After Vivian and Dominic left, David leaned back on the sofa, trying to gather the thoughts that had been interrupted earlier.
He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was not yet eight o'clock, so there was still plenty of time before the meeting — no need to rush.
"Phew... let's see what I actually got out of that mess yesterday!"
David took a deep breath and opened his System's display screen.
A faint light screen, visible only to him, unfolded slowly before his eyes. He chose to check the notifications he had blocked earlier.
Just as he expected, two temporary quests, already marked as complete, were waiting for him to claim their rewards.
"Relevant mission information detected. Temporary Quest (Blue) triggered: Escaping the Tiger's Maw. In an unknown location, the footsteps of death draw near. Host, please escape the ongoing assassination attempt unharmed. Rewards will be given according to performance. (Completed)"
"...Relevant mission information detected. Temporary Quest (Gold) triggered: Siege of Monsters. Due to unforeseen events, the city now faces a great threat as distorted monsters draw closer. Host, please eliminate the monster before it causes widespread destruction. Rewards will be given according to your contribution. (Completed)"
"Oh? Little System, you've changed your style! Since when do you write quest descriptions like this?"
As David tapped the screen, a burst of fire flashed across it, and from within the flames two ancient-looking parchment scrolls slowly unrolled.
Lines of text appeared on them one by one.
Looking at this new, almost unfamiliar presentation, David raised an eyebrow. This was the first time he had triggered a temporary quest like this.
The unusual style actually caught his interest — it seemed his System was putting on quite a show for him.
His System really was becoming more and more interesting.
"Not bad at all..."
"System, confirm reward collection."
As soon as David spoke, the familiar voice prompt didn't come right away.
Instead, the screen trembled, and flames rose across the page once more.
The two scrolls quickly burned to ash. Then the scene shifted, and two treasure chests — one large, one small, both carved in the same ancient style — dropped down in front of him.
A faint glow leaked from the chests, as if tempting David to open them.
"Well, this is..."
Caught up in the System's little theatrics, David was now fully drawn in.
Somehow it had conjured up the feel of a medieval Western fantasy — right in the middle of the Pokémon world.
"Let's start with the small one and test my luck."
With a light touch of his mind, the smaller chest lit up at once.
There was no voice prompt this time either. Once the chest opened, a faint shimmer passed through the air, and three glowing spheres wrapped in a soft green light floated up before him.
Three orbs, wrapped in green light.
David studied them, recalling the quest description from earlier, and couldn't help curling his lip.
"This is my reward for escaping death at that assassin's hands? Doesn't seem like much."
He gave the orbs a light tap.
The green glow around the three spheres faded, revealing what they truly were.
A TM disc, an herb, and a compass.
Only then did the delayed voice prompt finally sound.
"Congratulations, Host, for completing the quest: Escaping the Tiger's Maw. Performance rating: D."
"P.S. Facing an assassination attempt from a Trainer of Gym Leader caliber, the rookie Host performed poorly."
Reading the System's evaluation, David's expression darkened.
Still, he had no real grounds to argue.
A Trainer at Gym Leader level! If it weren't for the Dragapult his father had given him, and Reshiram backing him up, he, at his current stage, would have had no way to fight back against an opponent of that caliber.
It wasn't that David thought too little of himself — the gap between them was simply too wide.
Without Dragapult, he — a rookie Trainer who hadn't even finished assembling his main team, whose strongest Pokémon hadn't yet reached professional-level strength — would have struggled just to put up a fight against a Trainer of that caliber.
In a real match, an opponent like that wouldn't even need to send out Pokémon matched to his level, the way a Gym Leader would during an official Gym Challenge.
Just that one Inteleon alone could have defeated every Pokémon on David's team in a single hit.
"Never mind, let's see what's in the rewards!"
One herb. David looked it over — a twenty-year-old Energy Root. Good stuff! On its own, this made the whole ordeal worthwhile.
"Energy Root (Twenty Years Aged). A bitter herb that clears the mind and lifts the spirit. Restores vitality significantly when consumed."
"I could brew this into tea for Lucario later. That little guy really does like tea, doesn't he? Isn't there a Pokémon in some other world that also likes tea brewed from something like this?"
"They're both experts at using Aura. Maybe my pup will enjoy it too!"
But after that promising start with the Energy Root, the other two items weren't nearly as exciting.
The disc turned out to be a TM for Hidden Power, said to hold the insight of a Gym Leader-level Pokémon. It would be a great find for an average Trainer, but David had no real use for it.
Still, it would fetch a decent price if sold, adding a bit more to his savings.
The compass, though, was a little more interesting.
"Treasure Compass. A relic once owned by a renowned adventurer. Guides its holder toward the greatest treasure within a ten-kilometer radius."
Now this was interesting. David turned it over in his thoughts — the effect sounded oddly familiar!
Surely it wouldn't lead him straight to some kind of legendary artifact of sight? Ha, unlikely.
Still, did an item like this even belong in the Pokémon world? It certainly didn't feel like something native to this setting!
System, if you're really so capable, why not get me something like that famous device from the blue robotic cat instead? Or better yet, a proper enchanted clock — now that would be something!
Of course, all of that was just David rambling to himself. Still, ever since the System had gone through its recent updates, the rewards really did seem to be drifting further and further from what belonged in the Pokémon world.
Or maybe it was simply reshaping items from other worlds into Pokémon-world equivalents.
After looking everything over, David put every item except the Energy Root back into his System's storage.
He wasn't foolish. Within a ten-kilometer radius of the city, any real treasure would almost certainly already belong to someone. Using the compass here would be a waste.
"Not bad luck so far. Alright, now for the real prize."
David took another breath and opened the remaining chest.
Clang!
With a sharp, ringing sound, the chest sprang open — and this time, the reaction was far stronger than before. The instant it opened, a golden light flooded the entire System screen.
The blinding glow nearly overwhelmed David's sharp eyes.
He didn't need any voice prompt to know — this time, he'd hit the jackpot.