Author's note: 1000+ Followers, 200+ Favorites= the promised bonus chapter. Though, I do have to warn you. The next milestone is quite a bit longer in coming.

  Time moved quickly after that.

  Between classes, spending time with Bella, building Quests, and helping Orla and Rina with their joint Enterprise venture, each day seemed to blur. The day after his first experience in the Rings, he finally saw what the start of a routine Quest looked like.

  [SYSTEM NOTICE]

  You’ve gained .5xp for Gary Trenner’s Quest Completion.

  Your System Reputation has increased by 1.

  Details can be found in the Quest Ledger.

  CV-0001-D-LIA has met the criteria for Routine status:

  -10 successful completions by the same Questor

  -0 failed Quests

  Final review from the designated receiver of delivery: Excellent

  – –

  Gary Trenner has accepted the routine Quest change.

  This Quest is no longer assignable.

  Routine Quests will still offer experience to the original QuestWright at a diminished return:

  10 System Reputation for upgrading a Quest to Routine with an excellent review.

  This Quest will no longer give System Reputation.

  – –

  Bonus reputation granted for establishing your first Routine Quest:

  80 System Reputation

  Achievement progress:

  10/10

  [SYSTEM NOTICE- BASIC QUESTWRIGHT ACHIEVEMENT SET COMPLETE]

  Cassio Vale, you have completed the basic achievement set: [Foundations of a QuestWright]

  Your consistent efforts have been recognized…and rewarded.

  Reward for completion:

  The System has increased your maximum Quest rate.

  New maximum daily Quest rate: 25

  New weekly Quest quota: 50

  The System has increased your map radius:

  Updated range: 2.5 miles.

  You’ve unlocked new Administrative tools:

  Outline template creation.

  Draft template creation.

  Thinking it was a cause for celebration, Cass met Gary in a special bar that night called Cullings. They spent the evening toasting one another over and over again until Cass finally stumbled home, the now-familiar burn of his healing trying to cancel out all of the alcohol he’d consumed. Then, the next day began, and the next after that.

  Before he knew it, several days slipped by. And every day brought new opportunities to learn. New ways of designing Quests to be more efficient and better for the Questor. New ways of looking at Quests as something more than just words on a screen.

  Though Kara increased his daily Quest quota to forty percent after he told her about the achievement, Cass didn’t mind. That still gave him fifteen Quests he could throw at his friends and budding enterprise whenever he wanted. After he got into a groove in deciding what Quests to assign for the day, his experience began to skyrocket.

  When Sunday finally rolled around again, Cass woke up and took a look at his gains. Seeing both of the Annual quests being completed brought a smile to his face.

  With a moment of thought, he was able to add the token totals to his node on the experience tree. Having a System that was willing to modify your screen at will was something he tried not to take for granted. If only other parts of his life were that easygoing.

  Calling: QuestWright Initiate: Cassio Vale

  Level: 3->4

  Experience Accrued: 480.77

  Experience required for the next level: 219.23

  Unspent experience: 180.77

  Total Stalwart Tokens: 7

  Total Survivor Tokens: 7

  Cass stretched, eyes skimming the updated status screen. In one week, he had already moved up a level. Without killing monsters, he’d managed to gain enough experience to hit Level Four in a blazing amount of time. Gary had told him he didn’t reach Level Five until after a year of working at the Golden Crust, but Cass was on track to achieve that after only a month.

  He knew there was a lot to why he was leveling so quickly. It came from a perfect storm of additives pushing him along: achievements, the monsters he’d slain, titles gained, and the Guild investing so many personal Quests into him at the beginning. By this point, he’d already assigned a dozen administrative Quests, two dozen deliveries, a half dozen training, and the oddball message here and there when needed. As his Questors gained experience, so too did the QuestWright.

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  To some small degree, he viewed himself as a parasite, sponging the xp off of people to fill out his bottomless well. But that thought didn’t hold. Without him, they wouldn’t have any Quests in the first place, so it was only fair he got a piece of the pie. Additionally, any spare minute he had that wasn’t taken up with daily business was instead devoted to the System map or trying to pre-set templates for faster outlining.

  As for the map size more than doubling, it had brought an assortment of new headaches. Firstly, he had no idea how Guildmaster Hollis created so many Quests. A brief glance at Liora city showed a dozen Investigations going on at once, hundreds of Administrative Quests, and so many deliveries and messages running in and out that he had to filter the Quests just to reduce his stress. Yes, a significant number of them were routine, but it was still insanity when viewed all at once.

  Secondly, a large pressure was building in that spot between his shoulder blades. Kara wasn’t hinting anymore. In the last two days, she’d been explicitly telling him that he’d have the Tier 1 Quest Registry to run as soon as classes were done. Since he could now see the entirety of the city and most of the Company territories, it made more than enough sense for him to take a load off of the Guildmaster. But that also meant he’d have to deal with the Questors in a more face-to-face format.

  Not to mention, the Registry was expected to receive a new Clerk soon, as Chancey has been transferred to the Petition Chamber, and a rather angry Kara was running it at the moment.

  But this was his rare day off. Knowing that, Cass shoved all of the worries out of his head. They’d still be there tomorrow, but today was his.

  A quick look at his ledger told him that both Rina and one of the Tanners he’d been assigning Quests to were only a few days away from entering Routine status. That meant more experience, and more Quests he could assign that wouldn’t drain from his daily allotment. To top it all off, he was only twenty experience away from unlocking his first standard path and whatever came with it.

  Not that his first choice had been a mistake. Thirty-five of his experience points in the last week had been from the Survivor path on its own. He’d even gained three reputation with the Liora Guildhall, and another five with Bella from his visits. Experience and Reputation were the roads that led him to better things. Choosing Survivor had just made sense.

