before long, we arrived in front of another staircase that led downward.

At first, I thought we had looped around somehow, but seeing how much deeper this staircase was, I came up with a theory.

"This might be like a direct way down to the bottom. You know, like a hidden staircase."

Clementine's eyes lit up.

"This is a little exciting..."

Gosh.

Why is she a battle junkie all of a sudden?

I glanced at the stairs and spotted a few footprints moving down.

I was sure this was the way the Reapers went.

Clementine skipped ahead and slightly turned her head toward me.

"How strong are those guys, by the way?"

"Mm... Depends. In the game, most of them were either Grade 30 or 40."

"So not a big threat?"

I gently bonked her over the head.

"If they can consume your Soul Weapons, they're a huge threat."

She rubbed her head with a pout and let me lead the way forward.

We descended for what felt like half an hour.

The weather seemed to grow significantly colder.

I began seeing Clementine's breath in the air.

And when we finally reached the very bottom, I was nothing short of confused.

There was a snowy tundra in front of me, and a clear blue sky with a bright sun hanging above.

I couldn't feel any heat from the sun.

But I sure as shit could feel the cold from all this snow and ice.

Though more importantly...

"What is this place?"

Curious, I took a step forward.

The moment my foot landed on the snow, something I hadn't seen in months appeared before me.

[Ding!][You have triggered an emergency puzzle quest!][Objective: Find the Artifact.][Reward: +100 Free Stat Points + The Artifact.][Additional Reward if you find it within 168 hours: x5 Special Ability Cores.]

"What the..."

Clementine appeared beside me.

"Is something wrong?"

"No... Not really. Remember the quests I mentioned? I just got one."

I quickly explained what the quest was about, though it didn't take much explaining since I didn't know much myself.

"Hmm..."

She fell into thought for a moment, then met my gaze.

"This interface that we all see... You call it a system, yes?"

"Mhm. That's what I usually call it, why?"

"Well, if the only difference is that you can see these quests, don't you think it's possible for you to somehow share them?"

Share quests...?

I've never heard of something like that before.

Or, actually...

"Now that you mention it... I remember the main character could create a party with the other heroines and then share quest progress."

Sadly, it wouldn't give us two of the same rewards for one quest.

But I could make this work.

At first, I tried to imagine forming a party with Clementine.

A few minutes passed fairly quickly, and I kind of realized that it wasn't working.

So instead, I tried to just imagine sharing the progress with Clementine.

And to my surprise...

[You have shared the quest: Find the Artifact.]

"Oh! I see it now!"

Clementine burst out in joy and began reciting the quest's info.

The same info I had already told her about.

When she was done acting like a little kid, I surrounded her in Telekinesis and began heating her up with my lightning.

"Let's not sit around for too long. Let's find somewhere high up and search around."

Clementine tilted her head at my words.

"Search around... In this weather?"

The moment I heard that, I took my gaze off her eyes.

As I looked at our surroundings, I saw that they had changed from a snowy tundra to a literal blizzard where we could barely see a few meters ahead.

The sky was gone, and I felt a slight buzz at the back of my neck every time I took a step forward.

Maybe it was some kind of directional disorientation?

And as the howling wind and icicles began to bombard my Telekinetic barrier, I frowned slightly.

Fuck whoever designed this.

I held her warm hand and levitated just slightly above the snow.

For now, I just wanted to find some kind of landmark.

However, before I could go any further, I spotted dozens of footprints in the snow right beneath us.

Five pairs of footprints, to be exact.

The Reapers really came here.

And my guess is they're also looking for whatever this artifact is.

"I sent out a few of my Soul Weapons to scout this whole place out," she said.

I nodded with a smile.

"Good. But if they can absorb your Soul Weapons, retreat immediately."

She rolled her eyes.

"You've told me like 10 times already... I get it."

Acting snarky now, huh?

Fine.

Just wait until we get back home.

Putting her snarkiness aside, I focused on the howling blizzard.

No matter how much I used my Telekinesis, I couldn't disrupt it.

Whatever this was, I was now 100% sure it was man-made.

It probably works by utilizing a bunch of powerful magic crystals.

So if I really wanted to get rid of the blizzard, I'd have to find those magic crystals first, then destroy them.

But since I couldn't be asked, I'll just put my trust in Clementine.

Right as we were about to move slightly more ahead, she tugged at my sleeve, stopping me.

"I think I found something."

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