Rewards, or Curses in Disguise?

"So now I've got a momma version of those guys coming after me… first things first, I saw that I leveled up a couple times, let's check that out. Oh, and I should have finished the quest…?" Alesha thought to herself, pulling up her notifications.

[Baby Cragulok killed! +10 XP] (x30)

[Level Up!] (x2)

[Ding! Quest Complete! A-Rank clear.]

[Quest: Raining Craguloks

Goal: Survive the Cragulok wave, defeating as many of them as possible!

Quest Conditions: Character survives, optional: defeat Craguloks, optional: take no damage

Reward: 2 level ups, +3 Chaotic Energy, max health potion, Baby Cragulok Heart x5]

Alesha was a bit surprised. "Woah, that's way more than I expected. Rogork isn't being stingy at all with this," she thought.

She closed out the quest completion window, pulling up the level-up notifications and her Status Screen.

[Level Up! + 1 free stat point, +1 Chaos Energy, maximum HP increased] (x4)

****

Lady Aveena Darkwater (Alesha Williams)

Younger sister of Lord Evon Darkwater

Player Username: "Phosphorescent_Feline"

Age: 16 (22)

Species: Dark Elf (Human)

Racial traits: (2)

Level: 4

XP: 100/500 

HP: 3/23

Strength: 3 

Agility: 2 

Vitality: 3

Intelligence: 9

Psychic: 1 

Chaos Energy: 10/10 

Free Stat Points: 4

****

After considering for a moment, Alesha put one point into Strength, two into Agility, and one into Vitality. This brought all her physical stats up to 4. At the same time, the increase in Vitality caused her maximum HP to rise by another point. 

She made a face. Unfortunately, neither leveling up nor manually increasing her Vitality had healed her HP or the accompanying wounds. Apparently she wasn't lucky enough for that. To make up for that disappointing fact, though, at least the quest completion had come with a max health potion. 

Downing the potion, Alesha discovered it tasted quite nice, like a raspberry-flavored drink. It was even chilled.

[Alesha, I must call your attention to the fact that your Chaos Energy has been filled. You now meet the requirements to learn more. Would you like me to explain?]

She perked up at this. "Yes, please!"

[Chaos Energy is just as its name describes: it is the fundamental energy and power relating to Chaos. While most of the natural world is entirely dependent upon inflexible laws, Chaos is the energy that twists, bypasses, or even shatters those laws at its leisure. It is the complementary energy that sprang into being when the universe was organized and bound by natural laws. Thus, Chaos Energy is capable of doing a theoretically infinite list of impossible things. It is only limited by its own laws.]

[This energy is too powerful for the regular human body to contain. While there is no danger while the energy slowly builds, I strongly recommend you expend it as soon as possible whenever your Chaos Energy reaches the maximum. If it ever were to overfill, the danger to you would increase dramatically. And that is if you overlook the possibility of the energy going berserk within you.]

[There are a few things you can do to expend it before that happens. For simplicity's sake, I'll display the options for you in the form of a "shop." Keep in mind this is not a true shop, but rather a streamlined method for you to safely expend the energy.]

"More and more, these quest rewards are seeming like curses in disguise rather than actual 'rewards,'" Alesha worried, noting how quickly this unknown Chaos Energy had become a threat.

[Chaos Energy "Shop":

]

The first two options were the only ones available, with the remaining three grayed out. 

[Your body doesn't have the capacity to hold the amount of Chaos Energy required for the other functions yet, but I wanted you to see some of the other awesome options you'll get later on,] the System helpfully explained.

[I strongly suggest that you make your choice quickly, since your brother warned a strong monster will be coming soon. It would be bad if the Chaos Energy went berserk on you mid-combat.]

… It could do that? That was definitely something to be worried about. "What does it mean for Chaos Energy to go berserk, anyways?"

[I promise I will explain later, but for now, please hurry. The mother Cragulok could get here any minute.]

Realizing the System was right, Alesha quickly chose the Mystery Potion option, fairly sure that evolution wasn't something she wanted to undergo. Not right before another combat that could happen any second. Actually, perhaps not ever, since she wanted to stay as human as possible for as long as she could. The System might be gradually forcing her away from her humanity, but she would fight it every step of the way.

[You make it sound like I'm doing something terrible to you,] the System complained. [I really don't understand your problem with becoming something better!]

"Yeah, and I don't expect you to anymore," Alesha replied as a tray materialized on the ground in front of her, 5 bottles of clear liquid resting atop it. Each held only about 3 ounces of the liquid and could be comfortably held in her hand. She picked one up, holding it aloft in her right hand and examining it closely while seeing how it looked both in the shade and under the light. It behaved just like water.

"So, what's the deal with this Mystery Potion, System?"