"...and then she mercifully gave us access to your tower. The end–for now." Jumble finishes with a flourish of her hand and a shallow, seated bow. "How'd you like the story?"

Clutter stares blankly at Jumble as she finishes her explanation. Considering her class, it's not surprising that the entire story took almost an hour to tell. And, for some reason, I'm described as this… paragon of wonderfulness. Which is kind of unsettling with all the saccharine and near hero-worship descriptors Jumble puts on my name.

"I… uh…" Clutter looks up at me with a furrowed brow full of questions. "How much of that was actually true?"

I sigh and shake my head. "All the truth is in there somewhere, but you'll have to dig around the flowery language to actually find it. Couldn't you just give the abridged version, Jumble?"

She huffs and crosses her arms. "That was the abridged version. I didn't even add in any internal monologues, which would easily add another twenty to thirty minutes. Plus I skipped over everything Euro and I said to each other for the sake of brevity. But if you want to, I can go back and–"

"No!" Clutter exclaims. "Please, no, I got the gist of it. I… just… I think I need some time to process everything. You're actually one of the original paindne? And the others are actually constructs you made? That's… how's that…"

He swallows hard and buries his face in his hands. I sympathetically pat him on the back; it was overwhelming enough hearing all that spread out over a few hours, but having it thrust at him in an uninterrupted story must be a different kind of confusion.

"I know it's hard to believe, but I believe her." I assure him. "Is there anything you want confirmation on before we go check the reward?"

"Mrgh." He grumbles. "My brain hurts too much to think right now. OH! WAIT!"

He violently raises his head to stare at Jumble with wide eyes. "You wrote those books! I've been reading them for years and years! The first ones kind of suck, but they get so much better after number ten! I even have all the action figures, which look exactly like everyone but you–which, I mean, you're not Darb, so it makes sense. Can I have your autograph?"

Jumble beams and summons a pen that she twirls between her fingers. "I'm always happy to meet a fan. What do you want signed?"

"I… um…" Clutter pulls out his Class Card, then frowns when he remembers he can't use his inventory. So he holds out his arm instead. "These wraps, please! With permanent ink, if you have it."

He extends his arm in front of me, and Jumble reaches around to grab it. She scribbles a quick signature, which is flashy and full of flourishes, then smiles wide. Clutter pulls his arm back with an equally wide smile, but for the briefest of seconds, something else flashes into his expression. Pearl watches with a blank expression as she pats my cheek absentmindedly.

"Thank you!" Clutter says giddily. "I won't wash these ever again, just in case!"

Jumble sends her pen away with a giggle. "You don't have to do that; this ink stains anything but skin, scales, and anything else that covers meat. It'll outlive you if you take care of it right!"

Clutter lowers his arm and feels at the signature. "Okay, I'll be as careful as possible. But, um, I'm still really, really overwhelmed. Maybe one of you can stay here with me to clarify some things and the other goes with Jumble to check out the reward?"

That's a… strange request. Especially after the outburst of excitement. But before I can say anything, Pearl pats my cheek a little harder and gives me a reassuring nod. Then I turn to Clutter, whose eyes plead for me to say yes. And inside of that pleading is both the excitement at meeting author Jumble and being overwhelmed from hearing everything that happened.

I sigh through my nose and stand up with a nod. Pearl scurries down my arm and hops onto Clutter's shoulder.

"I guess there's no harm in it. Jumble, looks like it's just the two of us again." I say as she hops to her feet with a dumb grin. "You're not getting sick of me yet, are you?"

"What?" She gasps. "No, of course not! How's that even possible?!"

Pearl laughs. "It hasn't happened to me yet."

"Me neither." Clutter chimes in.

Jumble motions at them as if that proves anything. "See?"

I brush off what I'd meant as a one-off joke of a line with an awkward laugh and make my way to the stairs. Jumble pouts in place for a moment before following, but quickly catches up and tries to squeeze herself into the space between me and the wall. I roll my eyes and make space for her, which she takes instantly and grabs hold of my arm again. Poor thing really is starved for friendship if she'll latch onto someone like me so readily.

