With a “here goes nothing” attitude, Cass pulled the screen back up. Wanting to just rip off the band-aid, he activated all of the remaining Tier 1 types at once instead of one at a time.
Quest type: (R)Retrieval, (E)Escort, (S)Scouting, (U)Support, (F)Resource, (L)Diplomatic, (RE)Rescue selected…
QuestWright Ledger updated…
…
All Tier 1 Quest types are now unlocked.
The screen shifted to the silver tower independently. Piece by piece, the greater majority of bricks solidified in a glowing sheen, locking in his choices. Before he knew it, his reputation updated.
Total System reputation accrued: 332
Current System reputation remaining: 132
— —
Initiating new weekly review due to an elevated status
Weekly quota met: 50/50
Failed Quests: 0
Total quests completed since last review:
66
Complete unlock of all Common Quests for upgrade met: 13/13
Status updated:
QuestWright Cassio Vale:
Region: Liora- LIA
Callsign: CV
Calling recognition upgraded: Initiate -> Apprentice
Automatically assigning new Uncommon quest type: (CR)Crafting
New recognition status: Apprentice
The System has increased your maximum Quest rate.
New maximum daily Quest rate: 100
New weekly Quest quota: 200
-UNCOMMON QUEST TYPES-
(H) Hunt, (C) Combat, (SC) Secure, (OB) Observe, (Y) Internal Development, (TT) Mentoring, (EE)Extended Escort, (MT) Maintain, (TR) Trade, (SL) Sale, (X) Experimental
[SYSTEM NOTE]
New Quest types unlock at higher reputational levels
— —
[SYSTEM NOTICE- TITLE UPGRADED]
Your title [QuestWright Initiate] has upgraded to [QuestWright Apprentice]
Upgrade unlocked for reaching a new System reputation level
+20% experience gained from all completed Quests
Upgradeable
Note: Modified per Calling
— —
Bonus experience granted for unlocking half of all Common Quest types:
20 Experience
Initiate QuestWright Achievement progress:
2/12
Bonus experience granted for unlocking all Common Quest types:
40 Experience
Initiate QuestWright Achievement progress:
3/12
So I’m an Apprentice now…
It was strange. Though he knew it was a big step forward for his Calling, he didn’t feel any more special now than he had before. A few words had changed in his Calling node. A title upgrade had come, along with a more than doubling of his available daily Quests. And yet, he was numb to it.
He didn’t sit on that thought for long, but he was aware, and it was worrying.
With a stoic expression, Cass read the details over twice, committing the new types to memory. They were greatly different from what he’d first seen of the Common Quests. Instead of Training, there was Mentoring, a more individualistic practice that likely took much longer. Trades, Sales, Hunts, and of course, Combat.
With this upgrade, he could now fill out all three boards whenever he unlocked the new ones. He knew he wasn’t ready to assign any Combat Quests yet, not with everything that had recently happened.
Johnny
But having the option was important. It meant he could take his Quests to a new level, and with what he hoped to start doing soon, that was very important. Mr. Moore was right; he should’ve unlocked all of them as soon as possible.
Tapping into the Outliner, he pulled up Crafting. That was when he discovered just how different Uncommon Quests were.
“Holy shit.”
There were hundreds of options. Thousands even. Just looking at it made him lose his breath a little. If he thought Construction was complicated with its specific needs, this was on a level so much higher above that the climb could take him months. Years. Just scrolling through everything took him several minutes.
“Material types…imperfections…end grade? What?” Before his brain became fuzzy, Cass stood up, closing the Annex. If this was just one category, he’d need help. Fast.
“Maybe someone at the Foundry can tutor me…” He’d have to look at the options again after graduation in just a few days. Maybe even unlock another Quest Type so he didn’t fall into the habit of overly conserving his Reputation.
The alarm for his next class had been steadily buzzing at him, but he’d ignored it once he grew lost in just how complicated Uncommon Quests were to create. Before he knew it, he was late. Sitting down for Diplomat Haim’s Interpersonal Dynamics block, Cass listened with one ear, while Quests and plans filtered through his mind.
I need to come up with something that’s good enough for Hollis to approve. Not some half-baked idea that I change on the spot, but a premise that can extend itself to cover the whole city, lasting decades into the future. If he denies it, or pokes so many holes in my logic that it ends up looking like Dad’s favorite cheese, it sets a precedent that I don’t know what I’m doing.
I can’t fail.
Between his forthcoming meeting with the Guild Master, preparing to take over the first floor, Common Solutions, and all of the new Quests he’d unlocked…Cass was more than a little overwhelmed. Moore was right; it was a lot for a young QuestWright.
The days passed by at a rapid pace. Every eating period was filled with Pellin’s dry jokes, Orla’s ridiculousness, and Cass, a notebook in front of him as he scribbled down anything that came to mind for his plan.
Moore continued to work with him during their blocks. Each meeting brought new questions from the serious man.
Why did you give most of your initial Quests to your friend Gary?
What does Bella mean to you?
How did you survive the Skreel ambush?
