Another World Gacha

Meanwhile outside the dungeon

Nicholas is nearby the portal, lazing around waiting for Clarice to finish the dungeon. He was sitting on a stool, and in front of him was a table and a tea set. He was reading a book related to the history of the world of Asterik, the he is currently living in.

Beside him is Maria, also sitting on a stool, working on paperwork given by Nicholas. The paperwork is composed of an accounting book and exercises to train her skills in management, accounting, and overall improve her knowledge in handling a business. Since Nicholas was training her to be a capable assistant and be his second hand in the future.

---

20 minutes after the three entered the dungeon

Nicholas: "Phew, that was a nice exercise."

Nicholas has already finished the dungeon.

It only took Nicholas a few dozen minutes to finish the risky forest. He just bulldozed through the challenge due to the difference in stats between him and the monsters inside the dungeon.

Nicholas: "Well, it's not that I expected the girls to finish first. I guess I should continue reading."

Seeing that there were no people around him on the carriage they came with, he didn't feel like reading inside the carriage. So he found a shade in a tree to lean on and sit in. He proceeds to sit under the tree to read a book and wait for his teammates to finish the dungeon. Contemplating different things about his system. His current story quest received after awakening is to reach level 20.

[Story Quest 02: Venturing to the Portals]: Completed

[Story Quest 03: The Welcome to the World of Asterik]

[The player took the first step in conquering and exploring these mysterious portals. Now it is time to take the next step, knowing the mysterious origin of such existence.

The best way to learn the origin of things is by learning about their records and histories. Gain more knowledge about this world and its cryptic history.]

[Quest]

[Learn more about the history of the world] [0/1]

[Reach Level 20] [0/1]

[Reward]

[System Update]

This was the reason why Nicholas was studying the history of the world. He felt like the system was pushing him to learn and get more involved in this world. Well, to be honest, he was also curious why dungeons appear in the world. He will be living in this world, and knowing its history is a huge advantage.

Some people say history is useless. But Nicholas thinks those people are just ignorant enough to make such statements. Studying history helps us understand how events in the past made things the way they are today.

As to what happened before the appearance of the dungeons, Nicholas didn't know. The only record written currently that Nicholas has read is after the dungeons appeared.

According to several sources in history books, they are gifts from the 5-goddess given to humans in order to improve themselves from something.

Nicholas: "However, is there a need to improve without the looming threat of dungeon breaks around the world? What was the threat that gave rise to the dungeon if the goddesses gifted the people this blessing?"

Nicholas asked himself.

History wasn't really detailed about the world, maybe due to the poor compilation of records by people or the fact that the fact that the information was not available to the general public in the world. The most probable reason is that the history of this world is kept a secret from the masses. 

Nicholas: "Is it what people say? Ignorance is bliss."

His theory was leaning more in the latter direction, that some of the history of this world is kept a secret, because the history books he collected date back to the early 700s.

From what he heard from the church during the lecture after awakening, humans and the church have existed for more than several millennia already. There is also a discrepancy in the current four sects of the church of the goddess spreading the faith.

Nicholas: "There are four branches of churches; however, there are five goddesses in the world." he put his hand on his chin to contemplate

Nicholas: "Is this the classic drama of one of the goddesses who wanted to rule the world, so she was destroyed by the rest. And now she wants revenge on the world and the divine who opposed her, so she summoned dungeons and monsters to exact her revenge?"

He asked himself in a contemplative manner.

Nicholas: "Probably not since she is still included in church worship; she is also still being worshipped by some and not being treated as an evil entity."

Nicholas: "It's not that I can answer this question and come up with a plausible hypothesis without learning and reading more about it. Maybe I should convince my father to procure some books from the church library; I bet there are more historical records there than buying them on the market."

He has continued to read since he realized he cannot draw a proper conclusion without a wealth of knowledge about history. His only goal is to satisfy the conditions of the system in order to complete the quest.

After half an hour passed, a fluctuation on the dungeon portal appeared, indicating someone was coming out of it. Nicholas saw and waved at the person coming out of the portal.

A prim and proper girl, her dark hair tied to pigtails, and her cute, creamy-colored face have a bit of sweat on them, indicating a slight strain during the dungeon mission.

Looking around, looking for someone, Maria saw Nicholas waving at him in the shade of a tree. Then approach him gleefully.

Nicholas: "Congratulations, Maria. You finish the risky forest faster than Clarice."

Maria: "Thank you, Master," she replied.

Right after greeting Nicholas, she immediately went to their carriage and took a table, some stools, and a tea set. Placing it near the tree so it was still covered by the shade, she beckoned Nicholas to sit and enjoy a pleasant tea.

Nicholas smiled and stood up from the tree he was leaning on. He then sat on the stool and took a sip of the tea, which was made from the rewards of the system.

These tea flowers and leaves are very rare on the continent; before starting his business, it was one of his options to sell. However, he decided against it since it was really sketchy to explain how he got this kind of flower and leaf.

Spending their time leisurely, Maria also took a seat next to Nicholas after serving tea and talked to his beloved master. Nicholas reading a book and replying occasionally to Maria's chatter did not derail the conversation. Sometimes he even introduces a topic whenever he feels like the topic has been dragging for a long time.

This was the slow life Nicholas was expecting daily. But he had to get more powerful, so he is content to just experience it once in a while. Maybe in the future, he will experience this more, or maybe on a daily basis.

After another thirty minutes, Clarice still hasn't exited the portal. Maria getting restless and doing nothing took a bunch of paper work, supposedly done by Nicholas.

Nicholas was letting her do his paperwork to "train" her to be an excellent secretary, not that Nicholas is really lazy. She was sifting through the inventory document of the raw materials for the beauty products coming in.

Maria's job was to compare and confirm if the order amount matched the orders delivered. She was also calculating the cost to verify that the amount tendered from the merchant to the estimated cost of procuring the individual raw materials is equal and they didn't get cheated on.

After another half an hour, Clarice finally went out of the portal after successfully clearing the dungeon. Her body is full of scratches and a few wounds. Looking around, she found Maria and Nicholas sitting on a stool. She approached them with a wry smile and said to Maria.

Clarice: "I lost, huh. It's unfair. I'll definitely win next time."

Maria said nothing; she just smiled in her direction. Beforehand, the two girls made a bet on who would clear the dungeon first. The reward will be some alone time with Nicholas when exploring the town when they go on adventures in nearby towns.

Nicholas, not knowing their agreement, didn't really care much about their conversation since he was engrossed with the thing he was reading. But glancing at Clarice's numerous scratches and some wounds, he cast earth skill [Sand's Embrace]. Numerous sands enveloped Clarice's body, covering the scratches and wounds and slowly healing her.

Clarice, seeing her body slowly heal up, smiled and hugged Nicholas while saying

Maria: "Thank you, my Liege!".

Nicholas: "Get off me; you're sweaty. And learn some healing spells; it is a necessity in the long run."

Nicholas said this while not actively removing himself from Clarice's embrace.

Finally, Maria felt that the hug was too long and pulled Clarice out of Nicholas reach.

Maria: "Master, since Clarice had also finished the Risky Forest, can we go home now since we still need to prepare for our journey out of Curtana?"

Nicholas: "Maybe after a while, I still want to enjoy the peace and quiet."

Maria, nodding her head in agreement, began to prepare another stool and a tea for Clarice, who had just finished. They just sat there until noon. Good thing Maria also packed some lunch for them if ever they took until lunch to clear the dungeon. They enjoyed the calm and serene atmosphere of the forest.