▬▬▬Quest▬▬▬
Penalty Quest: Payback
Kill 10 Shadow Foxes before the end of this Roam Session
Failure Penalty: 7d Halved EXP Gain
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"Ugh . . ." Darren groaned at the face of the penalty quest. For one, he didn't like these shadow foxes, but for another thing, he now had [Pokerface], a skill that seemed to be helpful in a lot of ways.
After a sigh, Darren remembered about how the kill announcement that rang in his head after he killed the fox told something about him checking his inventory. So, he did, and found an unfamiliar item.
▬▬▬Item Details▬▬▬
►Skill Rune
Crush the rune to learn skill [Dark Fog]
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". . . So this is what the system meant by skill runes . . ." Darren muttered, blinking rapidly in amazement, before retrieving the item from the inventory. Almost immediately, a fist-sized stone appeared out of thin air and stayed floating at face-level, rotating slowly and waiting for the user to grab it.
The stone had a fox symbol engraved on it, with the engravings faintly glowing purple. It was a mesmerizing thing to watch in the midst of the forest at night.
"W-Woah . . ." Darren slowly reached out to grab the stone. When his hands touched the stone, it immediately stopped floating and Darren could feel its weight weigh down his palm. It wasn't heavy however-- lighter than he expected, in fact.
"So I just have to crush it . . ?" He muttered under his breath, before slowly applying pressure with his grip.
After the pressure reached a certain threshold, the Runestone broke into tiny, purple glowing particles that rose up into the air. At the same time, a beep rang in his head, followed by a Notice panel.
▬▬▬Notice▬▬▬
Learned Skill
Dark Fog: Degrade the vision of all entities in a certain area around the user - Lasts 5s
Usage Cost: 10 SP
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"Eh . . ?" Darren's face contorted to one of confusion, "But the wolf's . . . er, Dark Fog lasted for more than five seconds . . !"
▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬
The ability to obtain the skills of other creatures is a huge advantage in itself. If the user is immediately given a powerful form of the skill, it will make the user too powerful.
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". . . But wouldn't it be good if I did become powerful?"
▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬
Affirmative.
However, there are a few laws that the system has to follow, and it will roughly amount to the rule: effort is equivalent to power. The more effort the user puts in, the greater the increase of his power.
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Two hours into the Roaming Session, and the eastern horizon was beginning to show a very faint gradient of light, and only then did Darren decide to begin doing his penalty quest. He was shook to the core when a notice panel popped up in front of him, however.
▬▬▬Notice▬▬▬
The Shadow Foxes do not come out during the day. As such, chances of encountering the foxes will be abysmal after the sun begins to rise.
Estimated Time Remaining Before Sunrise: 13m
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Darren's shoulders drooped down as his jaw went slack.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Obviously, Darren failed the quest, and got a Halved-EXP penalty for seven days in return.
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"Err . . . then, apart from doing quests and killing monsters, what else can I do to get stronger?" After whining about how 'unfair' the system was being, Darren realized that it was futile to keep fussing about it, and decided to move on.
▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬
As of this moment, the only things available that can help with the user's overall strength are the following:
►Stats
►Skills
►Proficiencies
►Equipment
►Titles
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"Eurgh . . ." Darren grimaced, "All these can only be gotten from quests and monsters though . . ."
▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬
Negative.
Proficiencies are gained through self-exploration and practice. While Titles are rewarded by meeting certain conditions.
For example, the user met the conditions for the hidden title [Tenacious] when the user became very determined in completing a quest.
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When Darren read the last line of the system's answer to his query, his eyes lit up.
"Tenacious . . . Tenacity stat. So, maybe there are other titles for the other four stats? Like . . . Dexterous? Spiritual? Vital? Brutal?"
He then did a double-take, imagining what conditions he have to meet to get the supposed [Brutal] title. 'Do I have to mutilate a creature to achieve that title . . ?'
▬▬▬Notice▬▬▬
The System cannot just disclose hidden information to the user. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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"Sorry for the inconvenience my ass." Darren rolled his eyes, shaking his head softly, "And yet you cut my EXP gain rate in half."
This time, no reply came from the system, prompting a sigh out of Darren.
"Anyway, about the proficiencies-- let's say uh . . ." Darren began thinking of a supposed proficiency, his eyes darting around to look for inspiration. His gaze fell on a pebble on the leafy ground and thought of something, "Rock throwing? Is there a proficiency for that?"
▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬
The only way to find out is to try.
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Darren sighed once more, before scratching at his head, "For some reason, this is really annoying." He mumbled under his breath, before standing up to walk towards the pebble he found earlier. Using the arm that was connected to his uninjured shoulder, he crouched down to pick the stone up and played with it for a few moments, trying to get a feel of its weight.
"So if I want a proficiency . . . I should pick a target and try throwing it at that . . ." He then scanned his surroundings and tried to find any distinguishable target that was a good distance away from him.
Darren found a hole in a tree and chose that as his target. He then gave the rock in his hand a glance, stepped forward, and flung the stone with purpose-- to hit his chosen target.
"Conditions Met: Throwing Proficiency Unlocked."
"So that's how it works!" Darren couldn't help but look at his hand with a smile. "So, if I practice my proficiencies, they'll get better?"
▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬
Affirmative. However, with your current DEX stat, refining proficiencies will take a long time. It would be better if the user strives to discover more proficiencies first.
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"Hm," Darren hummed, his expression somehow light, "Alright then."
♦♦♦
Since there was no other person to keep an eye on Darren in the mountains, he pretty much tried out everything and got into zero trouble. As such, he discovered quite a lot of proficiencies for himself.
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◄[Proficiency]►
►Blade Throwing (Poor)
►Throwing (Poor)
►Tree Climbing (Poor)
►Lancing (Poor)
►Wall Scaling (Poor)
►Navigation (Very Poor)
►Landing (Poor)
►Balance (Moderate)
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He was embarrassed though, about how he unlocked the [Navigation] proficiency. He pretty much understood how to use the system map, but his sense of direction was so bad that he still got lost.
Still, it was six hours well-spent-- albeit a little traumatic.
Now that Darren had an idea about what else to focus on while his EXP gain rate was halved-- thanks to the system-- he wasn't going to spend his time sitting around, worrying about what to do to make progress with his overall strength.
But before any of that, now that he was back in his world, it was time to visit Naphaela.
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"Um, i-is Naphaela here?" Darren stuttered, unsure about what to feel with a stranger standing in the doorway of Naphaela's front door. He had no idea who the guy was, and he would have already left if his siblings and Naphaela's siblings didn't greet him with a hug upon his appearance.
"She's away." The man answered concisely, before looking at the kids and him with curiosity, "Are you, perhaps, Darren?"
"Y-Yeah." Darren chuckled nervously, before giving the children around him headpats. "And you . . ?"
"I'm a hired guardian." The man nodded, before gesturing for him to come in. "My client told me she'd be out for a week or two. She also told me that if ever you come by, I should tell you that you should stay here for a while."
"O-Oh . . ." Darren was blinking quickly, unsure about what to feel.'What came up, that Naphaela would leave home for pssibly more than a week straight?'