System Quest

As time passed, just a couple of hours before Annoue would wake up, a notification appeared.

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SYSTEM QUEST: BIRTHDAY GIRL

Description: Today is Annoue Maki's birthday. It would be best if you make a special party for her.

Reward: ????

Comment: You are welcome

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This notification was very unexpected.

Shingi never had encountered or heard the term SYSTEM QUEST. Also, there had to be some trigger to get a Quest, but this appeared out of nowhere.

Also, he never had a Quest with a comment section. It probably was unique to these SYSTEM QUESTS.

But a quest with an unknown reward is always a special one. It meant that there were many rewards possibilities, and depending on his approach; they would reward him differently.

Even if he thought this a weird quest, he wasn't one who didn't like challenges like that. But he knew he needed help cause he did not know how to make a birthday party, especially a special one since he never had one.

He wrote a message in Annoue letting her know he would buy a few things and she should stay home and take a day off. He had done most of the orders, and there wasn't anything significant left other than to finish his hourglass, but he was still creating some permanent Mana Dust. If only he hadn't cleaned all the Mana Dust on his first day cleaning the shop, as it would be perfect for that use.

He headed outside and started looking for any of his students. They probably had a better idea of making a special party, and it wasn't like the Quest told him to do everything alone.

It was early in the morning, so few people were outside, but that was for NPC, as the Player's schedule was different, so there were quite a few on the streets.

He headed towards the Inn where he knew they were staying, and he found one outside the Inn talking with a Player.

Or, more specifically, Hineko seemed to flirt with a female Player who seemed to ignore him while walking away. But Hineko was following her and keep trying.

Shingi let him be for now, as he most likely would return when he understood she wasn't interested in him. Shingi headed into the Inn and saw sitting at the table, where Mizuneko had breakfast.

He joined at his table, which seemed to surprise him, as he wasn't expecting to see Shingi that soon.

"Good morning. Is everything ok? Or are you here for the training you were talking about?" [Mizuneko]

Shing told him that would help him become an Ice Mage, but he still needed to prepare for it.

"It isn't the time yet. But it may be sooner than I thought. But I am here because I need your help." [Shingi]

This request surprised Mizuneko. The last time Shing asked him for help was to help face those Guild players that seemed to want to capture him or something the other week.

"Well, you remember my sister from the other day. Right? It is her birthday today, and I need to make something special for it." [Shingi]

"Oh, I see." [Mizuneko]

Mizuneko understood somehow how he felt since he was too a brother and knew how vital are birthdays. But he didn't realize that Shingi mainly was doing it cause of the Quest since he didn't mention it.

"Well, I would be glad to help you, but I think Phoenix or Tycoon would be more suited for this. As being girls themselves, they probably will know best how to organize a pleasant party for her." [Mizuneko]

Mizuneko sent a message to them to meet him in the Inn, and it didn't take them long for all, even a beaten Hineko, to gather at the Inn.

Shingi explained the situation to them, and Pheonix, the not shy sister this time, was excited to help.

"We need a good place for the party to happen. What about your house or the shop?" [Little Phoenix]

Shingi gave it some thought.

"Well, I told her she could have the day off so she won't go to the shop, so I guess we could do it there. There is some space." [Shingi]

They went more on the details, and Shingi gave them a few coins to spend on what they needed and even gave them the key to the shop.

He went back to his house to keep Annoue busy and bring her to the shop in a few hours.

He found her in the kitchen as she seemed to play with some wooden ball with her fingers. She appeared to be truly bored.

"Hey, sis. What are you doing there?" [Shingi]

She didn't seem to change when noticing that Shingi was here but responded.

"I am just a little bored today. I don't think I can train today." [Annoue]

"I see. That is a shame cause I thought you would be interested to learn your first Spell. But I guess we can do it some other day if you don't feel like doing it today." [Shingi]

At that point, Annoue's usual excitement was once again on her face.

"A SPELL? What is it? Is it your helpers' hands, or is it like the cleaning one?" [Annoue]

MANA HAND and FILTH EATER were the two Spells, which Annoue had seen Shingi mainly using, so she thought she would most likely learn one like that, too.

"Nothing like that. It is a basic spell that is going to use your Mana Element." [Shingi]

They headed outside and to the back of the house. It was an open space, and it wasn't a place that people were usually passing through, so they could use it for some training.

What he was going to teach her was her Elemental version of MANA BOLT. It would be the AIR BOLT since she had Air Element Mana Pool.

