The button lasted almost an hour.
Longer than I’d expected, though not because I’d suddenly developed impressive restraint. I had work to do and, apparently, an impossible app I wanted to check every few minutes.
At 8:52, Camila walked past my desk and dropped a printed document beside my keyboard.
"Since you’re apparently taking your secretary responsibilities seriously."
I looked down.
Her notes. My dataset.
"Whose responsibility is this?"
She kept walking.
"Teamwork."
Of course.
I watched her disappear into a meeting room. By the time I opened Quest Master again, the REGISTER PLAYER button had become considerably harder to ignore.
CAMILA REYES
Hidden Role: SECRETARYStatus: Inactive
REGISTER PLAYER
If I was going to press it, I wanted the rules first.
What does registration reveal to the target?
A Player Invitation will be delivered.
Quest Master identity and Hidden Role information remain concealed.
Can the target refuse?
Yes.
Registration requires voluntary acceptance.Declining carries no penalty.
That made the calculation easier.
Camila would know something strange was happening, but she wouldn’t know it was me.
And she could say no.
I looked through the glass wall of the meeting room.
Camila was talking, pen moving between her fingers while the other three people watched her instead of the slide behind her.
Fifteen Charisma.
Fourteen Presence.
I’d believe those numbers before most of what the app had shown me.
There were safer people I could test it on. Daniel, maybe. Someone I didn’t have history with.
I wasn’t interested in them.
Camila had spent yesterday explaining that the world didn’t hand people what they deserved.
Fine.
Maybe she was right.
I pressed REGISTER PLAYER.
PLAYER INVITATION SENT
Target: Camila Reyes
Awaiting decision.
Expires in: 23:59:59
For a few seconds, nothing changed.
Then Camila’s phone lit up on the conference table.
She glanced down.
Her eyebrows drew together.
She stared at the screen for several seconds before locking it and placing the phone face-down.
That was it.
Awaiting decision.
Probably sensible.
If an impossible app appeared on my phone during a meeting, I wouldn’t have accepted whatever it wanted either.
I went back to work.
Mostly.
Every time someone moved inside the conference room, my attention drifted toward the glass.
Eventually the meeting ended. Camila came out with two other candidates, said something that made one of them laugh, then returned to her desk.
Still nothing.
A little later, she picked up her phone and headed toward the kitchen.
Quest Master hadn’t changed.
Awaiting decision.
Several minutes passed.
Then my screen updated.
PLAYER REGISTRATION ACCEPTED
I stared at it.
More text appeared.
FIRST PLAYER REGISTERED
CAMILA REYES
PLAYER — Lv.1XP: 0 / 100
Another notification followed immediately.
MASTER QUEST COMPLETE
FIRST PLAYER
+25 Master XP+5 Authority
My profile updated.
QUEST MASTER — Lv.1
Master XP: 25 / 100
Authority: 15
Players: 1 / 1
Something sharp and satisfying moved through my chest.
These were actual rewards.
Not instructions or numbers waiting for something to happen.
Progress.
Then another notification appeared.
NEW MASTER QUEST
FIRST SUCCESS
Guide a registered Player to complete their first Quest.
REWARD
+25 Master XP
+3 Authority
So her progress could become mine.
Interesting.
A second panel followed.
QUEST SELECTION Lv.1
Initial Quest Selection available.
I opened Camila’s profile.
CAMILA REYES
PLAYER — Lv.1XP: 0 / 100
INT 12
WIL 12
PER 12
CHA 15
PRE 14
System Skills: NoneSystem Traits: None
Standard Quests: Unlocked
Beneath it sat the part only I could see.
HIDDEN PROFILE
SECRETARY — Lv.1Role XP: 0 / 100
Role Alignment: 0%
Whatever Alignment measured, Camila apparently had none of it yet.
Fair enough.
I opened QUEST SELECTION.
Three cards appeared.
INITIAL QUEST — CLEAR THE BOARD
Complete three priority tasks currently assigned to you before 1:00 PM.
• Personally completed tasks only• Delegated completion does not count• Professional standards required
REWARD
+40 XP
FOCUS SURGE — 90 Minutes
Concentration +25%Distraction resistance +30%Task-switching penalty -20%
Failure: None
HIDDEN
SECRETARY Role XP +2
[SELECT] [REROLL — 2 AUTHORITY]
I opened the second button.
QUEST REROLL
Replace one generated Quest option.
Cost: 2 Authority
So Authority wasn’t XP.
It was leverage.
The System gave me choices. Authority let me interfere with them.
I checked the second Quest.
TAKE THE EDGE
Complete one professional task postponed for at least three days.
REWARD
+35 XP+20 WIL ProgressEfficiency +15% — 60 Minutes
HIDDEN
SECRETARY Role XP +1
Then the third.
LEND A HAND
Provide meaningful assistance to a colleague on an unresolved professional task before end of workday.
REWARD
+45 XP+20 PER Progress
HIDDEN
SECRETARY Role XP +2
I paused on that one.
It was interesting.
Also too early.
Camila had accepted an impossible app only minutes ago. If its first demand was to make somebody else’s life easier, she might decide the reward wasn’t worth the trouble.
First she needed to want another Quest.
The easiest way to accomplish that was obvious: give her something useful. Something immediate. Something she’d notice when it disappeared.
Later, there could be Quests where helping somebody else benefited her too.
Maybe even me.
One thing at a time.
I returned to CLEAR THE BOARD.
Camila already had work to do. The Quest wasn’t asking her to trust anyone, embarrass herself or sacrifice anything important.
It was offering forty XP and ninety minutes of improved focus for doing what she was supposed to be doing anyway.
She’d have a hard time saying no.
More importantly, if Focus Surge worked, she’d have a hard time pretending the System didn’t.
I looked at one condition again.
Delegated completion does not count.
Across the floor, Camila returned from the kitchen with coffee in one hand and her phone in the other.
Apparently Quest Master had opinions about her work habits too.
I selected the Quest.
Send selected Quest to Player?
Authority Cost: 0
Sending was free.
Changing the choices wasn’t.
Another useful distinction.
I pressed YES.
QUEST SENT
Player: Camila Reyes
Awaiting Player Decision.
Across the room, Camila’s phone lit up again.
She looked down.
And this time, I knew exactly why.