A Moment of Reflection

Moving closer to the origin of the sound, his nerves taut while tightly gripping on his spear, Valyr eventually let out a long sigh of relief when he found out what made the noise, or rather, who made the noise.

Snickering, a man with spiky orange hair hunched behind a barrel near an obscure alleyway, trying his best to stifle his laughter. Though, once he found out that the man he was hiding from had found him, a grin appeared on his face as he waved at the man.

"And here I thought you wouldn't find me," said Leon with a chuckle. In response to those words, Valyr relaxed his grip on the spear before slowly affixing it again behind his back. "Leon, why are you here? The patrol doesn't end for an hour more, no?"

"Normally, that would've been the case." Leon nodded in agreement with Valyr's words. "However, at this moment, there are no more people wandering around the streets in my section. All of them have already returned to their respective homes."

"Then again, I could also say the same for your section," added Leon not long after, whistling at how barren the streets in Valyr's section were. "If you're worried about our quest not being completed if we return to the barracks early, Damian told us to inform him if there were no more people in the streets if we planned to go back. Just so you know, we already did."

Hearing those words, Valyr's mouth went slightly agape as he processed all of the information that had been given to him. After a while, he scratched his head as a wry smile appeared on his face. "Mind telling me more about these things whenever you're free?"

"Sure, sure." Leon chuckled as he urged Valyr to come along with him. "It took me about a month to get used to the entire system in place for us guards, so no rush."

"Well, I could tell you a few things while we meet up with Jonas and Louie," he continued as Valyr started to walk beside him. "First off, there's the messaging system. Since we're all part of the same organization according to the system…"

…

During their walk back, Leon had imparted quite a lot of useful information to Valyr, specifically information related to how organizations operated under the system Greater Beyond distributed to its NPCs. At some point, Jonas and Louie had met up with them, deciding to give Valyr information they knew as well as their bonds gradually grew closer.

Eventually, the four of them had arrived at the entrance of their barracks just as the moon had reached the zenith.

Ding!

As if it was timed, Valyr obtained a notification from the system, prompting a screen to appear in front of him soon after. However, he wasn't the only one to do so, with Leon and the others opening up screens as well to check on their notifications.

"Good job on your first night patrol," Leon said to Valyr while smiling, with Jonas and Louie also smiling as they nodded in agreement. "Although I was just planning to play a prank on you earlier, you've showed that you still remain vigilant even when everything is fine, something a guard should always have."

"I'll probably give Damian a small piece of my mind regarding your performance during this night patrol, but don't worry too much. What I say will definitely help you out," he said before waving farewell at the three, heading into the barracks first. Not long after, Jonas and Louie also bade farewell to Valyr, eventually leaving the latter alone on his own once more.

Seeing as he was now alone, he decided to take a look at his notifications in greater detail, his eyes slightly widening in surprise as one notification stood out.

[You have completed the quest 'Night Patrol'.]

[You have been rewarded 20 XP.]

[You have been rewarded 20 contribution points.]

[You have been rewarded 10 merit points. Earn 490 more merit points to raise your rank to [Veteran Guard].]

"Huh. So that means I need to do around 50 more night patrols if I want to increase my rank," Valyr muttered, nodding soon after as he headed into the barracks. However, rather than heading straight to the dormitory to take a rest, he instead made a detour to the cafeteria, recalling how he only had a light meal before going on the patrol.

Surprised that there were still people manning the cafeteria at this hour by the time he arrived, Valyr quickly ordered a hearty meal from them, making sure not to waste their time. A few minutes later, he grabbed the tray of food given to him before making his way to a vacant seat to eat his late dinner.

'Now that I think about it, I've done quite a lot, considering it's just my first day,' he thought to himself, savoring each bite of the meal he had ordered. Not wanting to be stingy on himself, he ordered a slab of meat cooked to perfection, as well as sides that perfectly complemented the smoky yet savory taste of the meat.

'I've obtained a passive skill, leveled up my stats, and even went on my first quest.' Going over what he'd done so far, Valyr faintly nodded in satisfaction.

Though, not long after, a bitter smile crept up onto his lips as he wasn't too eager to experience the aftereffects of overexerting himself. 'However, if I want to make the most of the 60 days before the beta version starts, I'll have to do at least this much, if not, more than what I'm already doing.'

'After all, it wouldn't make sense for a low-leveled NPC to entice players into joining his organization.' Now that he was an NPC and not a player anymore, the methods available for him to entice players and other NPCs in joining the organization he would make for the final battle was now limited. If back then, he could utilize his real-life connections in order to amass a great number of people, as an NPC, the only thing he could rely on was his strength and the reputation he had.

'I'll have to start thinking of ways to increase my reputation,' he thought soon after, recalling multiple quests he could take in order to do just that. Though, the more he thought about it, the more his brows furrowed as he eventually let out a sigh. 'The earliest quest I could take in order to increase my reputation is after I ascend to a Rank 1 class, but that means I need to increase my strength as quickly as possible.'

'Haah… strength and reputation truly go hand-in-hand.' Letting out yet another sigh, Valyr quickly finished the remaining food on his tray before returning the tray to the people, thanking them for the meal. After that, he slowly made his way to the dormitory, finally feeling the effects of exhaustion as his eyes started to close every once in a while. Noticing this, he slapped himself in the face a couple of times, making sure that he stayed awake until he arrived at his room.

Though, by the time he entered his room, he allowed his body's needs to take over, lying down on the bed with his uniform still on as Valyr quickly closed his eyes, gradually falling into a deep sleep.