My awareness feels the change before we round the corner. The bottom floor of the tower is a little bigger than before, and a lot more square. A new opening–not a door, but a hallway–extends off into the distance in the opposite direction of the room with doors. I raise an eyebrow to get Pearl's attention. …And remember that she stayed behind with Clutter. Right.

"This wasn't here before." Jumble states as we round the last corner. "Hopefully nobody got hurt when it appeared."

I open my mouth to say the quest wouldn't do that, but just the thought sounds so wrong that I don't let the words break free. We literally just witnessed the system's willingness to let people die to fulfill its own agenda. Honestly, I don't even know why I'd think that shit in the first place. But… I did.

Why?

My jaw clenches as I scrape my memories to find any reason why I'd defend the system like that. Absolutely nothing sticks out to me. Literally no examples of the system being merciful, or loving, or giving the slightest shit about a living being. The only thing stopping it from murdering us is its own ruleset.

Jumble taps my shoulder. "Shelby? Are you okay?"

I squeeze my eyes shut for a second, then put on a confident face. "Just thinking about some stuff. Can you think of any reason at all why I'd be confident that the system wouldn't just let people die?"

She blinks, then laughs bitterly. Yeah, that's what I was expecting.

"Nevermind, stupid question." I sigh. "It must be doing something to my brain. I'll have to set up a bunch of purifications to stop whatever it's trying to do."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"That's a very good idea. Even if the quest isn't super murderous, the system definitely is." Jumble tugs my arm to get us walking again. I didn't even realize I'd stopped. "I want to see this meditation hall sooner than later. It could be really important."

Our footsteps echo down the perfectly lit hallway until we come to a branch in the path. Jumble glances down both ways, then confidently points down one way.

"I bet it's this way!"

I pull out my Class Card, check my map, and shake my head. "Nope. That's the way to the workshop; the meditation hall's the other way."

"Oh. I mean, I knew that." Jumble grumbles and turns away from the workshop. "Can we check that out later, too? Or do I not have access to it because I didn't join the quest that made it?"

That's… a very good question. It also brings up the question of if Clutter can go into the mediation chamber since it was me and Jumble that cleared it. Hm. If I was in charge of the quest, I'd make it available to everyone in the group, that way everyone had a reason to split up, and I could make more subquests. But the quest itself… would it do that? I… wait. What did Jumble say a minute ago?

I tap her shoulder to get her to look at me. "Why'd you say the quest isn't murderous? The system made the quest, so shouldn't it be just as bad as the system?"

Jumble tilts her head to the side. "Who's to say the system made the quest?"

"The… rules?" I say with far less confidence than a second ago. "Alright, I'm obviously missing something here. Doesn't the system make all the quests?"

"Do you really think the system has time for that? No. It definitely doesn't. It gives out some quests to specific people, but most of them are naturally occurring. I don't know how it works at all, just that if you find something new or important, it generates a quest that didn't exist before." Jumble shrugs. "Maybe that is the system making it, and I'm just being gullible, but I've seen a bunch of quests that definitely didn't exist before I touched something. And if the system directly made that quest, it definitely would've tried to make it kill me."

"Isn't that just because the system can't tweak a quest after it makes one?" I ask.

"Is it because it can't tweak quests after it made them, or that it can't tweak quests that already exist?" Jumble clarifies. "I don't have the answer, but I've done enough quests that only benefit me that I'm confident the system doesn't have as much control over them as it wants us to think. Or maybe that's what it wants us to think, and we're just playing into its trap. I've put years worth of thoughts and theories into this, and I still don't have a concrete answer."

She walks away, completely unbothered by the potential that this quest could be completely fabricated by the system–or, apparently, not at all. I just… that doesn't seem possible. Not at all. If the system doesn't give out the quests, then how can they 'occur naturally'? It doesn't make sense. So I'm going to protect myself by not believing that until I have hard evidence that couldn't have been manufactured by the system.

Because it absolutely hates us. Enough that us just dying might not be satisfying enough for it.

I shudder at the implications and let myself be pulled along by Jumble until we reach an outline of a door etched into 'stone'. She puts her free hand to it and tries to open it, but she lets out a cute little yelp as a spark of magic snaps her hand away from the material.

