Chapter 23: Inner World IV - Quest Rewards

Akashi floated behind Annabelle as she strode down the remaining section of the temple. She stopped at the edge and willed herself to fly.

Slowly, she lifted off the ground. “It’s the next one over, right?”

Akashi blinked in front of her, new text appearing on her. [Yes, Master.]

Annabelle sighed. “I told you to stop calling me that.”

[Request denied.]

Shortly after Annabelle named—or renamed, since her name was technically the Akashic System—Akashi, Akashi seemed to have become much less obedient. As far as Annabelle could tell, it was because given names had significance according to how the system worked. 

She hadn’t known because while she was technically the creator, the situation was more like she was given a complex equation with all the variables labeled and asked to solve a problem. She could do all the operations, but that didn’t mean she understood what the equation was for and how it was derived.

The equation was the system, and right now she had just used one of the variables without knowing what it did.

To the Akashic System, a personal name meant a personality, and after Annabelle named her, Akashi constructed one for herself: a mostly obedient child when it came to important things, but one with a huge rebellious and mischievous streak.

The latest headache Akashi cooked up for Annabelle was that she no longer called Annabelle ‘Anna’ or ‘Anne’ like she told her to, but instead defaulted to ‘Master’ for some strange reason. Nothing Annabelle told her would make her change her mind.

[Master. Please say ‘Quest.’] Akashi suddenly displayed.

Although Annabelle didn’t know why, she complied. “Quest.”

Immediately, Akashi changed to a miniature version of the huge screen she had become in the Quest Hall. Annabelle saw that she had a new notification in the Pending section.

“Another one? What did I complete this time?” she asked. At first she thought that this rhetorical question would not be answered since Akashi was busy displaying the Quest screen, but she quickly learned that she had underestimated her system.

A second screen popped up nearby. [For the answer, please check the Pending list.]

“Thanks, Akashi,” Annabelle grumbled. She really had to get used to not talking to herself. She asked herself way too many rhetorical questions while thinking, and if she did it around Akashi, she might go insane.

The only saving grace was the tacit agreement she had with Akashi that Akashi wouldn’t answer the rhetorical questions that remained in her mind as part of her thinking process. But if she ever let one slip out loud, it was fair game.

Annabelle tapped the new quest that she had apparently completed and turned it in. The quest disappeared from the Pending list and appeared in the Completed list, joining the ‘Welcome’ quest.

[Name Your System!]

• An advanced artificial intelligence is more than just a few lines of code. They have the potential to become something akin to a living thing. Living things should have names. Naming an Akashic System AI will boost their capabilities and make them more pleasant to be around!
• Difficulty:    F
• Goal:        Name the Akashic System AI
• Reward:     Akashi’s Loving Present
• Status:        Turned In

While Akashi definitely seemed smarter and less like a soulless out-of-the-box AI, having gained a personality, Annabelle didn’t wasn’t sure if pleasant was the right word to describe her.

She certainly was more... lively. But she was also cuter, especially if she had just generated that quest for her. Although Annabelle didn’t know if the quest had been created by Akashi on the spot, or if it already coded into the system as an event. 

Judging from the time between her naming of Akashi and Akashi’s notification, probably the former.

“By the way, if you could open the Quest interface here, why did we have to go all the way to the Quest Hall?” Annabelle asked.

Even with the personality of a child, Akashi was more of the kind of quiet child that looked obedient at first, but turned out to be a devil, such as when it came to answering rhetorical questions. Her answer was short, perhaps overly brief. 

[Tradition.]

Luckily, Annabelle knew enough to piece together the clues and come to a conclusion. 

The basic System AI was to walk the new user through all the basic functions of the System, visiting each of the rooms in person so that the functions made a bigger impression. 

After completing the tutorial, so to speak, of each room, the System would then introduce the portable version.

Akashi didn’t get to do it since the island was cracked apart and she insisted on leaving before she turned in all her quests. While Annabelle could do that now, she decided to wait a bit longer to keep her promise to the System.

 

The floating islands were much bigger up close than they had seemed from far away, mostly because she had misjudged how big everything was. The temple that had seemed small from far away had been massive. The forest that she originally assumed to be young trees were all filled with tall giants that all seemed centuries old.

After flying over a chunk of island in her way, she finally reached the section of the broken off temple with the Warehouse. Instead of a grand entrance, however, a whole section of the temple complex was bared to the outside world because of the gaping hole.

According to Akashi, the temple and the island as a whole would repair itself seamlessly, without even a speck of dust out of place, but Annabelle found that hard to believe. But Akashi was doubtlessly the more knowledgeable of the two of them, so it’s not like Annabelle could refute her either.

The entrance to the Inventory Hall, or Warehouse, was much like that of the Quest Hall—heavy stone doors. But instead of a quill and parchment engraving, the Warehouse was symbolized by a chest.

When Annabelle pushed open the doors, which according to Akashi was really heavily trapped, she beheld a grand space that she would never have guessed existed in the temple. It must have been created by hollowing out part of the mountain that the temple complex was constructed against.

