Once the door closed, Cass considered everything he’d seen since arriving.
The rooms were uncomfortably comfortable. The amount of money, both in outfitting his room and the considerable increase he was seeing in his pay, told him a little of how the Guild viewed QuestWrights. Putting them in their own branch, and with special elevators no less, was another notice he didn’t miss.
Also, there was no doubt in his mind that both Jamison and Ana were scared of him. Even though Ana looked like she was willing to treat him like a normal person, that wasn’t a balm on his soul. Something was truly wrong here.
I can’t do anything about it up here. This is something I’ll have to figure out when I can get out there and explore the city. For now, I just need to think about how to get strong enough that I get to decide my future from now on. Not seeing Bella, Adya and my friends and family is going to suck, but the reality of this situation can't be ignored. I need to focus on right now, so I can focus on later, later.
Lying his head back down, he pulled up Logistics again and started to go through his options. It took him an hour to do the math and determine the most efficient route. By the time he was done, Cass was confident he’d found the optimal manner in finishing up the path.
Since he had so much experience saved, Cass decided only to use two of the minor node unlocks on those with the highest requirements. With a steady mental hand, he selected each minor and major as they came, not stopping until every single one was selected.
Then, he finalized his choice.
4 major nodes unlocked: Standard, Recall, Quota, Tiering
10 Minor nodes unlocked: Route Optimization, Penalty reduction, Stalwart Logistics…
And just like that, over 1400 experience was gone. He didn’t even want to consider how many monster kills it would take to get that much again. Hell, he didn’t want to think about the hundreds upon hundreds of Quests the experience amounted to.
Because, you know, math.
All he knew was that he had finally completed a full Path and the rewards that came with it. But first-
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
As you have unlocked all Minor nodes that form a connection with a Major, you now have the option to sacrifice their bonuses for empowerment.
Would you like to do this now?
This was something he’d already considered.
[Major Node: Standard]
And it was planted in the ground, a monument for all to see.
Cost to unlock: 200xp
Selection unlocks Field Standard
Passive ability: The QuestWright may now place System flags on their map, marking areas of importance with a variety of options.
Seeing as how most of the nodes around Standard were so minimal as to be almost unnecessary, he saw no problem losing them in the upgrade. With that in mind, he clicked the glowing golden bubble.
Would you like to upgrade Standard?
Yessir, he thought to himself with a smile.
He didn’t know why he was in such a good mood. He’d been kidnapped and thrown into a velvet prison. His mentor and the man he’d looked up to had admitted to forcing him into a lifetime role without asking him. And more than likely, everyone he cared about thought he was dead.
As had happened with Waypoint, Cass watched as it absorbed the minor nodes around it while his thoughts continued to tumble.
Maybe I’m in a good mood because I know there are people here who could likely use my help. Or, maybe I’m in a good mood because I can tell Bella is still working on getting to me. That I won’t be alone.
Or, maybe, I’m just in a good mood because I’m finally finishing my first path. This has been a long time coming, and nobody can say I didn’t earn the experience that unlocked it.
He was still contemplating that last thought when the expected message came in.
Standard has been upgraded to Anchor.
Anchor:
Active ability: Upon placing a Field Standard, the QuestWright may choose to anchor a Quest template from their ledger to that specific location. Anchors serve as site-specific Quest templates, allowing up to three to be placed on each location.
Note: You cannot have an Anchored Field Standard within a 100-foot radius of another.
Cass whistled. Not only did it let him preset any templates he’d created, making future low-level Quests a breeze to get through, but it also turned the ability from passive to active. He hadn’t known that was possible.
Bonus granted for completing your first path:
1 free minor node unlock
Initiate QuestWright Achievement progress:
12/12
[SYSTEM NOTICE- INITIATE QUESTWRIGHT ACHIEVEMENT SET COMPLETE]
Cassio Vale, you have completed the initiate achievement set: [A Lengthy Path]
Your consistent efforts have been recognized…and rewarded.
