Onto The Next Quest

<Confirmed, Host's mental state has stabilized>

Hearing the system's voice for the first in what seemed to be years to Ruthven, a calm smile crossed his face under the once-ancient tree.

Slowly, He began to open his eyes. Though, for some reason, they seemed to be somewhat heavy.

<.... Is the host facing a problem?> The system asked, its tone different from its usual artificial one.

Ruthven to this he lay in silence, slowly processing what he just heard, "... Was that sympathy I sensed from you?" He soon asked.

But the system instead, floated in silence.

"Guess so.." A loud chuckle came from Ruthven before he could continue," Though a bit strange coming from you, thanks for worrying about me. Also, it's not a big problem, so don't worry about it."

The smile on Ruthven's had grown quite drastically as he said those, and the system on the other hand seemed to be facing its own problems,<Y-your welcome.>

As the short and awkward conversation between the two came to an end, Ruthven once again tried opening his eyes.

They were still as heavy as before, but not giving up on them, They finally opened...

A crimson glow came From them.

Fully opening, Ruthven's eyes came into view, surprising the system once again.

<Host, What happened to your eyes?>

With red irises and a Spider Lily pattern in them, The chaotic Bloodlands stood till the very moment they were open.

"W-what do you mean?" Ruthven asked, his voice showing signs of panic.

<...>

"System!?.... why are you quite all of a sudden!?" Tensing his gaze on the system, The Bloodlands that were once still, Were faced with fierce winds and threatening dark red clouds.

The system noticed and thought it be best if it took action as quickly as possible, <Nothing major, The host does not need to worry.>

Not completely trusting the system's words, Ruthven nodded his head, calming the Bloodlands in the process....

<[Notice]>Just as another long strand of silence was about to begin, the system quickly spoke up,< The host needs to prepare their clothing so the second Bonus Quest can begin>

Quickly remembering where he and the system left off before being interrupted by whatever that was, a sigh left Ruthven's mouth, "Options!" He continued to say.

<Confirmed, Two sets of Clothing will be required for this quest, choose wisely.>

Two Blue Panels quickly themselves in front of Ruthven, at the top, one was written [Formal Clothing] while the other was [Battle Clothing]

Both titles were weird to Ruthven, but he didn't pay them much heed and started scrolling the [Formal Clothing] panel.

After scrolling for a while and carefully choosing his preferred Option, he moved towards the [Battle Clothing] panel.

He scrolled and scrolled, and never did he see what fit him best, "System, For Battle Clothing, can I just choose any of these, and have the ability to freely change how they look?"

[Searching]

°°°°°

[It is possible ]

"Great, Then guess I'll choose any of these," Ruthven said with a big smirk on his face.

<....Dear Host, Mind telling me why you want your Battle Clothing to be customizable?"

Looking at the system after such a question, Ruthven raised his hand to scratch his hair, "Am not sure." He said, chuckling at his own words, "Maybe it's cause am looking for a way to remember home."

The system stood silent and watched as Ruthven picked his clothing option.

After minutes of continuous scrolling, Ruthven was finally done, "Am Done!" he boldly declared.

[Confirmed]

[Bonus Quest Preparations are now Complete>

<Would the host like to Begin Bonus Quest (2)]

Hearing those words, Ruthven slowly breathed with a smile on his face as he responded crosslegged under the chaos tree...

"Begin Bonus Quest (2)!"

<Confirmed, The teleportation shall now begin.>

At the system's words, red dark energy engulfed Ruthven's entire body, and only a few seconds later...

He disappeared from his location.

★★★★★

A/N: This is the end of the first half of volume 1, am sorry for making this chapter short, but I had to make sure the pacing sticks, I thank all who have been reading my work to this point, hope you do enjoy the next volume.

Am not good with interactions between people, so do point out some mistakes I've made here and there.

See you all in the next volume!!