163 - Brilliant Idea

“Let’s hear it,” Medh said, looking at Alexandra from across the counter.

She let silence settle for a moment, thinking about how she was going to frame her idea.

“I’m looking for people to complete a few recurring tasks for me,” she started, careful not to expose her divine class. “The issue is that the reward won’t mean much to them unless they keep going at it every day for two months.”

“What kind of reward are we talking about?” Medh asked, taking notes with a pen.

“Contribution points. Tokens of sorts. With five thousand, you may purchase a skill directly from the system.”

Medh’s hands froze. He looked up at her. “I’m in.”

“So it would— What?”

“I’m in,” Medh repeated. “What do I have to do?”

“Erm. Of course, you can earn points if you want, but I was hoping to organize a wide distribution of the quest through you. I’ll give you all my elemental essences at a discounted price, and you take care of convincing people to try it out, perhaps going as far as to subsidize their work until they get their first skill.”

“Consider it done,” Medh said, unblinking.

Alexandra shifted on her feet. “Are you sure? I know it's a lot to ask.”

“Alexandra, you’re underestimating the value of a skill. Did you ask anyone else?”

“I did. They don’t really believe me.”

“Of course they don’t. To be honest, I too have my doubts.”

“Then?” she trailed.

“It’s too big a chance to pass. If it doesn’t work out, I’ve lost two months and maybe a bit of money depending on the delta between your sources and what I’ll need to spend to get the ball rolling. If it works, however, I get skills.” He paused, smiled. “And a place of choice in your business empire.”

“Business empire? We’re the ones paying people.”

Medh shook his head. “For now. Consider it an investment. When word gets around that this is real and not a scam, people will be begging to participate.”

Alexandra could see it happening. Making bank with her quests wasn’t her main intention. She was after points. But she wasn’t going to turn her nose up at real money.

“I need more details,” Medh said. “What’s the task? How many of those points can we earn every day?”

Alexandra nodded. “Wait a moment.”

She summoned her journal.

Contribution Points: 50,090

Just enough to buy an uncommon skill. She could technically purchase the skill quest for 45,000 points, but those could be complicated, and she preferred getting her guild going now.

Her plan was simple: purchase an uncommon skill and use it as the base for the quest she was going to share with everyone. An uncommon skill training quest from level one to two offered a reward of a hundred points. If she set her share to ten percent, there would be ninety points left. Fifty-six days to purchase a common skill, assuming people would complete the quest on cooldown once a day.

Most probably wouldn’t. Their loss.

She cleared her mind and started looking for skills that would fit her needs. First, it had to be something she wouldn’t ever level. It was unfortunate, but if the skill reached level fifteen, she wouldn’t be able to issue the training quest anymore. To prevent that, she wanted to look for a skill that she could not level, not even by accident.

It would make the grind slower, but it was better than having to purchase a second skill. That was why she’d decided to go for an uncommon skill. Common skills’ first training quest only rewarded twenty points. Too slow.

The second requirement was that the chosen skill’s training quest had to be doable by most, and preferably not too annoying. She also worked under the assumption that many people would have to do it at the same time, so hunting, gathering, or anything else that risked depleting local resources was out.

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She tapped her fingers on the page of her journal and looked up at Medh. The man didn’t seem fazed by her hesitation. He watched in silence, with the patience of an angel.

Alexandra transmitted her requirements to her journal, but nothing happened. Too vague, and she was thinking of training quests, not skills.

She thought.

She could go for a running skill. Surely, the training quest would involve, well, running. Running was a renewable resource, so it wouldn’t be an issue. But running was annoying. A common skill would have been fine, but the training quest for an uncommon running skill… What if the quest required hours and hours of running every day? Nobody would do it.

Something like Basic Herbology could do it. There had to be enough species around Balrum to last them a long time. But they would eventually run out. Scrap that.

Perhaps something involving sparring? But any skill that could require sparring could just as well turn into a hunt.

