“…Holy. Fucking. Shit!!!”, Gab gasped, as she looked upon what she could confidently call her first “Ultimate Skill”!

 

Whilst penalties attached to are kind of sucky, such as the randomised aspect, the activation cost requiring half of her current HP and MP (which can’t be fixed whilst the Skill is active) and its short duration and long cooldown, the effects more than make up for it!

 

If any of the attack-oriented effects are selected after activating this Skill, she can (based on her current Attributes) inflict a minimum of 1400 additional damage with extra effects!

 

1400! That is a HUGE attack value for an early-stage Player!

 

Hell, even the effect related to her Vitality Attribute didn’t fall behind, since it would give her an extra 1400 HP to work with, drastically improving her staying power on the battlefield!

 

The best part? Since this wasn’t a Skill learned from a Skillbook, she can still upgrade it (although it doesn’t give hints as to how she can do that)!

 

Whirl! Phsst! Clank! Clunk!

 

As she was finishing her analysis of her new Skill, Gab heard a set of familiar sounds resounding towards her location, causing her to sigh.

 

There was only one thing in the Pocket Village that Gab was aware of that could make that series of noises…

 

“As much as I wanted to give you time to prepare to countermeasures against the [Scan] Skill I’ll inevitably award to the other travellers, I seem to have landed you in even hotter water than before as a result. I do hope you don’t hate me too much for that, handsome lady…or would you prefer it if I call you Wanderer instead?”.

 

…was the steampunk-ish floating platform that the head elder Zalo stood on, as she simultaneously apologised, revealed she was aware of Gab’s true identity from the start and dropped one of the biggest understatements Gab has heard yet!

 

Could the result of her provocation of the other Players be appropriately described as “landing her in hotter water”? 

 

Hell no! It was more akin to chucking her into an ocean of hot, bubbling oil, which the head elder then exacerbated by throwing a shit-covered blowtorch onto its surface!!

 

Despite having these thoughts, Gab managed to compose herself enough to make a neutral facial expression and turned around to face Zalo.

 

Whilst her actions did turn the Player base’s feelings towards “Wanderer” from “very annoyed” to “violently angry”, she did now understand where Zalo was coming from when she made that decision.

 

After all, if the head elder from a Pocket Village had a new arrival that was a POI for a Deity of their world and didn’t take measures that would give them enough time to at least make preparations towards completing the task assigned to them, wouldn’t they face punishment from a being far stronger than they were? 

 

Letting out a small sigh before looking the head elder dead in the eye, Gab began to address the older lady on the strange, floating platform.

 

“Greetings, head elder Zalo,” Gab said in a measured tone, bowing slightly in the process (cause fuck curtsying), “Wanderer is just fine. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you would be aware of my true identity, given that the first appraisal skill we would be getting comes from a Quest you gave us.”.

 

“As for the…small matter of the other “travellers” that just left…as well as potentially every single other “traveller” in the other Pocket Villages,” Gab continued whilst trying very hard to not let her lips twitch (sometimes Zalo didn’t fail to notice), “I understand that you did it to both protect me and give me more breathing room to get prepared for the challenges ahead, so I don’t blame you.”.

 

Gab then gave an innocent-looking smile.

“After all, if I did do just that, wouldn’t that make me shameless?”.

 

Zalo couldn’t help but give a light chortle at that last question.

“Hah! I’d be more concerned if you weren’t at least slightly mad about the negative consequences of the action I choose to take!”.

 

“And under the present circumstances, if you were to say or do something to with the purpose of punishing me, I’d say that it wouldn’t be considered so much “shameless” as it would be “cheeky””.

 

Zalo then cleared her throat, seeming to finally be ready to cut to the chase.

 

“…I take it that since you received a Quest from the Deity whose attention you caught before I gave out my Quests instead of after, my ones would be more of a detriment to you instead of helping you. Am I correct?”, Zalo asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

“…whist the [Scan] Skill would be useful to for the Quest I accepted, I’m afraid to say that you are correct. Especially since taking the combat one would not only potentially reduce my potential rewards, but also my chances of leaving the village undetected by my fellow “travellers””, Gab confirmed with a sigh, knowing that despite lacking RL combat experience, she was certain that she could kill every monster just outside the Pocket Village far more easily than the others just by relying on her stupidly high stats alone!