Each question seemed designed to get to the core of who Cass was as a person. Then, when he wasn’t digging into Cass’s life, he was hammering him over the head with everything he didn’t know about being a QuestWright. What was expected of a Tier 2 Quest? How to modify your screens to allow your achievements to appear for tracking. And, most importantly, how to create easy-to-produce templates that only require a few changes.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
On the day before the meeting, Cass straight asked him, “How do you know all of this?”
“Who do you think Gerald’s Clerk was at the beginning? I may not be a Guild Trainer, but there are few people living who know more about Quests than I. The people of your Calling included. Now, direct your attention to the outline. I want to see a turnaround time of thirty seconds for the next Delivery Quest. You’re still taking too long on inputting the source destination.”
His daily visits with Bella continued, as did his personal Quests, until he was only a day away from unlocking her Training node. As for Common Solutions, both Rina and Phil, one of their Potters, reached Routine in their received daily Quests.
Bonus experience granted for converting three Quests to Routine:
80 Experience
Initiate QuestWright Achievement progress:
4/12
That, along with the addition of creating thirty new generalized Quests a day under Mr. Moore’s guidance, increased Cass’s experience rate a great deal. If you added in the ten Quests he was now handing out to the enterprise on reset, the cost of his initial passive nodes slowly became a non-factor.
But all the frantic learning, worried scribbling, and stress-inducing thoughts began to take a toll on Cass’s psyche. A person could only move at such a level of anxiety for so long. When the final day of classes arrived, and after an all-night cramming session for his meeting with the Guild Master, he slumped against Bella’s steady frame.
“I’m so tired!” He dramatically wailed into her back.
She whuffed.
“I know! Okay, I get it. I need to straighten up and stop complaining, but Bella! I’m tired!”
The draft horse was unforgiving in her reprimands. Many a stomp and whinny followed until Cass finally stopped whining and set about what he needed to do. Shucking his exhaustion and with deep shadows under his eyes, he performed the objectives as best as he could, but his heart wasn’t in it.
Apparently, the System didn’t care about that.
[Stalwart Way Daily Quest Complete]
Rewards: 8.4xp, 2 Stalwart Tokens, 1 Survivor Token
Note: Check the Survivor path for updates…
Lying in a hot sweat, Cass opened up the Way of the Stalwart for his reward. Selecting the horse that still looked a little too much like Bella, he finalized his choice.
[SURVIVOR PATH: WAY OF THE STALWART- STEP TAKEN]
Third node unlocked: Mounted Conditioning
New Way function unlocked: Certain daily Quests have an increased chance to grant you reputation with the draft-horse Bella.
Your daily Quest has been reset
With eyes closed, Cass waited for the burning increase to his passive ability, but it never came.
“Oh, thank god.” It wasn’t as if it would be a bad thing to heal even faster than before, but he wasn’t a glutton for torture. Each activation felt like nothing less than lighting his body on fire.
Bella snorted as he got up, “No, we can’t go riding today. It’s my last day of classes. I’ll talk to the stablemaster and get it figured out for tomorrow. Sorry, Bella.”
She gave him a long stare, then definitively turned her back on him.
“Come on, don’t be like that. We’ll go soon, I promise.” When he tried to step closer, she gently lifted a rear leg, the warning explicit.
Cass stopped where he was. “Sorry, girl. Tomorrow, okay?”
The walk out of the stables was not a pleasant experience, as Bella made no sounds upon his leaving, and something else appeared.
Your reputation with the draft-horse, Bella, has decreased by 5
Cass mentally cursed to himself as he dragged himself out of there. He’d really have to make it up to her tomorrow. It didn’t help that his first taste of losing any kind of reputation came from someone with whom he was becoming quite close. It burned him in a way that the System couldn’t really manage
But he didn’t want to be late. It had been implied throughout the week that the last session of each class came with something special. Arriving after everything was done would do him no favors.
After a light jog, Cass arrived at the rings where a smiling Dev sent a chill down his spine. “Vale, nice to see you. You got here just in time.” Dev gestured at the second ring. “Today marks your graduation from our class, and I thought it would be a special treat for everyone to step into a higher ring of difficulty to see what the experience is like. Based on your physical metrics from the first day to yesterday, Kara and I have selected the most plausibly challenging setting for each of you. Cray,” She said, nodding at Pellin, who was already holding his weapon of choice, “is going first.”
Cass could see his friend swallow as he took a few heavy steps up and entered the second ring.
Kara already stood by the post, “Skreel, low intensity, single.” She pushed a few buttons, and onward the screeching creature came.
As he’d shown before, the System Engineer fought at an advanced level that was hard to deny. It was impossible to guess how much time Pellin had spent training, but the results of such were apparent when he managed to skewer the creature after only a dozen seconds of rolls and testing attacks. However, that’s when the weakness of his body presented itself.
Before fighting the Skreels, Cass had never noticed how quickly a person grew tired in life and death scenarios. His mother’s training had always been paced, focusing more on technique and tactics than on trying to hurt him. But once the adrenaline began to pump, everything went to a different level, and you had to have the physical fitness to keep up.
Pellin managed to strike the creature once more before the System dome retracted and the monster disappeared.
