For the next couple of hours that remained before everyone had to meet up again, it went without saying that the five spared no mercy towards the primitive humanoids, only thinking about filling up the progress bar in the quests they've received.
With each kill they made, they would ponder over their fight for a bit to see if they could improve their killing efficiency. Then, once they found another humanoid to fight against, they would apply the learnings they've made and do the entire process all over again.
Amongst the five of them, it went without saying that Valyr had made the most progress out of them, considering that he was the first to complete the quest that increased authority levels.
However, since they did not want a repeat of the incident with the Gates of Enlightenment, the young man stopped himself around thirty minutes before the deadline he set, looking at the sight in front of him with a wry smile.
"I guess I went a bit too far." Briefly gazing at the various roads littered with the corpses of the primitive humanoids he killed, the young man headed to his rest spot before taking a look at the progress he had made so far in his two quests.
"A bit more, and I would obtain the repeatable quest for a fourth time." Bringing up a screen in front of him, Valyr nodded in slight satisfaction after seeing he was only about ten kills away from increasing his authority level to Level 6.
After that, he took a look at his progress at the other quest, softly nodding once he was done reading.
With how the two quests were connected, it did not surprise Valyr to see the total number of primitive humanoids he had killed. Calculating in his mind for a bit, he would complete the third objective of the second quest with a few more completions of the first one.
Closing up the screen, he then began to prepare for his return to the south quadrant. "I would need to kill 300 more humanoids to complete the second objective after I reach an authority level of 10."
"Though, can one's authority level exceed 10?" As the question came to mind, Valyr buffed his movement speed with all of the skills in his arsenal.
After that, he ran through the path he took earlier to reach the west quadrant, going through it in reverse at the greatest speed he could muster.
While doing so, he continued to think about the question he had thought about earlier regarding kills and authority levels in the second quest.
Eventually, he came to the conclusion that the quest was designed in a way that allowed even those without any prior authority level to enter the Gates of Awakening.
After all, with 100 primitive humanoids being needed to increase one's authority by a level, it would not take long for another person to come up with the same idea he did.
With that, he placed the thought at the back of his head after he had gained a plausible answer to it, arriving at the south quadrant just a few minutes before the deadline he set.
…
As everyone had gained the opportunity to increase their authority levels, which would allow them to gain access to other buildings within the Gates of Enlightenment, Valyr wasn't too surprised when he and Hal were the only ones in the south quadrant.
"How many times have you completed the quest so far?" Deciding to pass the time as they waited for the others to arrive, the young man struck up a conversation with Hal regarding their progress.
Hal faintly smiled in response as he looked at Valyr. "I'm currently on my first repeat. Quite a bit left before I complete my second one, actually."
"So, you've completed it once already?" asked Valyr, to which Hal nodded in response.
"Yeah. My authority level is currently Level 3, but I aim to reach the highest authority level tomorrow as quickly as possible," said Hal with a slight grin.
Though, not long after, a thought popped up in Hal's mind, prompting him to look at the young man with a solemn expression. "Speaking of which, have you gotten another quest after you completed the authority level one the first time?"
Valyr raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. "Does this quest have something to do with the Gates of Awakening?"
Hal nodded. "Yeah. Something about killing a Quadrant Leader and completing other objectives to be eligible to enter the Gates of Awakening."
"Reaching a certain authority level and killing a certain number of Primitive Humanoids?" asked the young man back to be sure, to which he received yet another nod in response.
"Yeah."
After their short conversation regarding the two quests, the two continued to pass the time by talking about their strategies when it came to fighting against the humanoids in a short time span.
Surprisingly, the two of them adopted a similar approach, utilizing both physical and magical attacks that could cover a large area. Then, if there were any humanoids left standing after that, only then would they become more specific in their attacks, thereby increasing their killing efficiency.
By the time the two had began to discuss whether elemental magic had an effect against the primitive humanoids, the other three had finally returned after an additional half hour of waiting.
Quickly setting up camp for the night, the five worked together to make a simple dinner before talking about everyone's progress regarding the authority level quest.
Unsurprisingly, the other three had also completed the authority level quest once, just like Hal. However, unlike him, the progress they made on their first repeat greatly differed, with the closest among the three to finishing it being Loreina at 43 kills.
As for Hal, he was around 70 kills into the first repeat, making him the one among the group that made the second most progress before Valyr.
Not wanting to let the others know that he was way ahead of them in progress when it came to completing both quests, the young man decided to tell the others that he was around 15 kills away to completing his second repeat.
With everyone done sharing their progress, the group then moved onto the topic of the second quest they received.
Specifically, the one that would allow them to enter the Gates of Awakening.
"Primitive Humanoid Quadrant Leader…" muttered Loreina as she eventually looked at the others. "Does anyone perhaps have any idea as to where they are?"
Hearing her question, Valyr and Hal looked at each other before wryly smiling. Noticing that the two seemed to have an answer to Loreina's question, the others prompted them to share their thoughts.
"Well, from what Hal and I had gathered from our reconnaissance back then, these guys could most likely be found at the center of each quadrant," Valyr said, with Hal nodding in agreement.
"However, we'll have to check out the four quadrants again with our reconnaissance skills tomorrow morning to get a more accurate idea of where they may be," continued Hal from where the young man left off.
The man briefly shrugged his shoulders. "Though they don't move around that much, it's better to be safe than sorry. Especially in an area where even one single misstep can prove fatal."
As everyone nodded in agreement with Hal's words, the five of them continued to talk a bit more about the quadrant leaders they needed to kill. At some point, Faulus asked the group a question that caught everyone's attention.
At first, all of them attentively listened to the question. Though, once the alchemist was done talking, the entire group began to look at each other with conflicted expressions.
"Since there are four quadrants to the city, then that must mean there are four quadrant leaders in total."
"However, there are five of us in this group."
"How are we going to split it up?"
