Chapter 40: The New Quest [Bonus]

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The New Quest [Bonus]

Daniel stared at the notification. Four experience points. For killing a giant lizard. A giant, terrifying, man-eating lizard. Four points.

He felt a twitch in his eye.

"Four points?" he muttered under his breath. "That’s it? That’s all I get? I could get more exp from killing a rat in a video game. This is ridiculous. What am I supposed to do with four points? Level up my left pinky finger?"

He kept complaining inwardly, his face twisted with disappointment. The system was stingy. Unbelievably stingy. At this rate, it would take him years to level up. Decades. He would die of old age before he reached level two.

Then he noticed Lyra staring at him.

She was looking at him with a strange expression. Her head was tilted. Her eyes were focused on something he couldn’t see. Something in front of her face.

"What?" Daniel asked.

Lyra blinked. "I got a notification."

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "You did?"

"Yeah. It said I received four experience points." She paused. "What does that mean?"

Daniel sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. How was he supposed to explain this?

"Okay," he said. "So. Experience points. Exp. They’re like... points you get when you kill things. Or complete tasks. Or do stuff. And when you get enough of them, you level up."

Lyra frowned. "Level up?"

"Yeah. You get stronger. Faster. Better. Your stats increase. You become more powerful."

Lyra’s frown deepened. "I don’t understand."

Daniel thought for a moment. How could he explain this to someone who had never played a video game? Someone who had never even seen a screen?

"Okay," he said. "Imagine you’re playing a game."

Lyra tilted her head. "A game?"

"Yeah. Like... a board game. Or a card game. Something like that. You know what games are, right?"

Lyra nodded slowly. "I’ve played some games. With my siblings. Before they stopped letting me play with them."

Daniel winced. "Right. Well, imagine a game where you have a character. A little figure. And that figure fights monsters. Every time it kills a monster, it gets points. When it gets enough points, it becomes stronger. It levels up."

Lyra nodded. "Okay. I think I understand."

"So you’re the character. The lizard was the monster. You killed it. You got four points. Those points go toward your next level."

Lyra looked at him. Her expression was still confused. But there was a flicker of understanding in her eyes.

"So... I’m getting stronger?"

"Yes. Slowly. But yes."

She nodded again. This time, she seemed to actually get it.

"Okay," she said. "I think I understand now. Sort of."

Daniel smiled. "Good. Now, what do you know about leveling? From what you’ve heard?"

Lyra thought about it. She had spent years listening to adventurers and travelers talk. She had absorbed more information than most people realized. She would sit in corners, invisible, forgotten, and just... listen.

"Well," she said slowly, "people can level up and become stronger by killing creatures. That’s the most common way. Adventurers do it all the time. They go into dungeons, hunt monsters, and get stronger."

Daniel nodded. "Makes sense."

"But there are other ways too." Lyra’s voice grew more confident. "If it’s a lifestyle class, the more things they create or sell or whatever applies to them, they can level up that way. Like blacksmiths. They get better by forging weapons. Or merchants. They get better by trading."

Daniel nodded again. "So the class determines how you level up."

"Yes. Exactly." Lyra was getting excited now. She was sharing knowledge she had accumulated over years of listening. "When people level up, they can cultivate."

"Cultivate?"

"Yes. They focus on something they want to improve. It takes about twenty-four hours. They meditate. They concentrate. And their body or mind changes. They can focus on strength, speed, intelligence, or whatever applies to them."

Daniel processed this. "So it’s like... choosing where to put your stat points."

Lyra frowned. "Stat points?"

"Never mind. Keep going."

Lyra shook her head. She was used to Daniel saying strange things by now. "Also, they can check their level with something. I’m not sure what. Some kind of device or tool. I’ve heard people talk about it, but I’ve never seen one."

"Anything else?"

Lyra hesitated. "The higher you level up, the harder it gets to enter the next level. Some people say it’s about fifty percent more than the last level. But I don’t know if that’s true. It’s just what I’ve heard."

Daniel nodded. "So it gets harder as you go. That’s standard."

"And..." Lyra paused. She looked uncertain. "Everything is different for System Holders. That’s what I’ve heard. Not sure if it’s true. But I do hear people talking from time to time."

Daniel tilted his head. "Different how?"

Lyra shrugged. "I don’t know. They just say it’s different. System Holders don’t level up the same way. They don’t cultivate the same way. Everything is faster. Easier. But also harder. It doesn’t make sense when people talk about it."

Daniel smiled. "I understand. It’s just like video games."

Lyra looked at him. Her expression was blank.

"What’s a video game?"

Daniel opened his mouth. Then closed it. He remembered who he was talking to. She had been blind her whole life. She had never seen a video game. She had never even seen a screen.

"Never mind," he said. "Forget about it."

Lyra frowned. She looked like she wanted to ask more questions. But then she shook her head. She was used to Daniel talking nonsense by now. She had learned to just let it go.

Fluffy, who had been quietly eating her meat, looked up. Her cheeks were stuffed. Her eyes were wide.

"Fluffy doesn’t understand anything," she said.

Daniel laughed. "That’s okay, Fluffy. Neither do I."

Fluffy nodded. She seemed satisfied with that answer. She went back to her meat.

Daniel clapped his hands together. "Alright then. New goal. We reach level Two before we leave this desert."

Lyra nodded. "Okay."

Fluffy looked up again. "Fluffy will help."

Daniel smiled at her. "Thanks, Fluffy."

He looked at the horizon. At the endless desert stretching out before them. At the stars twinkling overhead.

"Level two," he muttered. "How hard can it be?"

Then a notification appeared in front of his face.

[New Quest]

[Reach Level 2]

[Reward: Gunslinger Class Skill - Blink]

[Penalty: Return to Level 1 (0%)]

[Quest Type: Group]

Daniel read the notification. Then he read it again. Then he grinned.

"Blink," he said. "That sounds useful."

Lyra looked at him. "What?"

"We have a new quest. Group quest. We need to reach level one."

Lyra’s eyes widened. "A quest? Like adventurers get?"

"Exactly like adventurers get." Daniel’s grin widened. "Looks like you’re going to be an adventurer sooner than you thought."

Lyra’s face lit up. She looked at the desert around them. At the darkness. At the unknown.

"Then let’s go," she said. "Let’s find more monsters."

Daniel nodded. He looked at Fluffy. She was still eating her meat, oblivious to everything.

"Come on, Fluffy," he said. "We have work to do."

Fluffy looked up. Her ears perked. "More meat?"

"Maybe. If you help us kill monsters."

Fluffy’s eyes lit up. She stuffed the rest of the meat into her mouth and stood up.

"Fluffy will help," she said. "Fluffy will kill all the monsters."

Daniel laughed. "That’s the spirit."

They started walking. Into the darkness. Into the unknown. Toward their next level.