"And that makes seventeen," Ashton looked down at his watch, "We're well en route. The first quest is about to end."
Sam stood there, slowly nodding his head. He looked down at the monster that he just choked to death, "... Maybe choosing to go for an unarmed class wasn't a good idea after all."
"You can still choose to go for a different one. But, well... make that choice soon, alright?" Ashton got up from the bench and walked over to the dead monsters. This was a group of 'Simids', a species of roughly ape-like monster. They were pretty strong, so until he was sure that Sam had it all under control, Ashton was right behind him and kept them away so that Sam could face the monsters one-on-one.
And now, it was time for Ashton to harvest some things from them. Beside the magic stone that he took from all the dead monsters, he also collected a small organ that this particular monster had, attached to their liver. Simids naturally came from an environment where it was hard to find a steady supply of food. So, this small organ collected specific qualities from the mana in the food they did eat and kept a store of it. And then, when they went with too little or without food at all for a long time, this special magic allowed them to simply persist longer. This was an extremely potent ingredient in stretching out the effective period of a potion.
Ashton packed the organ away inside of a small plastic container, wrote down what it was with a marker, and then gave it to the backpacker. Of course, the simid magic stones were also put into their own corresponding plastic bag and properly marked, just like all the others Ashton had collected.
"I still can't get used to this. Do you really have to dissect them like that, Ash?" Sam asked, turning away and covering his mouth with his arm, but Ashton simply nodded.
"Of course. All of these materials are useful for potions, magic items, summoning, enchanting, spellcasting, and such," he explained simply, a though it were the most normal thing in the world.
Ashton stood back up and cleaned his hands with a small hand towel. It was covered in dried blood by now, but Ashton should be able to clean it pretty easily soon.
Sam grumbled slightly to himself, "I really don't like this. Why does it have to be like this? Why do they even have those stones in their hearts anyway?"
"Because their bodies didn't necessarily evolve alongside magic, so their bodies can't process them properly."
"Wait... what? What do you mean, 'evolve'?"
Ashton slightly tilted his head, "Did I not mention? All these monsters come from worlds that failed to make it through the quests."
He walked past his friend and continued down the road, but Sam just stood there for a moment until he really processed what he had heard.
"What?!"
"Yeah, I know, I was pretty shocked as well when I learned about that."
"Hold on, does that mean that we're going to grow magic stones as well?"
Ashton thought about that for a moment. He hadn't grown magic stones in his chest when he was a summon, but that might also have been because his body was constructed of magic anyway, "I don't know. Maybe. We'll see."
Sam grimaced nervously, slowly following behind Ashton.
"Uhm... by the way, what did you, uh..." he cleared his throat, trying to just change the topic, "What did you choose as your reward for the quest?"
Ashton had actually been quite bothered by it. Not because he couldn't choose, but because the system message would float there until he did, "I haven't chosen anything yet. There was nothing that seemed useful. Frankly, the items are kind of... cruddy. I mean, come on, just look at this."
He pulled over the system window and snapped his finger. Just like that, he changed this window's 'setting' and allowed Sam to see it.
[You have completed [Main Quest 1- A Show of Dedication]! Please pick your reward]
[Fallen Soldier's Sword]
[Blood-Soaked Spear]
[Cracked Warhammer]
[Rusty War-axe]
[Retired Guard's Shield]
[Well-Worn Boots]
[Ripped Undershirt]
...
...
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...
Ashton scrolled through the options. There were a lot more than from the tutorial quest, about two dozen or so, but they were all... well, not all that great. They were just recycled items grabbed from other worlds that were thrown at people here.
"I mean, sure, if someone has nothing at all to work with before, it could give them an advantage, but it's basically just something they throw at people to make later rewards seem even better," Ashton clicked his tongue, "The first main quest is literally just about making sure people have the baseline qualifications to survive. It's a bit stupid, since there's way more than just combat classes, but I guess they just want people to prove their will to survive."
He turned over toward Sam, who was just staring at the window confused, "... What? You can show these windows to other people?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, just think about it, and it's going to make them visible to anyone around you. But don't do it too often, you need to keep your secrets. Unless you open these windows to everyone, even those guys can't see them," Ashton looked over at the system messages from the constellations he was getting, and made them visible to Sam as well.
[[Observer in the Veil] agrees to the useless nature of the quest rewards]
[[Executor of the End] points out that there is a reason why these items were left behind]
[[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] believes these items to be a grand challenge to the people of this world]
"... You have three constellations watching you? When did that happen?"
"I don't know. I woke up, and two more had just popped up. It's probably because of the 'private conversation' and the corresponding quest that the Observer provided yesterday. Do you still just have the 'Shadow behind the Throne'?"
