As the excavation of the site continued, Director Aaron stood with both the Finley's before they got to work.
"I have some good news, but I also have some bad news," Mrs. Finley started.
"What would that be?" Director Aaron asked.
"Bad news?" Mr. Finley asked.
Nodding, she told the bad news first. "I got a call from Daron early in the morning. Nubby... He's passed away."
Mr. Finley's eyes widened. "Is Daron okay?"
"Yes, at least, he said he was. But, as for the good news, he unlocked the tablet."
Director Aaron snapped to attention. "He did? How? What did he get?"
"He said it was a kind of system, like a game. He told me it was unlocked because of tears of grief."
Director Aaron's eyes showed a hint of empathy before he quickly addressed Mrs. Finley again. "So he unlocked a different power, huh? A game system? That seems like it would be good."
"Why?" Both the Finley's asked.
"Well, if it's like a game, he should be able to level up, right? The system probably has its own things it can give him to guide him as well. His growth in power, it might never stop," Director Aaron said.
"Are any of us really that lucky?" Mrs. Finley asked.
"Only time will tell. Now, let's get to work, shall we?" Director Aaron smiled.
_____
As Daron got home, he sat down on his couch and closed his eyes. With his plan in mind, the process of unlocking the right leg started. No pain was felt this time as he trickled the energy into his leg. Getting the energy to his toes, Daron reversed the flow to fully create the energy path in his right leg with the Life-Saving Energy Focus technique.
[Quest Updated]
[+20 Experience in Life-Saving Energy Focus]
Switching his focus to his left leg, the pressure was barely felt as the energy pushed into it. In a few minutes, the energy had reached the bottom of his leg. Reversing the flow, the new energy path was created.
[Quest Updated]
[+20 Experience in Life-Saving Energy Focus]
[Quests]
[Find a way to move while keeping 80% of the healing ability of the Life-Saving Energy Focus technique]
[Time Limit: 3 Months]
[Reward: +10 Healing Power, Increase Understanding of Energy flow in the body]
[Progress: 40% Complete, All Limbs Unlocked]
Looking at the time, Daron noticed that not even an hour had passed by, the process of unlocking the limbs becoming easier every time he did it. But now that he had accomplished it, he would have to start combining the techniques together the way Mr. Gail had told him to.
As he closed his eyes again, he used the Life-Saving Energy Focus technique. Now that he could move his limbs with the technique, he felt the energy in his torso and head had been greatly diminished, but they did still have a better healing power than the natural energy flow his body produced.
Focusing on all the energy in his body, he willed the energy in his limbs to expand but tried not to let more energy flow into the paths.
The energy did expand, but more energy flowed into the path, which was not what he needed. Restarting, he tried again. This time, he tightened the flow into his limbs while trying to expand them, and it worked, but the energy in his torso slammed into each four of his limbs. The pressure it gave off was minimal, however, due to the new energy paths in his arms and legs.
With a sliver of success, he expanded the energy path to where he usually would with the Expand/Retract Progression technique. When all his energy paths had expanded to this point, he started to retract it back to its normal size. After a few times of doing this, he was greeted with multiple notifications.
[+100 in Expand/Retract Progression]
[+100 in Expand/Retract Progression]
[+100 in Expand/Retract Progression]
[+100 in Expand/Retract Progression]
[+20 in Life-Saving Energy Focus]
[+20 in Life-Saving Energy Focus]
[+20 in Life-Saving Energy Focus]
[+20 in Life-Saving Energy Focus]
[Quests Updated]
[Quest Completed]
Daron was shocked at the amount of notifications that had appeared. Not to mention the mention of a completed quest. Clicking on the notification, he witnessed why.
[Quests]
[Find a better way to gain experience for the physique technique Expand/Retract Progression]
[Time Limit: 1 Month]
[Reward: 10% Reduction in Energy when using skills, +10 Experience]
[Progress: 100% Complete]
[The system recognizes the combining of two techniques and knows this enhances both techniques at the same time in a better way than using either one at the same time. The next step in the process of combining techniques is the fusion of two or more techniques into one.]
[Find a way to move while keeping 80% of the healing ability of the Life-Saving Energy Focus technique]
[Time Limit: 3 Months]
[Reward: +10 Healing Power, Increase Understanding of Energy flow in the body]
[Progress: 50% Complete, All Limbs Unlocked]
Daron was quite pleased as he read through all the information. He was also a little confused on why it seemed the system sometimes gave more information than he thought it should, and then it sometimes displayed hardly any at all. For now, it didn't matter much. He had gotten a very big boon in both his techniques and the knowledge of how to continue forward after he completed the quest as well.
Looking at the Life-Saving Energy Focus technique, he saw that it had progressed to two-hundred fifty experience out of the four hundred it needed to get to the next level.
Thinking about it, Daron thought he should learn another technique and do the same process of combining to see if that would give him a leap in progress as well. He would have to wait until tomorrow to ask Mr. Gail what the best way forward for him would be.
Daron wanted to keep focusing on his quest, but he heard a thud on the kitchen counter. Standing up, he went to see what it was.
As he looked on the counter, he found a notepad. Picking it up, he saw a few sentences and a signature.
"Get stronger. You must get stronger, no matter what. No matter who or what you face, you must not let it discourage you. I believe in you, Daron. I'm sure to all the stars and back your parents do too. Getting stronger is more important than you know. Than your parents know. -Director Aaron"