Chapter 24: Spin The Wheel
She had paid her ten points to find out what the Mystery Box was, and now she knew.
All that was left was to spin the wheel.
There didn’t seem to be any sort of specific technique to it, and the name had implied that the outcome was at least somewhat random. It wouldn’t be much of a mystery if it wasn’t truly random.
Kalli gave the wheel a spin, and found that the effort she put in had no effect on the actual spin rate of the wheel. It was picking up speed as it went, as if her input was only a way to trigger the animation.
For a while, the wheel raced by in a blur of colour, then it began to slow, and she could see the prizes again.
Weapons, food, that ridiculously overkill armoured motorhome, even mystery boxes, like a "please play again" option.
The wheel steadily slowed, passing over a red spot that was labelled [Phalanx Class Point Defence Mobile Artillery Walker], past the common weapons beside it, and then onto two black squares, the mystery box squares.
Only, there was something in the middle, a strip of glowing light where the usual border would be.
And that was where the indicator stopped.
{Congratulations Coordinator! Prize Awarded} Peerless Grade Prize: Quest Editor
What looked exactly like her old wrist worn holographic smart device appeared in her hands, along with a floating display of System text.
{Quest Editor} Peerless Grade Skill Item. The recipient may create Quests to their own specifications, with rewards to be determined by the System, with a 3x return multiplier for the creator. Common Grade Quests Cost 1 Credit, Hard Grade Quests Cost 10 Credits, higher grade quests locked until level 10.
Kalli put on the watch, and it vanished into her arm, leaving her with the [Quest Editor] skill, which she could activate with a tap of her wrist, where the watch should be.
When she tried it, a holographic display appeared above her arm, and she smoothly entered the menu to see what she could find.
{Easy Mode Quests} [Gathering], [Hunting], [Rescue], [Free-form]
{Hard Mode Quests} [Hunting], [Survival], [Protection]
In each category, there were templates for the various types of quests, and a list of available options based on what the System would approve.
Most likely the decision was based on what was actually in the area, as the first [Hunting] category quest that she found was to kill ten rat demons. That was a quest that none of the students would be surprised to see appear tomorrow.
It wouldn’t give her an option to kill things that weren’t nearby, but she could choose from a few types of monsters, and she could vary the group size or the number of monsters killed.
Ten monsters was the maximum for a solo mission, but it would go up to fifty for a five-person quest, or as low as ten.
The point where it changed from easy to hard was based on the monster selected.
Not infinitely variable, it wouldn’t let her just give them freebies. But it would let her assign quests to the team so that they could get rewards and keep themselves growing.
More importantly, she had new information.
Easy quests awarded 100xp points, while hard mode quests awarded 1000. How much was needed for a level was a mystery, but she had solid proof that there was an actual experience structure in the system, and it wasn’t all random chance-based advancement.
If the teams kept going out and doing quests, they would definitely level up.
She didn’t know just how much stronger that would make them, but any improvement was better than nothing, and it would keep giving them System points for new skills. Or, to trade for items from her system points store.
Assuming that she could get it to a high enough level that they still needed the items that she could sell.
Kalli wasn’t sure how she was going to get a thousand System Points to upgrade her store offerings to Uncommon Grade, much less three thousand to do all the categories. That was a concern that would have to be dealt with later.
For now, she was just glad to have options, and the ability to create quests instead of waiting for them to appear.
Now, she could make one or two every day and keep enough points coming in to live in relative luxury. Well, assuming that she could get people to go out and do them. But if they were going to keep getting quest rewards from the system when she created the quests, she didn’t see why they wouldn’t.
They all needed the loot as much as she needed the points.
For now, everything that they had, from weapons and armour to food, was contingent upon getting more quest rewards. The amount they had stored in the Academy wouldn’t last forever, and as soon as there were any sorts of shortages, they would definitely be looking for a way to supplement their diet.
With her new skill still racing in her mind, Kalli fell asleep, only to be rudely awakened by her alarm in the middle of the night, reminding her that she had volunteered to go on night guard duty.
Still half asleep, she buttoned her uniform blouse, slipped into tights and equipped her new robes. Technically, they covered everything, and they were fairly warm, so they could be worn like a dress. But she just felt naked without anything under them, as they were far from the form hugging fit of the fashionable dresses she was used to wearing to work.
Even though those also showed virtually zero skin between her neck and knees.
The moment that she stepped outside, Kalli realized that her fears of it being too dark to see much of anything were unfounded. Not only was it a full moon tonight, there were two red moons in the sky. One was just rising, and the other was close to a more familiar looking white moon in the sky.
They were all still the wrong size for Kalli’s home world, though.
The extra moons gave the night an eerie red glow that she didn’t remember from the night before, but it definitely made it easier to see.
"You’re the first out of the dorms, grab something to eat, and you can take the left tower," one of the soldiers informed her from the kitchen tent set up by the front doors of the main building.
She couldn’t quite make out his name on the uniform from here, but all the men looked roughly the same. Roughly the same height, same haircut, and only a few that didn’t have dark hair and pale eyes.
Perfect for special forces, she supposed. Nobody else would be able to target them individually if you couldn’t tell them apart.
"Got it. Do you have anything on the stove?"
"Oatmeal and ham. Heavy on the ham. The cook said that it’s best if we eat mostly boar meat to conserve the dried staples."
Kalli nodded as she scooped the thick porridge into a bowl.
"That’s solid logic. We will surely replace some of it if everyone keeps doing quests, but there are no guarantees about what they will get."
The soldier sighed. "And my lot doesn’t have any powers at all. So we’re just assistants for the missions and for security."
"Don’t count yourselves out yet. Security is important, and you’re the only ones here who are trained in combat. The warriors especially are going to need lessons in how to swing a sword without hurting themselves. Only a few of them ever took any combat related classes."
