I Reject Quests

Damien followed by Rewen came to a stop at the door of a certain door.

'Room R-2' was written beautifully at the top of the door. 

"This would be your name. I'm afraid that I could get you till here. It's an unofficial rule in Club to let the newbies introduce themselves. You have my number. If you are in trouble or have any questions, call me." Damien left.

Rewen looked at the door and opened it.

What he expected to see was a bunch of hot-blooded men sparring with each other. What he actually saw was a bunch of skinny men around his age playing cards sitting in a circle. 

"..."

"Hn? Who are you?" A short-haired man looked surprised at the newcomer.

"I-I am the newbie. I arrived a little late. Sorry for that." Rewen didn't know what to do.

"You are a newbie as well. Take a seat. I am Ivan. That blondie is Denver. The huge guy sitting opposite to me is Rac. The guy with the pink hair is Lavin. All of us are the so-called pampered rich kids. To teach us a lesson, our parents forced us to join the club." The short-haired guy, Ivan, answered casually as if it was a very normal thing to happen.

Rewen processed what he just heard and looked at the remaining guys who paid no heed to him.

Perhaps seeing through his thoughts, Ivan waved his hands. "They are just like this. Who are you though? Are you one of us?"

"No. I am a normal-"

"Anyone who says they are normal are definitely not. What are you still standing there for? Don't be shy and sit." Ivan moved his butts a bit opening up a spot for Rewen to get into the "circle". "Oy, move a bit. We have a new friend." He pushed the hips of the two guys who were beside him with his hands.

Rewen stood at the door thinking if he was in the wrong room. Ultimately, he got into the "circle". 

Ivan took the deck of cards and shuffled them. The other guys had no visible reaction which made Rewen a bit concerned.

"Are they…?"

"Yes. They have interference." Ivan answered frankly. "In fact, I have interference as well. My case is just a bit better than them."

"Then why were you sent here?"

"To hide from the public eye. Both me and my family don't want the headlines to be - Shocking! The XXX Family's sole heir turned out to have interference!"

Rewen wasn't sure if he got the entirety of what he was saying. "Is it that worse?"

"Holy crap. You haven't heard of the popular theories? Were you living under a rock?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"There is this extremely popular false theory that's been going over the internet that bad parenting and child abuse causes interference."

"No way."

"I know right. Unfortunately, it's the truth. People these days are skeptical of everything. It's like they don't want to live in the truth that's been lived for centuries. They always want something modified, different and literally anything that induces a narrative that creates controversy."

"I don't believe that people actually believe it."

"They do. According to a survey, it's been said that over 40% of the people in the kingdom believe that it's the truth. It's just crazy man."

"They aren't even ignorant. They are plain stupid."

"Exactly. So that's our backstory. What about you? What is your motive in joining the club? You don't look like you are one of us."

"I came here to become a State Official."

"Aha! Way to go man!" Ivan slapped his arm. 

"I have yet become one." Rewen said with a smile. Even though he had just met him, he quite liked him. "How should I challenge other Rookies?"

"You want to challenge? I can take you to challenge different people but before that I have to know your accurate strength."

'Without using [Freestyle Knights Combat] technique, my average stats are 9.5. Even though it's a bit ridiculous, the difference in stats between Martial Artists and Mages of same stages are negligible. From what I have seen, peak Rank 1 Mages have 15. To think that to become a Rank 1 Mage, you need 3000 MP… nevermind, I'm going off tangent.'

"I have the strength of a Mid F-Grade."

"Mid F, huh. Come with me." Ivan got up along with Rewen and took him to another room.

[Quest Updated]

[Do you want to continue the quest?]

[Yes] [No]

Rewen tapped on 'Yes'.

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Quest: Become a Fighter.

Grade: B

Goal: Defeat your first opponent.

Rewards: +1 Agility.

Failure: None

---

Room R-5.

