CHAPTER 79: BOLDER WITH EACH CRAFTED QUEST

Seeing the light persist was like a bucket of cold water dropped right on top of my head.

It was sobering... while also a familiar feeling.

"It is the second or third time already that I’m going too far in the heat of the moment?" I thought, staring at the words written with just the light against the backdrop of the darkness, half-hoping they would flicker and vanish.

But vanish they did not. If anything, they only dimmed a tiny little bit before fully settling, turning into a second quest for me to fulfill.

"I really am bolder when it comes to setting goals for myself than when it comes to actually facing this boldness and trying to pursue them, huh?"

There was no denying it.

A part of my soul came up with such an idea because, at the very back of my head, I imagined reaching this point would be easier if I had a quest to do something like this.

Thankfully, even with such a hell of a quest submitted, I still either lacked the guts or had enough morals not to cross any line that wasn’t crossed already.

"In all honesty, is there any reason for me to even rush fulfilling this quest?" I asked myself as I started to pace around the nothingness. "I can leave it hanging for years if need be!"

Finally, some peace of mind came back to me, allowing me to take a proper, deep breath and then sigh it all out along with all the other worries.

’Then, having a quest like that... it gives me the ability to check if I can only add quests that go below the threshold set by this one, or if they need to top up the most aggressive ask.’

Right now, I was still deep in the phase of exploring my options with this shell of a system. And while I was perfectly free to spend the next few hours despairing over how prone I was to the random bursts of emotion, desire, and excitement, I might as well just make good use out of it.

"With that said..." I hesitated for a moment as I stopped in my tracks to think. "What else is there for me to try?"

Now that I stood to think, I realized just how few things there were that I could do to Selia, especially when limiting them to stuff that still retained some pretense of good taste.

"Oh!" I nearly jumped when I realized a potential flaw in my thinking. "Does it really have to be something directly related to physical intimacy? Or, if by any chance..."

Rather than wondering about it out loud, I quickly whipped my arm out and started to paint words with light again.

"Quest: Take Selia out for a thematic date. Reward..."

For a moment I went with my gut feeling only to end up with "increased affection points."

Thankfully, I managed to stop myself before throwing out a quest reward that would actively affect Selia’s thoughts, turning me from her unlikely companion to a piece of shit that used his powers to mess with her head.

’Would a relationship be worth anything if it was built upon a system’s coercion?’ I took a moment to ponder, only to near-instantly shake my head and roll my eyes.

"Heck, even when just an ironic, inner-thought remain, just the idea of doing something like that leaves me with a bad aftertaste in my mouth..."

I shook my head before nearly spitting down on the ground of this weird nothingness.

With a mental note never to engage in anything that would affect other people’s will, I took a breath and calmed down, once again putting my thoughts into pragmatic, if not outright exploitative, mode.

"For a date... What if I try this, then?"

Rather than seeking personal benefit out of my system, I decided to try something completely out of pocket. Something that would also provide me with one hell of information if it ended up working and even more of it if, for any of the possible reasons, it wouldn’t.

"Quest: Take Saintess out for a thematic date. Reward upon Saintess reaching a certain degree of enjoyment and satisfaction: an ice-cream and whipped-cream crepe."

I took a step back and, with bated breath, studied the life cycle of the letters I wrote.

Soon, the light flickered. Yet, just as I was about to breathe out a sigh of slight disappointment while watching the light go off... something unexpected happened.

The light indeed disappeared.

But not the light of the reward words, but the quest-related ones!

"Wait, so it’s actually possible?!"

Just learning that was enough to send my excitement through the roof... ultimately forcing me to take my sweet time controlling my breath and calming myself down again.

I already knew this shell of my system could be insanely overpowered when used well. But it was only now that I started to realize the full degree of just how insane it could be!

"Okay then, let’s put that aside and try again," I muttered to myself as I ignored the half-completed window and drew another one before filling in the very same quest as before.

"Quest: Take Saintess out on a thematic date."

That part was simple.

I already saw the light of this quest properly settle, proving the system was willing to accept this kind of challenge. Then, once again, I had to figure out a reward for completing the ask.

Which, just like I’ve found many times already, wasn’t all that easy of a task.

’Then, how about this. Since an item from another world takes much more than just a date...’

A smile appeared on my lips.

Even now, each of my unanswered questions could serve as a great inspiration for what could be done.

And so, with a happy, excited smile on my face, I brought my arm up and started to write again.

"Quest: Take Saintess out on a thematic date. Reward: The most beautiful dress for Saintess to wear that this world can produce."

Once again, rather than trying something completely new, completely original, I merely adopted my earlier idea into something that shouldn’t be all that hard.

After all, if I took a look at my quests and then applied the inverse upon my own magic...

Then, while the asks of each quest required me to go out of my way, the reward would mean the system going out of its way to provide me with whatever it was that I asked for and it accepted.

And if that was the case, then procuring a locally produced dress should be a much easier task, given how I specifically requested something that already existed in this world rather than something that required a trip back to Earth.

I took a step back, once again inspecting the results of my work.

And a few moments later, the light of the system prompt finally settled, flaring up for just a bit before then dimming down, just a bit below its original brightness as it reached its maturation.

"That’s one hell of a good quest," I muttered to myself, perfectly happy with how things turned out.

Both the quest and the reward were good. But achieving small success here only meant that I now had to go back to figure out just how far I would have to go with my quest to get a reward sourced from back on Earth.

"It would really help a lot if I could get some sort of a guide for how this shell of a system works..." I muttered to myself only to then squint my eyes and swallow my saliva, regretting I couldn’t swallow the words I just said.

Sure, it would feel nice to know what I was doing and the limits of what I was doing.

But asking for a script on how this broken system of mine was working... wouldn’t it be akin to asking the developer about the best ways of exploiting a bug they never intended to let happen in their program?

"Yeah, I prefer if things work the way they do, rather than having a guide over a system that cannot do a thing," I muttered with the shake of my head.

Then, my eyes drew back to the incomplete quest from before, with only the impressive reward left and still waiting for me to come up with an appropriate ask for it.

And so, as eager to find the answer as I was to go back to the waking world to report on all the progress I’ve made, I just went with my guts again.

’It’s a huge reward, so the quest should be just as huge,’ I thought, glancing back at the earlier huge quests I’ve made... only to then complete the quest accordingly.

"Quest: Take Saintess on a thematic date that she will be satisfied with and finish it in a secluded place by making out with her. Reward: an ice-cream and whipped-cream crepe."