"Yeah, that'd be me. Who the fuck are you bro?" Trace asked.
Drake ignored the mob character and shouted past him to the people at the counters.
"Is there a rule that I can't fight in here?" Drake asked.
"There is not," one of the people at the counters answered.
Drake smiled, "Looks like you're out of luck and I'm out of time."
"Wha-"
Before Trace could finish his first word Drake had already moved, gripping the man by the face and throwing him to the floor. He had tried to keep his power in check but Trace would have to settle for some broken bones as opposed to being flat out dead.
"I'll be honest… I'm kind of surprised his head stayed on. Even if I was holding back. He must be some kind of tank variant."
Drake stood snapping his fingers and encasing the man in a stone tomb like he had with Bridgette. Just to be on the safe side if he was to wake up before Drake was done.
The sound of glass breaking rang out behind him forcing Drake to turn, a tall tree-sized man skidding across the tiled floor.
Drake looked up, his Ice Elemental on the other side of the door.
Dropping his eye as he scoffed, "I don't think I told you to have that much fun with him did I?"
The Elemental shrugged from the doorway, some people looking in curiously and gasping as they saw the other man on the floor covered in a black earthen tomb.
"Don't let anyone in until I'm done. I'm on a Natto tight schedule right now," Drake instructed walking to the counters.
Drake walked up to one of the non-human people. Interested to see the other races.
"Hi there," Drake greeted.
"Hello sir, how may I help you?" the man asked.
"Straight to the point I see, you and I will get along swell buddy. I'm more concerned with what I can do here. I only know very little. Oh, and I have this coupon," Drake said pulling the slip of paper from his inventory and showing it to the rather impressive-looking elf man.
"I see, you have a quest coupon?" the man said, then took the slip of paper, his or its face paling, "This is a coupon from the Dragon's tutorial…"
Before the man went pale, Drake didn't fail to catch its face shifting. Almost like a glitch in a game where graphics pixelated.
"Yeah, it is. And she was a cunt. And you… You're a construct?" Drake asked, his eyes thinning.
"Indeed… How you are to be so rude to a Primordial, taking their name in vain…. Please let this not find its way back to my superiors…." the man whispered, then cleared his throat, "I have received the coupon for the E-Ranked Quest. Please confirm."
In an instant, a window popped up like it had normally for Drake.
[New Quest E-Grade! A Land all Your Own!]
[You must stake your claim to land and complete the following tasks]
[Commute to designated area. Defeat 100 E-Rank Entities or Subjugate 300 F-Rank Entities. Place F-Grade Honing Crystal and protect said crystal for 168 Hours]
[During honing and pairing nearby monsters will be drawn to the area, as well as a beacon will be lit informing a stake to claim has been issued]
[Reward: Nobility Rank, Nobility Experience based on placement ranking. Entry into the World Summit. Access to the Town Specific System Center. 1x System Building of your choice.]
Drake read the description and raised a brow at the specific wording for the requirements.
So there's a subsequent quest afterward… that's new. Then it takes a minimum time of a week for defense. I can see why Natto was urging me to start, every hour counts. And E-Rank Entities huh…. Drake thought.
"Will there be anything else?" the man asked.
"Can I do anything else?" Drake asked taken from his thoughts.
"You may exchange your cores for currency if you so wish. There are also basic F-Grade Quests available. You may also issue quests as long as you have the collateral to put up for the reward."
Drake's ears perked up at the last sentence.
"Is there a restriction on quests that I can issue?"
"As long as there is sufficient collateral, there is no issue. But please remember that quests may not be taken if reward collateral is not sufficient, so please keep that in mind when issuing them."
Wow, I wish the other construct I met in the introduction was this helpful…
"Please also keep in mind that the quests will not be canceled even when the non-town System Centers leave in a year's time."
Drake's eyes thinned, remembering the flavor text including that information. The construct confirming it cemented his suspicion.
That means that war is soon to come then. Once these free centers are gone, I'm sure people will monopolize the town-sanctioned ones. That probably means they will compete to keep the resources.