 

Needless to say, the other Players will abso-fucking-lutely suspect her. 

And if some have already received the [Scan] Skill…well, take a wild guess!

 

Zalo nodded, seeming to have guessed that she would receive such an answer.

 

“I thought as much, which is why I would like to offer a compromise. Would you be interested in hearing it?”

 

“Of course. I would have to be a complete fool to not want to hear such a thing from the head elder of all people.”, Gab said politely, all the while trying to keep the full extent of her excitement out of her voice. 

 

She may be stressed out over the situation she unwittingly found herself in, but Gab was still an RPG player at heart. Stuff like finding a potentially profitable quest in convoluted circumstances like the one she found herself in makes a game just that much more interesting.

 

Zalo chuckled as had a feeling she knew exactly how the Freestyler was feeling about what she said just now, which she found to be adorable.

If she were closer to the young woman’s age, she would probably find herself tempted to gobble her up!

 

As she thought that, Gab received a series of notifications that left her gobsmacked:

 

<Due to your current Gravitas value, Zalo’s Favourability for you has increased by 20>

 

<Due to your present amount of Acclaim for someone of your Level, Zalo’s Favourability for you has increased by 60>

 

<Due to unconsciously sensing your Commitment Fixed Attribute, Zalo feels more comfortable in making her offer to you>

 

<Due to your current Eros value and Zalo being a person of your preferred gender preference, Favourability has been increased by 10. However, due to being significantly older than you, Zalo is not thinking about potentially entering a relationship with you.>

 

…

 

…whilst the notifications regarding Zalo’s now high Favourability for her and a potential for something special to happen shortly are good, she had mixed feelings about them.

 

After all, whilst she was flattered that the head elder felt that way about her, especially since she aged quite gracefully, Gab didn’t (amongst other things) feel any inclination towards being a GILF Huntress in the slightest!!

 

“If you are still interested in gaining rewards from me personally,” Zalo said, unaware of the notifications Gab just received, “I’m willing to make you some Sync Quests.”.

 

“Sync Quests? What’s the difference between that type of Quest and normal ones?”, Gab asked in confusion.

 

“Well, Sync Quests are unique in the respect that they modified versions of normal Quests that are made to fit better with Quests given by higher beings, in this case a Deity, in order to not inconvenience the Quest acceptor whilst allowing the modifier to still get the results they wanted from the initial form of their own given Quest.”.

 

“Keep in mind that, unless you have a Quest from a higher being that has objectives which somewhat coincides with ones related to a normal Quest, Sync Quests are very difficult for travellers such as yourself to obtain.”.

 

“Now, all I need for creating Sync Quests for you is details of the Quest you just received, and I can start making the adjustments from there. So if you feel comfortable enough, can you share your Quest with me?”, Zalo asked as a prompt came up in Gab’s HUD:

 

<Zalo wishes to review the Quest, (Desires of a Class-Obsessed Moron~), that was given to you by a higher being in order to adjust her previously given Quests to suit your needs. Do you accept?>

 

<Y/N>

 

“Sure, do your worse.” Gab said as agreed to the prompt, causing the details of her snarkily named Quest to appear before the head elder, the contents of which caused Zalo’s eyebrows to arch slightly in confusion.

 

“A…“Class-Obsessed Moron”? Why on earth would a Freestyler be obsessed with Classes of all things?!”, Zalo thought in disbelief, which only got worse the more read.

 

“What…an unusual Quest. Five battles, each requiring different equipment from the previous ones and a change of tactics. Not only that, the acceptor herself can decide the level of difficulty for this Quest?!”

 

“Although, I imagine that since the rewards themselves for completing this Quest aren’t made clear, Wanderer would probably think that it would be a stupid idea to stick to just outside of the Pocket Village, aside from the more…obvious reasons.”

 

After ruminating over the details in the Quest’s contents for a few minutes, Zalo brought out screens depicting the revised Beginner Quests she just gave to the recently departed Players and started to modify their contents slightly.

