“Go ahead and examine it, Mr Adams. Remember what I told you.” Cyrus said as we stood in front of a podium with a silver crystal hovering above it. I looked at the crystal and that circled ‘i’ showed up over it. I mentally focused on it and instead of the standard light green window opening a bunch of confetti and mini fireworks popped up in front of my vision and a new bronze coloured window slid open.
- Bronze Triumph Completed -
‘Call to Adventure ’ (10 Bronze Triumph Medallions)
You have interacted with your first Quest giver.
Reward: Basic Potion Pack, Adventurer’s Basic Supplies Pack
“What the hell did I just get?” I said looking to Cyrus.
“It’s a Triumph. They’re little rewards for doing things the QuarterMaster deems worthy of reward. I’ve never seen one this early, but you are new to all of this so I guess the system has adjusted it for difficulty. I need to ask someone about this later. How many medallions did it award you?” Cyrus asked.
“10 Bronze. Is that a lot?” I said.
“No. But they’ll start to pile up. Don’t worry about them for now. You’ll learn to spend them at level 10. Let’s continue.” He pointed to the crystal. It was now glowing and I could see a bunch of windows that were stylized as weathered parchment papers hung in the air above it. Each one was meant to resemble a paper hung on a wall with a nail and they each had a title, a stylized portrait and a ranking underneath.
“Gods. There’s nothing left below a D!” Cyrus shouted throwing his hands up in frustration. He breathed hard and smoothed his hair back clearly trying to calm himself. “No. No. This is okay. We can still rank in the top 5. This is my year.”
“What?” I said. He looked up and I could see something had changed. His eyes had taken on a wild look. He rushed up to stand beside me and started swiping through the Exam Quest offerings. A saw one that caught my eye. I reached out and grabbed it out of the air. It was an S rank, with 1 star.
! QUEST !
Eye See You
TYPE - Boss Quest
RANK: S
DIFFICULTLY: ★
It had the outline of a head and shoulders that looked human. It also stank like rancid meat and old milk. I gagged and held the paper away from my face.
“Oh god why does this smell like a rotten steak marinating in sour yogurt?” I said. Cyrus spun and looked at me. He hadn’t noticed I’d taken one of the papers. “Like seriously, this smells like a crazy old cat lady died and was eaten by their cats and then they died.”
“Please tell me you didn’t just grab that.” Cyrus said his eyes going wide.
“Uhh I wish I hadn’t. It smells like-” I wasn’t able to finish my thought as the world around me began to dissolve. It spun like coloured sand in a tornado around me drifting and eroding everything away. Even Cyrus who was reaching out to me dissolved with the same effect. Then it began to reform. I was now standing in a colosseum style arena. If I felt like a gladiator before, I had definitely become one now. Students began to file into the seats around the edge of the arena. I turned around looking to see any familiar faces. I only saw one. Cyrus began to materialize from that sand behind a metal gate behind me. I quickly ran over to him. He came in mid scream,
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“-CKING IDIOT. Why would he just grab one?!” He stopped and realized he was standing there in front of me. “Oh. Mr Adams. You’re here.”
“What happened?” I said panicked.
“Well, I was about to tell you that pulling a Quest will automatically accept it, but you’d already made that particular discovery.” He breathed in and out. “Now. Quickly, what type of quest was this?”
“A Boss type.” I said.
“Okay, Okay. As long as it’s C rank or lower, we should be okay.” Cyrus said. He saw the expression on my face. “It wasn’t lower than a C was it?”
“uhhhh.”
“B?” He asked, I shook my head. “A?”
I didn’t answer immediately. “It was only one star…”
“S?!” He yelled. I nodded trying not to cringe too hard. Cyrus’ face dropped. “Oh my god. You’re going to die. I’m going to be the first one to lose a student in 5 years… In the first exam…” He slumped against the bars. I began to panic. Then I realized something, why would they put in a quest that a new student wouldn’t be able to complete?
