Author's Note:

Big chapter here that I've been setting up for a while. There are lots of little rules and mechanics behind it, which took me some time to nail down, so I don't later break them. We're going to accelorate again soon in speed, diving forward and into the darkness. Be ready for some crazy choices and ideas.

Also:

It was pointed out that Adya would likely go for Command Center over Anchor, so I wrote this up quickly, as I never explained why her characterization wouldn't go for it. This was added to Chapter 41.

They spent a little time hypothesizing what might happen before deciding it came down to what was best for their roles. Adya wanted something that would help her as a Guardian, keeping him and the others, including Bella, protected. Cass tried to argue for Command Center, but she quickly dismantled the idea.

To her, the ability suited him because he naturally viewed the world through systems, routes, and layered information, while she saw movement and instincts. Where Cass saw strategy and tactics, she looked for the fastest and quickest way across a street or rooftop.

Cass, on the other hand, wanted something that he thought might morph into a key ability. Something that would improve his work. It was all supposition and question marks, but in the end, they made their decisions.

ReaderQuest:

Quest ID: JDM-0001-BN-EA

[Bane Hybrid Quest]

Assignment: Starve the Rage

Every person has something that sharpens the monster inside them.

Some feed it willingly.

You need to stop.

Your Task

Identify one thing that reliably worsens your anger, bitterness, or hostility.

Examples:
Doomscrolling
Arguments in comment sections
Specific media
Certain conversations
Needless escalation
Feeding old resentment

Once identified, remove it from your environment for three full days.

You are creating hostile conditions for your own problems.

Rules

You must choose a real trigger, not a symbolic one.
You cannot replace it with another version of the same thing.
You must complete the full duration.

Completion Condition

One source of emotional escalation identified and excluded for three consecutive days.

Timeframe: One Week

Reward: 50 XP

Monsters survive because they are fed regularly.

—
J D Mullenary Sr
The Original QuestWright

Chapter 44: More

The day was freeing and exactly what they both needed. Cass needed it because, lately, it had felt like the walls of Liberty were closing in on him. Bella needed it because she’d barely had a chance to stretch her legs since arriving. 

They spent the last hours racing the last of the sun’s light as they spoke about everything and anything while circling the city. Odd language aside, it was nice to have a full conversation with the strangely intelligent horse. Then, as they made their way back, Bella began to gossip as only a Shakespearean horse could.

Tis true. The Baker hath returned from the day smelling not of his work, but of something fruity and pleasing to the nose.

Cass’s quick mind made an intuitive leap, “Guessing you think Gary has a girlfriend, right? Does anyone else know?”

I cannot be certain.

“What about Orla? What’s she been up to?”

The wealth witch has many males who pass me at mine stall. I know not if it be for work or other, more pleasant experiences.

“Have you had other, more pleasant experiences?” Cass asked as they gently made their way back to the gate.

He felt her humor as she said, A lady never tells.

Cass shook his head with a smile as they went through a weapons check and made it back to the apartment. Adya was waiting for them, wearing a dress and a grin.

Bella’s voice was smooth as she said in his mind, I do believe I shall make myself scarce. Enjoy the evening and be kind to one another.

“Thanks, Bella.” He hopped off and stopped before tying her reins to the post. Holding them up to her eyes, he asked, “Do I even need to do this?”

Nay, but thou shouldst do so nonetheless, for it doth put others more at ease. 

“That probably doth be true.”

Adya came closer as they talked, her sharp eyes glancing back and forth between them. Putting a hand on her hip, she said, “Something’s changed, hasn’t it?”

“Yes and no,” Cass replied warmly, giving her a hug as he moved closer. “Bella and I just have a much stronger Bond now.”

Quite so.

The remainder of the night was spent in the Fifth on the edge of his only free day. They joked and talked about nothing, just enjoying their time together. Then, later on, Adya took him back to the apartment, and Cass didn’t leave until much, much later.

Back in the Annex in the same robes as yesterday, Cass pushed through his Quests, then headed up to his room. After dinner and refreshing Ana’s Exponential Quest, his servant and friend left, and Cass got down to business. It was time to take his quick mind out for a spin on Conditional Questing.

