"New quest?" This surprised Liam. He was almost 100% sure that she just wanted to say thanks or something similar, wasting his time.
He did not expect her to receive a quest, but then again, they had just finished a Kingdom quest so it was natural to receive a lot of benefits.
"I am not sure why this suddenly popped up." Alex continued. "Here, I will share the quest details with you."
Alex tapped her fingers in the air quickly but the next second she frowned. "Hmmm. Sorry. I am not able to share."
"Oh?" Now Liam was even more intrigued.
Alex met his questioning gaze and quickly looked away. "So basically… they first asked me to visit the divine temple to take some sort of vow."
"The exact words were 'Vow of Tenacity,'" She explained.
"The quest was something like… 'Your unyielding tenacity has moved Priestess Xuraksa. Divine Temple beckons you to take the Vow of Tenacity."
"Unyielding tenacity?" Liam pondered quietly, his gaze drilling into the redhead.
Alex again looked away quickly, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. "The quest diffi… difficulty is S grade." She stammered.
"I know that we are planning to run dungeons now, but would it be okay if I first finish this quest and join? I have a feeling that this might help me a lot."
Liam smiled as he finally understood what was going on. Alex was asking his permission!
For this hot and fiery redhead to actually consult him and ask for his permission… did the sunrise from the west today?
He chuckled, but then unexpectedly shook his head. "No." He firmly replied.
"Huh?" Alex stared back at him wide-eyed and with her mouth open. She had not expected this response.
She quickly scrambled, trying to explain. "I know that for you Kingdom quests are like pennies on the road. However, they are extremely rare quests in general."
"And I got this quest because of a Kingdom quest, so I really think that this can boost my strength and should make the next fights easier."
"This quest will definitely be a special quest with at least above average reward. I just know it. You have to trust me, please."
She did not look angry at all and instead only tried her best to explain things to Liam who nodded slowly.
He was amused that this girl was trying to explain the significance of Kingdom quests to him.
If he did not know what these quests meant, then who would?
"I understand all that, but no." Liam once again firmly denied her request.
He then quickly prepared to explain. Even if she was calm and dormant before, he knew that this was surely going to make the redheaded volcano erupt.
But surprisingly, Alex had a different expression on her face. "Ok, then. I will do as you say." She simply agreed without even a single retort.
She did not challenge him at all. There was no outburst. There were no calling names, and there was no fighting.
"Alex, do you think I am saying this because I don't want you to get stronger? Maybe keep you down so that you will always be under my control?"
"No. Nothing like that." Alex shook her head.
"You are not going to ask me for any reason as to why I said no? You are just like that going to agree?" Liam asked again.
Alex tucked the few strands of red hair that were dancing in the wind behind her ear and mumbled in response. "Yes. I am sure you have a good reason."
Seeing this, Liam couldn't help himself and chuckled lightly, "You have really changed a lot."
Alex shuddered slightly and opened her mouth to say something, but quickly decided not to.
"I do have a reason, and actually that is the same as what you just told me." Liam continued. This time he did not mind explaining things to her in detail.
"This is indeed a Kingdom quest's subquest."
"I completely agree with you. This quest has the potential to give out amazing rewards, even great rare rewards that might push your power levels."
"But trust me, now is not the time to attempt it."
"Just think about it. 'Vow of tenacity', I have a feeling that the quest might involve some sort of challenge to test your tenacity."
Alex nodded. She had also thought of this.
"And you have barely had any rest since whatever happened."
"If you think you can attempt this quest now, with your current condition, then I am afraid you will only be acting with overconfidence."
"You will be underestimating the difficulty of the quest. You might even lose the rewards."
Hearing his words, Alex looked surprised. She had not considered this at all and now that Liam pointed it out, it sounded obvious.
As if reading her thoughts, Liam chuckled.
"I know you are eager to get strong, but this is a cruel, unforgiving game. We have to think steadily every step of the way."
"So I think it's best to take 24 hours at least and then attempt the quest. Do you understand?"
"Ok. I get it. I will listen to you. Thanks." She nodded.
Liam then started walking back to the group, adding a few more words like an afterthought.
"You don't have to completely rest. You can just do relaxing things. For example, the dungeons that we will be running and then attempt the quest."
Alex, who was quietly walking, looked up in shock after hearing this, but she did not say anything in response.
"Running a dungeon to relax…" She muttered under her breath silently as the two of them returned back to the group.
Everyone else quickly looked at the two wondering what happened but seeing both Liam and Alex having blank expressions, they couldn't find out anything.
Only Mia let out a small sigh of relief. As long as there wasn't a fight between the two, she was already satisfied.
The group then continued with their journey silently, everyone thinking about different things and one girl nustling a small fox to her heart's content.
Soon afterward they reached the parts of the land that were nicknamed 'Twilight forests.'
"Amazing."
"Wow."
"So beautiful."
All the women on the team were the first to react as they started gasping one by one. The forest around them was incredibly beautiful.
The name 'Twilight forests' was very apt.
Though right now, it was the middle of the day, and the sun was shining brightly, inside this forest there was only a hazy evening atmosphere.
It was neither dark nor lit up, only the soft glow of the sun lingering in the background. This effect was because of the unique trees that grew in this area.
"There! That is the dungeon gate." Shin Shoo was the first to notice, and he quickly pointed it out.
Unlike the ridiculously strong women in their group, he did not have any thoughts about the ambiance around them and was focused on the task that lay ahead.
In fact, half the team was nervous.
They knew that they couldn't afford to enjoy the scenery around them because the dungeon that awaited them was a total nightmare.
In spite of being a level 30 dungeon, there was a reason that this place still remained unconquered.
Even the players crowding around this dungeon was relatively lesser when compared to the other dungeons.
Almost everyone had officially given up on this dungeon. In the online forums, this place was even declared as bugged.
So how were they supposed to clear this dungeon in order to gain popularity for their guild?
This was in fact the absolute worst starting point that they could choose, and their leader had selected this!
What was going to happen now? Multiple team wipes?