A half-naked handsome man was practicing his martial arts in an empty room when the door suddenly opened. "Laura, how many times do I have to tell you before entering…? Uh, hello Ivan. How are you? Is that a newcomer?"

"Yes, he arrived just now. Spar with him."

The half-naked handsome man shrugged. "Sure." Turning to the newcomer, he asked. "What's your name?"

"Rewen." 

"Rewen. I'm Zero. Yes. That's my name. Come to me with all you've got." Zero adopted a fighting stance. 'Let's see how he attacks.' On the surface, he seemed to be eyeing his opponent but he was taking a sharp glance at his opponent's legs once every two seconds. 'Left or right. From his stance, it should be right…'

As he had expected, Rewen's right leg moved first and within a second he (Rewen) came within his "zone". 'A punch probably?'

"Kukk!"

It was an uppercut. Zero wasn't angry because of his misjudgement. He rather smiled. "You can do good feints."

Rewen who moved away right after hitting him smiled in return. "I have even more good moves." He again approached Zero and threw a punch this time. 

Blocked.

He was perturbed that his punch was blocked and threw a kick at his torso. 

Blocked.

Rewen again pulled in for a punch. This time, however, Zero who was being passive moved.

"Gotcha." Rewen grinned. He was waiting for him to move and when he finally did, he grasped his neck and crashed his face on his knee.

Zero fell on his knees with his head lowered. Blood dropped from his face and he looked entirely defeated. Rewen, however, didn't let his guard down. 

Standing by the side, Ivan was shocked at the newcomer's martial arts. He had seen his fair share of techniques but something like this was unheard of. 'His moves are nothing special but how should I put it… it's like… he can predict his opponent's moves.'

After a few seconds, Zero got up with a serious face. "Let's continue. I won't hold back this time." With that, he quickly moved towards Rewen and went for a punch in his face.

Rewen timely grabbed his hand and pulled his body towards himself. 

'If he punches or kicks me, I could defend myself.' Zero thought making preparations to defend his face. However, what came for him was neither a punch nor a kick. It was an elbow strike.

Caught off-guard with the elbow strike, he couldn't prevent the next punch that came straight to his face.

A crisp sound came after the fist hit the face. 

Zero fell flat on the ground and lost his consciousness.

[+1 Agility]

[Quest Updated] 

---

Quest: Become a Fighter.

Grade: B

Goal: Defeat your second opponent.

Rewards: +1 Endurance.

Failure: None

---

While Ivan was spraying some kind of liquid over Zero, he looked at his stats. 

---

Host: Rewen Klofar

Bloodline: Human (100%) (Yellow) - [Perks]

Age: 18

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Endurance: 9

Dexterity: 10

HP: 97/97

MP: 23/23

Skills: [Freestyle Knights Combat Technique (Initial Stage)], [Observe], [Lunge]

Features: [Blacksmith], [Mission to Doom], [Boost], [Appearance Grader]

Path: [Knight]

Unique Property: [Balls of Steels]

Note: When using [Freestyle Knights Combat Technique], physical stats immediately get 4x boosts.

---

'It's interesting to note that my HP is still the same. There's also this Average Stats*10 formula that is being used. I don't think that my four stats have anything to do with my health. It is related but not this direct. Why is that so?'

[It is advised that the Host doesn't ask wrong questions. The reason it is like that is because it is supposed to be like that.]

'Oh, long time no see. How are you doing? I was seriously missing you.' He was tired of talking with the weird system and very much preferred the emotionless one.

[...]

'So both of you are different, huh.'

No answer came but Rewen was quite sure about his guess.

"Damn it, Rewen. How come you are so adept in fighting?" Zero woke up. His face looked completely fine without a single hint of scratch.

Rewen chuckled. "Would you believe me if I said that I only came into the fighting scenario two days ago?"

"You are a prodigy. I believe you because that's the only way I can explain your monstrosity."

***

"Here's your updated rank."

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Name: Rewen Klofar

Division: Rookie

Grade: F 

Rank: 124

Speciality: Unknown

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