Heir Of Chaos

It was the next day and Dale stretched his shoulders as he waited for General Malcolm. He wasn’t alone though.

His entire year was spent with him in the Task room — an entire building within the underground city strictly assigned to displaying tasks that were still up for taking.

He wasn’t as tired as he had been previously. After his friends left his room, he spent a considerable amount of time studying the exterior of the doll.

"This is exhausting, waiting for him." Austin sighed and tried to lean on Dale.

The latter shifted slightly, making Austin miss him and trip.

Before he could fall, the redhead’s feet suddenly lifted off the ground, allowing him to float in place.

Dale sucked his teeth, disappointed.

Austin gasped. "You wanted me to fall, huh?"

He didn’t answer and turned his focus to one of the walls of the Task room.

The entire wall — if it could be called that — was actually a giant display screen. The military clearly had a lot of money to spend.

They were, however, unable to tell what tasks were available because the screen was dark.

Gary, Trevor, and Sarah approached them and she asked a question. "Hey, guys. We need your help with something; we have a question that we would like your opinion on. Do you think magic exists?"

Dale turned to her and raised an eyebrow, "Magic? No, I doubt it. It shouldn’t be possible."

Austin replied slowly. "Now, Dale, it isn’t that odd to imagine magic actually existing."

The other shook his head. "Yes, it is. There is no scientific basis under which something as abstract and bizarre as magic can exist."

Sarah pointed at Dale. "Exactly, you get it. For some reason, Gary here refuses to believe it."

They all turned to Trevor as though expecting his opinion. The latter was caught a little off guard but he quickly adjusted.

"There is no certain tell. It’s as possible as it isn’t. After all, abilities were once considered impossible to wield." He cleared his throat as he spoke.

Dale nodded. Trevor had a point.

Irrespective, he felt as though any form of ’magic’ would be an expression of an ability skill.

Before the debate could continue, General Malcolm walked in and the screen flickered to life.

A list of tasks scrolled upward, each with a description, location, duration, and credit reward. The tasks ranged from simple courier duties to beast extermination to reconnaissance missions in remote regions.

Despite the tasks, all of them fixed their eyes on the General. "Sorry, but you’re meant to do the tasks, not me. Focus!"

Everyone immediately turned away.

Dale’s eyes scanned the list, searching for something that suited his strengths. He didn’t want a combat-heavy task — not yet. He needed something that would let him think, observe, and learn.

If he wanted combat, there were lots of tasks that involved helping cities clear out beast dens or expanding state regions into the forests.

Even though that would fetch him quite a sizable amount of points, it could quickly spiral and the last thing he wanted was to give the renegade recruit another chance at his life.

Also, he couldn’t do any tasks that would occupy too much of his time like guarding duties or escorts.

Those were as bad as the first. Surely, with him there, it might even escalate into something that would end his life.

’Ahh! Very annoying.’ He felt restricted in the decisions he could make just because of the renegade recruits.

Who knew what else they had planned? They had proved themselves capable already.

After a minute or so of mindless scrolling, he saw it: "Observation and Stakeout. Remote region, northern border of Utra. Duration: 5 days. Reward: 150 credits. Description: Monitor beast migration patterns and report any anomalies."

It was perfect. Remote location, minimal chance of combat, plenty of time to think and he doubted he’d be alone. Plus, it would get him out of the underground city for a while.

"I’m taking this one," he said, pointing at the screen.

Austin leaned over to look. "Observation and stakeout? That sounds boring."

"Well..." Dale paused, he was right. It did look boring but only to the untrained eye but he wasn’t going to accept defeat so easily. "This ’boring’ means I won’t end up in the clinic... or dead."

Sarah grinned. "No promises. You have a talent for finding trouble."

Gary nodded in agreement. "He’s not wrong. Your track record is impressive in the worst way."

Dale shrugged. "That’s because bad things happen to only good people. There’s a whole law about it, ’the law of karma’s or something along those lines." He glanced meaningfully at the others.

Trevor raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

General Malcolm cleared his throat, immediately silencing the chatter. He approached the display screen, tapped it once, and the task list updated, adding more than a dozen tasks.

"It can be refreshed so before you pick, confirm that the task hasn’t been taken by someone else.

Finish selecting your tasks. You have until the end of the day. Failure to complete your chosen task will result in a rank reduction. Success will be rewarded accordingly."

He walked out of the Task room.

Dale shrugged and tapped on the screen. Specifically where the task was.

The task turned dark blue then vanished as someone refreshed the display screen.

Despite having to get ready for his task, he waited for his friends to pick their tasks.

Austin picked up a bodyguard duty that apparently lasted a week. Sarah and Trevor picked tasks that were very close to each other.

"Mining." She smiled. It was obvious why she was relaxed.

With her ability to manipulate earth, digging through it would be a piece of cake. It wasn’t all roses, though.

There were beasts, like the bear they had encountered, with earth powers.

Either way, it would be easy.

The one whose task shocked everyone there was none other than Gary.

"Rewards: 800 credits. Task: Assist those on the front lines of diplomatic efforts with the Aereon kingdom. Duration: 4 days."

Dale forced a smile. "Well, that’ll be interesting."