7.2: The Next Mission pt 2

When he got back to his quarters, he was greeted by an excited Avil who rubbed against his legs the moment he entered.

"Hiya Avil. Did you miss me, buddy?" Lus said as he bent down to pick up the purring furball. As he pet the cyclops cat, he realized that he would need to get clearance to keep the pet at some point and, more importantly, he would need a sitter for this upcoming mission.

There was only one person he trusted for that kind of job. Going to the comm near the door, he rang Becky's room, hoping she was still lounging around reading.

"I don't care how much help you think you need, Lusac. I'm off today, and I'm going to enjoy that without any interference from you," she replied curtly.

"I'm off the rest of the day too. I'm on the upcoming mission, which is actually what I want to talk to you about. Can you come by my quarters for a few minutes?"

"Hmmm. I did just get to a really interesting part in my book."

"Please, Becks. It'll be fast," he pleaded.

"On my way, Lus," she responded, a hint of laughter in her voice.

It was only a moment later his doorbell was beeping, and he opened it up to welcome Becky into his place.

"What's this abo-" She stopped speaking as Avil ran up to her, meowing in its strange pitchy squawk, rubbing as hard against her as it had ever done with Lus. "A mutant cat? Where'd you get him, Lus?" Becky questioned as she bent down to rub the creature's head.

Lus chuckled and filled her in on the vermin problem, telling her everything except the whole Leviathan essence part. She'd flip if she knew there was a Demon onboard. Everyone would.

"Well he's a cute lil guy," Becky said as she rubbed Avil's belly.

"I'm actually not sure if it is a guy. I'm thinking that it's some genderless species," Lus mentioned.

Becky made a face. "Unfortunately, I'm rather positive he has the proper, um, equipment for 'guy' to apply."

"Oh," Lus murmured, wondering why he hadn't thought to check such things himself. The monster version of Avil didn't really have anything, so he sort of assumed the same applied to the cat form.

While Becky continued to coo over Avil, Lus realized that he hadn't cleaned his room in a very long time, and it was rather obvious. Embarrassed by the state things, he subtly kicked a few stray articles under his bed while Becky was busy with the cat.

"So what's this mission? Another retrieval?" she asked as she settled onto the couch with Avil in her lap.

"Yep. But it's at a museum on a Corporate planet this time so we're going to spend a couple of days there to do proper reconnaissance," Lus said, taking the seat on the other side and wondering if any strange smells from yesterday were lingering.

"Ah. So you need someone to watch Avil for you?" Becky guessed.

Lusac smiled. "Yeah. It wouldn't be much. Just checking in on it–him–a couple of times throughout the day and making sure he has enough food and water."

"What about a litterbox?" Becky asked, craning her neck to check the corners of the room.

"A litterbox… I guess I would need one of those." Lus tried to think of something he had on hand that would fulfill that rather important need.

"I went shopping during the last resupply and haven't thrown out the bags yet. Most of them are organic based, so why don't you find a box and I'll bring the stuff over and we can shred it to make something up real quick?"

"Sounds good. That will do until we do another resupply and I can do some proper pet shopping," Lus agreed.

"Assuming you get clearance to keep him."

"Yeah. Assuming that," Lus sighed.

Becky slid Avil onto the couch, and he squealed in protest before curling up next to Lus and starting to purr again. She left for a few minutes and then returned with the promised bags. Lusac dumped some stuff out of a random container he had lying around and then they got to work making up the temporary bathroom. They ended up chatting a lot more than working, so the final result took a lot longer than it probably should have to get to. But by the time they finished, Avil was already coming up to sniff the paper.

"Oof. I'm starving. I think we missed our lunch window," Becky said as they both looked away to give Avil some privacy.

"Oh no. What time is it?" Lus found the clock on the wall and groaned. "Welp, I'm due in the kitchen now if I want to have dinner done in time. I guess I'll see you at meal time. Thanks for your help."

"Anytime. Just remember to give me temporary access before you leave tomorrow, and I'll make sure Avil gets proper care," Becky replied. They walked into the corridor together, but separated so Lus could head to the kitchen and Becky back to her room.

It was another long evening of cooking, and he still couldn't quite nail down getting the pasta thin enough, but he was sure it turned out better than last time. He also made enough for sixty instead of fifty, which would hopefully satisfy the crew a little more.

After he finished setting out the large pots of soup, a small notification appeared in the corner of his vision.

[XP Gained: 50]

[Level Up: Level 1 -> Level 2]

Lus smiled at that but quickly returned to a neutral face when he realized someone might see him grinning at nothing.

Another notification appeared accompanied with the usual beep.

[Quest Complete: Movin' On Up]

That was even better. There was so much to see from his system, but he was going to have to wait until he was back in quarters and alone. He went back into the kitchen to tidy a few things up in hopes of making it a little easier for the cleaning golem before going to get his own food once the line died down.

Nobody complimented him this time around, but there weren't any insults either which Lus interpreted as a good sign. He actually took a chance and sat with Becky and Zer-Dasht for this meal, something he hadn't done in weeks. Dasht was busy talking up his latest weapon acquisition, leaving little room for the others to say much, but it was still a pleasant evening all in all.

Lusac ate fast, eager to get back to his room and explore the new capabilities with his level up. Luckily Dasht was engrossed enough in his own stories, he didn't seem to notice, and Becky was absorbed in her own world as well so it was easy enough to slip away and back to the safety of his quarters.

Inside, he pulled up the familiar blue screen. The home screen now held a visual notification about leveling up, but he frowned upon reading that the system would choose how to spend the five points based on his actions since his last level.

When he tapped the notification away, he moaned.

[Stamina: 5]

[Intelligence: 8]

[Strength: 4]

[Charm: 5]

[Health: 8]

[Speed: 8]

[Common Sense: -1]

[Luck: 8]

[Intelligence], [Speed], and [Luck] all went up by 1, but [Speed] was the only one he really carried about. And the last two points were put into [Charm] of all things, pulling it up to a 5.

He noticed that his [Cooking] skill had also leveled up at least, but he wasn't sure that was going to do much good. And no new skills were added, leaving him a plain old [Chef] and nothing more.

"What the. How does this make sense? Ugh. This system sucks," Lusac complained, dropping onto his couch. He ran his hands over his face. "No. This is fine. I'll just have to tailor my daily schedule to be a little more conducive to getting the stats I want like [Strength] and [Stamina] and [Health]. The stats that are actually useful."

He sat up and called the screen back up. "Let's see the details of that new [Quest] at least."

He navigated to the quest tab and went to [Active Quests] where he selected [Movin' On Up]. His reward was [100 XP], the same as [Cook Something Edible]. Not great, but it put him closer to the [500 XP] he needed for his next level. When he received the [Reward], he got yet another notification from his system.

[New Quest Unlocked!]

[Name: Perfect Soup]

[Description: cook Beginner's Luck Soup perfectly]

[Time limit: None]

[Reward: 50 XP]

[Reward: Recipe Book]

Now his blasted system wanted him to become a professional chef overnight just for the [Reward] of more blasted [Recipes]. There was no way he was ever going to get something useful out of it, at least not anytime soon. To drown out his misery, Lus instead turned his focus to the holodrive with all the information for the upcoming mission. If he put all his energy into that, he could forget about the horrible deal he'd made, at least for a few days.