  No, he didn’t have any doubts left. After all, it’s like his father told him the last time they’d had dinner: every Calling was different for every Called. Based on what he knew of everyone’s paths, it’s likely that whatever choice he made next would look completely different from another QuestWright's.

  Cass rolled out of bed and took a quick shower. Since it was Sunday, he slipped on his out-and-about clothes and then headed to the stables. He may not have his class today, but he’d made it a habit to visit Bella for his workout each morning. Greeting the horse with his normal sweet, he did his workout, reached eight tokens in the Stalwart way, then gave her the promised weekly bath.

  Leaving the stable behind, a much happier Bella gave him a goodbye neigh, and he was on to his second stopping point of the day, the Rings.

  Fighting those Scroungers had lit up something within him. When he’d first panicked, the feeling it had brought on was utterly irrational. It was a controlled environment, and unlike his time with the Skreels, he’d had a proper weapon in hand. Even Kara had been there.

  Since sitting and reflecting on the why of his panic hadn’t been working, he decided to attack the problem in a more straightforward manner. By practicing against the monsters over and over again. If thinking couldn’t fix it, he’d try action.

  Unfortunately, he would not be alone.

  Inside the second ring, a young woman in dark clothing fought against a single Skreel. Spear in hand, she gracefully moved side to side, poking at opportune moments as the constructed monster screeched. Cass felt his breath come quicker as the sound brought back unfortunate memories, but he swallowed them down.

  That’s why he was here. No more panicking.

  Since he wouldn’t want someone to stare at him while practicing, he moved toward the first ring and grabbed the same hatchet he’d used previously. As before, it fit his hand well. There was just something about the weight of it that felt comfortable. He stepped to the post and reached for the controls. Unsurprisingly, they were simple. The options asked him how many Scroungers he wanted, size changes, and even expected intensity.

  Wanting to start simply, he set it to one at a medium intensity and confirmed. A timer appeared, counting down from ten, so Cass quickly moved into position and waited. The dome dropped over him, and then it was time to fight.

  Chirp, Chirp.

  The Scrounger darted out, twice as fast as before, and confirming a fear he’d had since first seeing the post’s intensity controls…Kara had set it to low.

  It leaped forward on an unerring trajectory for Cass’s face. Rather than allow him to “die”, Cass dropped to his back, swinging the hatchet through the air at where he expected the Scrounger to pass through. A small bit of pressure told him he’d connected, but with the dome still up, he knew it wasn’t down for the count.

  Cass rolled to the side, but the Scrounger was already leaping again, a small wound on its side. It hit a shield covering his face, but he still fell back two steps as that familiar fear wormed its way into his stomach. Pushing back panic with anger, Cass stepped over and started it again.

  This time, he kept his feet. When the Scrounger leaped, he drove the hatchet forward. But instead of connecting, it skirted off the creature's face. The dome shimmered and vanished as he “died” again.

  Catching his breath, he stayed still and began to analyze what went wrong when a soft voice spoke from nowhere, “Your footing is wrong, and so is your grip.”

  Cass turned. Adya Korring stood watching him from the second ring. Her voice was clipped, as if she’d prepared every letter she was going to use before speaking.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you speak before.”

  “Never had much to say.” Pointing low with her spear, she said, “Your feet are too wide, which I’ve never seen anyone do before, and you're gripping the axe too softly. Shoulder-width for your feet is what you want to do for balance, and you need to cradle the weapon.”

  Cass glanced at his shoulders, then brought his feet closer together. Seizing the hatchet in his hand, he asked, “Like this?’

  “Your feet are better, but now you’re gripping it too hard. Think of it like an egg. Firm enough to control, but loose enough not to crack it. You don’t want to feel every vibration that comes through.”

  When he thought he had it right, Adya gave him an approving nod, then turned around and tapped on her own post, so Cass did the same.

  Chirp, Chirp.

  Though the monster got him again, he had to admit that Adya was right. It was easier to move when his feet were set like that, and the counterattack he’d managed to land had seemed like it did more damage.

  Reflecting on the situation, he decided to approach it in the same way he had his Quests. Start at the bottom and work your way up. Setting the intensity at very low, he got a Scrounger who merely looked at him without attacking. Cass dispatched it with a sigh, then put it just on low.

  The speed was the same he’d seen with Kara, confirming his suspicions. But he was able to react quickly to its attacks and managed to defeat it on all three occasions it had come forth.

  “You’re different than I’d thought.”

  Cass turned at the sound of Adya’s voice again, finding her standing just outside of his ring. “How so?”

  “When I saw the region alert that a Vale had gotten an Administrative Calling, I thought you’d be like your sister. Dive in, then fight your way out. And maybe you did that initially.” She nodded at the post suggestively, “But you wised up. Not many people our age think about building themselves incrementally.”

  “I prefer to think that I’m wise in many ways,” Cass said with a light smirk that didn’t last long. “I don’t like losing, but I can admit when I’m not ready for the next step.”

  “Smart. I’m here every Sunday. If you want to, I can give you some more tips next week.”

  “It’s a-” He felt his pulse quicken as he decided not to finish that sentence. While she looked at him in confusion, he lamely said, “You’ve got a deal.”

  With a nod, she walked away, but Cass wasn’t done with the day.

  What the hell was that?

  Rather than dive into the introspection of why he’d almost suggested Adya and he should go on a date, he dove into training himself. He went at it for another two hours before calling it quits. His muscles ached and burned, but he had work to do.

  In the quiet of his room, Cass spent the rest of the day bouncing back and forth between reading over active Quests in the ledger and memorizing the System map. There were no announcements. No bonuses or Quest alerts. Just the quiet hum of progress as he worked hard to better himself every day.

  Tomorrow begins the last week of classes, and he needed to be ready for his real life to start.