One thing Tesilim had noticed about his quests was that they rarely gave him an actual required completion time. Well, at least not directly, in fact, the system itself didn’t even seem to apply or inform him of the consequences should he not complete a quest. So far, quests had been at least system-wise purely beneficial, and honestly, he couldn’t complain.

  Of course, this lack of system punishment didn’t mean that his quests didn’t or couldn’t have negative consequences. It was just that the system didn’t punish him directly for the quest it gave him. Instead, and quite dangerously, the system allowed Tesilim to deal with and learn about any possible consequences on his own.

  The primary examples of this were with things like the guild quests. Not finishing or incorrectly doing a guild quest would see Tesilim dealing with the consequences via the guild or through other means. The most recent example of this was his two most recent quests.

  Failing the missing werewolf quest would likely mean that Juniper’s brother was indeed dead and that they would have failed to return the body. At the same time, it also meant there was a chance they would have encountered the aberrations that would lead to actually finishing the quest. Though, in a way, it all depended on what was going on in the cave, which again led back to the latest quest.

  Without stumbling into the aberrations and getting involved, they would have never completed the missing werewolf goal. Still, the quest indicated it would be incredibly dangerous, raising the question of the consequences of not undertaking it.

  The quest didn’t let them know if Jalil was alive or not, since it stated a Partial Completion of the Missing Werewolf Goal. This could mean he was alive and could be returned, or that they would find his body, technically locating Juniper's brother and allowing him to be returned. Of course, if he was alive, and the party left to get back up, would they somehow miss the window that would allow the party to save him? It was something they couldn’t know unless the quest gave them a time limit, which it didn’t.

  The party had yet to decide what to do and had been discussing it. If they knew the brother was likely in the cave, would the mere act of leaving disqualify them from the quest? It was unlikely because they hadn't finished that earlier bunny quest and had returned for further clarification. Either way, in the end, the argument came back to the fact that the brother was likely in the cave, and that if they left, there was a chance he would be killed. Naturally, the counter was that the brother could already be dead, after all, he had been missing for almost a month.

  “Look, I just don’t think the system would have given me the quest if the brother was dead,” Tesilim said.

  “I am not so sure about that. There haven’t really been any criteria for why it gives you quests outside of opportune things that come up sounding like quests. For all we know, the brother has been dead for weeks, and you just got the quest due to the sister asking. If you gained the quest before then, I would have maybe believed you,” Alyx pointed out, and Tesilim couldn’t help but think through the answer, finding the gnome had a point.

  “I say we kill them. We don’t need a reason, other than them being aberrations,” Jasmine said the words with a frown, and like it was the obvious thing to do. It was one of the rare times when the twin was showing such emotions towards things.

  “Well, our good reason is not dying. You all saw the quest, and it's obvious we are outnumbered and probably outmatched. Also, the first quest with the brother was given to me, so I should honestly be the one calling it,” Lili’s statement held some value, but not enough to dismiss the problem.

  “I don’t think so, we can’t leave those things roaming about, doing what they please!” Jasmine spat, glaring at Lili. Of course, Lili was unperturbed and shrugged.

  “I think we should try, at the very least. If anything, we can always hide in Alyx’s room,” Rose said, trying to appease both sides.

  “Yeah, about that. I have already been walking on a thin rope on the whole Tesilim thing, and getting him out of a bind that we decided to get into might be pushing it,” The gnome answered, his face worried.

  “Did something happen?” Tesilim asked, curious.

  “Yes, actually. I have been reminded that, even though the item is bound to me, it can still be modified by its creator to ensure it works only for me. From the looks of it, I can probably get away with saving our asses once, before the penalty is applied, and I don’t think now is a good time to use it.”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Well, shit,” Rose cursed, sounding frustrated and defeated.

  “In the end, guys, I feel like I need to say this,” Tesilim began, pausing to make sure he had everyone’s attention, “We are adventurers. If there is someone in there that we need to save, then I feel it's our duty to do so. Plus, it’s not like we have to go in there guns blazing. How about we come up with a plan?”

  No one bought Tesilim’s speech—at least not the first part—and they just rolled their eyes. The second part, however, got everyone thinking. They did know how many enemies they were facing, and even the identity of five of them.

