The screen faded from Zack’s vision, and Daudilus rushed out from the nearby forest. The husky leapt up, putting his two front paws on Zack’s shoulders.

“Hey!” Zack reached out a hand to steady himself, then he scratched his friend behind the ears. “Good to see you, too.”

Daudilus gave Zack’s face a quick lick, then he stared down at the glowing sphere in his chest. His silver tail wagged furiously back and forth, and the rest of him practically bounced with excitement.

“Yep, I finally tried one.” Zack glanced down at his chest, which had already lost most of its glow. “Camille hasn’t come around yet, but we’ll convince her soon enough.”

Daudilus lowered his front paws and glanced around at the weights. His tail kept swishing back and forth, and he nodded his canine head in approval.

“I’m level two,” Zack said. “What about you?

Daudilus sat back on his haunches, cocking his head to the side. Maybe he didn’t understand the question . . . or even the concept of numbers.

A burst of bright blue mana flowed out from the husky’s chest. The mana coalesced into a floating status screen, like the one Zack saw in his mind’s eye. The screen was fuzzy at first, like a crystal screen with no signal. But the text grew sharper over the next few heartbeats, and Zack leaned forward to read the message:

Name: Daudilus the Dog

Level: 3

Constitution: 9.5

Cognition: 7

Charisma: 11

Craft: 7

Combat: 10

“Level three?” Zack blurted out. “You’re already level three?”

Daudilus nodded happily.

Well, he couldn’t be too surprised. Daudilus had gotten his mana core back in the tunnels where they’d faced actual opponents. Not to mention all the training he’d done last night, and this morning.

“How’d you make this?” Zack gestured at the floating screen, which was already fading around the edges.

Daudilus shrugged a canine shoulder.

[I believe that’s a level three technique,] Gia said.

So much for not letting his dog show him up. But Zack had only gotten this system an hour ago. And no offense to Daudilus, but Zack was definitely the better fighter.

He tried to do some mental arithmetic to see how Daudilus’s attributes lined up with his level, but he stopped himself halfway through. Quests also awarded attribute points, and those would throw off the numbers.

And . . . seven craft and cognition? Gia had claimed that everyone started with eight, so Daudilus had probably taken a penalty. Clearly, the mana core could only do so much with a canine brain.

But how in Kragor’s name had he gotten eleven charisma points? Zack hadn’t gotten any of those yet! Sure, everyone knew Daudilus was a good boy, but Gia rewarded action rather than facts.

Did Daudilus actually have a Sad Puppy Eyes skill? Was he grinding points whenever he begged for food?

Zack wanted to keep playing with the system, but he still had to shower and change before his shift in the kitchen. He’d lost track of time before, and he didn’t want to make a habit of it. Not only would that leave his mom short-staffed, but it set a bad example for the other employees.

His mind wandered in the shower, and he considered all the other skills he might unlock. If weightlifting was a skill, then why not calisthenics? In all honesty, Zack didn’t practice those as much as weightlifting, but he could do twenty or thirty pushups in a minute. That should be worth a skill point or two.

“Hey Gia,” Zack said as he shampooed his head.

[Yes, Zack?]

“Can I earn a skill in showering?”

It seemed like a weird question. Obviously, showering couldn’t be a real skill. But why not? What were the rules?

[Unlikely,] she said after a short pause. [A skill, by definition, is something done well. If everyone knows how to take a shower, then you’re an average shower-taker.]

“Who says everyone knows how to shower?” he countered. “You’ve only seen me, Camille, and Daudilus.”

[If that were true, I should rate you as below average. Camille clearly puts more effort into her appearance, and Daudilus puts you both to shame.]

Daudilus did have a majestic coat of fur, that much was true.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Seriously though”—Zack turned off the water and grabbed his towel—”how do you know? Do you have memories of your past users?”

[No, but I’ve made inferences based on your surroundings. You passed through the inn’s common room twice this morning, and all the patrons and workers maintained a standard level of personal hygiene.]

Well, so much for tricking Gia into giving him free skills.

[What brought this on?] Gia asked. [An hour ago, you wanted to give back your cleaning skill.]

“Yeah, but that was before I was losing to my dog. Not that it’s a competition.”

[On the contrary, life is a competition! And you’re right, Daudilus is most certainly winning.]