The only problem was that it was empty. Completely devoid of objects except for two chests, a golden one and a bronze one.

[Welcome to the Warehouse. It has many hidden features for Master to discover.]

Unlike before, Akashi didn’t punctuate her sentences with exclamation marks anymore, but her panels betrayed her excitement.

Annabelle approached the two boxes and knelt down next to them. “So these are the quest rewards? Why are they different colors?” she asked. 

[Different colors correspond to different qualities and rarities. Please concentrate on the boxes to bring up their statuses.] came Akashi’s reply as she flew down near the ground, still bouncing around. She stopped just long enough for Annabelle to read.

Annabelle looked at the bronze one first, wanting to save the best for last.

[Akashi’s Loving Present]    [Bronze]

• A present prepared for Master by Akashi.

Akashi’s display box suddenly dropped to the ground, lifeless.

[Akashi could only provide Bronze-grade quest rewards for Master.] she displayed sadly.

“I don’t mind. It’s a present. Value matters a lot less than the sentiment attached to it,” Annabelle said. Would she still be human if she was disappointed by a present from Akashi? Even if she found a plain rock inside, she’d still be happy.

She focused on the box again and mentally commanded it to open. With a clank, the lock broke apart and fell to the ground before disappearing in a cloud of amber sparkles. The chest itself soon followed, before merging back together in a glittery mass of bronze.

Annabelle watched with anticipation and bated breath as the mass began to solidify, before it finally turned into a large, snow-white teddy bear. It looked slightly lopsided, but it just added to its charm. 

[Akashi’s Teddy Bear]

• Name:    None
• Rarity:    Bronze    (Uncommon)
• Level:    1
• Skills:
  • Auto-cleaning
  • Enhanced Durability

She picked it up gently. It was really soft to the touch. Her fingers sank into the fur easily.

“Did you pick it out for me?” Annabelle whispered, hugging the bear to her cheeks. “I love it! Thank you, Akashi.”

The panel quivered. [Akashi knew from Master’s memories that she likes teddy bears. Akashi made the teddy bear herself instead of picking from an existing reward.]

Annabelle’s eyes widened. Suddenly, all the imperfections on the teddy bear made sense. It only made Annabelle treasure her present all the more. The teddy bear was unique, made personally for her by Akashi. “I don’t want to ever let go... Yes.”

She knelt on the floor, hugging the teddy bear. She didn’t think she’d ever touched anything so soft before.

[Master, you must open the other rewards and then turn in the last pending quest.] Akashi reminded her.

“Oh, right...” Annabelle reluctantly separated from the bear and placed it carefully on the ground. Thankfully, the ground wasn’t dirty.

Akashi bounced around her. [Master, as a bronze-ranked item, the teddy bear is very durable and capable of cleaning itself. There is no need to be so delicate with it.]

“I know, but it’s only polite to treat gifts with care,” Annabelle retorted. 

[Akashi understands. But if Master doesn’t wish to put Akashi’s gift on the floor, she can formally store it within the Warehouse.]

“Store?” With a flash of light, the teddy bear was gone. “Huh? Wait, where is it?”

Annabelle looked around her, but the teddy bear was nowhere to be seen. Only when she cast her searching net wider did she spot a box where there wasn’t one before sitting along the walls. 

She ran over and when she saw the tag on the box, she sighed in relief. “Geez, warn me before you do that. I thought I messed up and lost your present.”

Still nervous from the scare, she moved on the golden chest after willing it to appear in front of her. Although it was higher ranked, the reward was still System-ordained. How can it compare in value to her new teddy bear?

When she unlocked the chest, it opened with a lot more fanfare than the bronze chest did, practically exploding in rays of golden light, leaving only a brightly shining golden core.

The core morphed into three items: crystal case filled with five ornate bottles of differently colored liquids, a separate crystal bottle that seemed even fancier than one in the case, and finally a small electronic device of some kind.

As she expected, the items were fairly standard and boring, even if they were essentially treasures according to the System. She inspected each of them in turn.

[Case of Random Temporary Boosters]

• Rarity: Bronze    (Uncommon)
• Owner: None
• Description: A case of five random temporary attribute boosters of random values.
• Contains:
  • Vial of Temporary Mental Boosters
  • Vial of Temporary Strength Boosters
  • Vial of Temporary Vitality Boosters
  • Vial of Temporary Agility Boosters
  • Vial of Temporary n@^&# Boosters

By now, even an idiot could tell that the System likely had some way of transferring items from this Akashic World to the real world, otherwise this would be near useless. She just had to figure out how. Akashi could probably tell her.

She had no idea how powerful each booster was, but depending on the situation, the boosters could offer a potentially potent trump card. The only thing she was apprehensive about was the boost for the garbled text. For some reason, she had no idea what it could be for. 

The next one was the fancier crystal bottle, but since it looked so similar to the contents of the case, she could guess what it was at a glance: some kind of better attribute booster. Despite this, she wasn't prepared for the shock from bringing up the item's status.

Annabelle’s heart nearly stopped when she saw the item’s properties.