Zeke woke up early in the morning to meditate before breakfast.
'System, you mentioned giving me a quest today, right? Something about training my body?'
*Yes, Zeke.*
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Daily Quest "Strengthening"
Run/Jog and Meditate
Hint:
-1km run/jog and 1 hr meditation
Progress:
Distance: 0%
Duration: 0%
Difficulty: D
Reward:
10xp
+10 Endurance
+10 Int
+10 random stats
Quest Failure Penalty:
-10 random stats
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10xp!
'System, why does this have an equal xp reward with the other quests I've done previously? Isn't this unfair?'
*No, Zeke. The quests you completed previously are all progressive quests and xp isn't the main reward for those kinds of quests. Their rewards lean more towards tangible things or upgrade to my system.*
'I see. Do I have to do this every day?'
*Yes, to avoid suffering the Penalty. It will also scale based on your current form. If you reach a certain condition, the difficulty will increase. Of course, the rewards will too.*
'Yes! At the very least I know now. Is this for the rest of my life?'
*Yes, Zeke, but the penalty will be removed after you reach a certain age. It will become an optional daily quest later on so you won't feel burdened by it.*
'That's great!'
Charles stood up and walked outside. He saw his father practicing some sort of fist technique with his eyes closed. Zeke didn't want to bother him so he sat down in front and absorbed mana.
"Hmm? Son? Why are you up so early? Also, why are you meditating at this time of day?"
"Dad! I was waiting for you to finish. Could you join me in running?"
"Ooh? You mean you want to have a bit of an exercise?"
Charles seemed very surprised about his son's request.
"Yes! Although I still haven't trained anything yet, I want my body to be strong!"
Zeke made his statements as childish as possible.
"I see. I like your determination, son. What will we do?"
"Let's jog all around the palace, Dad!"
"Alright. Remember to take it slow, son. If you get tired, rest for a bit and I'll wait. Remember what I said, do not overestimate yourself."
"Yes, Dad!"
The Father-Son duo then started slowly jogging. Since Zeke is too small, their rate of jogging is a bit slow. Charles kept the same pace as Zeke while he waited for Zeke to recover after a few seconds.
After a few minutes, the pair came back to where they started. The panting Zeke checked his quest progress and found out that one lap they did equates to nearly 50% of the progress. It seemed many but for Zeke's current form, it was hell.
Zeke's heavy breathing made Charles laugh inwardly. His son was suddenly so eager to jog and now he was like this. Charles thought Zeke overestimated his stamina.
"Let's rest for a bit, son."
"No, Dad! I can still go!"
"Are you sure? you're sweating like a pig right now." Charles smiled and teased.
"Really? then it means it's working. Cmon, Dad!"
"Haha, If you say so, son."
Zeke continued to challenge his stamina while also being careful not to overexert too much.
It was because he found out it increased his Endurance by one after challenging his limits.
After another lap, Zeke's progress is at 96%. He just needed 4% right now to finish that portion, but Zeke thought he couldn't run or even walk anymore. He leaned on the wall and tried to stabilize his breathing. His legs were shaking and his whole body was sweating a lot. Zeke seemed like he just took a shower and went out without drying himself.
After a few minutes, Zeke jogged a bit and finished the running portion of the quest. He joined his father in finishing that lap before they went inside to eat breakfast.
After they ate breakfast, Zeke went inside his room. Before entering, he looked at his father and asked.
"Dad, did you find the book?"
"No, it seems like it's not in our current study, son. Don't worry, I already tasked Esteban to go back and get it from our other house."
"We have another house?"
"Yes, but don't dwell too much on it, son. You'll know when the time comes." Charles smiled.
'But I already partially know, Dad.'
Zeke knew his father and his friends' positions within the society is high, hence the people calling them in an honorable manner. However, he was confused about one thing. Why are the four families called Royal Families? Isn't there only one royal family leading in a place?
He didn't bother much about it as he's going to know it later anyways. He went inside the room and meditated for an hour.
After meditating, an interface appeared.
———————————
Daily Quest "Strengthening" Complete!
Reward:
10xp
+10 Endurance
+10 Int
+10 random stats
————————————
'System, what about the random stats? where will it go?'
*Those 10 random stats are as it says. It will randomly be distributed to your stats.*
Zeke still didn't understand, so he checked his profile again.
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Ezekiel Flamehaven
Male; 2 years old
Pure Blooded Half-Dragon
Titles: Otherworlder; Unrestrained; Pandora's Champion; Perfect Mana Core User; Undying;
Str: 15
Agi: 15
End: 23
Int: 80
CP: 13
Skills: Aura; Mana Skin;
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'Oh, it's literally random'
*Yes, Zeke. The +10 will be distributed randomly. There is also a chance of all 10 adding on the same stat.*
Zeke looked at his profile and forgot about his Aura Skill.
'System, what type of skill is Aura?'
*Aura shrouds you off with an intangible will that conveys what you want to convey. For example, you could activate aura and unleash a bloodthirsty aura, while you can also emit a peaceful aura. It's basically anything you want it to emit.*
'Is it really useful' Zeke doubted.
*Yes, Zeke. This skill could affect enemies as well as allies. There is also a chance for the enemies to be affected by it as long as they're far weaker than you. For example, unleashing a killing aura could make people severely weaker than you lose their will to fight and feel despair. If you also emit a peaceful aura, you could influence individuals near you, calming their heart too.*
'I see! It really is a good skill. What do you think? Should I activate it always?'
*Yes, Zeke. Activating skills frequently can level them up, strengthening their effect. Right now, Aura is only level 1, hence its effect is minimal. At most, it could only make people feel a faint aura around you. When it becomes stronger in the future, you don't even need to fight to make weaker people surrender to you.*
'That's broken!'
*Yes and No, Zeke. Aura only works on weaker people, and when you face ones stronger than you, Aura won't mean anything. Sure, they might feel intimidated by you but that's only for enemies that have weak mental power. Strong enemies with strong mental power will only see your aura as something puny.*
'Yes, I know that, but still, making enemies feel threatened enough to surrender? That's quite too much, isn't it?'
*Yes, indeed. If you don't want that to happen, feel free not to level up your Aura.* The voice was monotonous, but it contained slight ridicule.
'Hey hey, I won't reject free goods!'
Zeke activated Aura and set it to passive. Aura didn't cost mana and it could also be turned on indefinitely, making it more of an activatable passive skill.
Soon enough, Zeke seems to have underwent a change. Although he looks the same on the outside, when people get close to him, they could feel a faint aura from him.
Zeke then heard a knock in his door.
"Coming!"
Zeke opened the door and saw his father go in holding a book.
"Son, this was the book where I read about that fraudulent core. I need to remind you that you already have a mana core, so you don't need to fantasize about this anymore. I only gave this to sate your curiosity, and I don't want you to obsess over it. Am I clear?"
"You sound like a grandpa, Dad! I know it already!"
Zeke's words pierced through Charles. He placed the book in Zeke's table and walked back dejectedly. Zeke could hear his father mutter some words.
"... Am I really that old? *Sigh*" But before he went out, he took a second glance on Zeke.
"Hmm, why do I feel like my son changed?" He could only swallow this question as when he looked back at Zeke, it didn't seem like any change happened.