Morning arrived far too quickly, and Aiden woke to a rather startling sight. Several messages materialized before his eyes, floating in shimmering golden magical energy that cast an ethereal glow across his face, and a glint in his eyes.
[DAILY MISSIONS]
-Practice Your Sword Forms
Reward: 150 XP
Bonus Reward: +1 Stats Point
-Learn One New Fact About Xathia
Reward: 150 XP
Bonus Reward: +1 Intelligence Point
-Carry the Party's Equipment
Reward: 150 XP
Bonus: +1 Stats Point
[SIDE QUESTS]
-Complete the Dungeon Raid
Rewards: ??
Bonus Reward: 500 XP
[SPECIAL QUESTS]
-Reach Xathia
Rewards: ??
Bonus Reward: 250 XP
[PERMANENT QUESTS]
-Host is encouraged to lose his virginity
Rewards: ??
Bonus Reward: ??
[All quests have been assigned based on the system's knowledge of Aiden Crowley's current life]
[Rewards for the quests will be assigned after completion]
[Both rewards for Permanent Quests will be assigned after completion and based on duration]
[Daily Missions must be completed before a new day begins]
[Special and Side Quests must be completed within 7 days]
[Permanent Quests can be completed anytime]
[Host will trigger Penalty Quests if he fails to complete any quest within the given time]
Aiden's first reaction was a muttered "What?" as the floating messages hovered directly in his line of sight upon waking. As he sat up and his eyes drifted down to read about penalty quests, his voice rose to a more audible "What?!"
This outburst made Alaric shift in his bed and crack open one eye toward Aiden. "Ey, lad, you tryin' to bring the whole place down or what?"
Aiden turned toward his temporal roommate with genuine embarrassment. "My apologies."
Alaric shook his head with a grunt and rolled back toward the wall. These were the early hours of dawn, with darkness still clinging to the world outside, so Aiden quietly rose from his bedding and stepped into the corridor.
He walked through the upper level's narrow passageway, and just as he neared the bend toward the stairs, a soft sound broke the morning silence.
A breathy gasp.
Aiden paused, uncertain what he just heard.
Then, another sound followed, it was longer and shakier. A woman's voice, barely muffled by the wooden door. "Ah… gods…" she whispered, accompanied by the rhythmic sound of movement against a bedframe.
There was a pause, then a sharper sound, it was quick and high, as if it had escaped before she could contain it.
"Mmh—yes…" came next, low and drawn out.
Aiden glanced toward the door, then quickly looked away. "Is it not too early?" he whispered to himself, then cast another glance at the details of the permanent quest still floating before his vision. He shook his head disapprovingly and decided to continue on his way.
The sounds grew quiet for a moment, but the silence didn't last. There was a soft whimper, then a hushed curse—"Fuck!" followed by a breathless "don't stop…" as the bed creaked again.
Aiden hurried downstairs, passing through the empty tavern space that had been filled with lots of drinking and eating from patrons just hours before. He stepped outside into the crisp morning air.
The tavern stood on open land with no other buildings for miles in most directions, positioned alongside the main road. A shed built nearby housed the horses of travelers, and a lone tree grew close to the shed, but aside from these simple structures, nothing else broke the landscape's monotony.
He reviewed the quest list floating before him once more and said aloud, "So this is really happening…" still trying to piece together the reality of his situation.
The first task demanded that he practice his sword forms. "Ah, it's been a while," he mused, thinking back to when he had spent time engaged in wooden sword combat and general physical training with some of Dragonhold's knights.
It was customary for the king's sons to gain knowledge of swordplay and physical combat practices. Wooden sword practice began for princes once they reached the age of seven. It had been that way for him, and later for his half-brother, Lucas when he came of age.
However, all of that had ended after his very first failure to gain entry to the academy, as he had become more fixated on attempting to manifest magic and barely paid attention to sword or combat training with the knights thereafter.
He may not have been the finest swordsman like Baran, or the most skilled fighter like Jonas, but he had been at least decent at both skills by age fourteen, capable of graduating to fighting with actual steel or outmaneuvering some of the knights during sparring sessions.
Aiden looked around the empty landscape as one crucial question came to mind: "Where do I get a sword?"