It was pretty similar to how the AIR SLASH worked, or more specifically, it was even easier than that. Again, she had to gather the Air Mana in a sphere in her hand and then push it forward, but this time had to keep it as a sphere, unlike the AIR SLASH.

It didn't mean she could use it right away, as she had to learn how to aim appropriately. She had to find the balance of how much mana she needed to use between making the bolt and how much to push it. Too much in the bolt could make it explode; too little would have no effect when it hit the target. Also, if she used too much for the speed, the bolt could mess with her aim, and too little would make it easy to avoid.

He didn't use his Blessing for this training because it was still in cooldown for the day. But he gave tips as he also showed her how his ROCK THROW worked. It may have been a different Element, but the basics were similar for this Spell.

"Brother. Can I ask you something? Why is your Spell called ROCK THROW and not EARTH BOLT?" [Annoue]

Shingi thought about it, and even he wasn't sure why it was the case. The Spell didn't seem to be any different from what EARTH BOLT would be and not even a different Grade than it or any weaker.

He thought he hadn't heard some of his Spells in the past, but he didn't know every Spell existed.

'Could it be a different Spell? '[Shingi]

Creating a new Spell and recognized by the System wasn't that easy, even a Low Grade one. Many Arcane Practitioners had spent decades of research to do something like that, and a lot of times, they weren't successful.

But most people were trying to make at least new Base Grade ones.

Even his DOME OF SILENCE, which could be a new one, even if it is a Base Grade one, wouldn't count as a finished one yet. He understood the Spell was most likely at the bottom of the Base Grade, but he could increase it in power with the appropriate arcane words but shouldn't be enough to make it Master Grade one.

He kept it in his mind and would know more when he had his class. Now he focused on helping Annoue.

He looked at her status to see how things progressed.

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STATUS

NAME: Annoue Maki

CLASS: Arcane Blade (Apprentice)

RACE: Blessed Human

TITLE: First Student

HP: 108/108

SP: 42/42

MP: 23/23

STR: 15

AGI: 11

END: 12

INT: 12

MANA POOL: Air Element

SKILLS

Low Rank: MARTIAL ART, COMBAT INSIGHT, DEFLECT

Base Rank: COOKING, MANA MANIPULATION, MANA SENSE, AIR SLASH

Master Rank: LIFT, PUSH

SPELLS

Low Grade: AIR BOLT

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The System recognized the Spell since she could cast it; she just had to make it more manageable.

Also, it seems the time with Karemon worked as they raised her COOKING skill to Base Grade.

Also, her AGI increased once more, which could have happened because of Karemon's training. He taught her how to use the knife, and her moves seemed clumsy at the start but got adjusted later.

Unfortunately, neither DEFLECT, MARTIAL ART, or COMBAT INSIGHT Ranked Up to Base Rank during the week, but Annoue told him they could feel close to doing so especially COMBAT INSIGHT.

Shingi made a few rocks and held them with his camouflaged Light MANA HAND, which was close to invisible if one didn't pay attention, to create targets for Annoue. Since his MANA HAND could hover, he moved around at different speeds to give some challenge while trained at his Spells.

She was slowly adjusting to it, but it was way slower than her usual training. She seemed to be a quick learner and was weaker because of her stats, but that wasn't the case now.

'Could it be because this isn't something an Arcane Blade is using? '[Shingi]

Until now, everything he trained her only on things that one with the Arcane Blade user would do, and she was learning them in record time even if her stats were low. For example, she finished her first Enchantment training with an INT of 10 in less than a week. It should have taken her a few weeks, and that if she had an INT of 12.

She had access to training for one hour under Shingi's Blessing's effect, but she trained with just her stats most of the time. It almost seemed like she had these skills known from the beginning.

But now that she was training at a Low-Grade Spell, it was like any other person, but she had the advantage of having a tutor like Shingi, so it still sped up the progress.

After a few hours of training with a few breaks to recharge mana, she seemed to have gotten the handle of it. Of course, she had been ready some time ago, but Shingi wanted to delay the preparations to have finished, and secondly, since she learned a Spell, to know it at the best of its abilities.

There was no way he would leave something half-finished if he could finish it today.

So Shingi told her they had to head over to the shop as he had to pick up something he forgot and needed her help to carry it, which, of course, she was more than happy to help. It wasn't a secret that she had more STR than her little brother.

And so they made their way to the special surprise party.