It was 18 years ago, the day that she was born.
"Waaaaaaaaaaa."
The town could hear cries resounding across a small farming town in the countryside. The villagers rushed and waited outside the house with great eagerness, because Cecilia "Haybale" Säpphroaleryst, one of the most valued farmers in town, was giving birth.
"Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Säpphroaleryst. It's a healthy baby girl! With her father's nose and mother's eyes." The midwife said, handing the baby to her mother.
"God… I waited nine months for our baby to look like her stupid father. Imagine if she grew up with your white hair color, too." Cecilia chuckled, handing the little Ashrosaliera to her husband.
Something happened, though. Something abnormal was upon Ashrosaliera.
She cried nonstop for three nights and days—long after a normal baby would've fallen asleep, from dawn to supper, from bed to the kitchen, and furthermore.
She did not sleep for three days, so her parents had to take turns watching her at night while the neighbors resented her.
No one knew why this happened, and no one should, because only Ashrosaliera could see the problem.
Something blocked her view; all she saw was darkness. The unknown frightened her primal instincts; the abyss was upon a lonely soul. Only after three days could she stop crying from the lack of energy.
Her view was blocked by the [System].
And after she stopped crying, it spoke to her.
===
You have been chosen to inherit the [Quest System]
Evaluating elemental attribute…
Checking parents' elemental attribute…
Your attribute is: Fire
===
"Oh god she finally stopped… We can sleep now… Oh honey…"
The system continued talking.
===
Name: Ashrosaliera Säpphroaleryst
Age: 0
Unallocated System Point: 20
Status:
- HP: 20/20 (Requires minimum of 1 system point to upgrade)
- MP: 10/10 (Requires minimum of 1 system point to upgrade)
Skill:
- Fireball: E (Requires 1 system point to upgrade)
- Warm Heal: ? (Requires 1 system point to unlock)
[Other skills will be available upon knowledge expansion]
===
"Goo goo gaa gaa!" The clueless infant swung her hands in the air, trying to wave away the status board blocking her view, pressing random options along the way.
"Yes, honey… We'll change you in the morning… Ugh." Cecilia rolled over.
The system continued, receiving inputs from Ashrosaliera.
Do you wish to upgrade Fireball?
"Ghaaaaaa! Uwgmhw!"
Fireball: E > D (1 system point spent)
Fireball: D > C (2 system points spent)
Fireball: C > B (2 system points spent)
Fireball: B > A (3 system points spent)
Fireball: A > S (3 system points spent)
Fireball: S > SS (4 system points spent)
Fireball: SS > SSS [MAX] (5 system points spent)
Unallocated System Point: 0
After fulfilling its mission, the status board finally disappeared, leaving the baby Ashrosaliera exposed to the world's wonders. So she opened her eyes. And for the very first time, she saw the faces of her mother and father.
"Waaaaaaaaaaa."
Which caused her to cry violently.
[15 years later | 3 years before the story]
In the middle of the day, when the sun rose to its peak and the trees started to give off beautiful, dreamlike shades, a father and daughter were chasing each other through the fields.
"Ashrosaliera, you come back here right now!"
Her father was small, so he could maybe be blamed for her short stature. He wore big, round eyeglasses and was not well-kept, with visible sharp beard strands, like a bookworm.
The man didn't stand straight, and he had no authority in the house compared to the two women in his life, but he sure knew how to teach the kid a thing or two about Fire Magic.
That is, if that kid wanted to listen to him in the first place.
"Come on, Dad! Why would I need more than my [Fireball]? I could take over the world right now!"
Ashrosaliera skipped away to run from her dad, but after only a few yards, she turned back to tease him for not catching up.
"And I already told you! I couldn't learn any of the skills you showed me! I have to do these quest thingy and unlock them! But I already spent my last point on upgrading Fire Flight!"
