Ayaan stood in the shower and let the warm water wash over him.
Even though he recovered physically, his nerves are still on high alert. That Water Serpent King was one tough bastard. He looked at the Quest clear screen in front of him.
==============================
QUEST COMPLETED
==============================
Quest Name: **The First Guardian**
Objective Achieved:
✔ Collected **12 Water Serpent Pearls** (12/12).
✔ Defeated the **Enraged Water Serpent King**. (Hidden)
✔ Consumed **12 Water Serpent Pearls**
✔ Killed **72 Water Serpents**
Rewards:
Player has cleared the quest with increased difficulty, rewards have been adjusted to match the difficulty.
- **All Stats +3**
- **Skill Acquired: Enhanced Aqua Respite** (Allows underwater breathing for 12 minutes. Cooldown: 10 minutes).
- Water Serpent Leather*72
- Water Serpent King's leather*1
- Water Serpent King's Pearl (Consumable)*1
The additional reward has been given after assessing the player's strength in the Quest.
- **Additional Reward Skill Acquired: Water Bullet** (Allows the player to shoot bullets conjured of water. Impact and damage depend on MP consumption)
- Exp+1720
- MP+72
- Full Recovery
==============================
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the quest.
Upcoming Quest: Raiders of the Marsh (2 days to Go)
==============================
It was a decent haul. The Quest rewards screen displays everything he gained. The Exp, MP, the drops, and the rewards assigned by the system.
His gaze landed on the Additional reward. He already experienced the Aqua respite. He wondered what the water bullet would be like.
However, before checking it, he decided to take a look at the Stat Screen.
==============================
SYSTEM INTERFACE
==============================
Name: Ayaan Rakshit
Level: 2
Class: None
Title: None
==============================
STATS
==============================
Strength (STR): 23
Agility (AGI): 26
Endurance (END): 25
Intelligence (INT): 40
Perception (SEN): 55
Available Stat Points: 0
==============================
HEALTH & MANA
==============================
HP (Health Points): 140/140
MP (Mana Points): 72/100
==============================
EXP PROGRESS
==============================
EXP: 1722.7/ 10000
[■□□□□□□□□□□□] 17.2%
==============================
PHYSICAL STATUS
==============================
Fatigue: 0
==============================
SKILLS
==============================
Active Skills: Enhanced Aqua Respite Lv 1 | Water Bullet Lv 1
Passive Skills: None
==============================
UPCOMING QUEST
==============================
Quest 2: Raiders of the Marsh (2 days to go)
==============================
INVENTORY
==============================
Slots: 5/10
- Standard Mutant Soldier Sword*1
- Water Serpent leather*72
- Water Serpent King leather*1
- Water Serpent King Pearl*1
- Water Serpent Pearl*12
==============================
The experience he gained… 1000 points, it is barely enough. It is barely ten percent of what he needed to go next level. Maybe he should have killed more Serpents. He felt a bit critical of himself. He doesn't know how strong he has to be to accomplish this mission.
But he wanted to be as strong as he can be. However much the system allows, he should reach that limit.
Apart from the obvious Stat increase, the upper limit of HP increased. He gained MP as well.
His gaze finally landed on the Skill.
Water Bullet.
==============================
SKILL DETAILS
==============================
**Name:** Water Bullet Lv 1
**Type:** Active Skill
**Grade:** Rare
**Description:**
Condense water from the surroundings into a high-velocity projectile that can pierce enemies. Effective against fire-based and lightly-armored foes.
**Damage:** Medium (scales with Strength and Agility).
**Range:** 15 meters – 100 meters (Depends on player's choice)
**Mana Cost:** 1 – 10 MP (Depends on player's choice)
**Cooldown:** 5 seconds. (2 seconds in aquatic environments)
**Special Effects:**
Slight chance to stagger the target. Deals **+50% additional damage** in aquatic environments.
