PRSR | Chapter 2.2

I gently scratched its head, and Jjikjjiki wrinkled its nose in pleasure. It even nudged my fingers with its nose, asking for more. I kept rubbing Jjikjjiki’s belly as it lay down and continued my questioning.

“If a monster like earlier shows up again, can you beat it?”

“Of course, Jjik.”

Since I didn’t know how strong other Awakened or monsters were, it was hard to gauge Jjikjjiki’s strength. But if it could defeat a monster like the one from earlier with skill rather than luck, then it must be among the stronger Awakened. If it gets a little stronger, we might be able to clear the tutorial quest easily.

“I heard that you can get stronger quickly by clearing quests… Why can’t we accept quests? Is this another system flaw?”

“Jjik.”

Jjikjjiki flipped over, stood up on its two feet. It seemed like it wanted to match my eye level, but it was only about 15cm higher.

“That’s the thing, Jjik.”

“Hmm?”

Worried that I might be shocked again from being surprised, Jjikjjiki carefully began to speak.

“While Soul was sleeping, I got a quest.”

“A quest?”

I jumped up in surprise, and Jjikjjiki fell backward. I quickly caught it before it hit the floor.

“Why… No, how did you get one?”

“The quest window had a condition listed, Jjik. It said, ‘Whenever you move to a new area, you have to interact with the residents or monsters of that zone to accept the quest,’ Jjik.”

Whether you hunt monsters or try talking to the village residents aimlessly, you had to make an effort to survive in the Tutorial Field to proceed with the quest.

The reason Jjikjjiki hadn’t been able to take quests until now was because I always took the lead in everything. It had only been resting in my arms, so there was no way it could receive a quest. If we hadn’t fought the boss monster by chance, Jjikjjiki might not have received a quest at all.

Then I…

‘I almost messed up…’

They said it was like a game, but what kind of game is this unfriendly? They should have posted a big explanation about it!

“What’s the quest?”

“Hunting Goblins, Jjik.”

“How many?”

“Ten, Jjik.”

Ten goblins from the first quest? From observing the Awakened who stayed in Beginner Village, I saw that they were always happy after hunting just one or two goblins and clearing a quest. So, I assumed most quests would start with hunting one or two goblins…

‘Why does Jjikjjiki have to hunt ten?’

What’s the difference? Is Jjikjjiki stronger than I thought? Or is it because the first monster it encountered was a field monster?

‘I need to understand this difference if I want to adjust the difficulty of future quests.’

To focus on survival, I needed to keep Jjikjjiki’s quest difficulty as low as possible. If I didn’t adjust the difficulty early on, we might end up with much harder quests later on.

‘What if we get a quest to cross a raging fire with just our bodies and then arm-wrestle a giant dragon with eight heads and win?’

Jjikjjiki might be strong enough to handle quests like that easily, but I’d probably die before I even got close to the dragon. Most likely when crossing the fire.

‘I need to learn more about quests, too.’

Now that I understood Jjikjjiki’s strength, there was no reason to hesitate. If I met a kind Awakened and actively gathered information and exchanged ideas, clearing quests would be much easier. Of course, I’d still need to keep Jjikjjiki’s existence a secret for now.

“Soul-jji.”

Since I was lost in thought and didn’t answer, Jjikjjiki tapped my arm with its little hands.

“Shall we go for the quest, Jjik?”

“Should we? Aren’t you tired, Jjikjjiki?”

“I’m not tired, Jjik.”

“Is there any limit to your abilities? Hmm… like, do your skills consume mana? Or is there a limit to how many times you can use them?”

“Skills, Jjik?”

“Didn’t you use a skill when you killed that monster?”

“I just kicked it with my foot, Jjik.”

“……”

Maybe Jjikjjiki is stronger than I thought.

‘Does it even make sense to kill a boss monster with a single kick?’

Come to think of it, Jjikjjiki also kicked the Manager away. Up until then, I thought the Manager was just pretending… could it have really been sent flying?

“Jjik?”

Looking at Jjikjjiki’s innocent eyes as it tilted its head, I still couldn’t quite believe it.

The little Jjikjjiki, who seemed like it needed to be protected, was actually an Awakened rat kicking monsters around!

“Sorry, Jjikjjiki.”

“Jjik?”

“I only thought of protecting you, even though I knew you were an Awakened. I should’ve checked your ability window and figured out your skills sooner. I was short-sighted.”