“No there must be a way I can win this. They the teachers wouldn’t put in a quest that would kill me right?” I said trying to bargain with him.
“You’re right. The teachers wouldn’t, but The QuarterMaster runs the exam, not them.” He looked like he had lost all will to live.
“But isn’t the system meant to help us learn?” I said. “It wouldn’t-” I heard a large thud from behind me and that same rancid scent wafted into the arena. A large humanoid creature was stepping up from the sand materializing with that same sand effect. A single bulbous yellow eye protruded from the center of it’s brow. It was at least 10 feet tall and incredibly muscular. It looked like there wasn’t an ounce of fat on it. It held a large club that it had slung over its shoulder and it grimaced as it saw me.
“What did you say about my smell?” The cyclops said. I spied the info icon hovering over his head and examined it.
- Gelston the Terrible -
Boss Class Monster
LVL: ??
~This Monster is over 10 levels above your own.
(I hope you know what you’re doing!)
“I can’t see it’s level!” I yelled to Cyrus. The crowd of students had begun to chant and yell now.
“It’s an S Rank Boss. It’s easily level 50 minimum.” Cyrus said still deflated.
“Fifty?!” I said looking back at the monster. “You’re right… I’m dead.” I braced myself against the gate and closed my eyes. I heard a chime which made me open my eyes. It sounded like the opening broadcast of a news program, but played with medieval instruments. It was really bizarre. All of the students looked up and the cyclops froze in place.
- THIS IS A QUARTERMASTER ANNOUNCEMENT -
Hello Magi! This is your Quartermaster speaking. Welcome to our first S Rank Exam!
All the student’s cheered.
I looked at Cyrus who suddenly he stood up.
“What’s happening?” I asked, but Cyrus didn’t look at me he was fixated on the voice. “Shh, shh, shh.” He looked like he was using his menus again. I didn’t know what he was doing, but I guessed from the way he was tapping his right hand on his thigh he might be using his chat feature. The announcement continued.
I am so excited that one of you had the moxie and bravado to pick an S Rank Exam straight away! What about you students? Are we all excited?
They all cheered again.
Good! Good. Here’s the thing. With the way things are sitting right now, it looks like this exam will be over before I can even say go. And none of us want to lose such a promising new Magi do we?
The crowd booed. This was starting to feel more and more gladiatorial by the moment.
Okay. So, I’ll make things interesting. Give me a moment to talk to our challenger.
A window forcibly opened in my vision.
The QuarterMaster wants to make a deal.
Accept?
“I’ll take anything at this point!” I said smashing down on the yes button.
Well well well, it seems we have a gambler in our midsts! Our challenger has…. Accepted! Let’s get things underway!
Exaaaaaaam….
START!
The crowd absolutely erupted as the cyclops unfroze. A timer appeared floating in the center of the room. It had 2 minutes on it. Underneath it was a single word.
SURVIVE.
I took out my wand and gripped it tightly. I felt something in it hum. A new silver coloured window popped up.
- Silver Triumph Completed -
‘Nobody Sends their regards’ (100 Silver Triumph Medallions)
You have encountered a Unique Cyclops Monster.
Reward: Homer’s Guide to Greek Monsters
A book appeared in my hand and immediately disappeared into one of my quickslots. I looked to be a similar book to The Guide. I looked quickly at the Cyclops and noticed a new piece of text showing. Each of its body parts was highlighted with a multiplier. I saw that his arms, legs and torso had a ‘x o.5%” with a symbol of a sword and a wand. For some reason I knew exactly what that meant.
Physical and Magical damage are halved.
Damn.
I looked for any different number and finally noticed the eye had something that looked like it wasn’t correct. It had a ludicrous ‘x 400%’. A plan began to form in my head. Maybe, I could do a little bit more than just survive. I turned around to face the beast.
“Uhhh Nice cyclops… Please no smashy. I’m sorry for what I said about your smell.”
I was going to do this.