Quest: Frustrated and Lost – Day 1
People are starting to question your ability. Even you begin to question your ability. But as a soon-to-be hero, you know that ups and downs are a part of life. That today’s sorrow will bring greater joy tomorrow. You know deep down your potential is waiting to be unleashed. You just need to work much harder.
Tasks:
Complete 5 laps up and down the mountain
Complete 10,000 sword swing
Complete 100 push ups
Complete 100 pull ups
Complete 100 sits ups
Complete 100 squats
Reward: Satisfaction
“What do you mean people start questioning my ability? Have you looked around? They don’t even know I exist. They are off worrying about themselves. Are you sure is not you that is starting to question my ability?” Nox said, staring at the quest menu in front of him. “And what is the heck with these tasks? Are you trying to kill me? How am I supposed to finish them all?”
Nox knew by now that the voice would not respond. All that he could do was let out a deep sigh. Was this a curse put on him by someone? He did offend quite a few people—actually quite a lot. Was this his retribution for doing all those bad deeds in the past? To die doing what he hated the most: hard work?
He wished he could tell someone about this but no one could even see the menu or hear what he was hearing. Most likely they would think he was mad or stressed out and kick him out of the guild.
He ground his teeth. No. He was not going to let this voice keep him from his dream. Especially when he was so close. Just a few more steps and he would be set for life. No more hard work. No more moldy loaves of bread to eat. No more sleeping in the street. A life of comfort was waiting for him.
He stood up and began to frantically swing his sword.
.
.
.
He did not know when he went to bed last night or how did he manage to complete all the tasks, but when he woke up he saw a list of notifications.
Strength +1
Constitution +1
Agility +1
His attributes have increased again. He learned from the lectures that attribute normally go up when he levels up or masters certain skills. There were situations where exercising or working out increased the attributes as well, but he heard they happened rarely and only after reaching certain strength or speed milestones. He had been completing extreme work out but the attributes shouldn’t be increasing every day.
A realization hit him as he quickly stoop up and inspected his body. His muscles felt fine and weren’t sore. He was not hurting anywhere. There were no signs of injuries as well. His body felt fine. Did he imagine doing all of those exercises yesterday? He remembered his entire body was on fire and he couldn’t feel anything. Only the thought of living a good life was what pushed him onward. How was he okay?
Using the Status spell he could see that his attributes have increased like what the notifications had said and the Quest, Frustrated and Lost, showed up as complete.
He wasn’t sure why his body felt fine nor did he think much of it.
As what the other beggars used to say, “Worry about the bad things that are going to happen and don’t question the goods things you have or else you won’t have them any more.” As long as his body was good that was more than enough and he was happy until another menu popped in out.
Quest: Frustrated and Lost – Day 2
You have completed the first day of your training. On to day 2.
Tasks:
Complete 10 laps up and down the mountain
Complete 20,000 sword swing
Complete 200 push ups
Complete 200 pull ups
Complete 200 sits ups
Complete 200 squats
Reward: Satisfaction
So that was what “Day 1” meant. This was a series of daily training quests that span many days, maybe even weeks. The pain and suffering he went through yesterday were not enough. This sadistic voice. Was it enjoying this? Did it like seeing him suffering?
Nox calmed himself down. He wasn’t going to let this quest ruin his morning. His favorite thing to do was just a few minutes away. He got dressed and left his room, making his way to the Food Hall.
The Food Hall used to be a tavern that was remodeled and could now hold over fifty people. It was spacious, but during breakfast hours the hall was filled with recruits.
Nox had his food tray in front of him as he looked around for an open seat. With everyone eating at the same time and him waking up late, he could count on two hands how many tables had unoccupied seats. Despite so many tables and seats being taken, a single long table with over a dozen unoccupied seats was left mainly unused except for a red-haired girl who sat there alone. He had observed her sitting by herself for the last few times as well. By the aura that she was giving out, he knew it was best not to sit there.
He looked around until he found a couple of other recruits who wore similar worn-out clothes as him.
They were deep in their conversations and did not notice him when he put down the food tray and sat at the unoccupied seat.
"Did you talk with her?" The tall recruit whose name was Brett asked.
"Not exactly," Jason replied. "We looked at each other."
"What the heck does that mean?" Brett said.
"Well, what happened was that you know how I came early to save us a table right?"
“Yeah…?” Brett nodded.
“Yeah, so I woke up early and got to the Food Hall and sat at that table right over there,” Jason said, then pointed at the table where the red-haired girl was sitting. “I was minding my own business when she came and sat across from me.”
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Everyone at the table let out an audible gasp.
“Then...?” Brett asked.
