The incursion occurred in the southern section of the Forge, right in an area that Cass had found a collapsed building only the day prior. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that meant.

  As the sun performed its dutiful arcs, more worrying news arrived as the Forge’s incursion wasn’t the only one. Only two days later, another was discovered near the edge of the Stream’s gate in the west. How the monsters got in was anyone’s guess, but the end result was stark.

  Two dead before any Combatants could arrive.

  The city held a small mourning period for them, names going unannounced for a week as a show of mercy to those who were close to them. Then, announcements touched upon every large city center, such as the Guildhall and Council Chambers, and Liora moved on.

  In a world of magic, power, and monsters, losses such as these were tallied, then forgotten. A byline in the ratty news of a world in constant shifts between chaos and joy. Though the deceased were gone, only memories of who they used to be, they no longer counted in the fight for order. Cass imagined that their families didn’t think so, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. But that mindset shifted the more he thought about it.

  These were people, like Johnny. Before they fell, they’d lived and breathed as anyone else. And it burned him to think about how nothing he could see was changing. It’s like the city was numb to their losses.

  Companies kept their numbers internal. No announcements of their losses struck Liora. Cass imagined that it was because they found it was embarrassing somehow, or they believed it would damage their reputation. But he was certain it still happened, nonetheless.

  And so, Cass worked himself up as he considered what to do.

  In a move that almost seemed to surprise himself, Cass requested a meeting with the Guild Master, and, even more shockingly, got it right away. Sitting in the man’s office, Cass explained the upgrade to his map and the small bits of crumbling he’d discovered when zooming in on the walls. After a brief but passionate speech where he felt like his head might explode, the exhausted man agreed to speak with the Council. Only a day passed by before several new contracts for wall repairs arrived, accompanied by a substantial increase in funding.

  Adding that to his standard thirty Guild Quests, the ten for Common Solutions, and the extra daily for Adya resulted in Cass having to stay late at work several days in a row that week. Adya’s scouting changed into counting missions, delaying her routine upgrade, as she was sent across every wall in the city, section by section, day by day. Her power of observation was a great boon to Cass as she helped him decide which walls to fix immediately and which to hold off on until they had time later.

  And as he burnt the candle at both ends, working day and night to try to find some small measure of increased safety for his people, he grew tired.

  The school repair still moved at speed. He grew more adept at Construction projects and began to ask questions about Crafting and what was required. Gary dropped by twice to check in on him, walking away the second time, his new Bella Quest in hand and a slight grimace on his face. But though the malady of fatigue wore at him, the QuestWright continued on.

  Using his Construction books as a reference and studying the design of the Liora walls had taken up all of his free time in the evenings. At his request, the Archive had dropped off several books about brickmaking and how to combine and create mortar.

  He didn’t just study the design, but also its history and the supplies and processes necessary to rebuild the wall anew. For his mind and personality, it was painstaking work. But that didn’t matter. There was a fervor in him that had been missing of late. A need to become more proficient. Better. A one-stop shop for Quests and something else. A paramount of hope, perhaps. Something that across his time with the QuestWright calling, he’d found missing in the world all too much lately.

  It was a conscious decision. Like the mask that slipped over the warrior going into battle, Cassio Vale was designing a personality for being a QuestWright. It had come about in his thoughts the longer he’d studied the Maestro. The lens he was designing was like a new perspective on the world, or a uniform that had nothing to do with clothes.

  So, he emulated Moore, constantly maintaining an outward facade of calm, while sprinkling in moments of his father’s boisterous laughter and what he considered wise words. He completed his workouts not with a whine and frown, but with a singular drive to be better. He spent time with his coworkers, listening to their worries and trying his best to learn more about their lives.

  When Branden and Chancey became bogged down with the work, Cass was there to lift their spirits. When Kara grew overly frustrated and looked like she might pop her top, there he was, lamenting the problems of the Monster age, while speaking of the good they were doing for the city.

  And it worked. Slowly at first, his co-workers began to gravitate towards him in a way they hadn’t before. When Branden didn’t know how to tell his supervisor that he was ill, Cass gave sage advice about how to present his time off in a positive light. When Chancey told him of an aggressive suitor, Cass left work early, arriving in the Petition Chamber to speak with the man about how he was going about things the wrong way.

  Even Orla, Pellin, and Adya, weren’t spared. He became a little more vocal at breakfast, and each bit of small talk always had a small sprinkling of help from his lips. A little dose of empathy and understanding. A helping hand, small in its use.

  Cass was aware that it was natural to complain. Necessary, even. He comprehended that society considered it uncouth to try to solve everyone’s problems rather than just listen to them. So he used his three friends to train himself in when to speak, and when to nod and commiserate. The fact that one was quiet, one was understated, and one was semi-crazy only helped him in that training.

