After Adya had left to start her Quest, Cass spent the rest of his day working up a sweat in the second ring. Moving the difficulty up to high, he continued on a single Skreel until he felt comfortable going back to two at a time on a lower setting. He was still losing each round, but as he’d shown with the Scroungers, adaptability was important in combat. Each fight was a little better and just a little bit smoother.

  He wouldn’t be trying himself against the Driftclaw anytime soon, but the second ring was no longer something he feared. Cass also began to wonder why he was doing this.

  He wasn’t a warrior, nor did he have a Combat Calling…and yet, there was something freeing in it. Like those few moments where he rode Bella earlier in the day, and together, they’d seemed to float. Yes, the slavering simulated monsters were frightening, but still. A tiny part of him enjoyed the sense of progress for the sake of progress, and a much larger part enjoyed the idea of being able to defend himself when the next attack came.

  Because it would. The world was growing darker. That’s why Pathfinder needed to be a candle, pushing it back. No, not a candle. A bonfire, with sparks spreading to the furthest reaches.

  He ended his weekly training by taking on three Scroungers set to high. He lost, but only barely, and only because the System considered any possible injury a loss. He could’ve totally kept fighting while one of them was gnawing on a body part.

  After all, he’d done it before.

  Drenched in a good sweat, Cass walked over to the cafeteria, ate a light dinner, then spent the rest of his evening zoomed in and studying the Depot on his system map. Tomorrow was Day 1, or D1, as he chose to call it. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but he was a little nervous about it.

  In the morning, he refused another ride with a sad Bella, and braced for the loss of Reputation. When it didn’t come, he performed another intermediate workout, then ran out of there before she could change her feelings on the matter.

  It wasn’t getting any easier, but he could say that he was becoming more enamored with the idea of being healthier. Each workout seemed to build upon those that came before, and when he looked at himself in the mirror later that morning, his muscles had begun to take shape.

  It was nice, and it made him wonder how great it must be for those with Combat Callings.

  Adya Korring…

  Adya felt something strike her back while she slept. Moving fast, she rolled off her pallet, dodging the broom that landed behind her.

  “Up and at em, girl,” Her father said with a laugh, “Scouts are supposed to be able to see everything, including when they sleep. Yah wouldn’t want a monster to get you when you're out like a light.” Another laugh came. “Come on den, get my breakfast going.”

  Shaking the last of her sleep away, she slipped into the small room they called a kitchen and cooked up a few small eggs and bacon that could’ve been fresher. Sliding it onto a plate, she brought it over to their small, triangular table and set it before him.

  “What’s this?” He asked, giving her a confused look, “Yah not eating with me?”

  “No, father.” She said, looking him in the eyes, “I was invited to breakfast at the Guild.”

  “The Guild,” He tsk’d, “Why are yah so against the Companies? They’d pay yah better. You could get outta here.” He took a forkful, opening his mouth wide to let the air in as they were still too hot.

  She looked him over as a light smile dusted her face. Her father was a large man, but only in width. Standing only a little over five feet, he was what her mother had called a failure, but she knew him to be much kinder than many.

  After her mother had left when she was younger, her father had taken on all the responsibilities of raising a child. Their house was small, they both slept on thin pallets, and the food was never quite fresh, but what they didn’t have in material possessions, she’d gained in love. He was a good, honest man.

  Saying her goodbyes, Adya tapped into her Wind Steps ability, and burst through the far edge of the county. Long-held regulations said that she couldn’t use it while within Liora due to the historical records showing how many injuries it used to cause, but once you were out of the city, the rules didn’t apply. As she drew close to people going about their day near the west gate, she slowed as information began to flood her mind.

  Cart, horse, dirty driver, load in the back just a little much for travel. Likely from the south-west trail. Her eyes moved almost on their own as they tracked the next person. Brown robe, not guild, hard to tell from a distance. Eyes, blue, hair is dark, grim cast to their face. The robed man laughed as he saw someone in the distance, throwing off her assessment. Pushing back his hood, he jogged to meet them, sharing a hug with a pretty woman who was all smiles. Likely a local on a walk to see a friend.

  She altered her course for the guild after reaching a fork in the road, her eyes traveling across everything in the area as a notification hit her.

  Your observation skill has increased to level 24…

  New options present themselves at level 25…

  Noting the time, Adya began a light jog. Getting to the Guild took only a dozen or so minutes at that pace, still faster than most people typically traveled. With a nod to the gatekeeper whose name she’d never asked for, Adya got to the Cafeteria and found a silent Cassio eating what appeared to be porridge as he sat alone at a table.

  Pausing, she looked him over with her skill.

