God-Tier Extraction Talent: Reincarnated in a Game-like World!

Chapter 447: Slow Growth Pace

Persephone’s voice did not rise, but the words still echoed across the enclosed chambers they were in.

"The quest is for you to become the Overlord of the entire Wilderness within one year." Her mismatched eyes stayed on him as she said it.

Gabriel did not step back, but his jaw tightened, and he stared at her for several seconds like he was checking whether she was joking.

"One year," he repeated. "You understand how wide the Wilderness is."

Persephone answered without blinking. "I understand."

Gabriel’s gaze shifted as if he could already see the map in his head, and he spoke.

The Wilderness was not one place. It was a whole region with endless zones, ruins, forests, rivers, and towns that were far from each other.

In that place, there were several lords who already governed their own territory like it belonged to them. Some called themselves kings. Some had walls, soldiers, and alliances. Some hid in places where even normal tracking was hard. If he went after one, the others would move.

Just conquering the eastern camp had already made him a target and a potential threat the neighboring lords would want to watch.

If he took land, they would retaliate. If he tried to force order, they would unite to stop him.

Persephone’s expression stayed firm. "That is why it is a quest. Besides, this is something you would have done sooner or later."

Gabriel exhaled slowly. It was true. This was his initial goal. However, the time frame she activated it was far earlier than he had planned.

"So you want me to unify it," he said. "Not only take land, but make the whole Wilderness accept one authority."

Persephone’s lips curved slightly as she replied.

"Overlord means one rule, one name above the rest."

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. "And you want it done while I’m still building. You want it done while I’m still dealing with enemies on all sides."

"Yes. In a way, this is what you have been doing already. All the quest does is force you to be faster and creative."

Just then a sound rang out, clear and familiar.

Ding.

A pale window flashed before Gabriel’s eyes, even in this place where his normal skills felt sealed, and he stiffened as lines formed like a contract that could not be ignored.

[Divine Quest: Overlord of the Wilderness]

[Objective: Become the recognized Overlord of the entire Wilderness]

[Time Limit: 365 Days]

[Reward: ???]

[Failure: ???]

The message stayed there, steady, and the missing parts made Gabriel’s lips press together. Unknown reward meant he could not measure what she was offering, and unknown failure meant he could not prepare for what would happen if he fell short, which made it worse, because it meant the quest did not care about fair warning.

Gabriel stared at it for a few seconds, then looked back at Persephone.

"So it’s official," he said.

Persephone gave a slow nod. "Now you cannot pretend it was optional."

"Why give me this quest all of a sudden," he asked.

"You pulled me out of my body, sealed my abilities here, then dropped something like this on my head while my real body is still lying in a bed with people watching it."

"Because your pace is not enough," she replied.

"My pace," Gabriel repeated. "I’ve been moving faster than anyone around me."

Persephone’s voice turned colder. "Your growth has been very fast compared to mortals. But it is still slow."

Gabriel’s expression shifted for the first time, surprise cutting through his calm, because he had been killing opponents above his level, stacking power through Extraction, and forcing outcomes that should not be possible for a normal human.

"Slow," he said again, and his voice grew colder. "You call that slow."

"Yes," she said.

Gabriel took one slow breath, then another, and his hands tightened at his sides before he forced them to loosen.

"I’ve climbed with every fight. I’ve taken skills, stats, loot, even things people said were impossible to take, and I’ve turned threats into fuel. I’ve built a group, secured a base, and I’m still alive while everyone expects me to collapse."

Persephone’s eyes stayed fixed on him like she was tired of excuses.

"And yet you are still slow," she repeated, and the way she said it made it clear she was comparing him to something else, not to humans.

Gabriel’s gaze shifted for a moment, then returned, and his voice dropped into a calm tone that carried understanding instead of pride.

"Compared to gods," he said.

Persephone’s lips curled slightly. "Now you understand."

Gabriel nodded slowly. In his past life, he had seen what a god could do when Surtr swung his axe and erased everything in seconds, and he had also seen what Persephone could do when she tore him out of death and sent him back with a talent that belonged to divine beings.

He did not need a long lecture to accept the truth.

For humans, his progress was terrifying.

For beings like Persephone, Surtr, and the other divine forces that existed beyond mortal rules, his progress was still crawling.

That realization settled in him fast, and it changed the way the quest felt in his chest, because he was not racing other lords for land, he was racing time itself while gods watched, and if he stayed at human speed, he would still get crushed when the real war reached him.

"You need territory," Persephone said. "You need a throne that has weight. You need to become strong enough to stand when gods look down."

Gabriel spent a few seconds in silence, then raised his head and asked, "Why didn’t you tell me the reward."

"Focus on the objective, not the prize."

"And the failure," he asked. "You didn’t tell me that either."

"Because if I told you, you would waste time thinking about it," she replied. "And we do not have much time."

She shifted against her restraints, and the chains clinked and glowed brighter for a moment like they were warning her, then settled again.

"You need to get stronger," she said, voice firm and urgent now, "and you need to remove these chains."

Gabriel’s eyes went to the bindings wrapped around her arms and torso. He did not argue, he only nodded once, then stepped closer, because the point was clear, and he wanted to test it with his own hands.

"If I touch it," he asked, calm but careful, "will it kill me here."

"It might or it might not," she said mischievously. "For your own safety, I will say you should not touch it. After all, this chain was cast by the All Father."

Staring at the chain, he felt an urge to touch it, but remembering the warning of the giantess, he pushed all intrusive thoughts from his head.

Right at that moment, Persephone’s voice rang out again.

"That is enough. I will send you back now."

"Wait, I have one more question," Gabriel said. "Why are you chained here. What did you do."

The goddess paused for a brief moment as emotions flashed through her mismatched eyes before she spoke again.

"Maybe when next we meet, I will tell you."

The chamber trembled, the air twisted behind him, and the same pulling force wrapped around his awareness like a hook. Gabriel did not fight it.

The world snapped, and in the next moment his eyes flew open to the ceiling of Henry’s mansion, the weight of the blanket on his chest and the smell of the room returning all at once.

The first thing he saw was Anna leaning over him with horror filled eyes, staring like she had just watched a corpse sit up.

...

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