Time for your quest. Time for your quest, Nox.
The solemn voice echoed in Nox’s head.
“Oh shut up,” Nox mumbled, irritated. It’s 2 in the morning. “Leave me alone.”
He wrapped his pillow around his head, trying to suffocate the voice.
You have awakened and realized a hero does not become a hero by sleeping.
A transparent menu popped into view.
Quest: A Hero’s Resolve
You know that life is short and time is limited. You resolve yourself to sleeping less and training more.
Task: Complete thirty laps around the training ground.
His eyes despite needing adjustments in the dark were able to see the menu’s content in front of him.
“Not this again.” Nox said as he swiped his hand against the menu, dispersing it. “Go away. Let me sleep.”
However, the voice did not oblige. It continued to harass him. It got to the point where his head began to pound with pain.
“Shut up! Shut up! I got it! I will do it.” Nox forced himself up. “Just stop pestering me.”
Nox grabbed his head. The headache had lessened somewhat after his acquiescence, but he knew the poundings would continue if he did not follow through. What choice did he have? He had to go along with this stupid quest.
At least the reward should be something good as he looks at the menu again.
Reward: Satisfaction
“Oh, piss off.” Nox groaned and headed out the door.
The sky was still dark making the surrounding wooden buildings look like dark shadows of deformed giants. The air was chilling cold.
At the outskirt of the training ground, Nox stretched out a shiver before starting into a run. He thought at first the voice was a figment of his imagination and the menu was a side effect of learning the spell, Status. He thought that in a few days they would go away. But each day the voice would give him chores and works to do in the name of making him a hero. He had humored it at first when it was requesting him to do a few push-ups and sit-ups. Then the requests got more frequent and bothersome: asking him to run a marathon the other day or telling him to swing his sword for over four hours. So, he did what he believed to be the most reasonable response in this situation. He ignored them. For a while, it worked until the voice began to non-stop scream in his mind to the point he felt he would die if he let it continue. So despite it being 2 in the morning, he forced himself to run in this chilling weather. Why was this happening to him?
His life was supposed to be easy going from now on after his recruitment into the guild, King’s Armaments. This was his ticket to a three-meals-a-day life with occasional day-offs. Instead, he was working way harder than he ever did.
Letting out a deep breath, Nox dropped down onto the ground. He had finished the thirty laps.
His legs were sore and his body was hot and wet, but it wasn't as bad as the first time he had run thirty laps around the training camp. He remembered he could barely stand and felt like his lung would burst. He remembered how he was clawing forever breath. Now, just like his mind, his body had been broken and now accepted every strenuous activity thrown at it.
Your Agility and Constitution have increased by 1. You realized you are a step closer to becoming a hero. The happiness and satisfaction overcome you as you let out tears of joy.
“Can you stop putting words into my mouth?” Nox asked. “These are hair sweats, not tears. And this is not a face of happiness but anguish and suffering.”
Holding out his hand, Nox exclaimed. “Knowledge of the hidden world, Status.”
Lights formed around his fingers as they glowed brighter into an explosion.
A menu appeared showing a spider chart of Nox’s ability.
Name: Nox
Lvl: 8
Strength: F (52/100)
Constitution: F- (51/100)
Agility: F (51/100)
Reflex: F- (40/100)
Mana: F- (40/100)
Insight: F- (4/10)
The only good thing about this was his attributes increased at an alarming rate. Was this normal? His Strength had gone up nine times in the last week and had broken through from the low F- to reach F rank. The same went for his Constitution and Agility. They underwent a breakthrough and reached F rank. The increase in his capability was quite substantial and something he could test and see.
His entire body had muscle definition he had never seen in his sixteen years of life.
You realized in your current condition the previous training would not be adequate as your body had become accustomed to it. To see more results, you need to intensify your training. Without another word, you decide to work on a new training regime to push your body to the absolute limit.
“Wait. What?” Nox cried out as a new menu materialized in front of him. “No, stop!”
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He could feel a new quest coming and this one would be much more arduous than the ones he did in the past.
“This is enough. I don’t need to increase the difficulty of my training! I have not yet mastered the current training—no, stop!”
His words went unheard as a new screen appeared in front of him.
Quest: Through Pain and Sufferings
You feel the limit of the current training and need to work on a new training regime to push your body to the point of collapse. Only then would you come closer to becoming a hero.
Task: Drag the training ground’s great wheel up and down the Far Mountain.
Reward: Great satisfaction
“Oh, hell no!” Nox exclaimed. “You know how heavy that wheel is? You know how tall that mountain is? Are you out of your mind?”
The answers to those questions were silence. But, Nox did not care. He had already made up his mind.
“Go, do your worst. I don’t care. I’m tired and hungry. I would rather choose to die than to do another quest. You can’t force me.”
Nox firmly planted his butt on the ground, refusing to budge.
After a long moment of screaming, a boy of average height could be seen dragging a wheel up the mountain.
–
The training ground was filled with recruits who had passed the initial examination. Separated into small groups, the recruits practiced The Golden Armament Blade. The instructor who was in charge of teaching the sword technique went around and monitored the recruits, nodding his head or shaking it in acknowledgment of the recruits’ technique forms.