 

As soon as she was done, Gab got this notification:      

 

<After reviewing the contents of “Desires of a Class-Obsessed Moron~”, Zalo has created two Sync Quests with the Quests “Stampede onto the Field” and “Restart Your Life” as their base.>

 

“Here they are, your new Sync Quests.”, Zalo said as she turned the further revised Quests towards Gab, “Since you are a Freestyler, and these Quests are only made to potentially increase your gains, you can either just pick one or neither. The choice is yours to make.” 

 

As soon as the head elder finished, Gab started looking over these new Quests:

 

<Quest Name: Rush Into The Woods

Quest Difficulty: Depends on the acceptor of this Quest

Quest Type: Extermination, Collection, Sync (Desires of a Class-Obsessed Moron~)

Quest Details:

Monster more worthy of testing your newly acquired strength rests within the woods outside of the village. Challenge yourself, and collect the fruits of your labours.  

Quest Objective(s):

-Eliminate the monsters you have chosen as your opponents as part of the Quest “Desires of a Class-Obsessed Moron~” and collect their corpses 

(Note: If you choose to take on this Quest, its creator will provide you with an Item to assist in the store of the aforementioned corpses.)

Quest Failure Condition(s): N/A

Time Limit: N/A

Quest Completion Reward(s):

-An upgraded appraisal Skill

-Other rewards depend on both the rank and quantity of the monsters that have been defeated and had their corpses collected throughout this Quest 

Quest Failure Punishment(s): N/A

Time Remaining: N/A>

 

<Will you accept this Quest?>

 

<Y/N>

 

<Quest Name: Enhance Your Life

Quest Difficulty: Depends on the acceptor of this Quest

Quest Type: Collection, Synced (Desires of a Class-Obsessed Moron~)

Quest Details:

The forest contains an abundance of materials that aren’t as easy to collect as those found around the village. Forage in the forest to gain a better understanding of the art of collection.

Quest Objective(s):

-Collect 100 [Vegetables], [Plants] or [Minerals] from the forest (0/100) 

(Note: If you choose to take on this Quest, you cannot hand in more than 10 materials of the same name.)

Quest Failure Condition(s): N/A

Time Limit: N/A

Quest Completion Reward(s):

-An upgraded appraisal Skill

-Other rewards depend on both the quality and quantity of the materials collected throughout this Quest 

Quest Failure Punishment(s): N/A

Time Remaining: N/A>

 

<Will you accept this Quest?>

 

<Y/N>

 

Gab hummed in approval of these Quests, given that they were perfectly suitable as supplementary Quests that she could complete alongside the one given to her by the Goddess of Classes herself.

 

The only snag she found is that, unlike the first Sync Quest, the one that was Lifestyler-orientated didn’t provide an Item to store the materials required for its completion. 

Considering how many slots in her Inventory were occupied, this was a big problem.

 

“Uh, not to sound ungrateful or anything, but could you give me something to hold the materials required for the second Quest? My Inventory is chockablock enough as it is.” Gab pleaded to Zalo, who gave up on even pretending to be surprised that the Freestyler seemed to have unintentionally implied that she had many other Items in her Inventory in addition to those awarded to her.

 

“I can’t.”, Zalo stated simply, “However, you can buy additional Inventory Slots from the Adventurer Essentials Store for a discounted price, as well as face ornaments that will stop travellers with the [Scan] Skill from viewing the name you choose for your spiritual body.”.

 

Gab raised an eyebrow at that, thinking there were a few choice words she could use in response to that statement.

 

In the end, however, Gab just chuckled instead and raised her hands towards both of the offered Sync Quests.

 

“Well, I suppose I may as well as start spending my allowance as soon as possible.”, Gab told herself under her breath (whilst saying “allowance” with a sarcastic bite), before addressing Zalo directly with a smirk on her face.

 

“Screw one or neither, I’ll take both of them!”, she proclaimed, before taping <Y> on both of them.

 

<Congratulations! You have acquired the Title, [First Synchronised Acceptor]>

 

<The effect of the Title, [First Achiever], has been activated>

 

<+1 to all Free and Fixed Attributes>

 

After seeing the latest notification, Gab just merely rolled her eyes in exasperation.

