A little shameless

Leon closed the message, he was already aware of this rule and it wasn't really his style to leave things unfinished. He made his way toward the mountain while being vigilant of his surroundings.

The duchess warned him that there were some wild animals on his way. He could fight them to try and sell their fur but in Tales Eternal killing monsters wouldn't give levels so it was better to avoid them.

The only way to reach the next level would be by succeeding in an incredible feat that corresponded with his level.

Defeating some strong monsters and helping with some complex problems all qualified but the most common way to level up was by finishing tales.

The only problem was that the path to the mountain was badly maintained and it went through a forest.

Leon did his best to sneak around but before long he had found a bear blocking his path. He had planned to avoid it but the guardian angel system had a different plan in mind.

[ side mission activated: tutorial mission, bear hunting

It's time to test your sword mastery. Hunt the bear in front of you and deal the finishing blow with a sword-related weapon. Magic cast through a sword does not count.

Cannot be refused

Time limit: 59 minutes 58 seconds

Reward: hint for the tale, 30 favor points

Penalty for failing the mission: Tomorrow's training requirement will be doubled]

Leon looked at the window, not really sure how to respond. While the bone sword was still in the auction it was impossible for him to retrieve it. The only sword-related thing he had was the sword handle given by the duchess but if he used that to attack the bear he might just break the artifact.

Considering that the blade handle was most likely part of the tale's main objective it sounded like anything but a good idea. Leon retrieved the handle from his inventory to examine it to see if he had missed something.

[ Broken sword handle

The remnant of an old sword that belonged to a now-forgotten hero. After millenniums of neglect, it is now rusted however it still retains a bit of the hero's aura, permitting it to channel magic.]

The only thing it was good at was channeling magic but it was useless for the mission's objective. Suddenly Leon had an idea, he decided to take a bit of distance for now to try something.

He started to channel Magical Warp while reciting the chant for Earth Manipulation. Magical Warp also required a chant so Leon was trying to chant both at the same time, one in his mind and one with his mouth.

' oh bountiful earth, heed my call and obey my command.'

" May the bountiful elements.."

Leon had already made a mistake barely three words into the Magical Warp chant but he still forced himself to continue.

" bend to my call and warp my command."

He had underestimated how hard it was to chant two different things at the same time. He had focused on the chant in his mind too much since it was the one that required the most precision and this decision was the right choice as both the skill and the cantrip activated, albeit barely.

The next part wasn't any easier. It was a bit of a complicated process, he started to command the earth to form a blade while trying to command Magical Warp to change the element to steel. He had to think of multiple things in the short span of 4 seconds while trying to launch the sword-shaped magic at a nearby tree.

Magical Warp worked just like Leon had intended, the earth turned into metal but he couldn't control it well enough to hit the tree. Things had barely worked and it didn't look like it would be very practical in combat without practice but Leon was satisfied.

' Not too bad, This should be able to finish it off.'

[ mission update: tutorial mission, bear hunting

Objective changed to: hunt the bear in question by dealing the final blow with the item 'broken sword handle'

You have been awarded 20 favor points for your creativity.]

As soon as he started to feel excited he received a bucket of cold water on his head.

' Can it be more shameless than this?'

He sighed as he readied himself for an unusual challenge. The biggest problem was that most tales intended for the players to be in groups of 4. The same was true for this one considering that he had received 4 artifacts that could enter the labyrinth in question.

Bears were also generally strong monsters in games, even with magic trying to fight it head-on as a wizard would be suicide. Another big difference was that players relied on equipment for defense while monsters had natural armors that made them even harder to kill.

The sword handle probably could only deal 1 damage at a time, dexterity could affect the damage of some weapons but Leon had a hunch that only strength could help this legendary artifact do anything.

He started to try and come up with a plan however his mind quickly went back to the Earth Manipulation and Magical Warp combo. If he could just create a blade on top of the handle…

[ mission update: tutorial mission, bear hunting

Additional objective added: the handle itself must touch the bear during the final blow.

You have been awarded a choice due to your creativity. Choose between 20 favor points or a medium-sized boost to luck for an hour.]

Leon released a deep sigh. He had something else in mind, if he created an extension under the handle he could create a type of mace by hitting with the guard however it would no longer be sword-related.

' No, the objective changed so it no longer needs to be sword-related. This might just work.'

He waited for the system to shamelessly change the objective again but nothing happened. Leon felt a bit relieved, at least he would have a bit of reach to attack with the melee weapon. He decided to make his makeshift mace first before choosing his reward.

He tried the double chant again with about the same result. He controlled the earth to make a long shaft to extend the grip and once it looked decent he changed the earth into steel.

He swung it around, the balance was off because of how quickly it was made but this was just a temporary thing so he didn't mind.

He made his way back to where he had seen the bear. It seemed busy looking at the trees, most likely to get some honey, so it didn't move far at all.

For now, Leon started to cast detect danger to see if there wasn't anything else within a 100 feet radius that could harm him.

' Seek and find what may harm me, come and tell me of the surrounding dangers, reveal the truth to me oh precious mana.'

A single point of mana was used to cast the tier 1 spell. He could see a wave of blue light emanating from him before it started to pass through everything. When the light reached the bear the animal turned red and a few feet away from it Leon could see a similarly red beehive that was hiding in a tree.

He looked around to confirm that there were no other red lights then he started to prepare a trap. Using Earth Manipulation he quickly dug a hole over 10 feet deep and 5 feet wide before covering it back up with a thin layer of earth.

After that, he used Ice Spike to create a field of ice filled with little spikes around the hole while making sure to leave a clear path toward the trap.

Once this was done he decided to take the boost of luck from the reward. Luck was never a bad thing to have with a plan like this. It was time to hunt his first enemy.