Nox was off on one corner. He was worn out and felt he would have died of exhaustion if it wasn’t for today’s training session. He managed to persuade the voice he had to be there for the recruits’ training session. If he ditched the session, he would risk getting kicked out. He did not know whether or not the voice understood him, but he managed to get back to the training ground without noise from it.
But now it had been acting up again.
Quest: The Hero’s Unmatched Talent
As a soon-to-be hero, your talent is unmatched. With just a look you understand the nuances of any techniques or spells. Show the recruits how to bring out the true power of The Golden Armament Blade.
Task: Perfectly demonstrate The Golden Armament Blade technique.
Reward: Satisfaction
“Are you crazy? Have you not been paying attention. I can barely swing the sword with the correct form!” Nox had suspected the voice to not be in tune with his ability or who it was dealing with. It would be wrong to say it overestimated his capability. Instead, it was more accurate to say it never attempt to understand his ability. It felt like the voice expected him to be someone with great hidden ability that could be polished and honed with hard work but the reality was far from it.
“You know if you want to train a true hero. That person over there would be better.” Nox pointed at a girl with blood-red hair and dark green eyes. “See how she looks like she is a sword princess that just walked out of a fairy-tale story?”
He heard the other recruits saying she came from a unique battle-skill family, Devolue. If it wasn’t for the guild's strict recruiting process which made all the recruits undergo a trial period, she would have been promoted to apprentice rank or higher with her skills.
Nox couldn’t take his eyes off of her. The sword in her hand glowed a golden color as swift blades flew out from all directions.
Was that how he was supposed to do it? However, the sword in his hand seemed to frail about without any of those majestic golden slashes.
“Do you see now? This is my talent,” Nox said, hoping the voice could understand. “Even the guy over there.” Nox pointed at the muscular black-haired boy who was swinging his sword around. His form was strong and fierce. Golden glows accompanied his sword where ever he swung.
The boy known as Gust came from a well-known dungeon-owning family, Augustine, which was supposed to not be any lesser than Camila’s family. If Camila was the princess, Gust was like a prince. He could see the eyes of other recruits glued on Gust well-formed frame.
“You are better off pestering the beautiful red-hair girl or the perfect-looking guy over there. They have the skills and talent to actually become heroes. I’m just a normal boy who wants a peaceful life.”
Like always there was no response. Leaving a sigh, Nox continued practicing the sword technique. He remembered the instructor said that it would take a while anywhere from two to four weeks to be able to bring about the golden glow of The Golden Armament Blade. The two people in front of him were freaks and so the recruits should not feel bad for not being able to replicate the sword skill at the same pace.
And it was not Nox’s intention to become good at the skill anyway. He just needed to not fall behind. As long as he kept pace with the rest of the other recruits, he should be fine. He just needed to do the bare minimum and passed. He just needed a good score from the instructor then the guild would take care of him for the rest of his life. No more begging on the streets. No more stealing to buy bread. This was his new life. Just a bit more and his dream would become a reality.
In his deep thoughts, Nox didn’t realize a figure was watching him until that figure stood right in front of him. Nox gazed up and locked eyes with the recruits’ instructor – Jacob.
A mustached smile plastered on Jacob’s face. His hand reached out and patted Nox on the shoulder.
“Good job,” Jacob said. “I saw that you have been working hard this past week.”
This was the first time Jacob had personally spoken to Nox and for a bit, Nox was stunned and did not know what Jacob meant.
As if understanding the questions in Nox’s head, Jacob said, “I saw you early this morning running around the training camp. In my years of teaching, few are so committed to their training such as you. The relentlessness of your run and the sheer emotion on your face as you finished your final lap. I have never witnessed such strength of character.”
“Uh?” Nox gazed at the man as if he was insane.
But Jacob was lost in his world.
“Then, I saw that you weren’t done. Despite your cries of anguish, you still dragged the training wheel out of the training camp and onto the trails. Tears were streaming down your face, but you kept strong and focus. Powered by pure will, you inched forward onto the mountain.”
Jacob grabbed Nox’s shoulders. “When I was first examining the recruits, I placed you into the rascal groups that do only the bare minimum. That you were like the rest of the freeloaders who wanted to pass the final examination to forever stayed as apprentices. The unambitious sort of people who want to leech off the guild money and do a mission here and there to hit the monthly quota. I see now you are not satisfied with just having three meals a day and a warm bed. You are burning with ambition to become much more than your inherent talent was willing to give. You want to become great. I can see it in your actions. I’m sorry for misjudging you…”
Nox was sweating halfway through Jacob’s speech and was now drenched in sweat. In his mind, the thought that his plan was figured out was biting at him until Jacob’s last words.
Letting out a small burst of coughing, Nox replied. “It’s an honor of mine to serve The King’s Armaments. I would never have such lowly thoughts.”
Jacob’s smile became wider. “You aren’t as talented as the others. But your never-giving-up attitude and will to become stronger will outlast all of those talented but non-committed recruits.”
Jacob gave Nox a wink before leaving to inspect other recruits.
Nox stared at Jacob’s departing figure. “Did Jacob just monologue at him for a good ten minutes and scare the shit out of him only to depart with a scalding evaluation of his talent?”
At least his three-meals-a-day dream was still good to go. Or that was what he thought until he heard the most obnoxious voice.