Reward for completion:
You’ve unlocked one new Administrative tool:
Automatic Vellum Quest completion.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
Path of Logistics: Complete
Your active ability, Copy, has increased to (Tier 2):
You can now copy two Quests each day.
Upgradeable.
And now, my Questors won’t have to return to me with the Quests. It’ll all be done, nice and tidy. Copy upgrading was a surprise, though…
Cass was considering that fact when the screen adjusted on its own. Riding the vision as a passenger, he was a spectator as all the nodes within Logistics settled into place.
With each touching down, a click would sound, until a cacophony erupted as they all settled in place. What had once been blue lines now began to light up in silver, with two large nodes growing in size as he watched.
The first was also the last in the Logistics path, a minor node that was attached to Quota, a simple one that added five total Quests to his daily allotment. It continued to build upon itself, ballooning out in size as he watched.
The second one, however, was Stalwart Logistics. And as it filled with the Silver glow, the color filled the small, thin blue line that had previously reached out toward Survivor.
Like a hand reaching forth, Cass got the sense that the node was attempting to stretch across the dividing space between the Logistics Path and Stalwart Way. Only, he had already unlocked its corresponding node in the Way, gaining the Exponential Quest type that he’d begun to abuse weeks ago.
With a thought, Cass moved over to the Stalwart screen as the first node continued to grow steadily. Finding the corresponding node in Stalwart confirmed two things for him.
One, it was already unlocked. Two, it was depressed into the space beneath it, a red wavy line reaching toward its brother in the Path of Logistics.
Pushing back so he could see the space between Paths, Cass’s eyes found two lines stretching toward each other. The further the Logistics hand reached, the more the silver faded, and the original blue coloring replaced it. For the Way’s side, it was a steady, strong red that was undiminished no matter the amount of stretching it had to do.
As he wondered what was about to happen, they met, a small red and blue explosion lighting up the darkened screen. When the coloring faded, a huge purple node sat in the place between Paths and Way. No information appeared as a purple line extended from the new node in an upward trajectory.
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Of course, that wasn’t the only thing happening. As the purple merger of Path and Way continued up, it was joined by a silver line that began to extend from Logistics.
Then, the notifications came in, and with them, everything turned black except the words in front of him.
[QUESTWRIGHT CALLING UPGRADE UNLOCKED]
QuestWright Cassio Vale of Liberty
You have climbed the Path of Logistics, learning that the management of others can be done well with the right tools and honest actions.
You have walked the Stalwart Way, proving that strength is not dominance, but the quiet discipline of growing into your own potential.
Whether it is the building of others or yourself, you have proven that endurance is more than a physical trait.
Before one can know others, they must first know themselves. The System watches…and rewards.
—
New path options are available: Only one may be chosen, sending all others back to the System.
First set of options: The Path of Logistics:
The Path of the Builder:
A Path of vision and permanence. Allows the QuestWright to lay conceptual foundations for institutions, guilds, and settlements. Grants non-standard ability interfacing, community-linked quests, and regional developmental blueprints.
Cost to unlock: 1200xp
The Path of Coordination:
A Path for operational tacticians who thrive in complexity. Enhances Quest synchronization and enables real-time quest adaptation based on composition or unfolding events.
Cost to unlock: 600xp
The Path of Infrastructure:
A Path that turns logistics into legacy. Unlocks long-term deployment nodes, passive support structures, and routing interfaces. Grants regional resource visibility and the tools to create sustainable quest support across entire cities or territories.
Cost to unlock: 600xp
The Path of Overwatch:
A Path designed for those who must see the whole board at once. Grants layered System overlays, strategic visibility, and dramatically increases the size of the QuestWright’s System map.
Cost to unlock: 800xp
The Path of Supply:
A Path that reveals the pulse of commerce. Grants the QuestWright access to regional price trends, supply scarcity alerts, and demand forecasting across guild territories.