**Skill Acquisition:**
Special reward for killing the Water serpent king with hidden requirements in The First Guardian Quest
==============================
The system informed that this reward was created after analyzing his methods in the quest. And he could guess from it. He did the most damage with guns. The sword wasn't that useful in that water environment. It got too much resistance from the water.
It didn't help him when dealing with the Serpent king.
However, his guns really helped him a lot. Still, he couldn't continue depending on them. He realized that there is a massive
The moment he thought of it, he felt a surge of cool stream flowing from within towards his finger.
[Water Bullet – 1 MP]
Water is conjured from the surroundings and gathered at the fingertip. Upon concentrating he noticed that the shape of the conjured water was changing.
With a thought, it compressed and took the shape of an actual bullet. And another thought, it became a sphere.
When he shot it in the sphere form, the water hit the wall and created a crack.
When he shot in the bullet form, the water hit the wall and it went through.
*CRASH*
He opened the door and saw that a vase in the hotel room is broken. It went through the wall and the consumption is still 1 MP.
'Useful'
He took a deep breath and closed the interface before focusing on his shower. He got changed and leaned on his bed.
Its 00:25 AM
It was a long shower indeed. The next quest will be on January 5th 2025.
*DING*
All of a sudden a system alert came.
==============================
SYSTEM SHOP
==============================
Welcome to the **System Shop**!
Here, you can exchange items, purchase powerful tools, and craft custom gear to enhance your gameplay.
**Rules:**
**Item Exchange:**
- Trade your loot items for **System Coins**.
- The value of items depends on their rarity and condition.
**Purchase Items:**
- Spend **System Coins** to buy items such as weapons, consumables, and rare materials.
- Exclusive items are available and refreshed daily.
**Custom Crafting:**
- Combine **System Coins** and **materials** to request a **custom-made item**.
- The item's grade and attributes depend on the quality of materials provided.
- Custom crafting requires a waiting period based on item complexity.
**Your Current Balance:**
- **System Coins:** 0
**Available Options:**
**Exchange Items for Coins** **Browse System Shop** **Request Custom Craft**
==============================
Ayaan felt intrigued by the new feature. Based on this he can acquire the system coins by selling loot he got. Leathers and pearls can be used. He can use the coins to purchase the weapons. He tried to open the system shop first, but when he did, there are no weapons on display.
There is no message showing it is like that as well. It is just empty. That is all.
As for the other features, he didn't hurry to check that. He has to check his loot first, understand how they can help him, and then he can make a decision.
But first, he wanted to decide on what his requirements were.
'Sword is inefficient underwater. It is a decent weapon. But it didn't work well underwater.'
'Need to acquire a good weapon suitable in aquatic environments and other close combat situations'
After some brainstorming, he set some goals.
'Level up in the next quest'
'Get the dagger'
That is all for now.
Ayaan felt a bit exhausted and decided to get some sleep. He put the loot checking and shop examining for the next day.
.
.
.
January 3rd, 2025. 4:00 AM
Ayaan woke up precisely and went to exercise. However, today he felt extra energetic. He would run for one hour every day and focus on exercises for the other. He conserves his energy accordingly. But today, he wanted to test himself a bit and didn't hold back.
His speed doubled the usual and he through the streets of Nalvahan.
He is impressed by his speed. Even at double the speed, he is expending half the energy to cover the same distance. He kept on running as his fatigue slowly increased.
For almost three hours, Ayaan kept running at the same speed. He was out of breath, sweating profusely and his lungs screamed for help. But he didn't stop. He still had that cold face as he tested his limits.
Only after his fatigue reached 90 did he stop at the entrance of the hotel.
He weakly got on the elevator and got to his room. He almost collapsed in the shower.
*GROWL* His stomach growled like crazy.
He then called for room service.
He ordered a ton of breakfast and feasted on it. Even though he ordered double the usual amount, he wasn't full. He ordered one more time and feasted on it as well. By the time he was done, he had over a dozen plates strewn all over the place.
