We go to the parking lot and drive off with her car.
The academy is located in the Southwest part of the city while the Plaza, the place we're heading to right now, is in the center part of the city. Denebola City is almost as big as New York. So it's going to take a while and to spend the time, I decide to continue my list.
Rufus wasn't wrong when he said that this is a grocery list. But I know what will happen in the 2nd exam and these items are something that can help me get more score. After all, the system's main mission is that I have to score the highest which means I have to beat everyone including the main characters.
Now I don't know how the game's point system works when the player is inside the game. But I'd like to assume that Rean would get the highest score by default. I don't know if the game system will give him full score, which I hope not, but I must really list the things I can do to get points. I want to get that reward!
"I should remind you that the academy doesn't allow pets." Natalie said.
Not at all surprised that she peeked at my note, I reply. "Then what do you call those in the Training Center?"
"Those are monsters. The academy puts them there for us to train with."
I shake my head. "You're wrong. It's 'on', not 'with'. No one wants to train 'with' a Tygris if it can shred you to pieces."
I can imagine her reaction. It's between annoyed and speechless because that was such a dry joke. She tries to change the topic then. "Has your wound healed?"
"Khione didn't manage to hurt me." I replied with a small smile. "I escaped marvelously."
"That's…not what I meant." I look at her with a smug smile without saying anything. Then she continues. "I heard you had a wound—"
"Oh it's fine." I cut her, knowing exactly what she's referring to. Then I continue writing.
"Are you sure? Because I asked Dr. Albert this morning, he said that he didn't manage to check your wound yesterday."
"Hmm… Why do you suddenly ask?"
"As an instructor, I'd like to know my trainees. To see if there's anything that's troubling them that I can help with."
My heart was almost touched. But I know she's acting like this because she is coded to act this way. She's not asking out of real concern, but because the game system wrote her to have that persona. So I'm not touched by her sympathy.
"So… Care to share why you ditch the infirmary yesterday?" She urges.
"Well, what do you expect? I just escaped a deity. I was SO tired." I emphasized. I can only trust them as characters who will act by their code. I won't be able to make real friends with them. It's better if I put her and the others in arm length. Not to mention it would make it easier for both sides when I finally leave this world.
"The doctor said you look excited when you left the infirmary yesterday." She raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah, because he let me go to sleep." I return her the look, albeit a bit smugly.
She shakes her head and let it go this time. "I still expect to hear a report from Dr. Albert about your wound by today."
I smile and return to my list. "Gotcha."
Well, I was excited because I can finally get the system activated. So of course, I want to take a look at it. But I'm not gonna tell her that. It's only between Ozzie and me, right, Ozzie?
There's a soft ding and the interface appears in front of me.
***
You received a side mission! Buy a pendant. Reward:
1. If you buy something interesting, you can claim 200 TP
2. 1 Beruang Greens
3. 5 Antidotes
***
I frown. What a weird side mission. But alright. At least I can stack up some items and TP for later uses when the shop is finally opened. Though it really comes in at a bad time. I don't exactly have money to spare on trinkets right now.
'Hey Ozzie. What would happen if I fail a side mission?' I asked the system in my mind.
[Nothing. It would stay there until you finish it.]
'Huh. I don't actually have to do it?'
[Yes. However, it is advised to finish it to earn interesting items and unexpected experience.]
Well, that answer is certainly expected. It reminds me of side missions in games. They are indeed, like Ozzie just said, stay until it's finished, but some can also expire because the main plot has moved on. Are these side missions also like that?
[Yes.]
'Huh. I didn't know you were listening.'
For some reason, I can feel it smile.
"We're here." Natalie said as she pulled over. "I'll wait for you by the coffee shop. Go there when you're finished."
"Aah… Mama birdie needs her coffee." I smile.
I can see her face turns a bit annoyed even though she doesn't look at me. Then she says. "You got half an hour."
My smile falls. "Are you kidding me? There are aunties shopping for dinner at the supermarket! They see me there, they'll stop me to tell me I'm a very good boy for helping out my momma and that these cabbages are best for me, yada yada." I told her.
She looks at me weirdly. "You can just tell them to get away from you."
I return her look. "Would you tell your mom to scram?"
She looks away reluctantly. "…No."
"Exactly."
"Fine. You got twenty more minutes. More than that, I'm leaving." She said.
"No, you won't! The front gate saw you left with a trainee. You're not going back with me? Bye-bye license~" I wave at her with a grin.
She looks ready to pounce at me.
"Uh-oh! Be back soon, mom!" I get out of the car, laughing. It's fun to mess with coded characters. You can just say anything that ticks them off and they'll always be ticked. You can't do that with cannon fodders—I mean, flat characters.