“Well, I looked up and saw her glaring at me,” Jason continued. “I almost could not help peeing my pants. I looked around and found that there were still quite a lot of open tables. I wasn’t sure why she had to choose this table. But I knew if I didn’t leave that seat. You guys would probably find me dead this morning.”
“Ohhhh!” Everyone exclaimed in unison except for Brett who slammed the table and stood up.
“This bitch! Who the heck does she think she is? Just because she is from one of the Great Families, she thinks she could push people around?”
As Brett tried to go and confront the red-haired girl, Jason grabbed and pulled his leg. “Stop Brett! Don’t be stupid. It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay. Let me go, Jason. I’m gonna…”
“You gonna what?” Walter who had been quiet since Nox got here spoke for the first time.
Brett turned to Walter. “Well… I’m gonna—“
“Get your body cut in half?” Walter finished his sentence. “Then have it delivered to your family?”
“No…” Brett said, then gave it a thought. “I’m to tell her she can’t treat people like that...”
“Oh, shut up and sit down,” Walter said.
Brett, as if his rage had subsided, sat back down.
“As I was saying before,” Walter said. “We have more important matters to worry about than wasting time with petty and stupid stuff. Everyone knows why we are here right?”
Walter turned his head and locked eyes with Brett who gave him a nod in reply. Then he turned to Jason who gave him a nod as well. Then he turned to the next person and then the next person until he reached Nox.
Nox replied with a “humph” and a strong nod. Walter gave a questioning look as if asking who the heck are you? But the question never came.
“That’s right,” Walter said. “We came to become hunters and bring glory to our village. Never lose track of that. We have only three months until the final examination for the guild to decide whether or not we are worth investing in. By the end of next week, we need to be able to grasp and wield The Golden Armament Blade, or else we will fall behind. At the very least, every one of us needed to be able to replicate the golden glow by the end of this week.”
What? Nox thought. Why were they in such a rush? Didn’t the instructor say it took a while for people to learn and use The Golden Armament Blade?
“If anyone needs help in understanding the Mana flow portion of the technique ask Brett or me and we will guide you. Any questions?”
I do! Nox raised his hand and then started talking. “Why are we in such a rush to learn The Golden Armament Blade? Don’t we have three months to learn it?”
It was then that everyone noticed Nox.
“...who are you? Brett asked.
“A fellow recruit who hates the red-haired girl and wants to bring pride to his village,” Nox said.
“Uh?” They exchanged glances with each other.
“It’s not like it’s a secret,” Walter broke the confusion and gave Nox a good look over. “After next week, we would be rotating from our current Battle Skill Instructor to the Body Strengthening Instructor for lessons. Other than not having Instructor Jacob give us pointers on The Golden Armament Blade, we need to focus our attention to learn another set of magics. Then after that, we would need to attend the Hunter course to learn about dungeons, monsters, and artifacts. That would take another good chunk of our time. Then finally, we need to demonstrate proficiency in the battle skill, body strengthening magic, and pass the hunter knowledge tests before we can move on to take the final examination which subject is currently unknown at this time.”
“What? I thought the only magic we need to learn was Status and that the final exam is to demonstrate The Golden Armament Blade?”
“If it was 20 years ago then that would be the case. But, they have since updated the examination.”
“No way…” Nox replied, stunned. How was he supposed to comprehend and use the battle skill in two weeks? He hadn’t memorized the Mana Flow of The Golden Armament Blade yet. Heck, he hadn’t even memorized the nine blade stances of The Golden Armament Blade.
Wait. As long as the other struggles like him, it should be fine. He just needed to be average. The guild took in over fifty recruits every year. Counting this room, there shouldn’t be more than sixty recruits. He was fine. He should be okay.
Seeing Nox looking around and counting with his fingers and then smiling as if realizing something, Walter said.
They aren’t the only recruits you are competing with.
There are other recruits from the east, north, and west recruitment halls you are competing with. Together there are over 300 hundred recruits you are competing with for fifty spots.
“No. No. NO!” Nox grabbed Walter’s hands. “Please leader-looking guy, please tell me this is not true…”
“It’s true.”
.
.
.
Nox was in a trance with Walter’s words repeating in his head. When he was free from it, Nox realized he was at the training ground.
He still had time. He shouldn’t give up. Completing with three hundred other students sounded tough, but he still had a chance. He had over three months left. His time was just starting. He just needed to cramp the sword movements into his head. Then, he could work on synchronizing the Mana paths to his sword movements. One step at a time. He just needed to start training hard now.
“Uh?” Nox looked around. Golden glows accompanied the swords of the recruits as they swung them around.
“When did everyone learn how to do that?!”