Drake clicked his tongue realizing once again how fowl the system was in forcing conflict at every turn.
"Would you like to issue a quest sir?" the man asked.
Drake's family flashed in front of his mind, as well as the children and people on the buses.
"Yes, you said there was no limit?"
"That is correct."
"Then, I'd like to issue quite a few, hope you have nowhere to be."
—-----------
Drake exited the center nearly 30 minutes after entering, dispelling his ice elemental as people waited for him to clear the area before storming the center.
Looking at the buses he was relieved. There had been no trouble and no need for him to abruptly stop his issuing of quests as well as picking up every F-Grade Quest he could from the center.
He looked at his inventory window as well, seeing the item he was forced to purchase for his town quest.
[Honing Crystal F-Grade]
Allows an entity to lay claim to a specified territory.
Anchors a System Sanctioned Honing Crystal to pair with the claimed territory.
Should Crystal be destroyed during pairing quest will fail.
The description was simple enough, but the price was considerable. Thankfully it was out of his remaining Tutorial points as it was linked to a tutorial-bought quest. But doing so had cleared him out of his remaining points.
"You know it was kind of suspicious how he knew exactly how many points I had left… But at least I got everything I needed and converted a lot of my cores to currency," Drake digressed, holding out one of the coins.
In his hand was a nearly clear whitish coin that hummed with mana and he could physically feel slightly prick his skin. The coins had been traded with the cores for a 1 for 1 value, leaving him with an even 10,000 of the amount he converted.
He had asked how many coins it would take to convert the coins into an E-Grade Coin and he was surprised with the conversion. One E-Grade Coin was worth 100 F-Grade Coins. But he couldn't get any information beyond that. So it was hard to say if the conversion stayed constant with the increase of rank. But it was safe to say that he regretted giving Natto the E-Rank Core now.
"That little garbage disposal is going to eat me out of house and home…." Drake grumbled.
Getting back on the bus, he was greeted with a scowling Natto who was once again surrounded by children.
Drake smiled and bursted out laughing at the sight.
"What are they doing to you hahaha?!"
Natto growled, "They are braiding and styling my hair…."
"You look ridiculous," Drake guffawed.
The children frowned looking at Drake.
"No, she looks bootiful!"
"Yeah! Natto is a pwincess!"
"Yeah! Pwincess! Stinky Drake!"
"Stinky Drake!" they all chanted.
Drake scoffed. Unfortunately for them, he was a professional man-child and knew exactly how to deal with the situation.
"I know you are but what am I?"
"Stinky!" they chanted.
"But I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say to me bounces off me and sticks to you!" Drake rebutted.
"Uh….. Stinky!"
Drake frowned, "No, that's not how this works."
"Stinky!!! Stinky Drake! Stinky Drake!"
"Whatever…" Drake laughed, and walked up to Natto, nodding and thanking Charlotte, Janey, and Landin for keeping down the fort while he was away.
Drake had made sure to issue as many quests as he could for the children's parents to be found. And offered a substantial reward in the way of cores to anyone who brought him information or the parents themselves to him. As well as a quest for his own family where he offered several rare weapons he was not using.
And of course, he used the location they were going next to as the destination to find him.
Holding up the quest map that came with the Town Quest, Drake smiled at Natto, "Alright, ready to go claim a town?"
Natto jumped from her seat knocking off her braids and other things decorating her head, "Finally! Now we can be rid of these blessed animals!"
"Wude!"
"Yeah, Wude! Wude Pwincess!" the children started chanting, exchanging their insults at Drake to ones at Natto.
"Oh how the turn tables have flipped," Drake grinned.
"That is not the saying and you know it!" Natto roared, storming to the front of the bus.
Drake laughed and followed her, taking the intercom in hand.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen! Big announcement! I have put out quests to find all of your parents and families!"
The bus shouted and cheered in glee.
"We are now going to go to the town where they will meet up with us if they are found. Everyone on their best behavior and we will be in nice cozy beds in the next…." Drake trailed off opening the map and looking at the destination, "Well at some point!"
The shouts turned to boos.
