By the time lunch time came around Maik's passive Chi recovery had completely refilled his Chi bar, so he took a few minutes to expend 1,400 chi, dumping it all into the contributions screen. That added another 1,260 chi after his taxes.
4,273 of 3,000 towards Tier 3 rewards.
I may not need to contribute any more to gain any further rewards, but the tutorial was a hidden reward. That, and it would really suck if humanity fails the save the world open quest because I didn't put forth my full effort.
The rest of Maik's schedule went pretty smoothly until he reached the last call of the day. From the moment Maik met the customer at the front door he knew there was going to be friction based on the fact that the customers was shirtless and the abrasive manner of how he addressed the technician.
Maik started with his usual courteous greeting. "Hello there. Maik with Mike's Appliance Service, here about your range."
The shirtless man leered at the tech and then at Maik's van at the road, his tone guarded and suspicious. ".....K. What are you doing here ?... Garage doors over on the side."
Maik knew well there was no point in antagonizing the man, who was clearly already agitated with something, and simply smiled politely. "No worries, I head right over."
Maik had to wait a full 30 seconds after reaching the door before the customer opened the garage door. Even then his tone wasn't any more pleasant. "About time you got here. I've been waiting all day."
Maik knew that it was about 5:20 in the afternoon and that the customer had been scheduled for between 1:00pm and 6:00 pm so the customers statement wasn't inaccurate. Still, there was a response Maik could use to verify if the customer was just agitated or simply trying to be more difficult.
"My apologize sir. We never really know how long any given call is going to take."
The customers just waved the statement off, clearly unconcerned with the fact that Maik had any other customers that day.
As Maik was led half way through the house to the kitchen the smell of the place hit him, a pungent mix of decomposition and cat urine. Dishes lay in the sink that had clearly been there for more than a week, given how far the remnant food stuff on them had rotted. Garbage was stacked, mostly in various bags, and leaning up against the counters though there was a open path through the kitchen where they walked. Further the counter tops were not much better than the sink. In short the kitchen was Filthy.
Thus it was no surprise that the stove had enough grease coating it to re-grease an engine block. Maik double checked his ticket, verifying that this was a contract job. Figures.
The customer explained how his oven had worked just fine in a truly affronted tone. "And then this piece of shit just up and dies on me in the middle of making supper. Ain't nothing built to last any more, not like it used to. Back in my day we had more respect for what we made."
Maik simply nodded along. He didn't cringe when his hand squished through the thick layer of old grease to grip the stove and pull it out. The tech didn't react to the literal hundred and some odd number of roaches that scurried away when he pulled the stove out from the wall. Maik didn't ask for a broom or a mop to clean the floor under the stove but did carefully kill the 3 spiders that came out to look at him like he was a home invader they needed to put down.
All the while they talked, the customer being a bit more amiable now that things were moving along and he told Maik about how his wife was in the hospital with brain cancer, a vacant and haunted look coming over the man for a moment.
While they talked Maik took his time taking the unit apart, as much to look unbothered by the filth around him as to make sure nothing attacked him while he worked. It had happened before. He made a show to taking his volt meter out and checking the electronic control, making sure it was bad despite a full quarter of the board being a lump of char coal from where it had burnt out.
Maik asked the customer for a single paper towel with an earnest and sincere voice. "Excuse me sir, but may I borrow a paper towel ? I promise I'll give it right back."
The customer snorted and Maik took out his phone to snap a couple quick pictures of the burnt out board, the many dead roaches and the piles of roach and rat poop while the customer was distracted.
Maik put the stove back together and then used that paper towel to wipe off the Model/Serial plate before taking the machine information down. All the while explaining the situation to the customer in vague terms.
"So I found that the main control has burnt out and this unit with need a new one in order to restore it to functional operation. We will be contacting you contract company with our finding and they will decide how to progress from here."
Maik didn't tell the customer how his contract was about to be discontinued. It would only have lead to a verbal argument with the man. The tech didn't try advising him about cleaning his home. That would only have insulted him and half of all the bad review ever written about Maik included that complaint. Maik simply left the explanation vague so that the customer could direct his ire at the contract company when they called to inform him they would not be fixing his unit and then went on with his day.
At least Maik tried to in the face of the fullness of the mans tragedy. The fact was that this was not the first time Maik had been to that customers house. In fact that house had been one of the first houses he had been too, back in his first year of running his own van over a decade ago, and been back several more times over the years.