  As the days cycled further, and the school and children’s smiles were regretfully left behind, Cass continued to refine the new personality he was developing. Contracts and Quests continued apace, and Cass kept an eye on self-improvement, rather than System improvement. In running the Registry’s first floor, he started to take a larger step in its management, much to Moore’s enjoyment.

  Each morning was for Pathfinder, afternoon for study, and the early evenings found him standing at the Registry desk, practicing his new personality on any who approached.

  Approval of Quests generally fell to a Clerk. But as the QuestWright-in-charge, he had the prerogative to do so as well. So, he waited, learned, and became a familiar face to Pathfinders and Companies alike. He also got to see what a Tier 6 Clerk could do.

  Moore was a maelstrom of activity. One group would come in, and before a fight could even break out as they and another party began to view a similar Quest, there he was to calm them down. When a chair was shattered by a Silver, the man, obviously displaying an upgraded ability to a watching crowd, Moore appeared in a blink. The pieces of the broken furniture were picked up, the bill was handed to the man, and the offending figure was publicly dressed down, all within seconds.

  The Clerk was like magic as he spun his way throughout every floor of the Registry, still finding time to get to the Tier 1 desk for any new Party that wanted to go Questing. It was as if he knew everything that was happening throughout the entire building, all at once. And he did it all with the same expression, utter calm.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  As for Cass’s progress on the personal front. On the morning of the fifth day, he activated two nodes in the Stalwart Way. The first was one he’d eyeballed for a while. It would reduce injuries anytime he performed a new physical task from sunrise to sunset. Naturally, he tested it.

  Unlocking it in Bella’s stall, he performed a leap and felt something come over him. It was like a tightening of the skin and an odd firming of his body. Waiting the ten minutes for it to wear off, he lightly punched a nearby beam and felt it come on again. The feeling was slightly uncomfortable, but he knew he’d grow used to it with time.

  When the draft-horse gave his theatrics an odd look, he explained himself well enough that she went back to standing guard. But he did note she kept an ear pointed toward him, as if he might do something foolish that would require her help.

  Having a general idea of how the new Step worked, Cass then activated the second Survivor Step of the day. This time, he chose the Logistics node in Stalwart. Its unlocking brought about two changes. The first was a halfway presented line in his experience screen, connecting Stalwart to Logistics. The second was that it presented a permanent fourth option for his daily workouts, which included a slight name change.

  [Stalwart Way Exponential Daily Quest]

  Cassio Vale will complete as many push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups as possible within a one-minute timer.

  Experience gain will increase or decrease based on breaking the QuestWright’s former record.

  Cassio Vale

  Liora Guildhall

  QuestWright

  Looking at it, he had an idea. Maybe he could game the system.

  Starting slowly, Cass only performed twenty of each as the timer began to count after the first one. But the System somehow knew better and only gave him a small amount of experience without a single Survivor token. Resetting the Stalwart daily Quest, he tried again, completing it at his maximum intensity and feeling his body protest at the experience.

  [Stalwart Way Exponential Daily Quest Complete]

  Rewards: 9.6 xp, 3 Stalwart Tokens, 2 Survivor Tokens

  Note: Rewards increase based upon recorded gains…

  More than a little put out at losing so much experience, not to mention Tokens, he went about the rest of his day. But as soon as he arrived at the Registry and saw the look on Kara’s face, he knew something had gone wrong.

  Five days since the Forge’s incursion, another occurred, and whispers could be heard of the city’s inability to protect the people within the walls. Three died, with a fourth seriously injured. This time, a child.

  His uniform didn’t shatter. He certainly felt something at the news, but rather than fold and blame himself, he blamed the world they lived in. Then, he used it as fuel, pushing himself that evening to complete an Intermediate Stalwart Quest to make up for the loss earlier. A circling thought occupied his mind during the workout.

  Gone but not forgotten.

  On the sixth day, Cass had enough experience to activate his third path, Inspection.

  –Inspection Unlocked–

  There is 1 central node on this path.

  There are 25 minor nodes on this path.

  Automatically gain the Weakness ability.

  Weakness: Occasionally, a person or monster’s weak point will become glaringly obvious

  Upgradeable

  “What…the shit…” Unlike Survivor or Logistics, Inspection had only one node at its center. What was interesting was that the Minor nodes spread out in a rotating circle of interconnected dots. After zooming out, he realized what he was looking at.

  It was shaped like an eye. The central node was twice the size of Waypoint and at least five times larger than the surrounding minor nodes.

  [Major Node: Verity]

  And so it opened, revealing the hidden to the discerning.