After several hours, he got nowhere.

Thumbing through a dictionary he’d absconded from Liora with, he found the word and read it over in a blink. 

“Still not very helpful.” Placing it back in his bag, Cass rubbed his eyes with the edge of his palms. “Why is this so hard for me to figure out? I figured with Alacrity, things would be easier, but it didn’t make me any smarter, just quicker.”

Needing a distraction, he pulled up the Trial he’d never activated. A dropdown set of options appeared.

[Way Function: Trials]

Specialized Survivor Quests

(System Trust I) Description:

A form of Quest that imposes conditions directly upon the Survivor. Unlike standard Steps along the Way, Trials do not assign objectives. Instead, they alter the Survivor's state, measuring performance under sustained deficits selected prior to activation.

(System Trust I) Note: All Trials may be canceled at any time, and only one Trial may be activated per day.

Options:

Attrition

Cognition

Endurance

Instability

Saturation

That System Trust is coming in more and more handy. If I didn’t have it, this screen would probably just show the options with nothing additionally helpful. 

Curious, Cass clicked on the first one.

The Trial of Attrition:

Length: Indeterminate

Muscles will gradually weaken over time, making each action more costly.

Reward: Scaled Experience and Tempered Tokens based on sustained exposure and intensity.

(System Trust I) Note: Physical damage escalates quickly.

This is scaling. The only other scaling Survivor unlocks I’ve had were Pain is in the Proof and the old Exponential. But that always made me push my body harder than I should.

Moving down the list, he clicked on another one.

The Trial of Endurance:

Length: Indeterminate

Nerves will become hyper-sensitive, with all pain responses amplified.

Reward: Scaled Experience and Tempered Tokens based on sustained exposure and intensity.

(System Trust I) Note: The Trial will continue beyond safe thresholds without cancellation.

“Nope. No, no, no. Not doing that.”

The Trial of Cognition:

Length: Indeterminate

Mental processing speed will be reduced far below normal.

Reward: Scaled Experience and Tempered Tokens based on sustained exposure and intensity.

(System Trust I) Note: Perception of time may degrade.

That doesn’t seem so bad. So my brain slows down, and I lose track of time…His mind made a connection he hadn’t fully considered. 

Wait a second. What if I really lose track of time? If my mind moves slower, and I sit in the Trial too long, days could pass like that. I could starve to death or die of dehydration. 

MY GOD, I COULD MISS WORK!

For a first Trial, that's probably not the best pick.

Why don’t I just do this?

Cass hadn’t activated any Survivor Quests for the day. From his time yesterday with Bella and Adya to the rush back to the Tower this morning, he simply hadn’t had a chance to work on anything. So, with every daily available at once, he had an idea.

He could stack a Stalwart Daily with the Trial itself. The choice itself was beautifully simple. If the Trial was based on time, he’d pick a daily with a quick time limit that could be completed no matter how many reps he performed. There’d never been a limit to imposing multiple Quests upon himself.

So why not go for broke?

And he knew just which Quest to start with.

[Stalwart Way Exponential Daily Quest]

Cassio Vale will complete as many push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups as possible within a one-minute timer.

Experience gain will increase or decrease based on breaking the QuestWright’s former record.

Cassio Vale
Liberty Guildtower
QuestWright

He hadn’t performed a classic Exponential in some time, having focused on standard Stalwarts and copied Tempers. Once that was selected, his fingers hovered over an option he’d only tried once before.

[Stalwart Supercharge]

Once per day, you can increase a Survivor Quest’s difficulty to twice its normal value.

Only once had Cass ever activated this Quest, and let’s just say, it had put him out of commission for a while. But, with his quicker thoughts, he was thinking ahead on this. Because he had an ace in the hole.

[Adaptive Strain Response]

Your body begins to adjust more efficiently to new physical challenges. The first time you perform a new type of physical activity in a day, you gain a temporary resistance to injury for the next ten minutes.

Idea in hand, he went over the plan in full.

So, I supercharge the Trial, since it’s technically a Quest, then pump out as many push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups as possible.

