Chapter 40: A Month in a Blink (I) (Patreon)

Leaving was a much more pleasant experience for Cass than for everyone else. The environment grew more hostile the longer they remained in the dungeon. It forced many to keep a miserable eye on their own feet while relying on Cass’s view of Command Center to keep them safe from monsters. He shuffled just as slowly as the rest, his double-use of Hybrid Quests having cleanly drained him of any extra energy he might’ve had with Constitution backing him up.

Recognizing that they were leaving, the Guardian did try to send a few Monsters to harry them on their way, but red dots continued to appear, then stop and fade. Cass didn’t understand why until they skirted a set of reflective items on the ground. A Slipfang mew’ld as a thick-balled spike had been driven through its leg. 

Damien showed no mercy, winding back an object and throwing it at the monster. A pop and a quickly cut-off screech sounded in the darkness as they moved past it.

“Good work, Damien,” Shirley commented, tiredly patting him on the back. He gave her a weak grin in response before looking back at his feet.

The group broke into the cavern, and relieved sighs passed from one person to another as they exited the dungeon. Immediately, Cass felt a heavy burden fall off of him. It wasn’t just the air. The System had said that weight was increased within the dungeon, and he hadn’t noticed how just the heft of his bag had started to dig into his shoulder.

Alan gave a quick speech with some pointers for everyone to work on, Damien collected his unused razor wire, then they broke up for the day with a promise to return in a week’s time. Cass made it back to his room in the tower, ate a leftover dinner from the cold metal box of his apartment, and fell dead asleep.

The next day, he looked at his notifications for the first time since his night out with Adya. A small smattering of partial kill updates rested there, as well as bonus experience for being in a dungeon, but nothing about the points he’d earned. Then, there was a surprise waiting for him beyond what he expected.

[SYSTEM NOTICE]

Your achievements have been condensed:

Bonus experience granted for:

Activating your first Airscript Quill Quest; Activating a non-standard Quest using the Airscript Quill; Using advanced Quest formatting with the Airscript Quill:

140xp

Junior QuestWright Achievement progress:

3/16

So the Junior QuestWright achievements have come. If it’s 140 experience for three, that’s more than I first got from the Initiate’s Achievement series. Means it should end at quite a high level of experience.

Cass shifted in his bed as he considered the text again. This series seems tailored specifically for use with the Quill. Is that because it’s part of my gate being unlocked, or is it special recognition from the System?

Cass got up and performed his dailies, then settled into the usual rhythm at his Annex as it ruminated in his mind. A few days passed by this way while he recovered, then Mirelle dropped by his desk. It was a Wednesday.

“You have a few letters from Liora here, Vale.” She dropped three off on his desk. “Make sure it doesn’t affect your work.”

“Letters? From who?”

“The better question is, who cares?” She turned and walked away, grumbling to herself about young people.

Ren and Maggie barely spared him a glance. Noah’s words to the auditor had stuck, and they’d been much more closed off compared to when they’d first started to share an office. Cass didn’t mind, as that meant he had more time to work on learning Liberty and practicing his new way of forming Quests without intrusions. But the letters on his desk were about to throw his newfound efficiency out of the window.

The first he picked up was from his parents. They’d learned from Hollis that he was alive and living in Liberty. With the aftermath of Liora’s destruction, they were greatly grieved that they couldn’t come and see him, and expressed as much in every second or third line.

At first, terrified of his disappearance, they’d spent every waking moment trying to find him until the injured Hollis had informed them of the truth. Then, they wrote a condemning description of the Central Guild and what they would do should they ever meet the Sovereign. There was even more attached to it, but eventually, and on the second page, they began to speak of what was happening in the city while he’d been away.

Branden had gotten a promotion, which was nice. They’d checked in on Kara, too, who had apparently done quite a bit of monster killing during Liora’s defense. The QuestWright from the Capital had been doing a good enough job, but nobody liked them. Apparently, the man was an elitist and wasn’t teaching Liora’s newest QuestWright, Amelia, very well. Then there was some sadness at Gary’s mother's disappearance, and it ended with his dad sharing a new recipe he’d come up with that used small amounts of food to achieve higher caloric intake, whatever that meant.