  Increased physical size in an abnormal amount of time. Weight loss is present in both cheeks and the jowl. Robe; clean. Partially unshaven. Seems to be emotionally turbulent, likely cause: loneliness.

  Shaking her head, Adya turned off the passive ability and just looked at him normally. He wasn’t overly large, nor was he what some would call classically handsome. But he was honest and consistently surprised her. And that wasn’t nothing.

  He is cute, and observation is right, he does seem lonely. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for me to tie myself to a QuestWright. Dev did it with Guild Master Hollis…

  An idea she’d been considering came to the forefront of her mind. I wonder if I can get him to sign a contract with me.

  Stepping over to the line, she grabbed a tray and filled it with food meant for a Combatant. As always, when she was done grabbing everything, a stacked pyramid of half-tasty morsels covered her plate. With a graceful move, she turned around, but Cassio Vale was no longer alone.

  Across from him sat a man with long hair, while beside him was a prettyish girl with a pinched face. They were laughing at something, the sound filling the Cafeteria. Feeling a flush come to her cheeks, she was about to put the tray down and walk away when Cassio noticed her. With a smile and a wave, he called out, “Adya, over here! Come, sit with us.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  With an internal grimace, she paid the woman at the end of the line, strengthened her spine, and made the walk over.

  Why couldn’t they just let me scout the forests again?

  Cassio Vale...

  “Is that the scout?” Pellin asked.

  “Yeah, she’s from our old group.” Cass replied with a smile, “Hey, thanks again for surprising me like this. I hadn’t realized it before, but I don’t really enjoy eating alone.”

  “That’s because of your-” Orla started, but Cass cut her off with a strangled yell.

  “Don’t mention my father! Not today! Please!”

  Adya set her tray down, then looked at each of them as Orla laughed in the background, “Hello.”

  “Hello to yourself,” Pellin replied, “Aside from our morning sessions, how do you know our Cass here?”

  Adya took a sip from her drink. “We train together.”

  “Oh-ho,” Orla said with wiggling eyebrows, “And what kind of training do you do?”

  Pellin snorted, “Orla, you’re such a perv.”

  As a blushing Adya looked at Cass, he doubled down on Pellin’s comment, “It’s true, Orla. If you’re not talking about money, you’re talking about men. Do you have some weird hangup with your father? Is that why you’re so into mine?”

  “Ugh,” She said with a sick face as Cass grinned at her.

  Putting that victory in his memory bank, he turned to Adya, “How did it go last night at the Depot?”

  “I located several damaged areas you should start with.” She said without touching her food.

  Cass reached into his bag and pulled out the map he’d studied last night. Leaning across the table, the two discussed which areas he should start with first, as Orla and Pellin ate their breakfast with one ear out. When he started to talk about supplies, Orla’s face was suddenly in close proximity to his own as she spoke in a deadly quiet voice.

  “About how many nails, screws, and bricks would you be needing, Cassio?”

  He scratched the back of his head as he leaned back, “I don’t know. I’d have to look for myself. I won’t have an idea of things until I get there. Adya, do you have a guestimate?”

  “Guestimate?” She asked, her face a perfect mask of confusion.

  “A rough estimate of the cost to repair the area.” Orla provided with a smarmy smile.

  She seemed to mouth the word before saying, “I would say for this area here,” She pointed at a spot that connected downtown to the Depot, “the rough cost of repair would be two hundred Crests, maybe more?”

  “Really?” Orla said, leaning back and tapping her fingertips together, “Realllyyy…”

  He didn’t like the tone of her voice, but there was nothing he could do about it. Cass and Adya quickly went over things as Orla stared, and Pellin went about his breakfast like usual. Eating quickly, Cass made a new Quest for Adya, then excused himself.

  When he arrived at the Registry, Kara was already standing there with a sour expression on her face. “Please tell me you’re not picking those two idiots, Cass.”

  He smiled, “I see the Guild Master already informed you of Pathfinder?”

  “My supervisor actually, but yes, she did.” She said with a light toss of her short hair, “Not all of us get a lot of one-on-one time with the Guild Master, and before you start speaking.” She tossed him a glare, “I already know who you have in mind.”

  “Good! Then you won’t mind bringing them over here and informing their supervisor that they’ve been re-assigned.” Cass replied with a light smile. “After all, we’ve been allotted two Clerks, and who better than Brendan and Chancey?”

  “But...Clerks…” Kara seemed to have blown a fuse as she stood there, repeating the same two words to herself. “Clerks…but.”

  “What’s this about Clerks?” Mr. Moore said as he stepped down the stairs.

  Kara straightened up immediately, “Nothing, sir. I was just on my way to recruit the two that Cass has chosen for Pathfinder.”