My history with the Exponential Quest says I need to do at least one of each to get the full benefits of the Quest. And, since Pain is in the Proof is based on effort, the Trial is based on attrition, and Adaptive Strain Response is working to protect my body, I should see a huge payout…

Right?

As his last thought showed, Cass felt a flicker of doubt. The only reason he was planning to supercharge the Trial was that the System had explicitly told him he could cancel it at any time. Without his increased System Trust title, he’d never have known that.

So, with a deep breath, he did two things. First, he activated Supercharge. Then, he mentally flipped over to the Tempered screen, cruised through the Way to Trials, and activated Attrition.

All at once, his body felt heavy. Like gravity had taken root in every part of his body, from his feet and calves, up to his hips, and beyond. Though he was sitting on the bed, there was an added effort to staying upright.

I thought this would hit slower at first.

Supercharged Trial of Attrition: Active

Weakening will occur at twice the standard speed and with twice the strength

First Threshold reached: 1x Attrition

“Oh, shit. Gotta move fast.”

Rather than gracefully land, Cass saved his energy by falling to the floor. With his speedy thoughts and hyper reflexes, his arms reached out and caught him, but it was a close thing. Pushing himself up, he started working on the Daily.

“One…” And that was as far as his speaking got. It turned out that there were muscles involved in speaking, as he learned when several portions of his face, neck, jaw, and throat began to feel tight.

Each movement latched onto him as his actions further pushed him to the next threshold. But as he completed the push-up, some of the pressure he felt was relieved as his passive ability kicked in. Adaptive Strain Response had arrived to protect him.

The second one came easier, then the third and fourth passed by as he caught his breath. On the rise of the fifth and with the timer already at twenty seconds, the strength in his arms began to give out as a new message came in.

Second Threshold reached: 3x Attrition

Cass collapsed onto his face. He could feel the Trial working through his body over and over as his passive didn’t recognize what he was doing as a new physical activity. With leadened limbs, he did his best to roll over, which he completed just as the timer for the push-ups ended.

Getting his knees into position was difficult, even more so as the muscles in his thighs refused to help. Taking a tight breath through his teeth, Cass pushed himself up and toward his knees on his way to the first sit-up. He nailed it, with the subsequent update to Adaptive Strain Response helping him hold the position to breathe for a moment as it stacked with the first activation from his push-ups. 

As he lay back down for the second, a notification hit.

Third Threshold reached: 5x Attrition

It felt like his muscles weren’t on fire, but rather were melting into gelatinous puddles contained only by the elasticity of his skin. Rather than go all out, Cass pumped an extra sit-up while trying not to scream, then gave up on the exercise entirely as he leaned forward with all his weight until gravity forced his knees down.

I need to get to the pull-ups. Come on, Cass! It’ll be worth it! Just do one!

There was a beam in his room he’d used in the past, but it was ten feet away. Like a zombie, Cass got up and dragged himself toward it, moaning ingloriously as a weak, shaky arm reached forward. As he moved, the attrition continued to wear on his muscles as his legs and momentum took on a mind of their own.

The result was that he launched himself into the wall just past the beam, missing it by a finger's length. Bouncing back, Cass swung around just as another notification came in.

Fourth Threshold reached: 7x Attrition

Cass collapsed to the ground as his muscles couldn’t do anything to hold him up anymore. More than that, he felt the familiar burn of regeneration kicking in. That sold him on giving up more than anything. Between that and his complete inability to lift his own weight upon the beam, the decision was made for him.

Closing his eyes and with a quick mental flick, he canceled the Trial before completing the last set.

Trial Concluded:

Highest attrition level reached: 5x

Total Time: 2 Minutes 14 Seconds

Reward: 30xp and 10 Tempered Tokens

Experience is held in reserve until the second gate has been passed.

“Guh,” Cass ground out, coughing a few times as he collapsed into a fetal position. Regeneration was firing on all cylinders as the damage his muscles had taken was quickly being repaired. While he lay there, Cass reviewed what had happened.

I wasn’t prepared enough. I should’ve been near the beam in the first place and done it first. It was stupid of me to start with push-ups when that’s the one that’s easiest to get into position for.

