Epoch 17: Points and System Shop!!
"What's wrong?" Hou and Xue asked at the same time.
Tang Tang ignored the multiple notifications; he would just check them later.
"Nothing. Can we rest for a while?" Tang Tang asked when he saw the worried expressions of the twins.
"Yes."
"I will get water."
Xue led him under the shade of a large tree, while Hou ran to a nearby river to get water.
"Are you okay?" Xue asked.
"I'm fine. I am just thrilled." When Tang Tang remembered what happened, he started giggling again.
He never experienced that kind of excitement before, his life is always monotonous, the only thrill he has is having sex with random strangers he meets in clubs, but even that has become dull.
Now he understands the feelings of those people who love extreme sports and adventures.
"Will the insect monsters follow our scent? We have taken a lot of their food," he asked worriedly, but his eyes were so bright.
"Are you scared?" Xue asked. He was worried that the sub-beast would be scared because a swarm of insect monsters almost caught up on them.
Hou heard this when he returned. He handed a cup of water to Tang Tang and asked. "Are you okay?"
Tang Tang took a sip of water and nodded. "I am a little scared but excited at the same time. I didn't know that being chased by monsters was so fun."
When he first arrived in this world, seeing a monster for the first time made him scared to death, but after staying in this world for almost a month, monsters became the norm and a source of food for him. He will surely get frightened if he encounters a monster alone, but with Ude, he can avoid that happening.
"Let's rest for a while before we return, it is still early, and we can have our lunch in the tribe," Xue suggested.
"I will look for some fruits we can eat," Hou said.
Tang Tang agreed. "If you find anything that looks edible, bring it back, but don't go too far, okay?"
Hou nodded and kissed him on his forehead.
Tang Tang lay on the monster's skin that Xue laid out under the tree. While the beast was arranging all of their things, he started checking the system notification.
[Quest:
Create a dish from the vegetables or fruits you found.
Reward: Point System + 10 points
Failure: None]
[3rd Quest Completed!]
'What is the point system, Ude?'
In the top right corner of the blue panel, there was a new icon.
[Points: 10]
[Other than the rewards, you can now accumulate points in every quest you complete.]
'Where can I use these points?'
[You can use it to buy from the system shop.]
Tang Tang's eyes brightened when he heard the word 'system shop'.
'Where is the system shop, Ude? Can I now buy skills? Power ups?'
He looks at the blue panel, but other than the virtual book on the left, only the points in the top right corner are there.
[It will open on your next quest.]
[It will not have any skills or power-ups (ಠ_ಠ). It is just necessities that can help you in your daily life.]
Tang Tang was a little disappointed but still happy with the additional functions of the system. Ude already helps him a lot, and if he can really buy his daily necessities in the system shop, it's already enough.
'I see. Anyway, why did the third quest get completed without me doing anything?'
[It counted the first time you cooked.]
'This means that the quest will be deemed accomplished even though I finished it before it generated.'
[As long as it fits the quest criteria, you will only get the reward after it is generated, like what happened now.]
'It's like a chain quest in an RPG.'
After clarifying things to Ude, he checked the encyclopedia next. The virtual encyclopedia is easy to navigate; it even has a search bar. It was divided into two parts: vegetables and fruits. In the first few pages of each category, all the things they had already found were listed and highlighted, while the others were in muted color.
The encyclopedia is very detailed. It indicates where you can usually find those specific plants, which monsters eat them, and what their other uses are, even the health benefits were included.
When Tang Tang finished checking the encyclopedia, Hou also returned with some yellow and orange fruits. Hou gave him the orange fruits and kept the yellow ones.
"Hou, what fruit is that?" he asked.
The two fruits looked the same; only the colors were different.
"We call this sour fruit."
"Sour fruit?"
"Yes. When it is young, it is orange and has a sweet taste, but when it matures, it becomes yellow and has a sour taste. The sub-beast likes to eat the orange ones, the yellow ones are used to clean wounds," Hou explained.
"Clean wounds?" Tang Tang immediately opened the encyclopedia and checked the fruit.
The fruit was called dua fruit. It is a fruit similar to an apple, the dua fruit is sweet, but as it matures, the fruit starts to naturally ferment and becomes sour.