 

Seriously, weren’t Titles and Player Announcements more difficult to acquire than this?!

 

Of course, her circumstances were more unique than most new Players, but come ON!!

 

“Haaaaah, I’m sorry, but would you be so kind as to show me where the Adventurer Essentials Store is located?”.

 

“Sure, it’s the store with the crossed swords and shield over the door, you won’t miss it.”, Zalo stated before positioning her index finger a few millimetres away from Gab’s forehead, “But before you go, I’ll lend you an appraisal type Skill to use for your Quests, considering you’ll be needing it the most.”, 

 

As soon as she said that, she lightly tapped Gab’s forehead, causing the Freestyler to feel a wave of foreign information flowing into her brain.

 

As soon as it subsided, a new prompt came up:

 

<You have been lent the Skill, [Appraisal], for the duration of your Quests.>

 

<Skill Name: [Appraisal]

Skill Family: General

Skill Type: Active

Skill Description:

Allows the user to view a decent amount of information regarding enemy units, Items and materials.

Cost: N/A

Skill Duration: N/A

Cooldown Time: N/A 

Note: This Skill cannot be upgraded>

 

Gab felt happy to see this new (temporary) Skill, which she guessed was a more advanced version of [Scan].

 

“Thank you so much for your help, head elder.” Gab said with a slight bow, “Now, I’m afraid that I need to start my preparations as swiftly as possible, so can I be excused?”.

 

“Oh, you may. I will pray for your success!”, Zalo chuckled, which stopped just as quickly as it came, when she noticed a brief shadow came across the Freestyler’s eyes.

 

“…Thanks, but I could manage without prayers.”, she said with a sad smile, making it obvious that she didn’t mean she can beat these Quests without them, before turning towards the Pocket Village.

 

As Zalo stared at Gab’s back in confusion over that last statement, she noticed the Freestyler stopping in her tracks, before looking over her shoulder at the head elder.

 

“…Do you not want to know which Deity gave me that Quest?”, Gab asked, to which Zalo only answered by shaking her head violently.

 

“Hmm, I guess it would be inconvenient for you to know…”, she continued with an understanding and profound tone, causing the head elder to let out a sigh of relief…

 

“…that I was given this Quest by Douaxí, the Goddess of Classes~.”

 

…which was then followed by a mouthful of blood, as the cheeky Freestyler happily dropped a shocking truth bomb to relieve her anger over the head elder making her situation unnecessarily worse!

 

As Zalo looked at the now grinning Freestyler in disbelief, Gab just gave a short wave and scarpered off, whilst further surprising the head elder at how fast she was despite only walking.

 

“Haaah, I guess I did say that it would exactly be shameless for her to give me some sort of punishment, so I suppose it’s okay.”, Zalo chuckled to herself, before a contemplative expression appeared on her face.

 

“But still…what did a Freestyler do to catch the attention of the one of the most versatile and powerful of all the Deities born from intelligent society, and before she even arrived in a Pocket Village at that?!”, Zalo asked herself, confident that there was no one close enough to her that question.

 

“That…is something I’d VERY much like to know myself…”.

 

…!!!

 

However, as the witnesses to the events that have occurred recently can attest to, nothing is necessary guaranteed, as Zalo heard a rough, female voice from right behind her!

 

Although the “woman” behind her has yet to exert any external or internal pressure on her, Zalo’s instincts SCREAMED at her, telling her that she shouldn’t dare turn around to even catch a glimpse of this new arrival.

 

“Now, since it seems that I’m on a bit of deadline, I trust that you’re well informed enough to make an accurate guess as to who I am?” the voice whispered into the head elder’s ear, her voice not giving an impression of only one emotion or lack thereof. Rather, Zalo can sense more than one in her voice, but she’s somehow uncertain as to which ones were present.

 

Of course, the owner of the voice was correct in assuming that Zalo can make an educated guess as to the woman’s identity, as due to the circumstances, she can only be that higher being…

 

“…this lowly head elder greets Ólasyna, the Goddess of The Free, twin sister of the Goddess of Classes, Douaxí.”, Zalo greeted, her voice quivering.