  The calm man gave a soft nod, “Excellent, be on your way then. He and I need to start the day’s Quests.”

  “Yes, sir.” Kara got out of there so fast that Cass thought she must’ve been using a passive ability.

  He turned to the Maestro, “How long do you think it’ll take to knock out all the Quests?”

  Mr. Moore started walking to the Annex as Cass followed, “That is entirely up to you, QuestWright. How many templates do you now have designed for each type?”

  Cass thought that over as they got to his chair, “A few dozen for deliveries and messages, about thirteen for Administrative, though I know I need to build it up more. And a scattered amount after that. I’ve been trying to get more designs done in the evening, but I was just too busy last night.”

  “And what about Training Quests?” He asked, moving into his seat.

  “Well,” Cass said as everything popped up, “I’ve been told Training Quests have a tendency to be ultra personal, so I thought those wouldn’t have templates.”

  “That’s true, they are very personalized.” Moore said, his back stiff as a rod, “But that only means you need to design several templates for efficiency, and when I say several-”

  “You mean way more than a dozen.” Cass finished for him. “I get it. All in the name of speed, right?”

  “Precisely.” Moore folded his fingers, “You have to think long-term, Cassio. Gerald doesn’t have the time to create training Quests, so that burden must fall to you. Build up as many templates as you can, then show me by the end of next week. I’d like no less than one hundred.”

  “A hundred?” Cass said with a grimace. When he noticed Moore’s expression hadn’t changed one bit, he nodded, “Yes, sir.”

  “Excellent,” Moore placed down his list of contracts for the day, “You can start with these. Each day, I’ll be bringing you different Quest environments that will force you to look at them differently. Please, do not disappoint me.”

  He stood up with an air of finality, “Pathfinder is more than a novel project. It can be a future for Liora that is far brighter than the one we live in right now. But that doesn’t mean you can shirk your duties to the Registry. The Quest Boards come first, am I clear?”

  Cass nodded, “Crystal, sir.”

  “Excellent.” He walked away without looking back, as Cass looked at the list of Quests.

  Three of the messages were located in regions he hadn’t seen before. That meant that rather than studying the map of Liora, Cass had to search for them, which took extra time and gave him a little frustration.

  Deliveries were different as well. One required that a cart and horse be located first, changing the beginning design of the Quest and adding some modifiers to it. Another forced a multi-stop Quest, as they were gathering additional materials at each. Neither were difficult, but almost all of the Delivery Quests he’d created thus far were much simpler. Grab item, deliver here. After both were drafted, he was unsurprised to find that they’d both upgraded to Tier 2.

  It fit what Moore had taught him last week. The more complicated a Quest became, the higher the chance it would upgrade to a higher tier. Standard drop-offs were almost always Tier 1s. Anything beyond that would go to the second, and potentially third, floors.

  A few more tricky delivery Quests were drafted, and he made it a point to keep the Quest types and the tier types separated when they were done.

  The Administrative Quests were a challenge. One had the Questor reporting to three people about three different steps, while a different Administrative Quest was a poll sampling for the Liora Council, asking the Questor to travel around and gain the opinion of one hundred citizens in each region. That one’s experience grew so much through modification that it ended up three times the standard amount. It still only settled on the second Tier, but Cass had a funny feeling it was only a small step away from the third.

  He drafted all of the Quests, then blinked as a notification came in.

  [SYSTEM NOTICE]

  Bonus experience granted for drafting three Tier 2 Quests:

  160 Experience

  Initiate QuestWright Achievement progress:

  5/12

  Cass smiled, then set everything aside right as Kara’s loud voice announced her entrance in the Registry. Today was his first trip to the Depot.

  It was time to change a few lives.

  [Tier 2 Scouting Quest]

  The map is not the territory. This quest is not about walking far; it’s about seeing differently.

  Step 1: Choose a Place You’ve Already Mastered

  This could be your regular commute, a park you always walk through, the route to the store, or even your own neighborhood block. Anywhere you think you’ve “seen it all.”

  Step 2: Walk it Again

  Reverse it. Cut corners. Use alleys. Look up. Go silent. Go slow. Sit. Linger. Take the long way or the wrong way. Break your usual pattern, even if only slightly.

  Step 3: Discover One Thing You Never Noticed

  A crack in the sidewalk shaped like a letter. A tree carved with initials. A sticker you’ve passed 100 times. Something lost. Something strange.

  Timeframe: 1 week

  Completion Condition:

  Find and record one non-obvious detail you’ve never noticed before — proof that your map was incomplete.

  Log it. Sketch it. Photograph it. Just see it.

  Reward for Completion: 11 XP

  J.D. Mullenary Sr.

  The Original QuestWright