System Quest
"So, what do we do now with the wheat?" Jacob asked, the three stood around the lone plot of wheat on the ground. It was then that he noticed a small sticker slapped to the side.
"To be harvested." He read what was on the sticker, Ella nudged Jacob's shoulder with a devious smirk on her face.
"Harvested? Hmm, maybe you can try that power of yours, didn't one of your abilities say harvest?" She asked. Jacob snapped his fingers, seeing the screen and what abilities he had at the moment.
Just like she said, harvest was listed as one of his abilities.
"You know, we haven't seen you use it yet, maybe try it here." Ella spoke.
Because of being taken almost immediately upon reaching the age for the system to unlock, he didn't get a chance to test it out yet.
"I don't think we can tamper with this, it's not our property after all." Zeph tried to talk Ella out of it, but she was having none of it.
"That may be true, but it says harvested, so we're practically doing their job for them. Zeph facepalmed in annoyance.
"If things go wrong, I am not an accomplice in this." Zeph walked to his chair, silently thinking to himself again.
"Well, wanna use it?" She glanced at Jacob's screen.
"I don't know, we weren't ordered to do this."
"Don't worry, i'll take the fall if things go wrong. That's a City P defender's promise!" She gave a thumbs up after talking.
[Yeah, go ahead. Heck maybe this is a good time to show you how our little deal works.#%@] A text appeared from the screen. Above it a small box appeared.
[Harvest wheat one time: 0/1]
"What do i get from this anyway?" Jacob questioned.
[What everyone else gets when they do a task, exp! Just that your tasks come from me and not other people.@%#%]
"I don't know if that's better or worse."
Jacob recalled that normally the government of the city will give the people their tasks to earn exp with, normally in the form of farming quotas.
'Well, let's see how this thing works then.' He tapped on the ability.
[Harvest ability cost per use: 5 energy]
'I guess 5 less won't be so bad.' With a second tap, his left hand began to glow yellow, the ability was ready to use, and only needed a target.
He walked closer to the plot of dirt, pointing his hand at it. Suddenly a blue light shone down on the entire plot, it was ready to be harvested.
Jacob tried to remember what else he needed to do when using the ability.
'Aim at target, then…Clench fist!' He tightened his hand into a fist, and at that moment, the wheat was cut off from the ground. It slowly rose up in the air, being grouped and bundled together by a rope.
After a few moments, the bundle of wheat dropped down to Jacob's hands.
"Like a bouquet of flowers, not gonna lie, that's a neat skill. We can go make some bread with this." Ella celebrated.
Zeph continued to sit, silently amazed by witnessing Jacob's skill first hand.
"Not an offensive ability, but everything can become a weapon if used properly." He remarked.
Their celebration was cut short as the door opened again.
"Alright Jacob, the facility is ready for use-" They hastily turned to see Clara frozen in place, staring straight at them.
"It was her idea!" Jacob dropped the wheat bundle, slowly moving away from Ella.
"Well, uhh, you see maam…" Before she could continue or come up with a lie, Clara sighed.
"Tell me, did you get that from a nearby lab door?" She asked.
"Yes…"
"No wonder I received reports of a missing plot, next time do not wander off on your own."
"Y-Yes ma'am!"
"Although it was meant to be harvested, they had other methods in mind." She turned to Jacob.
"As for you, at least you used your ability, just not in the way i expected." She took the bundle of wheat, walking back to the doorway.
"Reprimanding should be the course of action, but not at this moment, follow me to the training facility. And bring that plot to the lab."
Before they could depart, a text box appeared
[Objective completed 50 xp rewarded.] Next to it, a bar meant to show levels appeared, one Jacob hasn't seen yet from his system.
[Rank 10 progress: 50/200]
"It offered you xp?" Clara asked.
"It wanted me to harvest the wheat for xp." Jacob responded. Clara's frustration was replaced by intrigue and curiosity, now fascinated by what she just witnessed.
"Perhaps something good came from this, i'll report this to the researchers soon, follow me."
—----
The team arrived at the training facility, containing more guards at the entrance. The door was more armored than the last one, carrying more defenses.
"Look i'm sorry, besides the scientists didn't look that mad." Ella responded to Zeph.
The large door slowly opened, revealing the inside. Almost immediately they could hear the boots of soldiers, and muffled noise of combat coming from dozens of other rooms inside the hallway.
A mix of armored soldiers and unarmored trainees moved around, entering and leaving rooms.
"Welcome to the training facility, currently our most busy facility."
An escort of guards followed them inside, staying close to Jacob.
Countless soldiers and trainees looked at the three walking in the middle, confused or afraid of seeing them.
"We're rushing to train as many units for the frontline, each attack continues to drain our manpower so we need to call on other cities for aid." Clara explained, looking at the trainees she passed.
"We hope that you may help us in this war. And perhaps gain ground against City G." She continued.
It did not take long before they reached their destination, a vacant training room.
—---
Inside was a large pale white room, with glass on the wall for observers to watch.
Just like before, once everyone entered, the doors closed and disappeared.