"Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful to you for your help, Blake… And I hope you're also grateful for the reward I prepared for you!" Then, Daria took her sack so that what appeared to be iron and bronze ores that Blake could identify fell out, but before he could thank Daria, she spoke again. "Sorry… I know I was too pushy with a reward, but this is all I have at the moment, I have bought a lot of tools lately and I can count on my fingers the number of gold coins I have with me…"
Daria was sincerely embarrassed since she had realized that situation when she was looking for a way to reward Blake. He had spent several hours helping her to make paint, and Daria knew how tedious it was, but she had actually enjoyed it since Blake was keeping her company. She really wanted to pay him for his work properly, so she was apologizing for only offering him those simple minerals.
"Calm, Daria. From the beginning, I didn't need some kind of reward." Blake didn't get upset or anything like that, it was actually easier for him to accept that kind of payment. "And these minerals come in handy since I'm thinking about starting to learn how to forge."
"Really? I mean... I already knew, do you doubt your boss? Just like you as my assistant, I also have in mind all the possible needs you may have." A proud smile had appeared on Daria's beautiful face, but Blake could only laugh a little nervously because of that. "Thank you, for your help, Blake... And I'm sorry for taking up part of your time."
"Sigh... Believe me, it's weird for me to see you act like that, but don't worry, I ended up becoming your assistant anyway, so don't hesitate to ask me for help when you need it." Blake could understand a little how she felt. Anyone could tell that Daria had a rather peculiar attitude and would possibly be difficult for some people to deal with, but it was also evident that she never meant anything bad.
Daria listened carefully to Blake's words, and in addition to feeling happy about it, she felt a slight blush appear on her cheeks, for which she had to turn her face so that he couldn't see her in that state.
In the end, Blake took the reward and thanked Daria once more. She also returned to thank him for everything at the same time that she said goodbye to him since she needed to start with the work that she had pending. Blake said goodbye to her as well and her footsteps led him to her door until he found himself standing outside Daria's house.
The sunlight was still present outside, as well as the pleasant weather that was left over from that day's rain, but you could tell at first glance that it wouldn't be long before the sun began to slowly set. Blake's schedule had been cleared after helping Daria, the first idea that came to his mind was to stop by the inn to take a bath since both he and his clothes were stained with paint, but before he started to move, a notification that was not too rare for him to hear would completely capture his attention.
[Request completed.]
"About time you showed up... Although I don't know why you keep doing it." Blake shrugged after that thought, even believing that the system was malfunctioning even though that was rather doubtful, but unlike the times Before, this time the peculiar emotion that he had not felt in a long time would take over him again.
[Training period completed. The mission interface has been enabled. We ask the user to keep trying.]
Perhaps the message was too simple, and the almost robotic tone of the system didn't improve that aspect, but Blake hadn't taken the time to think about it or give the system feedback on how it communicated since he had quickly opened the interface of his inventory looking for what the system had just said.
Even if Blake didn't quite understand what the system meant, he knew that his inventory had the answers he was looking for, and at the top of the interface, there were the various tabs with applications that the system provided, but in addition to those that he already knew, a completely new one had appeared and it did not take long for him to select it.
After that, the interface changed to a new page where the title was displayed as "Missions", and it was divided into three different sections.
{Daily mission.
Defeat five monsters. 0/5.
Reward: Mystery Box.}
{Weekly mission.
Harvest crops twenty times. 0/20.
Reward: 10,000G.}
{Monthly mission.
Reach level 20.
Reward: ??? Fail: All skills are reduced by one level.}
As Blake could see, the new look of the system seemed to be something of an improvement over the rewards he received for completing the request. Now he had missions to complete and there was a period to carry them out, both the daily and weekly ones looked completely harmless and their rewards were quite nice, but what Blake owed and was paying attention to was the monthly mission section.
The main aspect of this one was that it seemed to be a little more complicated to complete than the previous ones plus the reward he would receive was not defined since it only showed those question marks that did not tell Blake anything even though he tried to concentrate in them.
But what really worried him was that there was a punishment if he failed, and while it didn't seem too extreme, it would still be annoying, especially for skills that were hard for him to level up.
[Progress… Saved.]