I enter the plaza with a cool breeze. This is the Rizetta Plaza, a famous shopping center in Denebola City. It's like a mall, it has five floors, and each floor has its own theme. It has a fountain in the middle of the ground floor with a small stage on one side for street performers. There's also a small patch of fake grass around the fountain for anyone who wants to sit and relax in the atmosphere.
The place is very clean and the design is also somewhat chic. It's a comfortable place for shopping and I don't mind spending my time just sitting on the grass patch while listening to performers singing. Unfortunately, I'm here on errand.
The ground floor is mostly about food, and the coffee shop Natalie was talking about is exactly on the left side of the entrance. The supermarket I'm going to is in the same floor, but on the opposite entrance. So I hurry myself there.
I take a basket and fill it with everything I need for the 2nd exam. Due to the tight budget, I can only afford some items from the list. I can't work part times because the D-day's tomorrow. But I need to work harder after that to earn my loss today. Maybe even hitch on Rean's sweeping missions.
Aside from the usual normal jobs, there are jobs about monster hunting and sweeping too. It is enabled to ensure peace in the human settlements, and academies like Orion Terrace answers to this by producing licensed mercenaries.
The students are taught about laws, physics, and biology just like high-school and college. But they're also taught magic and self-defense using weapons. This is to ensure the students' survivability outside the academy. But there is also a Training Center inside the school grounds that is connected to a permanent dungeon, which means that there would always be fresh batches of monsters every day.
That's just how this world works.
I finish my shopping and leave the supermarket. On my way back to the South Entrance, I pass a simple accessory stand that reminds me of my side mission. So I stop and take a look.
The mission doesn't say what kind of pendant, so it's just up to me. Since I don't have enough money to buy a real one, I'll take what I can get. Or maybe I can ask?
'Which one do you think is interesting, Ozzie?'
It doesn't reply.
"Oh, are you looking for a ring, big brother?" I look up and see a little boy smiling cutely at me from behind the counter.
I smile back at him. "A pendant. Do you have something interesting?"
The boy then climbs up his seat and kneels over to help. "Hmm… How about this one? It's Cherry Vine!" He pulls out a pendant with flower vine design and tiny pink gems along the vine.
It looks like a weird grapevine, so I shake my head. "Nah…"
He puts it back and takes another one. "This? It's the Sherry bird."
It's a bird shape with orange gem for the head and body. This one's cute, but I still don't think it's interesting enough.
I shake my head. The boy puts it down and considers the others. "Who are you buying it for, big brother?"
"No one in particular." I answer. "What?" I ask the boy when he looks at me with a bit of confusion.
"Usually, big brothers like you buy something for their girlfriends. I thought you also do that." The boy naively said.
I smile. "I'm not one of them."
"Huh… I don't know if I have something you'd like. Maybe you can look yourself?" The boy offered.
I take a look at the rows of pendants he's selling and my eyes stop on one. It's like the tip of an arrow with intricate design on its end. There's a yellow gem in the center, with silvers lining around it that if you look at it from one side, the silver and the gem shapes like an eye. I think it's a very cool design, so I take it and ask the boy. "Hey, what's this one?"
The boy looks over. "Oh that's umm… Yellow."
"Yellow?" I raise my eyebrows. It looks more complicated than the rest and he's naming it 'yellow'?
"A-Ah I found that one at the flower field…" He hesitates.
I smile. "Really, now? You also found the rest?" I point to the other accessories.
The boy frowns. "N-No! My sister and I made the rest! I-I just happened to find that one. It's true!"
I chuckle. "Alright, alright. I'll take this one."
"T-That would be 300 ecras, please." The boy smiles with a pinch of sweat.
It's not expensive for pendants sold by peddlers and certainly very cheap for a pendant of this design. 100 ecra equals to $5, so it can be said I just bought a cheap $15 pendant that could worth much more like, $500 dollars. Either this boy doesn't know its value, or he doesn't want to be in trouble by selling lost things, so he sells it eagerly to me. Whatever, it's mine now.
I give the money to the boy along with a small pack of gummy candies for his trouble. Then I hear a soft ding in my ear that startles me.
***
Side mission completed! Would you like to claim the reward now?
***
I glance at the interface in front of me. 'Later,' I thought. Then it disappears.
"Are you okay, big brother?" The boy asks in concern.
"I-I'm fine. I just remembered something." I lied.
"Oh okay… Tell your friends I said hi, big brother! Thank you for the candies too and take care!" the boy waves at me with a huge smile.
"Yup. You too, little buddy!" I pocket the pendant and leave his stand.
I didn't think it'll be so easy to find an interesting pendant with low price. But maybe I just got lucky. Or not, because I'm kinda broke right now. At least I can get the items I will need for tomorrow, also, I finished the weird side mission somehow. So, still a win.
I go to the coffee shop to pick up Natalie and we return to the academy right after.