Seated beside Brendan, the guest lecturer for the day spoke in the same monotonous voice they’d started with. Cass’s initial excitement had quickly turned to…absolute boredom.
“Companies are not simply enterprises, like the Consortiums. We’re family.” Though the words sounded nice, the expression on the woman’s face left no doubt that she didn’t believe it. “Should you choose to apply to the Ironbound, you will find that we care for you, and we’ll take care of you.”
Cass tuned her out as his mind went over what was coming up. It’s not that he wasn’t interested in learning more about what companies do, just not from someone who so obviously is plugging lines in a transparent act to bring in recruits.
In the Grounds, every Company had a precise amount of space that they could build on based purely on numbers. The larger your Company, the more space allotted to you. The Ironbound were well known to be fanatical in their expansion, taking any and all comers, but only paying them a pittance compared to most.
It resulted in their name being dragged down to the depths of wastefulness. Many of their members were known to do odd jobs around Liora just to supplement their income. His mother called them shameful and shameless. He didn’t know what she meant by that until hearing this speech.
It wrapped up with the standard call to action, “Join the Ironbound, and see your dreams come true!” Then, Cass, Pellin, and Orla met up for dinner.
“Join the Ironbound,” Orla said as she slammed her tray down, “Where we’ll use you until you can barely move.”
Cass and Pellin sat down, the System Engineer immediately setting up his eating station, “Speaking of barely moving.”
“Ugh,” Cass rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes, “I forgot we had tutoring tonight.”
“Probably every night,” Pellin replied, finalizing his eating setup. “I don’t see us ever not having tutoring. Dev loves to torture us.”
“True,” Cass replied, attacking his food with gusto. He hadn’t realized until he’d sat down that he was quite ravenous. Through a mouthful, he said, “Choo dayz just about down, twenty-schomething to go.”
“Swallow first you savage,” Orla said, poking his hand with a fork. “At least you’re only going through this kind of training now. My father had me running gauntlets in the training yard since I was ten.” Taking a sip from her drink, her face became pinched, “Orla, what are you going to do when the Incursions come? What if there’s a second reshaping.” She stabbed a potato, lifting it and taking a sharp bite, “Years of my life!”
The rest of dinner passed with Orla complaining about her upbringing and Pellin complaining about the forthcoming training. Cass, meanwhile, went back for seconds, eating with gusto and close to bouncing out of the room. As they left, an update told them to head back to the gravel-filled area they’d been in the day before.
As Pellin struggled through pushups, rolls, and rock-hopping, Cass seemed to move through everything quickly, maxing out his required sets and for the first time ever, making the fourth leap without needing saving.
Dev gave him a barking laugh, “What’s gotten into you today, Vale? You thirsty for more?”
In fact, he felt great. Reflecting on it, he was surprised to find that he did want to train more. It felt like every little bruise and scrap he’d gotten so far was already healed, better than new. “Throw it at me, Dev.”
Not one to say no to more training, Dev demonstrated mountain climbers, scissor kicks, and a few other exercises. By the time Pellin finished his sets, Cass had already finished his second. And he still had a bounce in his step.
Walking slowly for his exhausted friend, Cass wiped the streaming sweat from his brow. “Good workout.”
Pell stopped, “Good workout? GOOD WORKOUT?” He gave Cass a disgusted look, “Who even are you?” Pellin walked away grumbling as Cass went back to his room.
After a shower, where he scrubbed all the gravel and sand out of areas, he looked around his room. He didn’t want to sleep and didn’t have much else to do, so Cass pulled up the System map. Staring at it, he realized there were many locations he still hadn’t visited; thus began the great memorization of downtown Liora. Bit by bit, he went over every in and out he could find, tracking the markers with his fingers until he felt he knew it so well that it could be drawn from memory.
Then, that’s what he did.
Moving slowly but with burgeoning confidence, Cass traced out every line from memory, double-checking the system map when he wasn’t sure about something. When that was done and the poor paper he’d worked on looked like a bobcat had mangled it, he pinned it to the wall above the desk.
Happy with the results, but still not wanting to sleep, Cass stepped back into his progression tree and took a look around. There was still just one node active, but his experience bar had undergone a change.
Calling: QuestWright: Cassio Vale
Level: 1
Experience Accrued: 36.5
Experience required for the next level: 63.5
The next node called to him.
Autonomy upgrade: 100xp
Allows the QuestWright to create quests and contracts from any location.
The vast majority of his experience had come from the three achievements he’d earned so far. The first was when he’d initially completed his first Quest draft, Gary had accepted the quest, and the third was for completing it.
Together, the three achievements had earned him thirty-five points. Compared to the one experience point he’d gained for completing the tutorial, and the .5 he’d earned for Gary’s completion, achievements definitely seemed like the way to go if he wanted to start making quests away from the Annex.
That meant he needed to dissect the achievements he’d gained thus far and then figure out how to go about getting more. Grabbing a new piece of paper, he wrote down what he knew.
