9 First Quest
With Voltaire's little guidance to Kazuma, he followed his advice and visited the Questing Board to check up on what kind of jobs are present. He is quite sure that most of the quest should be dangerous and involves paranormal stuff and so he steeled himself and navigate to the Kabbalah group and scrolls for the Questing Board.
Kazuma remembered that the Questing Board is not part of the stuff that can be unlocked the moment he became a magician. But since Voltaire has already vouched for his involvement, Kazuma is hopeful it was open indeed.
And just like what Voltaire said, the Questing Board is now open for him to access. The moment he clicked the Questing Board channel, his phone's screen emit a bright light before manifesting another hologram of a notice board, appearing right into his room. Not only that but someone started speaking as well and the voice is coming from his phone.
"Welcome to the Questing Board, Magician. Because of your recent exploits, you are granted permanent access to the Questing Board. We have installed a hologram of the Questing Board that only a magician can see in your home. Of course, access to it can be done anywhere but whenever you try to look for quests at home, you can just go to the installed Questing Board without the need of booting up your phone."
Kazuma didn't expect to see the Questing Board be like that and he wasn't expecting it to be installed in the vacant space in his house.
"Magic sure can do many things, huh?" Kazuma thought to himself.
He exits the Harmony app on his phone, put it in his pocket, and just like what the voice said, the questing board remained in place, which means he can access it anytime even if he didn't boot up his phone.
"Well, since this questing board is now here, might as well see what these requests are, shall we?" he cracked his knuckles a bit before approaching the holographic questing board.
There are plenty of them in the questing board but most of them are covered in chains and whenever Kazuma tries touching them, the chains give off a static shock that he has to back away.
"It seems that was the way the Questing Board is restricting quests that are not yet ready to be taken by me, perhaps they are only applicable to higher ranking."
Kazuma remembered Voltaire mentioning that Malkuth rank magicians cannot take anything higher than danger level Lilith which would be the first of the danger levels of the Qlipoth. Anything beyond that, a magician should be on an equal or higher level to take it.
Although plenty of those quests have chains on them, there are also plenty of other quests that don't have any chains and that is the thing Kazuma decided to focus on.
He scoured through them and most of them looks pretty complicated and pretty much a troublesome thing just based on how they sounded like. However, there is one quest that catches his attention.
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Mission Difficulty Rating: Lilith
Applicable ranks to accept the quest: Malkuth rank and above
Quest Location: Sakura Primary School
Mission Details: A nearby children's park from a kindergarten shows signs of danger after multiple incidents of accidents happened to the children while they are playing in the area. Although most injuries are minor, they are already threatening enough that they cause injuries if left alone, they might grow stronger and they will not just harm children but might even take lives. Although it is unknown what it was, there is one consistent thing from the testimonies of the children.
"A shadow started to talk and play with us"
Testimonies also revealed that most of the accidents happen during dusk when most children are being picked up by their parents and the victims are those children waiting for their parents to pick them up. It's best to check the place at dusk for a higher chance of locating the entity.
Find the cause, eliminate and solve the problem and report back the results. If the incident is just a fluke and nothing was wrong with the place, it is still counted as a mission complete. Proceed with caution.
Rewards: 15,000 yen, Elemental Pill Enhance I x1
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The description alone sounds like it was some kind of story that comes from children. And if it is violent enough for children to get injuries as a result, people will only see it as a small accident caused by children. Even if they think it was from a supernatural thing, they would just be trying to avoid the place and not fully stop the entity.
If that were the case, this is a perfect opportunity for Kazuma who is just starting out. Kazuma nodded to himself before pulling off the quest from the board. Not only does the quest gives 15k yen but also an extra item called Element Enhancer I. Although he has no idea what it was, perhaps it might be useful for him. For now, the money is the big thing. 15k is not a joke for him and if he can finish the quest quickly, it beats up a part-time job in terms of payout of money and time.
When he pulled it out, the Quest paper suddenly turned red and materialized into real paper. The contents remained the except there is now a new mark "Quest Taken by Kazuma" present on it.
"Looks like there is no backing out now," Kazuma sighed.
Rolling the quest paper into his pocket, It was already nighttime but Kazuma still didn't feel that sleepy and so he decided to try and train on his magic. If he wanted to survive and win on this quest he took, he needed ample preparation as well.
Using the guide that he received he studied how to train in magician standards. Although it was just normal meditation, if it means better ways to use magic for later, Kazuma does not complain.
After practicing for 3 hours, he soon found himself pretty tired and felt sluggish. Not only that but he felt dirty for some reason and has to take a bath before going to bed. It might be early but he will be starting the quest tomorrow. The sooner the quest is done, the less he felt stressed about it.
And so, the night passed by and the next day arrives.
Despite his tiredness the other day, Kazuma felt refreshed for some reason. Perhaps it was just an effect from last night that he felt tired but one night's worth of sleep is enough to remove that weariness.
Kazuma proceeded as usual with his daily activities but after that, he started preparing for what to do next.
Because he is going into a possibly dangerous situation, Kazuma decided to prepare. First, medicine. He put bandages and a first aid kit in his backpack. It might not be similar to games where applying one bandage or first aid kit would immediately heal his wounds but this will be helpful if he got some injuries that needed some tending. He also brought some food and water as well as some spare clothes.
Kazuma is worried that his magic spells might not be enough and so he brought along a kitchen knife and put it in his backpack as well. Although he doesn't know whether the Qlipoth can be harmed by physical objects like the knife but who knows?
He also picked the most comfortable clothes he had in his wardrobe and wear his cap and put on a face mask. This might be a bit weird and he might even look suspicious but if he has to do it, he has to ensure his own survival and anonymity first instead of trying to appeal to the people. He will go to this length just for the quest, or more to say, for the money.
"Alright, that should be it."
Kazuma put on the bag and readies himself. This is going to be his real first fight alone without anyone that will rescue him this time around. He needed to do it. For the money.
