Chapter 3:

Jay would have really fooled anyone in the world at that moment if he claimed to be a prospector that just made the biggest find of his life.

Given the circumstances, Jay might have not even have considered it a lie if not for the fact that he had never prospected a day in his life.

However, Jay was not thinking about such matters.

Jay was, ”Hehehe, I really am better than all the others, I am destiny’s chosen child…” ...indisposed.

After awhile, he got tired of bragging to an ass, “What am I waiting for? What better place than here? What better time than now? ...And other Guerrilla Radio lyrics.”

Jay already knew what he wanted his other self to do, so with a great aplomb, he pressed the button.

“...”

And he watched the second hand slowly tick away.

Jay sighed, ”Well… shit, that leaves me fuck-all to do.”

The not-quite-so-emotionally-mature young noble ran through the list in his head.

“Don’t feel like jumping straight back in the pit to make proper shelter. Not after breaking my back digging up that crystal.”

“Can’t take a bath without wasting drinking water…”

“Got enough provisions to last for a coupla’ months.”

Jay did what he always did when he was indecisive, ”System, show available quests!”

+++

Claim Ruso Lake City!

Rank: Rare

Ruso Lake City lies in your territory, yet they do not answer to your authority. Remedy this.

Claim Lando Trading City!

Rank: Rare

Lando Trading City lies in your territory, yet they do not answer to your authority. Remedy this.

Claim New Hope Port!

Rank: Rare

General Isolde has not respected the various Stansa Kingdom treaties that state that the ports, towns, and feeder villages that support Stansa National Army strongholds belong to the noble that holds the rights to the territory they stand on. Enforce the Law.

Gain political allies!

Rank: Uncommon

A Noble is nothing without their supporters. Get relatively powerful people to back you.

+++

Jay let his head hit the ground as he closed his eyes. “Tch… I ain’t touching those until my cheat goes through, but is that really it?”

The area was just under the level of a wasteland. It has many more places with water than the desert, but was almost as barren. Mostly clay and dirt with the odd tuft of grass here and there. One could count the trees on the horizon.

A thought struck Jay, ”Of fucking course there wouldn’t be people in need or trials to be had here. There isn’t a single sign of civilization out here for hundreds of gilopaces!”

Jay didn’t really know what a ‘gilopace’ was. He didn’t receive a proper education here, after all. All he knew was that it took roughly a day to walk that far in good conditions.

It took Jay roughly 10 minutes before he stumbled over what he wanted to do for the rest of his day.

+++

Name: Jay Northsand

Class: Quester (11)

Class skills:

Minimap (N/A), Description (5), Highlight Objects of Interest (3), Danger Sense (2), System Scan (1)

General skills:

Stansa Common (11), Etiquette (5), Strongarm (3), Swordsmanship (1)

Quest:

N/A

Traits:

Outworlder, Stansa Noble, Stansa Citizen, Baron, Soulbound

Soulbound Items:

Seer’s Stopwatch (Epic)

Karma: +18

Reputation: 12

+++

Jay’s bored voice rang through his badlands camp, ”Description, system scan!”

+++

Description:

A skill that reveals information normally hidden by the system.

+++

Jay sounded a little more intrigued now, ”Hmm, hmm. System Scan, Jay Northsand!”

+++

Jay Northsand

Human

Age: 16 (36)

Class: Quester (Rare)

Level: 11 (63.93%)

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: None

+++

The ability to measure what does and doesn’t increase his level may prove to be invaluable to Jay down the line, but the young noble couldn’t help but be a little downtrodden, ”Hah… I guess there really isn’t anything like health points or stats here, huh?”

Still, Baron Northsand could always smell an opportunity, ”If not stats… System scan, description!”

+++

Description

(Quester) Class skill

Level 5 (80.74%)

+++

Like so, Jay checked all his levelable skills.

…

Eventually, ”System scan, swordsmanship.”

+++

Swordsmanship

General skill

Level 1 (99.94)

+++

Jay was flabbergasted, he’d had that skill for over a year, and still remembered the visible difference it had made when it popped up.

It was this discovery that made Jay get off his ass, ”Motherfucking 0.06!? I could have done that on the road! Or… lack thereof. But still, it’s not like me keeping watch ever actually made a godsdamned difference!”

Then, throughout the rest of the day, Jay went back to what he did at the beginning of his training. He threw every single pop culture swordsmanship reference he could at the wall, and saw what stuck.

He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he actually got the swordsmanship skill when he was trying to find the best way to quickly and fluidly draw his blade.

Huffing and puffing, Jay was trying his hand at 'visualisation training' again, "Backstep, opening, counter! ...and blocked, I'm dead. Phew, come on, Jay, do this and you'll be able to make strides in your swordsmanship again. Forget a week's worth of training, if you get another insight into actual swordsmanship, you could get that boost today!"

And so, Jay trained in the way of the sword all day and into the night, using the excuse of promised rewards to pour himself into training as a coping mechanism. A coping mechanism for the crushing mental stress of being completely void of human contact for four and a half months.