"You still have to practice and learn the fundamentals! Or at least learn more skills than just three! Someone your age should be able to use at least 5!" Her dad screamed so that she could hear him properly from this distance
===
Name: Ashrosaliera Säpphroaleryst
Age: 15
Unallocated System Point: 0.01
Status:
- HP: 130/130 (Requires minimum of 1 system point to upgrade)
- MP: 250/250 (Requires minimum of 1 system point to upgrade)
Skills:
- Fireball: SSS (Unable to upgrade any further)
- Fire Flight: C (Requires 2 system points to upgrade)
- Blazing Blade: F (Requires 1 system point to upgrade)
- Warm Heal: ? (Requires 1 system point to unlock)
- Flame Pillar: ? (Requires 1 system point to unlock)
- Ignition Armor: ? (Requires 2 system points to unlock)
- Flash: ? (Requires 2 system points to unlock)
- …
===
"Nuh uh!" Ashrosaliera said, before skipping away all happily, while spinning around a few times to look at her dad.
"Where the hell is she going now…" He gasped for air, throat dry as a bone.
The man watched as his daughter ran away towards the nearby city, not knowing what she would do there or who she would pick a fight with again… But at least he knew she wouldn't use her full power.
"Give it a break, Davey."
Cecilia suddenly spoke up. She was milking a cow nearby and heard the commotion, so she decided to come and check.
"You did your part. You taught our girl how to control Fireball." Cecilia said.
"Honey, you can't seriously think that's enough." Davey refuted.
"I don't, but you've spent the last 8 years out of work, taking a lot of flame in the face for her. And she spent the good half of her life learning already, don't you think it's time for her to spread her wings?"
Cecilia said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind, bending down slightly at that.
"... It's been 8 years already? So Ash is 15 now?"
Cecilia nodded, and Davey sighed, thinking about the times that had passed.
===
Quest: Anger Your Parents
Reward: +0.05 System Point
Status: ONGOING
===
"Geez, that's not enough to make them mad? These high-reward quests are so hard… No wonder this is a 0.05 point quest."
Ashrosaliera Säpphroaleryst muttered to herself as she walked. The young girl in white and ragged farmer clothes bobbed her head side to side in boredom. Lacing her arms together behind her head, she aimlessly tread through the bustling and crowded city.
"Luckily, I thought of this!"
The girl then pulled out a piece of paper from her back pocket.
"Tadaaa! My birth certificate!"
She continued talking to herself, making her way to the city hall with a great plan—a genius, absolutely astounding plan, so to speak.
"Hello, I'm here to change my name legally! I heard it's free the first time, right?"
The clerk was a cat woman with pink hair who wore a monocle. With a blank expression and dark bags under her eyes, she looked down at the unsupervised, annoying-looking 15-year-old kid barely tall enough to be alone. The logical thing an adult would do is ask question, but working in the service industry made you see too much wild shit for you to care.
"Here's the paper. Sit down and write your new name here, " the clerk said before going back to eat her cracker.
"Alrighty!"
Ashrosaliera was ecstatic, and she had already picked a new name.
She knew how to write and read, kind of. She could spell her name perfectly, so she had to make it longer.
She'll add "Omnipotent, " meaning "All-powerful in the middle."
[Ashrosaliera Inmopotalten…]
"Eh… That doesn't look right…" Ashrosaliera looked down at the paper in fear.
"Ma'am. Can I get a new paper?" she asked the clerk.
"That'll cost you." The clerk answered.
"Never mind… Can you write the word Empyrean which means Heaven, down for me? Then um… Add an "el" sound in the end to make it sound cooler!"
The catwoman glanced over at the kid, who was smiling and rhythmically nodding. She was about to kick that girl out, shove something up someone's somewhere, and be done for the day, but she decided that it was not worth being in jail and helped the girl.
[Ashrosaliera Inmopotalten Empyreanel]
Ash then added her last name.
[Ashrosaliera Inmopotalten Empyreanel Säpphroaleryst]
"Okay, you should be done…" The clerk added, "Here's to our storage, and here's a copy for you in case you ever wanna sue someone."
"Thanks, madam! I'm going to show my mom my new name!"
Ashrosaliera, with a new name on hand, quickly activated [Fire Flight] and flew home with great excitement. She killed two birds with one stone today: She got to change her name, and she'll finish the quest!
And she was right.
===
Quest: Anger Your Parents
Reward: +0.05 System Point
Status: COMPLETE
===
And let's say, both Cecilia and David were not happy.
===
Quest: Survive The Spanking Without Crying
Reward: +0.02 System Point
Status: FAILED
===