VIP Chapter 290: Shuna Was Still Clearing the Dungeon (4k)
*Swish swish swish—*
Shuna watched him write, pen flying across the page. Every morning, as soon as he woke up, he would sit at his desk and write in that red-covered book, as if he were “reciting facts” rather than “creating.” This continued for a month.
By the time he finished, the tree outside the window had transformed from its winter state of bare, leafless branches to one sprouting tender green shoots.
“《Quest System》…?”
Shuna clasped her hands together, murmuring the name several times. She recognized both words individually, but together, she had no idea what Will meant.
However…
She sat by the desk, admiring the profile of young Will as he wrote.
His eyes beneath his glasses were sharp and determined, and occasionally, a hint of mischief would appear at the corner of his mouth. When he paused, he would chew on the end of his pen…
It was very cute.
She liked it.
She wanted to rub his cheeks.
“Speaking of which, at this time, he hadn’t written the letter of request yet… I shouldn’t know him.”
She leaned down slightly, tilting her head to look at his face.
“So, right now, he’s a stranger to me. It’s a pity this is just a ‘memory’ that keeps repeating, and I can’t talk to him…”
“Otherwise, being able to talk to Little Will from his childhood would be quite interesting.”
“Hmm… What would I say? But if I spoke to him at my current age, wouldn’t I seem like a strange older sister?”
Shuna tried to peek at what he was writing.
Of course, this time she could understand it. It wasn’t the unfamiliar language she heard in his earliest memories.
Unfortunately…
There were gaps in “memories” of this book. Simply put, while she could clearly see some of the text, for others, she could only glimpse fragments of words.
There were entire pages filled with wavy lines like “~~~~~~~~~~~~,” indicating that something was written there, but the specifics were unknown.
“It seems he truly understands the truth that a good memory is not as reliable as a bad pen. By writing this book, he can prevent himself from forgetting things.”
As for the parts she *could* see clearly…
“Hmm… Long-term quest, high-temperature direction training: Train Iaar’s Ice Armor Infusion to endure a 100-degree Celsius sauna for ten minutes. Quest Reward: Eat popsicles with her.”
Most of it was like this, setting short-term goals for Iaar or himself, with some trivial rewards upon achieving them.
“Why would he write something like this?”
From the descriptions of the quests, she could infer that her acquaintance with Will through letters was tied to these missions.
After he finished writing the book, he protected it very carefully.
He took the thick, red-covered book with him almost everywhere he went, treating it with such caution that he rarely gave Iaar a chance to see it.
“…Could it be that this is what he referred to as ‘fate’?”
Shuna was a very perceptive person. Having already seen the contents of the “Quest System” and knowing what Will had been agonizing over for so long, she quickly guessed the truth without any detours.
“He writes down everything he cannot forget in a book for reference, and he lists many plans. And in meticulous detail…”
“It’s strange; it’s not like what he said. If it’s truly content from a ‘dream’… let alone why he would have such clear memories after waking up…”
“He even wrote it down as the trajectory of ‘fate’ without verifying the dream and reality through repeated experiments…”
“From what I know of Will, he shouldn’t be someone who believes so easily.”
She tried to read more of the book, hoping to glimpse “fate” from within, but unfortunately…
If this guy remembered the contents of this book so clearly, why would he have written it in the first place!
Therefore, she couldn’t read most of the content.
…
Then, Shuna witnessed the “effort is always inferior to talent” side of this young master.
For example, he would pore over magic books, but when he actually tried to utter the magic circles and incantations, his own mana supply would be insufficient. Or his sword skill practice required three to four times more effort than others to master. Or during endurance running, he would start panting after a short while…
Shuna began to understand why Will ultimately chose to become a priest.
This was likely… his best choice after weighing almost all other professions.
Next, with almost seamless transition of memories, she saw the scene she most wanted to witness.
When Will discovered a problem he couldn’t solve in his practice with the maid, he returned to write a letter seeking help from the Adventurer’s Guild.
“So, this is the expression you had when you wrote the letter?”
She had imagined it countless times, especially after discovering his identity as the mysterious young master of the Hysterm Family. She was curious how such a young master would sit at a desk, ponder his wording, and write his first letter to the outside world.
But the actual scene was more uneventful than she had imagined.
On a quiet night, with a lamp lit, after scratching his head four or five times, the letter was finished.
But Shuna was happy because…
“This letter looks much clearer than many other texts. So… well, no need to guess. You definitely remembered things related to me very clearly.”
And what made her even happier was likely hearing, time and again, within the memories:
“Yes, this is a letter to Mr. S.”
“Will Mr. S have a solution?”
“If it’s Mr. S, he’ll definitely give me a plan.”
“As expected of Mr. S! He actually came up with such a brilliant idea.”
…
Shuna didn’t even notice her own face flushing as she heard the still-voice-changing Will utter “Mr. S” with such admiration.
“So… so he actually admires me this much in private?”
“Although he did treat me as a man, it… it sounds quite sweet when he calls me that.”
“I’m a little regretful. I should have… I should have let him call me Mr. S for a little longer. He changed his address too quickly!”
…
Beyond that point, Shuna was almost as familiar with the story as Will himself.
After all, through their correspondence, no matter how much he tried to “conceal” and “remain anonymous,” she had guessed most of it from his scattered words.
Becoming a witch’s disciple, forming a bond with his fiancée, the Little Princess, spending every day affectionately with the Beastkin maid…
Alright, alright, she knew it all.
Was it just that…
She could only watch from afar as they spent three years?
It’s nothing.
The memories became clearer and more detailed. Even when they settled in Nov, Shuna knew she was getting closer to meeting him.
However…
What exactly did that book…
Write?
“I’m meeting Mr. S tomorrow. Hmm… I’ll just leave this book here.”
