Since Darren had a good amount of money that could last him and his siblings for a few days, he wanted to leave Naphaela's house so as to not bother them too much. She didn't argue about him leaving so soon, but she offered to let his siblings stay in her house for a while.
This way, Darren was able to earn lots of money by working hard in the mines and levelling up using his quests.
"Humph." Darren grunted as he shouldered a bag of minerals, wanting to deliver his 13th and last bag for the day. While the afternoon was just about to start getting late, Darren didn't really want to spend too much time tiring himself out for extra money.
And even though work increased his base strength by a teeny-tiny amount, he didn't want to enter another Fatigued state.
When Darren reached the outside of the tunnel, what welcomed him was the man in charge of deliveries frantically explaining something to a dark red-haired man wearing black overalls. With his red eyes, the handsome man stared at the man in charge of deliveries unamused and arms crossed, but when he saw Darren coming out from the tunnel entrance, interest sparked in his eyes.
"That's him, right?"
The man in charge of deliveries stopped explaining and turned to look at the tunnel entrance, to see Darren dropping his bag of mine loot. "Y-Yes, that is him."
"Alright." The man nodded and tapped at his shoulders, before turning to walk towards Darren. "Hello there." He raised a hand slightly in greeting as he approached, before giving his name out, "I'm called Luck. I believe you are called Darren, yes?"
Blinking in surprise, Darren answered, "Y-Yes."
Based on Luck's stance, demeanor, and the look in his eyes when looking at them mossbags, he could guess that the man was a proud cultivator. But the question was, why would a cultivator even approach a mossbag out of nowhere?
"Can we talk somewhere else?"
"U-Um, if you would excuse me, I just want to change into more presentable--"
"Your attire is fine. I'd like it more if you hurried up."
"O-Okay."
Darren quickly dropped off his loot to the delivery man and got his pay, before following Luck into a nearby forest.
"This should be good." Luck nodded to himself as he stopped walking, before turning around to face Darren. "Anyway, Darren."
He paused and pursed his lips, sweeping his gaze on Darren's body.
"Can I punch you?"
Darren stood in place, dumbstruck as the words registered in his mind. 'What?'
He opened his mouth, wanting to ask about why the man wants to punch him-- wanting to know what's keeping him from punching him already-- but he couldn't quite find the words. It was just too sudden.
After a few moments of hesitation, a panel finally appeared before him.
▬▬▬Quest▬▬▬
Instant Quest
Accept Luck's request and take his punch
Reward: 500 Coins
Penalty: -500 Coins
▬▬▬Quest▬▬▬
'Ehhhh?' Darren's face contorted into utter confusion as he read the details of the quest. Why? What was the point of taking a punch from some random dude?
Although Darren didn't really get why the system wanted him to take the punch, and although he knew how cultivators are naturally stronger than normal people, he didn't want to get a debt of 500 coins on the system.
"So?" Luck asked Darren, who looked like he was staring at the air in front of him in utter confusion. "Can I?"
Darren took a deep breath and scratched at his temple with a finger, before saying, "Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Ye--"
Darren wasn't allowed to finish saying his confirmation when a fist slammed into his cheeks.
▬▬▬▬▬
-123 HP
Debuffed: [Stunned]
▬▬▬▬▬
It was so sudden that Darren could swear he saw a flash of light envelope his vision for a moment. After the flash of light came blurred vision and spinning surroundings. Then the next thing was the cold feeling of the leaf-littered ground against his body.
Darren was down with a punch, and he didn't even realize it for a few seconds.
When he realized, however, he hurriedly tried to stand up and muttered under his breath, "Bash . . !"
Darren wasn't able to think completely straight. The punch he received was so strong it almost knocked him out, and he sort of forgot about how he agreed to let himself get punched.
But his punch didn't make a satisfying crunch made when a fist hits the body. His blow was received completely by Luck's palm.
"Calm down, Darren," said Luck, a little surprised from the slight pain that assaulted his palm. His soothing voice that didn't seem to have any hostility hidden within reminded Darren about how he shouldn't be punching the man in front of him.
A bit ashamed, Darren stepped back from Luck and squinted at him, only able to see him through his still blurry vision.