 

“There’s no need for you to refer to yourself as “lowly” to me,”, The Goddess of The Free lightly chided, “but that aside, well met.”.

 

“Is there…something I can assist you with?” Zalo asked cautiously, “Because if you do, then I’ll doing everything in my power to get you what you need!”.

 

“Well, you are right in that I need something, more specifically from you.” Ólasyna confirmed, before cutting to the chase, “I need for you to give me a marker showing this…Wanderer’s exact location in real-time.”.

 

“…would it be too presumptuous of me to ask why you would need such a thing.”, Zalo asked, a touch of a large amount of apprehension she was feeling creeping into her voice.

 

“Not at all,” the Goddess soothed, not minding one bit, “I only need it to find out where my classy and responsible older sister is located.”.

 

“Locat…! Are you saying that…your elder sister, the Douaxí, is close by?!!”, Zalo exclaimed in shock, unable to reconcile to herself that the Goddess behind her is not the only Goddess with the boundaries of this Pocket Village!

 

“Of course she is.”, Ólasyna casually confirmed, “ After all, in all her existence, my elder sister has never given out a Quest. Not. A. Single. One. Not even for a Hero or Villain of Antiquity!”.

 

“And since she finally has…”, Zalo muttered as she realised something.

 

“…then that means she’ll come personally to the location where the Quest will be taking place.” Ólasyna finished for the head elder, “ And since she’s likely using one of her more particularly powerful fetters that specialises in counter-surveillance, I can’t track her by my usual means, and by the time I come up with a new method, I’ll have likely missed her.”

 

“And that, is where you and Wanderer come in.”.

 

Zalo sighed, still unable to reconcile with the fact that she’s in this situation in the first place!

 

“Haaah, very well, here’s the marker.”, Zalo acquiesced, producing a palm-sized, crystalline cube with a red arrowhead in its centre.

 

“Much obliged.”, The Goddess of The Free said gratefully as she took said marker out of Zalo’s palm.

 

Zalo sighed, thinking that this ordeal was finally over before she felt a sudden weight being placed on her now empty palm.

 

“Hmm? What is …!!!!”, Zalo started, before gasping when she saw what was now in her hand.

 

“I may be the Goddess who holds dominion over Freestylers, but I’m hardly a thug that won’t hesitate to take something with giving an appropriate form of compensation.”, Ólasyna stated, with a hint of playfulness in her voice.

 

“A-A-A-APPROPRIATE?!!!”, Zalo shouted, almost forgetting whom she was talking to, given that she was so overwhelmed with happiness that tears started to leak out, “This-this is far beyond an “appropriate form of compensation”!!!”.

 

“Heh, I figured that you, as a [Magiteknician] would appreciate the value of this Item.”, Ólasyna remarked, continuing, “As for its value as compensation, I’m not sure it would be enough, depending on what my sister has in store for someone who should be under my domain.”.

 

Before Zalo could even come up with a response to such a loaded statement, she felt the presence that had so suddenly appeared behind her just as quickly disappear.

 

Letting out the breath she has been unconsciously holding in, Zalo looked adoringly at the Item in her hand that she previously accepted she would never have the fortune to see, much less hold in her very palm, before smashing a pedal on [Nolybab] to get to her workshop as quickly as magiteknically possible!

 

“I owe Wanderer BIG TIME for this!!!”, Zalo whooped happily, before suddenly feeling yet another sense of apprehension.

 

“I…hope that Wanderer doesn’t know that she has yet another Deity’s eyes on her…”, she prayed.

 

…

 

It seemed that there was something in the air that making people tempt fate, as whilst Gab was walking at her higher than average Movement Speed, a series of notifications came up that was so shocking that Gab continued walking as if on autopilot:

 

<Notice: Due to Zalo receiving an Item from the Primordial Times that has been the dream of every other person with her [First Class] to acquire as a result of you purposely dragging her into a situation involving multiple Deities, Zalo’s Favourability towards you has reached the maximum.>

 

<Zalo will now be completely willing to assist you with any matters regarding her fields of expertise, and the rewards you would receive as a result of completing the Sync Quests she gave you will be of a significantly greater rarity than what you would’ve originally gained.>

 

<Warning: In exchange for this Item, Zalo has traded your Quest marker to an inquisitive Deity, allowing them to know where you are located in real-time.>

 

<Whilst they are only intent on monitoring you as opposed to properly hunting you down, they will be making judgements on your character, so keep that in mind>

 

<Congratulations! You have acquired the Title, [Quarry of The Free]>

 

<The effect of the Title, [First Achiever], has been activated>

 

<+1 to all Free and Fixed Attributes>

 

…!!!