Cost to unlock: 400xp
Well….shit, Cass rubbed his chin. I could go with any of these, but to be smart, I should weigh the options against one another.
Builder…Builder seems to be almost too good to be true. That must be why it costs the most. Non-standard ability interfacing? That sounds like I’ll be able to integrate my Survivor or Achievement abilities into the Path. Plus, blueprints, community Quests, conceptual foundations for things like settlements? It feels like a Path designed to start my own town.
Coordination, on the other hand, will let me adapt Quests that are already drafted and active. That leans more toward a military-esque design. Send troops into the battlefield and alter their orders on the fly.
He paused and took a breath.
I know that’s what this leads to. Infrastructure is built almost the same way, only with a slight twist. They’re not bad Paths if I’m honest with myself, but that’s not who I am. I’ll lead when I must, but that isn’t the road I want to walk.
My goal is to inspire and bring hope to the masses. While I know I can’t escape the fighting, picking paths that lead me directly on that road would push me closer to how Hollis’s choices must’ve been.
I don’t need to be him.
Just thinking that calmed down his heart. He wasn’t sure, following the siege of Liora, about how he would change. But now that the thought of refusing the two military-styled Paths had come and gone, he felt lighter. Better. It was the right decision, and he knew that.
I won’t push away the role if it’s forced upon me again, but I’m not going to poke at it.
Decision made, he moved on to the last two.
Overwatch is focused almost entirely on my map. No, it is focused on the map to the exclusion of all else. Size, overlays. It has the second-highest cost, which tells me how much the System values it. It’d be good with Anchor, I bet…
And Supply. Well, Supply is for QuestWrights who want to act as secondary Merchants, I'd guess.
He didn’t even need to consider that. Cass simply moved on. I’m not Orla.
So it comes down to Builder and Overwatch. I’m in a large city that is unfamiliar to me, so Overwatch gets a plus one there. More information is always better, especially with the additional overlays.
But with Builder, there’s a decent chance it’ll help me combine my abilities and push them into my Calling. Right now, Battlefield Memory, Profile, and Monster Sense are all kind of…just there. If this will give me the option of putting them to better, more efficient use, I think that’s probably the way to go.
Cass looked over each Path option one last time before making his decision.
The Path of the Builder selected…
Cass finalized his decision, then each of the other options slowly faded away until only one remained. The words on the screen trembled, then shook, before closing in on themselves and coalescing into a deep, cobalt-blue orb.
The screen shifted of its own accord, bringing back the Path display and the choices he’d made thus far. At the top, where the silver line stopped, an orb appeared overhead, crashing into place right at the end of the line.
The whole of his vision lit up Cobalt before settling down again. Then, just as he was about to review the changes to his experience screens, everything went dark again.
New path options are available: Only one may be chosen, sending all others back to the System.
Second set of options: The Merger of Logistics and Stalwart:
The shock of it hit him from his head to his toes.
I remember Kara saying that Paths could merge after we first met. They mentioned it in the classes, too. But Survivor is only one Path. Unless…is every Way its own Path as well?
Before he could consider the extent of that thought, the text popped in. Unbeknownst to him, he sat up, giving everything he read his full attention.
QuestWright Path: Bastion
The Bastion, the last line. The final safeguard when others falter.
This unique Path, formed through the union of Logistics and Stalwart, focuses on emergency response and personal empowerment.
The QuestWright will gain a singularly rare Quest-type.
Passively improves Cassio Vale’s Constitution.
Cost to unlock:
500xp
50 Stalwart Tokens
25 Survivor Tokens
QuestWright Path: Cornerstone
The Cornerstone is laid first, so others may rise.
This unique path, forged through the union of Logistics and Stalwart, emphasizes foundational roles in long-term growth.
The QuestWright will gain a singularly rare Quest-type.
Passively improves Cassio Vale’s Constitution.
