Chapter 15: The First Quest

Quests were a common trope in a lot of games, and adventure books. So, considering the absurd day she’d had so far, Scarlet wasn’t even surprised when she saw the notification. This didn’t even make the top ten most bizarre things she had experienced in just the past four hours. However, just because this new quest feature felt mundane compared to teleporting mice and mutated raccoons with sonic attacks, didn’t mean it wasn’t immensely significant.

Just what was this whole quest thing about, and what exactly would it mean for her to accept it?

“It’s always good to read the fine print,” Scarlet muttered as she focused on the notification. The simple prompt unfolded, and the full quest description revealed itself.

[Quest: Establish a Safe Zone]

[Description: During the post-Integration ‘Adaptation Phase’, increasing mana saturation will give rise to progressively higher-tier entities. Establish and secure a settlement zone to impose regional stability and suppress hostile incursion.]
[Time Limit: 7 ‘Earth’ Days]

[Objectives:

1. Eliminate hostile threats within designated boundary
2. Secure primary claim of designated area
3. Maintain control of settlement zone for 30 consecutive hours

Optional sub-objectives may appear]
[Base Rewards:

• Pillar of Establishment
• Administrative Rights (valid during Earth’s Post-Integration Seclusion)
• Token of Ascendance

Additional Rewards: Variable based on performance]

[Would you like to accept this quest?]
[Yes | No]

She fully read through it, her gaze moving steadily from line to line. She could feel her mind picking apart everything she had just read. Briefly, she glanced over at Maus who had already curled himself into a ball on his fuzzy, little pillow. His eyes; half-closed. His mind; quite empty.

“Good for you buddy,” she said, and genuinely meant it. There was no point in both of them having terribly high blood pressure. She idly wondered if that was something VIT could fix. Then her eyes flicked back to the quest.

“Okay,” she said, drawing the word out.

She rubbed her knuckles against the bridge of her nose. Then she stood and crossed the short distance to her chaise lounge, picking up a new pad of paper and a different pen on her way, and feeling quite vindicated about her small stationary-purchasing vice.

“Okay,” she said again.

She read the quest a second time, making notes about some of the terms and objectives.

What is this ‘Adaptation Phase’? She queried the Guide.

[The Adaptation Phase follows world Initialization. During this period, the newly integrated world undergoes continued systemic adjustment. Mana distribution remains unstable as saturation rapidly increases, while environmental and biological changes continue to develop. Outcomes during this phase may significantly influence long-term development]

“Okay…” She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists before releasing the tension with a deep breath. Then she made a whole bunch more notes on her writing pad before she queried the Guide again.

What was post-Integration seclusion?

[Newly integrated worlds receive a 12-year seclusion period during which external factions cannot directly interfere]

Scarlet went still.

And what did it mean by ‘cannot directly interfere…’. Did that mean they could indirectly interfere? The guide did not respond.

She straightened slightly as the implication settled in. So, this confirmed it. If the Guide was telling the truth – and why would it lie? – then there were definitely other intelligent lifeforms out there. She’d already sort of come to that conclusion. It had been a theory for her even pre-Initialization.

What happens after the seclusion period? She queried the Guide.

[Upon conclusion of the post-Integration seclusion period, Earth becomes vulnerable to direct interference from external system-integrated factions, including contestation of non-soulbound planetary holdings]

This was more than just confirmation; it was a notification. It was only a matter of time before the people of Earth met other intelligent lifeforms.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

She let that sit for a moment as she made notes.

“Good to know, good to know, good to know.” She took more deep breaths, and covered her face with her hands, the tips of her fingers massaging outwards along her brow ridge. When she was ready, she picked her pen back up and continued to query the Guide.

What was a soulbound holding? The Guide didn’t respond. She waited a beat, then exhaled softly. “Right,” she said, not bothering to press further. She had enough to think about anyway.

“Twelve years,” she murmured, her fingers tapping against her thigh. In her mind, she turned the number over. Earth had twelve years to get its act together before these so-called external factions showed up and started taking an interest in Earth… Or just taking from Earth. She’d read enough history and watched enough movies to know that ‘contestation and acquisition’ of land and resources was rarely voluntary, and even more rarely peaceful.

Twelve years was not a long time. Not on a historical scale, or a planetary scale, and certainly not if people were expected to go from ordinary civilians to something capable of holding territory against whatever the System considered competition.

She pulled the quest back up and scanned through its contents again.

For humanity, phase one of that twelve-year window was presumably establishing safe zones, locking down territory, and creating footholds for humanity within a wildly chaotic, and rapidly changing world.

Her pen hovered over the page, then stilled as another thought clicked into place. She was probably not the only one who received this quest. At the very least, she likely was not the only one who got something like it.

She felt her eyelid twitch and supressed whatever feeling that was before it could fully manifest. It had been easier to suppress than she’d thought it would be. Was her Empathy skill helping her regulate her own emotions?

She made a note to experiment with that at a time when she wasn’t potentially racing with who knew how many other people to establish a safe zone.

She wanted more information, she always wanted more information, but she wanted first mover’s advantage more. So, she asked a more immediate question.

What constituted a settlement zone?

[A minimum viable settlement zone must be at least a five-kilometre radius from designated anchor point]