“Are you really going to keep that woman in your party, Yarm?” asked Penrin.
“I don’t see why not.” I was in the middle of giving headpats to my mimic friend for being so brave.
“She’s part of the Demon King’s army. She’s killed a staggering number of humans. Do you really want someone like that on our team?”
“And you’ve killed a large number of monsters, have you not?” I responded. “This is a chance for me to get closer to the monsters. She’s the only one from the monster kingdom that I’ve been able to communicate with. Maybe I can get through to her.”
“She tried to kill you! Twice apparently.” Penrin’s arms were folded and her finger tapped her elbow restlessly.
“Can you blame her?”
Penrin did not appreciate my self-deprecating humour. “I just think its best for all of us if we cut ties with her as soon as we make it back to the city.” When Penrin finished her sentence, a loud ringing sound came from her belongings. “Oh drat. It’s this late already?” She pulled out an alarm rune from her bag and turned it off. “I need to get back home quick. Are you guys coming?”
“I am,” said Newmill. “I have a curfew. I don’t want to break it.”
“I’ll pass,” I said. “I still have business here. You two be safe on your journey back.”
“Are you sure?” Penrin looked concerned.
“Yep.” I wasn’t in any rush to return to home base. There was nothing there for me. Newmill and Penrin had families to return to, whereas I had depraved sinful Earthlings waiting for me.
“Be careful, Yarm,” Newmill said as he left the dungeon with Penrin.
I cracked my neck and got to work catching up on my System. I had earned a lot of XP, completed a quest, and gained a title. I was spoiled for choice with where to start. I scanned over my sidebar. When I first came to this world, it was much smaller. Now, there were too many menus to keep up with.
[Status]
[Skills/Stats/Titles]
[Quest Log]
[Inventory]
[Party]
[Crafting]
[Property]
[Recipes]
[Boosts]
[Settings]
It was overwhelming. I felt like I was getting eye fatigue from looking at the System so much. I clicked the status page to refamiliarise myself with my current state.
[Name: Yarm] [Age: 45] [Level: 19]
[HP: 110] [MP: 60] [XP: -15,356] [LP:4] [GP: 84]
[Body: 1] [Mind: 9] [Soul: 4]
[Titles: Villain, Lockpicker, Charmer, Explorer] [Skills: Cleanse, Spare Monster] [Items: Soundless Pick, Wall Compass, Lesser Mana Potion, 3 Acupuncture Darts, 4 Slot Tokens, Sturdy Needles, Giant Rat Eye, Giant Rat Pelt] [Recipes: Tranquiliser] [Boosts: XP Boost (6 days left)]
That was a lot. I strained my eyes to read it all. The main updates were my increase in level and the new Explorer title. The title was something that Penrin said was rare. I wondered if any of the other Earthlings had it. I pressed it for an explanation.
[Explorer: Gain a 1% movement speed buff when in uncharted territory.]
That was worse than the boots! What was so special about this title? Penrin got my hopes up for nothing. Was this title more to do with bragging rights than anything else? I supposed others could show their Systems to friends to boast about the rare title. I was incapable of that, so it was even more worthless to me.
The Villain title sure wasn’t doing me any favours with how it restricted me.
I did remember that titles gave a person questlines, so next I opened up my quest log, in hopes that the Explorer title would give me something good on that front.
[Quest Log]
[Hero Quest: Kill your first monster.]
[Villain Quest: Kill your first human.]
[Lockpicker Quest: Unlock a secret in a dungeon.]
[Charmer Quest: Make someone fall in love with you.]
[Explorer Quest: Visit all places of interest within the King’s city.]
My mind immediately disregarded the first two. The Lockpicker quest was something I was confused by. I was currently inside a hidden dungeon; did that not count as unlocking a secret in a dungeon? Was there something to be found in here that counted as a secret? What were the chances that I could discover a secret inside a secret dungeon?
The fourth quest was laughable. I never considered myself to be the nicest person, but even I wouldn’t do something so scummy as toying with a person’s heart to complete a quest. I did not want to break someone’s heart to gain rewards, no matter how valuable they may be.
Though, perhaps I was looking at it from the wrong angle. If someone like Penrin’s mother, Frome, fell in love with me, I would instantly reciprocate her feelings. It wouldn’t be so bad to make someone love me if I also loved them back.
The fifth quest felt vague. What would the System consider a point of interest to be? Would I have to step into every tourist attraction within the city? That seemed labour intensive. The King’s city was quite large, so something like that would have to be done over the course of several days.
Next, I opened the Party menu.
[Party (5)]
[Yarm (19), Mimic (9), Newmill (15), Penrin (30), Erith (???)]
Since the moment I met her, Erith’s level was unknown to me. I had already met many people like her, so it didn’t faze me. Newmill and Penrin were both at the five-level bottlenecks. At every multiple of five, it took a large amount of XP to gain another level. I was a single level away from that bottleneck.
I pulled out my chalkboard and did some calculations. It would take around 800 XP for me to level up once more, and then around 15,000 XP for me to level up again. These thresholds were brutal.
I looked at my mimic friend eating moss off of the stone walls. If the mimic didn’t kill or eat humans, how did it gain XP?
Did it complete quests? Or did it have another way to gain XP like I did? What I really wanted to know was if it even was capable of using the System.
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