Cost to unlock:
500xp
50 Stalwart Tokens
25 Survivor Tokens
QuestWright Path: Pillar
The Pillar. That which holds up all foundations.
This unique path, shaped through the union of Logistics and Stalwart, reinforces the QuestWright as a forward anchor in hostile zones.
The QuestWright will gain a singularly rare Quest-type.
Passively improves Cassio Vale’s Constitution.
Cost to unlock:
500xp
50 Stalwart Tokens
25 Survivor Tokens
“So they can merge,” Cass said to himself quietly. “But why? I remember in our classes, they talked a bit about Paths conjoining. That it was a rare thing that they couldn’t give us a lot of information on because mergers always gave special results.”
“But this…Stalwart is a Way. It’s only a part of the Survivor Path, not a Path on its own. Is that what makes Survivor unique? That it gives me five different paths that can be combined into something else? Or is it unique because it can merge at all?”
He chewed on that as his mind raced forward even faster.
If I hadn’t unlocked Stalwart Logistics, would this not have occurred? Logistics and Stalwart were my first two choices. Does that mean, with Tempered now unlocked, it’ll connect with the next Path I go for as well?
I have to assume as much. Meaning, the first experience I spend unlocking a Path will connect to Tempered, just like Stalwart did. That’s going to make my next choice much more important than I’d originally considered.
Looking back at the options, Cass immediately ruled out Pillar. Again, it sounded too much like a military position. He was a QuestWright, not a warrior. He’d learned that the hard way and had only a single eye remaining for his hard-gained wisdom.
That left Bastion and Cornerstone.
All of his options granted a passive increase in constitution. From what he recalled of the word, it was health, strength, and basically vitality. He wasn’t going to say no to being healthier, and it would likely improve his ability to complete personal daily Quests regarding Stalwart and Tempered, but that wasn’t the decision here.
He needed to choose between more personal empowerment, as that’s what Bastion said and sounded like, and long-term growth, as stated in Cornerstone.
So I need to pick between making myself stronger or making others stronger…that’s easy.
QuestWright Path: Cornerstone selected…
The decision tree that led to the selection of Cornerstone was beautiful in its simplicity. Cass cared about his Questors and his friends. It was the heart of who he was. Even if he’d gained a warrior Calling as Hollis had intimated in his letter, he’d still have found a way to protect people.
It was just who he was.
To be clear, Cass didn’t believe that making himself stronger was selfish. He needed to survive to help people. But when moments like this arrived, he always chose to help others before himself.
For a second time, Cass got to watch the words shift into an orb, though it formed in purple rather than Cobalt. The darkness and text faded away, planting him squarely in the Paths screen as the orb descended. Only, this orb was twice the size of Builder.
When it crashed into the screen, a wash of dark lavender flowed into his vision, blocking everything else out. Then, just like that, he had two new Paths.
That was when the real decision-making began.
So far, Cass had unlocked Survivor, Logistics, and Inspection, which he later sacrificed to power his contract with Adya. He didn’t regret it. Profile was an overpowered informational gathering ability. Over time, it would pay for itself in spades, even as his connection to the Scout had increased his physical senses.
But if he was right about Tempered connecting with the next Path he unlocked, he needed to pick one that fit it best. And that was going to be tricky.
[Tier 2 Message Quest]
Assignment: Latticing
The lattice, a fastened connection of support.
Your Task:
Think of two people in your life who do not know each other but probably should.
Maybe they share a passion, a struggle, a rhythm, or a purpose.
Maybe they could help one another, or you think they’ll just get each other.
Make the introduction.
Rules:
Keep it short. Keep it clear.
No pressure, no pitch. Just a thread between strangers who might not stay that way.
Email, text, voice, or handwritten note.
One connection, thoughtfully made.
Completion Condition: Two people linked by and between you.
Timeframe: One Week
Reward: 10 XP
This is how the network grows. One thread at a time.
—
J D Mullenary Sr The Original QuestWright