They ended by saying they were doing well under the circumstances and that he should write back to them under a pseudonym.

Cass set it aside as he picked up the next one from Janine. She was doing well. The Capital had been informed about more than a few people who’d lost limbs and sent a healer down. Now, she was being forced to eat lots of meat and hang out in a hospital all day. She wished him well and let him know that if he ever needed her or the Fabulous Five, they’d be there. She, too, was angry at the Central Guild, but also followed Hollis’s advice and would keep it to herself.

As for Cass’s old guildmaster, he left Hollis’s letter on the desk and stared at it for a while. In a decision of pure selfishness, something unusual for those who knew him, Cass opened up the desk and put the letter within. Quirrel arrived with a stack of Quests and Cass focused on his job. Anytime he got ahead, he started to pen letters back to Janine and his parents, but his former Guildmaster’s letter stayed in the drawer for now. He wasn’t ready to read it yet.

Adya came by that evening, and they returned to their nightly activities, though only with a small amount of romance out of deference to Bella, whom they started bringing along with them. The next day, Mirelle showed up with two older men beside her, the marks on their robes matching her own. She looked the group over.

“You all know Senior QuestWright’s Randolph and Juniper. I’m aware you had no knowledge of why they’ve been gone for so long, so I’ll just tell you that their secret operation is completed. The Guildmasters have seen fit to open a new satellite location to the north. It is, for now, a small village named Forge Hill, as it’s located near a hefty Iron deposit. Now that the village is stable, they’ve returned to assist me in managing the Scriptorium as well as their other Guildly duties.”

She looked across the room before landing on a few people with intent, “More than that, in the Guildtower’s wisdom, they’ve decided that Liberty has enough of a population to expand even further. We’ll be sending long-term expeditions out into the wilds with some high-level Privates, a singular General, and support staff, including a QuestWright for each group. Colin Schwartz, Tabby Rosinda, please stand.”

Colin, the only friendly QuestWright Cass had spoken to, stood up with some gravity, while QuestWright Rosinda leaped up with an excited look. Mirelle scanned them head to toe, then nodded.

“Both of you will be leaving tomorrow to help manage the civic and combat duties of the east and west expeditions. Gather your things and prepare for the experience of a lifetime. As for the rest of you,” She looked across the group, “If you show their kind of efficiency, you too can be selected for this exciting adventure. That’ll be all, dismissed.”

Cass walked over and congratulated Colin with everyone else. While he shook hands and took congratulatory pats on the back, he also had a dark look to his eyes that didn’t escape Cass’s notice as he left the room.

The next two days were more of the same until another odd meeting occurred. This time, it was Senior QuestWright Randolph speaking. He was a thin, almost stick-like figure whose robe hung off of him as if it were propped up on wire frames. Cass disliked him almost immediately.

“There’s been talk of some Fifth’ers receiving Quests from odd sources,” He said with a toothy inflection. “So far, we have not been able to locate the manner in which these Quests are arriving or who is sending them, but be assured, we’ll find out.”

With a swish of his robe, he turned and left the room as Mirelle started their daily meeting. Everything else seemed normal, though, as he was picked up for the evening, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. That night, with Adya and Bella just outside of their apartment, Cass explained the problem to both of them.

“I can’t come out with you for a little while. I think the Guildtower knows someone is putting Quests out here without using Vellums, and they’re going to notice how often I’m leaving. I need to throw them off my scent, and I think I have a solution for that, but it means we have to put a pause on our evenings off.”

Neither of them liked hearing that they’d see less of each other, but Adya raised a good point: “What about the Dungeon?”

“It’s in a few days, so it should be fine if I come out for our Dungeon pushes. Once a week is reasonable, but more than that will bring suspicion my way.” He took Adya’s hand and smiled. “How about we have dinner. Then, I’ll throw a few very delayed Quests out there right after, and we rush back to the Guildtower to keep them guessing. Does that work for you girls?”

They agreed and went looking for a restaurant that allowed horses in its proximity. Adya slipped out to scout and came back with several names of those who needed help and those who would be good helpers. 

