"It's time to move!" a man's voice was heard in a silent and darkroom.
In that room was a table and ten chairs, of which only 5 were occupied by three men and two women.
"He has awakened, they will look for him," a sweet voice said calmly.
"He is one of us, he will understand this sooner or later," a rude voice sounded, a smirk appeared in the surrounding darkness.
"I want to meet him!" an acute voice said childly and impatiently.
"NO! We need to wait," an aged man's voice declared harshly to everyone present, "Furthermore, he is watching us right now..." a malicious smile appeared on his wrinkled face.
**********************
Sora woke up sweating cold. That smile gave chills all over his body. Suddenly, a message popped up in front of him:
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[Daily Quest]
- Run 2 km. (0/2)
- Give an order to 5 people. (0/5)
Rewards: ??
Punishment: 1 point will be deducted randomly in one attribute.
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The sudden message didn't let him think about the vivid dream he had. He only could remember the bad sensation that gave him the five people that were sat around that table.
Sora didn't understand what he dreamed about, but, with the sudden daily quest, he concentrated on the points that were given to him.
"With that punishment, I must complete the daily quest, the only problem is the second point. Who would I order?" Sora could run the two kilometers without the worry of being suspicious, he was a kid, and kids always run. However, giving orders and commands was different, especially for someone of his personality.
Sora considered himself a silent kid that doesn't like to chat with other people.
He thought for some time and found a solution. A small smile appeared on his childish face.
Breakfast was served and Ma'am Diana informed all the kids.
Everyone went to the dining room and took a sit. Sora sat at the table where his 'generation' was sitting.
The 'generations' in the orphanage were created by the group of kids that arrived in the same year. So the 'generations' could consist of boys and girls of different ages.
In the case of Sora's generation, he was one of the youngest of the group, but the true youngest kids were two, a boy and a girl of 8 years. They arrived at the orphanage when they were just 6 months of birth. Next was seven kids between nine and twelve years, where Sora was included, and finally, four kids that were fourteen, sixteen, and eighteen years old. The two that were eighteen years old already left the orphanage, mainly because Ma'am Diana told them that they were full-grown men that could already live alone and the orphanage couldn't care more about them.
They already had established their work as hunters, so they could win money to live by themselves. The one that was sixteen years was saving the money she was being paid for her service as a hunter, but she wanted to quit once she leaves the orphanage. Her parents left her a good amount of money that could help her live a normal life with a normal job. The reason for her savings was to pay a school and study.
The orphanage (Ma'am Diana) didn't like to send the children to school, because they could learn another way of living, not only as a hunter. But she couldn't go against the government, so the children went from kindergarten to junior high school.
The one that was fourteen, was a boy who already awoke the System and was having intense training. His goal was to be the strongest hunter.
Sora watched in silence the unfolding scene that was been given to him during breakfast time.
"Tell her that you want a piece of bread," Sora suddenly got closer to the little girl next to him and ordered her to say some words to one of the women that were carrying the baskets full of bread.
The little girl didn't look at Sora, instead, she looked at the closer woman, "Ex-excuse me, I want a piece of bread..." she said, "Don't forget to say 'please'..." Sora whispered to her ear, "... please," the girl finished saying.
The woman that heard her was a woman in her mid-twenties. She looked at the fragile-looking girl that asked her for some bread, and, with a smile, she gave one to her "Here you have little one."
Ping!
🐾🐾🐾
[Daily Quest]
- Run 2 km. (0/2)
- Give an order to 5 people. (1/5)
🐾🐾🐾
Sora was happy with the result of his experiment. He could guess that the younger ones were more than two levels lower than him, the reason for his confidence was that he remembered hearing Joseph (the fourteen-year-old kid of his generation) that when he activated the System, he was Level 3. So it was easy to assume that, at least, the ones of his age or one to two years older were, more or less, Level 1 like him.
Sora finished quickly his breakfast that consisted of a piece of bread, water, and some soup. The little girl that was next to him divided the extra piece of bread and gave it to Sora.
"Thanks, Rasha," Sora smiled at her.
Rasha blush a bit and nodded. Both ate their extra piece of bread.
After finishing, he got up and took his dishes to the keg where they put the dirty dishes. Ma'am looked at him with a satisfied face, she liked when the kids were sufficiently responsible for the little things like that. She would get mad at those who were more than ten years old that doesn't do as "it should be", while with the younger ones, she was less severe, but her strictness was the same for everybody.
Sora went straight to the other eight-year-old kid and looked at him.
"Bring me some water in an hour, I'll be running in the west garden," Sora told him quietly. Luka just nodded in response to his command.
Sora looked at the going boy with a slight smile, then he went to the west garden, which was the less crowded. Once he arrived, he began to run while thinking about some matters that were bothering him.
"It's a bit difficult to get closer to the younger kids of other generations, and also, the person who I command can't be the same for the daily quest. I need to find a way to tell the level of a person without having to ask..." Sora continued running when, suddenly, a message appeared in front of him. It was a System message!
Those messages were something common between hunters, the most common one was the "You have leveled up!"
Sora read the message.
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The System has considered the difficult for the user to complete the daily quest by his thoughts. You have unlocked the [Shop] Section.
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It was easy to understand what does the word "shop" meant. A happy smile appeared on Sora's face. It was something rare to see him smile genuinely.
"Perfect!" Sora selected the [Shop] tab.
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[Shop]
- {Skills}
- {Clothes}
- {Equipment (Locked)}
- {Furniture (Locked)}
- {Decorations (Locked)}
- {Traps (Locked)}
- {Consumables (Locked)}
- {Entertainment (Locked)}
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Sora was speechless with all the locked tabs. He felt bad. However, he was a bit surprised by the variety of things he could buy in the [Shop]. He understood why things like furniture and decorations appeared: he was a dungeon master and could build his own dungeons.
"Okay, let's select the {Skills} tab. Later I'll check the difference between {Clothes} and {Equipment} when the last is unlocked..." Sora murmured while he continued running.
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{Skills}
- Observation [Level Required: 1]
- Walking between shadows [Level Required: 40]
- Reinforce [Level Required: 25]
- Analysis [Level Required: 5]
- Fireball [Level Required: 20]
- Ice Spear [Level Required: 50]
- ...
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"Wow! There are a lot of skills in the shop! I wonder how much they cost? But I can guess that the only one that I can buy now is just the 'Observation' skill," Sora was excited, but in the end, he sighed. After checking for a while, he understood that he could only purchase that skill, "Hah... Let's check its features."
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Observation (Level 1 Required); Active Skill. Like its name says, Observation helps the user to know some information in his/her target. The information shown depends on the skill's level and the target's level. No MP consumption.
Cost: 10 gold coins or 1 Charisma point.
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"..." without words, Sora was without words. He didn't have "gold coins" and the Charisma point was something it made his heart ache. "I don't have an option, right?" Sora laughed painfully, "I'll buy it," he said to the System.
"What are you buying?"
At that moment, another voice sounded.
Ping!
🐾🐾🐾
You've bought Observation Lv. 1!
🐾🐾🐾
Sora turned his head where the voice came from and saw three boys with Luka hanging from their hands.
Luka had a glass of water without water on his hands. He didn't let go of the glass no matter what.