Back then it had been a much happier place. Mister Rameerez hadn't lost his eldest son to the war in Iraq. His eldest daughter hadn't gotten in that fatal car accident and the youngest hadn't gotten addicted to meth. Maik had spent his whole life and career in this town, and by now he had seen whole businesses and households come and go, be built and, in Remeerez's case, fall apart. It was a hard thing to see and kept the 32 year old man up at night sometimes.
It wasn't that Maid didn't want to help the man. But with the roach infestation a bad as it was any new control board would wind up burnt out within a month and fall less they the 90 days his work was warrantied for. Maybe Maik was jaded at this point but he knew the signs. Misery loves company and the family businesses google star rating had too many bad marks from Maik trying to help people as it was.
A 30 minute drive with with the epic remix of Beethoven's greatest works blaring helped Maik to drown out the dark thoughts about his inability to help his last customer with their suffering. What that man needed Maik could not provide. So rather than let it eat him up inside he put the matter out of his mind, for now.
Back at the office he strolled over to the office to finish his paper work for the day. Dinner should be ready soon and he wanted to speak with his family on the progress they had made with their chi skills and contributions. Happy thoughts. Yeah.
Just before heading up to the house though, he stopped to make another transfer into the contribution screen, making it the 3ed such transfer the of they day since he had stopped to make another contribution around 3PM
6,073 of 3,000 towards Tier 3 rewards.
Once Maik was seated in the living room of the family manor there was surprisingly little to talk about regarding the status of his various private quests, as they hadn't changed much. Sure the Rewards line had changed but even that information was incomplete.
Active Quests : Personal
Type : Private / New
Duration : Until 1:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Thompson, Jeff's refrigerator
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : $284.88 / CXP / No class detected. Compiling CXP to establish class options.
Status : Finished
Type : Private / Continued
Duration : Until 1:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Simmons, Marcy's Washer
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : $240.80 / CXP / No class detected. Compiling CXP to establish class options.
Status : Finished
Type : Private / New
Duration : Until 1:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Spunkmire, David's Trash compactor
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : Variable, dependent upon performance.
Status : Pending part acquisition
Type : Private / Continued
Duration : Until 1:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Phillips, Gregory's refrigerator
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : $275.20 / CXP / No class detected. Compiling CXP to establish class options.
Status : Finished
Type : Private / New
Duration : Until 1:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Sanders, Martha's Dryer
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : $191.35 / CXP / No class detected. Compiling CXP to establish class options.
Status : Finished
Type : Private / New
Duration : From 1:00 PM too 6:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Martins, Fredrick's Dishwasher
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : Variable, dependent upon performance.
Status : Pending part acquisition
Type : Private / New
Duration : From 1:00 PM too 6:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Gordon, Lester's Garbage Disposal
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : Variable, dependent upon performance.
Status : Pending unit replacement
Type : Private / Continued
Duration : From 1:00 PM too 6:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Myers, Lorence's Dishwasher
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : $344.00 / CXP / No class detected. Compiling CXP to establish class options.
Status : Finished
Type : Private / Continued
Duration : From 1:00 PM too 6:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Kallahan, Kim's Dryer
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : $195.65 / CXP / No class detected. Compiling CXP to establish class options.
Status : Finished
Type : Private / New
Duration : From 1:00 PM too 6:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Hernandez, Jose's Microwave
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : Variable, dependent upon performance.
Status : Pending part acquisition
Type : Private / Continued
Duration : From 1:00 PM too 6:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Dr Huqu's Wall oven
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : $455.80 / CXP / No class detected. Compiling CXP to establish class options.
Status : Finished
Type : Private / New
Duration : From 1:00 PM too 6:00 PM today
Objective : Repair Remeerez, Sam's Range
Penalties : Loss of company reputation / Loss of personal reputation
Rewards : Variable, dependent upon performance.
Status : Pending authorization
CXP apparently stood for Class eXperience Points. Which was apparently a whole different thing, and became the starting point of a whole lengthy conversation during and after dinner.
Mitch was obviously doing much better given how agitated he was. "What ? Okay, the EXP I get. It give you stat points for leveling and you seem to get EXP from... from advancing you skills but shouldn't advancing you skills give you CXP then ? I - I don't get it."
Derek offered his own insights based on games he had played. "Maybe the class offers new tutorial options. Before the tutorial I had no clue as to how to use my chi. I never really got into that stuff. Not like you and Maik, but now it just comes naturally. Maybe his class will offer him tutorials on skills like electrical engineering rather than on physical skills like Chi manipulation ?"
