The morning's classes went by quickly, with Emilia sneakily checking the [System, Alpha ver. 1.0] application on her smartphone. In her final year of High School, finally, something interesting had happened. The [Character Sheet], [Powers], [Chat], and [Settings] menus only displayed an annoying message.
[Error! Please contact the [Dungeon Master] for more information.]
Her [Inventory] was working, and contained a detailed list of everything she was carrying on her backpack, including details such as weight, number of pages, and even how worn out the objects were. Emilia was impressed by the amount of information included in her belongings.
[Algebra book]
Description: A High School textbook containing a study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating those symbols. [+1 Knowledge] if equipped.
Grade: Very common
Condition: Very worn out (38% durability), 4th owner
Pages: 537
Weight: 368g
Her belongings had become items, apparently with the power to shape reality. Emilia spent the next two hours reading through descriptions of her everyday assets. After a while, she got tired of reading item descriptions and checked her surroundings.
'Who could possibly know all this information about me?'
Richard, Patricia, and Gaby did not play any tabletop games with her, but Frank and Damien did, and those two were known to like pulling pranks in the [Faction]. Perhaps one of them was the [Dungeon Master] she should contact to get more information from.
Emilia leaves her homeroom to have lunch at the school's restaurant, carrying the pouch of dice, her wallet, and her smartphone. Damien and Gaby were waiting in queue to pay for their meal.
Damien has black, straight short hair, now matted from sweat and dirt, having just played a football match. His small ears and round face give him a friendly and somewhat funny face. Dark brown eyes, brows arched up, making his usual naughty face, hint that he's been making fun of Gaby. Cream skinned, well built, and standing over 20cm taller than her, at 1,95m tall, he's the tallest member of the [Faction]. There's something intriguing about him, perhaps it's his personality, or perhaps it's simply his clumsiness. But nonetheless, people tend to act friendly towards him, while being as careful as possible about what they say around him.
Gaby, Standing 1,70m tall, a tan-skinned girl, has a very hard-to-read feel about her. Maybe it has to do with her upbringing in the countryside. She has a square face with a triangular jaw, a small nose, and very thin lips. Her brown eyes are big and she has thin eyebrows. She has strong but thin arms, dealing with animals and tools for taking care of her family's land must have helped her become this fit physically. Her round hips, strong legs, and small feet are famous in the school, as she's capable of dealing the most powerful kick among all female players.
Emilia observes where they went to sit and grabs a plate of food from the buffet, today with her favorite dishes available.
'It's been a while since they last had sushi and egg fried rice on the same day.'
She sets the plate with food on a weight scale, which instantly displays the calculated price.
[R$15.30]
She reaches for her wallet, to be reminded that she only had enough money for the bus fares to go back home. What happened earlier during mister Mota's class instantly comes to her mind.
'I only have R$20,00, if I could convince the cashier to let me pay for it tomorrow...'
[Twang!]
[Roll Persuasion.]
She peeks towards Damien and Gaby. He's staring at her with a playful face but quickly looks away. Emilia takes the D20 from the pouch and rolls it next to the scale.
[9]
[Emilia rolls Persuasion! Conditional success.]
"Miss cashier, would it be alright if I paid for this meal tomorrow? If I pay for it today, I won't have enough money to go back home, as I'd have to walk 5 kilometers to the bus station..."
"Sorry, no can do. Your mother has some credit to buy in the restaurant though, why don't you place the order under her name?"
Emilia's mother is a teacher at the High School she studies in, that's why she was granted the scholarship since teachers could enroll their family members for free.
"That works, I'll let her know about it later then."
"Alright, enjoy your meal!"
After this hustle, Emilia walks toward where Damien and Gaby are having their lunch and sits beside Gaby.
"Hey, Damien! What's this [System, Alpha ver. 1.0] app about? I almost got in trouble in class because of the notifications!"
Damien looks puzzled with the question and Gaby turns her gaze curiously towards him.
"What are you talking about?"
He asks, making Emilia confused since she was certain that Damien had been the culprit.
"You know... this app with an interface to..."
[Twang!]
[Quest received]
Difficulty: Beginner
Details: You are the first player to join this epic adventure! The [Dungeon Master] is summoning you to his palace to provide you with more information.
Clear conditions: Talk to an NPC at a pre-arranged location. [Dungeon Master] expects your presence at the [Training Grounds] behind Kingdom Comics.
Reward: ???
Timeframe: 72 hours.
She shows the message to her two friends, who are looking at a loss for words.
"This app."
Emilia says.
"I've never seen that, is it some sort of new mobile game? Send me a link for it and I'll look at it!"
Damien answers.
"You and your games... You two will never make it to University at this rate."
Gaby tells them, with a displeased face.
Emilia opens her mouth to say something but decides to put her smartphone back in her front pocket.
"Well, I thought you would know something about it... I, you and Frank always play RPGs together, to assumed you'd be the one responsible for sending it to me."
"If I was gonna start a new campaign, I'd have invited you! You know we don't have any DMs available at the moment."
Emilia steers the conversation away from the subject and they quickly finish their meals. It was a Friday, so there wouldn't be any classes in the afternoon.
"I'll send you a link when I get home."
She goes back to the homeroom in order to get her trusty backpack, then walks to the lockers to get the textbooks she'd need for the next day, swapping the Algebra, Physics, and Geography textbooks for the Portuguese Literature, History, and Biology ones.
'I know where Kingdom Comics is... I hope mom won't be very angry at me for getting home later than usual today.'