"S-Sorry." He apologized, letting out a sharp exhale and inwardly thinking about how the punch he received was much stronger than he thought. He could swear that if he didn't have a VIT boost, he'd be unconsciousness after receiving such a punch.
"It's fine." Luck shook the hand that received Darren's punch and crossed his arms, "Freshen up a bit, I have something to discuss with you."
"Al . . . Alright." Darren took a deep breath and repeatedly shook his head, wanting to clear away the dizziness he had been feeling for quite a while now. And when he felt like he was clear-headed, Darren nodded at Luck and said, "I think I'm okay now."
Luck just nodded and wasted no time beating around the bush, "I want you to join my brigade."
"Eh?"
Luck's statement once again completely left him flabbergasted. Brigade? He wanted Darren to join his group of cultivators? But wasn't he a mossbag? Or did Luck catch on Darren being able to cultivate? How was that even possible?
"Hm?" Luck raised an eyebrow at Darren.
"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Luck. I'm afraid I can't follow."
"Which part did you find confusing? Was what I said not simple enough? I want you to join my brigade."
"Sir, I-I know, but I'm-- I'm just a mossbag and--"
"Are you, really?" Luck tilted his head as the edge of his lips rose into slight smirk, "How did your physique suddenly turn to this? The punch I gave you is enough to make a fairly strong mossbag unconscious. Of course, that alone isn't enough evidence. But Darren, I sensed it."
Luck eyed Darren's arm, "You used flux energy in the punch you gave me earlier."
Darren's eye widened as he realized that another person was made aware of his ability to cultivate.
". . . What do you want?"
"Didn't I say it already? Join my brigade."
"That can't be all, can it?"
"Of course not." Luck scoffed, "But it isn't important as of this moment. What's important is: whether you join my brigade or not."
"What if . . . What if I declined?"
"Your loss, Darren. Your complete and total loss."
Darren grimaced at Luck's words. It was true. Joining a brigade meant having access to monster filled areas and being able to level up faster. But he was unsure about what to do. What if someday, a wrong action he'd do would cause the system to deactivate?
He didn't want to risk doing anything that could lead to that, so he decided to ask, 'System? What should I do?'
"It is reccommended that the user joins the brigade."
Pressing his lips together, Darren stopped hesitating and looked at Luck, "I will join, sir."
♦♦♦
Naphaela was laying on her front in bed. She was racking her mind about what she could do to help Darren cultivate, but without anything but hypotheses about how Darren's cultivation worked, she couldn't really come up with anything solid.
"Naph!" Arven's high-pitched voice rang, accompanied by repeated knocks on Naphaela's room door. "Darren's here?"
"Oh?" Naphaela blinked a few times and sat on the bed, her mind automatically trying to guess why the man was here at sundown. She got off the bed, changed into more proper clothes and tied her hair into a ponytail.
She then left for the living room to meet Darren.
"What's up?" She greeted him and directly plopped herself into one of the couches.
"I have shocking news." Darren told her with a smile.
"Oh, what is it?"
Sir Luck invited me into his brigade!"
Naphaela rapidly blinked a couple of times, unsure if she heard right. "What did you just say?"
"I said, Sir Luck invited me into his brigade! I'm going to be a part of Clover Brigade starting tomorrow!"
Naphaela didn't know what to say and think. Darren . . . was invited into a brigade? Like, sure, the Clover Brigade was owned by a cultivator with potential-- Luck-- but for Darren to be able to join a brigade before her . . .
Naphaela then realized that this was the time she was supposed to rejoice for her friend.
"W-Wow!" She forced a laugh, "This-- Isn't this awesome?"
"It is! I can't even believe it!"
"Yeah . . !" Naphaela's forced smile was starting to get spoiled, so she stood up and started walking towards the kitchen, "This deserves a toast, don't you think?" She looked back at Darren with a raised eyebrow, her lips pursed into a thin line.
Scratching at his temple, Darren hesitated for a bit, "Well . . . if-- yeah! That sounds great!"
"I'll go get some then."
Naphaela headed down to their household's wine cellar and did her best to suppress negative thoughts. But as she finished fetching the wine bottle and some crystal glasses, she couldn't help but bite her lip in frustration.
She stopped and placed the bottle and the glasses on the cellar table, before planting her hands upon it. Transferring some of her weight to her hands, she let out a sigh and muttered, "This is unfair."