"Don't boo me! I'm right!" Drake scoffed.
—-----------------------
"Holy shi-crap… This is way further out than I expected.." Drake sighed, his feet kicked up on the dashboard of the bus, as he looked out and flipped through his quests.
"I have told you that your world is far more expansive than you remember, have I not?" Natto sighed, picking from a bag of food as she sat on the steps of the exit.
"Yeah, but this much? I'm pretty sure there wasn't a mountain or fuc-fudging plains here!" Drake exclaimed as he waved his arms pointing to the grasslands covered in snow, "We are in New York! There are no plains or mountains in this area! What wonky world got shoved into my backyard?!"
"Most likely a world with large grasslands or mountains. It certainly seems to fit," Natto snickered.
"Not helping."
"Obviously, moron."
"Good to know you haven't changed since the day I hatched you."
"Natto hatched? Don't you mean born?" Charlotte asked over Drake's shoulder.
"No, I mean hatched. She came out of an egg," Drake reiterated.
"Did she come out naked?" Landin asked, peering over Drake's other shoulder.
"She did not, she was fully clothed. Honestly, I was pretty surprised myself," Drake answered.
"Weird. Is that normal?" Landin asked again putting his chin on his crossed arms.
"Dunno, she's the only one I've seen hatch so I couldn't say."
"It is very normal! Why is it so weird that I was clothed?!" Natto snapped.
"I unno, birds come out of eggs naked. So do reptiles, and amphibians. It's just weird," Landin shrugged.
"I hate children…." Natto mumbled.
"Now now…. We are pretty much on cruise control until we reach our destination, so rest up kids. We only have to worry about something if my elementals can't handle it, but that doesn't seem like it will happen anytime soon, although the monsters are getting quite strong compared to the ones in the city… and quickly…" Drake muttered under his breath as the notification from his Elementals rolled in.
[You have defeated Hide-Around [Rank F] Level 19] [Experience Points awarded]
[You have defeated Ratman Warrior[Rank F] Level 17] [Experience Points awarded]
[You have defeated Ratman Sentry [Rank F] Level 18] [Experience Points awarded]
[You have defeated Lesser Slime [Rank F] Level 15] [Experience Points awarded]
[You have defeated Frogman Hunter [Rank F] Level 21] [Experience Points awarded]
Racking up the experience but I guess it's slow going still. I'm not killing higher-leveled mobs anymore so the speed is down by a large margin… Looks like I'll need to punch up against E-Ranks if I want to progress at the same speed. Hopefully, it won't be a problem. Drake thought.
Laying back as he kept his aura sense at maximum expansion to make sure none of the several buses being pulled were in any danger, he opened up his status after a long time, giving a small whistle to the stats.
[Drake Wallen]
[Race: Asuran] [F-Rank]
[Profession: Miner P5(0%)[F-Rank], Jeweler P5(0%)[F-Rank]
Tutorial Alias [Shot]
[Elemental Miller] [Unique] Level 25
[Vitality] 578 (20+ 215%)
[Strength] 746 (100 +10%)
[Dexterity] 470 (85 + 20%)
[Intelligence] 999 (105+15%)
[Wisdom] 572 (30 + 215%)
[Endurance] 464 (90 + 225%)
[Free Points] 80
First Blood, Two versus One, One vs Many, Monkey Slayer, Living on the Edge, Close Call, Dead Man Walking, Dual Class, Punching Up, Improbability, Rounded, Dog Hater, One Man Army, Dog Killer. Battle of Attrition, First of Your Kind, Goblin Hater, Goblin Slayer, Murderer, Serial Killer, Vanquisher of Kings, Tutorial Forerunner, First of Many, Well on Your Way, Glory of the Patriarch, Highest Contributor, Expectations of the Host, Dawning of a Tyrant, Incectocide, Marked by Dragons, Race Change, Birthright, Vanquisher of Kings II, Exterminator, Named in the System, Dawning of a Tyrant II, Hated by Many, The Awe of Many, Bounty, First Completionist, Top 3, Top 1
[Top 3]
Awarded to participants of the tutorial who have finished as best as Top 3 in the Level Ladder Rankings.