“An excellent showing, Cray,” Dev said with a happy nod. “In the month we’ve had our classes, you’ve shown the most improvement. That makes you a strong contender for the final prize. Please place your weapon back on the rack, but you can step down with pride in what you’ve accomplished.”
With a sweat-covered head, Pellin smiled and did as she asked.
Like the first day, the class moved alphabetically. The several that followed didn’t match the fight Pellin had brought to the Skreel. Each was knocked out before marking the creature once, though one of them, a young woman with a confident expression, did manage to skim her weapon over the monster’s skin before its nails touched her chest.
Orla stepped down to Dev’s lauding, “It’s not so hard now that I know there’s a fricking training ring.”
After a few more went with negative results, Cass sighed as his name was called, “Vale!”
Already holding the heavy hatchet in hand, he stepped in as Kara rattled off his challenge, “Skreel, high intensity, single.”
Cass felt his heart skip. High intensity?
As it started to appear, Dev spoke up in the background.
“Vale fought these once before, and has shown the most physical improvement out of all of you since we began. This should be a good test for him.”
It finished materializing in a flash. Locking onto him, it sprinted at him across the shallow distance with a scream. Hearing the odd sounds of bones popping and seeing the creature he’d once fought to the death, twice, pushed his mind to shut down. But a voice saved him.
“Cass, catch!” Pellin yelled out as a round object was thrown through a gap in the dome that closed up only a moment later. Sliding across the ground, a round, metal buckler stopped in front of him. He had only a moment to pick it up before the Skreel was in his face. He positioned the shield in front of him, blocking the heavy knockback from the simulated monster.
Dev yelled out, “Cray! You just lost your chance at the prize!”
“So what?” Pellin yelled right back as Cass fought a battle of the mind as much as one of the body.
Each screech brought back dark memories, and though he was healed, it felt as if the long, knife-like fingers of the Skreel were already plunged into his body again. Every time it screamed, he was back among the rocks, Johnny’s mutilated body beside him.
But the shield held.
Peeking out to the side, he tried to test a swipe, but found four long fingers waiting. Ducking back behind the buckler, he brought his stance in slightly and re-positioned his elbows to conserve energy as his feet continued to move, always keeping a slight distance from the monster.
Block and slip. He thought to himself, fighting that churning fear in his gut. Block and slip.
Trying again from a different angle, Cass brought the shield slightly lower, only to discover the Skreel attacking again from the same direction. In a burst of speed, he dropped to his knees, buckler held above, and swiped under the shield with his hatchet.
The contact he felt was solid, but as Adya had warned, the vibration running through the weapon hurt his hands.
Like an egg! Cass mentally screamed at himself as he rolled away and looked at the damage quickly. The angled bones of the Skreel’s leg had a divet carved into it, one that could be worked on. Think like a QuestWright! You’re not a warrior!
Listening to the loud voice inside his head, Cass pushed the dark tunnels away from his vision and refocused. It's fast. It’s a pack hunter, but alone. It’s stupid, and reactionary. It can be tricked.
Two steps to the right had the Skreel follow, but it was thrown off when Cass jumped left. Positioning the shield at the only direction the twisting creature could reach, Cass waited for the pressure of an attack, then pushed when it was off balance.
Like the Silver from before, Cass surprised the creature with the power built into his frame. As it was knocked sideways onto the indented leg, it kept going.
Crack
Bone splintering, the creature fell with a loud scream. Not wasting a second, a grim-faced Cass buried his hatchet in its neck, ending its scream and the fight in a final attack.
“Excellent, Vale!” Dev yelled out as both dome and monster disappeared. “Though I do not appreciate your training being interrupted by Mr. Cray, his addition was smart. Fighting with a single, one-handed weapon against an opponent like this is dangerous. Adding a shield to your repertoire brought your fighting abilities to another level. Well done.”
Cass took a shaky breath as he walked off the platform. Kara named the three combatants who would be facing the Driftclaw as they moved over to the third ring to watch.
“Thank you, Pellin,” Cass said with a smile, weapon and shield still in hand. “If you hadn’t done that, I’d be screwed.”
“Nah, you would’ve figured it out,” Pellin said with a dismissive gesture. “Besides, I’m the only one who could modify the dome once it was active. I bet Orla would’ve done the same if she could’ve.”
“What’s that?” She asked, not paying attention to them as one of their fellow students lost horribly to a slavering beast that disappeared with a howl.
In the end, though Pellin, Cass, and Orla had done well, it was of course Adya who won.
“Congratulations to Scout Adya for showing the greatest amount of improvement. You’ve just won two days of personal training with Liora’s Master of the Hunt.” If Cass could whistle, that would’ve been the time. ‘Now, that spells the end of our time together as a Class. Take care of yourselves, stay in shape!” She said this with a glare at Pellin, “And always be prepared for the worst to happen. Goodbye now.”
The three walked away, with Pellin commenting on how happy he was that he didn’t get the prize. Placing his items back on the rack before running to catch up, a stray thought entered his mind.
One class down, seven and a meeting to go.