  Two were the previously injured shifter hounds. The hounds were easy to kill and posed almost no threat to the party. Obviously, the problem began with the other three, which were likely higher in D Rank. Two of the remaining three aberrations were called Nancles.

  The nancles were about the size of an average human torso, though they could vary in size. They also had tentacle-like spikes protruding from their round bodies, and lacked eyes or any other normal senses. In terms of powers, the nancles could shoot beams of force but still had the varied Telekinetic and Telepathic Magics employed by most aberrations, albeit at a weaker level than others of their kind. Out of everything, the nancles mainly liked to overwhelm a creature with a multitude of force beams or coat their tentacles in sharp force blades. Then they often spun themselves at high speed, slamming into their targets and shredding them.

  The last aberration Lili had seen was a tharnik. The tharniks were bulky creatures, often two to three times the size of gorillas, and built exactly like them, except without any fur or other features. Hearing Lili’s explanation, Tesilim imagined an incredibly large furless gorilla with a blank face and creepy pink skin all over. Most importantly, under said pink layer of skin were layers of muscles. Tharniks were melee fighters with weak long-range telekinetic abilities and even weaker telepathic ones. To make up for this, their ability to regenerate was incredible, making them a pain to deal with.

  If that had been it, the party could have dealt with them without too much trouble, especially if they went all out from the very beginning. Even if they didn’t go all out to reserve mana, they could have fought the creatures without too many problems. Of course, the issue was the six remaining aberrations inside the cave. If the six came out to play while the fight was going on, things could get problematic; even if they didn’t, there was the issue of what was actually inside. Likely, there was whatever powerful aberration was commanding the rest. At the very least, they knew it wasn’t B Rank; otherwise, they would already be dead, and the quest would have told them about the danger level.

  On the other hand, it was a fight they could win; the quest danger level so far had been rather on point, and the fact that it hadn’t placed the goal in the Low C Rank status meant it was a goal they could finish with their party.

  In the end, the party decided to commit to the fight. They were fresh, even Drex being at almost full levels of mana. They also had Tesilim’s spell die and Chaos Boost, even if he didn’t have that many points. There was also Alyx’s staff and Tesilim’s katana, which were mostly filled with mana.

  Furthermore, Lili decided to go all out, since the party had made the decision to engage, and she handed out mana potions for everyone to drink before the fight. The white hair elf even prompted Tesilim and Rose to coat their weapons in poison, even if it wouldn’t last long.

  “Wait, why would it wear off faster?” Tesilim asked.

  “Because your blade has the lightning effect going, the two things don’t play well, and the lightning eats away at the poison. Same thing for Rose, who likes to coat her blade in Sol’s mana, which burns away the poison.”

  “Well, that’s lame. Does that mean you are better off without enchanted weapons?”

  “No, there are passive enchantments that don’t interfere like the ones that increase sharpness and durability. It’s just that something like your lightning clashes with the poison. If you could turn it off for a while, it would be great, but I don’t think you can.”

  “Yeah, I can’t. I can still use poison, though, right?”

  “Yeah, it's just that not as much will sink in, so the damage will be reduced, but every little bit helps.”

  Talking about poison, the party asked if Lili had any throwable poison bombs.

  “I do, but it would only affect the hounds; the rest don’t really breathe. Sadly, I don’t really have anything right now that works without breaking skin. Honestly, I have gotten too used to easily beating the crap out of everything with only magic, so I sell most of what I make. And what I do have is C Rank stuff, which I don’t like to use on weak creatures since it is expensive.”

  “But you are letting us use it now?” Tesilim questioned, making sure he understood what she was saying.

  “Yeah, it should last a little bit longer on your and Rose’s blade than a D Rank poison, so that’s a bonus.”

  “Awesome, awesome. We are waiting to do this till we get closer, right?”

  “Yeah, obviously, otherwise it will defeat the purpose,” Lili answered.

  “Hey Tesilim, is your spell die properly set up?” Alyx asked as they finally made their way out of his room.

  “Yeah, I will double-check to make sure.”

  If Tesilim thought back to the last time he had used his die, it was against the pizza elemental, and the spells assigned were as follows:

  1 - Flame Magic Missile. 2 - Ice Magic Missile. 3 - Force Magic Missile. 4 - Chain Lightning.

  5 - Water Slash. 6 - Summon Drake.