Lazy. He amended, then stitched the adjectives together. Lazy and stupid.

Eyes still closed as the fire of regeneration began to slow, he did some quick napkin math in record time.

Attrition has to move on to the next level before the System will count it towards my total. The standard Tempered Daily gives me six tokens, so for two minutes of strenuous work, I got almost double that. 

Attrition hit 5x, and I only lasted 2 minutes to get 10 Tokens. That means they work off of one another. If I had lasted to attrition 7 and for 3 minutes, I could reasonably assume that I’d have gotten 21.

That’s more than double what I earned here, and all for only three minutes of work. That means I can either unlock more Steps on the Tempered Way, or go all out and get to the next Way altogether.

All his thinking had bounced around in his mind across the span of only a few minutes. By that time, regeneration had already kicked off. Testing things, Cass stood up, no worse for wear and just a little sweaty.

I definitely could’ve lasted longer. 7x is not my limit; I was just scared. Lazy, stupid, and scared. 

It’s too bad about not completing the Stalwart Quest. Means I won’t get the bonus from Pain is in the Proof. But, as a first-time attempt, it wasn’t too bad. There’s always tomorrow.

And with that thought in mind, Cass tucked himself into his oversized bed and quickly fell asleep. He woke up to a familiar message.

[System Alert]

Your quests have reset for the day.

Current available quests: 191/191

Advance your reputation or gain new titles to increase your daily allotment.

“Right.”

Dropping into a push-up position, Cass pulled a few out to test his muscles from the previous evening's attempt. He felt right as rain. In fact, he felt a little better than he had the last time he’d completed a Stalwart set.

Shaking his head at the strangeness of it, Cass walked directly over to the beam. He eyed it with resolve, then looked at his hands. The most efficient process came to his mind with alacrity, and he knew what he was going to do.

Bunching his hands into fists, he repeated the actions of the previous evening.

Supercharged Trial of Attrition: Active

Weakening will occur at twice the standard speed and with twice the strength

First Threshold reached: 1x Attrition

Now that he knew what he was getting into, Cass attacked the beam with ferocity. The first pull-up turned on his passive, and after that, he did three more before the second threshold passed.

Dropping down, Cass immediately moved to the sit-up position and cranked out a single form, took a breath with the relief his passive brought him, and hit one more just as the third threshold touched down. 

Now at 5x, he rolled over, landing reflexively on his forearms and kicking out his legs. One pump spelled success and turned on Adaptive Strain Response, but that wasn’t enough for him. With gelatinous muscles, Cass forced out another just as the fourth threshold arrived, pushing him to the ground.

He rolled over, breath spasming, body on fire, and waited. And waited some more. Without active effort, the threshold upgrades were coming in much more slowly.

Fifth Threshold reached: 9x Attrition

Cass felt like he was melting into the floor, but he knew his body. He could tell that regeneration still hadn’t hit its limit. So he would suffer for success.

Sixth Threshold reached: 11x Attrition

More.

That thought stayed in his mind as the limits of his muscles began to reach their height.

More.

Seventh Threshold reached: 13x Attrition

No more.

Now, he could tell that something was wrong. It felt like his muscles were unraveling simply by existing. There was no way regeneration could keep up with that, so Cass mentally dove into his screen and quickly canceled the Trial.

Trial Concluded:

Highest attrition level reached: 11x

Total Time: 4 Minutes 3 Seconds

Reward: 66xp and 44 Tempered Tokens

Experience is held in reserve until the second gate has been passed.

Cass’s throat wouldn’t work, so he thought to himself loudly, Success!

Unable to move, he stayed put and allowed regeneration to repair all of the damage he’d brought upon it. It took a very long time, so he entertained himself by staring at the ceiling, mentally shuffling Outlines hither and thither while he studied the city.

Two hours later, just as he heard Ana enter his home, Cass felt regeneration begin to cool down. So he stood up and dragged himself to the shower. 

His reflection in the mirror showed a much thinner, almost scrawny version of himself.

I might’ve pushed things a little too far.