Hidden Quest - [Smoky Tricks]

"Congrats, you've triggered the [Smoky Tricks (Hidden)] quest. Accept? Yes/No?"

"Triggered a quest?"

"And a hidden one at that??" Sterl was somewhat taken aback before feeling puzzled.

As a game, "Transcend" naturally had a quest system, but the NPCs around the base were all high-paid to teach new players skills.

If these NPCs had quests, the higher-ups at the base should have discovered them long ago.

As for hidden quests... Sterl had only read about them in novels circulated around the base, where heroes in "Transcend" often triggered hidden quests due to various fortunes, propelling them to the pinnacle of life...

"Accept the quest!" Sterl quickly responded with a nod.

The Smoky Mage looked thrilled, "Wonderful! Young hero from another world, I have never encountered someone as talented as you before!"

"Would you be willing to learn our school's magic?"

Then, this NPC went on and on about a bunch of stories.

Their Smoky School was an obscure branch within the fire magic disciplines. The strongest spell developed by the founder of the school was only of green quality (suitable for players around level 40).

Therefore, this NPC and his teacher had always hoped to improve the school's magic to at least a blue quality (suitable for players around level 60), but this required someone with exceptional arcane magic talent.

And from Sterl, the Smoky Mage sensed countless glimmers of magical brilliance, clinging to the young man like moths to a flame.

This NPC couldn't see Sterl's talent of the Soul of Arcana, but he could tell that the latter was a supreme genius!

Through this conversation, Sterl finally understood the power of his cheat.

After enhancing his mental talent, he managed to make an NPC place great value on him, offering a hidden quest!

"No problem, I'll do my best to refine the spells." Sterl actually had no idea how to refine them, but he had faith in his cheat...

No, in his potential!

[You have accepted the quest [Smoky Tricks]]

[Description: You can learn a Smoky School spell for free at levels 0, 20, and 40 from NPC West. After refining any acquired spell to blue quality, you can obtain the [Legacy of the Smoky School]]

[Current Progress: Blue Quality Magic (0/1)]

Sterl chuckled at the quest details. What kind of quest was this? He didn't have to do anything and could learn magic three times for free!

It was already a win-win, and if he could really achieve the goal, refining a blue quality spell would grant him an entire school's legacy??

Wasn't that just skyrocketing??

Could it be that high-talented players really could do whatever they wanted? The quest's requirements and rewards felt almost fake.

Sterl had heard stories about a mage player known as [Frost Sword] at the base, who had to kill a boss in the wild just to learn a green quality spell!

That player nearly lost his life barely completing it.

Here Sterl was, with a hidden quest dropping in his lap, green quality spell? Learn for free! Just level up to 40...

He now truly understood that the benefits of upgrading his talent weren't just about combat power... The immense potential that made NPCs take notice was an invisible fortune.

Sterl immediately took advantage of the quest to learn the level 0 free spell.

[Congratulations, you have learned the skill: Fireball (Gray)]

[Fireball: Consumes a certain amount of energy to create a fireball, causing minor damage (Damage is linked to the player's mental attribute).]

Seeing the notification on the panel, Sterl couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

In "Transcend," players' power systems were mainly composed of various basic attributes plus [Talent] plus [Skills] plus [Profession] plus [Pets], [Titles], etc.

Talent goes without saying, Sterl could max out his with his cheat, [Profession] was a bit far off for now.

And [Skills] were the key factor in the difference in combat power among players when their attributes were similar.

The Fireball spell Sterl now learned was provided by the quest and was of gray quality, the strongest skill that players could learn between levels 0-20.

It was stronger than the skill [Sever Tendon] learned from a warrior NPC or [Blink Step] from an assassin NPC... those without any quality.

Not to mention, he saw that [Fireball] had a plus sign next to it!

How familiar that plus sign was!

How exciting that plus sign was!

Sterl's cheat panel could come into play again!

He bit his lip, looking forward to how far this gray-quality skill could evolve!

After saying goodbye to West, Sterl decided to head home. Originally, he planned to apply for a permit to grind levels outside the base after obtaining the skill. But now, to be cautious, he decided to first upgrade the quality of this skill in hand.

Another two days passed.

Sterl's panel had already changed.

[Player: Sterl]

[Level: 0]

[Vitality: 1]

[Strength: 1]

[Agility: 1]

[Mental: 1]

[Physical Talent Ability: Descend of the God (SSS level)]

[Mental Talent Ability: Soul of Arcana (SSS level)]

[Skill: [Flamestorm (Green): Consumes a certain amount of energy to create a burning flamestorm with binding effects, causing significant damage. This skill can ignite and burn the opponent's energy, causing damage equal to the lost energy value.]]

In three days, Sterl directly evolved Fireball twice, from gray to white, and then from white to green. After that, [Fireball]'s potential seemed to have reached its limit and could not advance further.

Sterl quickly realized something. Both of his max-level talents had descriptions—

The physical talent could be maxed because "Transcend" provided all players with a body of unlimited potential, and the mental talent could be maxed because Sterl had the power of a soul from another world.

And [Fireball] was just a gray-quality skill, evolving to green quality, which theoretically only players above level 41 could learn, was already impressive!

And don't think that just because it's a green-quality skill, any level 41 player could learn it... players need a way to learn it first!

Skills above green quality were extremely rare and precious!

One could say, now in the entire base, only a handful of people possessed green-quality skills!

Sterl was exhilarated.

...

The next day at noon, he rolled around in the sheets with Linna and Rayna again.

"My talent is attribute enhancement, I can go out and grind levels on my own now."

"You two just wait for me at home." Sterl said with a smile.

Under normal circumstances, the two beauties would be extremely worried, persuading Sterl to wait for an official to take them leveling as it was safer, but now they were all in a dazed, semi-conscious state, only managing to nod vaguely: "Be careful."

"Stay safe..."

Both were like limp mud, completely lacking any ability to stop Sterl's actions.

...

Sterl gently kissed Rayna and Linna goodbye, then left home.

He registered his information at the base's outer registry, informing the staff that his talent was [Attribute Enhancement].

Finally, eighteen years into his life, he was about to leave the base for the first time.

"Here, take this basic experience potion. It gives you an extra 30% experience for ten hours," the staff member handed out a crystal-clear potion as a matter of routine.

This was a resource produced by players who had switched their class to Alchemist in the base.

All new players were gifted one, but any subsequent potions would have to be bought with their own money, either using credit points or copper coins obtained from killing monsters or completing quests in "Transcend."

If using credit points to buy, one potion would cost fifty thousand credit points.

As you know, Sterl's family only pays 5,000 credits a month for their house rent. Once you become a player, the amount of wealth you burn through on resources is just insane for the average person.

Sterl pocketed the experience potion and quickly made his way outside the base.

He looked out into the distance, seeing a lush forest with numerous trails formed by frequent trampling, and could vaguely make out low-level goblins, wild wolves, brown bears, and other monsters.

"So, this is the world outside the base?" Sterl was slightly stunned.