1 ~ Custom Task ~

* NOTE: This is set in some alternate Earth about 159 years ahead of Earth's technology. *

Jamie Grier was supposed to be studying, but he wanted to know what his new stats were after the gifting assembly. He thought, "open stats."

[ James Grier ]

< Lvl. 15 >

< EXP: 18962/20000 >

< Wisdom: 14 >

< Strength: 10 >

< Charisma: 8 >

< unlock more stats later >

< Health: 189/200 >

[ Task: Study for exam. ]

[ Reward: +1W +100U +300EXP ]

He stared at the task. Plus one wisdom for studying? Score! He started to thoroughly read the textbook, and he could feel slowly that more and more things were making sense.

The teacher smirked. Systems helped everyone. The teachers were paid more because there were many more successful students than there were years ago, and the students were successful and lead nice lives.

Jamie was waiting for the exam to happen after studying the chapter that they were assigned, as he knew the teacher would reward the teens with a score higher than 12.

When the exam was passed out, Jamie answered it within an hour. When he checked his stats again, nothing had changed, besides his unit amount and he had gotten 300EXP from studying. He saw that he had gotten a side message from his teacher.

[ Mr. Sun ] You passed with a 12. I expect better next time, but here's your reward.

[ Mr. Sun has given you: +1000EXP +Full Health Regen +CT x1]

[ Accept All? Y/N ]

He clicked yes, and then his health fully regained. The 1K EXP leveled him up faster, and he put his +1 point reward to Charisma, but why did he get a CT [1] especially from his English teacher?

He imagined tapping the purple shimmering icon that indicated the task, and it popped up.

[ CT: Find Wong ]

[ Rewards: +3000 EXP, +1W, +2S, +1C, +4?, +CT x2, +10000U ]

[ Accept? Y/N ]

Jamie's eyes practically bugged out. 10,000 units? That would get him school lunch for the rest of high school, plus a bunch of skill books! Jamie assumed the question mark was for a new skill, and the extra EXP and points for new skills were going to be helpful. Completing it would give him more tasks like this as well. Was this reward meant for him, specifically? Was he going to accept it?

He thought for a minute, then nodded and thought, "Accept the custom task."

It was anticlimactic, really.

He heard a humming in his head for a minute before he heard a female electronic voice say, "Custom task accepted. Expires in 4 days."

He nodded and grinned, but then a troubling and important thought came to his mind, 'Who's Wong?'

He asked the system to do an online search for him [2] but nothing showed up besides random men and women, all with Wong as their first or last name, but not just, 'Wong.' He tried asking his teacher, but he shrugged Jamie off.

Jamie was annoyed. Why wouldn't Mr. Sun answer him? Who in the heck was Wong? He searched it again. Still nothing. He would have to talk to Si about this.

***

Si was sitting at her desk, her fingers flying across the keyboard; almost in a dancing motion.

Her bedroom door flew open, and Jamie walked in. "I need your help," he said.

"You have a flair for dramatic entrances; you know that?" she half-mumbled, mostly talking to herself.

"I have some interesting news for you," he rolled his eyes at her comment and gave her the paper detailing what happened, along with a string of numbers that would only make sense to her. Her eyes skimmed across the paper, then she typed in the number. The number was his ID number, and with Si's hacking skills she could access his files. She clicked on his tasks and studied the shimmering one.

"Wong?" she asked, eyes still glued to the computer screen.

"No idea who they are," Jamie replied.

"And the reward is—HOLY —"

"Yeah, yeah, it's a lot. Can you do some type of scan or internet search for him or her?"

Si rolled her eyes. "It could be a them. You never know what they go by. And it doesn't have to be a person. It could be a software, or a company, or a store, or the name of an animal."

Jamie hadn't thought of that. "Can you still do it?"

Si nodded. "It might take an hour or so, but I can shoot you a text when I've narrowed it down. Just 'Wong,' right?"

Jamie nodded, then leaned down and turned the chair around. "I'll see you later," he whispered and pressed his lips against hers. She smiled against his mouth and pulled back, cheeks slightly pink. She nodded and shooed him away. He laughed and walked out of her room. Mr. Daerin, Si's dad, was sitting on the couch in the living room, and he smiled at Jamie as he walked out of the house.

Jamie decided to walk to the city. The weather was perfect, and he ended up at one of his favorite cafés, Pastry Treat Internet Café, to wait. It was almost like a Moonbucks and an internet café had a baby, resulting in this.

"Hi, Jamie!" the manager, Chloe, said. "Where's your cute little cinnamon roll?"

Jamie smiled at the nickname Chloe had given Si. It was adorable. "She's working," he replied. "Can I have a caramel vanilla latté?" Chloe nodded, then yelled, "CARAMEL VANILLA LATTÉ!" into the short area that was made for placing finished dishes.

As Jamie sipped on his latté, Chloe talked on and on, but he didn't mind. He enjoyed listening to her talk about the drama caused by her best friend's girlfriend's brother's wife.

Just as he finished his latté, Jamie got a text saying, "I might have found a few leads. Come here ASAP." He paid for the coffee, left, and started running back to the neighborhood that housed Si.

By the time he got there, he needed to take a few deep breaths. The house was decently far from the café he went to, maybe five blocks.

Si answered the door and brought him up to her room.

"How many leads did you find?" he asked after they both sat down on her bed.

"A few," she replied. "I've got a teacher who's also secretly a drug dealer, a salesman who's having an affair with his secretary, and a cat."

Jamie bit his lip, thinking about it for a second, then said, "Tell me about the cat."