My Parasite Skill System

After having jumped the stairs up, my fingers went and wrapped themselves around the handle.

She nodded.

The flat-smooth door's lock gave a clicking sound when I twisted it … and we entered the palace:

Ring!

❮ 1 notification(s) arrived! ❯

❮ The Player has entered the 'Guild Bureau.' ❯

❮ Welcome to the 'Guild Bureau' – Therefrom, 'Additional Quests' can be obtained here whenever sought and required. ❯

And you heard the System.

Ring!

❮ The Player has met the requirements to unlock a quest. ❯

❮ New Mandatory Quest has been obtained. ❯

❮ 'Became Monster' Mandatory Quest – Within the Guild Bureau, let the Player head down to the training grounds and join a Guild. 0/1 ❯

Oh, sure, okay.

But for now: shush.

And let me just appreciate the sight: this is so spacious.

Way more spacious than how it was back at the Academy. Back at the Institution.

Boy oh boy. I mean, yeah, pretty much big, . That's how it ought to be, right? If anything, those are the headquarters of this thing they call the Guild.

The Guild Bureau, namely. And it's totally detached from any other hands and influence or whatever. So of course it's big, there.

And here the self-proclaimed grandmaster talked about them with his mocking tone telling us they weren't much of anything, the adventurers.

But man, look at this. That old geezer was just jealous, wasn't he?

–It's different from down at the Institution in the sense that the Guild isn't just playing in anyone else's playground. That's their field right there. And it's only theirs.

They're on their own here … so of course, it ought to be this huge and enormous and strong!

Look at this place:

The floor was made up of wooden tiles. Most of this hall was, actually. Wood, wood, wood. A dark, refined, and living wood. And I know I was no woodwork expert, but that was the finest I'd ever seen.

Such good work left the floor totally beautiful and elegant.

It didn't even creak! I knew I loved when it did creak–it kind of reminded me of Calming Elf's overly shabby carriage–but when it didn't, it also meant the wood was strong!

Spreading in all distances, it joined the distanced extremities of the hall we just entered.

And the walls went up with the many decorative pillars scattered around here.

The ceiling was high and so were the pillars. Nearly all of which was made out of wood, yes.

Right at the middle of the Guild's headquarters was spotted a desk. Looked upon from above, it formed a circle around that even sturdier rocky pillar in the middle of the hall, too.

❮ The Player may speak to the attendant of the 'Guild Bureau' in order to obtain the aforementioned additional quests. ❯

Calm, assertive, freeing yet controlling. Those were the words given off of this place.

To my right and left, on each side, there were two giant boards. Made out of wood, too. But this wood was white, clear, and bright.

❮ The Player may also directly select the additional quest of his choice interacting with the 'Scoreboard'. ❯

The two boards were just like two chunks of fresh ice that had been carved onto the dark brownish walls.

The ice cubs didn't melt. They wouldn't. Not at any price. They weren't so weak, after all, I could tell.

As they stood out the way they did, I didn't resist. Just when these two ice cubs caught my eyes, I noticed how stuffed and occupied they were.

Just as I thought the two of them didn't melt … they started melting within my eyes.

I devoured them; my head tilted to the side in total wonder.

Piled up upon them were layers of yellowish-white sheets. The sheets were many. And quickly, I understood these were quests being issued by the Guild.

And so the System counted those as additional quests, from what I just gathered.

So that was how it all looked like, huh. Old Sipping's words already had told me about this–I asked a lot of questions–but his words weren't certainly consistent enough to describe the beauty of the thing.

Seeing with these eyes, it really hit different.

Surely, it was all these quests that occupied the two boards so much.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, though!" my guide disrupted my fascination before she went on, "don't you start sticking your eyes on those boards like that. We said we only were down to covering each of the three main guilds–and that's it, my boy."

"What, what, what?"

"You heard me all right. If my little boy has questions about even these, I'm afraid I shall never rest with you."

"Oh, all right. Don't worry. I don't care. It's fine."

Going in from the main double-door, we found ourselves in the spacious inside of the Guild Bureau. It all was about new things for me to discover and marvel at.

I really enjoyed it.

And while both I and Babe stepped inside at the same time, only one's feet were laid on the wooden carpentry. Clumsy entered, walking. And I entered with her, flying.

"It's fine, it's fine, big sis'!" I spoke up. "And rather, you know the rules, big sis', right??... whenever we–"

"Oh, no! I promise I'll get you down if you go about that again!"

"–Muhahah–you can't interrupt me and you can't stop me: whenever we saw something inspiring awe, bringing us about happiness …"

"Do not. I warned you–"

"–It's tickling time!–cootchie-cootchie-coo!–muhahahah!"

"Wait, no!–I'll put you down, brat!"

But it was too late for her!

Entering this place, I was resting on Clumsy's shoulders.

(Even though I'm not a kid at all–and I insist: at all–) my stature was that of a kid, after all. I could be carried around her shoulders. Pretty much easily, at that. She said herself I seemed to weigh even less than a feather.

I'd been tired of walking after a while. Hopping on her shoulders, I stayed perched up there up till now.

Standing on this floor, just like my clumsy babe with me around her shoulders and back, were many other people. Adventurers, most likely.

And seeing the fresh and strong lady carrying her kid on herself entering the place, it got many's attention.

People turned and were alarmed by the two of us. Alarmed, or annoyed. I didn't know which, actually.

And now, what were the rules again? Whenever I saw something worth smiling … or bringing about happiness to me; I'd go tickling that very fresh and strong lady underneath me.

With both hands, I had ten fingers. And with ten fingers, I had plenty enough resources to go about torturing her again a little.

I tightened my legs around her shoulders and went right away assaulting her with my little wiggling fingers all around her neck. I tickled, tickled, and tickled some more.

Heh, and she was no opponent to me, this human girl.

Laughing about and twisting herself around the way she did again, she complained and told me yet again she was way too sensitive to tickling … and that she didn't like it.

But I scoffed at this and tickled again, again, and again.

This was fun.

And then she just pressed her lips together; pressed her brows down, creasing about her amusing face; pouted and puffing her cheeks like she was mad at me for having fun.

And she warned me: if I did that again (I already did it twice before) she'd really get off of her shoulders … and I'd become the little piece of being I'd been before.

Heh–but I scoffed at this, too.

Like I even cared.

Down to the ground or up in the sky–barely up in the sky, actually–we were here, already.

Because of my circus, everyone in the hall was stabbing their eyes at us, now. Clumsy blamed it on me, but it was fine.

She poked me again with her pointy nails as a punishment, snatched my hand, and drove me nearer where I'd asked her to take me: the training grounds.