“Gee, thanks.”

~~~

“Hey,” Kendall said when he stepped into the kitchen. “Look who showed up on time today.”

“I’ll make it up to you,” Zack said as he strode down the line. Eggs and sausage patties covered the flat-top grill to his left, and the scent of bacon wafted up from the ovens.

She raised a pierced eyebrow. “How’s that?”

Zack gestured between the grill and the sandwich station. “I’ll trade you.”

“Seriously?” she asked.

Normally, the grill was considered the easier position. Especially during the morning rush, when most customers ordered breakfast sandwiches. The grill workers threw down a constant stream of eggs, and sausages, and that was that. Meanwhile, the sandwich makers had to keep a close eye on every ticket, assembling dozens of combinations as the day went on.

But Zack wanted to squeeze out as many skill points as possible today, and the sandwich station seemed like his best chance to shine.

He assembled hundreds of breakfast sandwiches over the next two hours. He threw bagels and bread into the toaster and topped those with eggs, bacon, sausage, and cheese. A few of them even had peppers and tomatoes, but those were less common.

Gia waited for things to slow down before she presented him with his reward:

New Skill: Cooking Level 4.

Your Craft attribute has increased by 1.

Your new Craft is 9.25.

He’d secretly been hoping for more, but he couldn’t complain. People came to the Valley View for comfort food, not to taste the peak of culinary excellence. But what if he picked up another bartending shift this week? Drink mixing seemed different enough to warrant its own skill.

His Craft had also gotten surprisingly high, so he pulled up his status screen to see the others:

Name: Zack Farron

Level: 2

Constitution: 9

Cognition: 8

Charisma: 8

Craft: 9.25

Combat: 9.75

Zack mentally hovered over the ‘level’ row, and it displayed his progress as a fraction. In this case, he was one-third of the way toward level three. Unfortunately, he learned nothing about the attributes themselves.

“What about charisma and cognition?” he asked Gia in a low voice. “How do those work?”

[Cognition represents your mental health,] she replied. [And charisma represents your relationships with other people.]

Zack mulled that over. Most video games had a charisma stat, but you used it for persuasion; maybe this worked in the same way.

He’d also expected cognition to be more like intelligence—a form of mental horsepower that improved your non-combat skills. But in this case, those skills all fell into the craft bucket. What else was this stat good for?

“I don’t get it,” he said. “Don’t all the stats affect your mental health?”

[All the skills overlap, but we need to draw the line somewhere.]

He tried asking Gia for more specifics, but her answers were mostly vague. He also tried speaking with her mentally, but she couldn’t hear any of his other thoughts; If Zack wanted to ask her a question, he had to speak the words aloud.

That was inconvenient, but not terrible. The kitchen was a hive of activity, and most people were too busy to notice him.

“What’s with you today?” Kendall asked as she cracked some eggs on the grill. “You’ve been talking to yourself all morning.”

“What?” Zack spun to face her. “No I haven’t.”

[Remember,] Gia said. [Other people can’t hear me. While you’re technically correct, they might not realize that.]

“Thanks,” Zack said in a harsh whisper. “Must’ve slipped my mind.”

[Glad I could help,] she said in a cheerful tone.

Zack shook his head as he pulled several cheese-flavored bagels from the toaster. “I know you understand sarcasm. You use it on me all the time.”

“Um . . .” Kendal shuffled closer, carrying a fried egg on each of her spatulas. “You sure you’re okay over there?”

“Yeah,” Zack said. “Just . . .” His mind fumbled for an excuse and came up blank. He was a terrible liar, come to think of it. Maybe he should tell Kendal the truth? Nope, bad idea. Those tunnels were his ticket out of this town, but his plan wouldn’t work if the others looted them first.

Eventually, Kendall shrugged and walked off. Things had slowed down enough by this point that she didn’t have to stand by the grill all day.

“I don’t get it,” Zack said once he was alone with Gia. “You talk in my head but I can’t talk to you?”

[Human thoughts are messy things,] she replied. [You need an actual technique to focus them.]

“A technique,” Zack echoed. “Like how Daudilus showed me his status screen?”

[Exactly.]

“What level will I get that technique?”

[I can’t say for certain.]

“Can’t or won't?”

[Can’t. My purpose is to help you grow as a person, and mana is a finite resource.]

“But you can waste mana explaining that to me?”

[You’re the one who asked.]

Zack made his way up to the bar a few minutes later. A few girls from the Starwing Grounds plant had gathered around, and is mother had to explain how the espresso maker was still broken. And yes, that included the milk steamer. She could offer them regular coffee, but not their favorite drinks.

Gia must have overheard this exchange because a message appeared in Zack’s mind:

New Quest: Fix the Espresso Maker

Gnome Commandos conquer every environment they’re in, and they always do what needs to be done. So what are you waiting for? Fix the espresso maker and save the Valley View Inn!

Reward: 0.5 Craft.

Accept Quest?

Yes / No

“What?” Zack furrowed his brow as he poured himself a regular cup of coffee. “I don’t know how to fix an espresso maker. I wouldn’t even know where to start.” Clearly, Gia didn’t know, either, because she hadn’t offered a first step.

[Don’t shoot the messenger,] she said for the third time that day. [My job is to generate quests. Not to solve them.]

Zack almost accepted the quest out of habit, but he hesitated. Gia kept talking about finite mana, and that probably extended to the quests she made.

“I’d rather have some combat quests,” he said. “Things I’m actually good at. Can you focus on those instead?”

Gia made a sighing sound in his head. [If you go back to these ‘tunnels’ of yours, I’ll see what I can do.]

Well, that settled it then. He’d arrange another trip down into the tunnels. But first, he had to convince Camille to join him.