Golden Boy

As James watched the person enter his cave he remained alert in case it was some sort of trick. The figure of the young man before he raised his torch to see deeper in the cave forced James to hide lower to not be seen and when the man seemed satisfied that the cave was empty he left.

James now had a dilemma, risk meeting a reckless human or escape quickly and find some new camp. He sat in his hiding place debating with himself until he realized that he was to late and what sounded like a group of people approached the cave.

From the entrance came a number of roughly a dozen people manily students and the occasional teacher with the original young man entering last.

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves James stood up in plain sight of the group in their torchlight, "um hi... dont worry the cave is safe! I uh didn't realize i would be meeting other people." James took the time to observe each person and he saw that a number of them were injured while the rest didn't really look that capable, not that he was any better.

"You're another student? Listen kid do you know if there are any herbs like these around?" From a bag the young man pulled out a handful of herbs that closely resembled posion ivy but with a very oily texture and smelling of mint. James shrugged his shoulders and looked down in embarrassment.

"Sorry i dont know i wasnt really paying attention you know? I was hunting stuff and well i dont really know much about herbs."

The young man nodded and sighed before going to each injured person and taking a pure white book from his bag. "Oh mother Luminessa please give this poor child your divine love and recover these wounds, Heal!"

James had to cover his face quickly as he had a sudden urge to his like a beast when the light flooded the cave. The wounds on the various students began to close slowly except for a few that appeared more like black burn marks, these closed much slower.

"Stop! These things are probably attracted to light!"

James lunged at the cave entrance trying to use his body to block the glow from the young mans hands. It worked somewhat but only when the teachers realized he was probably right did they step over as well blocking the entrance completely.

After a moment or two one of the thinner men began to move away quietly chanting before the walls of the cave shifted slightly closing up like a sliding door.

With a nod of satisfaction the teacher stepped back to the group of injured to help with their treatment by resetting bones or using earth magic to shape the cave floor into a smoother surface.

~~~~~~~~~~

Alert! You have recieved a quest!

Quest: learn about the young human wielding light magic.

Optional: learn the origin of the young human's abilities.

Rewards: detailed information on the primordial elemental of void.

Optional quest rewards: basic information on the primordial elementals.

Double completion reward: information on the void flame.

~~~~~~~~~~

James stopped stunned over this development 'A quest? A quest just because this guy appeared?'

With this new development James decided to sit on one of the stones away from the group to think, 'a quest is one of the three methods of obtaining loot in the way you would see in videogames from the twenty-first century. Quests, conquering dungeons and obtaining dungeon relics.'

With a deep sigh James realized that if he recieved a quest something was going on as quests are only given by the system when something presents a reward suitable for the task. Students were taught as much about the system as modern knowledge allowed.

One of the few explored methods of the system being used to affect others was the quest system which any being could make use of but at a significant cost. The system calculated the price of setting a quest using unknown rules and the best theory the various races had was the system dictated the price based on how much of a resource would have been used to achieve the task.

The common examples of a price varied from mana being drained after a request for a potion or losing the credits they would have been spent on the journey to retrieve an item.

James decides that if this young man were important enough to make some entity give him a quest he had to be wary of him even if he planned to complete it.

Having made his decision James approached the young man who was leaning against the cave wall breathing heavily from using so much energy to heal everyone.

The young man was blonde with slim features and a slim build, he looked like he had spent more time practicing his endurance than actually building any strength.

Looking up at james with a polite smile that slowly fell as the light shining from his hands began to ripple.

This weird reaction did not go unnoticed by james as he sat across from the other. "So im not the only one huh? Your light doesnt like me." After saying this james manifested his ability and the normal flamelike shadows looked closer to static on an old screen.

The young man eyed james with suspicion before he held up his hand extinguishing the flame. "Im Ezekiel but please call me zeke."

James returned the handshake with a smile. "James... did you happen to recieve a quest when i used my ability?"

Tensing at the sudden question zeke nodded. "Did you?"

James returned the nod before looking at the earth mage who had been working on expanding the cave using rooms.

"Lets go in one of those so we can discuss this?" James stood and held his hand out as an invitation which zeke took.

Entering the new room zeke asked the mage to make a temporary wall for some privacy and when the entrance was closed james took a seat on the cave floor.

"I want you to trust me so I'll go first. I was given a quest to learn about you and the origin of your ability. If i succeed at both i will learn about the primordial elementals and I will learn about something called the void flame."

After explaining himself james leaned forward expectantly.

Zeke nodded with a look of shock across his face leaving james confused until the other young man spoke.

"my quest is to duel you... if you win i will receive a training manual for combat mages."

James continued to wait for the other half of the quest but when zeke said nothing he motioned for him to continue.

"I-if I win... i will automatically level up to level ten and receive the training manual as well..."

James was simply confused by the reward and shrugged. "Well I doubt it would reward you if i throw the fight so... how about this, if you help me complete my quest I'll help you with yours?"