She pouts as she shakes her hand. "Ow. I thought I had access to this."

"Apparently all I gave you was tower access." I note for future reference and pull out my Class Card. "I'm… adding you to our group. You won't have any function access until I discuss that with Clutter, but for now, you can get in and out of everywhere. And… your quest clears will add to our tower too, I guess."

Jumble squeaks happily and pulls me into a hug. I awkwardly pat her on the back as she squishes her everything against my side and nuzzles her face into my neck.

"Alright, that's enough for now." I insist. "I love hugs as much as the next person, but this is a little much."

"Oh! S-sorry." Jumble quickly steps away and smooths her fur out. "I, um, right. We've only really known each other for a few hours. That isn't appropriate yet. Can I still hold onto your arm?"

I pretend to give it a moment of thought, then hold out my arm. She grins and latches right back on, rubbing the side of her head against my shoulder with a delighted hum. With her free hand she tries the door again, and this time, it slides to the side to reveal the meditation chamber. I step in, herded by the curious paindne on my arm, and find myself drawn to a set of cushions splayed out on a lowered portion of the floor.

"It's so comfy in here!" Jumble exclaims. "The light, the temperature, even the smells! I could finally take a really long nap here!"

A tentative sniff proves her right. The room smells like absolutely nothing–but in the best way possible. Nothing too intense, nothing too subtle–just absolutely nothing so I can focus on anything else. It's the same with the light, heat, and even the feel of the air; everything is perfectly engineered to be distraction-free. Just absolute comfort. Perfect for meditation.

"Ooh, what's this?" Jumble pulls me out of my thoughts and towards a set of storage cabinets. She yanks one open, revealing a bounty of random things. "Incense sticks, metronomes, blankets; everything you'd need to make this place perfect for your own brand of meditation! If this was a normal place, I'd love it."

"But because it's a reward, there has to be something more to it." I finish for her. "Let me check… nope, no other controls in the Class Card. It must be something in the room."

Jumble nods in agreement. "I'm going to flop down on those pillows and take a nap. If something happens, tell me."

"Alright."

Before I can say anything else, Jumble unlatches from my arm and takes a flying leap at the pillows. A soft 'flump' cushions her landing, but a quiet squeal of discomfort says it didn't fully cushion it. I crack a grin and look down at my Class Card just in case something pops up, since there should be controls for the room.

The words 'meditation chamber' appear right under 'workshop' in my access list. I tap on it, give it the maximum amount of magic that it needs, and wait for the command to finish. A soft hiss and thin mist fill the air, gently latching onto my skin with the slightest twinge of magic. Jumble raises an arm and studies it with a huge yawn, then turns to me.

"It's doing something." She states.

"That it is." I confirm as another text box appears in my control panel. "Huh, list of meditations. Says here there are three available, and that two of them use just under half of the max amount of magic we can funnel into this room at once per person. The other barely even takes a tenth."

Jumble props herself up on her elbows. "Why would meditation take that much magic?"

"Let's see for ourselves." I say and press on the first option.

Meditation Chamber.

Draws in the experiences of any member registered to the tower who has completed a subquest and turns that subquest into a meditation.

A meditation is a copy of the quest, but without any outside factors to possibly influence it.

Meditation rewards are granted based on the actual rewards of the subquest, but unique rewards can only be gained once.

If a member has already completed a subquest they cannot take part in a meditation of that subquest.

…

List of available subquest meditations; scraping stain, anomalous apartment.

Traditional meditations available by using supplies around the room and a small magical cost.

It's a subquest copier. I can get Clutter his messenger function whenever I want to. Hell, if we work together to look for other subquests, we could un-grey our entire Class Cards three times as fast. Maybe even more. And considering the quest gave out Class Card functions for free if we didn't have them already… we could come out of this with tens of thousands of Worth worth of free upgrades before the quest moves on to the next part.

"It's asking me if I want to start 'scraping stain'." Jumble reads from her Class Card. "Do I need to do it if I already have an uncensored Class Card?"

I shake my head. "No. But if you can remember where the other uplifting trials are, that's what we're going for next. Unless the quest decides to move on before that, which is definitely possible."

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