“I like it when Soul protects me, Jjik. Keep protecting me.”

Jjikjjiki clung to one of my thighs and rubbed its head against it. The more it did that, the more I felt guilty.

Even though survival was urgent and my mind was all over the place, I still should’ve done the basics and checked the stats. I was just scared. I was afraid that once Jjikjjiki realized how strong it was, it wouldn’t rely on me anymore.

It wasn’t just about Jjikjjiki leaving me; I was worried that it might believe in its newfound strength and run off to hunt powerful monsters by itself. What if it gets game-overed or badly hurt, and then refuses to continue the quest when it’s truly important?

Then, what if it runs away back to Earth, and I get stuck here alone, forever?

Even though I tried to package it all with pretty words, trying to say I’d protect Jjikjjiki, in the end, I didn’t trust it enough. But Jjikjjiki trusted me so much.

‘…I need to trust Jjikjjiki.’

Jjikjjiki would never give up on me. And I felt the same way about it.

“Jjikjjiki. When the sun comes up, let’s go hunt goblins.”

“Okay, Jjik!”

I waited for the sunrise and analyzed the Status Window with Jjikjjiki.

“Read it as it’s written on the Status Window.”

“Name: Jjikjjiki. Level: 9.”

As Jjikjjiki read the Status Window, I wrote it down on a piece of paper.

Name: Jjikjjiki. Level 9…

Ah, no. Name: Jjikjjiki. Level 9.

“Looks like your level went up by 8 after killing that monster.”

“Is that a good thing, Jjik?”

“Yeah. It’s awesome.”

Jjikjjiki brought its head to my hand, asking to be petted. As I softly rubbed from its head to its back, Jjikjjiki squeaked and smiled.

“I don’t know how to read the next part, Jjik.”

“Draw it here.”

Jjikjjiki dipped its hand in ink and started drawing unfamiliar letters on the paper. HP. MP. The numbers for health and the mana points needed to use skills. It also turned out that Jjikjjiki couldn’t read English.

“This is 500, Jjik. And this is 200.”

HP 500. MP 200.

“Strength 30, Jjik.”

“Well, I don’t really have anything to compare it to, so I don’t know if that’s high or low. It doesn’t seem that high, though…”

“Stamina 10, Jjik!”

“Ah, this one definitely seems low. Normally, when you increase stamina, your HP goes up… Is it 50 HP for each point of stamina?”

“Magic power 4, Jjik.”

“50 per point, yeah.”

“Agility 25, Jjik. Talent 80, Jjik.”

“….Talent 8?”

“80, Jjik.”

…?

…What’s with this crazy high talent stat?

“Soul-jji.”

I was spacing out when Jjikjjiki waved its little hands in front of my face.

“Are you okay, Jjik?”

“Ah, sorry. Let’s continue. Read the rest too.”

“Luck 15, Jjik.”

Except for magic power, all the other stats were above 10. And seeing that enormous talent of 80, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

There was no need to compare it to other Awakened. Jjikjjiki was an incredibly talented Awakened rat.

“Okay, with stats like this, you’re amazing…”

“Remaining stat points: 34, Jjik.”

“……You still have some left?”

Why are there so many remaining stat points? Did you get them from leveling up? But 34 doesn’t divide evenly by 8.

‘I need to check this too.’

When I was first summoned, an Awakened had shouted at me to open the Status Window and distribute stat points. The stats they were talking about must be the stat points. If there were stat points to distribute even at the moment of summoning, it meant every Awakened gets a base amount of points. If I check how many points you get from leveling up, I’ll be able to figure out the base stat points.

“Soul-jji, what should we do with the remaining stat points?”

“Let’s check the skills first and then decide. What are your skills like?”

“Jjik…”

Suddenly, Jjikjjiki, who had been standing confidently, crouched down.

“What’s wrong?”

“Jjik.”

“Jjikjjiki?”

“…I don’t know, Jjik.”

“Hmm?”

Jjikjjiki curled up and took a defensive stance.

When this happens, there’s always a way. I gently rubbed Jjikjjiki’s side.

“Jjik.”

Jjikjjiki’s body flipped over, revealing its soft belly. I slowly rubbed it.

“Is it because you don’t have skills?”

“Under the word [Skill], there’s something, Jjik.”

“Then?”

“Well, Jjik…”