Will sat at his desk, placing the “Quest System” on the table and flipping through the pages, intentionally or unintentionally.
Opportunity.
In his still-clear memories, he rarely flipped through the pages one by one; he often went directly to a specific page and wrote in it!
Shuna quickly moved to his desk, standing directly behind him, enveloping him, and looking at the book from the same perspective.
“I don’t really want to bring this book with me, as it records predetermined fate. But…”
“For me, Mr. S is a new encounter, a new fate.”
“There’s still about a year until ‘that day.’ There’s plenty of time to enjoy…”
That day?
What day?
Shuna looked at a page in the book. It seemed separated from the main text by a blank page. He often used this method to distinguish each character – including himself, of course.
[Quest ▇▇: Accept Death (Try to avoid if possible).]
[Important Information: The name of the Dungeon where he was killed by a Slime: ▇▇▇▇.]
…
Huh?
This…
What is this?
“I will die in an accident in a dungeon approximately a year and a half from now…”
…He mentioned it!
Shuna hadn’t forgotten about it.
So the accident was being squashed by a Slime. No wonder you little brat stuttered and kept trying to cover it up with various words.
“No, no, okay, the key point is… I thought he knew this would happen, but didn’t know where. Now it seems he even remembers the location of his death…”
“If I knew which dungeon… could I prevent it for you in advance? If it’s cleared beforehand, you won’t die, will you?”
Shuna stared intently at the line. It wasn’t completely unclear, not completely “forgotten.” It seemed to be gradually becoming clearer from its initial blurriness. Perhaps for Will, it was a name somewhere between “completely forgotten” and “can be remembered with a little effort”!
“Slow down, you… you look at it more, don’t turn the page…”
Shuna prayed inwardly, but it was in vain.
Before she could see the line that was about to appear, Will calmly turned the page.
As if what he had written was merely a mundane event, not worth lingering on.
“Damn it!”
Shuna sighed. She didn’t need to look at the subsequent memories; most of them were events she had experienced with Will, so there was no additional information.
This memory didn’t allow her to hear Will’s inner thoughts, otherwise, she would have liked to hear what this kid usually thought. Especially… especially what he thought when he first saw her. After all, the words spoken by Will, who was always glib and evasive, might not be what he truly thought.
…He probably thought she was very beautiful?
Oh…
Of course…
Seeing him passionately kissing that witch, and enjoying nights of passion with Treya…
She was still…
Slightly jealous.
She had really acted too late. If she had been more aggressive earlier, none of you… would have been involved!
“Forget it. Thinking like this makes me sound like a sore loser. The one who laughs last… will be me.”
The final scene was him rushing towards the entrance of the Royal Palace, while she and Treya confronted each other – this was her last memory.
“Well, the memory should end here.”
“What comes after the memory? A BOSS waiting for me? What kind of BOSS can Will’s memory bring?”
As Shuna finished speaking, the space vibrated, and waves of ripples appeared, distorting everyone in Will’s memory, making them no longer clear.
“What happened?”
She swayed, almost losing her balance.
Then, she discovered…
The memory “played” on.
But for some reason, if the memory continued, it should have been clear. However, Will’s memories were now very blurry, not the usual blurriness from not remembering clearly, but…
As if “interfered” with, everyone was distorted, covered in a layer of noise and blurriness. Even the sound was accompanied by an unpleasant static.
But…
“He was saved by that maid… under Treya’s watch. Well, although I created the opportunity, I thank her.”
“And then… taken to his old home? Hmm… not too far from the capital.”
“…Did you do these things with the maid? Can you film it a bit clearer? At least let me see your butt properly.”
“…Finally, in the mountains… I can’t see clearly anymore.”
…
Shuna felt like she had encountered the same situation as last time in the dungeon. She thought her time here was short, but it was likely at least two weeks had passed outside – after all, it was memory time, so it seemed plausible.
“This is after we parted ways. According to the progression here, Treya and Will have also separated… Could it be that this isn’t ‘saving’ memories, but constantly reading them in some way?”
She didn’t understand that maid very well, and couldn’t see this part of the memory she didn’t know clearly.
But her intuition told her that Will was now entangled with a third person, and the situation was not good – perhaps even worse than before.
Because…
On Will’s face, there appeared expressions of “submission” and “giving up.”
In his memories over the past decade, she had never seen such expressions.
*Beep—*
It went black.
The entire dungeon “turned off the lights” again. However, this time Shuna knew that Will’s memory had likely finished playing, and it had entered a black screen again. Like a brilliant stage play, the curtain had finally fallen.
But this blackout was different from the one that had previously made Shuna feel calm.
Shuna’s fist immediately coated with Ice Armor, and she began to chant softly, quickly layering countless buffs against mental magic onto herself, and then swiftly put a dagger in her hand.
Danger…
Shuna felt danger like never before.
It wasn’t even the sense of crisis from a BOSS in this dungeon – at least, besides Treya, she had never felt such a potent fluctuation of magic power.
*Ding—*
It sounded like the spotlight of a stage play, and then, in the complete darkness, she saw a figure standing in the spotlight.
“Hmm… As expected, as a floor of the dungeon, possibly even the BOSS floor, it wouldn’t be this simple…”
Knowing the specific enemy, she felt much more at ease, twirled her dagger, and straightened her body.
Until the person in front of her turned around—
A black-haired, black-eyed man, not as sturdy as a warrior, but still well-built, clearly having trained.
He looked up, his melancholic eyes glaring fiercely at her.
Something’s not right…
Shuna always felt that this person was more like…
Her in the mirror?
Author’s Note: The limited special update has ended, I think I wrote 16,000 words. Another chapter was blocked and is being revised. I’ll take a moment to write down the outline for the next part ( )
