Marie Fisher, 24, an inexperienced author

“Writing block sucks!” I complain out loud and let out a heavy sigh. I am so close to finishing this story! Just three more scenes! Four at most, if I decide to expand on a few details. I am so close... but I just can't find the words to finish the story.

I sigh again and look away from the screen of my PC. I need a distraction, something else to focus on for a bit. Maybe after a short break my muse will come back and I will be able to finish the story.

I pick up my phone, planing to check the news, but pause when I see a new app on it. One that was not there the last time I checked, a couple of hours ago. “Where did this come from?” I wonder as I check it out and am presented with a simple info box:
Quest Master: Marie
Surname: Fisher
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Level: 1 (0 / 10 xp)
Class: None
Perks: Basic Quests I
Perk Points : 0

O-kay... the fact that the app has this info without me adding it is not creepy at all...

The UI is rather simple and basic. Looking closer I see that my info is just the first tab. Currently there are two more: Perks and Targets. I check the Perks first, curious.

So far I have only one perk:
Basic Quests I : Allows the creation of basic single-objective quests.

Naturally, there were many more I could acquire by spending Perk Points:
Basic Quests II (1 point) : Allows the creation of simple quests with up to three objectives.

Basic Quests III (1 point) : Allows the creation of simple quests with up to five objectives. Unlocks Advanced Quests I

Basic Quests IV (1 point) : Allows the creation of simple quests with up to seven objectives.

Basic Quests V (1 point) : Allows the creation of simple quests with up to ten objectives.

Advanced Quests I (2 points): Requires Basic Quests III. Allows the creation of more complex quests with more complex objectives. Max two stages per quests, max three objectives per stage

Advanced Quests II (2 points): Allows the creation of more complex quests with more complex objectives. Max three stages per quests, max five objectives per stage

Advanced Quests III (2 points): Allows the creation of more complex quests with more complex objectives. Max five stages per quests, max seven objectives per stage. Unlocks Expert Quests I

Advanced Quests IV (2 points): Allows the creation of more complex quests with more complex objectives. Max seven stages per quests, max ten objectives per stage.

Advanced Quests V (2 points): Allows the creation of more complex quests with more complex objectives. Max ten stages per quests, max fifteen objectives per stage.

There are perks for Expert and Master Quests too, but those are even more expensive, and very far away, so I ignore them for now.

Next are perks related to quest rewards:
Common Quest Rewards I (1 point) : Future quests will provide a random reward in addition to the experience reward. The reward will depend on the quest objectives, if at all possible.

Common Quest Rewards II (1 point) : Future quests will provide a random reward in addition to the experience reward. The reward will depend on the quest objectives, if at all possible. The Quest Master will be offered a list of three possible rewards and will be able to choose one of them

Common Quest Rewards III (1 point) : Future quests will provide a random reward in addition to the experience reward. The reward will depend on the quest objectives, if at all possible. The Quest Master will be offered a list of five possible rewards and will be able to choose one of them

Common Quest Rewards IV (1 point) : Future quests will provide a random reward in addition to the experience reward. The reward will depend on the quest objectives, if at all possible. The Quest Master will be offered a list of seven possible rewards and will be able to choose one of them

Common Quest Rewards V (1 point) : Future quests will provide a random reward in addition to the experience reward. The reward will depend on the quest objectives, if at all possible. The Quest Master will be offered a list of ten possible rewards and will be able to choose one of them

Unsurprisingly there are matching perks for higher rarity (and thus more valuable) rewards. Of course, the higher the rarity the higher the cost of the perks, so another thing for later.

I pause here as I reread the first perk's description. “So, targets earn experience for completed quests. Anything rewards beyond that require perks. And, in typical video game fashion, rewards have rarity. Easy enough to understand so far...” I nod to myself and move on to the next set of perks.

Common Reward Creator I (5 points) : Requires Common Quest Rewards I. The Quest Master can edit the offered Common rewards

Common Reward Creator II (5 points) : The Quest Master can now create new common rewards to replace some or all of the ones that were offered

Again there are matching perks for the higher rarity quest rewards, but due to the cost I leave them for later.

Next I notice that there are also some mutually exclusive perks, such as:
Unaware Target (2 points) : Any target with this perk will attempt to complete their quests without noticing it

Excited Target (2 points) : Any target with this perk will be aware of their quests and get excited by them, making them more eager to complete their quests. The more complex and challenging the quest, the more excited the targets will be

Aroused Target (2 points) : Any target with this perk will be aware of their quests and get aroused by them, making them more eager to complete their quests. The more complex and challenging the quest, the more aroused the targets will be

Apparently each target can be affected by only one of the three at a time, and buying a new one will remove the previous one, but NOT refund the points spent. "I better be absolutely sure which one I want for a particular target before I spend the points..." I tell myself.

Then there are some perks that will make things easier for me, such as:
Public Unawareness (5 points) : Can be toggled ON and OFF. When Active (ON), nobody will notice if a target does something inappropriate in order to complete a quest.

Additional Slot (variable cost) : Unlock an additional target slot. Can be taken multiple times, but the cost increases by 1 point every time this perk is chosen

Achievement Points (10 points) : The Quest Master will be awarded special Achievement Points for every Achievement earned. These points can be spent in the dedicated Achievement Points Shop to buy a number of things. Points for past Achievements will be awarded retroactively upon acquiring this perk.

"Well, at least I don't need to rush to get this perk..."

There are many, many, many more perks, including some that will affect me directly. “This is too much, my head hurts just looking at the list.”

I decide to leave further exploration of the the perks list for later, and instead check the Targets tab.

Current Targets: 0
Max targets: 3

Below that is a button called simply Add Target. I tap it and get a huge, and I mean HUGE list of people. The first one is my roommate, Lisa Miller. She's an year older than me, slightly taller, and has slightly longer hair, while I am bustier – I am D cup while she is a C cup. She's unemployed and looking for a job, though I can tell she is not very enthusiastic about it.

The next few names in the list are people I don't know, then a person a know, then more people I don't know... some are people I have seen on TV, such as celebrities or politicians, others are completely unknown to me. Fortunately I quickly find filters that can help me narrow down the list of targets, such as my family, my former classmates, my neighbors, people whose names start with A, etc.

“This is silly. There's no way this is real.” I tell myself once I am done exploring the app. Yet I can't help but wonder: What if? What if this is real? What if I can give quests to people and get rewarded for it? A little test won't hurt, right? But what sort of test? No, before I think about that I need to choose a target – can't test anything without a test subject, after all...

Lisa is currently out shopping and won't be back for at least an hour, so I am on my own. I have plenty of time, and this is a more fun way to waste it than staring at the screen of my PC. Worst case: Nothing happens and I will have a silly story to share with my roommate when she gets back. Best case... I can't even imagine all the possibilities...

Author Note: I decided to change things a bit, such as different perks, some mutually exclusive perks, and classes coming later.