Increased Overall Stats by 10.
[Top 1]
Awarded to participants of the tutorial who have finished as the best in the Tutorial Point Ladder.
Increase Overall Stats by 20.
[First Completionist]
Awarded to the participants of the first completed tutorial of their interaction.
Increase Overall Stats by 50.
Early Access to Tutorial Shop and Exclusive Quests.
"Wow surprised I never checked those titles, those are some choice stat boosts…" Drake mumbled.
"What are you looking at?" Charlotte asked curiously.
"Can't see it?" Drake asked.
"No, is there something there?"
Drake turned the window to show her like he did with others, "How about now?"
Charlotte shook her head, making Drake look over at Natto.
"She has not been introduced to the system yet, and will not until she has turned 16 years of age. She can not benefit from the system and can not interact with any of its features until so," Natto explained.
"Makes sense," Drake nodded, waving away his status.
"What's the system?" she asked.
"Yeah, you keep mentioning that and stats. Is it like a game?" Landin asked.
"It's exactly like a game," Drake grinned.
"Cool…" Landin smiled.
"I don't get it," Charlotte frowned.
"Normie…." Drake scoffed, then coughed, "I'll tell you when you're older."
"I'm turning 16 in a few days…."
"Fine, I'll tell you when we get there and I finish this quest."
"Quest? So do you get a reward?" Landin beamed.
"I do, I level up maybe. I'll explain it more when we're at a good point too."
"Dope! I'm finna to try out being a mage! That was my go-to! Or maybe a swordsman!" Landin smiled swinging an imaginary blade in the air.
"Oh to be young…" Drake laughed.
"That was literally you, but a few months ago…" Natto snickered.
"Still younger," Drake said giving her a raspberry.
"Child."
"Garbage disposal."
"Moron!"
"Blackhole!"
"Weeb!"
"You take that back! That's a compliment, not an insult!"
Charlotte and Landin looked over at each other with confused faces.
"Are we sure we're safe with him…?" she asked.
"Probably…?" Lanin shrugged.
—-------------------------------
After an hour of traveling and back-and-forth conversation, the journey to their destination took them deeper into a large plain, with mountains Drake had never seen before off in the distance and the reflection of a lake just as far.
The path had taken them out of the city to the west and even further still, off any road or highway that Drake was familiar with. They simply followed the map that was provided by the quest into what was essentially the unknown.
Drake closed his eyes focusing on his senses as the bus died down in energy, many of the kids beginning to doze off after their hectic day. The sounds of the Elementals blowing up and cutting down monsters became the raindrops in the background as they fell asleep.
That was until Drake felt one of his Wind Bird spells disappear.
Getting up quickly he stopped the busses. Slowing down to a gentle stop.
He quickly got out, Natto trailing behind him.
"Get back on the bus," Drake said tersely.
"You will need my assistance," Natto countered as she hopped onto his shoulder.
"I need someone I can trust to watch the kids and bring the buses out of danger."
"There will be no danger here Drake. I know where we are, and what planet habitat we have wandered into."
Drake looked at the other end of the field a woman in tribalistic clothing holding a serrated axe three times her size on her shoulder. Her hair a deep maroon looking almost black if it was not for the reflection of the waning sun on it.
Bones and other ornaments donned her braided hair on the side but the rest of her hair was waist-length, the top draping down and blowing in the slightly cold breeze.
Her clothes only covered the essentials exposing her lightly green-colored skin, a small snaggle tooth poking out of the bottom of her mouth. Or better called a tusk.
[Sah Ul' Rahk Level 22]
The woman named Sah Ul' Rahk looked furiously at Drake and Natto, her mouth turning into a snarl.
"Are owner of pesky small bird? Trespass on Rahk Tribe land outsider!"
Natto nudged Drake, "This is a planet that contained Orcs."
Drake didn't look away from Sah Ul' his mouth opening up slowly, "Yeah I got that much…" he mumbled his eyes drawn to her exposed abs, "Help me. I think I might awaken to something serious….."