Terra let out a scoffing laugh. "Huhh. And I though Final Fantasies leveling system was convoluted. Sigh."
Becky was never really a gamer and neither had her mate Neil. Neil was rubbing his face and groaning out his complaint. "This is why I never really liked any of that video game, stat block, dice rolling bullshit. Trying to quantify a persons abilities down into fucking numbers is just..... Bullshit, Hehh Hehh."
Michael seemed to agree. "Be that as it may, this bullshit is clearly having an effect on the world as is evidenced by the changes to Maik here. Best that we understand and use it to our advantage."
Neil nodded emphatically. "Ow I whole heartedly agree. First we play by the rules, then we master the rules. After that we bend the rules, and after that we take this fucking system apart, figure out what makes it tick and then put it back together any fucking way we want."
Becky put a calming hand on Neil's forearm to help him calm down. Maik got the feeling that after years of being the head technician Neil was getting a little anxious about how far behind he was, when compared to Maik. Hearing about yet the latest in a growling line of advancements Maik was making without the rest of them was getting to him.
The family head, Michael, took that moment to address that very topic. "We will probably know more tomorrow. This system seems to update while we sleep so I imagine that Maik will get his options then. Mitch. You said your the closest to advancing to the first tier of the rewards and you've pretty much been at it all day."
Mitch was full of wide eyed enthusiasm. "Ohh yeah. I'm all good there. Gaining the cultivation skill has been a real advancement. As long as I can keep it up it doubles my contribution rate."
Terra places a hand on his and does a little wiggle as he ask him about his plans. "So, what are you thinking about using your attribute points on ?"
Mitch smiles back at her as he takes her hand in his. "Well, I already have more endurance and durability than Maik so I could afford some more strength but I think I'm much better off focusing on chi and stamina, at least until we get a lot more info on how this stuff works. I mean Maik already proved that the stat points are actually a thing so there's no need to make myself terribly imbalanced. But what about you. How close do you think your getting to gaining the cultivation skill ?"
She started to shrug with a sigh before her demeanor changed to a more serious tone. "....Not sure. It feels like its working the way you and Maik described but I'm just not there yet."
A sudden thought struck Maik and he leaned forward to share. "Actually, Derek, Maverick. When you both reached the first rank of beginner with Chi cultivation, at level one, didn't the XP for the skill start at 400 ?"
They looked at each other, nodded and Maverick looked back to Maik to respond. "Yeah ?... Oh, your thinking that we have to actually cultivate the full 400 chi worth to even get the skill to fist level. Damn."
Becky scoffed at that got up to leave. "Well shit, then I'm going to go practice some more and make sure I get the skill tonight. Can't be that far off at this point."
Everyone seemed to follow her example and started splitting off to practice their cultivation except for Ian, Maya and Max, Maik's second brother. Mitch and Maik worked with them to help them develop their fundamental chi control and Chi manipulation further. This didn't leave Maik any time to practice his cultivation but the time was well spent given the progress the others were making. His mother, Andrea and father, Michael watched over the whole process while keeping an eye on the children.
After the focused meditation everyone was mentally drained and quite ready to sit down to some nice relaxing T.V. They watched a couple episodes of Bali the Grappler, a martial arts anime and Maik found himself unable to meditate during the show, much less cultivate. The amount of mental effort it had taken to be some mindful of himself and avoid injury all day had been taxing and he found himself slipping into the vegetable state while just relaxing.
What a day. And its only Tuesday.
Maik lay down to rest, lowering himself into sleep only for the display of rise up and inform him of his advancements.
6,073 of 3,000 towards Tier 3 rewards.
Active Quest : Avoid the apocalypse.
Type : Open
Duration : Until Calsifus 5-A, local designation Moon, impacts Calsifus 5, local designation Earth.
Estimated time until failure : 30 days 21 hours to point of no return.
Objective : Contribute a collective total of 4.6816e+13 Joules of energy in the form of Chi to the stability array aboard the Vassaroth through this interface.
Penalties for failure : Calsifus 5-A, local designation Moon, will impact Calsifus 5, local designation Earth, resulting in the extermination of all life on the surface.
Rewards : Varies - Dependent upon contribution.
Tier 1 : Contribute at least 1,400 calories of Chi. - Gain access to the newly integrated system between the digital entities of Calsifus 5 and Planer Portal management matrix. A monthly renewal fee of 1,000 calories of Chi will apply after the first month.