Sam slowly nodded, looking to the side. He awkwardly held his hand forward and tried to snap, like Ashton, but, "Erm, is it working?"
"Hm?"
"I snapped my finger, like you did, so can you see the window?"
"Oh, yeah, sorry, I should have explained," Ashton shook his head. He snapped his finger again and made his own windows visible to just himself, "You don't need these motions. You just need to concentrate on it. But for these abstract concepts, it makes sense to connect it to a physical action. For me, snapping just felt right. Don't worry, you'll figure it out at some point. Anyway, what did you pick?"
"I haven't picked anything either, yet. Some of the others did, though, and it all looked pretty..."
"Shit?"
"Yeah, it all looked pretty shit. I was wondering if you had any suggestions?"
Ashton looked through the list, thinking about it for a moment, "Hm... Pick a supplementary item. Not something that's directly useful for the class you want to get."
Sam frowned lightly, confused, "What? Why?"
Ashton smiled in response, "You'll get everything you need for your class later today. Which is also why I'm going to pick... Hm. None of them, I guess?"
He had hoped that there would be something good in this list after all, but no. There was nothing that seemed like it would be useful for him. There was a staff in the list, but it was probably just some kind of random stick.
So, he rejected the offer.
[You have refused the Quest reward. You will instead receive a corresponding amount of Class Experience]
[Class | Summoner - Level 5 -> Summoner - Level 6]
"Neat," Ashton shivered slightly as his body was strengthened.
"What is?"
"Oh, I just rejected the reward and got some experience instead. Looks like I was right on the edge and levelled up again. You can do that too, but only a small amount will be attributed to you when you get your class."
"... Why is none of this explained? Shouldn't that have happened in the tutorial?"
Ashton stared at Sam, nodding his head furiously, "That's what I'm saying! The guys that designed this whole questline just suck."
"Mhmm..." Sam agreed, as the two of them finally continued on walking down the street. Right now, they were just walking through the city centre, trying to find monsters to take down. Of course, that part itself wasn't hard, but Ashton tried to direct them to only encounter small groups of monsters to make it easier to ensure Sam's safety.
And before long, a new message appeared in front of Ashton's eyes.
[[Main Quest 1] has ended! [Main Quest 2] will soon proceed]
"There we go," Ashton waved the message away. Now, it was exactly 10 in the morning. He was about to tell Sam, but he had already taken out his phone to check things out himself.
The 'community' should have opened now. Ashton quickly walked over and looked at Sam's screen, as he was checking out the new function installed on his phone. And as of now, it was... empty.
Sam looked around the screen. There were a few different tabs.
'Group', 'Region', 'Country', 'World'. However, all of the tabs beside 'Region' were greyed out.
"There's nothing here, what is this?" Ashton asked a bit confused, just staring down at the phone. But Sam just glanced back at him.
"Calm down, there's a button here. Also, I have my profile up here? But let's look at this first," Sam said, clicking on the small plus-button at the bottom of the screen. A small pop-up appeared.
Do you wish to create a post for 100 Coins?
"Oh! Okay, okay, that's useful. Pretty expensive, all things considered, but... useful. Wait, so do you think that everyone in the 'region' can see these posts?"
Ashton was thinking, slowly nodding, "Probably... Though I don't know how big a 'region' is. It could be the city, or the entire county, maybe? It could also be the entirety of southern England," he suggested, but really, this was completely new to him as well. Rather, it was actually kind of exciting that there was something he had no idea about whatsoever. Terrifying, but exciting.
"Wait, there's a post here already!"
"Already?" Ashton asked surprised, staring at the screen.
Help! by userA54GZ1851
Please, please, please help! We're in the south of town, at Drakewood Primary School! We have tons of kids here, and those things are gathering outside!
Anyone, please come help us!
Sam's face dropped immediately, "Oh my god, kids... I didn't even think about kids, how are they supposed to survive, I-"
"Calm down. There... there will be plenty of kids that pass, and the very thought makes me want to vomit, but... there's an extremely powerful constellation that made a deal with the council. Their modifier is 'Guardian of the Innocent'. I don't know until what age it would be, but all children and, depending on their age, their direct guardians get special benefits. For one, a lot of their quests are simpler, monsters are generally less aggressive toward them, and the youngest get some growth boosts once they join the mainstream questlines. Toddlers should be completely exempt from quests, by the way."
A wave of relief came over Sam, as he looked back down at his phone, "Okay, okay, got it. So... these kids will be fine?"
Confused, Ashton looked back at Sam, "Huh? What are you talking about, absolutely not. I said their quests are easier, not that they can't die. I'm going to rush over there the moment you get your class."
"Okay, yes, please do."
Ashton nodded, cracking his knuckles, "So... let's hurry the fuck up and get to it, yeah?"
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