A dexterity-based quest like sewing could do it. Even up a grade from her own, it couldn’t be that time-consuming. But that was a skill she would level eventually.

No. She was thinking about it the wrong way. The skill she picked didn’t have to be useful. In fact, it was better if it was useless, because she was going to lock herself out of it. At least for a while.

“Mayhaps I could offer some advice?” Medh said.

She looked at him. “I think I’m good.”

He nodded. “Take your time.”

What did the people of Balrum enjoy doing? She looked at the stone walls around her. Digging? They certainly seemed to like their troglodite houses.

It was definitely something Alexandra didn’t want to do.

She smiled. Finally a decent candidate.

Then she thought about Speck and the elemental’s rock addiction. Okay, maybe not digging.

Something else… she’d seen Zeynep weave carpets, but that was too close to her magic to be safe. Then…

She didn’t know. She hadn’t interacted enough with the locals to know. She looked at Medh.

“What do people here do to have fun?”

Medh seemed taken aback by the question. “I… rarely partake.”

“Come on. You’re a local. You have to know.”

He hesitated. “I believe drinking at the pub is popular these days.”

Alexandra's eyes snapped back to her journal. “Yes. That would work. What type of drinks?”

“Beer seems to be the most popular.”

“You don’t drink?” she asked.

“Rarely.”

She communicated that to the contribution point shop. An uncommon beer-drinking skill. It had to exist.

Sure enough, it did exist. In fact, many such skills existed. Even when filtering specifically for beer, there were too many skills for her to wrap her head around. Beer Tasting, Beer Resistance… Beer Affinity?

“The hell…” she whispered.

“Yes?” Medh asked.

“Never mind.”

She had to be more precise. Ideally, the training quest would be to drink a few beers. She excluded Beer Tasting, worried that it would require varied types of beer. Beer Affinity was obviously out as well. Conceptual truths weren’t so easy to understand.

Beer Resistance… Maybe?

How would she go about leveling a resistance skill? It had to be similar to working out. Work until muscle failure, and repeat. So a few beers every day?

“Should be fine.”

She hesitated for a moment. That was a lot of points to spend on a maybe.

Alexandra tapped her fingers on the page. With Giant Slayer, she should be able to buy another skill soon enough if it didn’t work out. Besides, she also had Solar Core Control as a rare skill, though its training quest was a lot more complicated.

As for the skill never leveling, she figured she would simply have to avoid beer. Easy. She didn’t particularly enjoy the taste of it anyway.

She purchased Beer Resistance.

Contribution Points: 50,090 -> 90

“Ouch.”

Seeing her hard work vanish was painful, even if it was for a good cause.

She turned the pages and checked on the skill.

Beer Resistance – Uncommon

Improves your resistance to drunkenness via beer.

Each level increases the effect.

Beer Resistance Training Quest: Get drunk on beer (0/1)

“Perfect,” she said.

“Are you ready to tell me the details?” Medh asked.

“Yes. Sorry for the wait.” She drafted a contract and tore the page from her journal. “Here.”

Beer Resistance Training Quest:

Grade: Uncommon 1

Clear Condition: Get drunk on beer

Contractee: Any

Reward: 100 Contribution Points

Contractee Reward Share: 90%

Medh read the contract and looked up at her. “Are you sure?”

“Surer than ever.”

He held her gaze for a few seconds. “Very well. I’ll get the inns to give free beers to people who’ve accepted the task, along with instructions on how to use those contribution points. In your name, of course.”

“Thank you.” Alexandra beamed.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Of course.” She opened her bag. “Let me give you those sources in exchange.”

Medh nodded slowly. “I must stress again that I will give you credit for it all. I’m not responsible for anything.”

“No worries, Medh,” she said, already thinking of all the points that were coming her way. “It was my idea. I don’t mind taking full credit.”

Surely, this time, with free beer, the people of Balrum would end up liking her.