Drafted First Quest- 5 xp
Assigned First Quest- 10 xp
Completed First Quest- 20 xp
“Thirty-five experience from three achievements.” Tapping the end of the pencil against the desk, he thought about several hypotheticals. With how much Kara had spoken about Routines, that would likely be another Achievement, but they took time, and he could still only make three quests per day. Then, he had an idea.
In the dark of the night, Cass walked across the Lioran Guildhall expanse. At this time, very few people were out and about, but that didn’t matter. Cass was on a mission. He needed to hit Level 2.
The doors were unlocked, and the sound of a few disjointed people talking reached his ears. It was surprising that people were still in the Quest Registry, but he didn’t pay much attention to them.
Sitting down at the Annex, Cass pulled up the Quest he’d created for Gary from his records in the Ledger. Making a few minor tweaks to the objective so it would be a little clearer, he pulled out one of the already drafted Quest vellums and placed it down. Focusing intently on what he wanted, he pushed the draft button.
The writing on the vellum sparkled in silver as the words rearranged themselves.
[TIER 1 DELIVERY QUEST]
To Gary Trenner, deliver a single sweet to Gatekeeper Jim in the morning for his food greed. Upon completion, bring the completed quest to Chancey for your reward.
Please.
Cassio Vale
Liora Guildhall
QuestWright
“Better, though I need to work on my synonyms.” His screen lit up only a moment later.
[System Notice]
Bonus experience granted for your first modified quest:
40xp
Achievement progress:
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
4/10
Cass smiled, then went back to work, looking over every quest he could find and analyzing the parts and pieces that made them come together. He broke them down line by line, assessing locations, common names that appeared, and even began rewriting some of them in his mind so he could catalog what worked and what didn’t. He was at it for so long that, after standing up and stretching for a time, he was shocked by a new notice.
[System Alert]
Your quests have reset for the day.
Current available quests: 3/3
Advance your reputation or gain new titles to increase your daily allotment.
Smiling, Cass sat down and reopened the System map.
[System Notice]
Bonus experience granted for routinely opening the System map five times in five consecutive days:
80xp
Achievement progress:
5/10
“Hah!” Cass said, elated to see it. “So it was a timed gatekeep. If I hadn’t stayed up all night, I’d probably have gotten it with Kara.” Looking at the experience again, he dove into his progress tree.
Calling: QuestWright: Cassio Vale
Level: 1 -> 2
Experience Accrued: 156.5
Experience required for the next level: 93.5
Without waiting, Cass selected the Autonomy node and accepted when prompted.
Node unlocked; Autonomy
You may now create and assign quests from any location within your active region.
Range: 1 mile
Quest Drafting: Active on localized System map
First node unlock bonus: +2 Quests per day
Total currently available Quests for assignment: 5/5
Remaining experience: 56.5
Grinning at finally moving up a level, Cass reached into the drawer under the desk and placed several costly Vellums into his bag. He knew he’d be leaving Liora soon, and you never knew where opportunity might come knocking. Sitting down with a satisfied feeling, he pulled up the paths again.
The paths of Inspection and Logistics still sat there, while the two beyond still had no new information. Cass needed close to a hundred and twenty more experience before he could unlock one of them. Which meant he’d need to find another achievement.
Looking at the unmodified third quest he’d created for Gary, he tried to cancel it, but had no clue how to go about doing so. On a gamble, Cass tried ripping it in half, but no matter what he did, the System-powered Vellum wouldn’t tear. Even when he “borrowed” a pair of scissors from Chancey’s desk.
From the time he’d unlocked the Autonomy node to close to four in the morning, Cass tried everything he could think of, but never received another achievement. When he’d finally noticed the time, he realized he wouldn’t be sleeping at all that night. There was too much energy bounding around his body for him even to consider lying his head down. So, he walked out to the Entrance Hall, where a different person stood inside the booth.
It was an older woman in Guild brown robes, who, rather than talk to him like Jim, just gave him a shallow nod before training her eyes back on the entrance.
Not knowing where he was going, he didn’t realize he’d entered the Commons until the steady rhythm of a hammer striking an anvil hit his ears. Holt stood there, muscled arms pounding away at a piece of cold iron. Cass walked over, saying nothing until the man looked up at him.
“Hey, Holt.”
“Cass.” Bang. “What brings you here this early?”
“Couldn’t sleep.” Bang. “Watcha making there?”
“Doesn’t really matter, not when you’re only level four and don’t have a forge.” Bang.
“I know you’re doing it for your daily, but what do you do with it when you’re done?”
“I have a deal with a small group in the Depot.” Bang. “For a small amount of money, they give me Iron, and I give it back in the shape of something mostly useful.” Bang. Grabbing it with a pair of thick tongs, he lifted up the almost U-shaped object, “Horseshoes.” He nodded at a box to his right, where dozens more sat, “They sell well, and it gets me by.”
“The GoldenCrowns need horseshoes…” Cass mumbled, thinking fast, “How much do you get for each?”
“The Hook and Tally normally give me about ten Crests per dozen.” He looked up at Cass, “Why?”