  Cost to unlock: 500xp

  Selection unlocks Failure Trace

  Passive ability: When a quest fails, the System logs the exact cause.

  Selection unlocks Piercing Gaze

  Active ability: Once per day, the QuestWright will have the ability to inspect a Questor, revealing their Calling and traits.

  No nodes currently connect to Verity

  All of the Minor nodes were small items that seemed to either increase his perspective, his Questor’s perspective, or help him in tiny ways to understand the world better.

  [Minor Node: Sharpened Outline]

  And then, I saw the bold.

  Cost to unlock: 45xp

  Quest outlines will now highlight keywords in bolder text.

  No nodes currently connect to Sharpened Outline.

  [Minor Node: Gentle Reminder]

  A soft touch is often the better teacher than a rough push.

  Cost to unlock: 70xp

  Questors will receive a faint System ping if they overlook a required tool or supply listed in their Quest.

  No nodes currently connect to Gentle Reminder.

  [Minor Node: Predictively Perfect]

  Look not with your eyes.

  Cost to unlock: 120xp

  The QuestWright will occasionally feel a System nudge when encountering the correct person for a difficult Quest.

  No nodes currently connect to Predictively Perfect.

  As it was Sunday, Cass put on his outerwear and went out to the barn, thoughts of Inspection on his mind. In particular, the fact that there wasn’t a Survival node in Inspection, like there was for Logistics. Did each Path only get one connection? And if so, did that mean he’d have to be more strategic in which paths and ways he unlocked across time?

  As he was considering that, somebody heavy bumped into him.

  “Watch where you’re going, Guildie,” a large man in armor said. When Cass looked up, low and behold, it was the same Silver he’d had issues with at the Registry a few weeks ago.

  “Frank, right?” Cass asked the heavy man as his fellow party members turned around to look at him. “The Silver from last week?”

  “Silvers,” One of his friends clarified, “It’s plural.”

  Frank spat to the side, wiping a little dribble away with a shiny gauntlet. As Cass looked at the angry man, a funny feeling came over him as he grunted through his speech. “Because of you and your fellow paper-pusher, we got stuck on escort duty. Can’t even go back to the Registry for weeks!”

  “Frank, that’s your own damn fault,” The man in the lead said with a partial grimace, “It’s why you’re not the leader anymore. Now come on, if we’re late, I’ll flay your hide the moment we get back. Excuse us, QuestWright Vale.”

  Frank gave him one more glare, then finally showed he could listen, as he stomped after his party with heavy steps. Cass watched them go, the funny feeling solidifying. The armored man had crystallized in an odd way. Frank had an inferiority complex. The thought didn’t come naturally. It was more like the sense had been pushed into his mind. Already, Inspection was paying for itself. But it made him consider Frank again as he started to walk.

  From what? He’s in one of the best companies in the area, and he gets to go out and kill monsters all day. He has purity of purpose. Does he have a tiny penis or something? But Frank's complaint and the odd bit of clarity he’d had continued to occupy his mind.

  Because he’d stood in their way in the Registry, they couldn’t complete any Quests. And with how animated the incursions had been lately, that meant there might be Combat Quests going uncompleted because a full party was locked out of taking on Guild missions. That wouldn’t do. But they were locked out because of him and Moore…

  This needs to be resolved. I don’t owe Frank and the Silvers anything, but I can’t let any potential Quests sit there.

  He continued to think about it as he took Bella out for their double ride, scrubbing, and gave her a long hug at the end. More and more, his equine friend was a pillar he leaned on. As he started to leave, her Reputation struck him like a bell in his mind.

  Your reputation with the draft-horse, Bella, has increased by 21

  [SYSTEM NOTICE]

  You’ve reached 150 reputation with Bella the draft-horse

  Your bond will now provide new functionality…

  Spinning around, he went back to the horse. Their views of each other connected at the same moment, her dark eyes meeting his hazel. She let out a soft neigh, and he felt the air in her lungs expand.

  Wait…why can I feel her breathing?

  “Bella?” He asked, and heard his own voice doubled back to him from her ears. “Oh, shit.”

  [Tier 1 Training Quest]

  Assignment: Sit Down and Shut Up (Respectfully)

  It's time to train the mind, not wrangle it.

  Objective: Sit still, stay quiet, and do nothing on purpose for 7 minutes.

  Parameters:– No phone.– No music.– No podcast.– No ambient productivity YouTube wizard with a deep voice.

  Just you, a place to sit, and the willingness to let the noise rise and then fall.

  Modifier (Optional): Repeat once per day for three days.

  Timeframe: Within one week

  Reward: 5 XP

  You are not here to get good at meditation. You are here to show up and fail better each time.

  J.D. Mullenary Sr.

  The Original QuestWright