Tier 2 : Contribute at least 2,100 Calories of Chi - Gain access to the newly integrated system between the digital entities of Calsifus 5 and Planer Portal management matrix as a Prime member. Remedial citizenship within the Fifth Imperial congregate. Tutorials in the use of Chi skills. A monthly renewal fee of 1,400 calories of Chi will apply after the first month.
Tier 3 : Contribute at least 3,000 calories of Chi - Gain access to the newly integrated system between the digital entities of Calsifus 5 and Planer Portal management matrix as a VIP member. Remedial citizenship within the Fifth Imperial congregate. Tutorials in the use of Chi skills. Access to the Chi skill store. Access to advance citizenship status. Access to system titles withing the purview of the system. A monthly renewal fee of 1,800 calories of Chi will apply after the first month.
Tier 3 rewards achieved.
Status : Remedial Citizen : Advanced
Access to system titles : Granted
Access to Chi skill store : Granted
Access to class system : Advanced level access
Hidden rewards achieved : Doubling down.
You have contributed double the required contributions needed for maximum rewards for this open quest. Extra rewards acquired.
Extra rewards : 1 Free skill tutorial
Tier 2 skill : Fundamental Chi control : Advanced
Intermediate : level 6 : 3,130 / 4,557
XP Earned : 3,960
Level up
Level up
Intermediate : level 8 : 7,090 / 10,253
EXP Acquired : 1,138
Tier 3 skill : Chi manipulation : Advanced
Capable : level 6 : 3,039 / 4,557
XP Earned : 3,960
Level up
Level up
Capable : level 8 : 6,999 / 10,253
EXP Acquired : 1,138
Tier 4 skill : Chi projection : Advanced
Beginner : level 5 : 1,648 / 2,025
XP Earned : 3,960
Level up
Level up
Level up
Beginner : level 8 : 5,608 / 6,834
EXP Acquired : 960
Total EXP (Entity Experience Points) Acquired : 3,186
Entity Level up : Human / H grade / Tier 1 : Level 7
You now have 20 stat points to allocate.
Entity Level up : Human / H grade / Tier 1 : Level 8
You now have 40 stat points to allocate.
Entity Level up : Human / H grade / Tier 1 : Level 9
You now have 60 stat points to allocate.
Entity Level up : Human / H grade / Tier 2 : Level 1
You now have 80 stat points to allocate.
Entity Level up : Human / H grade / Tier 2 : Level 2
You now have 100 stat points to allocate.
Compiling collected CXP
Compiling available Classes
This is it...THIS IS IT.... THIS...This.... This is bullshit ! Repair technician, Engineer, mechanical engineer, Sails man, Electrician...... Where's the magic. Where's the mage class or the wizard, sorcerer, arcane practitioner ? Hell I might even settle for magician, FUCK.
Frustrated Maik started going through the menus, searching for the classes he didn't meet the requirements for, as yet. Soon enough he found what he was looking for and they were all there. However, they were also frustratingly out of reach.
Class : Wizard
Wielder of arcane magics and manipulator of reality
Requirements :
At least 3 Tier 1 Mana skills.
At least 1 Tier 2 Mana skill
Minimum Mana pool of 1,000
And that's just the basic wizard. Not even anything fancy like Archmage. The fuck even is Mana and how do I get some ?
It took a while but eventually Maik found a Class that seemed to be both within reach and right up his ally.
Class : Empower craftsman / Mechanical
Builder, crafter and repairer of articulate mechanical devices
Requirements :
Engineering : Effective
At least one mechanical subtype skill : Effective
Fundamental Chi control : Capable
Chi manipulation : Beginner
At least 3 tier 4 Chi skill at beginner
It was perfect for Maik. He would just barely met the requirements after gaining his new skill and it helped him do what he was already good at even better. though he was a little concerned about something. Each class had a recommended entity level to use, not required, but recommended. Empowered craftsman / Mechanical had a recommended entity level of H grade, Tier 8. Maik had just reached tier 2. And the Wizard was even higher at G grade, Tier 5.
Maik was tempted to try and do the math on that but had more important things to think about. Such as where to spend his stat points. In the end it was obvious that he was horribly unbalanced and needed to fix that so he put 40 in both Durability and Endurance with the remaining 20 going into Dexterity. That should even things out. I'll still need to be more mindful of my person but at least it wont be quite so easy to randomly brake myself.