“If I can get you more, would you take it to the Goldencrowns on a quest?” He held his hands up, “I’m not trying to get you to join the Company, just giving you a little xp, a little money, and it helps me out.”
Holt appeared to think it over for a moment before shrugging, “More money and experience won’t kill me. As long as it’s ten per dozen or more, I’m happy.”
“Great.” With a pep in his step and a mental eye on the clock, Cass speedily walked to the Grounds and entered Goldencrown territory. Waving and saying hi to a few early risers in the territory of green and gold, he quickly located the Quartermaster’s office, where a clerk stood behind a counter with an open window. As a medium-sized Company, they were expected to have someone manning every section at all times of the day.
Sidling up, Cass looked the middle-aged man in the eyes, “Hello, I’m Cassio Vale, and I’m a QuestWright with the Guild.”
The mustachioed man gave him some side-eye, “We weren’t expecting any Guild visits today, wait…” Cass gave him a moment. “You’re the son of the Chainmarshal.”
“That I am,” Taking a very small bow, Cass turned on the charm. “Say,” He stepped forward and leaned against the edge of the counter, “About how many horseshoes do you have right now?”
The man didn’t seem to be buying it. “We have enough, Mr. Vale. More than enough.”
“More than enough?” Cass said with a raised eyebrow, “You’re saying, if you could get a few dozen right now for lower than your usual cost of production, you’d say no?”
“Well…” The man chewed on it, literally as his mustache entered the corner of his mouth. “It depends. How many and how much?”
Cass leaned back a little, “I have it on good authority that I can get you a dozen well-made, Cold Iron horseshoes for just fifteen Crests.”
“Cold iron? Why would we want that when we have steel?”
“Steel?” Cass blew a raspberry. “Steel is great for combat. But what about for your dray horses? I know my mother, Cassandra Vale, has said more than once that steel is for combat. But cheap, Cold Iron shoes for your horses are easier to mold.” I think. “Are kinder on their hooves.” Probably. “And, I believe I can get you multiple deliveries over time.” He paused with a smile, “So, what do you say?”
The man chewed on his moustache again, then said, “Thirteen crests.”
“Fourteen, which is only a little more than one per horseshoe. You know that’s a bargain.”
He spat over the side of the counter, then paused for a long moment. “Deal. Have them delivered by the end of the day.”
Cass and the clerk shook on it, then he was off like a bullet. Making it back to the Commons allowed some light to start to drift in, telling him time was about to run out before Gary was at the Annex for his daily quest.
Holt was still pounding away, though the iron was mainly still in bar form as he’d finished the previous one.
With a deep breath, Cass declared, “Fourteen crests, with the option for more deliveries to come.”
The hammer dropped to the side, “Fourteen.” Holt looked up at him, “How much experience would I get?”
“I can get you the quest for delivery, but not for crafting. I’m only Level two.”
“You’re level two already? But you were here just a few days ago?”
Cass smiled, then shrugged, “I’m a hard worker. Give me a moment.” Moving over to a wall, he tapped on his System Map, then found himself out of the Goldencrown’s range.
Son of a bitch.
Running a healthy distance toward the Company grounds, he found another wall, then stopped, sighing in relief when he saw the Quartermaster’s building on his map. A few taps later and an additional field for the Clerk’s request, then he was done.
Quest ID: CV-0002-D-LIA
Objective: Blacksmith Holt will deliver a dozen cold iron horseshoes to the Goldencrown Company Quartermaster.
Assigned Candidate: Blacksmith Holt
Status: Active
Timeframe: No later than 5 p.m.
Questor Reward: +5 XP
QuestWright Reward: +0.5 XP
Pulling out one of the Vellums, Cass focused with all of his power.
[TIER 1 DELIVERY QUEST]
Blacksmith Holt. At a time no later than 5 p.m., you must deliver your products (a dozen cold iron horseshoes) to the Quartermaster of the GoldenCrowns. Be cordial, but not too friendly, as the mustached man likes to self-cannibalize. You will gain the experience.
Please and thank you.
Cassio Vale
Liora Guildhall
QuestWright
Now lamenting the knowledge of how precious the Vellums were, Cass still ran back to Holt, holding up the silvery-sheened quest in his hand.
The blacksmith put down his tools and read it over.
“Seems simple enough. But why’s it written so weird?”
“I’m trying, man,” Cass said. “Do you want the Quest or not?”
The notification came through a moment later.
[QUEST ID: CV-0002-D-LIA HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY HOLT RINN]
“Rinn?” Cass asked, wondering where he knew that surname from.
“Ugh, don’t remind me.” Holt put the Vellum safely on his box of horseshoes, “I’ll see it done.”
“Alright, thanks! I’ll try to bring you another soon enough.” Cass got out of there with speed, racing the sun back to the Annex. When he arrived, he breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t missed Gary.
Pulling out his friend’s Quest for the day, he twiddled his thumbs until the man himself showed up with a big smile. They did the exchange, Gary gave him a thick pat on the back, then the new day began.
Strangely, he still wasn’t tired.