A young woman who looked to have only recently started was stressing out about her crocheting business, and a man with a missing leg had to hop down stairs to move about his home. Cass made a “Trip to the gentleman’s room”. Then, within a closed-off bathroom, built delayed Quests for a few people in the area that Adya picked out and set the activation timer to three and four hours, separately. Doing so drained him a lot more than he expected, and by the time he hit the bed, he was out for the night.

Two more days passed quickly, and then they were back in the dungeon with Alan and Teams Deadweight and Razorwire. Crossing the threshold brought back the dungeon screen, with something new at the bottom.

Total Points earned: 271

When he questioned Alan about it, Cass got a tired response to push at the System until it explained the point totals.

Slipfangs(23): 23 points

Veilrunners(54): 162 points

Greybeards(12): 36 points

Alpha Greybeard(1): 50 points

Cass already had the map out as he asked, “Is that a lot for a single run?”

“It’s not bad,” Shirley answered. “If you all were a bit more dangerous, we probably could’ve gone much higher. As it is, we’re splitting the points between us. A single high-tier team could pull 500 a day if they really pushed themselves.”

So, 500 is not a huge amount of points for cleansing a corrupted item, but it’s not nothing. Good to know.

“Then again,” Shirley continued, “With how long I’ve been running this dungeon, I’ve probably spent tens of thousands of points for rewards. Farming dungeons for experience is a pretty quick way to level.”

“How do you spend your points?” Orla immediately asked, almost interrupting the older woman.

Jason commented this time, “You just tell the System you’re ready to spend your points when near the Dungeon. Though it’s better to do that after more than a few runs, so you don’t make a mistake. You can only see the rewards you qualify for, so you’ll never know if you could’ve gotten something better later on. I haven’t spent mine in months.”

“Focus!” Alan sharply reprimanded them, causing the group to grow silent.

Since they’d mostly gone to the right last time, Cass had them move left so more of his map would be filled out. The great part about this being his second run in the actual dungeon was that all the places they’d already visited now clearly showed the monster’s movement. In the far distance, he tracked a large group of tiny red dots swarming right to left. 

Cass called out the attack before it arrived, which was several minutes early. Doing so allowed not only Damien to fully prepare the area, but also for the group to move into a clean formation with pre-designed responsibilities. When the Slipfangs finally approached in numbers, it only took several minutes before they died by the dozens.

Cass continued to push the group to the left until they found an actual end to the dungeon, and for the first time, the Guardian didn’t force any conflicts. After over an hour in the place, they returned to the entrance with not a single monster in pursuit.

“Good run, everyone,” Alan said, throwing a wave as he walked away from the group. “Same thing next week.”

Cass held himself from assigning any goodwill Quests as Bella and Adya took him back to the Guildtower. Cass and Adya had broken even in experience for the first time in a while, both resting firmly at the bottom of seventeen. That meant he kept what he earned, and it added up to a heady sum.

Adya had Pellin ask for a meetup four days later, and he understood why. The next Mark upgrade was ready. Sitting at Orlas, a new restaurant that had recently been upgraded and was quite popular, they upgraded Touchpoint. 

Each Mark further enhanced the senses that came with Path of the Index. With Touchpoint, both of them became more cognizant of vibrations, a small but pivotal enhancement when one was walking through a dungeon with hidden monsters. 

Over the past three upgrades in Path of the Index, the focus had been on gathering profiles, but now a new option appeared. The requirement was to use their three upgrades, The Watchful Eye, Attuned Listening, and the newly unlocked Touchpoint, to fill out additional information in Profile.

The first test run they performed was using Attuned Listening on Orla, seated at a desk in the middle of the restaurant. While Adya’s emotions never changed, Cass’s face ran through a range of expressions as she explained why the other participant needed to sell their location across the street. Instantly, a new line was added to Orla’s Profile as the next Mark upgrade ticked up a single point.

Hidden details gathered through Attuned Listening: Orla Marrowind is adept at using economic tyranny to force capitulation.

Adya and Cass both looked at each other. He spoke first, “We need to get her out of this city before she gets any worse.”

The Scout shrugged, “It’s who she is. Honestly, at this rate, she’s going to take over all of the 5th ring. She already owns this place, the two locations to the right, and another four down the way. Liberty is almost built for someone like her. It’s not like she killed anyone.”

“Emotionally, there was a murder. Heaven save us from her.”

Adya grinned, “It won’t.”