Chapter 40: Step 40 to Greatness: Your Ancestors Can Backpaddle At Any Time

[You have received an advancement quest!]

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Type: Advancement Quest

Name: Evolution

Task:

⬦ Slay 3 alpha-grade beasts. (1/3 beasts slain)

⬦ Expand your tribe. (7/10 tribe members recruited)

⬦ Recruit one non-human, humanoid being into the tribe. (0/1)

⬦ Defend your settlement from enemy attacks. (1/5)

Reward: Tier-2 Advancement

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"All this for one advancement...?"

He got lucky after killing one alpha beast, and now he had to kill two more?

As for recruiting more people, it wasn’t a difficult task. If he sent a message in the regional chat, he would surely get some responses.

The problem was trust. Unlike Sera, who did not have a choice but to become a servant, no one would sign the slave contract, no matter how good the living conditions were at the settlement.

"And I can’t trust them if they don’t sign it... as for the third task, is it even possible?"

If the task had been to recruit a non-human, he would have already completed the task. Freki and Huginn weren’t humans, after all. It was the humanoid part that had him baffled.

He had the blue recruitment card, which he could use. However, it didn’t mention what the card could recruit. It could be another beast or something that could complete the recruitment task.

As for the defence task, he wasn’t worried about it. For the first time, having enemies didn’t seem like a bad thing to him. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"For now, I have to actively pursue two tasks. First about the alpha beasts and second to recruit more people into the settlement," he mumbled, looking ahead.

The tribeswomen had slaughtered the group. Naturally, the players were taken aback by the scene since they were used to NPCs not harming them.

Before they could do anything, they were impaled by the spears. Those who were lucky died instantly, but those who weren’t were writhing on the bloodied ground.

The women didn’t kill them. Instead, they rushed to check on Adrian.

"Male, did they harm you?" Amika asked, lifting his hands to check for wounds.

She even tried to lift his skirt to check on the family jewels, only for Adrian to flick her forehead.

"I’m fine!" he yelled, holding on to his skirt. "Forget about it. Did any of you see anything strange after killing the wanderers?"

The women simultaneously shook their heads. Only Mika had the screen pop up, showing her level and exp after killing a few of the wanderers.

"Level 4 already? Nice job!" Adrian smiled, patting her back.

Mika tried to play cool, but the redness on her ears and stiff smile betrayed her.

"Male, should I kill the rest of them?" she asked, hurriedly changing the topic.

Adrian was about to nod, but then shook his head. Mika benefited from his bonus exp, and they were planning to farm slimes either way.

Adrian turned to Sera and nodded at the writhing players.

Unlike Mika, Sera did not benefit in that manner. So farming exp for her was difficult. Besides, as a player, she might receive benefits from killing other players.

Even if she didn’t, Adrian still wanted her to get stronger, like everyone else. After all, they had to defend the settlement from attacks for him to ’evolve’.

"M-Me?" Sera stammered, pointing at herself. "I haven’t even killed any beasts o-other than those chickens, and you want me to kill humans?"

Adrian sighed in disappointment and nodded. But seeing that Sera still wasn’t moving, he sent her a text.

<Adrian>: Why are you hesitating? You do realize they would have done unspeakable things to you if the tribe hadn’t subdued them, right?

His words reminded Sera of the nasty gaze of those men. At that moment, she realized why Adrian killed Junito and the rest so decisively, and now he expected the same from her.

However, he wanted it to be her decision. Otherwise, he could have used the contract to force her to kill them. Thinking so, she took a shaky breath and nodded.

Everyone stepped aside, clearing a path for her to the enemies. Sera turned and walked toward one of the writhing players on the ground.

The man was covered in blood from a deep spear wound in his side. His eyes were wide with terror as he stared up at her, desperately shaking his head.

If he had the strength to talk, he would probably be begging for his life. Yet, he couldn’t, and Sera didn’t intend to spare them. She gripped the spear so tightly that her knuckles turned white as she raised it over her head.

"Nugh—!"

A gasp escaped from the man’s lips as the spear pierced through his chest. Blood spurted upward, splashing across Sera’s face.

She flinched as the warm liquid hit her, but she didn’t pull back and kept twisting the spear until the man’s body went still.

Sera stood motionless for a few seconds, staring down at the dead man. Then something changed in her.

"Hehe... hehehe!"

Adrian raised an eyebrow after hearing her giggle. He stared at the corpse and then back at her, only to see that she had tilted her head slightly as she looked at the corpse beneath her.

"That was... fun," she mumbled as she pulled out the spear before driving it back in. "Hey, come on! Beg more!"

The man was already dead and didn’t respond. Realizing that, she pulled the spear out and moved to the next wounded player without waiting for Adrian’s order.

The man saw her and tried to crawl away, only for Sera to step on his wounded leg and lean in to show her manic smile to him.

"N-no... please... I have a wife—"

"But that did not stop you from lusting over me... right? Hm... maybe I will let you go if you apologize!"

The man nodded frantically, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Sera shoved the spear into it and kept stabbing him like the man before.

"Ah... this feeling..." she murmured, panting while holding the spear close to her chest. "Who’s next?"

Adrian watched with narrowed eyes as Sera moved to the third dying player. She was no longer hesitant. She was practically skipping between them, humming softly as she finished them off one by one.

Although he didn’t say it, he was baffled by Sera’s change in demeanor. If not for his class and the contract, he would probably be scared shitless.

[Your servant <Sera> has had an epiphany.]

[Hidden class: <Smiling Reaper> unlocked!]

At the same time, a notification was sent to the announcement chat.

[Congratulations to Player Seraphine Quinzel for unlocking a hidden class and being the first dual-class player in the region.]

"Dual-class..."

But that wasn’t all... another familiar notification followed the rest.

[High-quality woman detected!]

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Name: Seraphine Quinzel

Age: 21 (Earth Years)

Appearance Rating: 73

Body rating: 81

Fertility: Does it matter with your gift? You have a field, get ready to plow it!

Evaluation: A decent female worthy of carrying lineage. Winning her over would yield bountiful rewards.

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What...? You told me to stay away from her, and now that she has gone crazy, suddenly you want me to tame her?

[Accepting one’s mistake is a sign of wisdom, boy. Now go get her.]