It was almost 8:00 AM. He thought he should check the next quest location and start researching. He also needs to find the weapon. He was about to wake up, but his arms felt heavy and so did his eyes. Without even knowing, he fell asleep on the chair.
.
.
.
*RING*
At around 10:00 AM, Ayaan woke up to his ringing phone. He checked himself and took a deep breath. His current state made him feel a bit anxious. He knew he tested the increased stats, and the performance was amazing. The problem is the fatigue that came after.
He needs to be careful.
He picked up the phone.
"Hello, Raj. Good Morning."
"Hell,o Sir. Is it a good time to talk?"
"Yes. Is Maya alright?"
"Yes, sir. Her condition is stable."
"Good to know. So, what do you want to talk about? Any results in the investigation?"
"Yes, sir. One of our boys accessed the bank accounts of everyone involved in the case. The police inspector incharge, the one who informed you of Maya's condition… his wife's bank account had a huge deposit on the day of the incident.
We tried to find out the sender details, but it raised some red flags."
"Red flags?" Ayaan asked with a frown. Even though it is a loosely used term, it has a whole different meaning from Raj. It is either something that they shouldn't investigate or someone else is investigating so they shouldn't interfere. And by someone else, it is always the Navy or an equivalent force of the government."
"Yes sir. The money came from a red flag account. We didn't go deep to not trigger any alarms. But I tried to check from the inspector's side.
It is not an embezzlement situation; this guy didn't have any connections to any individual who is part of the high-level departments.
I eliminated all the other possibilities. This is corrupt money and the only incident he has been involved in recently is…'
"The accident." Ayaan took a deep breath.
Raj stayed silent. There is no need to explain anymore.
"Where is that guy?"
"I put one of the boys on him. Do you want us to bring him in?"
"No, I will handle that myself. Just keep tabs on him and share his location updates in real-time."
"Yes sir. Please let me know if you want me to handle this. It's just an inspector. You don't need to get your hands dirty."
"No need. This time, I need to break him personally."
Ayaan got off the chair and froze.
He opened the system interface to check his fatigue. Suddenly, he felt like all the exhaustion had already left.
==============================
SYSTEM INTERFACE
==============================
Name: Ayaan Rakshit
Level: 2
Class: None
Title: None
==============================
STATS
==============================
Strength (STR): 23
Agility (AGI): 26
Endurance (END): 26
Intelligence (INT): 40
Perception (SEN): 55
Available Stat Points: 0
==============================
HEALTH & MANA
==============================
HP (Health Points): 140/140
MP (Mana Points): 72/100
==============================
EXP PROGRESS
==============================
EXP: 1722.7/ 10000
[■□□□□□□□□□□□] 10.7%
==============================
PHYSICAL STATUS
==============================
Fatigue: 11
==============================
SKILLS
==============================
Active Skills: Enhanced Aqua Respite Lv 1 | Water Bullet Lv 1
Passive Skills: None
==============================
UPCOMING QUEST
==============================
Quest 2: Raiders of the Marsh (2 days to go)
==============================
INVENTORY
==============================
Slots: 5/10
- Standard Mutant Soldier Sword*1
- Water Serpent leather*72
- Water Serpent King leather*1
- Water Serpent King Pearl*1
- Water Serpent Pearl*12
==============================
The endurance has increased and the fatigue is mostly gone. If he rested for another hour, he would be as good as new. Of course, what interested him is the increased stat. That means, he can get stronger even without the level up.
He did want to speculate more on it. But he has to keep it for later.
For now, he needs to be back in Vashora.
January 3rd, 2025 1:00 PM
The police inspector in charge of the case is currently on patrol in Vashora city. He has been in a good mood these days. He has finally stuck it rich after struggling for so many years and he is looking forward to his prosperous future.
"My wife has been asking for a necklace for a long time. What should I get her? Diamonds or Rubies?" He muttered to himself and as if on cue, he got a call from his wife.
"Hello, Darling. I was just thinking about you." He greeted her with a wide smile.
"D..De. Dear." Her voice trembled and the smile on his face faded.