 

“Are you fucking kiddiAAARRRGGGHHH!!”, Gab started saying before she suddenly stubbed her toe on something hard on the dirt road, causing her to fall face-first onto the road, the NPCs wincing at the sight.

 

“Cough, cough, ptuh, ptuh! GAH, just my luck!!”, Gab seethed with dry dirt on her face, after coughing and spitting out the dirt (and who knows what else!) that had entered her mouth.

Needless to say, this was not the first thing she wanted to taste in this game!

 

Whilst still lying on the road, Gab turned her head around to find that she had tripped on a small rock out of the road.

 

As she was about to curse her luck over tripping on that of all things, her system notifications gave her something different to curse about:

 

<Congratulations! You have acquired the Title, [Unlikely Disaster]>

 

<The effect of the Title, [Unlikely Disaster], has been activated>

 

<+10 to both of your Defence Stats>

 

<The effect of the Title, [First Achiever], has been activated>

 

<+1 to all Free and Fixed Attributes>

 

<Congratulations! You have acquired the Title, [First Decade Achiever]>

 

<The effect of the Title, [First Achiever], has been activated>

 

<+1 to all Free and Fixed Attributes>

 

As if that wasn’t enough…:

 

<Australia-wide Announcement: At 00:57am AEDT, Player “Wanderer” has become the first Player to acquire 10 Titles. For this achievement that has never been done, nor can ever be done again, Player “Wanderer” will be awarded as follows:

-+5 to all of “Wanderer”’s Free Attributes 

-600 Gold 

-+5% in all current Resistances

-12 AP

-600 Acclaim>

 

<Oceania-wide Announcement: At 00:57am AEDT, Player “Wanderer” has become the first Player to acquire 10 Titles. For this achievement that has never been done, nor can ever be done again, Player “Wanderer” will be awarded as follows:

-+10 to all of “Wanderer”’s Free Attributes 

-900 Gold 

-+10% in all current Resistances 

-12 AP

-900 Acclaim>

 

<International-wide Announcement: At 00:57am AEDT, Player “Wanderer” has become the first Player to acquire 10 Titles. For this achievement that has never been done, nor can ever be done again, Player “Wanderer” will be awarded as follows:

-+15 to all of “Wanderer”’s Free Attributes 

-1200 Gold 

-+15% in all current Resistances 

-18 AP

-1200 Acclaim>

 

<All three effects of the Title, [World Shaker from the In-Between], has been activated>

 

<+1 to all Free Attributes, +1 to all Fixed Attributes and +10 to all Stats>

 

“…all in less than an hour’s work.”, Gab said weakly, before shutting her eyes tightly and began banging her forehead on the dirt road she was still lying prone on repeatedly, causing the onlooking NPCs to make a swift retreat!

 

…

 

On a side note, all of the NPCs from every Pocket Village that were observing the newest arrivals on their world had started shaking in fear.

 

Not at the latest Player Announcements, but rather at the effect it had on all the Players! Even the Lifestylers!!

 

One moment, they were bemoaning both the conditions of their Quests, all while cursing the one that caused this situation to occur in the first place.

 

The next moment, after hearing those frightening Player Announcements, the NPCs began to think that they might be hallucinating, as they could’ve sworn that almost every single one of the Players looked like they were manifesting some sort of demonic silhouette that was as red as the blood that was dribbling out of their mouths!

 

As if thinking the NPCs didn’t think that they were scary enough, they pulled out a large variety of medieval torture instruments, with no two being the same!

 

Well, with just one shared detail on each of them

A single, eight-letter name, written in blood!!!