Massive bodies lay fallen on the ground like a series of hills.
The clean white paved ground in front of the temple did not kick up much dust.
Kenji scanned the entire area, finding that besides him and Loki, there were no other Giants standing.
"Phew... Dealing with these big guys was quite a struggle." Kenji exhaled, retracting his Conqueror's Haki.
Although the battle seemed to end quickly, with the Temple Guards collapsing unconscious upon contact, in reality, this "instant kill" was achieved by Kenji pushing his Conqueror's Haki and Pressure of All Things abilities to their limits.
"They truly live up to their reputation as Elbaph's strongest warrior group."
Fortunately, Kenji was quite satisfied with the final outcome.
"Hmm, by doing this, does it count as completing both choices simultaneously?" Kenji muttered to himself, surveying the Giants lying on the ground before him.
"Now that no one is blocking me, I can freely enter the Temple, so the first choice is definitely complete."
"As for the choice of a quiet standoff… looking at how quiet these Giants are, they definitely won't have any objections."
Kenji entering the temple clearly couldn't be 'quiet,' but he could make the Temple Guards on the other side quiet.
This way, with no one speaking, wouldn't it also count as a quiet standoff?
It was just that the positions of the two sides had shifted slightly: Kenji was standing inside the temple, having a 'quiet' standoff with the Giant Temple Guards outside.
Just as Kenji was waiting for the rewards to be distributed, Loki suddenly spoke from behind him, his voice filled with shock and anger.
"Hey! What are you doing?! These are Elbaph's most elite warriors, the brave guardians of the our god!"
"Hmm? What's wrong?" Kenji turned around upon hearing this, asking in confusion.
Seeing his reaction, Loki became even more enraged, almost stomping his foot in frustration. "Still asking what's wrong? Just now, you actually knocked out the entire Temple Guard…"
"I just wanted to help them get a good night's sleep."
Kenji raised a hand, signaling Loki to relax, and said with a smile, "As Temple Guards, constantly protecting the gods and the king, they must have a very hard life every day, right?"
"Looking at how restless they were, it's clearly the result of insufficient sleep. Since I encountered them, I might as well lend a small hand to help them improve their sleep."
Hearing these words, Loki's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.
He had never expected such an explanation, and after thinking about it, he found that this reasoning actually seemed quite plausible?
Just as Kenji had previously thought: this prince, who had awakened the Ancient Giant bloodline, despite his large size, was essentially just a kid.
On the other side, Kenji didn't wait for Loki, who was in a temporary state of confusion, to speak again. He turned and stepped through the temple's grand entrance.
Then, he stopped, turned back to Loki, pointed a finger towards the depths of the temple, and asked with a smile, "Don't you want to go inside the temple and take a look?"
Loki paused at the question, his thoughts, which had just begun to form, were interrupted again, and his attention shifted to the direction Kenji was pointing.
He looked into the seemingly endless depths of the temple, and intense interest quickly appeared in his eyes.
"Of course I want to see such an interesting place with my own eyes!"
"Father is also a bit unusual today… Could he be secretly doing something fun?"
As he spoke, Loki had already gotten up. He took a few steps into the temple, passed Kenji, and continued to lead the way.
"The last time I came to the temple was a long time ago…"
Loki walked, glancing left and right at the walls on both sides of the corridor, a look of reminiscence in his eyes.
The interior of the temple was vast. After all, it was where the Giant's gods were enshrined. For humans, it was a colossal structure.
Even for Giants, it was extremely grand, the largest building in Elbaph.
Loki and Kenji walked one after another, their footsteps echoing in the empty corridor.
"Such a large place, it would be a bit troublesome without a guide." Kenji watched Loki, who was walking with ease as if he were returning home, thinking that he had found the right person.
"The aura in the depths of the temple has changed…"
Through his Observation Haki, Kenji could keenly detect changes in aura from a great distance.
Just as he focused his attention on investigating, glowing text suddenly popped up in his vision, the system mission rewards had arrived.
[You have gained the passive approval of the Temple Guard! Choice Mission Stage 1 completed!]
[You have achieved a quiet standoff with the Temple Guard! Choice Mission Stage 1 completed!]
[Mission (Choice - Stage 1): Find a way to gain the approval of the Temple Guard to enter the Temple and confront King Harald, OR have a quiet standoff with the Temple Guard! — Completed!]
[Reward: Upgrade a random owned trait 2 times! (Basic Reward)]
[Reward distribution in progress…]
[Your Steel Balloon (Blue) has been upgraded… Dark Blue… Super Blue!]
[Current Steel Balloon (Super Blue)!]
"Huh? No extra reward? What's going on?"
Kenji was quite happy when he saw the first two system prompts, but as he read on, he found that it was still only the basic reward of two trait upgrades.
"Could there be some hidden way to complete this mission?"
"However, upgrading the Steel Balloon trait is decent…?"
Just as Kenji was carefully examining the trait interface, the system prompt in his vision suddenly disappeared automatically.
Immediately following, new prompt appeared, replacing the previous screen.
[Reward distribution in progress…]
[Your Berserk (Dark Blue) has been upgraded… Super Blue… Light Purple!]
[Current Berserk (Light Purple)!]
[Name: Kenji]
[Traits: Armament Haki (Super Gold), Observation Haki (Super Gold), Conqueror's Haki (Super Gold), Physique - Human (Super Gold), Hand-to-Hand Combat (Light Gold), Swordsmanship (Light Purple), Sea King Power (Light White), Superspeed Regeneration (Dark Purple), Steel Balloon (Super Blue), Future Vision (Blue), Berserk (Light Purple), Pressure of All Things (Light Blue), Giant Bloodline (Purple)]
"This is… rewards distributed twice?"
Kenji was somewhat surprised and re-checked, confirming that it was indeed two rewards.
"Two random upgrades performed independently… It's clearly a duplicate reward distribution."
"It looks like completing the mission multiple times is why I received two rewards?"
"Why not just give an extra reward directly?"
Kenji didn't quite understand and was a little annoyed. If it had only given one extra reward, upgrading an owned trait 4 times, then the Steel Balloon trait would have already advanced by now.
As he pondered slightly, he re-summoned the mission reward prompt and checked it again.
"Completing the mission multiple times… Does this count as successfully exploiting a system bug?"