"Can I have a taste?"
"But it is so sour," Hou said, but he still gave one to Tang Tang.
"I just want to check something." Then he took a small bite at it.
Even though it was only a tiny bite, the sour taste caused his mouth to water and his face to furrow. "Ah!"
"Are you okay?" Hou asked.
Xue immediately approached them when he heard him exclaim. "What happened?"
"He tasted the sour fruit," Hou hurriedly answered.
"I'm fine. I just want to make sure this fruit is really what I think it is," he explained.
"How was it?" Xue asked.
Tang Tang scrunched up his face before he answered with a grin. "It's really sour and tastes like vinegar."
"Vinegar?"
"In my world, vinegar is commonly used as a condiment to enhance flavor or preserve food. As Hou mentioned, it can also be used to clean wounds."
"Can you make food with it later?" Hou asked, his eyes full of expectations and his mouth almost drooling.
Tang Tang laughed.
The more time passes, Hou starts to resemble a cute puppy. "I don't think I have enough ingredients to make a proper dish with this."
Hou's invincible ears droop.
"But I can make a dipping sauce for you. Your favorite fried meat will taste better with it," Tang Tang added.
Hou became energized and volunteered to pick more dua fruit.
They were walking back to the tribe when Tang Tang received a new system notification.
[Ding!]
[4th Quest Generating...]
[Quest:
Successfully transplant five saplings.
Time limit: 1 week
Reward: System Shop + 50 points
Failure: Paralyzed for 24 hours.]
'The time limit is 1 week? Isn't that too short?'
'And if I fail, I will be paralyzed for 24 hours.'
[You can do it, Tang Tang ⁽⁽ଘ( ˊᵕˋ )ଓ⁾⁾]
Tang Tang sighed.
'The quest has started getting harder.'
[Don't worry, Tang Tang. The system will not give you quests that are impossible to accomplish.]
'Yeah!' Even if it is hard, he will give his best to finish each quest.
Especially the fourth quest, which will open the system shop upon completion, he is excited to check out the things he can buy on it.
______________
Inside a big tent, an imposing individual lay languidly on a layer of white monster fur, his long, dark green hair falling to his shoulders. Beside him were three beautiful sub-beasts, sleeping soundly.
"Tribe leader." An elderly sub-beast called out, walking slowly with the help of a long stick embedded with colorful gemstones.
The man laughed, but his emerald irises were looking at the elderly sub-beast, emitting danger. "I knew you would come, Elder Rung."
Elder Rung cast a condescending glance at the three naked sleeping sub-beasts. "Have you chosen who to marry this incoming Eulogia, Tribe Leader?"
The man laughed once more. "You already know the answer, Elder Rung. Why do you need to ask every time you visit me?"
"You're doing a great job as a tribe leader, Zmei. All I wanted was for you to stop playing with the sub-beasts, especially those who don't have a partner, if you don't have a plan to marry them," Elder Rung said angrily.
"Don't say it like that, Elder Rung. I don't want to play with them, but they were the ones who are coming for me. What should I do? Sub-beasts are precious and should always be pleased," Zmei said with a teasing tone.
"I'm doing a great job leading our tribe. Shouldn't you, clan witch, be doing your share too? Do you already have any leads in finding the person described in the oracle?" he added.
Elder Rung gritted his teeth. His blood was boiling from anger, but he still tried to calmly answer Zmei's question. "There are still no leads as to where he might be. It's been a month, and we believe that a tribe is already providing sanctuary to the person sent by the Beast God."
"If your claims are correct nevertheless, why aren't we hearing anything news about this individual?" Zmei asked.
"We also thought about it, and we only came to one conclusion, the tribe who found that person might be hiding his identity. For what reason, we don't know," Elder Rung explained.
"That's interesting. Then, check every tribe that might be hiding that individual," he said, dismissing the clan witch.
Elder Rung just nodded and walked out of the tent. Reasoning with the young tribe leader when it comes to marriage is really difficult.
Zmei ignored Elder Rung and laid back comfortably as he hugged one of the sub-beasts sleeping.
'Why marry if he can have any sub-beast he wants?'